POEM: Perception of Self

That cat thinks she’s quite a mouser

but, truth be told, she’s just a houser.

At stalking and lurking she’s a master.

But catching? Well… they get past her.

 

POEM: The Street Sleeps

Litter skitters down the street,
stopping beseechingly at my feet.
No one likes the morning chill.
So this raucous street is now still.
Still but for the will to wake.
Shhh! Let it sleep for goodness sake.

POEM: This Indescribable Feeling

I lack the words to dignify this feeling.

Imagine a coarse hemp rope knotted around one’s heart
It’s cinched tighter and tighter, tugged at both ends
The rope creaks under this burden, but it does not snap
It creaks like an old wooden sailing vessel, riding the swells

POEM: Deceit Days

What an apple!
–spoiled and rotten
The weave of lies
is soon forgotten.
Cast and reel,
no hook is set.
Which lie is true?
He soon forgets.

He says,
Just let me be, and I won’t lie.
But ask me now and it’s fib or die.

The lying life is tenuous.
Backpeddling? Strenuous

POEM: Overcast Day

Clouds tugged themselves over the city like a thick quilt
adding to the gritty gray inner-city nightmare.
I rode through this monochrome madness
without seeing a person on the sidewalks.
I felt their eyes peer down through ash-covered windows,
like a hand running over the tips of tiny hairs on my back
A high-pitched tone sounded in my ears
filling the void of chirpless birds and dumbstruck relicts

It can’t be long now.

POEM: Chirpy Bird in a Cedar Tree

Hey, little chirpy bird,
who rambles on without a word,
does your measure and your meter
tell of life in yonder cedar?

Haiku no Gyokko-ryū Jōryaku no Maki

throw open the gate
mindless herds will charge headlong
into the stockyard



prolong each journey
show the Emperor the sights
drop his palanquin



the guitarist’s hand
bounds chord to chord on the dot
no beat is missed



the slug ricochets
yet always finds its mark
burrowing deeply



waves washing ashore
within a rocky inlet
turn about strongly



gulls flap into flight
slowly lifting skyward in
an unrushed climb



sparks pop from the fire
with impeccable timing
uncapturable



topple the gatepost
with a splintering impact
but start with a sting



the pinky finger
of a raging wild-eyed brute
snaps like a pea-pod



once the snake constricts
all is hopelessly lost
sting first and sting deep



bears don’t crush stout trees
stout trees sometimes crush a bear
falling in tree’s time



the bull’s hoof clomps down
a statement made decisive
not to be wrangled

Two Tigers Circle In The Night

Taken at the Budapest Zoo

Taken at the Budapest Zoo

Two tigers circle in the night.
Neither eager to be first in fight.
Bellies low, they scrape the ground.
Each step pads without a sound.

One false step brings the pounce
of each fearsome muscled ounce.
They twist and writhe and snap,
each jaw a toothy, steely trap.

In the end one slinks away.
Both live on to later days.
A test upon the jungle floor
and each cat knows the final score.

Life by Lists

I remember when I could remember,
but these days I invariably forget.
My life isn’t even in its September
but by absent-mindedness I’m beset.

My keys? My keys? Where are they please?
I’ve searched from ceiling to floor.
My keys? My keys? Where are they please?
No, I’m certain I didn’t ask that before.

Once I juggled a hundred tasks right within my mind.
Now I need write a list if they number more than two.
Buy stock in the makers of legal pads, if you’re so inclined
What were we talking about? There’s something I need to do…

Daily list

Daily list

POEM: Twisted Time

Six months a year
the river flows
away from the sea.
Entropy’s fall?

No.

The fits and starts
of progress are
not rooted in
twisted time.

Here,
blacksmiths exist.
The hammer bounces
on the anvil

Tap-Tap-CLANG
Tap-Tap-CLANG

Ordered repetition,
until the steel begins
to bend and twist
and flex and tear.
It tears like taffy,
taffy glowing orange.

Tap-Tap-CLANG
Tap-Tap-CLANG

What is time for
that glowing rod?
The fire makes
its molecules
race and feud.

The hammer spreads
time into an eternity

of

Tap-Tap-CLANG
Tap-Tap-CLANG

Taken in Hungary in 2008

Taken in Hungary in 2008