Aporos Haiku

Haiku by Nicholas Johnson

Packing Peanuts

Ah, these wonton crisps
A secondhand retelling
Of a wonton crisp

for P.J.K.

the best thing about
the definite article
is that it is the

never trust the bald
barber — he is a man who
has no empathy

the stench of horse dung
decomposing in the street
as the rain begins

a blizzard of limbs
in the tae-kwon-do dojo
behind foggy glass

how many people
have I seen so far that I’ll
never see again?

the autumn chestnuts
bombard me mercilessly
on a cloudless day

what mystery drives us
to percussion, delicate
anarchy of skin?

in the winter street
it is not ice, but ground glass
slowly I’m breaking

the night is still, young
but I cannot coax this sound
out of a woman

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