18 Haiku

The utter duckness

of a small black duck gliding

down a seamless stream

A wine like our lives—

berries and pepper above;

underneath, a rose

A train’s lonesome horn

punctuates the lowly drone

of a passing plane

*

Sitting in a pub

drinking wine while the sun sets

in eternity

Seen through a window,

one pinwheel spins in the breeze—

my own whirling life

Such pretty people

doing spectacular things 

for us on tv!

*

Cloud faces kissing

as they roam in an ocean

of sweltering sky

Stone still, serious,

awaiting the appearance 

of the mysterious

Maybe the point of

growing old is noticing

ever more and more

**

Toddling through folly

but unashamed of oneself—

like Mister Magoo!

When I drink a glass

of wine, it’s always for some

higher purpose...

My friends, I must say:

one glass of wine is really

not very much wine!

*

He told all his friends

“The key to the kingdom’s not

texting!” via text

What saint strives to save

our souls more fiercely than he

strives to save his own?

For much of his life

he prepared for an attack

that never happened

*

Were all of these friends 

I’d known before quarantine

just phantoms from dreams?

After all, music

is really just a kind of

fanciful silence

The deeper sleeper

tends to see his waking life

as another dream

.

9 Haiku

When I heard a bird

this morning I didn’t make

his song an idea

 

Emptily I watch

ice cubes melt in orchid pots—

I am all of them

 

I spray cool water

on a parched tomato plant—

scent of gratitude

 

*

 

They’re building a house

across the street that doesn’t

want to be built

                            —paraphrased from Charles Bukowski

 

I hate to say it—

Jack Kerouac drank all his

Buddhism away

 

Even dazzling stars

eventually grow dim—

Tom Cruise ages too!

 

*

 

Footsteps echoing

in the empty office hall—

and then one tired sigh

 

Regarded by youth

as a faintly irksome ghost—

this is getting old!

 

When the sun went down

I knew I shouldn’t take it

so personally

 

 

 

.

9 Haiku

It’s a lonely life—

pitiless geometry

of downtown buildings

He makes his boss rich

and pays his landlord’s mortgage—

no wonder he’s tired!

The morning glories

seem to giggle in the breeze

while we talk business

*

A moment alone—

I find myself thinking of

so many people

Fasting for two days—

when asked how I was, I said

“Very empty”

Calm and unshaven,

refusing all the demands

of a smoky world

*

I just want to gaze

at sky blue morning glories

and not work at all!

That’s one happy soul—

you hear music in her voice

whenever she speaks

Released to the sky,

climbing toward the chalk-faced clouds—

a silver balloon

.

7 haiku

Riot of birdsong

in the blush of morning dusk—

you want me to work?

Man walking alone

in a tanktop in winter

lecturing himself

“In bed with the flu—

for entertainment I watched

an old fly die”

—my friend Ron

*

Sipping tea at dusk,

shoulders droop into looseness—

puppet free of strings

Bright strip mall sidewalk—

blind old man and blind girl clash

their canes in passing

A cloud drifting by

with a Founding Father face—

what’s he plotting now?

*

A grinning shaman

in a listless old palm tree

gives me the finger

.

troublesome days

If this is one of those

troublesome days

when you can’t see the Jesus

in people, say

“Everybody’s okay

to be a face at the party

anyway…”

—seen written on paper in a dream, 12/16/2017

.

9 Haiku

On a stained train seat—

image of a man kissing

his father’s tired head

Bathed in red sunset

the matchstick frames of houses—

bones of a swindle

No need to be scared

of the drinkers at the bar—

after all, they’re you

*

Sunny morning lot—

gull on a streetlamp still lit

a faint orange rose

Under the table

looking for my eyeglasses—

on top of my head!

Battery fading,

that old clock can’t tell the truth—

or is it truer?

*

What a sight to see

passing my gate this morning—

parade of turkeys!

The cat keeps going

in and out of the cottage

while I lay napping

In the twilit clouds

a bug-eyed space alien

grinning back at me

.

15 Haiku

Low cursing gossips

from two passing teenaged girls—

then giddy laughter!

However distant

they still burn and chill at once—

fire truck sirens

Little cat’s white legs

dashing across the asphalt—

winter afternoon

*

Seeing the grey sky

in a puddle in the street—

an empty mirror

By the way a man

crosses the street you can tell

his view of the world

Saturday morning—

wake up and watch the hail blow

and go back to bed

*

In bed with the flu—

lulled by waves of distant cars,

the cat at my feet

Entranced by the sway

of wet leaves in a soft breeze—

hissing April rain

A morning bird sings

TsooEE! TsooEE!—then triplet

bursts of Twit-twit-twit!

*

A brawny old oak

raises its limbs to the sun

while lusty birds croon

Crow on a wire calls

to another, who calls to

another—they’re off!

Pause before a house—

and then its soothing music

I no longer hear

*

Clouds don’t look hungry—

there is so much sky to go

around and around

Two sparrows burst like

fountain sprays from the sidewalk—

what’s exciting them?

Dimes in his rough hand—

only difference between

him and me is luck

.