Tiger Riding for Beginners

Traveling Poet Philosopher & Occasional Wiseacre

in the temple yard,
 a bell clangs three times, and
  vibrates beyond silence.

in an open field,
 one sunflower towers,
  its head drooping.

lazy kayakers
 drift downstream as long-tailed
  boats chug upstream.

Autumn morn sunlight
 brightens the grassy bank,
  & throws long shadows.

at day's end,
 the sun dips behind a tree,
  but fails to hide.

walking in rice stalk,
 grasshoppers ping forward, 
  plink - plink - CRUNCH - plink...

funnel-web spider
 sprints out -- tremor-triggered --
  miffed to see hiker.

a water lily
 opens in the morning sun:
  reciprocal glow.

side-by-side trees:
 one bloom-laden; one with 
  a few lingerers.

overcast dawn:
 cloud edges burn... briefly,
  then cool to gray.