Tiger Riding for Beginners

Traveling Poet Philosopher & Occasional Wiseacre

a copse of bamboo
 shades the mossy creek rocks,
 deepening their green.

a Chinese Banyan,
 belted with prayer plaques,
 entreats but sky & soil.

when I was a child,
 roosters aggressively charged;
 now: they flee, clucking.

the tree that reaches
 over the hot spring-fed pond
 thrives on steam treatment.

the flower bobs
 on its long, stiff stem.
 the sage is unmoved.

the bee wallows 
 in pollen like a drunk
  sprawls on a bar’s floor.

winter clouds:
 will they / won't they rain? or snow?
 or just menace?

the sunflower 
 that bows its head in the sun
  feels pensive.

bougainvilleas
 beside the grand temple steps
 have dropped petals,
 but it seems the gardners
 never let them hit the ground.

the river trickles.
 but its broad shoulders tell 
 of expectations.