Global Haiku • June 2016
Dr. Randy Brooks

Narrow Path

by
Daniel Koffman

Songwriting has always been my artistic expression of choice, and I never thought that I would meet another that I would become quite so enamored with.  I enrolled in a haiku course fully intending to be just fine with learning about an art form that would no doubt be interesting, if not quite to my taste.  However, from the first moment that I put pen to paper and placed my simple thoughts on the page, I was hooked.  From its simplicity, to its reminder to stop and appreciate your surroundings, to its ability to reach unfathomable depths with only the bare minimum of words, haiku has opened up an entire new avenue of artistic expression to me. And while I won’t be putting my guitar down anytime soon, I’ll certainly be writing a few verses about it.

emerald moss
consumes the walls
the old cabin

neon sign glowing
at the pawn shop
the thief cashes a paycheck

red finches
on the evergreen
Christmas ornaments

charming
when I want to be..
..that one time

unfamiliar city
   the homeless man’s
   creative story

traincar
            takes the graffiti
                                    elsewhere

I draw the same
as when I was five . . .
   less well-received

dusty, worn cover
pages that taught him
what he taught me

dancing girl
without a care
her mother

dog wagging tail
I pat his head
as the steak sizzles

adorning the wall
early work of an artist—
mom’s gonna be pissed

narrow path     one of us is in the way