Cloudy Sky [Haiku]

Photograph of Chihkan Tower in Tainan, Taiwan.
look up: cloudy skies
from the upper story,
blot green yard from mind.

Yellow Blossom [Haiku]

yellow blossoms
herald the Spring:
fragrance spreads the news.

Ships at Anchor [Haiku]

Photograph of Kaohsiung Harbor in south Taiwan.
ships in harbor,
anchored fore and aft,
await the typhoon.

The Temple That Never Closes [Haiku]

Photograph of the Taoist Temple / Cultural Center at Kaohsiung's Central Park.
the streets are dark --
even streetlamps rest -- but
light spills from the temple.

Red Maple [Tanka]

early Spring seed pods
of Red Maple hold tight
- patiently —
til one day in late Spring:
they’ll drop, spin, and fly.

Fogless Fog [Haiku]

white blossoms 
seen through still bare trees:
looks like fog, sans fog.

Alone in the Cold [Haiku]

solitary duck
huddles with itself,
against the cold.

Illusory [Free Verse]

Photograph of miniature rabbit sculptures at Fo Guang Shan, near Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
Nothing is what it seems,
or as it feels it should be.

The world is full of
smoke & mirrors --
neither here nor there...

And yet everywhere...
& everywhen.

Vagabond [Lyric]

Photograph of a statue of a young vagabond taken at Fo Guang Shan [佛光山,] near Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
Each Soul contains its Vagabond 
- Who yearns to travel light & free -
But they load too much baggage on,
Then tether him to a big tree.

Nameless / 无名 [Lyric Poem]

Photograph taken in Hualien, Taiwan at the Hualien Temple and Dongjing Temple (花蓮寺東淨寺) [Buddhist.]
They call me Nameless,
Well-known as fameless.
My plans are aimless.
My faults are blameless.
My chess is gameless.
My disgrace, shameless?

But my glasses are framed.
My passions are inflamed.
My wild horses are tamed,
And my arrows are aimed.
All due credit is claimed,
And nothing else remains.