Here's this week's heap of haikus:

 

 

 

An immortal soul
demands that you acknowledge
heaven gets crowded.

 

 

---

 

 

 

 

 

Slouched in a corner,
of a dingy juke joint, a
young man learns the blues.

 

 

---

 

 

 

 

 

Ducking down alleys
looking for a few close shaves
scored some Mary Jane.

 

 

 

 

---

 

 

 

 

You cheated, then lied,
Now you say that you'll be good ...
Which you should I trust?

 

 

 

 

---

 

 

Lord, keep me healthy,
gals in dirty dungarees,
start my rodeo ...

 

 

 

---

 

 

 

 

Cold-hearted woman
on a hot Summer ev'ning,
loosens my collar.

 

 

 

---

 

tanka haiku:

 

Why do we suffer?
Does it purify the soul?
Is it bad karma?

    Do pure souls ever suffer?
    What if it's all just random?"

 

 

---

 

 

 

 

Got up this mornin',
I believe I dust my broom
You can wring my mop.

 

 

 

 

---

 

 

 

A knock at the door.
her face rings a bell  … My past
has caught up with me.

 

 

 

 

---

 

 

 

 

I like her paint job
and she's got a stick shift, but ...
too many drivers

 

 

---

 

 

 

 

My sweetheart wandered,
And made a fool out of me,
all my love in vain.

 

 

 

---

 

 

 

 

He beat out rhythms
on the edge of his guitar,
while his voice would scat.

 

 

 

---

 

 

Settin’ on my porch;
‘Why did my woman leave me?’
Sing those Whiskey Blues.

 

 

 
 
---

 

 

 

Feel so down and out,
I can’t deal with all the pain;
buried in the blues.

 

 

 

 

---

 

 

 

 

Soft hands on rough stone,
grasping for crevices, will
soon form calluses.

 

 

 

 

---
 

 

 

 

 
 
All things pass away,
And all relationships change,
We are in motion.

 

 

 

 

 

---

 

 

 

 

New England autumns,
The trees ablaze with colors,
A chill in the air.

 

 

 

---

 

 

 

All's right with the world,
but I am still left-handed,
looking for scissors.

 

 

 

 

---

 

 

 

 

Pig's feet and possum,
Mama serves them with some yams.
Down home country meal.

 

 

 

 

 

---

 

 

 

 

Lost my job today,
All my friends lost their jobs too ...
The factory closed.

 

 

 

 

---

 

 

 

 

My red-haired woman,
wagged her finger, shook her hips,
taught me ways to love.

 

 

 

---

 

 

 

Anguished and in pain,
she never thought that her life
would end up like this.
 
 

 
---
 

 

 
 
Pies on windowsills
send aromas wafting through
the nearby schoolyard.
 
 
 

 

---
 
 
 

 

Ten, Jack, Queen, King … Four.
 It’s time for Ted to go home.
Poker can be cruel.
 
 
 

 

---
 
 
 

 

Carol's begonias
offer a coral contrast
to mom's yellow mums.
 
 
 

 

 

---
 
 

 

 

 

She has a great smile;
it can send him to the moon.
So ... he makes her laugh.
 

 

 

 

---

 

 

 

Walking in Spring rain,
past flowers being nourished
and snow drifts destroyed.

 

 

 

---

 

 

 

 

A nuanced answer's
often misunderstood ... or
picked apart by 'friends.'
 
 

 

 

 
---
 

 

 

My baby left me,
all I do is sit and cry,
forlorn forever

Sitting on my porch,
watching the day going by,
Night time hide my tears.

 

 

 

---

 

 

 

I'm feelin' homesick,
for the town where I was born,
Life was easy then.

 

 

 

---

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

---

 

 

double haiku:
 
Oh, sweet saxophone,
play for me a most gentle
lullaby for Bird.
 
I passed his house on
Avenue B today and
muttered, "Too soon gone."

 

 

---

 

 

Driving blue highways,
seeking out less traveled roads,
small town life endures.

 

 

 

 

–

 

 

 

 

 Now that I'm alone,
my mind will sit in corners
and think about you.

 

 

---

 

 

 

If you're blue and want
to feel happy, listen to
Potato Head Blues.

 

 

****