Striped World [Haiku]

Autumn sun sets,
 painting sky & river --
  all else is black.

Startle Response [Haiku]

even in death
 the scorpion can evoke
  momentary fear.

Flawless Flower [Haiku]

there is no defect 
in the sunflower that
cheers one’s spirits.

The Futility of War [Haiku]

two young gazelles
 lock horns and head-wrestle, 
  then quit and move on.

Out of Joint [Blank Verse Sonnet]

My days are out of joint and shuffled up,
 and memories are pictures cast upon
  the floor, and rummaged through 'til chaos reigns, 
 and I pick random recollections out
  of all the events ever to transpire.

They seem no more my life than another's:
 a glance, a glimpse, a blank firing of mind,
 a wicked hope that truth will come to me.

But all I see are monochrome mindscapes
 that could've been wrenched out of another mind,
  or made from AI's collage artistry
 to serve some distant master's deep wish to
  learn what hot-injected time does to a soul,
  and if shuffled scene stacks can make one whole?

Spiral Ginger [Haiku]

ginger blossom
 looks cleaner before
  the rain.

Big Red Bug [Haiku]

the big red bug
 attracts attention 
  it doesn’t want.

Mimicry [Haiku]

dead roots:
sinuous as a river,
luxuriant as hair.