Flailing around in poetry

[daidoji_gisei]

I am visiting friends right now, and this afternoon while they were at work I took a walk around the area to enjoy the view. As they live in a new subdivision in rural Maryland next to a state park there was a lot to look at! There are trees everywhere and they are starting to color up.

In the evening they took me with them to their landscaping class. It was interesting to listen to the other students talk about their houses and what they wanted to accomplish landscaping-wise, but at times my attention faltered and when it did I started working on some poems.

I am not a poet. I do not claim even to myself that my poems have any value as poems. When I write them I do so with the idea of sharpening my handling of images. This is one of the reasons I write almost exclusively in haiku.

I managed to compose two poems relating to things I saw on today's walk. I almost think the first one should be pulled apart and made into two independent poems, but I don't know if I will ever really get this done.

******

Here at the bottom
of autumn's thin blue heaven
hawks regard me coldly

******

Looking down on
forest trees turning color:
Brocade thrown over hills