DAILY PHOTO: Gokarna Beaches

Kudle Beach; Taken in August of 2020 in Gokarna
OM Beach

Tumbling Petals [Haiku]

soft petals,
tumbling & swirling
in a light breeze

Fluffy Flotilla [Haiku]

battleship grey clouds
slide ever nearer, like a 
fluffy flotilla

DAILY PHOTO: Walls of Daulatabad Fort

Taken at Daulatabad Fort in October of 2014

Preening Hawk [Haiku]

a hawk preens --
a break from unflinching
vigilance

Spring Yellow [Haibun]

The pond that was mirror clear in March is obscured by a thousand April flowers. Tiny yellow flowers standing on stiff stalks. The crisscross bands that stabilize the base of each flower somehow make the water look more viscous -- like clear syrup or polished glass. These pale proto-leaves, more root than leaf, float just below the surface. Somehow, these unstable structures hold tightly -- testament to the pond's tranquility.


yellow flowers
bloom from a clear pond
as if from glass 

DAILY PHOTO: Taoist Temple Under Blue Skies

Philippine Chinese Spiritual Temple; Cebu City

Three Thoughts on Shadow

I
Where is my shadow?
I look behind me
&
see that it's 
ill-formed & indistinct.
And I wonder whether
it's 
the quality of the light, 
or
the quality of the me.


II
I read that Oraon shamans
study people's
shadows.
Fat-shadowed people 
are said to be 
ill-tempered,
stubborn,
& 
domineering
[but not necessarily 
fat-bodied.]


III
I heard tell of
a master of shadows.
It might not seem like 
much of an object
of mastery --
shadows being intangible,
but he always knew which way 
he was going
and where the world sat 
at the moment.
[And that's more
than can be said
of the rest of us.]
It was a simple skill
that most could not
be bothered to practice.
Everyone else's inability 
to find value in those 
dark angular patches
was his gain.

Seed of Ambition [Tanka]

over the river,
a seed pod twirls toward
the creeping waters,
and thus a lazy seed
will hitch a thousand miles