The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age
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    A Chilly Friday Afternoon at the Haikulodeon ...

    By MrSmith1 on Fri, 10/25/2013 - 6:10pm |

     

     

    Here's this week's heap of haikus:


     

    Grandma used to say,
    "a house with no back door
    has something to hide."

    (Photo by: Kristina Rebelo)
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    Behind the lighthouse,
    soft, puffy clouds dot the sky.
    Sail the ev'ning tide.

     

    (Photo by: Kristina Rebelo)

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     Where depressed gourmands,
    can go to end it all; the
    terminal diner.

    (Pictured: A miniature environment created by artist Alan Wolfson.)

    http://alanwolfson.net/terminaldiner.htm
    http://alanwolfson.net/index.htm


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    true-haiku: "Buy thin spaghetti",
    my mom used to say. Why's that?
    "Because you get more."
     


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    When you melt the heart
    of a snowman, you are left
    with watery tears.
     


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     Blistering come-backs
    raced through his head, but all he
    could say was, "Oh YEAH?!"


    ---


     Our hearts are widest
    when we put aside our thoughts
    and let ourselves feel.


    ---


     Wandering through Life,
    he stopped to watch a parade,
    then shrugged and joined it.


    ---

     



    Double haiku:


    He drove through the night
    to see the fall foliage
    mirrored in the lake.

    Orange,red, yellow
    leaves seemed to be on fire ...
    while the lake rippled.
     


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    Friday nights, a line
    forms at the lover's leap ... for
    the one oclock jump.

     

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    The shade of an elm,
    passes through my small garden,
    as dusk approaches.


    ---


    She wore gingham and
    polka dot dresses, which made
    her seem cartoon-ish.


    ---


    Near some shallow shoals,
    sallow souls in hollow holes
    scream at scheming scum.


    ---


    Coffee on the porch,
    watching kids on bicycles
    chased by barking dogs.


    ---


    Ya ever see a
    sunrise that does not hold the
    promise of re-birth?


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    The universe keeps
    winking at me, as if we
    share some cosmic joke.
     


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    Conspiracy-ku:

    Impressionism 
    was just a bunch of really
    bad cell phone photos.

    (Cell phone photo taken by me while access-a-riding the other day on the West Side Highway.) 

     



     

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    Off-Topic silliness:  The Spondyville mascot, Stiffy the Snowspondy was visiting Florida the other day, and took up flying ..

     

     

    Naturally, this historic feat was captured on video ...

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Even more un-related silliness ...

     

     

    The other day, a friend sent me this photo from 1983 - At a reunion of NBC pages, I'm seen here showing a friend and fellow ex-page, one of the stops on my "NBC Underground Tour" ... (Just for my own amusement, I used to sneak around and place comedy signs on ordinary objects in the hallways at 30 Rock, pretending they were significant objects in broadcast history.)  Here we are on the 11th floor, just outside my office. I am explaining to my friend that what looks like a fire hose was actually the world's first coaxial cable, which was used to set up the first television link between New York and Philadelphia way back in July of 1941.

    And if you look closely, you can see another stop on the tour ... in the ceiling is what appears to be a fire/smoke detector, but was "actually" an old boom microphone from the 1950's, which was used on such shows as the Colgate Comedy Hour and the Texaco Star Theatre. It was accidentally embedded in the ceiling by a distracted construction worker during a renovation in the late 60's. Because of the placement of the posting, that tour stop was still there at least a decade after I posted it. (For all I know, it may still be there.) 

    My favorite moment concerning the underground tour happened one day in the Spring of 84, when then Governor Mario Cuomo came to a nearby conference room for an interview with the editorial staff of WNBC-TV.  I was walking back from the elevator and I see these two
    secret service guys standing looking at the fire hose. As I walked past them to get to my office, one secret service guy turned to the other one and with a completely deadpan expression said, "it's a joke."  The other guy nodded ... I had to run the rest of the way back to my office and close the door before bursting with laughter. It was a proud moment indeed.

     

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    Comments

    Just terrific, Smith. Great stories. Love the diner miniature.

    (I had a friend who swore he could walk underground all the way from Grand Central to 30 Rock.)

    For years when I worked at 245 Park I had a key to a street level side door on 46th street which was just over Track 17, which was the one for stuff going out to Fairfield county. Otherwise, one had to go into GC and double back---maybe 10 minutes longer. The way I got the key was I saw a guy I knew who like a spy just opened the door and disappeared off the sidewalk so I asked him about it and a few days later he produced a copy of the key. I never gave anyone else a copy but I guess the thing got too popular and the building manager found out about it and shut it down.

    After your fine presentation, I hesitate to put these out, but here goes, the first one in honor of your fine effort.

     

    Content is endless.

    Form is the edge of something.

    Three lines wrap it up.

     

    Gloucester's no hunchback!

    Can't trust anyone these days.

    What, Quasimodo?

     

    Amber morning light

    Barn floating on dewy glen

    Cows just love post cards..

     

     

     


    by Oxy Mora on Fri, 10/25/2013 - 8:33pm

    These are excellent, Oxy. 

    And I can conform that passageway.  If you knew your way around, you could stay underground in the Rockefeller Center area from 42nd St, all the way up to 54th St.  

    I was in a bit of a rush today, so I didn't get to post all the photo haikus, so I may just save them until next week ...

     

    P.S.  It's now a couple of hours after I posted the above response ... and I just realized that you may have misunderstood me when I called what I did the NBC Underground Tour.  LOL    I had been trying to understand why you mentioned that factoid about going from Grand Central to 30 Rock ... Geez.  I can be dense sometimes. LOL   Now, I'm going to be chuckling about that the rest of the night. For the record, I meant Underground as in subversive, not subterranean.  ;-)

     


    by MrSmith1 on Sat, 10/26/2013 - 12:21am

    From the picture and my screen angle which made it darker, it appeared to me you were down in the catacombs. That's funny. In any case, I'm glad to confirm the underground passageway story.  


    by Oxy Mora on Sat, 10/26/2013 - 8:07pm

    Yes, that section of 30 Rock was a bit weird; very low ceilings and they made it seem even more claustrophobic by putting carpeting on the walls.  The good part was that there was a garden on the 11th floor and the entrance to it was right behind my desk.  It always made me wonder how the huge trees there continued to thrive.  They were planted in the 1930's, and when I was there, a couple of the trees were at least 12-14 inches around.  I keep wondering where the roots were and how long would it take for them to break into the SNL studio on the 8th floor. 


    by MrSmith1 on Sat, 10/26/2013 - 9:56pm

    You know these pix and comments are wonderful Smith.

    I composed the following but I am not sure what they mean. Hahahahah

    Hell, I am not sure what I mean!


     

    Oh melting the tears?

    I have been melting for years.

    I have been so cold

     

    Then, I find the warmth

    And I am not so so cold

    I find I am old

     

    I find I am old

    My prospects seem far away

    And there are my tears

     

    I get so so upset

    With the sins of the rulers

    And yet I am cold

     

    I used to be hot

    Used to radiate with hate

    Now I am water

     

    The Snowman was pure

    The Snowman was above it

    I am old and cold

     

    The life force has gone

    Gone so very far away

    I am old and cold

     


    by Richard Day on Sat, 10/26/2013 - 4:50pm

    I always look forward to your response, DD.    Wonderful.

     

     

    If you're old and cold,

    the problem, friend, might be the

    pilot light's gone out.

     

    You must find a match

    and strike it on some scratch, and

    get yourself re-lit.

     

     ---

     

    I find I am old ...

    it's a bit of a surprise.

    I thought I was ripe.

     

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    I have been so cold

    I didn't just shiver, I

    would spit ice-cubes.

     

    (for the more explicit version, replace the "p" in spit with an 'h"...)


    by MrSmith1 on Sat, 10/26/2013 - 9:47pm

    The pattern returns.

    Stasis requires energy.

    Habit treads water.


    by moat on Sun, 10/27/2013 - 7:17pm

     

    Nice.

    Habit treads water,
    take a risk goes swimmingly,
    indecision drowns.


    by MrSmith1 on Sun, 10/27/2013 - 8:15pm

    Just one simple thing:

    A small change of direction;

    Effort knows itself.


    by moat on Wed, 10/30/2013 - 9:46pm

    Nice one, moat!

     

    Just one simple thing ...

    Don't forget to feed the dog.

    What dog?!! Oh, dear Lord ...

     

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    Effort knows itself,

    AND knows who's been bad or good,

    just like Santa Claus.

     

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    by MrSmith1 on Wed, 10/30/2013 - 11:41pm