Homeless Dreams

Global Haiku Traditions
Millikin University
April 8, 2014

Homeless Dreams

sit in class
teacher drones on
worthless

The drab clothed man
Picks up a penny

tails up
the coin brings nothing
but bad luck

jaywalking downtown
the city bus honks

the homeless man
awakes from
his drunken stupor in the moonlight

a city officer forces him
off of the city bench

• 

a stroll
through her garden
roses at night

singing to her softly
she doesn't hear my cry

startled
the fox jumps up
to protect her young

The dry grass sways
back and forth and back again

sunshine warms
his pelt-hat
. . . hunter in the woods

Always looking
For the next princess

• 

He searches
Into the night—
Guided by the moon

Confident,
he slays the dragon

Generous rewards
await those
who seek them

news circulates
a sword in stone

the cold rain pouring
he lays a pearly flower
at the foot of her grave

hanging his coat
a crack of lightening behind

• 

kitchen sink
water dripping
from its mouth

their home flooded
ants scurry away

strewn across the yard
in messy piles:
everyone's belonging

fighting the wind
she tapes down the yard sale sign

a butterfly rests
on handlebars

Rolling downhill
Wind in her hair
         Ring! Ring!

• 

By the hospital bed
her father
limp

The broken hand
. . . dangles

Her mother
at a loss
for words

the moon shines down
the rush to hospice

The old man
refuses to go
         stubborn as always

comfort
his only concern

• 

Sinking down
in the chair
relief

The darkest of days
         over

only for it
to begin
again

he sings of
this never ending feud

sitting on the porch
A beer in one hand
hers in his other

A deep breath in
clears the mind.

• • •