Butterfly Paralysis [Haibun]

Struggling to wiggle its wings, the butterfly warms in the morning sun. Is it like sleep paralysis - that hypnopompic impulse to flee that's stymied by stuck muscles? What's a wind gust or rapidly advancing shadow like for the butterfly? Normally, such occurrences would provoke an erratic fluttering away. But now the screaming instinct to wing away can't be answered. Does the butterfly know dread, or does it just quietly await the moment it's unfrozen?


cool morning -
a butterfly twitches,
but can't yet fly 

Dream Door [Triolet]

I dreamt the door looked out upon treetops
and I could walk out on blue sky and cloud
and see the world as would a tall cyclops.
I dreamt the door looked out upon treetops,
but in my dream I plunged into the copse.
Sky walking proved more dream than was allowed.
I dreamt the door looked out upon treetops,
but could I walk out to blue sky and cloud?

Grazing Bull [Haiku]

a grazing bull
sees its pond reflection,
but resumes forthwith

Puducherry Limerick

A fishmonger of old Puducherry
struggled to find a spouse to marry.
It wasn’t what you think-
unless you think it fish stink-
that made the prospective mates wary.

Kolkata Limerick

There was a young scholar of Kolkata
who'd debate, Siddhartha to Sartre,
but it wasn't so wise
to philosophize
with guys who drive cabs in Howrah.

City Swallowed [Haibun]

Rubble cubes lie like piled dice. Temples and throne halls collapsed into mossy blocks brought low by the meager -- if inexorable -- forces of water drips and grass roots, roots that became wedges, splitting stone from stone. People push the blocks back together in homage to ancestors, but turn one's back and the hungry jungle consumes. Those ancestors crafted such sturdy stuff out of stout stone blocks. How much more quickly will our planned obsolescent cities be swallowed?


stout stone blocks -
toppled, dissolved, buried -
a city swallowed