Category Archives: Everyday things

“Constellation prize” haiku

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perseid

Sons of Perseus
Cosmic radiance no myth
Lighting the night sky

Perfect atmosphere
For Smith-Tuttle to put on
Its annual show

Meteor shower
What better way for comet
To clean up its act?

“Tears of St. Lawrence”
To some Catholics: Sparks rain down
On that martyr’s day

A.D. 36
First record of these fireworks
Credit the Chinese

1835
Adolphe Quetelet noted they
Appear every year

We could’ve told Dolph
What goes around comes around
But he told us when

Satellite competes
This time ’round, but pre-dawn moon
Will Gibbous a break

Year’s best viewing wanes
Better look this up tonight
Check Google today

“What goes around” haiku, or “Ferris Doodle’s Day On”

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Written Valentine’s Day, 2013, keyed off the Google Doodle that day for George Ferris’ 154th birthday.

“What goes around” haiku

It’s Valentine’s Day
What better time to visit
Love’s amusement park?

Love disorients
It’s Tilt-a-Whirl, Loop the Loop
And Atomic Drop

Love distorts, deceives
It’s funhouse mirrors — and meals
Of cotton candy

Love tantalizes
When that Tunnel of Love kiss
Whispers “Forever”

Love shows us heights, depths,
Crushingly quick endings — it’s
A roller coaster

Our brains — and stomachs
Know we can’t live like this, yet
We keep going back

Heartache and heartbreak
We line up, punch that ticket
To know we’re alive

This Valentine’s Day
Google honors George Ferris
And his smoother ride

He died young but first
Fashioned his romantic dream
For the world to share

Civil engineer
Known for mastering railroads,
Bridges and tunnels

1893
Exhibition challenged to
Out-Eiffel Eiffel

Ferris offered wheel
264 feet
In diameter

46-plus tons
Of metal forged its axle
U.S. steel, writ large

Judges terrified
Rejected it as unsafe
Then reconsidered

Ferris made it real
And millions came to catch its
Unparalled view

Ferris died alone
But his wheels turn on and on
Like a love that lasts

And here’s a favorite wrencher, about when that wheel gets bent.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Enc8KEzdYY

“100 down” haiku

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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

“Going viral” haiku

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Julius Richard Petri, May 31, 1852 — Dec. 20, 1921

Berlin scientist
Julius Richard Petri
What a cultured guy

Enabled lab work
Ugly, gross — yet breakthrough was
Really quite a dish

Agar ‘orrible
Bacteria multiplied
But aided research

His round glass dishes
Became standard equipment
And are to this day

Today’s Doodle shows
Half-dozen cultures growing
Some colorful stuff

Smelly sock, doorknob,
Keyboard, dog drool, soil and sponge
Yield exquisite gunk

So thanks, JRP
Bacteriology just
Wouldn’t be the same

And I would’ve wrapped
Your birthday present but was
All out of barf bags

“Hail, no” haiku

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Ever was the quest
Explore, discover, conquer
Claim it for the crown

But conquest exacts
This dear price — exploration,
Exploitation blur

Possession, not love,
Never yields a true victor
But spoils aplenty

To quest, not conquest
Let us discover anew
— With understanding

Fescue haiku

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Dirt, seed, sprinklers’ arcs
Barefoot in the final warmth
Of early autumn

Morning ritual
Nightly chore — 10 toes tingling
Re-arranging arcs

Water, watch, and wait
Trinity of nature’s faith
No choice but to hope

Green shoots push up dirt,
Push back death, each tiny blade
Its own miracle

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

“Just be glad you don’t have to see my birthday suit” haiku

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B-Day haiku #1

9-9-55
Easy to remember — wait
Whose birthday is that?

Happy birthday to …
Me! 57 today
So glad to be here

Gifts beyond counting
Treasures invaluable
Glimpses of heaven

Wisdom comes with age
That’s how the saying goes, so
I must not be old

B-Day haiku #2

Indian summer
Hot morning, ’round 2 a.m.
I entered this world

Indian summer
Somehow the sun feels warmer
Colors radiate

Indian summer
Greens, browns, russet, ochre, straw
Palette all its own

Indian summer
Squint into the light, hoping
To catch one more glimpse

Indian summers
How many do I have left?
Savor each with me

Hourglass haiku

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Kids grow parents die
Looks jobs bosses partners change
In this dance of time

It’s true normal’s just
A dryer setting meaning
Tumbling in hot wind

So we all need things
To hold onto — tumbleweeds
Are so hard to hug

Friends dogs coffee God
Things that don’t just blow away
When storms are brewing

Spaces inside, out
Spaces life can’t rearrange
Unless we say so

We all need our rocks
To build our peace on, knowing
The sands will get in

A.C. haiku

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Windows broken out
Or as we say in the hood
Air conditioning

He heated up when
Asked size of his unit, but
She meant Btu

Air conditioning
One time in life it’s good to
Be a Carrier

Evaporation
Of body’s perspiration
Natural a.c.

But it sure is nice
To put this heat on ice through
Refrigeration