MrSmith1's picture

    A Semi-Final Heat on a Friday Afternoon at the Haikulodeon

     

     

    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


    H


    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


    Such a good song D. Thanks. Here is a cover by a perfect voice. 


    Lulu I have never heard this rendition.

    I am  in awe.

    THANK YOU FOR THIS LULU.

    No kidding.


    Oh I cannot let this go.

    Others might wish to hear this without linking.


    Thanks, DD...

     

    Underestimate
    the element of surprise
    and joy will wither.


    You are a goooooood man Mr. Smith.

    You make me look for the gooooooooood. 

    thank you


    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!)


    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


    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!)

     

     


    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.


    Excellent, Janicket!

     

    A cat called Peanut
    will withstand mild roasting and
    keep within its shell.

     

     


    The dorky Peanut

    Lurks in his shell, peering at

    His mocking human.

     


    Ha!  Good one!

     

    Photo clearly shows
    "Peanut" has a name for you ...
    and it ain't "Master."


    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!


    Apropos of nothing

    Beyond its elegiac

    Beautiful sorrow:

     

     

     


    Good one!  


    Rain on long-parched ground

    Soaking; not pounding, then gone.

    Not enough; but some....


    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.

     

     

     

     


    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.


    Excellent, Janicket!!

     

     


    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.

     

     


    "Water seeps upward?"

    asked the frustrated flower.

    Gravity thwarted.

     

     


    Pressure in the pipe

    Bubbling upward from rupture

    Better than sinkhole


    Ha!  Love it, Missy!!


    Excellent, Janicket!!


    Worcester, where what was
    worse, was when wasted water
    weighted wet waiters.


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