Some nights, when the snow’s heavy and the streets empty, and you’re crossing against the light, head down under an umbrella turned inside out by the wind, it’s easy to forget that anything exists except the cold and the damp and the blur of city light—then there’s that moment, that deeper quiet, when you hear your breath begin to mark each step home.
Thrilled to be part of The Woodstock Artists Association Museum’s Ulster Artists Online with so many wonderful painters and mixed media artists. Hope you’ll check out my page and browse other artists.
First hint of sunrise
against cobalt mountain sky
–crystalline silence.
Visit Simple Poems From An Intricate World for more haiku.
After midnight storms
suddenly the harvest moon
–welcomes October.
Vist Simple Poems From An Intricate World for more haiku.
So excited to have my Haiku chapbook on the counter at The Golden Notebook in Woodstock. Thanks so much to Nan and Jacqueline. If you’re not in Woodstock, you can contact me at rousseaunyc@gmail.com to order. Check out the Golden Notebook’s website, though, for print and ebooks—and support indie booksellers who support writers and poets.
This week I saw the sample copy of my new haiku chapbook, and it’s adorable. With the help of web and graphic designer Ben Martel and the printers at Smudge Studio on Carmine Street in Manhattan, I’ve made a low-tech book that serves the form well. Throughout the process, I’ve thought about writers and activists, like Woodstock resident Ed Sanders, who printed and distributed words and images in Manhattan to further a cause. I write haiku as a meditation and to interact with the natural world. It’s not a cause for me, but it’s an important part of my life—and a respite from the city’s constant demands on my senses. My hope is that the book gets lots of mileage—in backpacks, handbags, briefcases, and pockets—communicating the beauty of the natural world that inspired the poems. The chapbook will be for sale at The Golden Notebook in Woodstock soon, and you can also contact me at rousseaunyc@gmail.com for a copy.
Here’s one I wrote today celebrating the first day of September and new beginnings
Under a blue moon
the first breath of September
–luminescent dawn.
~me
Among the ruins
in geometric sandstone
–the weight of footprints.
Instagrams coming out of Mexico today inspired me.
Woodstock art gallery owner, Christina Varga, asked me to contribute some haiku to an erotica ‘zine. Here are two tame poems included in the collection.
In a mirror gaze
curves of pleasure and yearning
–our bodies glisten.
Tugging his belt loop
the pull of simply yes, now
–five minutes alone.
