7 RONKA: Living in Amish Country

Contributor: Ingrid Bruck

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*Ronka is a haiku form with five lines developed by a poet named Ronkawitz.


whistling

The house sings when strong wind blows.
Don’t dismiss a whistling house as defective
or explain away the sound with wind hole science
and don’t patch the gap under the door sill.
Leave alone this fluting dragon.

~

first butterfly

pink bindweed
violets in grass
bougainvillea and wisteria climb the wall
a white flutterby
another pale plum blossom

~

no doodle

In an island of shade on the ridge
I slip into morning birdsong
and weed my garden in rising heat
serenaded by cock – a – do – do,
a defective rooster lost his doodle

~

hunter with binoculars

I step from the outside shower
warm sun and breeze on bare skin
stricken by blue between clouds
a deep voice calls from a truck on the hilltop,
“lady, put something on”

~

crowing

crowing greets morning
roosters warn others away
barking dogs join the chorus
banter ricochets for miles
and echoes farm to farm

~

first frost

wind plucked leaves glide
against a low cloud ceiling,
set aloft, large yellow snowflakes
jitter and jive to inevitable ground
where grass and weeds wait to wear them

~

awaken

toads sleep under mud
snakes dormant under rocks
grass blades appear on the bare roadside
lone daffodil
trumpets spring


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Ingrid Bruck lives in Pennsylvania Amish country, a landscape that inhabits her poetry. She makes jam, grows wildflowers and enjoys reading and writing short form poetry. Current work appears in Failed Haiku, Otata, Haiku Journal and The Song Is...