Ripples [Haiku]

rocking boat,
splash heard behind --
spin to see... ripples.

The Flood [Haiku]

muddy streets,
after the flood:
bare feet squish.

“Glass was the Street – in Tinsel Peril” (1518) by Emily Dickinson [w/ Audio]

Glass was the Street - in Tinsel Peril
Tree and Traveller stood.
Filled was the Air with merry venture
Hearty with Boys the Road.

Shot the lithe Sleds like Shod vibrations
Emphacized and gone
It is the Past's supreme italic
Makes the Present mean --

What I Know about Beaches [Free Verse]

On a sandy beach,
I think of each grain
of sand as being
the same.

But on a pebble beach,
Each stone has its own
color, texture, size,
and shape.

It's made me second guess
What I know about beaches.

“Night Mooring” by Zhang Ji [w/ Audio]

The moon sets; crows caw below frosty skies.
Boats, moored to maples -- lamps glow like cat eyes.
Cold Mountain Temple, outside Gusu's bounds:
The midnight bell cuts off soft water sounds.

Cold Lilies [Haiku]

water lilies
on a cold, gray day:
half-open, unkempt.

“Daniel Boone” by Stephen Vincent Benét [w/ Audio]

When Daniel Boone goes by, at night,
The phantom deer arise
And all is lost, wild America
Is burning in their eyes.

Riderless [Senryū]

riderless horses
race across the pasture:
finish line unknown

Hawkweed [Haiku]

Hawkweed blooms
beside a creek that sparkles
with summer sunlight.

FIVE WISE LINES [March 2025]

Would the world ever have been made if its maker had been afraid of making trouble?

george bernard shaw, PygMalion

Refrain from talk of others’ shortcomings; don’t rest on your strengths.
[罔谈彼短; 靡恃己长.]

Thousand Character classic [千字文]

The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.

george bernard shaw, Man and superman

A child is the most reliable measure of time. His daily growth is proof of your daily ageing and decline. The child’s gains are your losses, and the closer a child gets to anything, the farther you withdraw, as though you were tied to one another on opposite spokes of a wheel and the wheel, without your noticing it, turns. Dawn for the child is dusk for you.

Otar chiladze, A Man was going down the road

We are all dependent on one another, every soul of us on earth.

George bernard shaw, Pygmalion