SJ Rozan

Black-faced gulls swoop, call.

Muddy water curves, ripples.

Anchored boat lifts, falls.

Dragonflies hover,

Hoping to gobble insects

I scare up from grass.

Palm tree, pine, live oak,

Camellia, oleander,

Sway in river breeze.

211 HAIKU, by SJ Rozan

Walking around midtown, was stopped at this traffic light. Took three photos:

red light

yellow light

green light

And then as I started to walk away:

bird light

Fog’s erased far shore.

Piling field eases off to

Pale soft emptiness.

Cormorant swoops in,

Circles pilings, chooses one,

Perches at his post.

Chattering hatchlings

Hop behind mom, new wings wide,

Tiny beaks open.

This weekend only, in honor of Mother’s Day, the e-version of MANDARIN PLAID (in which Lydia Chin’s mother plays a pivotal role) is free free free on Amazon.com. Starts tomorrow, May 10, look for it!

Bella, as you know, is a Mighty Hunter. She catches mice and waterbugs and she leaps into the air after flies. She just KNOWS she could grab those birds if the window glass would only dissolve.

This morning I spotted a tiny bug crawling on the floor. A spider, I wondered? An ant? Or something to worry about — a tick, a bedbug? Before I could go check, Bella spotted it too. Slinking over, she peered down on it, sniffing, following its movements. She leaned in closer, ever closer.

Then she stuck out her tongue, slurped it up, and ate it.

Whatever it was, that particular one won’t be making any more of them.

Right now she’s curled up, sleeping it off. Thank you, Mighty Hunter.

The above, I would say, is good advice at any time and place. Last Saturday’s Flushing Expedition came across signs to this effect hanging from the velvet ropes in front of the deities’ alcoves at the Ganesh Temple. Well worth a visit, this giant Hindu Temple on an Archie Bunker street. Up the way a few blocks, we passed a converted single-family house, now a Buddhist house of worship, where a ceremony was going on, all drums and chanting and incense and people dressed in black. We also viewed the Free Synagogue of Queens and the Quaker Meeting House, so I think our spiritual health was pretty well covered. Plus, we had lunch at the incomparable Biang and later, sugar cane juice from a guy on the street, and even later, apple cider doughnuts. On a gorgeous spring day. And in case anyone was wondering, there is indeed a red-tailed hawk nesting in the Unisphere.

Brant geese at pilings

Filling up on thick green moss

For the long flight home.

Park’s crowded today:

Walkers, joggers, kids, and dogs

Under leafing trees.

Temporary tents

Going up on white tent’s pier.

Such interlopers!

(and if you want more of my haiku, there’s always my haiku book…

A friend sent me this. It’s so beautiful I had to share it with you.

Out in Long Island City yesterday to see the work of my friend Tuguldur, a Mongolian artist working in NYC. I love his work, both the skill with which it’s executed and the concepts behind it. Here’s me, Tuguldur, and the illustrious Cheryl Tan with of one of his works.

Resting cormorants

On pilings facing the wind

Stand like question marks.

In shaft of sunlight,

White tent glows. In another,

Pear trees do the same.

Tug and heavy barge

Slowly pass by. Much later,

Lazy swell rolls in.