WINTER Plants

A Dictionary of Haiku
Jane Reichhold

amaryllis

swollen
the amaryllis bud
already red

low-slanted sun
in the red amaryllis
turning on lights

bare trees

live oaks
changing their shapes
the fog

leaving the light
trunks of tall trees
sink into roots

in the clearing
hovering a circle of trees
their halos

bare trees
hidden in purple vapor
swollen buds

German gray
decorated with snow
popsicle trees

wood smoke
shaping the radiant bodies
of trees in winter

beech

melted snow water
trickling over the veins
of a dried beech leaf

birches

crossed at the ankles
her lovely legs
among young birches

birches
in the beveled glass
winter

snow rain
the thin birch branches
so very slender

white birches
black and white in snow
at lava point

the fire dies
among naked birches
burned bones

Black Forest

black forest
night extinguishes
the snow

sun and snow
still in the pines
the black forest

bracken - winter

rusty red the bracken
its shape lost as the cold
takes the bird's wing

winter bracken
frail hands push aside
a garden path

branch

after the storm
rain covers the scar
a branch blown away

whalebone tree limb
to rock this child
the sun's passing

winter freeze
buds of passion flower
faint with pink

buds

rhododendron park
buds too
closed till spring

silence
of winter leaves
tightly rolled buds

cedar

bent cedars
facing north all night
snow-covered

before rice shoots
in paddy ponds the tips
of ancient cedars

low clouds
bending cedar tips
rain

mountain winds
from the unseen temple
cedar incense

cementing
the cedars in place
sea fog

cypress

rooted in rocks
winter rains
twist a cypress

sky calligraphy
the pruned cypress
grown tall

dried weeds

her tinkling laugh
dried weeds stiff
with ice

grasses - withered

thin dune grass
weaving winter sunshine
warm into the wind

white rim
of wild winter seas
withered grass

water music
sea winds scraping
frozen grass

evergreens

seeds scattered
around the evergreen trees
a complete circle

fir

silver tipped
snow deepening
fir silence

hothouse flowers

well-watered
the hothouse violet
withers

ice plants

storm seas
tearing from sea cliff rocks
ice plants

lichens

granite boulders
footprints from dancing
covered with lichens

manzanita

spaced out
tiny manzanita flowers
among snowflakes

bouncing
out of manzanita bushes
hail and blossoms

stronger white
blossoms remaining
after the hailstorm

oaks

resort in winter
the black fountains
of oaks

wrinkles in hills
shadows of crooked branches
of barren oaks

onion

all their halos
falling in the soup
onions

pulling onions
sea fog drift apart
neighbors come by

oranges

red candle
holding a bunch of oranges
for the winter sun

winter sun
wet silk folded
in an orange

pampas grass - withered

winter storms
as plumes of surf rise
pampas grass nods

persimmon

red-breasted birds
among ripe persimmons
hiding from the cold

plum

north wind
spinning snow blossoms
into bare plum

pine

snowfields
black pine roots twist
a dark stream

scrawny pines
all twigs and branches
in scanty snow

a crowing crow
up the canyon a wind
sharp pine fragrance

cliff hanging
in a gnarled pine
crooked sunshine

alive again
morning sun
on the dead pine

snow-bending
pine boughs
drifted

crossing to the island
pines have arrived
before us

deep in the forest
the taper of pines
brightens the clearing

high principles
inner power of pine trees
reaching the sky

pine needles
sticking into the fog
raindrops

moving around
the wind in the pines
comes home

snow-covered pines
Yosemite Falls
in white water plumes

wind fury
in its shape
a crooked pine

shadow of a tall pine
sweeping an arch
low around the earth

a split rock
pine shadow
slips in

sighing
wind takes from pines
their history

spindrift
hangs in shore pines
moss

wisps of fog
writing Persian poetry
with the pine

poinsettia

bright red leaves
held so high by a winter stem
poinsettia

popcorn

country Christmas
under a sprinkle of stars
stringing popcorn

reeds

rain in the reeds
in her mind the river flows
backwards

withered reeds
all bent one way
by ice

even colder
the breath of the north wind
between broken reeds

roots

meandering stream
dark amidst the snow
twisted roots

winter willows
a vase full of roots
rain runs from

the meekness
of trees with roots exposed
the icy creek

mountain pines
moving as I walk
these rootless things

sagebrush

sagebrush
sweetened with snow
plump flowers

sage brush blooms
five inches of snow
purified

cleaner
on the sagebrush
snow

sedges

sky writing
sedges gracefully line
"Mirror Marsh"

sequoia

snow-melt
speaking to noble sequoias
in whispers

giant sequoia roots
running away
in a snow-melt stream

fantasy
in an old sequoia
a brown bear

standing alone
the elegance of sequoia
balanced

giant sequoia
a finger counting rings
touches history

keeping cameras away
the imperial height
of sequoias

running water
giant sequoia roots
not moved

sequoias
their tallness presses
roots in rocks

sequoias
their roots
rocks

Yosemite
after all the waterfalls
uplifted by sequoias

2000 year old tree
"it should live forever"
whispers a child

snow-melt stream
the sound of giant sequoias
growth

cinnamon red
the last rays of sun
in fragrant trees

cinnamon red
the fragrance of sequoia
in the color

on the wooden path
old folks walk slowly
among ancient trees

straw

on frozen snow
still warm from the cow barn
broken straw

sugar pine

surrounding a tree
the puzzling shapes
of sugar-pine bark

tumbleweeds

tumbleweeds
piled against barbed wire
snow's lacy patterns

tulip spears

winter rain
on Holland's tulip spears
empty rooms

vines

vines
against a brick schoolhouse
clinging snow

winter bushes

small bushes
cover the desert floor blue
winter sunset

withered leaves

up to a branch
wind took a winter leaf
let it fall again

snow
cooling the colors
withered leaves

frost spikes
the growing cold
of withered leaves

Continue on to the index in A Dictionary of Haiku Classified by Season Words with Traditional and Modern Methods.