Betty’s birthday haiku

Betty White, Jan. 17, 1922

Betty White, 90:
Shows us how to keep going,
Laughing, having fun

Betty White, great roles:
Snide Sue Ann, Golden Girl Rose,
Host of SNL

Betty White, great looks:
Once a babe, always a babe
She likes hearing that

Betty White, roll on:
But the prez wants to see your
Birth certificate

“The doctor is still in” haiku

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Jan. 15, 1925 — April 4, 1968

A day to reflect
Resolve again to make real
A dream that won’t die

And re-postings from last year on April 4, Aug. 28 (March on Washington) and Oct. 16 (King Memorial dedication) should follow on the blog here.

Frozen butt haiku

Guy smoking outside
Weather like this you think he’d
At least quit menthols

More than 2,000 verses like this available for your reading pleasure. That’s at least 34,000 syllables.

“The only thing I want frozen is a margarita” haiku

8° — Splendid
1 for each layer of clothes
I’ll need for outdoors

More than 2,000 verses like this available for your reading pleasure. That’s at least 34,000 syllables.

“Re-arranging deck chairs” haiku

Just when I thought work
Couldn’t get more stressful it’s
Remodeling time

Hammers, power drills
Like MRI, root canal
All rolled into one

In my head I hear
“Hammer time!” and “Break it down!”
MC destruction

They came, they sawed, they
Conquered everything in sight.
Well, except the dust

Can you call back, say,
In six months when I can hear?
Or just hold till then?

But soon we’ll be put
In some now-vacant spaces
For several long months

‘Bye, desk of 12 years
A moving experience
I’m sure it will be

Cleaning out my drawers
Some stuff 34 years old
From my first days here

A seating chart, names
Lots dead, all but two gone from
This place of my heart

Time for globe trotting
Shanghaied to Siberia
Till makeover’s through

Temporary digs
No sun, windowless — so no
Defenestration

Disoriented
Isolated — feeling like
Motherless child, squared

But soon this blank space
Will be filled with my clutter
Start to feel like home

Then it will be time
Again to pack, move, enjoy
Shiny new space, cubed

“Not another rock guy’s birthday!” haiku

Nicolas Steno, Jan. 11, 1638 — Dec. 5, 1686

Nicolas Steno
Father of geology
His legacy rocks

Check Google’s salute
To this foundational dude
From 1600s

Centuries before
Chuck Berry, Little Richard
The man could dig it

An upper crust guy
Yet he studied all layers
And how strata formed

He was all about
Things gettin’ horizontal
Just like rock ‘n’ roll

Nicolas Steno
Father of geology
His legacy? Rocks!

“Big Man, little poems”

Clarence Clemons, Jan. 11, 1942 — June 18, 2011
Someday soon we’ll laugh
Till we cry, but today we
Just miss you, with tears

And from June 19:
E Street, Jungleland
10th Avenue all missing
The Big Man tonight

Bruce Springsteen said of Clarence Clemons:
“Clarence lived a wonderful life. He carried within him a love of people that made them love him. He created a wondrous and extended family. He loved the saxophone, loved our fans and gave everything he had every night he stepped on stage. His loss is immeasurable and we are honored and thankful to have known him and had the opportunity to stand beside him for nearly 40 years. He was my great friend, my partner and with Clarence at my side, my band and I were able to tell a story far deeper than those simply contained in our music. His life, his memory, and his love will live on in that story and in our band.”

Eddie Vedder on Letterman, “Without You,” June 20, 2011: