back among familiar trees

my shadow
stretches out

old subduction zone

the wren sings down
another stream

a woodpecker’s
urgent knocks

56 years later
with heron legs

to the mountain
its hiking stick

halfway up the mountain
beginning to fade

[haibun]
teethmarks
on the trail sign…
my last sip of tea

how unlooked-for
to be let go

From time to time a flash of panic, as if I’ve forgotten something — but I can’t think what.

missing mountaintop
in the pit
of my stomach

acres of silence
one red squirrel

on an empty stomach
trying not to stare

through bare branches
with its horns out