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:
Outside mom's window
the trees noiselessly rustled
as she fought for life.
My mom passed away in 2012, just a week shy of her 94th birthday. She would have been 96 years old today. Here she is in 2011 just before turning 93.
---
March to diff'rent drums,
waltz to other violins,
but by all means, move ...
---
Swimming with the tide
may take you into oceans
of profound regret.
---
They were delicate
negotiations, therefore
clean doilies were used.
---
I believe that what
most reveals your nature is
how much you can laugh.
---
Do not focus on
the follies of your youth, but
how you overcame them.
---
tanka haiku:
A wilted flower's
not a metaphor for your
Life, it's a warning:
When you remove yourself from
what nurtures you ... game over.
Bonus companion poem:
(To the tune of When You Wish Upon a Star)
When you wilt upon a table,
you won't blossom, you're not able.
Try to flower and you'll find
your roots have all been left behind.
---
I may meander
through some fields and forests, but
I’ll find my way home.
---
Up hills and down dales,
I expand my horizons ...
plagued by my sore feet.
---
Nantucket lightships
cast their beams out to the sea;
“Warning! Rocky Shoals!”
---
Stashed behind the soups
in her kitchen pantry was
the choc’late cake mix.
---
Sometimes we forget;
before we ski down mountains,
we first must climb them.
---
Blessed are those that
never got sick, for old age
will be a surprise.
---
Purgatory? The
hell of it is, you can't get
heavenly coffee.
---
On rainy mornings,
I sip my coffee and read.
The dog nuzzles me.
---
In their lonely rooms,
writers peck their keyboards, 'til
inspiration strikes!
---
Siamese twins are
conjoined. Why are Siamese
kittens just confused?
---
Her cat likes to play;
it hides under the bed, and
stalks her pink slippers.
---
Two ladies speaking
rapidly and in Spanish,
drown out my iPod.
---
In the morning fog,
the field beyond seems painted
with watercolors.
---
Harmonizing with
his mates kept the mood bright and
his life in accord.
---
I remain in awe
of the lives that have touched mine.
Each brought a lesson.
---
A slice of apple,
a wedge of sharp cheddar cheese,
And a well-worn book.
---
Deep in the forest,
patches of stippled sunlight,
warm a leaf-strewn trail.
---
We search for meaning,
but as we wander through Life,
fog envelops us.
---
Sunday; Wear sweatshirt,
Nurse a big mug of coffee,
and read the Funnies.
---
Do you spend your days
mopping up calamities?
or creating them?
---
Will you ever wake?
Or will you dream forever?
Will you ever know?
---
His Siamese cat
sits at the window, and stares
at distant mountains.
---
Cats and melon balls;
a recipe for hi-jinks ...
and sticky felines.
---
Mary had a lamb,
And little though it was, it
started stalking her.
---
The overhead pipes
look like bloated spaghetti ...
ceiling al dente.
---
double haiku:
Old woman shuffles
Guy with beard argues on phone
Youngster bounces ball
Small bird pecks and hops
Delivery boy parks his bike ...
This sidewalk sees all.
---
tanka haiku:
The curve of her waist,
the creases of her smile, the
wisdom in her thoughts.
She slowly consumed all his
waking moments ... then, his dreams.
---
Eschewing sunsets,
he loved the subtler hues
of mid-afternoon.
---
Each dusk he watched the
darkening sky's shifting shades;
blue-ish indigo.
---
Too few epistles
twixt clover and thistle, but
many a whistle.
---
double haiku:
Jiggling joggers
waiting for the light to change
bouncing up and down
When the light turns green,
a pony-tailed tsunami
sweeps across the street.
---
By a waterfall,
The lovers had a picnic ...
ev’rything got wet.
---
This old vaudevillean
honed his act to perfection
and always got laughs.
One of my faves from my childhood, Gene Sheldon. He appeared on Ed Sullivan and other variety shows a lot during the Fifties. He did the same exact act with only slight variations for years, but it was such good shtick, it always got laughs.
***
Comments
Thank you, Mr. Smith, she's beautiful.
Loveliness, to me,
is a gentle dignity.
Loveliness was she.
by barefooted on Fri, 08/08/2014 - 9:26pm
Thank you, barefooted. My mom was a strong, independent woman ,,, Some of her ancestors came over on the Mayflower, so she had a bit of that pioneer spirit in her. She had an excellent fashion sense and was always color coordinated. She worked well past normal retirement age, and her mind was sharp as a tack right up to the end.
by MrSmith1 on Fri, 08/08/2014 - 10:15pm
See, I knew you would like this guy. hahahaha
He fits right into your existentialism or into your soul. hahahah
Loneliness to me
Is lack of some dignity
Loneliness is me
Oh that is enough of that!
ha
by Richard Day on Wed, 08/13/2014 - 4:35pm