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...

Tactical Loss

Diet deployed to

Reinforce, me,

In my fight against

The force of gravity...

Instinct Recall

The crow’s raptor-rattle call,

A reminder of the times, when,

Beasts chased, and then killed,

And then feasted on men...

Bedazzled

For a moment, his mind 

Was in a different better place,

Somewhere between the

Supermarket, and outer space...

Unobtrusive

Nothing ventured,

Rivers, mountains uncrossed,

Content to live quietly 

In the land of the lost...

Stranded

Awoken from a dream,

Now no going back,

Sleep has been abandoned,

Clock ticks, insomniac...

Political Genetics

Fake news, fear, and

Ideologies transfected,

Unapologetically,

In order to get elected...

Teeth Thrift

Nothing goes to waste,

Kneading, coaxing out

The last squeeze of toothpaste...

Sale In Aisle 13

Marked-down breads and pastries rack,

The elderly women converge in a pack,

Picking, plucking, calculating values,

They are relentless in their attack...

Imminent Victuals

Messages delivered to the

Brain from the bowels,

Also sent via other means

When one’s stomach growls...

神社の朝

Dawn, Shinto shrine courtyard,

No other souls around,

Other than wind-chattering

Leaves, hardly a sound,

The silence in the ancient 

Place is soothing, profound...

The Art Of Listening

Sometimes the words that you

Speak, the signals you send,

Are met by a refusal, or,

Inability to comprehend,

Degraded communications,

Relationships wither and end...

Above It All

Onset of darkness,

Spooky crescent moon,

Up above the mess,

Peeks down between 

Clouds, at our madness...

Unnoticed

Ever so slightly,

Things shift,

Ever so slowly,

Things drift...

October Dusk

Crickets chirping, evening cool,

Strolling into early Fall,

And I don’t miss Summer at all...

In And Out

Commuters, like so many

Corpuscles, riding the rails,

Sucked-up into the city,

As Tokyo inhales...

And, later in the day,

When Tokyo breathes out,

They flow the other way...