Muddy Bottom [Free Verse]

Photograph taken from a tower of the Ananuri Fortress Complex, looking at the Zhinvali Reservoir.
Sinuous channels
cut through the
river's muddy
bottom,

carrying clear water
ever downward
- ever onward.

From fortress walls
it's all been seen --
drought and flood,
but something always
trickled through.

As it was before those
stones were stacked.
As it will be when the
last rubble crumbles
into uncut
dust & rock.

Two Ways to Go [Haiku]

highway parts landscape;
butterflies jink and loiter
as cars speed through.

Nomad [Free Verse]

Photograph taken in the Parsi Temple of Baku, Azerbaijan.
One who doesn't feel 
a lot at home anywhere
Begins to feel a little
at home everywhere.

He sees not strangeness
in strangers --
No more than he sees
in himself.

Any one place is not
greater nor lesser
than anywhere else.

Lands of gold and riches
are as likely devoid of
authenticity - of soul -
as impoverished places
are dripping with it.

Stony Ground [Haiku]

Photograph taken in the Gobustan National Park outside Baku, Azerbaiian.
wildflowers bloom
-- sheltered by boulders --
on stony ground.

Daisy Waves [Haiku]

Photographs of Ox-Eye Daisies taken in Baku, Azerbaijian.
ox-eye daisies
ripple in the wind, or
when tousled by hand.

Blossom Blush [Haiku]

white blossom clusters —
Cherry trees of Early Spring:
some blooms blush, some not.

Long Live Bonsai [Senryū]

Photograph of a bonsai tree taken on the grounds of a Hanoi Temple.
the bonsai tree
isn't a BANZAI! tree,
yet looks 10,000.

NOTE: “Bonsai” [盆栽] means “potted plant.” “Banzai” [万歳] means “10,000 years,” (in the manner of “long live the king.”)

A Sun Within [Haiku]

Photograph of purple and yellow water lilies taken in Hanoi, Vietnam.
purple lilies
open to reveal
a Sun within.

Mountain Mist [Haiku]

hot summer day,
sitting downwind of cascade:
misted by spatter.

PROMPT: Tattoo

Daily writing prompt
What tattoo do you want and where would you put it?
I would not like a tattoo. 
I would not like one - old or new.
I wouldn't like one in a Zoo.
I wouldn't like one in a canoe.
I would not like one,
Ham though I am,
I would not like any body-spam.