The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age
MrSmith1's picture

A Fadin' Away Friday Afternoon at the Haikulodeon

 

 

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.  




 

Thanks, Smith. Wonderful post.

In honor of John Waters:

 

dark country western,

ole Randy Howard got shot

but not for singing


Excellent, Oxy!

 

Grand Ole Opry Star
Jim Ed Brown has also died.
He sang about it.


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.

 

 


Here is the other hit song from that year,1961. I remembered them on American Bandstand. 

The Scarlett Ribbon.

 

Sometimes an echo
from a life you left behind,
will catch up to you.

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.


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.  


Your history a wake

left behind on life's river

ripple back to you


This is cool, it's like

late-night improv jazz session

in a smoke-filled bar


Excellent, Trope!

 

In a smoke-filled bar
A winded woodwind player
got to the coda.

---

 

 

 

 


lightening himself

coughs and gasps a little bit

addict for the smoke
 


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.

 


 


Okay. Got it.

 

After the concert

A winded woodwind player

ponders the walk home


You got it!   Excellent!!

Having said his piece,
he waits for her reply, and
ponders the walk home.

 


 


Chills run down her spine

as she ponders the walk home,

knowing he'll be there.


Knowing he'll be there

waiting as he always does

in that chair he made



Taking a shower
at the Bates Motel, more than
chills run down her spine. 


Taking a shower

he panics his last haiku

syllable count wrong


Thoughts, planted wisely,
blossom in reluctant minds,
when the time is right.

 

How oddly human;
hearing sounds and reading words
are changing my mood.

 

I would add these as well.


Work in the garden

of another's mind, the seasons

will still be master

 


No matter what heights
your Melody soars, Rhythm
Will still be master.
 


Work in the garden

of hopelessness, for you may

yield a fertile mind.


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,

 

---

 


But if you tell fibs,

don't put your face in the dirt -

your nose just might grow!


HA!!  Good one!!

 

If you serve food, don't
put your face in the dirt, you'll
muddy the waiter.

 


 


the table all set

in the muddy cold setting

waiter sinks, can't move


Waiter sinks, can't move.

Patrons cry out in dismay,

"Who will serve us now?"


argument ensues

who will rescue the waiter

over cries for help


In a bawdy boite,
patrons cry out in dismay,
"Put it all back on!"


"Put it all back on!"

the stage director bellows

more tables appear


Library book due

must photo copy one

section then return


I've been avoiding
Forty-second and Fifth Ave;
Library book due.

 


Library book on

Forty-second and Fifth Ave

Flutters in the wind


The stone lions on
Forty-second and Fifth Ave.
guard chapter and verse.
 


The stone lions on

the grand porch of the grand home

bored with the same view


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.


Oh Missy!!  This is wonderful!!   

 


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