DAY IN MARCH

--by Tammy Ho Lai-Ming and Reid Mitchell


SHE:
Oh brilliant brilliant weather for the zoo!
Look at the elephants, the lions and the mooing cows.
Shall we write this date in a haiku?

HE:
In my morning cup are grounds to be untrue:
Perambulator, alligators, and scowls.
Oh brilliant brilliant weather for the zoo.

SHE:
Feed the parrots nuts, the pandas bamboo.
Oh my, are the giraffes staring at my blouse?
We must write all this in a haiku!

HE:
The vendors' hands: goddamn, don't eat the food.
What deranged god set amahs and children loose?
Brilliant disgusting weather for the zoo.

SHE:
(My aim is for him to think I am a fool.
Scorn me. Don't make me a substitute spouse.
I know this is a villanelle, not a haiku.)

HE:
Write seventeen sounds:/ the world of dew
Villanelles/are scarce in French mouths.
Oh brilliant brilliant weather for the zoo
We must write all this in a haiku.

("Day in March" was first published in Rhythm Poetry Magazine, Winter 2008/09)