A Life Improbable [Free Verse]

Each of us lives a life improbable,
 the gift of an ancestor who struggled 
 through some terror which killed others.

We each have an iron impulse 
 to maintain a cracking grip on life,
 but some won't ever be pried away,

growing like the stunted pine
 that juts from the mountainside:
 gnarled but indestructible.

Live improbably 
 with your life improbable. 

Jet Plane [Haiku]

in early summer,
i left home. i’ve been back,
but never returned.

DAILY PHOTO: Kashmir

Image

Bliss Step [Haiku]

i kick a pebble
 from my sandal,
  and take a bliss step.

DAILY PHOTO: Pune After Dark

Wasp Moves [Haiku]

the wasp is still;
 the wasp jinks erratically.
  pilgrims break sanctity.  

Bougainvillea Bright [Haiku]

from the dark, cool room,
 the sunlit bougainvillea
  burns shapes in my sight

Seasons [Free Verse]

I

I remember Spring:
   tight and tender buds,
   soon to blossom

clouds -- low & swollen, 
   & rain scent in the air
II

I remember Summers:
   the season of freedom...

and mosquitoes,
   but, also, fireflies

exploration &
   calamine lotion
III

I remember the Fall:
   harvest time

Grain chaff in the air
   axle grease on the wind

Canadian geese
   Honk-Honk-Honk-ing
   in wedge formation
IV

I remember winters:
   snow days

snow drifts

the feel of the first morning
    of the season in which
    one woke up to a blanketing snow,
    having gone to bed with 
    pathetic matted grass