The Essential Etheridge Knight

HAIKU

HAIKU Two hours I've walked ... . . . this Tulsa rain . . . In her house, my wife sleeps, snoring. Yellow Moon rise ... hounds Howl ... my daughter weds soon. 0 my heart is hollow? Nurse hovers ... belly Aches ... old wine, old bones ... 0 my sons! don't forget me 0 Manhattan town! Subways swallow I up SoniaMy "highs" drove her I down! 0 swaying trees, Shining, dripping leaves ... Life's got me on my knees. The Sun comes, the pain flees.... Today I'll boogie down Broadway. 0 comet-dance with mel 99 I'm shower'd ... shaved .. . Waiting on wooden bench .. . Carol Ann visits today! Open! 0 my heart's Flower: Elizabetheridgel I, springtime shower! Some days slip by like clouds in the sky, Or the glimpse of a girl From the edge of the eye. Gulls scream: "Breakfast!" Waves lap against fishing boats. In Puget I am cold. Poor Martin L. King! Death rains steel I down Beale Street Poor Memphis Tennessee! 100 Woe South Africa! Bullets, bones, fires of Apartheid! My bowels won't move. Sigh, cry, broken-hearted Woman, alone ... he smiled ... -Stole your welfare check! Deta! 0 Deta! Where are you? your guitar? Your songs? your legs?-your love? The beach, your bra falling ... Your cat dying ... tears ... We climb the sand dunes. Ah, Marisellal This attic, this music, Our motions, our tongues-aiieel Worcester woman, Fair face of flat "A's," My belly I sing I son I soft, Memphis days! 101 ...