A Boy’s Theory of Hell [Free Verse]

The boy pressed his hand
to the cool interior wall,
sitting on the floor
of a dark, empty chapel.

Outside the sun blazed,
and humidity oppressed.

The orphan created
a narrative in his head,
one based on some strange logic.

If hell was an "eternal
torment of flames,"
then the cool interior
of the monk's chapel 
must be the anti-hell --
a place that devoured 
the heat of hell-fire...

but what did that make
that baking place 
that was outside
those thick walls.

Cloud Tricks [Tanka]

thin clouds drift in,
showing their black bellies,
hiding blue skies
like a young boy doing
his first magic trick

Stone Sages [Free Verse]

They shouted irate philosophies
about the foul leviathan.

The angry measure
of angry men,
and all those foul
winds blew back on them.

The Churn [Free Verse]

On the shore
of angry seas

I hear the crash
of foamy waves,

but miss the 
crisp sudsy sizzle
that one hears
on a sunny summer day.

That nuanced note
is lost to the Churn

A Cheesy Cracker in Marmot Lands [Common Meter]

Along the road to Pangong Tso,
I spied an odd marmot.
'Twas rotund of both gut and jowl,
and had a beefy butt.
It seems Himalaya's boondocks
has quite a junk food glut.

The rodent snacked on a cracker
of the cheesiest kind.
I'd have guessed one could search near-n-far
and no Cheez-it would one find.

Not in this remote borderland
where few maintain a home.
The point is, for a cheesy-cracker
you'll have not far to roam. 

Half-Hearted Apology to a Reptile [Common Meter]

Apologies Mister Lizard,
didn't mean to step on you.
But you kind of blend with the rock.
It's not like in the zoo;
where there's a sign and pointing kids
and barriers, to boot.
When one looks just like one's backdrop,
it behooves one to scoot.

Sorry again about your tail.
I'm sure it will grow back.
Call it a teachable moment,
&
get an orange knapsack!

A Thousand Feet & a Foot-Long [Common Meter]

The millipede was a foot long,
but, some might ask, whose foot?
Its own feet being quite petite
might suggest Lilliput.

But though it wasn't a footlong foot,
it was long for a bug,
a worm, a beetle, a wood mouse,
a spider, or a slug.

A snake that long would be a babe,
or, at least, quite stunted.
So, now I find my amazement
being a bit blunted. 

Road Flock [Tanka]

cowbells clang,
the bleating flock trots up
a dusty road;
the rising dust plume
seen before the goats

Unbridled Movement [Haiku]

even the branches
of a brawny Kapok Tree
sway in the wind