Ho Ho Ho

Holiday pop music plays in a loop,

Over and over, without fail,

Sonic torture for the minimum

Wage workers, trapped in retail...

常識

Seems like some are 

Born with common sense,

Others learn it through

Bumps and experience,

Then there's fools who don't,

Dealing with consequence...

Short Days

A week away from the solstice

Not much locally seems amiss

Except for politicians taking the piss

02:38AM

Waiting for the dance of

Memories and dreams to cease,

Whereafter lies the prospect

Of slumber, sweet peace...

Too Late

The declines and
Degradations begin,
And don't realize
The peril we're in,
Until we start running
Out of oxygen...

Reconnaissance

Crow speeding across the morning sky,

Doesn't know the name of this day,

But knows it's cold, and searches for

The spots where edible garbage lay,

The hungry crow patrols, no time for

Relaxation, always been that way...

To Mask, Or Not To Mask

The virus was deadly,

Stealthy and insidious,

Those who survived were

Careful and fastidious...

Blanket Cocoon

Motionless, stressless,

Horizontally hover,

All is well, in bed,

Under cover...

Elmwood Park 1975

Carefree, bare feet,

Running in the park,

Chasing the flying

Frisbee's arc,

And sometimes,

With dramatic flair,

Leaping, at speed,

Catch it in mid-air...

師走

Sending gifts, frenzied

Cleaning, preparing feasts,

Countdown now begun in

This month of running priests...

Twinkle Twinkle

Star shining through the

Light-polluted evening air,

I sensed the infinite void 

As I looked up to stare,

The empty miracle of

Sentience, and being there...

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...