Eight Haiku by Jimmy Pappas

 

EIGHT HAIKU

You always make me
reconsider my ideal
of female beauty.


What does a Dewdrop
World have to do with the death
of my only son?


Why does the stream seem
to me always to flow in
the wrong direction?


You were always like
having a second teacher
helping my students.


How many times can
we look the other way and
not do something now?


The dew sits on the
morning grass and slowly fades
away to nothing.


Which rain beats harder?
The one out there or the one
that falls in my heart?


Why are we sad when
rain brings life to earth? Are we
so tired of this world?

Jimmy Pappas served during the Vietnam War training South Vietnamese soldiers. Published in over 100 journals, he is a retired teacher with an MA in English literature and the Vice President of the Poetry Society of NH. His poem "Bobby's Story" (https://www.rattle.com/bobbys-story-by-jimmy-pappas/) was one of ten finalists in the 2017 Rattle Poetry Contest and won the 2018 Readers Choice Award. It is included in his first book Scream Wounds (A15 Press), a collection of poems based on veterans' stories. He was the winner of the 2019 Rattle chapbook contest for Falling off the Empire State Building. His interview with editor Tim Green is on Rattlecast #34 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfbfGen4lng). His poem "The Gray Man" (https://www.rattle.com/the-gray-man-by-jimmy-pappas/) was nominated for a Pushcart Prize.