[untitled]

Ball pumped, shinguards on

New cleats will wear brown and green

Snow's gone, soccer's now.

Daffodils

Yellow pops at tips 

of green stalks in a green sea, 

unphased by late snow.

Chickadee Is First (Gogyohka but a titled one)

An empty feeder

is a lonely place it's true.

Eager beaks await

the man who fills with new seed.

Chips and chirps and calls

explode from the trees and ground. 

He's finally done!

But Chickadees come back first.

They will always come back first.

A Phish Tale (comparing syllabic vs phonemic counts in English versions of Japanese poem forms)

Disclaimer: I am not an expert in this or poetry in general. I just ponder and play a lot.

I was reading some of Enta Kasakabe's book on the Gogyohka 5-Line poetry form that he defined in 1983.  He, like others before him, was describing the difference between Japanese sound units, used in forms like Haiku and Tanka, and Engling syllables. That got me wondering if English Phonemes would be a closer match. I thought I'd give it a try. Phonemic counting instead of syllables is more difficult but shorter which is both good and bad I guess. Here is a Haiku done both ways.

Phonemic  

The phish

hook's set

No cash

The phonemic breakdown is as follows.

Th/e ph/i/sh

h/oo/k/'s s/e/t

N/o c/a/sh

Syllabic  

The phish took the bait

The scammer's hook has been set

No cash left for phish.

The syllabic breakdown is as follows.

The/ phish/ took/ the/ bait/

The/ scam/mer's/ hook/ has/ been/ set/

No/ cash/ left/ for/ phish/.

Tacos, Tacos

to the tune of Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star

Tacos, Tacos, hot and crisp.

How I want you on my lips

Crunched by teeth passed over gums

Look out stomach here they come

Tacos, tacos, hot and crisp.

How I want you on my lips.

A Deep Read of the Wind

Initially published on Hello Poetry in 2012. Reposted and slightly warmed over here in 2023.

When the warm summer breeze
blows from sea to sand
and gently caresses your face
while you stand on the dunes
its breath overflowing
with the scent of the ocean
do you simply enjoy its caress?
or
Do you ponder the individual molecules?
The atoms?
The updrafts?
The sun's rays?
The spin of the earth on its axis?
Where the wind came from?
Where it is going?

Or do you, like I
simply close your eyes
breathe deeply
and enjoy the moment?

River Flows

Published initially on Hello Poetry in 2012. Slightly edited in 2023.

A river runs as rivers run
Just where it wants to go
You can build a dam
Canal or trench
But you cannot stop the flow

And if divert it you succeed
by cutting route through stone
there will remain a trace
of where it's been

and the truth of course be known

Tree Song

Small

Swim

Hop, Hop

See the tree

Sticky toes help climb

Once up high, time to sing all night.

Eek

No legs

A forked tongue smells

Lives in woods, deserts, and seas

They come from eggs laid by their mother

Scare me

Written in 3 minutes, I know it shows, to explain Cinquain to two 2nd Grade boys in my class. Being 2nd Grade boys I felt that a reptile would be a good subject.

Cardinal

The Cardinal bird is quite showy

It really stands out when it's snowy

Though the female's not red

There's a touch on her head

It's really a sight when it's blowy

Chickadee

You are not large

you're kind of small

for a hawk you'd be no meal at all

perhaps that's why

when feeder's filled

you're the first

back where the seed has spilled

before the Jay

before the sparrow

before woodpecker

with beak long and narrow

among the birds

you stand quite tall

as it appears

you've no fear at all.

20 1st Ave

I am 20 1st Avenue
Just as I am also St. Albans Drive
Old Stamford Road
Whitney Avenue
and a little Albermarle

But 20 1st Avenue is where I learned
How to make snow forts, big ones
and pillow forts that filled a living room

It's where I saw that if you plant a little tree
and hang around long enough
that you will have a great big tree
that drops black walnuts
So that you can caution your kids kids
that the walnuts can turn your skin black if you're not careful

It's where I learned what a Woolworths was
and that they sold plastic army men
with mortars, radios and M16s
by the bag for a dollar
nobody wanted the mortar or radio guy

Its where I learned what a honest to God toy store was
and because of that,
who Mr. Potato Head was.

It's where I learned about nuts
still in shells
and how to open them
with a crank nutcracker
or a little hammer
and how to get the meat out
with a lobster pick.

But most of all I learned
what a grandma was
that old people could be great fun
that they knew cool stuff
that they might allow you to do things your parents wouldn't
and that they could keep secrets
then finally
that they weren't forever
but their shadows in your life
were.

A Human Mind (reposted from 2012)

The human mind is an interesting thing
Mine is very
As it tends to wander
I mean
Explore

I have been told by an authority
My wife
That she's never seen one like it
Although how she can see a mind
I don't know

She has seen a lot in her life
Both with and before me
She was a Travel Agent
She's been to Turkey
I like turkey

I made an interesting stuffing for turkey once
It was during my time in the seafood retail business
In a fish market
It, the stuffing I mean, had shrimp, scallops and crayfish in it
My wife didn't like it much, she's of Irish heritage

She's been to Ireland too
Twice
Once in college and once with her family
Ireland is where Delorian made his cars in the 1980s
Before he was arrested for trafficking in cocaine

I have not been to Ireland
I have been to France, Belgium and England
I stayed in Waterloo Belgium for two weeks
In the 80's
When I was 25

Waterloo is where Napoleon was finally vanquished
Beaten by an Englishman
They have a monument, the lion, on top of a big hill there
I had to climb it twice
The first time I forgot my camera

I got a new camera recently
A Pentax
I have had several since Waterloo
The camera hasn't been anywhere interesting
Just my back yard

I use it to take pictures of birds
At our feeder
In the big maple tree
On the ground
There is even a turkey that comes in our yard

My wife's been to Turkey
She was a Travel Agent

Mommy's in a Meeting

Mommy's in a meeting
The meeting is outside
My sister is here also
She loved to run and hide
We're at a friend of mommy's house
It big and really clean
The yard looks like a golf course
Her friend looks like the queen
While mommy's talking grownup stuff
I'll run around and play
Watch me stomp in puddles and flower beds
I'll be happy here all day

Ballot (OneWord)

Is this worth anything anymore?
does it hold the power it once had?
are they real
or imaginary
are they mine
or Vladimir's?

Mostly on Rails

A small hungry train
mostly on its rails
chugs kind of quietly down the hall
to a midday fuel stop
with
many other trains
and
for each small car of each train
a small tray
and for every car
it's own seat

Flower Power (Collum Lune)

Spring colors glare
Their strong perfume everywhere
Then I sneeze

2nd Grade Morning Meeting

The crowd gathers
wiggles and talking commence
but in this
before morning meeting
mess
A single
pillar
of
awesomeness.

It Snowed

I was supposed to have auditions tonight
for a musical I am directing
but it snowed
the show is at the theater where I met my wife
that was in 1991
we were in a play together
I was 31 she was not
We both played witnesses
for the prosecution
It snowed then too but not at auditions

She was the President of the theater at the time
and they needed another body onstage
she doesn't like "onstage"
She prefers to be dressed in black
in the dark
with a notebook
flashlight
and headset
She's doing that for this show too

I've been onstage
I've sprung from a jack-in-the-box
been an aide to the Emperor of Japan
I've yelled at Stella
and hit a priest over the head
with a poker
I've been in a hospital in Burma
During World War Two
but now I prefer to direct
from behind a table
I have a big notebook too
I used to have pads, pencils and snacks
all over the table
but now
it's mainly computers, iPhones and tablets
and snacks

The first time I was onstage
and when I first fell in love with theater
was when I was in fifth grade
my teacher was into theater
and I didn't know it then
but the theater she was "really into"
was the one where I met my wife
the one where I was supposed to have auditions tonight
for a play I'm directing
but it snowed.

Sleepy

Me
alone
thinking big
too big to sleep
yet in sleep I free my mind to wander