13 Haiku

As the thunder booms

above the shuddering lake

these birds keep singing

Cigarette in mouth

she bends over to collect

our cabin’s garbage

For breakfast, some flies

circling raspberry donuts—

and a dog with fleas

translated from Velko’s Bulgarian

*

Awake while they snore—

electrical hum and drips

of faucet water

Awake while they snore—

the purple coat on the chair

looks calm and alert

Awake while they snore—

a zigzagging fly decides

to land on my thumb

*

Awake while they snore—

such a luscious symphony

of these birds at dawn!

On the white pavement

a tiny red ant scurries

to avoid raindrops

Summer afternoon—

is that toad-faced cloud trying

to tell me something?

*

Cool rippling water

from a tilted blue bottle

pouring into me

A gleam in his eye

with the first sip of cold beer,

sunset behind him

Open book unread,

watching the downrushing rain—

wet pattering sound

*

Gushing summer rain—

I dream of my tombstone phrase:

A friend of the cats…

.

No Hiding Place

I went up to the hills

To hide my lonely face

The hills were quick to tell me

There ain’t no hiding place

There’s no hiding place

There’s no hiding place

There ain’t no escape

There’s no hiding place

I went up to a man

With eyes like glowing stones

And through a slow sad smile

He told me what I know

There’s no hiding place

There’s no hiding place

There ain’t no escape

There’s no hiding place

I went to see the man

With the medicine

And after flying high

I really understand

There’s no hiding place

There’s no hiding place

There ain’t no escape

There’s no hiding place

I asked a lovely lady

“Will you be my wife?”

She said “If I will

It still won’t save your life!”

There’s no hiding place

There’s no hiding place

There ain’t no escape

There’s no hiding place

.

5 Haiku

Peels off her sweater,

drops it in a parking lot

donation dumpster

Laboring to get

this fly back outside again—

growling at the screen

Busted rusty bin

spilling garbage on a street

swarming with gulls

*

Pretty young woman

in a breeze-blown summer dress

limps by in high heels

Floating like a gull

in the weaving summer winds—

grimy white tissue

.

Flashes 27

Hell

is the worst thing

you can imagine

Be grateful for

all of this,

all of this

Don’t

insist

on lust

*

The somnolent

sadness in

cool jazz

Meditate

not on the object

but on your being

Calling

that beer

mulchspit

*

Actors:

masters at faking

being natural

Television tricks you

into believing the world

is more real than it is

If what they want’s

alright

help them get it

*

How I explain

my loneliness

to myself

Blurred

by going

too fast

Music helps me

become more

who I am

*

“And even if you are right

you’re not right for the reasons

you say you are!”

Nobody’s

special; every

body’s special

Standing

on trains

is my therapy

*

Sad and glad

to remember I’m

a space alien

This man looks

like an actor’s version

of himself

It’s always

the end

of the world

*

What have you done

for your third eye

lately?

Fantasies

slowly

exhausting themselves

He sounds like

the best part of him

is asleep!

*

Gaging a woman’s

psyche by the height

of her heels

Seeing the mess

without corrective

propaganda

There’s part of me

that’s ahead

of me

*

Joy

makes you

juicy!

.