Year Of The Metal Rat

What 2020 brought was totally unexpected,

No rest for the weary, no closure for the leery,

Only frustration and fear of getting infected...

ウイズコロナ

Monday morning pandemic

Fatigue, and hoping soon 

That the herd will

Become immune...

View From A Park Bench

Bare branches, backed by a

Calm, blue-gray sky,

Feels peaceful, even happy,

But I don't know why...

Portland Nights

The littered street, strangely quiet,

Glittering confetti of broken glass,

Reflecting moonlight, after the riot...

七面鳥不用

Salad croutons used for stove-top stuffing,

Kabocha for yams, doing the best I can,

Replicating an odd American tradition,

Gravy-less and turkey-less in Japan...

AM Again

Daybreak,

And up we stagger

Into the give and take...

Social Media

On Facebook, as one would expect,

Egoists and blowhards,

Are pretty easy to detect...

快特特急

Wintry rain outside the train,

Misty, turning to ice,

But she is dry inside,

Staring at a handheld device...

Friction

Break out of my funk, set some goals,

Embark on action, plan my attack,

Then off in to the chaos, where I

Steadily, inevitably, lose track,

Buffeted by unlucky winds, I

Slowly tack, and then circle back,

Arriving at where I started,

Returning to where I departed...

Twilight Zone

Reality can be relative,

Some will say,

I spent all Friday

Thinking it was Saturday...

紅葉の渋滞

Winding mountain road,

Traffic jam, going slow,

Day-trip drivers

Crawling back to Tokyo,

Tired, getting bored,

Autumn colors pretty though...

What It Is

Contrary to delusions

Of things being better before,

This is as good as it gets,

There really is no more...

Sidewalk Mob

Here they come, in their uniforms,

Like a wave ... or what’s best word,

For a crowd of self-absorbed students,

On the move, a monolithic herd,

A chattering, laughing moving mass,

And although the street is wide,

The kids phalanx advances

Implacably, and I have to step aside...

Post-Covid

A year’s worth of

Fear and frustration,

To be dissipated 

By vaccination...

Nighttime Viewing

3 AM, dark, quiet,

Half-awake in bed,

Scrolling through

Memories in my head...

Nausea

I’ve come to understand, to admit,

That there’s no tomorrow,

It, is now, this is it...

Elementary

Complexity, beaten and boiled

Down into a cartoon,

In order to be understood

By the average buffoon... 

Sentinel

The old wooden pillar, worn smooth

By weather and ever-moving air,

Stands stoically, burnished and

Guarding a gate that's no longer there...

Science Or Not

At first, one should

Conduct a test,

Or, just roll-the-dice

And hope for the best...? 

Cause And Effect

No wonder that the noise

And problems never stop,

When whackos call

The shots from on top...

Free Time

Rain clouds arriving later,

Now cool and sunny, early Fall,

A Monday, and I bask in the

Joy of doing nothing at all...