an abandoned beach
the red tide has chased away
everything with legs
This was the most lightly comical haiku of the week—a poem very much in the classical mode. Looking out over the beach, the poet realizes that the humans, the birds, the dogs, and even the crabs have been chased away by the red tide.
What she doesn’t say (which gives the poem that added bit of weight that makes for a fine haiku) is that those creatures who COULD flee from the poisonous waters HAVE fled.
The less mobile creatures may not be so lucky. —Clark Strand