October surprise—
 
a bright-faced dandelion
 
pops up in my yard.

 
 
 

October surprise—
 
a seventy-year-old man
 
decides to come out.

 
 

First-of-May surprise—
 
a way opens before me
 
where none was before.

 
 
 

Waning days of spring—
 
a surprise gift of coffee
 
arrives in the mail.

 
 
 

Midwinter surprise—
 
in my left shoe a cricket
 
chirrs a morning song!

 
 
 

December surprise—
 
the first bloodred camellia
 
makes the crow look twice.

 
 
 

In my coffee cup
 
a spider weaves a new web—
 
autumn’s first surprise.

Surprise

 
 
 

surprise autumn snow
 
filling a brown earthen bowl
 
for only an hour