five (5) untitled haikus
five (5) untitled haikus
by Jesus Chameleon
a cemetery
pilgrimage with hands raised…
the awe of heaven
the saints
first cherry blossoms…
worship of sunlight
crowds of believers
the erected stones side-by-side…
cats in love
beneath a cross
spring grass had swayed in the wind…
jesus praying
rays of the sun–
butterflies on laid crosses
an open field
JESUS CHAMELEON fr.,
the Mariana Islands, U.S.A.
Nice to see this form taken seriously and rendered delightfully. They don’t follow the 5-7-5 syllable rule, but one wonders why not “a pilgrimage” or “pilgrimages” in the first, and putting “the saints” and “first cherry blossoms” in line two of the second, with something else in line one. Also, in the fourth, why “had swayed” instead of “swaying?” My reworking of the fifth: slanting rays of sun/butterflies on crosses laid/on an open field. Haiku invites this kind of tinkering. Thanks, Jesus.