Twenty Leelanau Haiku About Fall

 

Twenty Leelanau Haiku About Fall

 

 

I.

 

Carpeting

 

Trees bright with color.

Weeks of horizontal rains.

I walk orange trails.

 

II.

 

Grouse

 

My approach scares him.

He launches with loud clatter

Like boys throwing chairs.

 

III.

 

Pileated

 

With the trees baring

I can hear that woodpecker

For one hundred miles.

 

IV.

 

Honeycrisp

 

Roadside apple stands

Sell paradise by the bag.

By the bushel, too.

 

V.

 

Revelation

 

What announces fall?

How do I know autumn’s here?

My dog wears a coat.

 

VI.

 

Monarchy

 

Maple covered hills

Give firs below golden crowns.

Royalty, indeed.

 

VII.

 

Epiphany

 

Autumn reveals all,

Disclosing life’s great secret:

Cider and donuts.

 

VIII.

 

Remaining

 

The lake is not gone.

It is right where we left it.

Just ask the otter.

 

IX.

 

Concord

 

Townsfolk disagree,

Their signs show, but not on this:

Pumpkins on porches.

 

X.

 

Naptime

 

Layers of dry leaves

Where moist tomatoes once grew.

Garden bed at rest.

 

XI.

 

Sportsman

 

One of the last bugs

Joy rides on leaf in river.

He is my hero.

 

XII.

 

Philosophy

 

Raking leaves, I grasp

How Sisphyus kept at it:

This is what we do.

 

XIII.

 

Purposefulness

 

The summer tourists

Come for wine, the fall for trees.

Both are just causes.

 

XIV.

 

Fever

 

No, fall it is, fall,

When hearts stir and strive for love.

Spring gets all the press.

 

XV.

 

Celebrity

 

The guy who is last

To pull his boat from the lake—

I want to meet him.

 

XVI.

 

Victuals

 

Local law declares

That all beef stew and dark beer

Must wait until now.

 

XVII.

 

Storage

 

The boat yard is full.

Full of memories and hope.

It has its own peace.

 

XVIII.

 

Tenebrae

 

We feed the darkness.

Why do we hide from the light?

Screw daylight saving.

 

XIX.

 

Kitchen

 

In from a brisk walk,

Sweet scents pour over my tongue.

I will have seconds.

 

 

XX.

 

Immortality

 

The lesson of fall:

For us to know God’s sweet grace

Things must seem to die.

 

White Crane in Green Tree

Old, old breed
Erect, alert,
uncompromising.
Refusing any pretext
at disguising.
While all else fades
to green and brown,
blends into dirty forest,
she is clean, alone.
The full length of her body
fully shown.
The full weight of her boldness
fully known.

A Dozen Leelanau Haiku

I.

Paddleboard

The still lake at dawn.

“It is early,” it whispers.

“Come, walk upon me.”

II.

Veritas

Busfuls of tourists

empty into tasting rooms.

I drink wine at home.

III.

Undisputed

Who owns the beachfront?

In truth, neither you nor I.

The lake holds title.

IV.

Bounty

Lake trout on the grill,

garlic scapes, and sweet corn.

The gods amaze me.

V.

Hike

The woods in summer.

The scent of pines in hot sun.

Insects eat my head.

VI.

Farmstand

Better than kisses

from naked, aroused angels:

August tomatoes.

VII.

Jaws

Snapping turtle head,

then the shell, big as a tire.

I think: “Holy crap!”

VIII.

Rock

Odd name: Petoskey.

And, in the end, just a stone.

I lust after them.

IX.

Angler

I cast for big perch.

I catch and catch all day long.

Everything but.

X.

Perfection

Front porch on farmhouse.

Pray, what could make things better?

Two martinis, please.

XI.

Wind

I raise my mainsail.

A beamy breeze would delight.

It blows hard dead south.

XII.

Parable

The cherry truck turns.

Ripe fruit spills upon the road.

Sweet, glorious mess.

Harbor in December

The dark machine shop—silent, sealed, and still.

The gray horizon barren of its ships.

The sky devoid of tackle’s tangled spires.

The vacant wharves and docks, the empty slips.

The water undisturbed but by the wind.

No halyard's clang or buzz of whirring lines.

The blackness interrupted only by

Some buoys and a tavern’s neon signs.

Yet nothing quite completely put away,

As if it might be needed yet today.

Sweet, small resistance to the sweep of fate:

The things we wait for; and the things that wait.