Haiku Metamorphoses

Her hairbrush smashes

the mirror to sharp fragments;

a glass chrysalis.

Crimson butterfly

imprinted on her bed sheets;

no more flying free.

The children buzz shrill

in the cafeteria;

agitated hive.

Gossip, lip to lip,

like bees to flower petals;

pollen for the queen.

Two rhino beetles,

horns locked to flip each other;

rival teen wrestlers.

The preying mantis

clicks his mandibles, teaching

Sunday bible school.

Tiny ants crawling

after forgetting his meds,

anxiety high.

Cocoon unwinding

to release a luna moth;

he confesses love.

The honeycomb holes

opened and spread all over,

the acne scars deep.

Powder puff beating

its moth wings across her cheeks;

moonlit promises.

Mosquito eggs bloomed

and swarmed throughout her highschool;

words that drained her blood.

He feared the rumors

that stuck to both her and him;

flypaper lovers.

Trap

As a spiderweb
within a lampshade, Heaven
snares those seeking light.

Cloudy Moons

Soft brushstroke of cloud
across the moon, washing out
its lunatic gaze.

Feathery vapors
cradle the cold, staring skull;
an angelic Wake.

Glowing scales aloft
and out from the dragon’s eye
a watchful silence.

Mike Pence

Grim-visaged gargoyle
perched atop the cathedral,
a heart of cold stone.

Humility Haiku

The caterpillar
emerging from his cocoon
triumphs in silence.

Dead Leaves

Hang leaves of poems
from a tree, but come the Spring
your words do not bloom.

Pandemic

This Russian Roulette,
another bullet chambered
with each passing day.

Haiku Haunts

Yamauba
Beware the mountains—
a mother suckles children
to fatten supper.

Kappa
Hydrocephalus
as it steals drowned souls downstream—
good manners prevail.

Umibozu
Though the seas are calm
the ships sink to the dark depths—
lend not the ladle.

Tengu
Coarse, cawing laughter
shakes the trees near the temple,
mocking monks who pray.

Oni
Fearsome, flaming beard
and thirst for bloody battle
as befits a beast.

Komainu
Protectors of shrines,
male and female together,
guarding gates with grins.

Kasabake
One leg to stand on
and only one eye to see,
hiding in plain sight.

Kitsune
Like rain in clear skies
they arrive unexpected,
playing tail-tell tricks.

Jorogumo
Spinning many lies
within silken-threaded beds,
a love to die for.

Modern Literary Press

All heads pressed as one
could not make a single slice
of decent headcheese.

Sympathy For Li Po

I, too, have fallen
for moons drowning in rivers,
pale faces untouched.

(For the record, Li Po did not write in the haiku format since it was a Japanese convention and he was Chinese, but that is how this poem came to me, so…)