Looking out

[rayheinrich]

While we usually think of haiku as having a surprise or using few adjectives
and adverbs, there are many that don't have the first and possess the last.  
Haiku are really hard to pin down.

The only word that you might remove is "bare", though I like it better un-removed.
Taking out either "pour" or "wet" robs the haiku of its pivot because the two parts
in this haiku are formed by the comparison of air to water: That air, like water, "pours".

over my bare feet
refreshed air pours
this wet morning

And on haiku in general:
The two parts of a haiku are directly related. The second part can be a (hopefully
surprising) result of the first, a comparison, the answer to the riddle the first part posed, or
just an elaboration of the first part.

Some examples of subtle pivot points by Basho: (one of the three [or five] greatest haiku masters)

In the cicada's cry
No sign can foretell
How soon it must die.

No one travels
Along this way but I,
This autumn evening.

In all the rains of May
there is one thing not hidden -
the bridge at Seta Bay.

Clouds appear
and bring to men a chance to rest
from looking at the moon.

No blossoms and no moon,
and he is drinking sake
all alone!

The first soft snow!
Enough to bend the leaves
Of the jonquil low.

all above by Basho


The generally accepted great masters of haiku (though some omit Shiki as too "modern" and
Sojun as being "pre-haiku" ):

Ikkyu Sojun    (1394-1481)
Matsuo Basho (1644 - 1694)
Yosa Buson (1716 - 1784)
Kobayashi Issa (I763 - 1827)
Masaoka Shiki. (1867 - 1902)

Google them; good examples are the best way to figure haiku out.