Gabbi and Christy's travel haikus

Gabe and I wrote haikus as we traveled Hwy 50 across Kansas and Colorado, then on up to Idaho and Oregon. We would each select the topic for the other. — Christy

July 2011

Tattered —CK
Wind blows across grass
Finally reaching my yard
Torn flag points the way


Travel —GK
Carried down this road
that stretches out like a prayer
asking for a map


Vindicated —CK
My word was not loud
I got my message across
I can now move on


Mountains —GK
Oh the looming walls
taunt me to scale the brown earth
I climb toward the sun


New Faces —CK
I cannot find you
No one looks familiar
I once knew them all


Colorado —CK
Acres of sage brush
line roads that look wet from sun
The mountains are close

Sangre de Christo —CK
Pilgrims reach the sky
Saints live high in these mountains
Dust devil follows



Four at the hot springs —CK
Red tape stuck to glass
Wind makes it crackle and move
Pieces of windmills

Spacious mountains span
distances and horizons
A bird flies across

Red, yellow, purple
Flowers shout out their colors
Desert sands listen

Ghosts in tee pees hear
desert rabbit run through brush
Ears above cactus



Baker City, OR —GK
Empty town houses
looked perfect from the surface
Quiet streets were home

Cows —CK
One calf leans under
Drinks milk in Oregon field
Cascades watch the herd

Leaving Home —GK
Suitcase packed with dimes,
I’m leaving the fields I’ve known
for copper windows

Summer Heat —CK
Road so hot and black
makes eyes turn to red flowers
Warm winds blow them closed

Railroad Tracks —GK
Wrapping round the hill,
my ear to the steel waiting
for ground to tremble

Red Lipstick —CK
Lying alone, deep
under the ground, white, but for
her lips still so red