Tag Archives: poetry

Superabundance of Buddhas [Free Verse]

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Photograph taken inside a Buddhist Temple in Luang Prabang, Laos. 
The reclining Buddha oversees
   the diligent seated Buddha.

Is this an analogy of the mind,
   or just a monk's proclivity
      toward a superabundance
         of Buddhas?

Angry Skies [Haiku]

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Taken in Luang Namtha in Northern Laos, near the border with China. 
orange-fringed
 dark clouds drift in blue skies
  just before dusk.

Ducks in a Bunch [Haiku]

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Waterfowl on Rudrasagar Lake in Melaghar, India.
clustered armada
 of ducks drift across
  open water.

Iconic [Free Verse]

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Bruce Lee statue by Cao Chong-En located on the Avenue of Stars, Tsim Sha Tsui East, Kowloon, Hong Kong.
Everyone gets to be a person,
   Few become icons:

 What is it to have a lasting 
      image more well-known 
          than one's work? 

 Che Guevara, Bruce Lee,
    Heath Ledger's Joker -- 

 Images you can find on 
   back-alley walls from Lagos
   to Prague to Kochi
   to Seoul to Santiago
       and back again. 

Seen day-after-day by people
   who never saw Enter the Dragon
   or read of the Cuban Revolution,
   or saw Nolan's Batman Trilogy,
      but they know the faces. 

They have thoughts about them
      -- and, sometimes, strong feelings --
   just like so many people have 
   thoughts about Alexander the Great 
       based solely on his name
       and a rough impression of history.

What must this be...
    blessing or curse ...
       if icons had some way to care?

Stray Cat [Senryū]

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Photograph of a stray cat taken Sri Someshwar Swami Temple in Halasur, Bangalore, India. 
lean & scratched up: 
 stray cat stares at a leaf
  as if it's ham.

Glazed Acorn [Haiku]

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Winter storm
 ices over acorns:
  branches hang low.

Invaders [Haiku]

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Photograph taken in Tbilisi, Georgia near Tbilisi Reservoir in Late Spring.
Spring glade:
 small patch of light blue nests
  in a yellow sea.

Redbud [Haiku]

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Photograph taken in Tbilisi, Georgia in late Spring. The pink flower buds appear to be from a Redbud tree.
dense clusters
 of pink flower buds
  brighten the trail.

Ivy & Stone [Free Verse]

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Taken in the Old City of Baku, Azerbaijan.
There's something relentless
   in an old stone wall...
 But, also, cold and dead.
   One knows it will not stand forever --
       that it will go the way of
       ruins, rubble, stones, and dust --
       but, still, it can outstand any man. 
 Ivy climbs to camouflage the stone's
    cruel deathlessness,
 But then the ivy stands on the wall
    year after year after year...