penning
my obituary
in love with
the
unnecessary

embracing
dawn
as a prisoner
does
a pillow

apotheosis of a free mind

seeing nothing is a greater feat than seeing everything or anything. people often speak about thinking ‘out of the box’. in truth the greatest gift is to think ‘in the box’. when a painter paints they first choose a canvas or some surface to paint upon. they start inside the box so to speak. they choose a medium or more than one to express themselves with. every step adds further limitations and yet they keep going. science approaches solutions and questions by fixing and limiting the scope of inquiry. where would we be if they did not. of all the laws of physics the shortest solution has provided the greatest strides in thinking. E=mc^2 is way ‘inside’ the box. and yet it starts off from the very beginning and goes to the end of creation. the big bang was not big and made no sound.

careless breeze
my dinner bell
rings at midnight

wont you help to sing these songs of freedom

long ago i thought things could not get better. and then they did. not as quickly as many of us want. instant gratification does not come without bloodshed and we did not want that. now i wake up every day. my assessment upon waking is always positive. after all i am here. again awake and smiling at the sun or at the rain or at the darkness. why not smile. the world is better for that smile of mine. yes it is. you cant talk me out of it. no you really cant.

a kiss
in the morning
my cat licks my beard

my favorite flavor cherry red

there were soda fountains when i was a kid. they had little stools that spun around. we would watch as they put the crushed ice into a paper cone. then they filled it with flavors from little spigots with metal pumps that they pressed three times each with whatever combination we requested. it was great to get just want you wanted. the gratification a nickel bought back then was wonderful and fulfilling. everything shiny and sweet is not good for you though. it broke my heart to learn that lesson years later.

still here
on the edges
of my poems

my ouija board lies like a rug

the tao te ching is a fantasy and my future is as complicated as a box of jujubes. every time i think i have found my favorite flavor i change my mind. the complexity of life lies in its simplicity. if the present moment is too stressful just flow into the next. i tell you all the teachings of buddha are easier to understand than a box of candy that is not good for you but matches your desire as you watch ‘apocalypse now’ for the hundredth time.

my death poem
i read it
e v e r s o s l o w l y

i didnt come here and i aint leaving

the older i get the closer i am to being me. yeah. it is a conundrum i know. i used to think i would not live that long. now at seventy two it all seems a miracle that will last forever. not that i believe in miracles like forever but it sounds good to say it in a haibun.

november rain
just cold enough
to be…

my muse is betting against me

i dont have anything to say.

wisps of incense
a singing bowl tunes into
silence

leftover dreams

sometimes deja vu occurs in our dreams. funny isnt it when that happens. something that never occurred for real reappears while we sleep. a rumination of a dream in a dream. very odd. psychologists must have a lot of fun when this happens.

recalling
the way it wasnt…
missing you

giving away all my sins

right and wrong. the diatribes of others. i know enough not to walk into a busy street against the light. that is enough for me. everything else is just there. and then gone.

gifting my solitude…
a box of cheerios
for the homeless man

portrait of my love

if you want people to like you then make it easy for them. just be your own craggy self with all your imperfections on show. and give each of them a part of you to keep if they wish. take nothing from them though. the peace of a summer breeze repeats itself by doing nothing. a wait is always worth it. do it with the calmness of no certain reward.

casting its lot
with the butterflies
milkweed