9 Breaths of Monsoon Season in Ontario by Eli Sokoloff Harris
1.
The sumac bushes bloom
As the shield passes us through
Its granite hands
A heavy whisper is the campfire’s only song
2.
I know of two men:
A man who knows the future
And a man who chooses not to
3.
As a winter lodge carries a serenity
Inside its polyurethane doors,
A cabin will ease you into
The neighbouring dimension
Just quickly enough to wake a sleeping cat burglar
And steal all your precious seconds
From under your snivelling nose
4.
I’ve made more mistakes than
Two parents on their 8th week of parenthood
And I have learnt less than they have on their 9th
5.
A tent will usher you through a forest door
Colouring your cataract eyelids
So you cannot see
Your children anymore
6.
The train-tracks rumble softly;
I know a train comes soon
I sip from my can
And chunks of gravel shake beneath me
7.
Tefnut smiles down therapeutically
And opens her hands wide
To shatter the cerulean heavens;
We are grateful for the rain
Her sundogs howl around her waist
8.
When the autumn breaks
The big organ is always a little off key
Our paddles battle the waves valiantly, and
do we ever rush forward,
The river’s current no match
For last night’s treachery.
9.
When elegies for the voice are made,
And not just for the heart, then perhaps
I shall write one about the monsoons
That laugh at your very existence
And how the candles and the nighttime
Are always running a race
To see who is extinguished first
10.
Even though I love you,
I want you to go:
Please don’t see me just as a vain and ignorant God
I’m only so young, for such a small deity.
And I know that the vegetables don’t always grow
And the canoes don’t sail like they used to
But someday I’ll take you to where they do
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We’re proud to presented our next Pessimistic Haiku featured poet, Eli Sokoloff Harris! Eli Sokoloff Harris is a Jewish singer, songwriter, and poet from Toronto, Ontario. He studies classical music at Wilfrid Laurier University. During the spring and summer seasons, he is an outdoor educator at various Outdoor Education centers and Summer Camps in British Columbia and Ontario. This is his first published work.
