Writings by Thomas Radwick. Mostly poetry and lyrics. t_radwick@yahoo.com

20 Haiku

Sudden razzmatazz
at my ear from a stray fly’s
rusty trumpeting

Morning after rain—
a big blank silvery sky
like a movie screen

My head in the bed
glows bald in a dark window—
where it all goes on

*

The sky’s like a child—
full of goofy faces and
slow sudden changes

Rust patch on a yellow pipe cap:

Big buxom woman
blowing her harmonica
under blazing sun

Little white-haired man
limping uphill and pushing
an old bicycle

*

Tattered flag droops from
its pole at the post office,
swishes in the wind

Happy my belly
is purring so warmly all
merry morning long!

Cold clear winter dawn—
downtown buildings with sun fire
glowing on the glass

*

Strands of dry cheese like
broken Chinese characters—
late dinner table

A frog with flowers
exploding out of his head—
courtyard ceramic

Leaves like golden moths
riding a slant in the wind—
old hotel window

*

In silence—as if
without moving I might catch
my runaround life

In bed with the flu,
feeling my life leak away—
drear January

Standing close, two men
smoke and talk in the cold park—
two clouds between them

*

The pink-blushing sky
above a dirty shipyard—
smudge of winter dawn

Crescent moon grins down
as the glowing world begins—
sun climbing the east

Long islands of clouds
with salmon-colored bellies—
peeking cold sunrise

*

Dusk: paused on a path,
staring at the boiling tides—
two men’s silhouettes

Dusk: trio of gulls
huddled on a slick sand patch—
dispersed by the tide



.

The Ride

I’ve been ... gliding along on the tide
I’ve been ... thinking my life is a ride

I’ve been ... pushed by the wind through the rain
I’ve been ... feeling it happen again

And it makes me want to say

Hey now brother how
You been getting by?
You been enjoying the ride?

While we’re flying right
Through our time we might
Find that we’ve arrived
On the other side

I fly ... fly like blur down the line
I spend … most of my life in my mind

That’s why I’ve got to say

Hey now brother how
You been getting by?
You been enjoying the ride?

While we’re flying right
Through our lives we might
Find that we’ve arrived
On the other side

I’ve been … gliding along on the tide
I’ve been … thinking my life is a ride



.

Flashes 19

Glad
to do
the dishes?

“Poetry is not
a careful thing—
poetry is lamb dust”—Kerouac

Mistaking yourself
for what
inhabits you

*

Another
celebrated
slave of ego

I don’t believe in
karma or telepathy—
I experience them

To arrive
in the world
unwanted

*

To be
welcomed
when you arrive

Handsome
blitherers
in the big parade

Landscapes
littered
with cars

*

The soul
yearns for something
braver

Judgment
is only
self-defense

What
distracts us
from death

*

A habit
of quotidian
courage



.

Now

Clearer
than beer or
a pastis
in Paris
on a bright May
day



.

Crack in the Ceiling

Poetry by Thomas Radwick

Blog Archive