Robert Demaree- Haiku

    N.C., Dec. 2015: Haiku Journal

    Her cousin has died,

    Graveside service in the rain.

    I met him just once.

    Christmas Eve to me:

    Ninety-year-old minister

    Out working the crowd.

    Cross-country t-shirt,

    Tickets to a string concert:

    Grandchildren’s presents.

    Flowering fruit trees

    Bloom the day after Christmas:

    Nature takes wrong turn.

    Collards, black-eyed peas,

    Culinary ritual:

    Luck for the new year.

Robert Demaree is the author of three book-length collections, including After Labor Day (2014) published by Beech River Books. He presents poetry readings, seminars and workshops in North Carolina (October through June) and New England (June through October). His work has recently appeared in the Chaffin Review.