SUMMER Plants

A Dictionary of Haiku
Jane Reichhold

apricots

devouring apricots
the fine hairs of her mustache
moist and juicy

azaleas

a huge bow
on woody stems
azalea pink

bananas

grabby hands
in the picnic basket
bananas

bamboo

bamboo
waving candlelight into the night
wind

soap bubbles
blooms on bamboo
beside the shower

bay trees

trespassers
the scent of bay leaves
down on the beach

sea winds
in the mountains
bay trees

beets

thinning beets
finding now and then
a fat one

bell flowers

Chinese lantern
the brightness within
a bee

blackberry

barbed wire
the best berry bushes
double-thorned

in foggy moonlight
blackberries float in cream
her nails are blue

borage

end of the path
borage deep in bloom
quiet thoughts

buckwheat

fan-leafed
white water surges through rocks
sprays of buckwheat

buttercups

buttercups
peeping through fog
opening to the sun

cabbage

a sea of cabbage
at the end of each row
ocean waves

hot summer day
cabbage leaves grow
in their stillness

cactus

overcoming rocks
a stream of cacti
slowly spreading

desert ways
branching all over
cholla cactus

alone and asking
to be touched
teddy bear cholla

writing
desert poems
pencil cholla

desert sunset
cholla cactus sticks
to the light

calla lily

beach fire
pale calla lilies
flame bright

carrots

old hands
pulled carrots
let go of earth

cauliflower

severed and warm
a head of cauliflower
continues to grow

cedars - red

red cedar
in a row before evening hills
deep purple

sunrise
in the red cedar
home again

curved walls
a split cedar frames
the gorge

cedars - salt

a breeze fanned
out of desert heat
salt cedars

salt cedars
cooling desert winds
bird wings

afternoons
turning in salt cedars' sky
gold-green

cherries

red hearts
with centers of stone
under cherry leaves

chinquapin

outdoor tub
a chinquapin groves
bathes in the heat

cottonwood

oasis
a bird's nest softly lined
in the cottonwood

at the oasis
wearing the coolness
of willow and cottonwood

cow parsnip

ocean front
on the most expensive lot
cow parsnip

creosote bushes

creosote bushes
afire with morning sun
fuzzy seeds

creosote blossoms
sunset rain clouds
familiar perfume

sun's burning heat
grows green and tall
creosote bushes

daisy

rain colored
the light circling
a daisy

going around
yesterday's bath water
today's daisies

one flashlight
in the daisy meadow
stars

dill

dill weed
hung to dry by the back door
scrapes the windy wall

a sunny porch
shaded with an umbrella
drying dill

duckweed flower

river water
shaping clouds
duckweed

dune grass

among dune grass
silver bleached logs
and a perfect day

waves
dune grass
waves

dunes
in knotted grass
a perfect star

elm

an arch of elms
so vast something of mine
is carried upward

twilight storm
the heaving dragon
in the old elm

farewell-to-spring

summer visitors
at the cliff's edge
farewell-to-spring

flowers

out of earth
the flower shape
of a hole

a swinging gate
on both sides the flowers
open - close

windy weather
calling the flowers by name
each nods

flower shapes
in dried mud
blooming

desert flowers
their colors too
are hot today

flowers by the door
nameless except for the color
of these blue days

where do they go?
these flowers by a path
summer's passing

gathering flowers
unexpected guests
come to dinner

days
opening/closing
flowers

depth of a flower
flying away with the bee
some mystery

coming home
flower
by
flower

canyon walls
crumbled flowers
float out to sea

foxglove

magic hand
even in the meadows
foxgloves

foxgloves
everything's funny
in this heat

gardenia

night unrolls
another gardenia
more white

gingko leaves

fanning my cheek
a gingko tree loans us
its papery leaves

grains

bearded grasses
the same age
as the August sun

the meadow mowed
blue sky presses down
ravens in the grain

bales of straw
without cow curves
lying in the meadow

grass

late summer grasses
above their roots the seeds
nearly touching

sheaves of grass
water that does not break
flows in ripples

long grass
bending over road ruts
curve the valley slope

walking home
after the circus
how dry the grass

sea promontory
wild-winged grass seeds
birds fly up

bending a bit
summer grasses watch me
enter the pool

stalk of grass
a thin shadow joining others
for the night

gladiolus

picture taking
such a lovely day
gladiolus

green apples

green apples
crowding on the branch
full of sunshine

green plums

green plums
tapering the hardness
swift-passing days

green leaves

silence
of a green leaf
eaten by a worm

silence
of summer leaves
pure laughter

silence
in a grove of green leaves
ancient suns watching

silence
green leaves sly smiles
more knowing

hibiscus

sunshine lights
on hibiscus leaves before their
own dark

hollyhock

hollyhocks
pink light shining
as a cup

cupping
pink light without hands
hollyhocks

Joshua trees

Joshua trees
on the ridge flute notes
higher and lower

Sunday morning
desert sermons
of Joshua trees

juniper

juniper shade
sleeping with tourists
on cool lava rocks

leaves

smoke shaking
from its folds leafy trees
along the railroad

summer departs
all the warmth left
in leaf fires

out of earth
the heart shapes
leaves

lettuce

a gift
for the town gossip
a head of lettuce

lily

holy of holies
in the scroll a lily
unrolled

lily

each day
celebrated by lilies
opening

sunset
still the orange lily
awake

swollen belly
the tiger lily bends its stripes
stretch marks

lunchtime
lilies above the book
reading

what to serve for lunch
that matches the lilies
found at the door

lotus

point blank
the whiteness of lotus petals
spinning

left nor right
all sides open
the lotus

live oaks

live oaks
rooted in a petrified trees
I have a photograph

rolling down
a petrified log
acorns

fitting in
with granite boulders
sacred oaks

marigolds

marigold
squinting in the summer sun
wrinkled nose smell

marijuana

marijuana leaves
my neighbor's garden
in a stolen car

melon

muskmelon
for desert
the new moon

mesquite

fanning a breeze
out of desert stillness
mesquite trees

mesquite green
moving to touch
lizard skin

desert dinner
dates and honey mesquite
without water

lying down
under mesquite shrubs
shade and I

mesquite trees
choosing the best spots
for shade

desert wind
finding voices
in mesquite

mint-pickers
stained with fragrance
fingers wave hello

mold

damp windowsill
mold writes in the notebook
little black poems

monkey flower

fault line
opening
monkey flowers

morning glory

morning glory
unfolding dewdrops
blue skies

moss flowers

stone Buddha
essence still blooming
in moss flowers

thatched roof
growing again
moss

musty smell
of old furniture
a mossy bank

ancient stumps
with faces in the moss
tourists peek inside

palms

desert hills
unfolding coolness
in a fan palm

for desert rain
hot winds rattle
dry palms

palm - date

date farm
selling coolness
in brown bags

the most ancient
palm-green filtered
dates of light

passion flowers

passion flowers
climbing on the bed
lovers on the porch

lovers
twining on the porch
passion flowers

peaches

evening orchard
where the sun sank in
peach sky

ripe peaches
the heaviness tips the days
into summer

peppers

a plate of peppers
red warming up
August's afternoon

phlox

stone Buddha
here the phlox too
grows straight

plums

midnight
the dark smell
of ripe plums

warm rain
purple in a plum
lips

poppy (California)

hill country
golden parachutes land here
poppies spread wide

poppy (Oriental)

sleepy garden
red parachutes land here
in the poppy's dream

poison ivy

summer day
with poison ivy
even hotter

raspberry

berry picking
the stain of love
colors my cheeks

river moss

painting the river
low in summer
moss green

heaven on earth
low in river clouds
of moss

up and down
on pillows of moss
river ripples

rose

rose gardens
just inhaling deeply
feels like stealing

rose breeze
leaves of a bush
shiver white

a cut rose
that voice spirals
into galaxies

still spinning
the Gypsy's rose falls
in his lap

musk
rising from the petaled labia
a red rose

swirled to the center
stillness without moving
rose petals

ruby lights
darkness in a rose
crisscrossing

ocean cliff
deepening sunset
wild rose

rosemary

bathing outdoors
in the rosemary bees
rubbing buzzing

roots

lightning strikes
in the roots of trees
patterns echo

sage

sand sage
dunes brushed clean
by spiky flowers

sagebrushed
rain
drops

sagebrush raindrops
mixing with earth odors
in hot springs

desert air
invisible smoke of sagebrush
clear

sea rockets

surf boom
on the meadow
sea rockets

seaweeds

waves washing
rocks covered with palm kelp
tropical landscapes

shore pines

coming from the sea
light on shore pines
blue-green waves

shore pines
sharp shaped by wind
of Point Arena

seaside
curved by shore pines
rounded rock

smoke trees

writhing on hot sand
the meager shade
of smoke trees

heat of the day
on the desert floor
smoke trees

desert
filling the dry river
smoke trees

flowing
from rock crevices
smoke trees

snapdragon

snapdragons
bowing low before the rain
of the sprinkling can

stonecrop

sheer cliff
ever-bearing
stone crop

strawberry

open fields
on the tip of his tongue
a strawberry

tasting
of wild strawberries
your tongue

our tongues
strawberries tasting
each other

sweet peas

sea fog
swirls in the wild
sweet peas

sweet potato

vacation house plants
the sweet potato vine
in a mason jar

sunflower

a kerosene lamp
filling the pitcher
with sunflowers

sunflower
in a month of petals
counting the days

thistle

shiny wet
the sketch of thistle down
in black ink

behind the new fence
his one weed gazes at
my stand of thistles

thorn

wind echo
thorny trees sough
'round rocks

desert thorns
holding sunset
on the summit

thorns
summer's afternoon
holding still

tomato

tearing off
yellowed tomato leaves
the old woman pauses

tomatoes cooking
suddenly it's August
I'm six and home

trees

guilt trip
summer dead brown trees
driving route twenty

sentinel peak
the best view watched
by the oldest tree

thinking -
the oldest trees refuse
to cross the river

vegetables

classical music
vegetables rotting
in a basket

all those tree fruits
and summer vegetables
now this child

- for Julia Johanna Ewerth

wallflowers

sea cliff meadow
thick with wallflowers
unable to hold the wind

water lilies

water lilies
centers of the pond
close at night

in still ponds - lilies
in their centers - silence
the shore - far away

watermelon

summer's heat
swallowed up by the gap
in the watermelon

weeds

hill meadow
mostly upright
citizen flowers

wild flowers

wild flower walk
greeting the spirits
with Latin names

wild flowers
the twitter of swallows
passing through

shaping
petals of wild flowers
ocean breezes

yarrow

from the beach
the bottle with a message
yellow yarrow

yucca

root system
of the dried yucca
lizard family

zucchini

green fires
zucchini growing
with the heat

summer revenge
taking zucchini to the neighbor
whose lettuce we ate

having an old friend
for dinner
the largest zucchini

Continue to AUTUMN Moods.

Or go to the index of  A Dictionary of Haiku Classified by Season Words with Traditional and Modern Methods.