Tiger Riding for Beginners

Traveling Poet Philosopher & Occasional Wiseacre

a bird alights
 onto a windswept wire;
  then seems to doze.

white smoke rises downriver:
  backdropped by black mountains.

countless bells
 surround the temple --
  each one silent.

village breathes fresh air:
 the last before stalks are burned /
  the valley goes gray.

saplings sprout
 from the ornate trim
  of a once-grand mosque.

buffeted by wind --
 hunched & leaning windward, 
  stoic tears roll.

rain clouds advance:
 an army that won't stop to
  besiege the city.

the fixed boulder
 makes great shelter;
  rolling boulders
 make monkey paste:
 how do baby monkeys know?

birdbath grows from
 fungus on a dead log;
  flitting sparrow
 is disappointed to find
 no water remains within.

light sparkles 
 on shallow water:
  winter marshland.