a holiday haiku stocking-stuffer from Schenectady . . .
– 2009 Schenectady Stockade Christmas Tree –
Schenectady, NY, a haiku hotbed? It surprised me, too, when I first realized that two highly-respected haiku poets –- Hilary Tann and Yu Chang — were professors at Union College, right down the street from my home in Schenectady’s Stockade Historic District. We each came to Schenectady years ago from distance places — Yu from Taiwan, Hilary from South Wales and myself from an exotic place called Washington, D.C.
Hilary and Yu readily said yes, when I asked them a year ago to help me compile a holiday collection of “real” haiku and senryu as our Holiday Gift to f/k/a‘s readers and our “neighbors” in Schenectady and around the world.
The result was “Holiday Haiku from Schenectady” (pdf.) which has two dozen poems by the three of us, and which is formatted to be printed on two sides of a letter-size sheet and made into a tri-fold brochure.
Here are the poems for those who would rather scroll than click. No matter which holidays you celebrate during this month of special days, may they be joyous for you and all your loved ones.
.. 
..
wintry mix
we make a snow buddha
for Santa
– dag
December rain
a starlet
sheds her tears
parting clouds
she checks the Christmas lights
one by one
red envelopes 
the sound
of children’s laughter
three generations
peering down a gopher hole
winter solstice
Christmas snow
my father’s footsteps
bigger than mine
………… by Yu Chang
red bows decorate
the ‘Closed for the Season’
sign
Christmas Eve
we share the same
wrapping paper
replacing
the paperweight –
another snowstorm
Christmas service
the old carols
with no back-beat
sitting
where I sat as a child
I wait out the storm
Christmas lights 
my eye is drawn
to the house with none
………………. by Hilary Tann
setting up the creche –
the Baby’s name
uttered over and over
married a decade
she hides
the mistletoe
Nana serves
Grandma’s recipes –
Christmas Eve calamari
warm yule
the ice-fishing hole
mostly hole
empty cookie tin —
letting out last year’s
santa suit
frontdoor
to curb —
pine needles and tinsel
……………………….. by David Giacalone
New Year’s eve
a balloon
tied to an empty chair
new year’s day
a squirrel emerges
from the dumpster
……………………….. yc
twelfth night 
a trail of pine needles
down the garden path
– ht
Boxing Day drizzle —
the inflatable snowman
keeps smiling
gray sky
all the way home
from grandma’s house
New Year’s Eve
sleet and snow–
the old man takes baby steps
……………. dag
…. from the brochure “Holiday Haiku from Schenectady”
– click for more Christmas Season Haiku by f/k/a‘s Honored Guest Poets –
– find Schenectady holiday spirit in the Gazette gallery of Stockade Doors –
