marlene mountain
from the mountain
one-line haiku




some late 1970s through 1990 one-line haiku


cold day a bicycle leans against the pet shop
snowed in my poem in a magazine
cloudy day half a load of clothes in the wash
letter to a gay friend a love stamp a hot day an inchworm drops from the high leaves arrested in knoxville two women holding hands a leaf floats through the chill haze 2 british scientists discuss african women's milk spring in america water unsafe food unsafe sex unsafe our parting the moon draws me in scratched into the mountain shadows of the moon summer night paul winter beyond the sink of undone dishes bird feeder the long day you leave as it begins wind sock the fading year dog days envelopes stuck shut everyone gets married and has kids the heat thrush song a few days before the thrush leaves have fallen moon mountain winter night writing letters to get letters the long day the mail already come back home i unwrap into myself leaves fall you touch me a size larger tried on the heat waking you at three nuclear winter (nuclear spring nuclear summer nuclear fall) the heat a poem about the heat nothing special a haiku magazine in the mail contra contra contra contra contra contra contra uncertain until the moon appears autumn i am drawn deeper inside haiku: every word that exists any emotion that comes up she's anti woman winter day a new broom for the old floor free haiku cold morning the quarter hits bottom in the parking meter only $349 he announces the heat first freeze a friendly reminder in the mail woodstock beyond pot asbestos in the drinking water first bleeding of the year first day new handle on the sharpened axe dark day i pull nails from old boards my life mist mountain the day enough for two lifetimes in rain i pass a hitchhiker off and on i've thought of you off and on you've penned your poem to my paper every light in the house dark two mountains the one here green the one there blue morning quick love and feeling it all day rain on the roof the drops that get through letter ends with love wood piled high alone all mountain abandoned notebook paper 'dear grandmother' cicadas new widow sends a child's valentine to her priest snow on snow strains of the hourglass dulcimer icy rain drawing the man within dead end street her love given in the yellow house late movie over tick of the clock in the next room midnight the quiet is not loneliness autumn evening the dust heavier now on his books another night of snow rereading a distant friend's haiku into the room from the sun not in at all waning moon the erection remains in the photograph still the taste of your laugh between my teeth not a resolution just something i begin on the new day the heat the heat the heat a sprinkle the heat the my mind floats lickerishly as your hand touches me off the pill waiting to see who my body is solstice women gather unwrap the moon fearing her and all women he rapes her and all women opossum now blacktop i no longer hear from her even in spring underlying melancholy strident about trident you leave i sink back into ourselves full moon alone i touch my wetness of you autumn ends unable to explain what i've lost one day into another our night between we kiss beyond our nakedness leaves fall i need nothing you touch me leaving him she whispered in the grocery store ovulation fold the mountain scattered with mist the joy of seeing pain in haiku well, just who the hell do you think fucked it up, caterpillars i do not cry yet the ish-ish of our moon good guys aren't enough stunted by those years with him moments keenly perceived i walk past hardhats autumn stillness i take the bad times to heart not admitting to it nothing special white sugar white flour white male the here and now we commit 'crimes against nature' black history month women's week the rest white male alone middle of the night i am not alone country road cat dropped off bellyfull old cat slowly settles into a pose back home i find my shape in the old couch half eaten sandwich on the picnic table the heat spring rain a jogger jogging his privates alone in my thoughts you've hardened red mud caked on the tow truck the heat sunset a tampon swirls in the bowl alone detached an evening of spring boatwoman rescued thrown into a prostitution ring stray dog growling at the scarecrow the heat leaves in the wind red in the leaves alone sheets worn by two backlit alone stretching deeper into the sheets worn by two i am bleeding edge off winter his kiss in the chicken house mountain road the winter winter winter of it new disk jockey reading the news the heat you leave i'm to wait 2 weeks to see what you've left new moon red on the white tissue paper bank balance on the office computer the cold all day office meeting the first mountain at dusk arms definition to put around a body not to kill it calendar starts with the first day's fire equal, hell up front after hello are you with us new year's how i wish the world could rebegin basho's prostitute bush clover moon poem & japanese sex trade a gang of one ranting and raving in the mountain the long night if i am not me who is coal oil lamp left by grandmother autumn night my son turns into a hamburger the heat my son the age sons get killed death of a poet of death poems 1 the long autumn and no letter from raymond 2 calling her son forest unmarried woman in the woods 3 we three by the pond he mentions poverty first 4 rains finally come we three share our womanlives 5 a second friend with aids first falling leaves 6 first day of spring opening her letter earth on my hands 7 solstice at 47 the new belief in myself 8 water falls all over itself over the falls 9 autumn dusk the crooked road home 10 she speaks of her pain all of the windows up 11 morning-glory folds into herself into her folds 12 old bed we jump into love sound 13 host guest nothing said: grass 14 blood in the folded napkin 15 1 Nick Virgilio 2 Raymond Roseliep 3 Lucinda Flodin 4 Kaaren Hayes, Alice Naylor 5 Kaaren Hayes, Lowell Hayes 6 Mark Connolly 7 Jane Reichhold 8 for Sonia Johnson 9 Japan Air Lines Haiku Contest, 1988, runner-up 10 Museum of Haiku Literature (Tokyo) Award, 1987 11 The First International Women's Haiku Competition, 1989, HM 12 HSA Harold G. Henderson Award, 1979, HM 13 after Basho 14 after Shiki 15 after Cor van den Heuvel