Dave Russo

One Time, One Meeting

     the white hound
circles a hung, gutted doe
     autumn evening

The god of all things winds a two-lane blacktop through Alleghany County. She considers her handiwork and what we’ve made of it. Rows and rows of Christmas trees up and down shaved mountains—a model train landscape. Leftover pumpkins sink like fentanyl into the hills. She slows down for a man walking in the middle of the road. He says he’s scaring the snakes away. She nods and drives on.

Late sun on ton bales. Scent memory from haying time. A gang of wild turkeys glides over the car to a stubble field below. Night comes.

Possum across the headlights. Bobcat flash. Lines from a murder ballad. Welding sparks from a metal shed. Welcome in red neon by three crosses on a hill. A flying squirrel throws himself at the moon.

     chickadees fussing…
bits of Pangea
     wash up by the river

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About the Author

Dave Russo’s haiku have appeared in Frogpond, Modern Haiku, and Acorn, among other journals, and in the New Resonance 5 anthology (Red Moon Press, 2007, 2019). Dave organizes events for the North Carolina Haiku Society and is the society’s web administrator. He is also a founding member of The Haiku Foundation and has managed the foundation’s website from its inception.

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