Cheetah Speed [Lyric Poem]

Photograph of a Cheetah taken at the Mysore Zoo in Karnataka, India.
Swiftly sprints the slender Cheetah,
running smoothly as Velveeta.
But right now it can't rouse its feet-ah,
and slogs just like a Walmart Greet-ah.

Meerkat Lecture [Lyric Poem]

Meerkats: Taken at the Mysore Zoo in Karnataka, India.
Please allow me a conjecture:
One Meerkat stood to give lecture,
But as with me, as a pupil,
Other Meerkats lacked the scruple
To make a show of listening,
Finding the walls more interesting.

Mountain Dance [Senryū]

Photograph taken near George Everest Peak, outside of Mussoorie, India.
in the mountains:
vivid & invisible
are dance partners.

Mountain Road [Common Meter]

Photograph taken on Lal Tibba Road in Mussoorie, Uttrakhand, India.
The mountain road is sometimes flat,
but it's not ever straight.
It winds through woods -- so deep and dark --
but where spotlights await.

Mimicry [Senryū]

Gray (Hanuman) Langur on a road barrier on the Lal Tibba Road.
Hanuman Langur
mimics a lounging housecat;
then paws at nothing.

Vanish [Haiku]

Photograph taken in Mussoorie, India: Woman in brightly colored attire hauls forage for cattle on a rainy day.
brightly-attired
forage-hauling woman
vanishes in fog.

Second Eyes [Free Verse]

Photograph of the roof of the Cheng Hoon Teng Temple taken from the upper floor of the Xiang Lin Si Temple in the Jonker Walk / Chinatown area of Malacca, Malaysia.
From the dark depths
of a temple,
eyes open & blink
against the sunlight
pouring through
a narrow second set
of eyes.

What shapes form across
the way?

It's the roof of a second --
more ancient -- temple
that stands across
the street.

This monk has opened
eyes on that view a
thousand times before,
and each time has
forgotten the centuries
old neighboring temple
existed.

Flurry [Haiku]

fine powdery snow
fills ground around grass:
frigid Winter day.

Fake Snow,Real Cold [Haiku]

fake snow from
fountain spray in wind;
the cold is real.

Solo? [Haiku]

Photograph of an egret flying over the Gomti River in Lucknow, Madhya Pradesh, India.
solo bird flies
over sprawling waters
with upside down mate.