Five haiku — Summary

Dave BontaContemplative

moth in our room a dull landscape with one flower pot

the finest life drops of dew hanging on the leaves

a finger to feel my eyes going to see the queen

black man in a mourning suit afternoon chapel

a kiss in the park— I begin to doubt my own journal

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These five haiku read like snapshots, each one catching a plain moment and leaving it a little unsettled. A moth in a room becomes "a dull landscape with one flower pot," as if the speaker is looking at the scene with a flat, slightly bored eye. Then the mood brightens with dew on leaves, which the speaker calls "the finest life," a quiet moment of admiration.

The middle poems turn stranger and more private. A finger touching closed eyes on the way "to see the queen" suggests anticipation, though the exact situation is hard to pin down. The man in a mourning suit at an afternoon chapel adds a solemn, observed note, with the speaker standing outside the scene as a watcher.

The last haiku shifts to a kiss in the park, and it makes the speaker doubt "my own journal." That line suggests that lived experience can overturn the neat records we keep of it. Overall the mood is observant, understated, and gently uncertain.

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