Chick Wrangling [Senryū]

mama chicken
struts with great confidence
for one wrangling chicks.

Wen Fu 8 [文赋 八] “Edits” by Lu Ji [陆机] [w/ Audio]

Maybe the first lines constrain the last;
Maybe ends insist on openings;
Maybe some truths escape all words;
Maybe dulcet lines tell no truths.
One may need to keep separated --
Beauty and truth -- to avoid wounds.
Inspect and haggle over each word --
Distinctions maybe finer than a hair;
Weigh each edit upon a scale;
Ensure each cut serves its purpose.

Original poem in Simplified Chinese:

或仰逼于先条,或俯侵于后章。
或辞害而理比,或言顺而义妨。
离之则双美, 合之则两伤。
考殿最于锱铢,定去留于毫芒。
苟铨衡之所裁,固应绳其必当。

Just the Tips [Senryū]

high mountains:
sunrise hits snowcaps only;
in darkness & don't know it.

Riderless [Free Verse]

An unfamiliar horse --
Saddled but riderless --
Cautiously ambles
Into the village.
Its saddle, bags, and coat
Spattered in black --
Really, rust-red on brown.

The villagers want nothing
To do with it,
But each sneaks it food
And lets it water at their
Tank.

“I heard thee laugh” by Stephen Crane [w/ Audio]

I heard thee laugh,
And in this merriment
I defined the measure of my pain;
I knew that I was alone,
Alone with love,
Poor shivering love,
And he, little sprite,
Came to watch with me,
And at midnight
We were like two creatures by a dead camp-fire.

Scrub & Stone [Haiku]

stony outcrops
& tawny scrublands:
alien landscape.

First Drops [Haiku]

first droplets
of a Spring shower ripple
on the river.

“There is a finished feeling” (856) by Emily Dickinson [w/ Recording]

There is a finished feeling
Experienced at Graves—
A leisure of the Future—
A Wilderness of Size.

By Death’s bold Exhibition
Preciser what we are
And the Eternal function
Enabled to infer.

Spring Stream [Haiku]

willow-lined stream
swells with a rush of
Spring white water.