Hamlet’s Revenge [Limerick]

A befuddled Prince from Denmark's Elsinore
 was asked by his dad's ghost to even a score:
  "Old Claude poisoned my ear,
   wed (-n- shtupped) my wife, dear.
 So, please ensure that he lives, Nevermore!"

Ecosystem’s End [Haiku]

topping the ridge,
 the pine forest ends,
  & desert begins.

Wildflowers [Haiku]

wildflowers wave
 on an otherwise still lea.
  bells in the distance.

Have You Seen a Tree Bleed? [Free Verse]

Have you seen a tree bleed?

Yes. I've seen a tree bleed.

It bled bright red arterial blood...
  or sap --
 
 but not that sticky, very viscous 
  kind of sap that one knows from Maples.

This was the consistency of blood,
  as well as its color. 

It's disconcerting to see
  the scratched bark of a tree
   ooze a fluid so blood-like. 

It makes one question
  one's assumptions,
   such as whether a tree feels:
    a scratch or cut or the nail 
     pounded into its trunk to
     hang something for one's 
      momentary convenience. 

And when I see lover's initials 
 carved into a tree, I now can't help
  but wonder how the lovers would feel
   about the tree's initials being carved 
    into their flesh. 

Bent Blade [Haiku]

a skipper sits on
 a bent grass blade; then leaves.
  the blade stays bent.

Summer Sun [Haiku]

summer sun
 turns the sky orange;
  skin prickles.

Suspect Alterations [Common Meter]

To say you love, but require change
     is so deeply fishy.
 To mold the nature of your love
      as if her soul were squishy.

What Lurks Below? [Lyric Poem]

I'm swimming in the lake -
miles from one and all,
feeling peace and calm - when
the monster comes to call.

What could drag me under?
I'll never, ever know.
Some will always wonder
what caused the undertow.

The lake is surface calm,
and should be at its depths,
but in its muck lie bones
of those pulled under breath.

Some will swim tomorrow,
and in the days to come.
Most will come and go,
and just feel blissful numb.

Midnight Metropole [Free Verse]

Trains are done running.

Shops are shuttered,
    except in the red-light districts
     where the neon circuits burn. 

Food carts are set up
    under streetlamps,
     sending out plumes of
     fried food & grilled meat aroma.

Plumes meant to catch drunken strollers
    looking for an affordable bad idea.

Tonight, the city accommodates all,
    finding a bad idea to 
     fit each price range.  

Second-Order Harmony [Haiku]

i watch surfers
 watch the waves, attuning
   to their attunement.