For David E. LeCount Who Wrote 148,000 Haiku

 

For David E. LeCount Who Wrote 148,000 Haiku

Four pens in shirt pocket 
because moments like frogs 
come, go

Red, black, blue, gray
because nature
has moods

Index cards
behind the pens, so words
won’t wander

Fresh ink 
from pen to card—
raindrops, petrichor

One life 
won’t fit
in three lines

Today we bury you
in green shirt,
full pocket

Above you
come spring everlasting
flowers bloom

Their roots 
hairy and soft,
grip pens 


(Teacher David,
reading my haiku 
you’ll need the red pen)

…..

I wrote this poem the night before David’s memorial service and read it at the service. He was listening from beneath fresh dirt on the hillside across the street.

David always had a shirt pocket full of pens, plus index cards behind them. Every day he wrote 6 to 12 haiku. For 50 years. That’s 148,000 haiku.

Hear me: