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Robert Spiess's Haiku

Blue jays in the pines;
the northern river's ledges
cased with melting ice

Tar paper cabin
behind the river's white birch
—a muskellunge leaps

Patches of snow
mirrored in the flowing stream;
a long wedge of geese

Marsh marigold
on a low island of grass;
the warmth of the sun

Muttering thunder…
the bottom of the river
scattered with clams

A light river wind;
on the crannied cliff
hang harebell and fern

Shooting the rapids!
—a glimpse of a meadow
gold with buttercups

Lean-to of tin;
a pintail on the river
in the pelting rain

A dirt road…
acres of potato plants
white-flowered under the moon

Asparagus bed
silent in the morning mist
the wild turkeys

Dry, summer day;
chalk-white plover mute
on a mid-stream rock

Ostrich fern on shore;
a short-eared owl in an oak
watching the canoe

Becoming dusk,—
the catfish on the stringer
swims up and down

Wispy autumn clouds;
in the river shallows
the droppings of a deer

A long wedge of geese;
straw-gold needles of the larch
on the flowing stream

Winter wind—
bit by bit the swallow's nest
crumbles in the barn

The chain saw stops;
deeper in the winter woods
a chickadee calls

Winter moon;
a beaver lodge in the marsh,
mounded with snow

the field's evening fog–
quietly the hound comes
to fetch me home

an unspoken love–
i envy the oriole
that sings that sings

ha!
even
for
one
laden
with
duality
blossoming
wild
plum!

braver
this winter
than i–
the sparrows
that seemed
so cheeky
in spring

the thin cheeps
of street sparrows
and harsh caws
of city crows
my winter

church
crucifix
deeper
than
customary
the
zen
master
bows

a stray mongrel
stands quietly in the yard
– autumn rain

casting off the lines–
odor from the wooden wharf
of drying dew

someone old
stands in the grove–
the blossoms
so fresh again
on wild plum

Books by Robert Spiess

The Heron’s Legs. Platteville, Wis.: American Haiku, 1966.

The Turtle’s Ears. Madison, Wis.: Wells Printing Co., 1971.

Five Caribbean Haibun. Madison, Wis.: Wells Printing Co., 1972.

The Shape of Water. Madison, Wis.: Modern Haiku Press, 1982.

The Bold Silverfish and Tall River Junction. Madison, Wis.: Modern Haiku Press, 1986.

New and Selected Speculations on Haiku. Madison, Wis.: Modern Haiku Press, 1988.

The Cottage of Wild Plum. Madison, Wis.: Modern Haiku Press, 1991.

A Year’s Speculation on Haiku. Madison, Wis.: Modern Haiku Press, 1995.

Noddy. Madison, Wis.: Modern Haiku Press, 1997.

Noddy & the Halfwit [with Lee Gurga]. Madison, Wis.: Modern Haiku Press, 1999.

Some Sticks and Pebbles. Madison, Wis.: Modern Haiku Press, 2001.

http://pages.infinit.net/haiku/etats-unis.htm#spiess
http://www.modernhaiku.org/issue33-3/spiessautobiography.html
Michael Dylan Welch. The Haiku Gatekeeper (An Interview with Robert Spiess)