Kasen : Bamboo Greeting
In memory of Earl Miner

Side 1

Alone with my thoughts
when the wind came to call
bamboo bowed in greeting

this snow isn’t just falling
it’s shorling out of the ground

magical lake trout
crystal clear at 30 feet
tail slap your bait

“son, don’t fight over women –
let women fight over you”

“There’s a moon out tonight”
head warped in old doo-wop hit
stumbling up the stairs

flock of dots on far wires
I wish I could read music

Side 2

going deaf she glances down
her gate swings a friend leaves
tired of knocking

mocked noise a feather landing
match strikes a different chord

St Paddy's day dawns
isles of mist cling festively
to the bright green trees

senior citizen discount
getting carded makes my day

earphones on joggers
can’t hear the spring birds singing
redemption songs

so one foot in front of one foot
in front of one front foot

I hear it a lot
”money isn’t everything”
—mostly, them that’s got

moon through clouds sheer hosiery
blazing moon too bright to pine

so the plain truth comes easy—
that I have no love to hide—
you have mine

left behind on garbage day
shreds of his letter to her

O wisteria
wild iris in the rocks
look I’ve dressed up too!

suddenly even the
ugly people are beautiful

Side 3

ducks in flight auger
through the heavy morning gray
spelling certain gloom

I LIKE BO POTOTOS she wrote
backwards on the wet bus windows

summer winding down
gray scud swift from the Nor’east
birds getting nervous

restless night tired as I am
still I chase a deeper sleep

“a thing of no learning”
one or two pine cones
brighten perfume the fire

autumn’s urban cicadas rasp
summer’s over on city streets

bumper to bumper
living west of the commute
steer by visor’s edge

George Morrison’s holy horizon
—the brightest of lines

U.S. president fails
at every appointed task
—gets re-elected

it’s only for a big laugh
donkey room human room

“next full moon – if you like
bring your zither and come
drink with me again”

at the Palace Bar and Grill
you me and Joan Baez too

Side 4

ghosted up & down
the town alone thinking how
we were together

thumbing through the early zines
gala’s past can break your heart

Johnny V. was right—
“when you’re old, seasons mean more”
—mid-winter’s melt down

Baubles, Bangles and Doodles
leave it to diva Oh My!

she’s tucked into a leaf
next to an apricot bud—
a ladybug

sweeping at shadows my hair
getting whiter and whiter

Composed by The Miner School of Haikai Poets:

ka	:	Keith Kumasen Abbott
mo	:	Maureen Owen
pn	:	Pat Nolan
ms	:	Michael Sowl

6 January 2004 – 3 March 2005

Related articles in this issue of Simply Haiku:
Bamboo Greeting (annotated version)
The Miner School of Haikai Poets – History and Biographies