Category Archives: Poetry

Fake Snow,Real Cold [Haiku]

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fake snow from
 fountain spray in wind;
  the cold is real.

Solo? [Haiku]

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Photograph of an egret flying over the Gomti River in Lucknow, Madhya Pradesh, India.
solo bird flies
 over sprawling waters
  with upside down mate.

Gateless [Lyric]

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Photograph of a gate at Kothi Gulistan-i-Eram [कोठी गुलिस्तान-ए-इरम] in Lucknow, Madhya Pradesh, India.
A Wall -- one may love or hate.
   But picture one without a gate.
   It is our ever-present fate
      to need to see from either side.

Soul Deaf [Lyric Poem]

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This mural is in Lucknow, India. I believe it's by Jace, and -- if not -- it is certainly styled after his work. 
As I've traveled around the globe,
   I've felt the music from some souls --
   Those who exude, in part or whole,
      a secret and sacred rhythm.

And when their tunes did call to me
   I felt a yearning to be free
   to dance and sing, if out of key,
      yet ever so resonantly. 

Who could have known that I'd go deaf.
   With ear to ground, nothing was left.
   It felt like a horrible theft
      from all (and yet received by none.)

Shadowlands [Haiku]

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Photograph of Vang Vieng, Laos at sundown.
pale orange skies
 over dark silhouetted
  shadowlands.

Superabundance of Buddhas [Free Verse]

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Photograph taken inside a Buddhist Temple in Luang Prabang, Laos. 
The reclining Buddha oversees
   the diligent seated Buddha.

Is this an analogy of the mind,
   or just a monk's proclivity
      toward a superabundance
         of Buddhas?

Angry Skies [Haiku]

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Taken in Luang Namtha in Northern Laos, near the border with China. 
orange-fringed
 dark clouds drift in blue skies
  just before dusk.

Ducks in a Bunch [Haiku]

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Waterfowl on Rudrasagar Lake in Melaghar, India.
clustered armada
 of ducks drift across
  open water.

Iconic [Free Verse]

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Bruce Lee statue by Cao Chong-En located on the Avenue of Stars, Tsim Sha Tsui East, Kowloon, Hong Kong.
Everyone gets to be a person,
   Few become icons:

 What is it to have a lasting 
      image more well-known 
          than one's work? 

 Che Guevara, Bruce Lee,
    Heath Ledger's Joker -- 

 Images you can find on 
   back-alley walls from Lagos
   to Prague to Kochi
   to Seoul to Santiago
       and back again. 

Seen day-after-day by people
   who never saw Enter the Dragon
   or read of the Cuban Revolution,
   or saw Nolan's Batman Trilogy,
      but they know the faces. 

They have thoughts about them
      -- and, sometimes, strong feelings --
   just like so many people have 
   thoughts about Alexander the Great 
       based solely on his name
       and a rough impression of history.

What must this be...
    blessing or curse ...
       if icons had some way to care?