Her photo

the autumn wind
scatters the dried leaves
in the family photo
her face is gradually
and slowly fading

from my book
Haiku and Tanka Harvest

Growing children

scattered leaves
on the empty bench
where we used to watch
the frolicking
of our growing children

Autumn leaf

A precursor of my next post below after a hiatus of nine years.

Friend's Death

a hummingbird
follows the falling leaf
my friend’s untimely death

The Heron’s Nest
Vol. XI, No. 4, December 2009

Newly-wed daughter

an empty nest
rides the autumn wind
newly-wed daughter

Another collaboration with my friend Ashe from England. Published in my book, Rustle of bamboo leaves.

First day in school

raindrops sparkle
on the mushroom's top
first day in school

From my book, Rustle of bamboo leaves

Runaway Son

One dreary autumn morning I went to the YMCA for my twice-weekly exercise. There staring at me from the door was a big poster with a boy's picture. It is a wanted sign with the parents offering a monetary reward for the safe return of their 14-year old runaway son.

I was so touched by this sad incident which kept haunting me that later that day, while waiting for lunch at my favorite eatery, I wrote these poems at the back of the sales receipt. This is an example of a poem that wrote itself.

First I tried a haiku:

a broken bat lies
in his near empty room
their runaway son

but I needed to expand it a little bit more, so I wrote a tanka:

autumn chill
a broken bat
and busted ball crowd
his near empty room
their runaway son

Her absence

dry leaves cover
the empty park bench
her long absence


Tagalog version

mga tuyong dahon
sa bangko sa parke
kay tagal niyang wala