Unbudged [Haiku]

moss-covered limbs
 break the water's surface,
  unmoved by the flow.  

Not Waving; Not Drowning [Haiku]

among detritus,
an arm breaches the surface:
not waving / not drowning.

Chaotic Fall [Haiku]

rainy autumn day:
 wet leaves drop heavily
  as a lazy mob.

Li Bai [Lyric Poem]

Li Bai fills his cup;
 Li Bai loves his wine;
  Li Bai sits in moonlight,
 staring at the sky. 

Sole Connection [Free Verse]

The mountain
    was so long ago.

Yet, I feel its pulse
    throbbing under foot --
  into my ever-loving sole.

[You thought I was going to say:
    "everlasting soul," didn't you?

Do you think my soles
    inconsequential in comparison
  to my soul?]

Nothing is firmer or finer
    than the point at which 
   I touch (& know) the earth,
     than the point which 
    presses the real,
   and, thus, by which I have 
      evidence that I live. 

[The ghost feels nothing in its soles --
    if such a being exists.]

These lowly old soles connect me
    to all that is, was, and ever shall be. 

Bodhi Tree [Free Verse]

How to pick a tree
 that one can be resigned
  to sit under until
   Enlightenment?

If the choice is hard,
   you are not ready.

If the choice is easy,
   you are not ready.

If there is no choice,
    perhaps, you're ready.

Understory Lore [Tanka]

in a thriving wood,
 sits a barren patch of 
  understory.
 oh what tales locals tell
  about the patch that can't grow!

Bovine Chiropractors [Common Meter]

A cow is an animal, &
 animals are creatures.
  So, having strong proclivities
    is a cardinal feature.

Calling them "creatures of habit"
 must be for a reason.
  If creatures did not form habits
   the term would lose cohesion.

But I digress, I must admit.
 Let me get to my point.
  You see, a sloping pasture must
   be murder on the joints!

A random beast, who stood this way
 & that, would balance out,
  but standing each day - just one way -
   could cause a hip blowout.

A cow that grazes on a pitch
 must have unequal legs.
  Maybe, all it would take would be
   two tiny pirate pegs.

For wearing pegs on the downslope
 side would align the hips,
  but then on walks down to the barn
   cows would be prone to trips. 

For now, there's just one solution:
 bovine chiropractors!
  Because the cost will be so great,
   I'm seeking benefactors. 

Flower Divas [Haiku]

flowers are rock stars:
 standing tall & proud before 
  the swaying grass.

Waiting [Free Verse]

Waiting.
   A space between.

Neither doing,
    nor resting. 

There's something in waiting
    that lies beyond being.

An expectation without promise:

As with Vladimir & Estragon,
    waiting on Beckett's Godot, or
    the Old Man waiting
    at Gao's Bus Stop,
  There may not be a payoff. 

Whatever it is in "waiting" that
    distinguishes it from "being"
    or "resting,"
   it sucks!

All the excitement of expectation,
    nullified by the possibility
    that nothing will happen --
   nothing good, nothing bad...
     just a soul-sucking nothing.