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John Wills (1921-1993)
Selected Haiku

coolness
hemlock shadows flicker
across the boulder

looking deeper
and deeper into it
the great beech

a marsh hawk
tips the solitary
pine

laurel in bloom
she lingers awhile
at the mirror

deep winter . . .
all day long the mountainside
in shadow

a box of nails
on the shelf of the shed
the cold

abandoned barn…
the faintest neighing
of horses

boulders
just beneath the boat
it’s dawn

the river
leans upon the snag
a moment

rain in gusts
below the deadhead
troutswirl

dusk from rock to rock a waterthrush

water pools
among the rocks then pools
and pools again

autumn wind ...
the rise and fall
of sparrows

the hills
release the summer clouds
one by one by one

in an upstairs room
of the abandoned house
a doll moongazing

along
with the autumn leaves
this morning

hermit thrush
at twilight pebbles
in the stream


the breeze and i
making our way
through the grasses

beyond the porch
the summer night leaning out
a moment

dawn
somewhere in the mist
a catbird wakens

cornstubbe
among the stalks . . . weeds
and the shadow of weeds

to sail
above the jewelweed
to settle

unless you have fish
the pelican has no use
for you

touch of dawn
the snail withdraws
its horns

Bibliography

Back Country. Statesboro, Ga.: privately printed, 1969.

"A Conversation with John Wills." By Michael McClintock.Modem Haiku 7.2
(1976): 6-8.

Cornstubble. Statesboro, Ga.: privately printed, 1971.

"Depth in Haiku." Unpublished essay, 1974.

Reed Shadows. Windsor, Ont: Black Moss/Sherbrooke, Que.: Burnt Lake,
1987.

Rive Statesboro, Ga.: privately printed, 1970.

Up a Distant Ridge. Manchester, N.H.: First Haiku, 1980.

Weathmanes. Statesboro, Ga.: Private Publication, 1970.

The Young Leaves-Haiku of S ' n g and Summer: Statesboro, Ga.: privately
printed, 1970.

http://www.millikin.edu/haiku/writerprofiles/RuffnerOnWills.html
Thomas Lynch. Intersecting Influences in American Haiku