Haiku Shoes

sonnets wear slippers,
ballads like boots
L-A-N-G-U-A-G-E poems,
hip waders, &
haikus, just shoes


hans ostrom 2018

At the Airport

airplanes not flying
sniff gates sadly. they
are too big too enter


hans ostrom 2018

Ducks Are Optimists

Paddle a little,
float a lot. Keep
the upper body
still and sturdy.

Where there's water,
there's food. "A
rounded bill will get
it's way." (Old

duck-saying.) Paddle
and float. Sleep well.
Mutter observations.
Migrate with light.


hans ostrom 2018

Lake Como

The mountains say
What should we do
with all this snow?

The lake says
What should I do with
all these mountains?

Together the mountains
and the lake say Get these
people out of here. We
don't need them. 


hans ostrom 2018

Bird Reticence

Well, maybe if you
didn't try so hard
to understand birds,
they'd share their
observations with you.

They're very busy, they
know how horrible
humans can be, and
they used to be dinosaurs.
Hence the reticence.


hans ostrom 2018

Young Olive Tree

smooth meandering trunk
young olive tree
soft silver mist, Sicily


hans ostrom 2018

Conditional, Tense

I would introduce you
to my friends, but I
don't have any. Hardly.

I'd give an hour-long
speech (favorable)
about your personality,

but I have nothing
prepared. If you would
give me your consent,

I'd kiss you on the cheek--
face or derriere. (Yes,
I am enamored of you,

an I use the term
"enamored of"). I
would do this, I

could do that. Life
lacks luster, and I am
conditionally tense.


hans ostrom
2018

Inside the Cake

Tonight I feel as if
I'm inside an invisible
cake. Reality cake.

I didn't have anything
to do with baking
a cake. I don't know

who baked it, or if
it just baked itself.
I'm simply inside the

cake. Tonight that's
all right. I don't have
to know why the

cake exists or why
I am inside it or why
reality is this cakiness.



hans ostrom

College Test in May

students look at the test
a contract with memory.
sunlight in windows


hans ostrom 2018

Lichen, Sierra Nevada

pale green lichen
on blue rocks, top of mountain.
a patient form of life.


Hans Ostrom

Consider It Done (Hike Haiku)

as we hiked I said
I like you & promised to write
a haiku for you


hans ostrom 2018

Gangster President

vile gangster president
(cult of hatred) makes war
on law and knowledge


hans ostrom 2018

The Stemware of the Bourgeois Garden

tulips. red yellow white orange
flexible stemware
filled with soft secrets


hans ostrom 2018