Writers aren’t crazy.We just make up random worlds.Normal people don’t. The eternal question: did I think hard about this poem when I wrote it or did I mail it in? And the answer is: I actually thought about this. In our podcast about writer’s responsibilities, CC touched on artistic temperament, the cliche that describes theContinue reading “HW: Random Worlds”
Category Archives: Haiku
HW: Mozart Laughs
The quartet begins.They must play the exact score.Who is playing Whom? This is my version of the famous “Ship of Theseus Paradox,” which I lovingly call “Mozart Laughs,” but one thing at a time. The “Ship of Theseus Paradox” dates back to Plato and Heraclitus, and simply put, is a debate on whether a shipContinue reading “HW: Mozart Laughs”
HW: Gray Hairs
As my leaves turn grey,I’m called less to raise my hand.I used to matter. A couple of years ago, I was in a bad job situation, though I didn’t know it at the time. Important assignments and tasks seemed to pass me by, and I believed at the time I’d reached “that” stage of myContinue reading “HW: Gray Hairs”
Haiku Wednesday is Back!
Hie-dee-hoe, neighbor-rooney. Haiku Wednesday is back from an unforced hiatus, and is being written under the spirit of the “It’s Six Thirty Somewhere” project. Cassidy Carson and I are attempting to write something for thirty minutes every day for a hundred days straight. Since the field is open, I’m taking a break from my workContinue reading “Haiku Wednesday is Back!”
HW: A Political Lesson
Their smiles are double-edged,Posturing from the podium.Contempt poised to slice. Who’s your sneakiest teacher? Not your favorite, but the sneaky one who planted seeds in you that bloomed years later? I was a fan of The West Wing, though the best reason eluded me at first. The writing was tight (hello, Mr. Sorkin), the actingContinue reading “HW: A Political Lesson”
HW: Heartbeat
Ear to chest, i hearHer Heartbeat entangle Us.While It Beats, We Live. Emotions are hard, especially ones that open windows to our true selves. Most times we’re on autopilot in daylight. We dress pretty, groom our motley selves, and generally act in a manner both publicly and professionally acceptable. Autopilot, then, is good and safe.Continue reading “HW: Heartbeat”
HW: A Bridge Too Far
With my last cold breath,I cross a colorless bridge.I will not be back. Almost a suicide note, huh? But that was not the motivation. I purposely went dark while drafting it as I remembered lost family and friends, one of whom had passed from colon cancer in the December before this was written. She alwaysContinue reading “HW: A Bridge Too Far”
HW: Vegas, Baby!
Neon attracts chumpsTo one armed bandits with smiles.All fools bad at math. Ah, Nevada. Top of the naughty lists and bottom of the nice lists, all for good reasons, yet we draw so many sane people with urgent needs to be separated from their hard-earned doubloons. Why is that? [If state histories bore you, stopContinue reading “HW: Vegas, Baby!”
HW: The Chairs Lean Back
PlanetariumRockets launch as the slides click.Stars with a deep voice. If I ever compile these haikus into a book, I might name it “Shitty Words” or some such nonsense because my poems do not flow or fly, but stutter along like John Wilkes Booth limping from one side of the stage to the other (tooContinue reading “HW: The Chairs Lean Back”
HW: Ghosts
Grama’s ghost drifts by.She wears her smile and gray curls.Does my Grama live? Ghosts are everywhere. Not the apparitions in Disney’s Haunted Mansion or the pellucid warriors floating above Hogwarts, but the twins of loved ones and colleagues from our past. I saw my grandmother’s ghost in Raley’s just the other day. That’s her onContinue reading “HW: Ghosts”