Nine Haiku
every morning god
I make of my body a
bridge, a cat, a corpse
I love the fully
inflated tire upright in
gravel – near the car
I don’t have to go
anywhere today – I move
to make the birds move
the finches threaten
one another simply through
acts of moving close
I long to meet who
I most fear – my mother and
her body in mine
tracing the boy I
see his mother – her hand out-
lined under us both
lifting the blinds – a
morning prayer – prepare this
house to receive light
again the seatbelt
would not go on – not with these
thrashers in the yard
the gate is inside
of me – I am holding it
open with a rock
Originally published in Bombay Gin. Copyright © 2017 by TC Tolbert. Used with the permission of the poet.