Haiku

Deep in September

under the night clouds, crickets

sing summer to sleep. - Jeff Barnes

Picnic

Blue fauns, green mastodons, and pink-speckled swans

cavorted on the ground.

We carefully avoided the eyeball daisies

as we spread our blankets down.

A woman stood at an ironing board

on the neon purple grass.

We offered her a sandwich,

but she said she'd have to pass.

Then she rode her board like a surfer

and bade us all goodbye.

She said she had laundry to deliver

as she zoomed off into the sky.

Some fish at at the bottom of a pond

were enjoying their afternoon tea.

We got a craving for ice cream cones,

so we picked some from a nearby tree.

As the day morphed into evening

the daisies all closed their eyes.

The sun gave us a wink and wave

and said he had somewhere else to rise.

We lay back on our blankets

after he vanished from sight

and gazed at the backbone of the universe,

the skeleton of night. - Jeff Barnes