Shoe-Haiku

As the last example (for the moment) of my practice
of exchange-poetry, here's a completed renga with
Lawrence and Kerry as comrade players.

As you'll see, we ride very loosely on the rules,
most often veering into senryu, more inspired
by Kerouac's "American Haiku" than the astringencies
of the classic form.


OLD SHOES

Looking in his father's closet
after the funeral
ten pair of old shoes
-l

dust that hides under the bed
once sun-dazzled through the air
-b

Under the suitcase
Old workboots in the closet --
they were married then
-k

840,000,000 steps
on the way to the Bardo
-l

walk my path a while,
a teacher's path -- through darkness
children with bright eyes
-b

The path from his house to the stream --
walked while thinking of women
-k

huge, non-human, yes,
yet always for him the Muse
leaves girlish footprints
-b

the very first thing she noticed
his ancient Taryn Rose loafers
-l

the shoes in the hall,
thrown into a cardboard box,
car driving away.
-k

carried her into the house
warmed water to wash her feet
-b

home for a duck or death for a crow
just beneath the surface --
this fathomless ocean
-l

barefoot with toes painted coral,
won't hear talk of autumn leaves
-k

The Big Easy flooded and broken
high in that magnolia tree
hang a pair of old shoes
-l

a wave of great waters came;
winds, rouse waves of compassion
-b

wailing of children,
weeds and stones strewn in the houses
after retreating water
-k

that red wine of suffering
so many sipping
-l

hunters, gatherers,
a woman one hundred five
holding a child's hand
-b

mailing blankets to Houston,
her own children warm and fed
-k

when all's been taken,
oh for an old pair of shoes,
an old tossed out pot
-b

bronzed for his sixty-fifth birthday
his first pair of shoes
-l

Salt on the front steps,
Three gulls perched on the roof –
Still, three pictures hanging
-k

old eyes need a doctor's touch:
off he goes in his old shoes
-b