佐野八幡

Past the Torii gate
The absence of sound
In the Shrine yard
Is stark and profound
Spirit wind whispers
Across the holy ground

Equestrian

The cavalry comes over the hill
Charging with sabres
As cavalries will
On horses oblivious
To who they kill...

Humpty Dumpty

Back to the nice way
Things were before
Time can repair
But not restore
Pieced together
With patience glue
But the cracks
Still show through

Somewhere In Switzerland

A place called Davos
Is where they come to meet
The rich, the entitled,
The economic elite,
Preening in the empty light
Of each others’ stars,
To me, they might
As well be on Mars...

Eternal Life

As a memory
In some other’s head,
Is how you will exist,
After you are dead...

引きこもり

The fifteen steps
Down the hallway,
To the bathroom,
Are a price I pay
To my bladder, bowels,
Forcing me away
From my protective room,
In which, every day,
I am safe, and have
No desire to stray
Outdoors, ever, no
Matter what others say...

In The Granite

Stones oblivious
To love or loss
Sit there anyway
Covered with moss...

(Photograph by Pete & Erica Jeffrey)

Hanging Garden

Greening the gray,
They bloom and enthrall,
Plants in the cracks
Of a cut-stone wall...

Tune Out

Fake news,
People arguing
Opposing views,
TVs vomiting
Media splatter,
Just turn it off,
It doesn’t matter...

Afterlife

Off the hamster-wheel
And unlike before
Mondays have
No meaning anymore
Rat-race observed
From a distant shore...

Instinct

Somehow
Small animals know
About the approach
Of storm and snow...

Transition

On this cold clear night,
A crescent moon winks,
At all of us below, as its
Silver smile shrinks...

Night Zone

Activity ends
Birds go quiet
As darkness descends

Right Before February

Mutsuki morning,
Cloudy, bleak,
Covering the Sun
The Daffodils seek...

Gastrorific

Nothing alters more one’s mood
Than an encounter with
Some delicious food...

Bottom Line

What we really think,
We cannot always say,
Unlike the rich,
Who can pay to play...

The Way It Happens

Sometimes the best
Things a day can confer,
Have no reason,
They simply occur,
And the rest
Is just a blur...

Smart Birds’ Demise

Bitter cold in Saitama,
Black dots on the snow,
Each one a frozen crow,

No food to eat
Unable to fly
Crows at their end
Under a leaden sky...

Get Up Get Ready

Early morning
Round about five
The apartment building
Comes alive
Pipes pop and sigh
With flow and flush
As plebeians prepare
For a hard day’s rush

Different Strokes

Some folks will persevere
If given enough hope
Others will deorbit
If given enough rope

It Wasn’t New

History, you will find,
Is simply things
Repeated, recombined...