Selected poems
Haiku
Serious haiku
Is deep and meaningful thought.
But not in my verse
It's five syllables
Then just seven in this line,
That never make sense.
For instance, today
It is raining. Tomorrow,
It is Wednesday.
Brunch can be a lunch
When it is salad and egg,
not fried spaghetti.
My car will not start
For it is old and broken;
A little like me.
Can we make love now?
No you cannot she replied,
We have only just met
How about some sex?
Yes please yes, she said eagerly,
Next Friday two weeks.
Heavens open up
I get very wet and cold,
And catch pneumonia.
Ants have small mouths
So do not eat much at all,
And do not grow big.
Five eggs in a pan
Tossed and fried up together
Are such a big mess.
I love to kiss,
And always try for more
Than she ever does.
The love of my life
Is long gone; she found another
And went off with him.
I cannot help laugh
When I write serious verse
That I call haiku.
The soul of my house
Are those who live within it.
It also needs painting.
Distant
Distant she said. Superficial was his word
Words to describe all that they cared
After the years gone by, long gone
And two children now almost reared.
Twenty they were, those changing years
Love replaced by void, even fears
A house, a high hill, ambitious pride,
A façade, an emptiness, describe it now
A decade ago, anger enough
He quiet, cutting, resentful
She screaming, yelling, throwing,
A vase, abuse, hurt pride
Ten years they have found a half way
To live. To hurt less, to give a say
To the need to express, of each to the other
Superficial is his word. Distant is hers.
New York
Life is full of surprises, places, people
Upstate, summer, on the lake,
the people from 82nd. street
a cottage, timbered, at water's edge,
unbelievably quiet.
Not that far, a pub, all invitation, local noise,
we drive, a half-hour, too far to walk,
the small village, a boat repairer, two shops,
sold everything. Like my childhood.
So quiet, remote, far removed yet so near
to a city that defies gravity, huge, confronting,
A city that is America, loved and hated,
brass knuckles, noisy, ambitious,
A city of universities, bookstores, theatre.
hamburger joints and Chinese laundries.
A city where unreachable minds, unreadable people,
created ground zero.
Often we think that it could only be there
that we could watch a building disintegrate
while so many people die.
It may have places of quiet dignity,
there maybe an old world charm,
But we see do not see this beauty
and rarely realize its charm.
We see instead downtown canyons
that never see the sun
yellow cabs and rushing people
speaking in a hundred different voices
The world is there; It is a city like no other.
It is the future