Myron Lysenko’s ‘in the light’

from a ghost gum leans over: haiku and senryu

missing teeth
the comb also
missing teeth




open mind
but my nose
is full




spear lily
boys chase each other
around the lake



spotted gum
the small girl hides
behind a swan




the moorhen
steps out of the shadow
of a child




stumbling toward
my 60th birthday
cool change




weekly visits
I enjoy being a son
again



aged care...
a few brown leaves blow
through the door




dementia?
a chance to beat my father
at chess




short back and sides—
his granddaughter’s
wild hair



aged birch
my father beats me
at chess again




daylight saving—
I spend the morning
inside




delayed train
a raven arrives
on Platform 1



indoor soccer
the moon so large
at the window




he writes
about himself
the third person




emerging poet
every photo of him
blurred



the librarian
on our weekly walk
an open book





a lapsed catholic
presents his new poetry book
to the pope





the haiku couple
side by side reading
one chrysanthemum




in the beer garden
poets discuss relationships—
jonquils open up




building a room
he writes a poem
on a crossbeam




my biographer
I feel like I’m back
in confession



the typewriter
without a ribbon…
doorstop




outdoor video shoot
a dandelion seed floats over
the punk band




a fuckwit
until I write haiku
cockatoos overhead



the amplifier blows
during a political poem
litmag launch




CERES cultural village
we sing Ukrainian songs
in a Koorie shelter




graffiti
along the railway track
public tattoos



jonquil shoots
the postman brings me
typewriter ribbons




haiku workshop
the motel pool outside
the door




overgrown lawn
the old man’s poems
getting shorter



goods train
in one ear
and out the other




a breeze moves the leaf peak hour traffic




wilting rose
gardener’s gloves hang
on the line



scattered showers
I run for the train wearing
odd shoes




airport
a cloud coming in
to land




passing clouds…
a line of kiss-me-quicks
on the cliff face



frosty lawn
the old man trims
his goatee




she feeds the egg
back to the chicken
forsythia blooms




slow to rise a snail crawls up my door



a baby throws
her arms into the air
cloudburst




woodchips
I’ll give him a piece
of my mind




grass shoots —
a mushroom lies
on its side



a bald man
watches the cloud
on top of a rock




fallen rocks —
the eel glides under
a duck




light travels
in a straight line—
cross-eyed donkey



old jogger—
I wave to him
in my pyjamas




long kiss
Jupiter moves closer
to the moon




pony club—
a small girl rides
her bicycle



dodgem cars
not a whole lot of dodging
going on




anniversary stars covered by clouds




smokers outside
the old country pub…
Great Dividing Range



a large tree falls into the river
                                 me too




sunbaking in the park
the top of a tree
missing




plum blossoms
the bus turns into
sunshine



wild wind
she asks me to take
Viagra




another wave
crashes into the cliff—
cunnilingus




he tries not to look
at her cleavage again...
prickly pear



masturbation
being faithful
to myself