Mark Hillringhouse

Paterson Haiku

See that man
on the corner waving an axe?
Leave that man alone.

Full moon,
salsa and meringue, hip hop, Rap
bass treble volume

A panhandler
on a deserted street—
winter afternoon

At the intersection
The light turns red—
glass shattering

After a night of love,
Condoms like dead jellyfish float
In puddles full of rain

An old woman
Goes down on a slice of pizza;
I watch her fall

How reluctantly
a homeless man emerges
from deep beneath his cardboard

Behind the Coke machine
unseen, hidden by the wall
someone ejaculates

How very strange—
streetlamps coming on at noon
and snow falling

Driving alone
late at night on the interstate
without headlights

I comb my hair
how thin it is: snowflakes
on my dark blue shirt

My mother’s voice:
sea foam, clam shells, salt water
hissing under wet sand