“The Portent” by Herman Melville [w/ Audio]

Hanging from the beam,
Slowly swaying (such the law),
Gaunt the shadow on your green,
Shenandoah!
The cut is on the crown
(Lo, John Brown),
And the stabs shall heal no more.

Hidden in the cap
Is the anguish none can draw;
So your future veils its face,
Shenandoah!
But the streaming beard is shown
(Weird John Brown),
The meteor of the war.

Stork at Dusk [Haiku]

stork silhouette
stands on a sunken branch:
dusky summer eve.

Slim Pickings [Haiku]

buffalo grazes
on stalk stubble
after harvest.

“Come slowly — Eden!” (205) by Emily Dickinson [w/ Audio]

Come slowly -- Eden!
Lips unused to Thee --
Bashful -- sip thy Jessamines --
As the fainting Bee --

Reaching late his flower,
Round her chamber hums --
Counts his nectars --
Enters -- and is lost in Balms.

Lifelike? [Senryū]

lifelike bird sculpture
doesn’t fool the insect
that lands on its beak.

Conversation [Senryū]

two wading birds
face each other so that
their reflections can chat.

“My Pretty Rose Tree” by William Blake [w/ Audio]

A flower was offer'd to me,
Such a flower as May never bore;
But I said 'I've a Pretty Rose-tree,'
And I passed the sweet flower o'er.

Then I went to my Pretty Rose-tree,
To tend her by day and by night;
But my Rose turn'd away with jealousy,
And her thorns were my only delight.

Oblivious [Haiku]

crows turn to threat:
while pigeons remain
oblivious.

Blossom Drop [Haiku]

blossom drops,
fluttering slantwise
into still water.

“Crazy Jane Talks with the Bishop” by William Butler Yeats [w/ Audio]

I met the Bishop on the road
And much said he and I.
'Those breasts are flat and fallen now
Those veins must soon be dry;
Live in a heavenly mansion,
Not in some foul sty.'

'Fair and foul are near of kin,
And fair needs foul,' I cried.
'My friends are gone, but that's a truth
Nor grave nor bed denied,
Learned in bodily lowliness
And in the heart's pride.

'A woman can be proud and stiff
When on love intent;
But Love has pitched his mansion in
The place of excrement;
For nothing can be sole or whole
That has not been rent.'