The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age
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    Another Friday Afternoon at the Haiku-lodeon

    By MrSmith1 on Fri, 02/24/2012 - 2:16pm |

     

    This week's heap of haikus ...
     
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    Where is happiness?
    In the hearts we make glad, and
    the souls we comfort.
     
     
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    Do you twiddle thumbs
    or just go on Facebook when
    boredom overwhelms?
     
     
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    If you twist my arm ...
    then my shoulder will pop out ...
    but never mind that.
     

     

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    Where-ever I go,
    I feel I am at home, which
    makes me laugh sometimes.
     

     

    -------------------
     
     
    Obviously, she's
    fishing for a compliment ...
    get me off the hook.
     
     
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    How do you quiet
    the voices in your head that
    always criticize?
     

     

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    Anticipation ...
    and then, the day arrives and
    You step to the plate.
     

     

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    Some situations
    won't resolve themselves until
    you change your mind-set.
     

     

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    It's often said that
    mischief stalks the mundane to
    make it more human.
     

     

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    Brightly colored flags
    flapped happily in the breeze;
    quite a stirring sight!
     

     

    ----------------------
     
     
    While the music played,
    he tried to think of the words,
    but his mind was blank.
     
     
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    Dreams may never die,
    but hopes can be defeated,
    when you do not dream.
     

     

    -----------------------
     
     
    In the realm of dreams,
    visions come, emotions go,
    and answers are found.
     

     

    -----------------------
     
     
    Mom was smiling,
    as her young son danced with glee.
    (He found a quarter.)
     
     
    ----------------------
     
     
    Running on empty,
    he found a closed gas station
    and while waiting, slept.
     
     
    ----------------------
     
     
    He had to stop and
    take in the view when he reached
    Ausable Chasm.
     
     
    --------------------
     
     
    tanka haiku: Take away my pain,
    and range of motion issues ...
    who do I become?

      Am I who I was before?
      Or have I learned something new?
     
     
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    Comfy and cozy
    and wrapped in a patchwork quilt
    she sipped some hot soup.
     
     
    -------------------------
     
     
    Is there any point,
    in arguing about this?
    it's spelled with a "Q".
     
     
    --------------------------
     
     
    He rushed to get there,
    flashed his Press credentials, and
    entered the crime scene.
     
     
    -------------------------
     
     
    Do you remember
    our first date? Your dad drove us
    to the junior prom.
     
     
    --------------------------
     
     
    Imagine her shock;
    the room was filled with empty
    soda pop bottles.
     
     
    -------------------------
     
     
     
    The doctor is in,
    the receptionist is out.
    will you get your 'scrips?'
     
     
    -------------------------
     
     
    Juggling toothpicks
    is not as hard as it looks ...
    (nothing ever is.)
     
     
    --------------------------
     
     
    Not a day goes by
    that I don't think of you and
    regret what happened ...
     
     
    ---------------------------
     
     
    At the sandwich shop,
    the boy wearing flip-flops slipped
    on some spilled mayo.
     
     
    -------------------------------
     
     
    Then the blushing bride
    ripped off her clothes and whispered,
    "Wanna consummate?"
     
     
    --------------------------------
     
     
    She did not know why
    her mom was so fatigued ... then
    she had her own kids.
     
     
    --------------------------------
     
     
    That man is staring,
    Is it me? Does he hate me?
    Well, back to the shrink.
     
     
    --------------------------------
     

     

    over-heard-mall-conversation-ku:

    "Where are you waiting?"
    "I'm over by the pretzels."
    "Next to the fruit stand?"
        "Yeah, I'm squeezin' some melons."
        "Okay, have fun, see you soon."

     

    ---------------------------------
     
    Bonus poems:
     
    I wrote these poems late one night almost 30 years ago.  I was attending a weekend workshop for performers and one of the participants was an accomplished dancer, whose dance performance inspired me to go home and write.  I shyly gave the dancer a copy of it the next day, and she said she was flattered, but I never saw her after that weekend, and to tell the truth, I now don't even remember her name.   I've never shared these publicly before because ... I honestly can't decide whether they're decent enough or they really really stink.  
     
     
    On Glimpsing Terpsichore - pt. 1
     

    bowed low
    knees flexed
    head tilted
    eyes sparking
    the gamine
    moves
    strongly
    waif-like
    womanly sure
    she glides
    softly glides
    spins the air
    and turns
    scissor kicking
    up
    her arms swing out
    her body lifts
    her muscles
    confidently
    power her flight
    and quietly
    guide her leaps
    through music
    moist with meaning
    her waist contracts
    her body bends
    her face invites
    with coyish glint
    her girlish smile
    her womanly suggestion
    and then
    she moves on
    to rage
    to fear
    her loss is clear
    a love denied
    pure
    sorrow
    etched in motion
    she pauses
    fluid strokes
    invoke the gods
    and then again
    she worships joy
    and sows such seeds
    with moments frozen
    each conveys
    her body's wishes
    inside out her essence shines
    for all to see
    she is what all of us
    desire
    to be and have
    to know and cherish
    overcoming and / or overlooking
    my own petty problems
    I fall in love
    how could I not?
    I'm compelled by forces
    that she's unleashed and which I don't fully understand ...
    while she simply dances on ...
     
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    On Glimpsing Terpsichore - pt. 2

    falling sparks from magic lightning
    trace circles in the sky
    and strike my head without a warning
    then burrow in to save my soul
    my eyes expand to beauty's wonder
    and life is looked at very slow
    I pray these sparks may never ebb and
    now cold, grey embers gone and buried
    in my mind like nursery rhymes
    pay witness to a million dramas
    never seen and never written,
    due to foolish hesitation,
    and my watching embers glow.

    in a woodland scene with fairies romping
    muses with their wands held high
    trace bright white circles of magic lightning
    in the darkly dappled sky
    they watch as sparks then fall to earth
    and smile widely for the dawn is nigh.

    joyfully they sprinkle sparks
    which fall to earth for everyone
    in abundance and good spirits
    unconcerned by their own situation
    they bless us all with inspiration.
     
     
    -----------------------------------------
     

    On Glimpsing Terpsichore - pt. 3


    "why are we here?" I asked the Muse,
    to which, she replied forthwith,

    "how would I know?"

    "well, how would you NOT know?"

    "dear one", she said, "I'm simply a creature of myth.
    my job is providing the spark.
    you're the one fanning embers into fires
    to try to shed light upon that which was dark.

    then, she turned, and just before leaving, she winked, and then whispered ...
    "my embers encourage, your fires persuade ...
    gather much kindling, and your thoughts will not fade."
     

     
                                  *******
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

     

    Comments

    A lot to consider between voices in the head and taunting muses.

     

    Each dealt hand was bad.

    It was time to leave the game.

    But new cards arrive.

     


    by moat on Fri, 02/24/2012 - 10:30pm

    Nice one.  


    Under the table,

    she rubbed her foot 'gainst his leg,

    hoping' he'd poker.  

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    Ten, Jack, Queen, King ... Four. 

    It was time to leave the game.

    and settle his debt.

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

     


    by MrSmith1 on Fri, 02/24/2012 - 11:13pm