The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age
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    Haikus for a Friday afternoon ... again. January 20th edition

    By MrSmith1 on Fri, 01/20/2012 - 2:28pm |

     

    This week's batch: 

     

     
    Her four year old son,
    always tried to climb the fence.
    Wanderlust starts young.

     

    (Photo of a 4 year old MrSmith1, on his way to an important meeting. Behind him, the fence he kept climbing.)

     

    ---------------------------------
     
     
    Finding peace-makers
    is never as easy as
    finding warriors.

     

     

    -------------------------------
     
     

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

     
     
    -------------------------------
     
     
    When told he'd entered
    Hell's tenth level, he thought, "Must,
    be where the toys are ..."

     

    -------------------
     
     
    In the swirls of clouds,
    where we imagine heaven,
    floats both love and hope.
     
     
    ------------------------------
     
     
     
    Lemons aren't kumquats,
    they seldom know their own worth,
    therefore, they get squeezed.
     
     
    ---------------------------------
     
     
    His pulse would quicken
    each time she entered the room ...
    'cuz, she brought the beer.

     

    -----------------------------------
     
     
     
    Yellow mediates
    the fights between red and green,
    so it's feeling blue.
     
     
    -------------------------------
     
     
    What if we're all cogs
    in a huge, complex machine,
    just trying to mesh?
     
     
    --------------------------------
     
     
    Hijacked hydrangeas
    hopefully hastened her help.
    Horticulture, HA!
     
     
    ------------------------------------
     
     
    Hirsute hobos help
    harangue humble heroes. How
    humiliating!
     
     
    ---------------------------------------------
     
     
    double haiku: Morning eased gently
    into my consciousness, like
    melting caramels ...

    gooey imagery?
    Perhaps, but still better than
    a kick in the shins.

     

     
    ----------------------------------------------
     
     
     
    haiku redux: In his father's desk,
    sits a letter never sent,
    urging forgiveness.
     

     

    ---------------------------------------------

     
     
    haiku redux 2: The fabric of Life;
    From order to chaos, we
    slowly unravel.
     

     

     
    tanka haiku: Klotho spins Life's thread,
    Lachesis measures its length,
    Atropos cuts it.

       These three fates (or destinies),
       looked for no union labels.
     
     
    ------------------------------------------------------------
     

     

     
     
    haiku redux: Open up your mind,
    free your thoughts from tyranny.
    let your dreams escape.
     
     

     

     
    ---------------------------------------------------------
     

     

     

    tanka haiku: The house lights dimmed, the
    orchestra began to play,
    an old Broadway score.

       Musicals that filled our hearts
       will never really leave them.
     
     
     
    -----------------------------------------------------------
     
     

     

     
    tanka haiku: Those life preservers
    and flight jackets brag too much.
    But you know that, right?
     
       No jacket will make you fly,
       no vest prevent your decay.
     
     

     

     
    ---------------------------------------------------------
     
     
     
    tanka haiku: Swept in office
    with a huge mandate, he knew
    he'd better act fast.

       For voters quickly forget
       and want results right away.
     
     
     
    -------------------------------------------------------------
     
     
     
     
    The purser welcomed
    each bitter, bored, broad aboard,
    by beaming brightly.
     

     

    ------------------------------------
     
     
     
    tanka haiku: Looking back, I think
    my life's been a series of
    int'resting events.
     
       They were to me anyway,
       And in the end, that's what counts.
     
     
     
    ----------------------------------------------------
     
     
     
    haiku: Barbie's skate party,
    ended in chaos, when Ken
    missed a toe-loop.
     

     

    ---------------------------------------------------
     
     
     
    Scaling Mount Fuji,
    I suddenly found myself
    posing for photos.

     

    -------------------

     

    Alternate take:

    Scaling Mount Fuji,

    Would be just as difficult,
    if it was a fish.
     

     

    ---------------------------------
     
     
     
    Some Civil War buffs,
    love re-enacting battles;
    Gettysburg redux.
     
     
     
    -----------------------------------------------
     
     
    Winters way down South
    pale when compared to just one
    New England sleigh ride.
     
     
    --------------------------------------
     
     
     
    Winds bite, cheeks redden,
    cold in the city brings the
    January blues.
     
     
    -------------------------------
     
     
     
    Grieving trees embark
    on their sad autumn journeys
    shedding leafy tears.
     
     
     
    --------------------------------
     
     

     

    With hearts full of grace,
    and souls generating love
    we shall overcome.
     

     

    (Thanks to my friend, Jim W. for the Martin Luther King, Jr. quote that inspired this haiku.)

     

     
    --------------------------------
     
     
     
    Could there possibly
    be anything more silly
    than old Jell-o molds?
     
     
     
    -----------------------------------
     
     
     
    Above me hangs the
    sword of Damocles. Below,
    the abyss. (Fun, huh?)
     
     

     

    ---------------------------------------
     

     
     
     
     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Comments

    Really ponderous stuff as always.

    Love the H's.

    The one I would pick to discuss?

    In the swirls of clouds,
    where we imagine heaven,
    floats both love and hope.

     

    This is why this focus on heaven as being in the hereafter makes no sense.

    If there is no past, present and future, where would hope be relevant?

    What the hell would you hope for in an eternal afterlife?

     

     


    by Richard Day on Fri, 01/20/2012 - 5:57pm

    Funny you should mention this one...  I was trying to say that because we imagine the clouds is where heaven is, we put our love and hope there.  But I'm not saying that it belongs there, or that it is where heaven is. It's just what we do because it gives us something tangible with which we can comfort the bereaved.   But that may be too  much to hope to convey in one 17 syllable haiku.  Maybe while there is only the now, but there is the present now, the past now and the future now, and hope is the thing which glues them together.  (Okay, I just made that up because I have to leave work now so I don't miss my access-a-ride pick-up and can't write a more lengthy answer.  I promise to respond more later.)

     

     

     


    by MrSmith1 on Fri, 01/20/2012 - 6:24pm

    Where dd Oxy go?

    Shimmied up a street sign pole.

    Then couldn't get down. 


    by Oxy Mora on Fri, 01/20/2012 - 7:41pm

    That picture is so incredible!

    Remember being 3' tall?

    And you had no ideas about anything.

    Outside was magic!

    And without some overly motherly mother; hell in those days she had to watch 5,6,or 7 others, the freedom was marvelous!


    by Richard Day on Fri, 01/20/2012 - 8:03pm

    Outside was magic. Love that.

    And hours went by with no interruptions. Today the kids would never be let outside by themselves, let alone not have a schedule of activities. 

    I remembered the pole incident when I saw Smith's picture, I was about that age. They were all running around frantically beneath me and I must have been enjoying it cause I just hung up there without answering, somewhat hidden in the leaves of an overhanging tree.  Can't remember the aftermath. 


    by Oxy Mora on Fri, 01/20/2012 - 9:25pm

    I love this one, Oxy! 


    by MrSmith1 on Fri, 01/20/2012 - 9:38pm

    Thanks, Mr.Smith. I so much appreciate your sharing your inspirational collections each week. Really trips my imagination. Great picture. 


    by Oxy Mora on Fri, 01/20/2012 - 9:44pm