The rainbow refracts
A new span of funky hue
Maya Angelou
Maya Angelou, April 4, 1928 — May 28, 2014
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Category Archives: A way with words
“100 down” haiku
If you’re looking for
A fun word puzzle to do
Try a Google search
Today’s Doodle marks
Hundredth anniversary
Of crossword’s debut
In 1913
The New York World’s Arthur Wynne
Made the first “word-cross”
A typographer
Later transposed feature’s name
The crossword was born
Today’s Doodle’s smart
Will save your answers for you
Till you are finished
So if you must quit
And come back later, there’s no
Need to be cross — Word
Hai(contrast)ku
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
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
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
Nanci Caroline Griffith, July 6, 1953, Seguin, Texas
Updated 2020
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 writer’s block
Came too, till two-thousand-nine
Saw her muse return
“The Loving Kind” said
Nanci’s back, but next CD
Proved to be her last
Once in a lifetime
Or at least in a blue moon
One so touching shines
Happy birthday, girl
You take the cake, and our hearts
It’s all frosting now
June 1 haiku
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
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
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
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
Greg's Hack-u 