Peter Newton

It’s True

Sun-flooded, wind-shielded,
an unbidden solitude fills the room,
nothing but the view to begin the day.
The moon’s work with the sea carries on,
a baker kneading bread, its push and pull
soundless at this distance. Few sounds
but the scuff of my bare feet
on the thick carpet, the rhythm
of the routine I have become.
I sit with my back against
the sun-warm wall, level my chin
with the light-line. Reaching out to see
no matter what the world has done.

the wren's nest
watching it through winter
become nothing

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About the Author

Peter Newton is the author of several books in the Japanese short form traditions of haiku, haibun, and tan renga. His newest book of haiku, Glide Path (Red Moon Press, 2022), won second place in the 2023 Haiku Society of America Merit Book Awards. His most recent collection of haibun is Part-Time Gods (Snapshot Press, 2022).

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