Category Archives: It’s the time of the season

Math Awareness Month, redux

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The collection of placeholders and zeros on stage for the Republican “debate” last night reminded me of these. I think they came in two groups during April, which is Math Awareness Month.

April, 2011

Math Awareness Month
Guess I could use some of that
Life’s not adding up

Math Awareness Month
If I could subtract my stress
Joy would multiply

Math Awareness Month
Division in our ranks might
Be a good thing now

Math Awareness Month
Used to know this stuff, but now
My brain’s a null set

Math Awareness Month
My checkbook balance beckons
Time to go figure

Math Awareness Month
Budget is fit when I get
My figures in shape

Math Awareness Month
Reminds us that trig jokes are
First sine of madness

Math Awareness Month
Will my kid’s trig instructor
Cosine for a loan?

I dig trig because
Every day I seem to go
Off on a tangent

Math Awareness Month
Makes me admit my haiku
Are derivative

But I wish I had
A good proof to demonstrate
That they’re integral

And pray I can raise
Poetic coefficient
To higher power

Math Awareness Month
Don’t let the geeks fool you they’re
Trying to get sum

Which are the math trees
In the grove of academe?
The ones with square roots

Angling Elvis tells
Pythagoras: You’re so squared
(Baby, I don’t care)

Life is just one big
Variable equation
Solve it day by day

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.

http://youtu.be/YOeDsYx_u9Q

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

http://youtu.be/h2soIL_0ICE

Anniversary 22 haiku

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I was married Nov. 4, 1989. Amazingly, I still am. Thanks, Tina.

Groom walks down the aisle
That crazy percussive sound
Was his knees knocking

Twenty-two years passed
I’m not sure now what I feared
Shouldn’t have worried

Went without a hitch
— Except for the one we planned —
And we’re both still here

Thanks Yael, Alison,
Gary for standing with me
My two brothers, too

And Bob for singing
“From a Distance” for Tina,
For me, and our world

The Kelley Hunt Band
Rocked out at the reception
It was quite a day

Lots of memories
And two great children later
I count my blessings

Random haiku

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Chill rain, warm salt sweat
Commingle in runner’s rite
At pulsing temple

Dry gusts, humid breath
Weather patterns roil and clash
Cloud around his head

First flake of fall snow
Crystalline beauty, perfect,
Catches day’s last light

First flake of fall snow
Beguiling Goddamned gangster
You know he’ll bring friends

B.o.A. woos me
Kills debit card fee — too late
I’m feeling withdrawn

Here I sit, forlorn
So sweet, so ready, just like
Halloween candy

Lover’s sighs, baby’s
Laughs, fulfilling work’s rhythm
Monotony thrills

Coffee’s gurgling drip,
Lunch counter’s din, dinner’s peace
Monotony thrills

Valentine’s Day, redux

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Written for Valentine’s Day, 2011.

Feb. 14, 2011

It’s Valentine’s Day!
Time for love letters filled with
Gooey promises

It’s Valentine’s Day!
Play some romantic music
And join my chorus

It’s Valentine’s Day!
“Let’s do it; let’s fall in love,”
Louie Armstrong sings

It’s Valentine’s Day!
This very day I proposed
Twenty-two years back

It’s Valentine’s Day!
“I’m Still in Love With You,” sings
Righteous Rev. Al Green

It’s Valentine’s Day!
“Our Love Is Here to Stay,” sings
Billie Holiday

It’s Valentine’s Day!
“We’ll Be Together Again”
Sing lovers who part

It’s Valentine’s Day!
Nothing should compare with what
True lovers can share

It’s Valentine’s Day!
You don’t need Cupid’s arrow
I’m all aquiver

It’s Valentine’s Day!
Tell the doctor to go home
Ain’t no cure for love

It’s Valentine’s Day!
Try “Once” if you want to watch
A romantic film

It’s Valentine’s Day!
Watch “About a Boy” and see
How love defines life

It’s Valentine’s Day!
You don’t have to be “in love”;
Enjoy your friendships

Caution: Blue (or at least blues-man) lyrics ahead:

It’s Valentine’s Day!
And my heart is double parked
So baby let’s roll

It’s Valentine’s Day!
Don’t leave me stuck in neutral
When the light turns green

It’s Valentine’s Day!
My battery’s fully charged
Turn the ignition

It’s Valentine’s Day!
Trust me baby, it’s all good
What’s under my hood

With apologies to Rodney Dangerfield:
It’s Valentine’s Day!
Meet me after school — you know,
When you have no class

OK, the cynicism finally sets in:

It’s Valentine’s Day!
Will you be mine forever?
At least till morning?

It’s Valentine’s Day!
Still looking for Mr. Right?
Or Mr. Right Now?

It’s Valentine’s Day!
Hug your sweetie; love your spouse
Just don’t let them meet

It’s Valentine’s Day!
February’s half over
You gotta love that

Mother’s Day, redux

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May 8, 2011

Mother’s Day, our chance
To be happy we’re alive
And thank Mom for that

Hug Mom if she’s here
Remember her if she’s gone
She’d like that, you know

Moms never leave us,
Really, so stand up straight and
Wear clean underwear

Mother’s Day echoes
Greeks’ goddess celebrations
Of fecundity

More recent versions
Gave servants a day to see
Mom, visit hometowns

Others used the day
To advance righteous causes
And unite women

Julia Ward Howe’s
“Mother’s Day Proclamation”
Still speaks loud and clear

Howe called for mothers
To stand for peace, raise their voice
Against war’s carnage

And Anna Jarvis
Cemented the tradition
Of sending flowers

Mother’s Day, not just
A Hallmark moment — but don’t
Forget cards and gifts!

Mothers everywhere
Do their best to raise us right,
Send us on our way

It’s hard every day
What’s enough help? What’s too much?
Juggle and balance

Joy and exhaustion
Mingle when kids are little
Pride plays its part, too

Wipe noses, wipe butts
Sometimes you wouldn’t believe
The job description

Insanity can
Take center stage in teen years,
But adults emerge

At whatever stage,
It’s the most important work
We pause to salute

Mother’s Day, the day
To remember who gives life
The first act of love

Memorial Day, D-Day, the Hyatt, Loved Ones Gone, redux

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Continuing some re-postings from holidays and other important days on the calendar. These two batches go together well, and I’m following them with a third one on the Hyatt tragedy’s 30th anniversary, and a fourth about loved ones gone. I know I do better with humor — or at least that’s what the muse usually brings me — but I’m proud of all of these.

Memorial Day, May 30, 2011

Headstone and bouquet
Flowers watered by the tears
Of those who survive

We honor duty,
Bravery, courage — and pray
For an end to war

They served and they died
Deserved more than medals for
Sacrificing all

They defended us
Our homes, our lives, our freedom
Stop to remember

We owe them this now
To live life to the fullest
And to work for peace

Headstone in the grass
Only one moves in the wind
But both wait for us

D-Day, June 6, 2011

D-Day. On duty:
Radio Man 2nd Class
John Hack, U.S.N.

Dad played his small part
Never talked about it much
Maybe in Morse Code

I’m glad he waited
Till after the war to be
A hero — to me

Nothing second class
About how he loved us all
And worked for our good

He lived quietly
Died the same way, enjoyed life
The way a dad does

Memorial Day,
As it should, each year honors
Those who died fighting

D-Day let’s toast too
Those who survived and came home
So we could be here

Hyatt haiku, from July 17

30 years later
It still seems like yesterday
The night the sky fell

The loss still stunning
The terror still real, and still
No answers for “Why?”

Life goes on — for some
For others it ended then
We recall, regret

Death comes to us all
Few get to choose how or when
In sorrow, we learn

From Sept. 1
Haiku for loved ones gone.

We don’t think we could
Love them more; somehow we do
After they are gone

Yet they’re never gone,
Not really; their souls echo
Louder than the flesh

In our flesh they live
In our memories never die
And help us go on

How do they still know
What we need? And how did they
Leave their best behind?

It’s all a mystery
But of all the mysteries, this
Is one of the best

That hallowed feeling

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Halloween horror:
Came as my best self — no one
Could recognize me

Jack-O-Lanterns carved
Porch light switched to the red bulb
Scary music’s on

Cider’s warming up
Scarecrow’s in the front porch seat
Time for trick or treat!

Ghosts and princesses
Little pumpkins, bumblebees
Vikings, vagabonds

Witches with itches
Darth Vader wheezing, sometimes
Costumes just don’t fit

All will take your stuff:
Pirates and politicians
Just dress differently

First-time toddlers cute
Jaded teens out for some loot
And that sugar high

All brought to you by
The American Dental
Association

Enjoy this fine rite
The little ones’ lack of guile,
Sense of make believe

Their masks worn but once
We put ours on every day
— And don’t get candy

I’m on vacation, redux

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I wish I were on vacation, but I’m not. Instead, I’m posting this batch from a spring vacation. It’s followed by a pre-summer-vacation batch, and then six batches from a July vacation in Southern California.

From March 30:

“Boo hoo, no haiku,”
A friend writes. “So what’s the deal?”
I’m on vacation!

I’m on vacation
But going nowhere real fast
Kinda like working!

I’m on vacation
All of me, not just my brain
Which checked out years back

As the Ramones say,
I’ll have to tell ’em I got
No cerebellum

I’m on vacation
But I did go to Borders
Discounting good sense

My home’s already
Crammed full of unread volumes
Begging to be cracked

My CD shelves sag
With rock ‘n’ roll, classical
And, yes, all that jazz

But could I resist
Borders’ zombie siren song?
You know the answer

Borders closeout sale
Books on everything except
How to walk away

“Famous Last Words” book:
Jeez, if I can’t top these quotes
Pray I die silent

Doctor Laura’s book
“Stop Whining and Start Living”
You go first, “Doctor”

And for just 5 bucks
“A Short History of the World”
Nah, not short enough

Man, it’s depressing
It seems that the only “Glee”
Is in the CDs

Borders closeout sale
87 copies of
“Essential Yanni”

Borders closeout sale
Punk prices rule! 5 bucks for
“Rocket to Russia”

One section does seem
Alphabetized: ZZ Top
Follows Vivaldi

Elsewhere, Fogerty
Meets Manilow, but what will
They sing? “Proud Copa”?

In another row
Britney, next to Placido,
Hits a high G string

Borders closeout sale
“Blue Kentucky Girl” real cheap
Makes me not so blue

R.E.M.’s right: End
Of the world as we know it.
And I feel a sigh

I’m on vacation
Giving further proof: A mind’s
A terrible thing