Man's Best Friend

 

A dog stares with careful eyes,

    Deaf to spoken syntax, but oh so

    Sensitive to movement, smell, and size,

    And signals about the pack, of which

    It is a member, so, the dog tries

    To see past the sounds the human makes

    And grasp who follows, and who leads,

    Who needs protecting, the dog takes

    Its time, alertly watching the

    Signals and actions that transpire,

    With cautious ancient eyes, unchanged

    From the first time it approached man's fire...

White Memory Bird

What used to be a watery space
Where egrets fed on loaches
And frogs, is now a different place
Growing cabbage and leeks,
And only gods know where
The egret flies and seeks,
Elegant-white in the air,
Looking for the rice paddies
No longer there...

I wish I could explain,
About man's-made change,
Why things don't always remain...

I wish I could still see the egrets,
That things stay the same...

Too High To Use The Stairs

Awkward, in the elevator, with a stranger,
An apartment neighbor I suppose,
We both stare at the number changer
Display, wordless and so still, we wait
Lowering, in confined space -- and tension
Marks the seconds of our slow declension,
In a pulley box, which controls our fate,
Suspended and dangling-down a shaft,
As we silently refuse to contemplate
Possibilities to awful to mention...

Post Tempest

The ginko nuts lie randomly where they dropped
Onto the ground, softening under the sun
Now shining strong, after the typhoon stopped,
And through their sour-butter smell I run,
Slowly, so as not to over-heat,
And nearly trip on the broken bird-wing
Skeleton of an umbrella on the street,
Twisted and bent, it’s bereft of utility,
Spindly aluminum proof of a cyclone’s wrath,
Of nature’s strength, and man’s futility,
Revealed in small bits, in the aftermath…

Welcome Home Lisa

God bless the beaches in Thailand
Which host our indiscretions
And drinks on sparkling sand
Amid the exotic color and noise,
Jungle-bird-like expressions
Of hawkers and katoys…
Summer vacation in Phuket
As long as the money lasts
The most fun you can get
Continues unimpeded
Till medical help is needed.

Mid-September PT Thoughts

One yellow leaf peeking out
From the green of the cherry
Tree, gives a whisper, not a shout,
Under a pale blue sky, still very
Humid, this day it’s about,
The puffy clouds are a vapor trail
Signifying, like the bell crickets’
Arrival that summer is stale,
And headed towards a cold
Denouement -- like ships put to sail
Carrying cargo, already sold,
To merchants who have bought us
Long ago, sight unseen, untold...

Eternal Conflict

The war between
Women and Men
Starts off as peace,
And sexual Zen,
But rust settles in,
Magic times decrease
Never to return again,
And the battles begin
Which do not cease,
Which can't be won
Unless damage is done...

The war between
Women and Men,
Kinetic or unseen,
Can be halted
Before love dies,
Before things get too mean,
Through compromise,
Or the look in her eyes...

A Flicker In Darkness

Darkness instantly retreats
Into outposts of shadows,
Into corners, where it meets
The dust that has gathered
In my room, where the light
Of the screen shines blue,
A square-ish beacon which might,
Like a window opened
Out onto a troubled night,
Allow some fresh air in,
Allow creation to begin...

The Side Not Green

One side, facing the sun,
Of the old fir tree, is bare,
A reminder of the other
Tree, no longer there...

But grow on it does, while
The fallen is a table somewhere.

America's Team

The story of the flag can be traced to Nebraka's preseason camp when Jack Riggins, a Fremont native and U.S. Navy SEAL, spoke to the team for about an hour. The speech left an impression on the players. "He gave us probably one of the best speeches I've heard," Cassidy said. "He really got everybody fired up and just talked about having the guts to try, and not be afraid of failure." Riggins gave his American flag to the Nebraska Football Team Unity Council, and told the players they could do what they wished with it, as long as they took care of it. The team chose to have the flag be part of the Tunnel Walk. The flag was placed in a stand near the bench during the game, and it may continue to be part of the Tunnel Walk this season. The flag has been on several missions, and it was an honor to be next to the flag for the Tunnel Walk, Cassidy said. "He said they bagged a lot of bad guys under that flag and gave it to our team as a Nebraska guy and fan," he said. "That flag was in Afghanistan. The game we play is of little importance in comparison to what they're doing over there. It keeps things in perspective." (From the Lincoln Journal Star)

Link: http://huskerextra.com/sports/football/article_56b1167f-9266-5497-a3b9-2efbaed45418.html

Light, Sunbeams, & Healing

There is a special moment, around dawn,
A magic instant, when anything goes,
And problems and pain and sorrow are gone,
Then it leaves for some place no one knows.

In His Dream

"We meet again", he remarks, unspoken,
Standing at the counter at Tully's
Ordering caffeine product, to be awoken
From a fantasy, it would seem,
Involving the sweet barrista before him
Who appeared in the past night's dream...
She proffers the coffee, with a smile,
Unaware, offering sugar and cream,
He says "just black", all the while
Wondering how she got inside his head...
Wondering if she'll reappear,
The next time he's in bed.

The Great American Divide

Left or right, red or blue?
I have to choose, goes the rant,
From lawyers and reporters and
Camera-preening egos who can't
Stop their non-stop D.C. gabbing,
Push me to take sides -- but I shant.

Capital

Washington D.C.
Importance supposed,
Washington Monument
Cracked and closed,
Washington politics
Ugliness exposed...

The hubris-buffet of power
Is irresistable to those
Least capabily of humility --
It's just how it goes.

A sense of awe-entitlement,
Derived from the devil-deal
They chose.

Tumbleweed (Part 1)

In motion is when things
Go better, it seems,
On skates or wheels or wings
Moving excitedly through the air,
But not necessarily
Headed for anywhere...
Randomly speeding scarily,
Just as fun as a circus ride,
So much better than being still,
Or static-bored, nowhere to hide
From the toad who will
Squat on your soul, and otherwise
Smother the light you could shine
For all to see, driving
Down the country median line,
Away from the cloying, cleaving
Ones who drag and deaccelerate,
Unable to forgive your leaving.
In motion you can feel and see...
In motion is when you're finally free.

(Geoffrey Hamilton, 1955-2011)

Cause Of Insomnia

Watching the T.V. program
Awake, middle of the night,
Can't get to sleep,
Something's not right...
Maybe it's knowing
That as hard as I try to keep
From thinking of impossibility
And the way things end,
There will be no bestowing
Of slumber tonight...
Maybe it's a feeling deep
Inside, over the loss of a friend,
Realizing he'll never see again
The programs the T.V.s send...

Morning In Makalapa Hotel

"Jet Fuel" coffee and pills
For a breakfast,
My jet-lagged head fills
With "Aloha Friday"...

The lobby is full of tension,
Tansience and flux
And noise, not to mention
The java-smell of I've-got-work-to-do...

Bad Flight Into Paradise

Flying the red-eye into Aloha-land,
Got the much-treasured aisle seat,
But it won't recline
And the movie screen's busted,
Then there's my maladjusted spine,
But the rest is just fine...

How To Live Longer

Those who can neither
Forget nor forgive,
Face a long and bitter
Time through which to live...

Cattle Car Senryu

Economy class Seat 43F
Seat seems roomy until
The tray table comes down...

Puffy

Just some pretty clouds passing by
On a day somewhat better than others,
Time spent idly under a summer sky,
The "gift of now" comsumed, assuming
More will surely be supplied
On schedule, in full measure,
Each and every day until we die.

Seven From Across The River

1. Our dead are never dead to us, until we have forgotten them. (George Eliot)

2. Let no one weep for me, or celebrate my funeral with mourning; for I still live, as I pass to and fro through the mouths of men. (Quintus Ennius)

3. Millions long for immortality who don't know what to do with themselves on a rainy Sunday afternoon. (Susan Ertz)

4. A friend who dies, it's something of you who dies. (Gustave Flaubert)

5. Because of indifference, one dies before one actually dies. (Elie Wiesel)

6. Death is a very dull, dreary affair, and my advice to you is to have nothing whatsoever to do with it. (W. Somerset Maugham)

7. Life is hard. Then you die. Then they throw dirt in your face. Then the worms eat you. Be grateful it happens in that order. (David Gerrold)

Grasshopper

Happy time slips by under a beach's Sun,
Its flow can't be slowed -- Bummer!
Smokes and cocktails and mindless fun,
The Lost burning-out the remnants of Summer...

Cloud Cover

What a glorious feeling!
...I'm walking under a
Brilliant insistent summer sky,
Filled with mobile clouds,
Under a merciless hot
August Sun...
I'm walking across a parking lot,
Headed back to nothing special:
Another day at work...
And the parking lot is is hot!
You could fry a dozen eggs
On the Hellish asphalt...
Well, the clouds are mobile,
And they're moving along with me,
Casting their shadows ahead
Of my walking direction,
Providing, in effect,
And almost miraculously,
An angelic umbrella of shade
From way up on high...
What a glorious feeling!
To see the clouds' shadows
Marching-on before me,
As if I were the recipient
Of some sort of Heavenly UV-escort...
But, they won't believe me,
Back in the office...

Japanese River Festival

Floats of flickering hope
Launched, gently, by hands
Of those who abide and cope --
They watch the summer river's
Current urge-away the floats,
The candle's flame shivers,
Flickers, but burns its flame,
A testament to expectations
That happiness will stay the same...