ARIZONA TO CRETE Haiku of the Open Road by MARSHALL HRYCIUK
Arizona to Crete –the ebook. All contents copyright © Marshall Hryciuk 2010
Published by Marshall Hryciuk at Smashwords, July 2010
ISBN: 978-0-920489-31-4
Smashbooks Edition License Statement
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This book may not be sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person please purchase an additional copy for each person. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashbooks.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
Thanks go to the editors of the following magazines where many of these haiku first appeared: The Asahi Haikuist Network, Tokyo, Famous Reporter, Tazmania, fhole, Toronto, Haiku Canada Newsletter Napanee ON, Haiku International, Tokyo, Kokako, Aukland NZ, Maple Spits (Ilderton ON), Modern Haiku, Santa Fe NM, Oversions Montgomery Clift and The Power of Poetry, Toronto, RAW NerVZ , Gatineau QC, Simply Haiku, OnLine, Still, London, and Wisteria, Lufkin TX.
Other haiku were also selected for inclusion in the Hermitage: A Haiku Journal of Constanţa Romania and in the books, Poems for, with and to (Toronto:2004) and Through the Screen, Through the Rain (Pointe Claire: 2001). Many thanks to these editors as well.
You can acquire a print version of this ebook at www.imagorediron.ca/trade books
INDEX TO CONTENTS
1. Arizona, New Mexico 2004
2. Hokku of the First Prize Renku of Tomoya Prefecture, Japan 1992
3. Honorable Mention 2nd Still Haiku Prize, London, 1998
4. Asahi Shimbun Haiku Award, Tokyo 2002
5. Special Selection, 58th Basho Festival 2004; Iga-Ueno, Mie Prefecture, Japan
6. First Prize Klostar Ivanić 3rd International Contest for Haiku in English, Croatia, 2006
7. Runner-up to Winners, 2nd Klostar Ivanić International Contest for Haiku in English, Croatia, 2005
8. First Prize, Eighth Haiku International Association Haiku Contest, Non-Japanese Section, Tokyo 2006
9. East Anglia, Britain 1999
10. Honshu and Sado Islands, Japan, 1992 and 1997 *
11. Italia 1995 and 1997
12. Monterey, San Francisco 1977, 1991, 1993, 1995
13. Crete 2006 and 2007
*Haiku not included in Persimmon Moons (Imago Press, Toronto,1998)
The photograph on the front cover, “Monument Valley” was taken and contributed by Karen Sohne.
1. Arizona, New Mexico 2004
among fallen yucca heads sprouts of new yucca
cliff wind loud in the trees breath tastes of pine cones
sheer lookout over junipers
the whistle of pines above us
breath g r e y
water’s a brick
learning to drink espresso black
wizened foliage but mist between distant mountains
air parched
even when cold
poppies, sulphurs
not yellow
orange
vultures
by the roadkill
off to the side
two ravens grooming
charcoal still charcoal
three coats on
pulling
bones from a salmon
vultures circling over the crest
of a pock-marked precipice
animal sniffing my hair through the tent
i punch its nose
twice
morning after our salmon dinner
raccoon prints cover the Toyota
water-drops cross my face
first greetings
from the Tonto Natural Bridge
wisps of smoke between black mountains
purplish earth below
between pecks
the deep red
of the vulture's waddle
cascade sparkling green
washes out
the NATURAL BRIDGE path
sage dead brush then tumble-
weed in motion
the way passing cars become wind in the pines beside the river
red rock buttes
a spare white flower
called mariposa
road twists to Sedoña
rock hewn red
as if polyps of sandstone
charcoal-marked the checkerspot
fluttering around the broken boulders
red rock gulch
a surprise of swifts
then three low-flying hawks
red rock the thirst for my darling's tenderness
back and forth whistling
hummingbird
stops arm's length
til i notice
missing the sunset a twittering of swifts a condor
tiny hairstreak butterfly against the wind at 7000 feet
field of roiling lava frozen millions of years saplings straight up
low cumulus reflecting pink off sandstone flats
raven on our fire grate
hah!
we already ate it
aergh! aergh!
first look into the Grand Canyon
seven tagged condors glide up
all the way down to Lee's Ferry
touch the green Colorado
my honey wants to search further in the campsite
for MORE DELUXE WASHROOMS
shafts of rain in the distance
stone homes ancient and bereft
a 'swappp' of a swift
from behind my head
diving into the canyon
where the vermillion rock ends
riffles
on the green Colorado
Arizona
where whites don't dominate
dusty vanessas everywhere
dusk on the canyon
more constant than swift twitter
a cricket
once started how
quickly behind
the volcano
the sinking
sun
its shit
white past our tent
powder blue bird
folds to a twig
my first bluebird
at 30 feet for 3 minutes
spreads to the ground
cocoa-toned his throat
hopping
leaves
in a royalty of blue
Vermillion Cliffs sunset
not so spectacular
as its rocks
dusk and a blue dust
engulfs
even promontories
feel sunken
drifting
into the Grand Canyon
this cloudless day
a bluebird
blue-streaked white shrew
gone
fresh grass at its hole
statues to greet the holy
Colorado silt
water sun wind-shapen
it begins in the distance
a blue powder in the canyon air
dusk
NO DOGS no beads no rock artists
EXCEPT ON A LEASH please
free campground please some one let in that yelping dog
the slap on the tent of cottonwood keys
fake rooster calls
a raven
windshield's points
of rain
blots of snow
when we stop shopdogs
stay put
shafts of precip
some hail
on Monument Valley
a rainbow
two
Chinle morning
trucking dead coyotes
on an open flatbed
out over the Badlands of Angel Peak
not one bird of prey
Apache Reserve road
Appaloosas so close
can see their eyelashes
Angel Peak
only us a flapping sound and a metallic whine
minutes after dawn
a finch sits on our tent
pecks it six times
not a soul
you stand to dress
helicopters
pickup truck
a car
cratered road through tumbleweed black streaked
deer
antlers
finally
SCENIC DRIVE
then
UNPAVED ROAD FOR 26 MILES
between unpaved roads windmill spinning twilight
luminous tail in our lights
mountain-lion's black face
eyes wide as ours
one whole curve down from the black-faced lion
two huge black cows
an elk freezes
on the dirt road ahead
leaps into the sheer shoulder
waterfalls that washed out the tourist path
purple in the photograph
2. Hokku of the First Prize Renku of Tomoya Prefecture, Japan 1992
mist shadows
a white heron perched
above the river
3. Honorable Mention 2nd Still Haiku Prize, London, 1998
Saturday to myself
some leaves hit the trailer
some leaves the ground
4. Asahi Shimbun Haiku Award 2002
first butterfly
on the mud
keeping to the sunlit patches
5. Special Selection, 58th Basho Festival 2004; Iga-Ueno, Mie Prefecture, Japan
weeping willow
an egret on driftwood
hunches at the river
6. First Prize Klostar Ivanić 3rd International Contest for Haiku in English, Croatia, 2006
in noon light
a brown pine needle
spinning above the ferns
7. Runner-up to Winners, 2nd Klostar Ivanić International Contest for Haiku in English, Croatia, 2005
rustlling leaves at night
from the back porch
moon nearly full