8 Haiku

Embrace of sunrise!
Train bursting from a tunnel
doesn’t seem to groan

Walking in the wake

of his sweet leafy pipe smoke
under lead grey skies

Lying beneath stars—

why do I find the airplanes
most fascinating?

*

Before dawn: champagne

moon over a hissing sea—
cars seem to whisper

Humorless highrise
defying the sky with its
angularity

Under bold spring sun

feeling sweetness in each step
hearing the trees breathe

*

He asks me the time,
finger-thick streak of dried blood
under his cheekbone

Chasing the gleaming

twin lines of the tracks, this train
has no conductor!



.

Flashes 26

What’s
required
is kindness

Americans at leisure:

just resting up
to go psycho!

A style

supported by
insupportables

*

City streets scenes—
reminding you so forcibly
of the failure of the world

Don’t

kill yourself
over stupid shit

The greatest

gift is
calmly sitting still

*

I’m not afraid

of the sadness of life,
he thought as he entered the bar

If you’re going full throttle

about something all the time
you will crash badly

The courage

to look the other guy in the eye
and smile

*

“I’m an actor alright—
but only when I’m
kidding around!”

The start of the journey

was only a pretext
for something unseen

I hate this age

I’m a rebel
of time!

*

It seems like

a silly ruse
all of it

That star

up there
is helping me

Playing golden music

in the golden butter sun
and realizing it’s my birthday

*

“This ale

tastes like
a copper penny!”

They live a mean life—

so that you can live
in a hothouse

At leisure in public—

and not having
to talk!

*

“It’s hard

being young—
I didn’t like it!”

When fame came
he was already
tired

 “When I’m not living in

a delusional fantasy world
I get very depressed!”

*

Be

Here
Buddha

Don’t

envy him
his woman

Too much

toughness
is death



.

10 Haiku

Drenched streets before dawn—
hard rain popping underfoot,
everything gleaming

Under a street lamp

he keeps thrashing and punching
a foe who’s not there

Tiny black bird’s song—

like squirting silver liquid
in the sunny air

*

Old men turn into

babies and laugh in these clouds
that keep drifting past

A smiling toad’s face

of clouds in the wind-torn sky—
platinum twilight

Cigarette model

free from his billboard era—
now a puff of cloud

*

Tonight’s drooling rain—

as if the roof of heaven
had ten thousand leaks!

She’s tracing her eyes

with a pencil stub on this
bumpy speeding train!

Rushing water sound

of wind in trees and traffic
hurrying homeward

*

The late plum blossoms

pink against a stormy sky
look like fleeing birds

 

—Thanks to CJK

.

6 Haiku

Bright little bird’s voice
in the first blush of morning—
I join him, sneezing

Through gloom like a glove,

a gash in the raw dawn sky—
our slow train grumbles

In the garden, I

sit lonely and underdressed—
the birds sing triplets

(translated from Velko’s Bulgarian)

*

Lone crow squalls at dusk—
gazing at the palm tree bark
like an ancient scroll

A white wine spritzer;

shrill chatter in the cafe—
maybe some whisky?

What more do I want?

Lying on a rumpled bed,
birds heralding Spring



.

Flashes 25

Soul:
that goodtime
sadness!

The smile

of someone who is
not nice

Love playing guitar—

or love my self
playing guitar?

*

Solved the problem!
But it doesn’t
go away…

Behold!

Before your very eyes!
The Urban Catastrophe!

Avoiding a wrong choice

after seeing its error
in a dream

*

As our next stop,

the train announces
where we’d just been

Right now

what is looking
through your eyes?

My rebellion:

sit still, shut up
and try to be kind



.

13 Haiku

The diamond glow
of twisted sunlit branches
after an ice storm

Under dull street lamps

the distant scraping sound of
a train we can’t see

Making clouds of breath

in the misty lamp-lit dusk—
wheels, footsteps splashing

*

The morning after

Valentine’s Day—some flowers
dashed on a grey beach

Pair of startled birds

burst off a wind-gusted fence—
shrieks like creaking wings

The sudden quick shriek

of a window yanking down—
cry of a hurt bird

*

Blue guitar notes, pots

clattering in the kitchen—
Sunday afternoon

Immaculate hiss

of the slithering ocean—
a wet panting dog

Soft whispering rain—

snort of a trash truck’s brakes
before dawn arrives

*

Rumbling morning train—

a woman making her face,
the mirror jiggling

Sitting silently,

speeding backwards on a train—
grey world gliding by

Tap of a chrome cane—

a muscular black man’s hand
loosely clutches it

*

Watching the world pass
in a raindrop on a train’s
window—so clearly!



.

Flashes 24

Called him
crazy
as a compliment

A celebrity blessed

with the graceless grace
of perfect shallowness

Avoid

whatever obscures
beauty

*

Shameless

humility—
a key to fun!

“Holy Guacamole, Batman—

all these workers
are Mexican!”

They’re

all
you

*

Lamenting

the train
you missed

Lost

my chain
of thought

Did the driver

just call this stop
“Wolf Party”?

*

Blues: a loneliness

that connects you
to everything

Not impressed
by my
shadow

The greatest

rebellion
is kindness



.