First published in True Colour (Redmond, Washington: City of Redmond, 2014) and in the “Japanese Forms” issue of Rattle (#47, Spring 2015), which editor Tim Green has said is the best-selling issue they’ve ever published. Also the featured poem, with an audio recording, on the Rattle website on 23 June 2015.
true colours—
the abstract painting
overpriced
an off-colour joke
from the psychiatrist
colouring
outside the lines
the kindergarten teacher
the realtor
talking too much
about local colour
hardly colourblind
the district attorney
technicolour sunset—
the photographer loads
another memory card
Contributor note:
“Why am I drawn to haiku and related Japanese poetry? Because I’ve always found short forms of poetry to be the most appealing, and haiku is the queen of short poetry. I write because I can’t help but share my passion for haiku (together with longer poetry). This is a chief motive behind my establishment of National Haiku Writing Month. Unfortunately, haiku is widely misunderstood and mistaught, so another reason I continue to write haiku, and write about it, is to help correct these misunderstandings.”