On The Grassy Knoll

We, who were promised,

Are waiting here,

For something, anything,

To appear,

And even if

We are mistaken,

Our faith will

Remain unshaken…

Now And Zen

To meditate,

Is to pray,

Without having

Anything to say…

Omicron

Striving to survive,

It mutates and blends,

Virus stays alive,

Pandemic never ends...

Lost Offerings

Old man in the night, moves

With stealth, like a fox,

Sneaks into the shrine to

Steal money from the votive box...

End Result

The choices you make,

Along with luck, and

The actions you take,

Culminate in a 

Fix or a break...

Day Drink

Attain a mid-morning

Beer buzz,

Once in a while,

Just because...

Siberian High Pressure

November north winds

Are colder,

Or so it seems

As we get older...

False Prophet

He claimed that we

Had to leap and rearrange,

Break things down,

Embrace the change,

Then things got confusing,

And he departed...

Now picking up pieces,

Back where we started...

研究所

Think tank, policy wank,

Declarative, all the time,

Endlessly calling for 

Shifting the paradigm,

Theorizing, for pay,

To explain what it's about,

Publish numerous studies

Until the money runs out...

Story Time

Many of us, every day,

Act, scramble, and live,

All the while unaware of

Being part of someone's narrative...

殉職者供養塔

The gray stone monument

Looms over where I stand,

At a place which was ocean

Before becoming land,

The water pushed back as

Rocks and rubble filled,

The monument a memorial

To workers who were killed...

月食 --11/19/2021

Gaze up at the darkened moon,

Awed and humbled to know,

That the last time this happened

Was 580 years ago...

The Game

It's about how you act,

And what you choose,

Not after winning,

But when you lose...

Political Fable

Attempted evasion

By the wily snail,

Tried to camouflage, 

But to no avail, 

Given away by

Its mucous trail,

Then sensing the

Approach of hell,

It curled up quickly

Inside its shell...

Traffic Report

Cars drive by

At breakneck speeds,

In pursuit of real

Or imagined needs,

Distracted drivers

Impatient, stressed,

Would be better off

Back home, at rest...

Human Pressure Valve

Frustration grows,

Control erodes,

Consequently 

Anger explodes,

Emotional shrapnel 

Wounds and discommodes…

Swamp Dawn

Eerie silence, mist

Rising from the bog,

Prehistoric-looking heron

Stalks a frog…

From Behind A Cloud

Gap in the clouds,

Crescent moon appears,

As if to say good night,

This hour of mist and tears,

All feels good, feels right…

Sensible

Pragmatic,

Works better than

Dogmatic…

Blind Man's Bluff

No telling what mysteries,

Or horrors, lie ahead,

Therefore best to grin and

Ignore it all instead...