Joshua St. Claire
Haikus
Verlaine’s green
one Atlantic wave
annihilates another
storm tonight
thistlebloom
out of thin air
orchids on teal
an Atlantic afternoon
deepens
seaside ox-eye
shimmering across the inlet
ghost bridge
another 10 mg of Diazepam moon
cloudbreak
a grey fox
in an aster meadow
occluded front
I crumple under the weight
of jasmine
also seeking the scent
of the peach moon
mayflies
Susquehanna cliffs
even these billowing clouds
must begin and end
budbreak day
virga suspended
over long mountain
cloud panorama
seven crows swooping
out of my boyhood
vox magica
from the crow’s beak
the violet moon
pressing my face
into the beginning of time
white peony
the unexpected coolness
in her hands
pearl crescent
white-tail
the red mountain laurel
dripping from his antlers
many worlds
the infinite faces
of firewheel
the heaviness
of the lightness
of the eagle
cabbage whites
the pictures I never took
of the sky
Joshua St. Claire is an accountant from a small town in Pennsylvania who works as a financial director for a nonprofit. His haiku and related poetry have been published broadly including in Frogpond, Modern Haiku, The Heron’s Nest, and Mayfly.