Two Worlds / One Valley [Haiku]

Photograph taken in Stepantsminda down the Terek River valley towards Russia.
sunny mountains;
down the valley farmers
socked in by clouds.

Breeze [Haiku]

Photograph taken in Gölkənarı Gəzinti Parkı, facing toward the Heydar Mosque in Baku, Azerbaijan.
reeds bend and rebound
to breezes unnoticed
in the city.

Nature DGAF [Haiku]

Photograph of bitterweed around a grave in a cemetery in Baku, Azerbaijan.
wildflowers grow
around an unattended grave;
pooped on by birds.

Between Rains [Senryū]

Photograph of wildflowers atop South Mountain near Gyeongju, South Korea.
wildflowers warm soul
as step into puddle chills
the whole body.

Toad’s Time [Senryū]

Photograph of a Fire-Bellied Toad taken near Gyeongju, South Korea.
toad looks primed to leap;
i watch... and watch..., but no.
glancing back; it's gone.

Greyfield [Lyric Poem]

It wound around the burial mounds
through the soft and seedy sides
of town

And though it was but one foot shallow,
non-townies were swallowed
(and surely drowned)
because that ground was hallowed.

It took souls, lost - never to be found -
then rolled on to the next ghost town.

Fawn [Haiku]

fawn rests
beneath the big leaves
of new saplings

Stony Ground [Haiku]

hot patch of granite:
from any crack or cranny
something learns to grow.

Burnt [Haiku]

Photograph of an incense burner at a Chinese temple in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
smoky tendrils
rise and sprawl to the void,
so, too, the prayers?

Mayan High Priest Limerick

Photograph of El Castillo at the Mayan site of Chichen Itza, Mexico.
A newly promoted Mayan High Priest --
queasy, but charged with bloodletting next feast.
Suggested a new style:
Lymph, sweat, milk, tears, or bile
Were offerings that made his odds of fainting decrease.