Two boats the yellow and the blue
Are moored against the pilings
Behind them rises the great double sail
Which two little figures unfurl in greeny gold
Two houses stand higgledy-piggledy on the wharf
Their blue walls pierced by intermittent windows
A homunculus in an orange shirt strides
Or stands with legs apart
Never before did this image appear
Phenomenally on earth
Never will it grace the walls of MOMA or the Frick
The old lady who made it never tried to sell it
Never sought for fame

After he lost mobility my father
Diligently composed haiku
Which he regarded as five seven five syllables
No trembling plum blossoms or gathering snow
Just his dependency upon my mother