In this month’s installment of ‘Local Poets, Local Inspiration,’ haikus by Santa Cruz poet Peggy Heinrich evoke a day at the beach.
In this month’s installment of ‘Local Poets, Local Inspiration,’ haikus evoke a Santa Cruz day at the beach.
water’s edge
a gust of wind ruffles
the seagull’s feathers
holding my breath
until the cormorant
resurfaces
upside down snail
righting itself on my palm
over and over
humid afternoon
across the wooden floor
our shadows merge
vacation over
the sound of rushing water
in my dreams
ebb tide
turning to look back
at my footprints
seagull
flapping against the wind
then trusting it
late afternoon
these small beach stones
such long shadows
autumn dunes
this smooth gray stone
so far from its river
around the fire
the widening circle
of silence
Peggy Heinrich’s haiku have appeared in almost every haiku journal both nationally and internationally and in many anthologies. Among her awards was Top Prize in last year’s Yamadera Basho Memorial Museum English Haiku Contest. She’s the author of Peeling an Orange, MET Press, 2009.
Poet Robert Sward edits ‘Local Poets, Local Inspiration,’ which appears in this space the first week of each month.
