Category Archives: A way with words

Hai(contrast)ku

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There in black and white
Color scales fall from our eyes
And what do we see?

There in black and white
Coffee, cream start one day’s life
Pepper, salt spice it

There in black and white
Ink imprints, pixels on screen
Carry the day’s news

There in black and white
Slow hands sweep old clock face — time
Immemorial

There in black and white
Two little friends laugh, join hands
In harmony’s dance

There in black and white
Sketch pad, charcoal line and smudge
Save light and shadow

There in black and white
Storied films flicker and fight
For love and glory

There in black and white
88 piano keys
Just aching to sing

There in black and white
Somehow are all life’s colors
And its shades of gray

“She was quite a dame” haiku

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Agatha Christie
Born this date, 1890
That part’s no mystery

But how did she sell
Hundreds of millions of books?
No mystery either

Her detectives had
Something for everybody
Poirot, Miss Marple

Poirot, so fussy,
So quirky, so proud to say
He could not be fooled

Jane Marple, so plain,
Seemed so kind, ordinary
To charm and disarm

Both made her readers
Want to think along with them
Believe brains would win

Her plots were good too:
Roger Ackroyd’s twist ending,
“And Then There Were None”

When she killed Poirot
He got a front page obit
In the New York Times

Agatha’s knowledge
Of poisons, the Middle East
Came in quite handy

Her world appealed, too
Murder was a distraction
Not stuff of nightmares

Once killer was caught
Life could go back to normal
Genteel, well ordered

Her books were candy
Not meat, potatoes, blood, guts.
Do pass the bon bons!

Yes, Dame Agatha
We still devour your treats
Print, or PBS

From a different age
You came but you’ll last so long
As life’s a mystery

“I Say a Little Prayer” haiku

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Hal David, May 25, 1921 — Sept. 1, 2012

Goodbye, Hal David
Burt Bacharach’s lyricist
For so many hits

Goodbye, Hal David
Classics transcended genres
Pop, country, show tunes

Goodbye, Hal David
Helped Dionne Warwick, Tom Jones,
Dusty, Aretha

Goodbye, Hal David
Knew the way to San Jose,
What the world needs now

Goodbye, Hal David
Anyone who had a heart
Loved your classic songs

Goodbye, Hal David
91 years you helped sail
This sea of heartbreak

Goodbye, Hal David
You’ll live on. Always something
There to remind me

“Last of the True Believers” haiku

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Nanci Caroline Griffith, July 6, 1953, Seguin, Texas

Cracked my heart open
The first time I heard her sing
Still does, every time

You see, we all have
This problem, and it’s called love
Nanci Griffith knows

And for some of us,
Heart on sleeve fools, no one else
Sings it quite like her

From Kerrville campfires
To the London Symphony
Nanci’s played ‘em all

And tracing romance
Or tugging hatred’s hood, she
Sings about what’s real

Nanci pays tribute
To her strong-women heroes
Love isn’t weakness

Has her causes, too
From the death penalty to
Equal marriage rights

Been through life’s wringer
Death of young sweetheart, divorce,
Cancer twice, friends lost

Years of writers’ block
Came too, but that’s over now
Her muse has returned

“The Loving Kind” said
Nanci’s back; new CD says
She’s staying awhile

Happy birthday, girl
You take the cake, and our hearts
It’s all frosting now

June 1 haiku

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1926
Star who will be Marilyn
Makes her first twinkle

Born into madness
Dies in loneliness, despair
In between, magic

In ’67
The Beatles get serious
With Sgt. Pepper’s

Rock stars turn artists
Tap all that’s within them
Music ever changed

1968
Helen Keller breathes last breath
Of unique journey

Deaf, blind, not yet 2
Alphabet unlocks genius
To inspire the world

June 1st, quite a date
For magical history tour
Birth, release, passing

Zimmy haiku, redux

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Last May 24th, Bob Dylan turned 70, and I wrote these.

The short-version tribute:

Two words: Bob Dylan
For decades in his music
He’s said all the rest

And the longer one, with thanks to Joyce Carol Oates for her description of Dylan’s voice, and to Dylan, for packing almost 12 minutes of the most mind-bending music onto one 45: “Like a Rolling Stone/Gates of Eden.”

Haiku for Dylan
Like outhouse built in tribute
To cathedral, but …

Let’s give it a try
And hold it to seven more
One for each decade

Woodie Guthrie passed
The torch and Dylan produced
More U.S. classics

“Blowin’ in the Wind”
“The Times They Are a-Changin’ ”
Timely and timeless

He took us on trips
(With and without tambourine)
We’ll never forget

Torrents of words, voice
“As if sandpaper could sing”
Cut straight to the heart

Fierce independence,
Shifting styles that confounded
His fans and doubters

He sliced up the world
In 3 minutes — one time 6!
And changed everything

“Just music,” he says
But Bob, you’re gonna make me
Lonesome when you go

“Dark moments in U.S. history, #12 & 35″ haiku

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FBI catches
Public enemies, though not
Public Enemy

Spied on John Lennon,
Some violent rap gangstas
– And one huge past threat

Back in ’64
G-Men scrutinized lyrics
To “Louie Louie”

Some nutty parent
Complained the words were obscene
Hoover’s boys got down

Played Kingsmen classic
Over and over again
Faster and slower

Grilled the songwriter
Put the “I” in FBI
What a waste of time

This date, ’65,
Released conclusion: No one
Could make out the words

(Aside from Butt-head:
(“Uhhhh, any dumb-ass knows that.
(“And they said, ‘Make out’ “)

That fine little girl
Still waits for me. FBI,
Just MYOB

Gesundheit haiku

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Religious or not
Who couldn’t use a blessing
To get through the day?

Sunshine on your walk
Turning green leaves to silver
Burning mist away

A hug from your mate
A song from the birds outside
A kiss from your dog

Music in the air
Even if it’s rap — with subs
At the traffic light

Treats at the office
Coffee just the way you like
In your favorite cup

Some praise from the boss
Flowers with poem attached
Good news from a friend

A letter from Mom
Ink and paper memories
Nestled with keepsakes

Cosmic connections
Just knowing good thoughts, wishes
Are coming your way

Blessings: corny, true
Some things it’s even better
To give than receive

“In a word” haiku

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World Poetry Day
Shanti, irini, malu
Béke, fifa, peace

Of what use are words
Vrede, wolakota, fred
Sérë, amani

If not to heal hearts
Sidi, layeni, hoa binh
Kapayapaan, paz

If not to bind wounds
Heiwa, rukun, hasiti
Ukuthula, pasch

If not to spread love
Soksang, pokoj, santiphap
Peoning hwa, pax

All we are saying
Paix, taika, rongo, baris
Uxolo, paci

Is give peace a chance
Solh, mir, pau, hetep, shalom
World Poetry Day

Synapse gap haiku, part II

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One thing I’m sure of
Can’t be sure of anything
Yes, I’m sure of that

For how do we know
What we think we know, really?
Reason with me here

We think we decide
Based on logic, not feelings
But that’s a brain trick

We should admit there’s
No such thing as pure reason,
Disembodied thought

Because brains are part
Of the body, sensory
Organs like the rest

We hear what we want
Faulty memories, senses
Make us sure “That’s right!”

Surely certainty
Is a feeling, cleverly
Disguised as a thought

It’s the ultimate
In emotion, not reason,
That certain feeling

I guess that explains
Why more facts don’t often help
To change someone’s mind

Ambiguity
Seems more real, honest, though it’s
Less satisfying

Eventually, though
You have to decide, and act
– Just don’t be so sure

And of course, some things
We do know — and know they’re based
On all sorts of things

We know whom we love
And treasure, who makes our lives
Worth living each day

And sure, some feelings
Will disappear — so will life.
It’s called “now.” Live it.