Mid-autumn darkness—

my neighbor’s crowing rooster

jolts me out of bed.

Rooster

Silly old rooster!

Do you think the storm will stop

because you’re crowing?

Silent

Last days of summer—

the neighbor’s bantam rooster

falls strangely silent.

rising too early

even before the rooster

swallows all the stars

Icy spring morning—

even the red rooster’s crow

is stuck in his throat.

summer’s first heat wave—

even the loudmouthed rooster

is too stunned to crow

first journey of spring—

wakened by the rooster’s crow

long before daybreak

ragged old rooster

welcoming the year’s first day—

white oak’s last leaf falls

walking the fence line

while a rooster keeps scolding

the late-rising sun

first dawn of the year—

stuffing the red rooster’s crow

into a feed sack