outdoors – Selected haiku

13 April 2022

toads, looking for love / in all the right places: near / a lake with more toads

toads, lacking Tinder
or text messages, croak their
inquiries: “u up?”

leashed cat steps on grass 
he looks upon each day, ex-
-ploring in safety

bird hunted for break-
-fast next to coffee shop where
I’d order my own

awake before the
farmers’ market closed, I bought 
bread as a reward

squirrel eats pumpkin
decorations, a welcome
break from endless nuts

this Baja Blast Freeze
was thawed by summer heat and 
the warmth of friendship

longer than an oak 
leaf, slug full of abundant
summer bugs seeks more

dog sniffs late summer
flowers, prey, and rivals in 
cool air after storm

neighbor, nude and fur-
-ry and rain-wet, nuzzles my 
knee with their whole face

slug considered on-
trend cicada dinner when
Brood X emerged, died