Bridget Talone, Joe Fritsch, and Leah Umanksy read for Underwater New York at the 2nd Annual New York City Poetry Festival on Governor's Island. To gear up for the reading, they each wrote us some new haikus. 

HAIKU BY JOE FRITSCH

1.
Round the river wound
’round round of land                    the earth there
soaked stones                   held summer

2.
Docking all and more
hull to shore comes close…….. Oh, BOAT!
I too hate water.

HAIKU BY LEAH UMANSKY

1.
Past the water’s lull
a seeming step to the past
where all things prosper

2.
All islands have charm
but is there a Caliban
off the shore of the City?
 

HAIKU BY BRIDGET TALONE

1.
When Doves Cry, Alt Version
[Prince Rogers Nelson]

This is what it sounds
like when Govs cry: Doo Doo
Doo. Doo Doo Doo Doo.

2.
6 Haiku from “Castle Williams Gets A Facelift”

Brainchild was a
three-story sleepover;
a prison donut

7-to-9 feet
thick. Brainchild was a ghost
[powdered sugar robe].

Like lawnmowers, we
likened him with our fans
into something shy

and walkable. Pig
and teen centers. Brainchild
waves to the public

with whiteout hands. He
is 200 years old and
still he licks his fin

-gers. I have offered
to paint his nails No One Was
Hurt. Red. A nice thought.