AUTUMN Animals

A Dictionary of Haiku
Jane Reichhold

bats

dim stars
in the same sky
bats hiding

hidden in one palm
hundreds of bats
at the oasis

last light of day
into the clearing curves
the first bat

dipped in dark
bats streak
twilight skies

blackbird - red winged

flying with him
red spots on the shoulders
of the black bird

cat - old

an old yellow cat
paws tucked under her chest
waiting for a mouse-moon

cicada

the cicada's cry
leaves in the maples
brittle gold

cicadas
as if they'd won
a poetry contest

red-eyed cicada
wet from molting
softer than their cry

cormorant

beached boat
each rib extended
by a cormorant

cows coming home

setting sun
blocked out by cows
following it home

coyote

cracked stones
a coyote's howl
widens the gap

Joshua trees
ragged in night skies
a coyote's cry

light
in the coyote's eye
playing tricks

cranes/storks come

cold wind ruffles
breast feathers of a gray bird
rumors of war

cricket

lightning flash
into the sound of rain
a cricket shrills

nights
where you touched me
a cricket chirps

parental home
several crickets
keeping house

slower pulse
of an autumn evening
crickets

the candle dims
a creaking door cricket
changes form

crow

a crow's wing tips
sweeps from the clouds
dark rain drops

crow wings
roughened by wind
ridged by a cliff

crows landing
autumn descends early
in a valley town

two crows
chasing each other
twilight

ebb tides
a flock of crows pulled
from sea caves

crow in rocks
a crack of black quartz
holds a nest

a light rain
not falling in places
the crow flies

Death Valley
the crow stands beside
his shadow

hard black white
sun on the crow's wing
before darkening trees

crow cawing

a crow cawing
so he too has swallowed
a fish bone

translating
Japanese into English
crows

a calling of crows
crisscrossing the air
dark streaks flap

deer 

a bending of leaves
as a deer in passing
a sound

steepening the hillside
deer nibble wild flowers
above the autumn sea

deer hunters
soft brown eyes
reflecting blue

in velvet
the deer with his look
of questions

deer hunters
guns leaning against the sky
blue eyes

dead grass
deer bones
exposed

from the cabin
smells of supper cooking
a deer nibbles grass

frost and moonlight
separated
a dark deer shape

becoming
hillside bushes
deer

bronze bracken
the downed deer
not found

a boy watching
a deer dying
turns with a jerk

a stag's cry
a human voice
echoes in me

lovesick
one wild deer
in me

calling
the cry of deer
human desire

also in meditation
to the river bank deer
come down to drink

moonlight
making in her snowy belly
wild-doe milk

evening wind roars
still the nearby stag
hears my uneven breath

dragonflies

trudging up the path
where the hill is the steepest
a dragonfly

bridging worlds
the grass stalk bent
by the dragonfly

dragonflies
giving to their wings
afternoon skies

insects' cry

lantern light
voices in the grass
ring my shadow

at our farewell
insects chirp in the grasses
our lips dry

jackal

a jackal howls
a black mountain opens
moon light doors

monarch butterflies

sun in darkness
monarch butterflies
orange and black

migrating fowl

flight of a bird
unmarked
a feather falls

high in autumn
a dark bird struggles
against the wind

pelicans gathered
ready to journey south
my bag is packed

migrating ducks
changing colors of the lake
to autumn

desert lake
roosting place
for water chickens

floating on the lake
the human voices
of ducks

dusk
horizon drawn by a line
of ducks

owl

an owl hoots
the autumn wind blowing
through the o's

flying
in a dream an owl
leaves a cry

the moon rises
day fades into the sound
of owl feathers

peasant

dark trees
as a pheasant's call
night fall

liberated
the peasant hen
leaves the cock

praying mantis

quail

picking grass seeds
how lightly quail go
over the land

the female quail
only there
when she moves

quail crossing
hill to hill
a shaft of sunlight

rolling
a flock of quail
on the run

eating the quail
that ate the peas
planted for winter

shadows moving
the forest floor turns
to quail

a mother quail
followed by her fifteen
separate shadows

raccoon

stolen plums
rounding out the tummies
of raccoon

aware
raccoons on the porch
in my sleep

a dream of bears
raccoon on the porch
peek in the window

red dragonfly

red upon red
dragonflies chasing
autumn

salmon

smoked salmon
a harvest moon rises
in autumn haze

smoked salmon
evening sky invites
the neighbors in

scorpion

middle of the night
where scorpions creep
in cracks

knitting needles
the clack of scorpions
mating

a piece of night
breaks off to strike
a scorpion

lightning strikes
at the door a scorpion
tries to get in

unable to work
the scorpion and I stare
at each other

on his back
the scorpion's mate
dead

wood on wood
the dry scrap of scorpions
crawling between

shadflies

the many feet
myriads of beach flies
a caressing wind

high tide
backs against the cliff
shadflies

newborn
flies on the beach
dark damp sand

spirit birds

following
a vein of quartz the eye
of a spirit hawk

squirrel

up the tree
the squirrel stops at the sign
"vote for supervisor ..."

a gray squirrel
tire tracks
in his wet fur

termite

termite tunnel
curved by a cypress
long in the wind

rising from roots
winged termites
rusty as redwoods

turkey

wild turkey's cry
in the cabin at dusk
a door closes

undulating
backs of wild turkeys
blown sea oats

vulture

vulture feather
white downy fluff
at the shaft

nude sun worshipper
the vultures circle
the old woman

a band of sunlight
on the vulture's wing
a feather missing

tangled branches
vulture shadows
on the darkening

last light
out of the cove
a dark bird

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