15 haiku

15 Haiku by Vic Burkhammer

Every Step Press

15 Haiku

15 Haiku by

Vic Burkhammer

EVERY STEP PRESS 路 2013

for Nancy

AN EVERY STEP PRESS CHAPBOOK Copyright Š 2009, 2013 by Every Step Press All rights reserved.

Published by Every Step Press PO Box 9551 South Charleston, WV 25309-0551

SECOND EDITION

No part of this book can be reproduced in any form, by photocopying or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage or retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher and copyright owner, except that brief passages may be quoted, with attribution, for reviews or for scholarly purposes.

Published and printed in the United States.

replaying the old war— every day two cats face off at the top of the stairs

1

huge ice shelf just snapped like a cornflake

2

awakened— spring with its million colors, honeybee, dandelion

3

birds fly up, leaving behind a crumbling tombstone

4

a lunar eclipse— years ago, the moon just like a brand new penny

5

walking down this road— every step is the journey, every little step

6

running in cold rain— picking up throat lozenges, almost midnight!

7

winter has arrived— a flock of birds suddenly all gone

8

thunder deepens the fireplace warmth— what can I ever know?

9

white bark of a birch peels off in strips— letters to the earth

10

a butterfly wing— stained glass from some tiny cathedral

11

New Year’s Eve, seeing old friends by chance— one thinner, grayer

12

the wind says a single prayer, in a hundred languages

13

window cat! would you teach me about haiku?

14

dusty road— cows look up, chewing, hardly noticing us

15

This chapbook is published by Every Step Press PO Box 9551 South Charleston, WV 25309-0551 Copyright Š Vic Burkhammer 2009, 2013 Paper copies of this chapbook may be ordered from the above address for $8 each plus $2 postage.

Vic Burkhammer is a poet who has worked as a car washer, hotel clerk, roofer, construction worker, encyclopedia salesman, hospital supply clerk, bartender, teacher, librarian and newspaper copy editor, blogger, photographer and videographer. He has been the news editor of The Charleston Gazette since 1989. He lives in South Charleston, W.Va., with his wife Nancy and three cats.