Nine Holiday Haiku
Lenard D. Moore
1996
9th Grade
1
December night —
assembling in the den
the purple bicycle
2
black dance ensemble
dances beneath mistletoe —
windsound ongoing
3
African wedding
at the Kwanzaa celebration —
the full moon rises
4
a brown-eyed woman
dusting off last year’s ornaments —
shadow of a pine
5
twelve-year-old girl
thumbing through Christmas cards —
cedar-scented room
6
dreadlocked mother
in the winter homeplace
unwrapping gifts
7
Christmas Eve
an apple-stuffed stocking hangs
from the mantelpiece
8
a little girl sings
Christmas carols with her mother —
night snow falls and falls
9
on Christmas night
the progression of falling snow —
the sound of bells