.
Underfoot
Fescue and clover:
A luxuriant carpet
Fit for a king’s feet.
.
.
Murder
They take noisy flight,
Leaving the harvest’s stubble
To hungry field mice.
The crows will not make a sound
When they return for the mice.
.
.
Hunger
_Silent and stately,
The prince of the great forest
Comes to feed in his meadow.
_The hunter gives thanks.
Providence has smiled on him:
Here is food for his children.
.
.
Benjamin Daniel Lukey lives near Monroe, North Carolina. He teaches high school English classes whenever he is not fishing or writing poetry. His new collection, What We Leave, is available now in paperback and on your Kindle device.
A wonderful trio! They lead beautifully into each other. The beginning Haiku, then (my favourite) the Tanka. The noise and the silence of the crows here paints such vivid imagery and then “Hunger” tinged with sadness. Thank you for these lovely poems.
These are indeed beautiful poems making elegant use of the syllabic forms. In “Hunger,” there is a nice contrast between the words “feed” and “food”–and between the hunger felt by beast and hunter. The hunter’s hunger is greater in a way, because he seeks food not for himself but for his children. Still, there is sympathy for the unsuspecting stately prey. “Murder” asks the question of defining what murder is. And the crows appear just as much to premeditate their slaughter as any human murderer. “Underfoot” is a definition poem with a twist. Why is such luxury “underfoot,” which might mean unwanted and troublesome? The twist well satisfies the haiku requirement for a thoughtful change of perspective–but does so with the title as an integral part of the whole. Well done.
These Japanese forms are well executed, adhering to the traditional rules including subtle seasonal references. The titles augment the poems (“Murder” is my favorite, with its double entendre). “Hunger” makes a deft and subtle point about the necessity of hierarchy.