Per Diem Archive Details

Per Diem Archive: S. Chhoki December 2012, Children

Children

Haiku by poets, past and present, touching on various aspects of children and childhood: spontaneity, directness and immediacy, questions about origins, aesthetic awareness and beauty, play and healing, child mortality. How children move, exasperate and inspire us to look at life, our surroundings and ourselves; at what it is to be human.

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Author: Shuson Kato
I kill an ant 
and realize my three children 
have been watching.
Author: Nakamura Kusatao
My own child's teeth have 
began to come through in 
all over fresh greenery
Author: Al Fogel
computer crash—
in a panic I call 
my 9 year old
Author: Al Fogel
a faraway place
with strange sounding names--
story hour
Author: Al Fogel
under his pillow
a child leaves a dollar
for the tooth fairy
Author: John McManus
beached medusa
the boy with the longest stick
takes a step forward
Author: John McManus
planetarium
my child's grip
starts to loosen
Author: John McManus
monkey house
my daughter clambers
out of her buggy
Author: John McManus
September gloom
I help my child rebuild
the Jenga tower
Author: Alan Summers
umbilical cord-
a space man’s first
baby steps
Author: Alan Summers
baby photos
from my birth mother…
how do I say hello to me
Author: Alan Summers
sunlit sweat
the young vagrant
sucks a thumb
Author: Alan Summers
two boys giggle
as he enters the bike shop ...
the onion seller
Author: Alan Summers
early spring
winding up balsawood planes
with his son
Author: Kala Ramesh
champa blossoms
   the child plucks
the sky
Author: Kala Ramesh
painting class
the children color each other
into laughter
Author: Kala Ramesh
she looks down
from the tenth floor apartment:
umbrellas on legs
Author: Marion Clarke
Christmas Eve
her new kitchen arrives
from Playmobil
Author: Marion Clarke
tinsel halo
the child asks a British soldier
if he’s been good
Author: Marion Clarke
spring cleaning
my daughter’s ‘to keep’ pile
growing
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