Panther [Lyric]

The panther is a scary cat:
Hardcore Hellcat primed for combat.
Except - that is - I have to say
The twenty hours it sleeps per day.

Foggy Forest [Haiku]

fog floats in;
rows of trees consumed
by whiteness.

“Aftermath” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow [w/ Audio]

When the summer fields are mown,
When the birds are fledged and flown,
And the dry leaves strew the path;
With the falling of the snow,
With the cawing of the crow,
Once again the fields we mow
And gather in the aftermath.

Not the sweet, new grass with flowers
Is this harvesting of ours;
Not the upland clover bloom;
But the rowen mixed with weeds,
Tangled tufts from marsh and meads,
Where the poppy drops its seeds
In the silence and the gloom.

Hermit [Senryū]

mountain hermit
looks over the city…
turns, walks back to hut.

Crimson Fig [Haiku]

sunbeams pass through 
a reddened Sacred Fig:
one hundred warm hues.

Forgotten Mountains [Haiku]

socked in for weeks:
clouds dissipate to reveal
forgotten mountains.

“Lethe” by Walter de la Mare [w/ Audio]

Only the Blessed of Lethe's dews
May stoop to drink. And yet,
Were their Elysium mine to lose,
Could I, sans all repining, choose
Life's sorrows to forget?

Slow Fire [Lyric Poem]

Explosion in slow motion
Rocks the boats that line the ocean:
Swaying, swaying, they swing to and fro!
Metronomic masts set to tempo, s l o w.

Let it Float [Lyric Poem]

Sans fear of dying,
The angst of trying
Is felt and left
To float.

“The Bustle in a House” (1108) by Emily Dickinson [w/ Audio]

The Bustle in a House
The Morning after Death
Is solemnest of industries
Enacted opon Earth --

The Sweeping up the Heart
And putting Love away
We shall not want to use again
Until Eternity --