A Glimpse Of Hope

Reassurance and some peace of mind,
To see the white-feathered guests
Return, yet again, in late autumn,
From the frigid northwest.

Turkey Tetrazzini

Post-Thanksgiving feasting
On big-bird leftovers, and more,
Which taste mo-better than on
The more famous day before...
Gobbling down a tasty mess,
Without the guests and family stress...

Japanese Stage Art

In Japan they perform
A play called "Kabuki",
A high form of art,
But the make-up is spooky.

A Few Haiku From Issa Kobayashi

長閑や雨後の縄ばり庭雀
nodokeshi ya ugo no nawabari niwa suzume

spring peace--
after rain, a gang war
garden sparrows

* * * * * * * * * *

鶯にだまって居らぬ雀かな
uguisu ni damatte iranu suzume kana

not hushing up
for the nightingale...
sparrows

* * * * * * * * * *

万ざいや門に居ならぶ鳩雀
manzai ya kado ni inarabu hato suzume

begging actors at the gate--
pigeons and sparrows
in a row

* * * * * * * * * *

起よ起よ雀はおどる蝶はまふ
oki yo oki yo suzume wo odoru chô wa mau

wake up! wake up!
sparrows, butterflies
are dancing

New Art From Mark Harm Niemeyer

http://www.maiyagallery.com/portfolio/mark-harm-niemeyer/#all

Sunk In Anger

Upon seeing Cheonan...
How could a gas bubble
From below, cause
Such deadly trouble...
A bubble? You may
Snort a disbelieving laugh,
But, the fact is that
It cut the ship in half.

Paternal Issue

A father's love for his teen-age son,
Deep and real, but under-expressed,
A pat on the shoulder, and then it's done,
An awkward hug cut-short, lest
Feelings are released, which are best
Left quiet, discouraged to fly or run...

On and on...

What tomorrow will bring,
No one really knows,
Best laid plans meet chance
And fate -- So it goes...

International Conference

A three-way mental truce
Declared after painful
Negotiations in a cultural-
Linguistic thicket; while gainful
Employment will be conferred
On those who follow, to
Correct where we have erred.

White Night

Drive-gliding, quiet and smooth,
On and through the new-falling snow,
The snow a gift from an arctic
North, to places way below,
Like where I am driving now,
In a rented Nissan, rolling slow
And careful on the cold white-
Carpeted street, so peaceful, although
I'm also afraid and straining
To remember long-unused winter
Navigation skills to finish the remaining
Miles safely to my warm empty room...

Comfort

The secret that my mother knows,
Of how to provide peace through food:
Meatloaf, gravy, beans, and potatoes.

The Lost Scot

Must of taken a real wrong turn, somewhere south of Dundee...

November's Gift

Lay me down on the fallen leaves,
Under an autumn sky so blue,
It almost hurts my eyes to see
The beauty, which cuts through
The dullness of a nameless day...
Blue, orange, and gold undo
The blindfold, and open a way
To slowdown, stop, then lie
Down on the leaves, orange and gold,
Like I used to do, before I got
Too busy, too cultured, too old...

Ancient Peace -- 諏訪大神社

Up a hill from the busy road,
And the bustling sound
Of peoples' commerce and sin,
Is a quiet place with no one around,
Made 600 years before the moment I'm in,
Where I sit alone, on holy ground...

Ancestors' Forgotten Warning

On a bluff, above the utter devastation
Wrought by the giant ocean surge
Of an awful earthquake’s creation,
Stands a small and ancient stone
Monument, which, once weeds were
Cleared, its message was shown…
Anxious words, carved long ago into
Its weathered face, trying to mitigate
From centuries ago, the awful fate
And future pain and watery death for
Those who now arrived, and read too late,
For those, now homeless or alone:
“Don’t build your homes below this stone.”

Christmas Decorations Already Up

Japanese businesses, retailers, and local governments WASTE NO TIME getting Holiday decorations on display -- The day after Halloween, bam!

Better Than X-Box

Hunting, in the rugged hills
And valleys of a dusty
Distant land, which kills
The careless -- Searching
For the men hunting for me,
Brutal blood sport thrills
Pursued kinetically, relentlessly,
By high-school graduates,
Valley-to-valley, door-to-door,
What more excitement
Could a young man ask for…

Occupy Someting

Occupy Wall Street was fraying
With mind-game squabbles,
Frustrated cops, faction versus faction,
But it all came together when,
During a quiet pause in the action,
A dude stands-up and hollers
“Hey Mr. Rich Man, what the hell
do you do with a billion dollars?!
Do you finger it, count it, roll in it,
Make love to it -- you can’t spend
It all before your lifetime’s end!
Hey Mr. Rich Man it’s time to repent,
Give your gold to the 99 percent!”

Near The Refugee Camp Gate

Coming out of their place,
On the United Nations bus,
I see such a scared and pretty face,
Her beauty penetrates to my bones;
But she’s one of them, not one us…
And we start throwing stones.

Alien Vapors

The spacemen arrived in a mysterious way
Around sunset, descending silently,
Coming from a planet far, far, away...
And once aground, dispersed on the winds,
To someplace hidden they remain to this day.