blackbird in Belize

Has it already been more than a month since any of us has posted to haikuworkshop? Sigh.

I’ve been wrestling with the image of blackbirds in Maya Beach, Belize, where Mary and I recently spent 9 very pleasant, winter-free days. I was struck by the fact that so many of these pitch-black birds seemed undisturbed by the hot sun. If I were a blackbird in a tropical climate, I’d be nocturnal!

A related haiku began:

Maya Beach sunrise —
the blackbird’s
long shadow

Then I decided that it wasn’t all that important to note the specific place, and that it was redundant to describe a shadow at sunrise as “long”. I wonder, however, if I’ve taken my editing a bit too far...

sunrise —
blackbird’s
shadow