Nebraska Territory

Prairie survival
In a hut made of sod
Backbreaking labor
And faith in God
Old country abandoned
To come out here
Into the big empty
As a pioneer...

Wallflower

Blessed are the meek,
Though their prospects
May be bleak...

Soon After Sunrise

Morning swarm, herd, scramble,
On feet, wheels, and rail,
All drawn, sucked-in as
Work places and schools inhale...

Nocturnal

Slowly the
Knock-out gases seep
Into my brain
To make me sleep
Then filter through
Synapses and seams
To unlock the door
And release my dreams...

お彼岸

Tidying up the family grave,
Laying flowers, vaguely aware
That memories keep alive
The lost ones buried there...

Unneeded

No empathy for
Snobs or haters
Or people who
Walk up escalators

Overexertion

It’s a good thing to
Strive and compete,
But important to know
When to chill, or retreat...

Not Quite Right

A nagging sense
That something’s missing,
Pin-hole in the
Life raft, softly hissing...

Biding Time

Some pause
And anticipate
Others simply
Sit and wait

Unexpectedly

Sometimes
You will find hope
At the end
Of your rope...

Missed Signals

Away it went
Unreceived
After it was sent
Leaving a
Contrail
Emotional
Air mail...

Pre-WWW

Oh, those analog
Days of old
Unconnected
Less controlled

Man’s Best Friend

Walking back with burritos
We come upon the greenest grass
Summer-cut, in the shade of a tree,
Not about to let it pass
My Labrador stops to sniff
And finds intoxication
In some sort of earthy whiff
A squirrel’s smell, a hare,
And she starts rolling in it
Dog ecstasy in the August air...

Last One Left

Visit to the graveyard
Now all alone
Small solace given
By words carved in the stone

サラリーマン

Grimly grabbing the hand ring
Wishing he could sit,
But thankfully his station
Is coming up in a bit,
Then there’s another day
Of office toil ahead,
And fourteen hours before
Getting back to bed...

孫

Offspring of our offspring
What wonder and joy
They can bring

Extending
Life beyond
Our ending

Double Burger

Man consumes cow
Meat chewing meat
Washed down with cola
You are what you eat?

立秋

Cicadas tire and disappear
Bell crickets trilling
Autumn is near...

Incapability

Selfishness, myopia,
Consistently corrode
Utopia...

Califias

Temperate abundance
Tortillas and grapes
Hurrying hordes
Of car-driving apes

On The Hook

Ordered to act
As bait
All he could do
Was wiggle & wait

Hunkering

Nothing ventured,
Nothing gained,
But nothing lost, either,
Stability maintained...

Unravelling

She said it wasn’t important,
Didn’t matter all that much,
Then shrank away to a place
He could neither reach, nor touch,
All of it unfolding in the
Fading, warm, tawny air,
A gorgeous sunset, and beginning
Of the end of the affair...

特攻隊

Following the only course
Their fates and orders allowed,
Launched up to deadly sky,
They vanish into the cloud,
And as much as their
Families will pray and yearn,
The boy-pilots
Will never return...

Mundane

Peaceful place,
Safe to rest,
Boring? Sure,
But it’s the best,
Chaos avoided,
Suppressed...