MURDER, POLITICS, AND THE END OF THE JAZZ AGE
by Michael Wolraich
Order today at Barnes & Noble / Amazon / Books-A-Million / Bookshop
MURDER, POLITICS, AND THE END OF THE JAZZ AGE by Michael Wolraich Order today at Barnes & Noble / Amazon / Books-A-Million / Bookshop |
Here's this week's heap of haikus:
I'm fading away,
Slowly, inexorably ...
I can't help but laugh.
---
Is it just me or
is eating wintergreen in
the Summertime odd?
---
How oddly human;
hearing sounds and reading words
are changing my mood.
---
Happy Would-Have-Been 100th Birthday this week to Les Paul.
Oh, how high the moon ...
and oh how deep the ocean ...
my heart loves you still.
---
A swarm of bees flit
about my head as I walk
through my neighbor's yard.
---
A tiny bird pecks
at what it thinks is food, and
man thought smoke-able.
---
Purple swirls may make
you dizzy, but old love songs
always make you blue.
---
Advice-to-Vampires-ku:
Don't become smitten
with young maids you have bitten;
there's too much at stake.
---
The ecdysiast
that men find the teasiest,
un-zips easiest.
---
Thoughts, planted wisely,
blossom in reluctant minds,
when the time is right.
---
The white-capped waves reached
out with watery fingers
to capsize the boat.
---
The tears on apples
come from being hurt right
to the very core.
---
Luscious red peppers
tumble from the store's display
right into my cart
---
Grandma used to say,
"a house with no back door
has somethin' to hide."
---
Where depressed gourmands,
can go to end it all? The
Terminal Diner.
---
Blistering come-backs
raced through his head, but all he
could say was, "Oh YEAH?!"
---
Friday nights, a line
forms at the lover's leap ... for
the One O'clock Jump.
---
Near some shallow shoals,
sallow souls in hollow holes
scream at scheming scum.
---
The universe keeps
winking at me ... as if we
share some cosmic joke.
---
Living on the streets,
he slipped into a dream world
to escape his life.
---
Pulsating rhythms,
Echoing through Central Park,
The joy of bongos.
---
When it's dinner-time
in the cannibal village,
stupid shows up first.
---
Soft hands on rough stone,
grasping for crevices, will
soon form calluses.
---
"I 'felt' it was true" ...
has been the rationale for
most of our blunders.
---
tanka haiku:
The little boy eyes
me warily. I can see
his wondering thoughts;
"Why is that old man using
two canes and wearing odd shoes?"
---
I no longer think
and no longer worry. I'm
conjuring rainbows.
---
tanka haiku:
We fight our whole lives
to thrive in the world of our
parents, only to
discover that we're living
in the world of our children.
---
A nurse hovers o'er
her unresponsive patient.
She must let him go.
---
tanka haiku:
Curious ... Have you
ever seen a mailman that
likes to stamp his feet?
Is he footing the bill, or
just pushing the envelope?
---
She ran down the street,
with tears streaming down her face,
dogs nipping her heels.
---
Enjoying the shade,
of a leafy maple tree;
ladybugs and me.
---
Saunter through the woods
leaving all your cares behind
consumed by nature.
---
After the rainstorm,
the park was so lush and green,
he got his youth back.
---
Seldom will you see
a second thought that dances
in the morning breeze.
---
Sometimes an echo
from a life you left behind,
will catch up to you.
---
Moon behind the clouds,
dew forms on the meadow grass,
a whispered, "Goodnight!"
---
Go out in the world
and fuck it up beautif'lly ...
Go make me nervous.
- Inspired by John Waters' Commencement Address to 2015 Graduates of the Rhode Island School of Design.
****
Bonus Poem:
Ev'ry ripple is profound,
changing oceans, making sound,
Wonder not why you're extant ...
breathing out, you've saved a plant.
( M.T.S. 06-06-2015 )
Comments
One more thing ... I wanted to post this video too. Felicia is a talented musician from Seattle ... and a fellow Spondy.
by MrSmith1 on Fri, 06/12/2015 - 4:13pm
Thanks, Smith. Wonderful post.
In honor of John Waters:
dark country western,
ole Randy Howard got shot
but not for singing
by Oxy Mora on Fri, 06/12/2015 - 5:59pm
Excellent, Oxy!
Grand Ole Opry Star
Jim Ed Brown has also died.
He sang about it.
by MrSmith1 on Fri, 06/12/2015 - 6:25pm
This was my favorite. These reminds me of a summer that I stayed with my Aunts for a couple of weeks.
The Old Lamp Lighter.
by trkingmomoe on Sat, 06/13/2015 - 1:00pm
Here is the other hit song from that year,1961. I remembered them on American Bandstand.
The Scarlett Ribbon.
by trkingmomoe on Sat, 06/13/2015 - 1:11pm
So true, for better or worse. This is the kind of knowledge that comes with time spent on this planet that the youngsters don't get, really no fault of their own.
by Elusive Trope on Sun, 06/14/2015 - 2:49pm
Thanks, Elusive! Now, I know you write poetry, so you should know that the game we play here in the comments section of the Haikulodeon is to write a haiku using one line from one of the previous posted haikus and then another person writes a haiku based on that, etc. The fun is in seeing how many variations we can come up with and what different directions a few changes in words can take us.
You can do either the regular haiku form of 5-7-5 syllables or the tanka, which is 5-7-5-7-7
This is your official invitation to play.
by MrSmith1 on Sun, 06/14/2015 - 8:03pm
Your history a wake
left behind on life's river
ripple back to you
by Elusive Trope on Mon, 06/15/2015 - 9:50am
This is cool, it's like
late-night improv jazz session
in a smoke-filled bar
by Elusive Trope on Mon, 06/15/2015 - 10:08am
Excellent, Trope!
In a smoke-filled bar
A winded woodwind player
got to the coda.
---
by MrSmith1 on Mon, 06/15/2015 - 12:29pm
lightening himself
coughs and gasps a little bit
addict for the smoke
by Elusive Trope on Mon, 06/15/2015 - 9:09pm
Okay. remember the game is to use one line from the previous haiku. Doesn't matter which one.
Her first porn flick; she
coughs and gasps a little bit
before passing out.
by MrSmith1 on Mon, 06/15/2015 - 9:50pm
Okay. Got it.
After the concert
A winded woodwind player
ponders the walk home
by Elusive Trope on Mon, 06/15/2015 - 10:27pm
You got it! Excellent!!
Having said his piece,
he waits for her reply, and
ponders the walk home.
by MrSmith1 on Mon, 06/15/2015 - 11:58pm
Chills run down her spine
as she ponders the walk home,
knowing he'll be there.
by barefooted on Tue, 06/16/2015 - 12:44am
Knowing he'll be there
waiting as he always does
in that chair he made
by Elusive Trope on Tue, 06/16/2015 - 12:58am
Taking a shower
at the Bates Motel, more than
chills run down her spine.
by MrSmith1 on Tue, 06/16/2015 - 6:47am
Taking a shower
he panics his last haiku
syllable count wrong
by Elusive Trope on Tue, 06/16/2015 - 12:19pm
I would add these as well.
by Elusive Trope on Sun, 06/14/2015 - 2:53pm
Work in the garden
of another's mind, the seasons
will still be master
by Elusive Trope on Mon, 06/15/2015 - 9:58am
No matter what heights
your Melody soars, Rhythm
Will still be master.
by MrSmith1 on Mon, 06/15/2015 - 12:23pm
Work in the garden
of hopelessness, for you may
yield a fertile mind.
by barefooted on Mon, 06/15/2015 - 1:24pm
HA! Good one, Missy!!
An hour each day, on
your knees, your face in the dirt,
will humble your thoughts.
---
Work in the garden,
You'll find what matters most is
work in the garden,
---
by MrSmith1 on Mon, 06/15/2015 - 2:54pm
But if you tell fibs,
don't put your face in the dirt -
your nose just might grow!
by barefooted on Mon, 06/15/2015 - 3:42pm
HA!! Good one!!
If you serve food, don't
put your face in the dirt, you'll
muddy the waiter.
by MrSmith1 on Mon, 06/15/2015 - 5:01pm
the table all set
in the muddy cold setting
waiter sinks, can't move
by Elusive Trope on Mon, 06/15/2015 - 5:35pm
Waiter sinks, can't move.
Patrons cry out in dismay,
"Who will serve us now?"
by barefooted on Mon, 06/15/2015 - 5:59pm
argument ensues
who will rescue the waiter
over cries for help
by Elusive Trope on Mon, 06/15/2015 - 8:41pm
In a bawdy boite,
patrons cry out in dismay,
"Put it all back on!"
by MrSmith1 on Mon, 06/15/2015 - 9:43pm
"Put it all back on!"
the stage director bellows
more tables appear
by Elusive Trope on Mon, 06/15/2015 - 10:35pm
Library book due
must photo copy one
section then return
by Elusive Trope on Mon, 06/15/2015 - 5:42pm
I've been avoiding
Forty-second and Fifth Ave;
Library book due.
by MrSmith1 on Mon, 06/15/2015 - 9:47pm
Library book on
Forty-second and Fifth Ave
Flutters in the wind
by Elusive Trope on Mon, 06/15/2015 - 10:37pm
The stone lions on
Forty-second and Fifth Ave.
guard chapter and verse.
by MrSmith1 on Tue, 06/16/2015 - 12:05am
The stone lions on
the grand porch of the grand home
bored with the same view
by Elusive Trope on Tue, 06/16/2015 - 1:03am
Reach into the dark,
feel my eyelash brush your cheek,
let me comfort you.
Listen for my whispered song ...
it will carry you to me.
by barefooted on Thu, 06/18/2015 - 9:55pm
Oh Missy!! This is wonderful!!
by MrSmith1 on Thu, 06/18/2015 - 11:31pm