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:
tanka haiku:
In Nineteen Eighteen,
World War One was still raging,
King Tut, still unknown,
Band-aids, Penicillin and
'Radio', all yet to come.
(Putting my mom's birthday in perspective. She would have been 98 on August 8th.)
---
Our own impact can't
be known to us. For we've touched
lives and don't know it.
---
Remember, when you're
tall in the saddle, your feet
are not on the ground.
---
I sometimes wonder,
is it still flying a kite,
if I let it go?
---
double haiku:
Two ballet dancers
arch their backs and reach their arms
up to the heavens.
A plea to God to
understand the suffering
in this mortal realm.
---
Infantilize you ...?
Be my, be my baby now
Oh come on, grow up!
---
Orchid on her wrist,
She twirls in her flouncy skirt,
The belle of the ball.
---
Despite the road maps,
Cluttering up the front seat,
Where are we? Don't know.
---
Shhh! Look over there,
nibbling on the bramble,
a doe and her fawn.
---
He expects to learn,
through obtuse introspection ...
... it will take a while.
---
They scrawl on postcards,
"Miss you. I wish you were here!"
Tourists plagiarize.
---
tanka haiku:
Ah, Domestic bliss!
She relaxes while he cooks,
they discuss the news.
And later, after dessert ...
they will sleep contentedly.
---
tanka haiku:
All the old worries
have been resurrected by
my return to earth.
while souls in heaven's hammocks
enjoy eternal slumber.
---
Our ends should come as
a complete surprise ... as if
an interruption.
---
No new gnat knows naught
Nifty Northern gnats gnaw nuts.
neither, numbs knightly gnus ...
---
While the daylight shines,
many lives are not like me,
darkness unites us.
---
Baby genius drools
stupid parents wipe her mouth
Evolution! HA!
---
You can not tell Time.
Time is such a know-it-all ...
Time and Space are jerks.
---
We will perservere.
We'll wake again tomorrow
and tend our gardens.
---
Two old women walk
on a foggy esplanade ...
head scarves and hand bags
disappear into the mist
and quite soon, they do as well.
---
While he was coping,
dealing with all of his pain
the world slipped by him.
---
A sheer cotton dress
flutters around her body
with each gust of wind.
---
As humidity
rises, timidity falls,
she wears less and less.
---
Mother's charm bracelet,
clanged against the banister,
as she climbed the stairs.
---
Pancakes for dinner ...
because I'm an adult and
I'll do what I want.
---
Why-does-a-chicken-ku:
Psychic helps chickens
to get to the other side;
Is that Poultry-geist?
---
Having conquered fear,
my soul is now free to seek
out better angels.
---
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.
---
They were on a lark,
when they met an old school mate
living on the street.
---
The scent of jasmine
scatters as the door is slammed
and she rushes out.
—
Few shall ever know
private failures we endure ...
unless we succeed.
---
Souls forge truth and hope,
while minds dream up fantasies
and hearts search for love.
---
A leaf-less tree frames
a lonely farm-house in the
middle of nowhere.
—
There is a structure
to all things, and a context
to fence it all in.
---
I feel so alone.
I watch the tide come in and
think of yesterday.
---
The deepening blue
gently quiets golden waves.
Nightfall approaches.
****
Comments
H
by Richard Day on Fri, 08/12/2016 - 9:05pm
H
by Richard Day on Fri, 08/12/2016 - 9:07pm
Hello Mr. Smith
Few things we might rely on
We rely on Smith. hahahah
We have touched the lives
Of people who will become
And never knew us
Oh, my son's second
Looks so like my dear mama
Jolee endears me.
If this life were planned
If everything were known
Why does it matter?
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
This song relates to nothing, I just wished to hear it again
by Richard Day on Fri, 08/12/2016 - 9:04pm
Such a good song D. Thanks. Here is a cover by a perfect voice.
by A Guy Called LULU on Fri, 08/12/2016 - 10:10pm
Lulu I have never heard this rendition.
I am in awe.
THANK YOU FOR THIS LULU.
No kidding.
by Richard Day on Fri, 08/12/2016 - 10:52pm
Oh I cannot let this go.
Others might wish to hear this without linking.
by Richard Day on Fri, 08/12/2016 - 11:19pm
Thanks, DD...
Underestimate
the element of surprise
and joy will wither.
by MrSmith1 on Fri, 08/12/2016 - 10:42pm
You are a goooooood man Mr. Smith.
You make me look for the gooooooooood.
thank you
by Richard Day on Fri, 08/12/2016 - 10:53pm
I forgot to add this one to this week's heap:
tanka haiku:
I do not care that
Snoopy is, in dog years, o'er
four hund'red years old.
He will always be the dog
that other dogs hope to be.
(Photo of a young MrSmith1 holding a Charlie Brown and Snoopy Action Figures ... Not dolls, action figures!)
by MrSmith1 on Sat, 08/13/2016 - 1:01am
Hey, I know that house
it's the house my aunt lived in
could we be cousins?
I don't remember it all
But I remember warm fires
by A Guy Called LULU on Sat, 08/13/2016 - 2:04am
Ha! That would be fun!
Imagine, we are cousins!!
Warm fires breed, in deed!
---
That house was on LostBrook Road in West Hartford, Connecticut. The photo was taken around 1956 or 57. We lived there from 1955 to about 1961. It was a good house; 3 bedrooms with a nice backyard. I have many fond memories from my time living in that house. ;-) (P.S. Every time it rained too much, we found out the lost brook was in our basement, but never mind that. HA!)
by MrSmith1 on Sat, 08/13/2016 - 5:21am
What is that awful
Sound? Ah, yes: My cat snoring
Whiny, wheezy snores.
"Glumly dorky face"
Thus I have described Peanut
Alas! It fits him.
Not all cats can be
Elegant, graceful, handsome;
So sorry, Peanut.
by Janicket on Sun, 08/14/2016 - 1:57pm
Excellent, Janicket!
A cat called Peanut
will withstand mild roasting and
keep within its shell.
by MrSmith1 on Sun, 08/14/2016 - 4:25pm
The dorky Peanut
Lurks in his shell, peering at
His mocking human.
by Janicket on Sun, 08/14/2016 - 5:36pm
Ha! Good one!
Photo clearly shows
"Peanut" has a name for you ...
and it ain't "Master."
by MrSmith1 on Sun, 08/14/2016 - 7:28pm
Pea can be grumpy
Beats up the other cats when
The bad mood takes him
Other times, best buds
With Squash -- then suddenly, not
Mercurial moods
Sweet with me, mostly
But makes his limits quite clear
And God help the vet!
by Janicket on Sun, 08/14/2016 - 8:19pm
Apropos of nothing
Beyond its elegiac
Beautiful sorrow:
by Janicket on Sun, 08/14/2016 - 2:04pm
Good one!
by MrSmith1 on Sun, 08/14/2016 - 4:27pm
Rain on long-parched ground
Soaking; not pounding, then gone.
Not enough; but some....
by Janicket on Tue, 08/16/2016 - 7:20pm
Good one, Janicket!!
Rain on long-parched ground
the desperate earth absorbs
the precious liquid
Each descending drop,
restores a little more hope
our drought is over.
by MrSmith1 on Tue, 08/16/2016 - 10:25pm
Rain yesterday. But
Sunshine today. More sunshine
Forecast, and forecast....
The Ipswich River
Already stressed many years
Sinks ever lower.
The parched earth suffers
In sad dust-choked gullies that
Should be flowing now.
by Janicket on Wed, 08/17/2016 - 11:45am
Excellent, Janicket!!
by MrSmith1 on Wed, 08/17/2016 - 11:49am
Meanwhile, a pipe breaks
Deep underground, under pavement
Water seeps upward
Seeps through pavement cracks
Runs uselessly down the drive
Waste water wasted.
Backhoe breaks pavement
Digs deep, hauls forth muddy spoils
They find the problem.
Fixed. Reburied. Now
Adjoining residences
Can have water again.
Run it for a while
We're told, to clear sediment.
Waste water wasted.
by Janicket on Wed, 08/17/2016 - 6:40pm
"Water seeps upward?"
asked the frustrated flower.
Gravity thwarted.
by barefooted on Wed, 08/17/2016 - 9:02pm
Pressure in the pipe
Bubbling upward from rupture
Better than sinkhole
by Janicket on Wed, 08/17/2016 - 10:24pm
Ha! Love it, Missy!!
by MrSmith1 on Wed, 08/17/2016 - 10:56pm
Excellent, Janicket!!
by MrSmith1 on Wed, 08/17/2016 - 10:55pm
Worcester, where what was
worse, was when wasted water
weighted wet waiters.
by MrSmith1 on Wed, 08/17/2016 - 11:05pm