Monday, May 29, 2017

Haiku


                                                spring showers
                                                I peel a red onion
                                                in running water

                                                footprints on the floor
                                                beginning the mud season
                                                with a new mop

                                                 a perfumed breeze
                                                 shaking loose the moisture
                                                 from peonies

Presence
Under the Basho
Modern Haiku

Monday, May 22, 2017

Haibun


                                                      THE DINNER PARTY      

1. Getting Ready

 Mrs. Fraser is getting ready for dinner. A party of twelve. Very special (as always), designed to impress Mr. Fraser's colleagues and their wives.

 A black velvet dress clings to her slim figure. Diamond earrings and necklace.  Silver hair, coiffed in an up-do only her hairdresser can accomplish. She's almost ready.

From a dresser drawer, hidden in her silk lingerie, Mrs. Fraser takes out a silver flask and swallows long and slowly.  The liquid fires up her throat and her nerve.

                                                        a lone walker–
                                                        the night blooming jasmine
                                                        cast in shadow

 2. The Dinner

 Crystal glasses, English china, Belgian lace. A table set for royalty. Mrs. Fraser longingly gazes out the window. A summer night cries out for a barbeque, not caviar and squab; beer not Verve Clicquot.

 On her right is Mrs. Henry.

 Your grandson?  Precocious is he? Toilet trained in one week you say? Remarkable! Did you notify The Times?  Yes, I'm joking. Of course I'm joking.

 On her left is Judson Parker. She kicks his creeping foot away from hers.

 Yes, I agree. Desperate hunger in the world. Should all do our part.  I'll start now and pack up this dinner for the Homeless Mission downtown. What's that you say? A joke, yes. Just a joke.

                                                           bouquet of roses  
                                                           silky petals
                                                           fall with a touch

 3. Saying Good-bye

 Goodnight. Goodnight. Thank you. Lovely to see you.  Next week at the Henderson's? Can't wait to see their infinity pool. A restful view, I'm sure. Perhaps, I'll jump in and disappear into infinity. Yes. Yes. Another joke.

                                                             night voices
                                                             rumbles of thunder
                                                             before the deluge

 4. Lights Out

 Midnight. The house locked down. One more successful dinner. One more gold star. 

 Mrs. Fraser takes out the flask again and places a bottle of pills next to it.  She lines up the pills on her dresser. With slow deliberation her hand moves from pill to mouth to flask, from pill to mouth to flask, from pill to mouth to flask.

                                                           storm brewing
                                                           an owl's call
                                                           thrown to the wind

Modern Haiku, Oct. 2016 



Thursday, May 11, 2017

Haibun

                                                                                 
                                                                             FRIENDS

 
She was a bright student, Phi Beta Kappa.  Married before graduation.  Has her first child six months later.  Three more children follow in rapid succession.  She moves to a New England Coastal town and writes that she is happy.
 
She, with husband and children, move to Florence where he continues his art studies.
 
She writes that she is happy.
 
Upon their return she teaches high school English and writes that she is not happy.
 
She and the children move to a commune in California where she grows vegetables, bakes bread, has a lover, changes her name to Sunflower and writes that she is happy.
 
                                                                      dried roses
                                                                arranged in a vase
                                                                    for a second life
Lynx, 2011

Monday, May 8, 2017

Haiga




                                       




A Hundred Gourds