Daily Archives: November 5, 2011

Haiku saving time

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Don’t forget to switch your clocks tonight. And these are followed on the blog by re-posts from June 21st, the day with the most daylight, and with a nighttime suite I wrote back in February about things that happen, however cliched, in the wee small hours.

Spring forward, fall back
Big deal! I do that most days
Turning off alarm

1895
Bright idea first came to
George Vernon Hudson

Entmologist,
Astronomer bugged by waste
Of all that daylight

Lived in New Zealand
So there was one huge problem:
Sheep didn’t get it

William Willett golfed,
Had same thought, 1905,
To extend tee times

Germans made the switch
1916 to save coal
During World War I

Brits then the U.S.
Followed, pretty soon nations
All around tried it

Farmers don’t dig it
But sporting goods stores sure do
Maybe it’s a wash

I love the daylight
But the nighttime’s the right time
For some things, nudge, nudge

So, if I post this
1:15 a.m., will you
Get to read it twice?

Spring forward, fall back
We’re fooling Mother Nature!
No, fooling ourselves

The light that matters
It shines 24/7
In your heart, your eyes

Longest day haiku, redux

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On the cusp of the Daylight Saving Time switch-over, here are some for the longest day of the year.

From June 21, 2011

Daylight, each day’s gift
To walk in the sun and feel
Its warmth on our skin

Daylight, each day’s chance
To go around again, flip
The next page of life

Daylight, each day’s spin
Revolutionary yet
Too subtle to feel

Daylight, each day’s breath
In and out, the dance of life
The rhythm of hearts

Daylight, each day’s lick
Of ice cream, sip of red wine
What pleasures beckon?

Daylight, each day’s tricks
Of solid, shadow and smoke
Memory’s missteps

Daylight, each day’s bits
Of grit, soil, salt and sweat
Elementary

Daylight, each day’s gold
To be measured and burnished
Squeeze every last ounce

Daylight and with age
It dawns on us to cherish
Each wrinkle in time

Daylight, and today
A few extra ticks, just like
My last camping trip

Daylight, yes today
We get a few seconds more
— To be spent beaming

Wee small haiku, redux

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These came to me around 5 a.m., a day I woke up before everyone else and just imagined some scenes from the previous few hours.

From Feb. 27, 2011

The wee small hours / Street sweeper washes away / What yesterday left
The wee small hours / Streetlamps dim as if to ask / Why are we still on?
The wee small hours / When rodents and roaches do / Some of their best work
The wee small hours / Cigarette turns to ashes / Dying like the night
The wee small hours / Bourbon melts ice cubes the way / She melted his heart
The wee small hours / Action’s harder to find than / A ghetto cabbie
The wee small hours / Train whistle marks 1 a.m. / All is on schedule
The wee small hours / Siren says it’s 2 a.m. / And all is not well
The wee small hours / An ER doc wearily / Stitches up some kid
The wee small hours / Scratchy Sinatra platter / Still spins its magic
The wee small hours / Couples drunk on love and wine / Can’t tell which is which
The wee small hours / Her fingers linger on him / Take their own sweet time
The wee small hours / Cramming guy’s midnight oil / Is three hours gone
The wee small hours / Exhausted student looks up / What “nocturnal” means
The wee small hours / Scribbler sketches the darkness / With some wee small words
The wee small hours / Agnostic insomniac / Can’t believe in sleep
The wee small hours / The owner then the dough rise / At the doughnut shop
The wee small hours / Life is primitive B.C. / That’s Before Coffee
The wee small hours / Jazzercizers rise early / Slap on the Spandex
The wee small hours / Do their disappearing act / With coffee, the dawn

R.I.P. Andy Rooney, two views haiku

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‘Bye, Andy Rooney
“Don’t you hate it when your wings
“And halo don’t match?”

‘Bye, Andy Rooney
“Don’t you hate falling back for
“Demon Saving Time?”