Xyloquirk Books
fiction, poetry, and art of the offbeat and surreal

HAIKU WONDER contains over eight hundred O'Brien haikus. Now the plight of the natural world is on Pete's mind, and he is healed in his meditations on it and on mundanity as he walks in the woods. Here salavation lies in roaring wranglestamples, towering basketball players with Saskatchewan just above their heads, and light blue elephants rarely to be seen at airports.
Inside this book...
61
in the middle of
a thank you, something like a
hope that is rising
62
​i came here to write
a poem, but when i saw
your words mine left me
​​
63
how did the poem
go? i'm afraid i'll ne'er know
(and i turn to go)
64
what seems to be the
problem? see the gray kittens
just chasing the sun?
​​
​65
​i inch towards the
dragon as i become an
invisible knight?
​
66
​offset by the one
resolution, a ready
supposition: us
​​
67
quiet in the night,
unquiet dreams that refuse
sleep unfold and breathe
68
quiet in the night,
sense leaves the table for a
lute as't gets the vibe
​
69
here and there the dark
ribbon of a thing unwinds
like a sudden plot
70
dark as the sometimes
thread of a ponderous sound
before cheerful doves
71
out at night and the sky opens with a memory?
72
if your heart is on
fire, catch it before the man
on the stairs falls down!
​
(and if all goes well,
he won't fall, in fact i'm sure
he doesn't, fear not)
​​
73
"catch me o'er there!" (who
lays a pencil down and sobs
about a nothing?)
74
​on a tired sunday,
the horn's opus number is
ninety-two point one
75
uncomfortable
and locked in prison, people
clad in stark nightmares
76
is quintessential
the lubrication of fast
movements in the dark?
​
77
the euphoria
of snails is oft to be seen
when they're on lettuce
78
have you smelled enough
of the sound of the sight? or is
it bubbly or gone?
​
79
​frère jacques, dor-
mez-vou is the comb's swift stroke
on the eighteenth cue!
An excerpt from HAIKU WONDER.
Copyright 2020 by Pete O'Brien. All Rights Reserved.