A gift of spring rains
Washed from the highest tree tops
For mere earthbound souls
Haiku- 30 Apr 2023
Month: April 2023
Senryū- 28 Apr 2023
I don’t want to know
what distant shelling sounds like!
Ignorance IS bliss.
Caveat Scriptor!
There’s a shocking revelation
attuned to every pen nib’s scritch
but writing will, soon, consume you,
If you dare to scratch that itch.
This is not an easy path;
nor breezy way to strike it rich.
There’s no need to parse that sentence;
creative writing is a bitch.
Our Country, Black and Blue?
Perhaps it ‘s finally time to strike
that monochrome, blue striped bastard,
abomination of our flag
(the sacred symbol of our country,
emblem of all that we hold dear,)
that takes a stand for harsh repression,
desperation, hate, and fear.
I reject your blind defiance
of our citizens, repressed
who have gone a step too far
in their hope to find redress.
Their mistaken, hasty actions
don’t confer on you the right
to take our country’s noble flag
and corrupt is as the vile banner
of your self-righteous foolish fight.
The Down-side of Roofs.
“Like the poem, not the content,
of course!”, I say,
as I wait patiently for roofers of my own.
“We’ll be there in the morning…
and out of your hair by noon…
That shed’s a small job- no time at all!”
…
…
…
While making my lunch,
roofing materials arrive…
Trienta Minutos, Señor, the roofers they come!”
…
And three times thirty minutes later I wait,
All alone…
With the cat…
who, at least has flitting birds to stalk
on this sunny afternoon.
Gabba’s Grove
Beside a small pond
hidden in a cedar grove,
a homely shed stands,
indifferently attended,
not for lack of love
but for aching old bodies,
children too busy,
and grandchildren far too young
or moved just too far away.
Where Leviathan Lurks
Pain’s abyssal depths
can’t be adequately plumbed
with a Likert Scale.
15 April Katauta
Apotheosis!
…or is it just apoptosis
that creates that blinding light?
A Passing Palinopsia
A lucid moment,
skitters past and disappears
furtive as a mouse,
into the mounting clutter.
Leaving us all wondering,
“Was it, really, ever there”?
Seeing Red
Amidst a mess of document
left in a box in this old home,
new to us these last few years,
mixed among the old receipts
for plumbing work and seedling trees
and appliance manuals
for appliance dinosuars
long gone to their extinction,
I found a weathered yellow sheet
Typed upon in fading blue,
a restrictive covenant
that pierced my heart. Could it be true?
Did my predecessor here,
in this vibrant melting pot,
this neighborhood of polyglots,
seek, back then to enshrine
his bigotry upon the land
from that point and for all time?
Yes, my friends, I’m sad to say,
around the time my dad was born,
some lofty ass took it to mind
to codify a huge red line
around this humbled cot of mine.
Atavistic Animality
Her skittish regard
seems a justified response
to his vulpine attention.
The Foibles of Springtime
Adjacent vast eucalyptus towers,
Spring, it seems, arrives at last
And in the field, a frost of flowers,
echoes there the winter past.
While golden birds build great bowers
with bright shiny bits amassed,
a-dread that their mate’s ardor sours
leaving them bereft, outcast.
And is it not thus, likewise so
among us higher, wiser species?
We, too, huff and puff and blow
and dress up like Maharishis
then to the local nightclubs go
to espouse our learned theses.
I guess this verdant time of year
drive us all to strut about
in search of mates to curb our fear
of rejection and self-doubt.
Aging
You know it’s aging
when you can’t treat one problem
because of another one!
NaPoWriMo 9 Apr 2023- Chōka “Virtue Signaling Old School Style”
After the redbuds,
when black-haw and paw-paw bloom,
comes winter’s last freeze.
Signaling the virtuous
to sow Mother Earth
with their winter dormant seed.
Prayers for bountiful harvest.
Aroil in Pain 