Dog Whisperer Needed

A woman walking
A dog in the park,
The dog pulls the leash
And starts to bark,
The woman says "Stop"
But the dog won't heed her,
Because he doesn't sense
Her as his pack-leader;
But at least she is there
With a bag and a scoop,
To follow the dog
And pick up its poop.

California Bar, Summer Afternoon, 1977

2:38, lost afternoon, bourbon chasers
With 40-cent draws, a half-devoured
Tombstone pizza, and the buzz is complete
And good and strong, and empowered
To make the day seem more sweet
And special -- and neither hero nor coward
Are we who gather here on stools to meet
At the long wooden altar of Bacchus
In mid-afternoon off the summer-hot street
Of a dull transitional part of the City,
And a guy starts playing his accordion,
The spritely-sad melody adding implicitly
To the overall sensory innebriation,
Which is exactly why we come here
To kill the minutes of our privation,
For escape, companionship, sedation...

Smarter Than The Machine

Here I sit with hand on mouse,
Interacting with the world
From inside my house,
And all this stimulus and fun
Is caused by combinations
Of zero and one...

Dirt's Gift

Spring-wet green smell
Carressing me with a hint
Of musk and earthy mint,
Green colors so strong
And vivid -- almost hurts
To see with unshaded eyes,
The damp brown dirt's
Surging verdant surprise,
Moist, breathing green,
In countless shades exhaling
Gently, unheard, unseen,
The sweet air of life.

No Pain, No Gain

With regular exercise
Ones body avoids
Obesity, and rewards
With endocannabinoids.

My Mind On A Tuesday

If there were a way to trace
Where my mind spent the day
Would a buttefly in space
Resemble it, or a zig-zag graph
Peaks, valleys, all over the place...
Think, day-dream, worry, laugh,
These all I did, and even more,
Over the course of an average
Day, ideas and brain farts galore,
A million synapse connections
Unnumbered, unaccounted for,
Butterflying in directions
I wish I could better understand,
Taking the trip that can't be planned...

A Night On Iwo-To

Over an island, alone
In the vast tropical sea,
A fighter jet flies,
Like a blue comet, above me,
Into a deep black sky,
Where stars look down silently
On an island of ghosts.

Some Advice

When the days too grow long,
You're tired, short on hope,
Take a nice long shower,
With a new bar of soap.

Can't Go Home Anymore

Home is not just a place,
A point of geography where
Familiar things are gathered;
No, it's home because you are there,
Or, were, until last summer,
And now we cannot share
Anything -- my memories must fly solo
Winging above the loss and despair,
Home is not just a place.
It is a heart, it is a face.

Children Can't Choose Their Parents

What sort of awful screeching noise
Of the soul, tearing around inside his head,
Made him fire a bullet into his mouth,
After shooting his wife and children dead

Shock and sadness ripple outwards...
Irregular painful waves which infuse
A sense of loss, an unforgivable waste,
Briefly made meaningful, on the evening news.

Triangle

She can't decide
Between love and lust,
But abide with just
One she must...

Ivy Flowers

Obligations and commitments
Fill up, stimulate, consume
The days and weeks, and I find
I missed the ivy flowers' bloom,
On the green vines which cling
To the wall, along the path
Where I walk in the spring
Mornings, and they are bereft
Of their sweet white flowers,
With only budding berries left,
Tiny green symbols quietly showing
How much is lost without knowing...

Haiku About The "Real" Japan

(From "The Japan Times", written by Colin Jones, who teaches at Doshisha University --- big thanks to Eric Kimura for sending them)
- - - - - - - - - -
You want a lawyer?
But without confessing first?
"Very difficult" 
- - - - - - - - - -
Sunrise — ohayo!
Here's your breakfast, clean undies
The hanging's today
- - - - - - - - - -
Can't see your children
Judge too busy to see his
You see the problem?
- - - - - - - - - -
Cops went to onsen
Before checking out stalker
Oops! New mascot time
- - - - - - - - - -
It's not gambling
Pachinko is just for fun
Do you need a loan?
- - - - - - - - - -
Supreme court ruling:
"Plaintiffs claims legitimate"
They're old by now, too
- - - - - - - - - -
"Lifetime employment"
Is no longer viable
(bureaucrats aside)
- - - - - - - - - -
Mandates to teachers:
Sing imperial anthem
Teach about freedom
- - - - - - - - - -
Non-Japanese folk
Have constitutional rights
Except when they don't
- - - - - - - - - -
Presumed innocent
Suspects are detained for months
They might destroy proof
- - - - - - - - - -
Random card checking
Fingerprints at the airport
Yokoso Japan!
- - - - - - - - - -
Japanese culture
Lawsuits disfavored by "wa"
Also, they're futile
- - - - - - - - - -
Record questioning?!
How could cops gain suspect's trust?!
Or, uh, threaten them?
- - - - - - - - - -
Ministry old boy
Drove your pension off a cliff
Amakudari
- - - - - - - - - -
Barred from the hot springs
for invisible tattoo
It says "foreigner"
- - - - - - - - - -
Notice on bus stop
"On alert for terrorists"
What are they smoking?

Golden Week

Friday night, the "long weekend" begins,
And the tribe moves as one,
Massively, in search of leisure,
They fly and drive, ride and run,
Clogging roads,
Blocking the sun,
The tribe's diaspora to places of fun,
Is an unstoppable force
Which doesn't quit till it's done...

Springtime At The DIY Store

Reacting to an instinctive
Vernal urge,
Into the garden shop
The customers surge...

Urbanites channel
Rural dreams,
Tomato plants flow out
The doors in streams...

Reader's Revolt

Temporary peace of mind
Is an unread newspaper,
Not that ignorance is bliss,
It's just sweet knowing
The bullshit you miss.

A Viking Battle

Heavy and splintered is the shield I heft,
But it still holds, as does our battle line,
Each man protecting the one to his left,
Scrum-pushing into our bloody foes,
Spears thrust over, swords stab under
The clashing shield-wall, and those
Who tire, fall back to puke and bleed,
Replaced by others who press into
The cruel fight where brute force or speed
Of movement, perhaps a fool's luck,
Are the difference between standing
Up afterwards to view victory's carnage,
Or resting in torn pieces on death's landing...

Endless Jobs And Errands

The minute I sit down to relax
The ideas swarm, reminders
Of things to be done, they attack
My peace, which deserves a kinder
Quieter fate, than this sleepless,
Too-much-on-my-plate state
Of things uncompleted, and weep-less
I am, I cannot cry... There's bills,
Taxes, and other IOUs to pay,
Return the favors, cure the ills,
Day after day after day after day...

Hesperia, April 2012

Gathered in the high
Desert, at an oasis
Of love, under a gentle sky,
We watch the vows
Exchanged, promises made,
As the sun lengthened
Shadows and shade,
We celebrate the
Consumated romance,
The music starts,
It's time to dance...

Calm Before The Storm

The Cabernet Sauvignon is settling

Into my system and preparing

The stage for a reckoning

Strict in the morning, yet sparing

That part of me which refuses

To remain sober, singing, swearing

That it's the damn moment itself

Lived and tasted, which counts

For everything that wine-soaked

Inspiration offers, in amounts

Strong enough to spur the laughter,

And what may follow thereafter...

The Element Of Surprise

Something you never expect to see...
Hard to explain, odd, unusual,
Is what makes life special, especially
When you're stuck in a series
Of rut-dull days, inexorably
Plodding toward nothing special...
And that's when, it seems to me,
The glimpse of a dinosaur in a
Neighbor's yard, can set you free...
Never mind that it's plastic,
The minor shock, the incongruity,
The element of the fantastic,
Marks your soul, briefly, but indelibly...

(Photo by Geoff Hamilton)

Our Journey

Now that we have linked our hearts
Together, along with our hands,
Possessions and hopes, our journey starts...
And it's not a trip to distant lands,
Where we will go, instead we will hold
Each other close, in love, and travel
From our youth to when we're old,
Sheltering each other from the rain
Along the way, keeping each other warm,
Sharing dreams and soothing pain,
Step-by-step and day-by-day,
We will grow the thing called "Us",
On our journey together, starting today.

(Dedicated to Matt and Erica Jones)

Thanks To Java

Few things better serve
To clear the bats
Out of the belfry
Than Sumatran Reserve

Whoops

The alarm was properly set,
But alas, the time was not,
Left on a different zone,
From a long trip I forgot...

Tough Week

Whoosh! There goes Monday.
Tuesday's passage a whir
Wednesday already upon me
It's all too fast, a blur...