incense tracks
meander skyward --
erratically;
as they rise, they diffuse
to become nothingness.
Vanishing Tracks [Tanka]
1
Category Archives: poem
“When I Was One-and-Twenty” by A.E. Housman [w/ Audio]
When I was one-and-twenty
I heard a wise man say,
"Give crowns and pounds and guineas
but not your heart away;
Give pearls away and rubies
but keep your fancy free."
But I was one-and-twenty,
No use to talk to me.
When I was one-and-twenty
I heard him say again,
"The heart out of the bosom
Was never given in vain;
'Tis paid with sighs a plenty
And sold for endless rue."
And I am two-and-twenty,
And oh, 'tis true, 'tis true.
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Steam Treatment [Haiku]
the tree that reaches
over the hot spring-fed pond
thrives on steam treatment.
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Happy Hour [Lyric Poem]
The valley stretches in such a way
that it gets sun but one hour a day.
That Happy Hour when the sun aligns
upon dewy grass and deep green pines.
The local villagers, they all know
when they should come and when they should go.
But that Happy Hour is not for either.
It's to face the sun and take a breather.
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“Invictus” by William Ernest Henley [w/ Audio]
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate,
I am the captain of my soul.
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Fluid Stillness [Haiku]
the flower bobs
on its long, stiff stem.
the sage is unmoved.
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“Poet on a Mountaintop” by Shen Zhou [w/ Audio]
White clouds engird the mountain.
Stone steps climb to nothingness.
Alone, the poet leans on his staff,
gazing into the expanse,
and accompanies the stream:
bamboo flute joining murmurs
of unseen flowing water.
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Pollinator [Haiku]
the bee wallows
in pollen like a drunk
sprawls on a bar’s floor.
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A Close & Colorless Sea [Free Verse]
The ocean vast
closes in.
Clouds drop.
If the horizon still exists,
it's behind an approaching
wall of gray.
Whatever is closing down
the world has also
drained it of color.
The shadows are black.
The sea foam is white.
Everything else is
some dim, earthy tone.
The sea may have retained
a hint of green or blue,
but it's hard to tell --
so darkened &
gray-infused
are the waters.
I fear the world may shrink
to a dot, like an old timey TV
snapped off, a dot that's
bright white but cold.
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“A Red, Red Rose” by Robert Burns [w/ Audio]
O my Luve is like a red, red rose
That's newly sprung in June;
O my Luve is like the melody
That's sweetly played in tune.
So fair art thou, my bonnie lass,
So deep in luve am I;
And I will luve thee still, my dear,
Till a' the seas gang dry.
Till a' the seas gang dry, my dear,
And the rocks melt wi' the sun;
I will luve thee still, my dear,
While the sand o' life shall run.
And fare thee weel, my only Luve!
And fare thee weel awhile!
And I will come again, my Luve,
Though it were ten thousand mile.
Tiger Riding for Beginners 