Cheeky Crawler [Free Verse]

Photograph of a bug on a Fleabane wildflower on Namsan, south of Gyeongju, South Korea.
Does the bug
atop a wildflower
think itself master
of all it surveys?

Apricot Cloud [Haiku]

Photograph taken in the Samse Tea Estate in Karnataka, India.
apricot tinge
on a distant cloud
tells of day's end.

Gaur [Lyric Poem]

Photograph of a Gaur taken at the Mysore Zoo in Karnataka, India.
Let me introduce the Gaur.
It's a cow, but superpowered.

It's made of thick slabs of muscle,
And I wouldn't suggest you tussle.
They aren't cattle you can rustle,
That is, unless - in point of fact --
You're eager to be rustled back.

Smash Fist [Senryū]

Photograph of Netravati Peak in Karnataka, India.
where hill meets clouds: 
knuckles of a Hulk-like fist
spark a daydream.

Cheetah Speed [Lyric Poem]

Photograph of a Cheetah taken at the Mysore Zoo in Karnataka, India.
Swiftly sprints the slender Cheetah,
running smoothly as Velveeta.
But right now it can't rouse its feet-ah,
and slogs just like a Walmart Greet-ah.

Meerkat Lecture [Lyric Poem]

Meerkats: Taken at the Mysore Zoo in Karnataka, India.
Please allow me a conjecture:
One Meerkat stood to give lecture,
But as with me, as a pupil,
Other Meerkats lacked the scruple
To make a show of listening,
Finding the walls more interesting.

Mountain Dance [Senryū]

Photograph taken near George Everest Peak, outside of Mussoorie, India.
in the mountains:
vivid & invisible
are dance partners.

Mountain Road [Common Meter]

Photograph taken on Lal Tibba Road in Mussoorie, Uttrakhand, India.
The mountain road is sometimes flat,
but it's not ever straight.
It winds through woods -- so deep and dark --
but where spotlights await.

Mimicry [Senryū]

Gray (Hanuman) Langur on a road barrier on the Lal Tibba Road.
Hanuman Langur
mimics a lounging housecat;
then paws at nothing.

Vanish [Haiku]

Photograph taken in Mussoorie, India: Woman in brightly colored attire hauls forage for cattle on a rainy day.
brightly-attired
forage-hauling woman
vanishes in fog.