Grazing Deer [Senryū]

grazing deer
pays hikers no heed:
too noisy for threat.

Moose Limerick

A tour bus sticker of mating moose
led a tourist to say, "What the deuce?"
"I just cannot deal
with a tour bestial,
and the memories that it might induce."

Frankfurt Limerick

Photograph of Old St. Nicholas Church in Frankfurt am Main's town square at dusk.
A streetwalker from Old Town Frankfurt
had a proclivity for getting hurt.
'Twasn't violent clientele.
She tripped and she fell
when heel met cobble met tight skirt.

DAILY PHOTO: A Grand Cafe, Frankfurt

Image

Photograph of a restaurant in Frankfurt am Main's City Centre (Altstadt.)

PROMPT: Stronger

Daily writing prompt
What’s a moment that made you realize you were stronger than you thought?

Many times. In many ways. Not always good. One time in a packed conference room for a mandatory graduate seminar, I realized I’d forgot to wear deodorant on an Indian summer day in Georgia, and — thus — smelled stronger than I’d thought. (Maybe, I’d put on the deodorant, but it — being as exhausted as I — hadn’t the will to stay in the fight.) Of course, when I first caught a whiff, my internal monologue was like, “Oh man, who skipped the shower!” But after a couple pit sniffs made as surreptitiously as I could manage, there was no lying to myself further. (No lying about the smell, and no lying to myself that pretending to wipe my lip on my collar was really any less gross than just owning the sniffing my own pit.) I — on that occasion — was the stinky kid.

DAILY PHOTO: Stairway to Heaven, Tikal

Photograph of a temple with steep steps at Tikal in Guatemala.
Photograph of the rickety steps up to the top of Temple IV at Tikal, Guatemala.
Incidentally, the Stairway to Hell (at Temple IV, Tikal)

PROMPT: Simple Pleasure

Daily writing prompt
What’s a simple pleasure in life that brings you joy?

A breath of air.

Drunkard’s Cask [Limerick]

A drunkard put a cask atop his car
so he wouldn't always have to find a bar.
Under that kind of weight --
The car's range: km - 8,
But his own range per liter wasn't that far.

Snail [Limerick]

Photograph of a large snail shell taken near Simontornya, Hungary.
The snail's friends and family were critics,
claiming -- despite being hermaphroditic:
so, with two ways to coit --
neither did it exploit,
but read books in its shell, strange & cryptic.

Winter Sunlight [Tanka]

Photograph of the Pest side of Budapest taken from Gellért Hill.
low winter sun
shines upon the city
while residents
walk shadow-dimmed streets
and fluffy clouds grow angry.