Haiku: Nothing New To Report Here

Wherever you look,

That same blank stare of cyphers 

Outfacing you—look! 

 

 

 

AlieNation

Sometimes we think 

Perhaps we are not 

Of this world and more 

 

Often than not, we 

Actually believe it— 

Until we look 

 

In the mirror and 

In that proverbial blink 

Of an eye can’t 

 

Unbelieve it.

 

Lux Sit Found Not Wanting

The first thing 

Each dawn gives you remains 

 

The last thing you wish 

To give up.

 

Orientations: Ways And Means

Left to its own means, 

The world will follow 

Your meanderings 

 

To the ends of the Earth 

And back if you let it, 

Or leave you forever 

 

Facing true north 

If you won’t. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Betcha Haven't Heard This One

In reply 

To the butcher’s 

Question about how 

 

Much lamb to cut, 

The village 

Priest raised his 

 

Pudgy right 

Hand high, as if getting 

Ready to bring an imaginary 

 

Cleaver down 

To halve that fantastic 

Looking carcass hanging up- 

 

Side down 

In front of him, 

When he was cut 

 

Short at the apex 

By the first peal 

Of lugubrious church 

 

Bells prompting him 

To blurt out—“Oops, 

In that case, let’s go 

 

Whole hog with it,” 

As he followed through with his 

Stroke of good luck

 

In one deliciously executed 

Priceless swoop. 

 

 

 

Starstruck And Fanciful Fairytale Spinster Muse

Impetuous and prone to become

Smitten with every hack-acting 

Syrupy Tom, Dick, and Harry 

Who threw you the slightest 

Askance glance, thank 

Your lucky stars you managed 

To come this far and never 

Once fell head-over-heels 

For that cheesy, pock-marked 

Man in the moon or even worse, 

Ended up wart-bespangled 

And hitched to a croaking, 

Ludicrous toad in drag. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Haiku: Thistles

Waves of mauve silver

Rippling in the slightest wind— 

Itch to go elsewhere.

 

 

Haiku: Breakfast With Sea View

sipping jasmine tea 

eyes fasted on bay windows 

cliffs slipping away

 

 

 

Acme Life Preserver Loans, Inc.

Washed out and dead 

Tired of trying to keep 

Your head above troubled waters 

In a sea flush with sharks? Why not 

 

Drop in and float 

An exclusive Lifesaver Loan™ 

With us? Once you decide to 

Take the plunge, we’ll have you 

 

High and dry, head over heels 

And walking on water straight 

To the Promised Land no

Strings attached. 

 

 

 

Haiku: Don't Look Now But

A well’s planted here 

Between two thin cypresses— 

It’s full of eels' eyes.

 

 

 

 

 

Poem Of Your Life

Finding the right 

Words for it should not be 

 

Your sole concern,

But if it is, learn how 

 

To make the best of it. 

 

 

 

Consummate Cos Organic

with- 

in 

 

its 

cool

 

leafy 

green 

heart 

i 

like 

 

to 

think 

 

there 

are 

two 

spotted 

 

red 

and 

black 

lady 

bugs 

out

 

making

pure 

whoopee. 

 

 

 

Shakespearean Wordplay

Analogy resembles 

 

A world bespoken, 

Made-to-order, incomparable 

To compare, say incarnadine, 

 

Lest we should flesh out 

Those bloody incongruous 

Seas of filth abiding us there. 

 

 

 

 

 

Haiku: American Gothic Success Story

Worked hard—making it 

Hard to hear the sound of scythes 

Hissing near his ear.

 

 

 

Unfinished Business

Left to my own 

Faulty devices, I find 

 

What I no longer have 

Any need of keeps 

 

Lagging behind, reminding 

Me of what it is 

 

I am missing— 

A friend in need. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Archilochos And The Nymph Neobulé

Some Parian nonentity was strutting 

In the agora today with my ravishing 

Neobulé—I had to leave her unquenched, 

Still on fire down by a bush 

Near a brook and ran off 

Babbling when the struggle 

Got hot and way out of hand— 

Somehow, saving my shaft seemed 

More precious, I mean where 

Could I find another 

One equally cool, 

Whiplike and long? 

 

 

 

Haiku: Condolences Shallow/Grief Deep

To a better place 

Gone—though deep down grievers know 

How hollow that sounds.

 

 

First Things First

—for Eleni, always 

 

The last thing you wish 

To see before falling 

 

Asleep is the fluttering 

Of her eyelids first 

 

Thing in the morning. 

 

 

 

 

 

Hardly Bellwether

Meretricious 

As a keystone 

Ring scraped 

Off the bottom 

 

Of a dry stone 

Wishing well 

No longer sounding

Whistle clean. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Phantasmagorical Doggerel Entrapment

What say we make writing it 

On a whim just for the sake of proving 

It can be done a case of actus reus, 

 

And the malfeasant(s) in question 

Hounded till caught humping 

A bemused muse in flagrante delicto, 

 

Then summarily tried and sentenced 

To be flogged rhythmically to the tune 

Of forty lashes with a wet poodle—what 

 

Prissy purveyors of emasculated poetic 

Truth would dare come forth to accuse us 

Of spreading shaggy dog stories? 

 

 

 

 

Haiku: Putting Your Money Where Your Mouth Is

So many who talk 

About silence; how precious 

They make it all sound. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Haiku: Know Thy Inner Sanctum, Wretch

Thrice anguishing he 

Who laughs out loud at himself 

While crying within.