Category Archives: The public arena

News and politics

Rogue in vogue haiku

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Robert Moog, May 23, 1934 — Aug. 21, 2005

Google asks: Aren’t you
Glad Bob Moog used dials? Don’t you
Wish everyone did?

It’s Bob Moog’s birthday
And Google’s synthesized quite
A memorial

Today’s Doodle lets
Us mix, oscillate, filter
Push the envelope

When it’s all set, play!
Then save your tune on vintage
4-track recorder

Moog would’ve loved this
Though he always said he was
“Just” an engineer

Genius, more like it:
Sold kits to make theremins
And good vibrations

His two companies’
Electronic instruments
Changed sonic landscape

‘Stead of Mini Me
Made Minimoog, Voyager
And Little Phatty

And just for effect(s)
Made Moogerfooger pedals
Then Pro Tools plug-ins

So have fun, create
Your own song of invention
In Moog’s memory

The Moog Doodle is here.

Summer to winter haiku

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Donna Summer, Dec. 31, 1948 — May 17, 2012

Heaven’s disco ball
Just added a few facets
Rock in peace, hot stuff

Cancer’s never fair
Somehow it’s even more wrong
For Donna Summer

Queen of an era
When people lived on dance floors
Parties never stopped

“Heaven Knows,” “Bad Girls”
And “Love to Love You Baby”
“On the Radio”

When parties did stop
They always stopped with this song:
Ms. Summer’s “Last Dance”

‘Bye Donna Summer
Thanks for all the dance floor grooves
Of our well spent youth

Mother’s Day, 2012, haiku

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If a bar band can’t go wrong playing Beatles songs, I guess a poem can’t be too bad if it’s about Mom. To Tina, the mother of our two very lucky children. (Though for her, somehow, the gray hair and wrinkles haven’t showed up.)

She waits, globe belly
A whole other world within
About to be born

She stoops, back aching
Two small arms circle her neck
Tiny kisses heal

She reads, lids heavy
Prays blessed slumber comes first
To her little ones

She drives, endless miles
Bouncing balls, musical notes
Practice makes better

She worries, they grow
In mind and body. But will
Love, wisdom follow?

She grays, and wrinkles
They walk up aisles, diplomas
Down aisles, rings and vows

She smiles, now she knows
They’ll still fall, but they’ll get up
For she showed them how

She’ll love, forever
Even after she is gone.
No other. Mother.

And last year’s Mother’s Day batch is here.

“Wild things” haiku

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Maurice Sendak, June 10, 1928 — May 8, 2012

‘Bye, Maurice Sendak
You showed us we would conquer
Though there be monsters

Harry Truman, May 8, 1884 — Dec. 26, 1972
VE Day, May 8, 1945

Give ’em hell, Harry
Wish you were still in D.C.
To straighten things out

Plain spoken and tough,
Hard working and ornery.
Independence, man

The Nazis gave up
On your 61st birthday
You brought our boys home

And you took the heat
Whatever life brought your way
Give ’em hell, Harry!

“Art break” haiku for Keith Haring

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Keith Haring, May 4, 1958 — Feb. 16, 1990

Google “Keith Haring”
Google anything today
And check out his art

That’s right, he’s the dude
And doodler extraordinaire
Whose lines burst with life

Inspired by Disney
And Seuss, no wonder his work’s
So vibrant, direct

Subway chalk drawings,
NYC, drew attention,
Seat on train to fame

“Radiant Baby”
Showed simplicity’s power
Lines, colors, and shapes

Circle expanded
Warhol, Grace Jones, Madonna,
Basquiat, Burroughs

But he stayed focused,
Helped causes, made public art
People could enjoy

He got HIV
Joined efforts to fight AIDS, but
HIV got him

So young to leave us
But true pictures do not die
Radiant baby

“Scream and shout” haiku

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“The Scream” sells at auction for record $120 million.

I scream you scream we
All scream: Who in the world paid
That much for “The Scream”?

James Brown, May 3, ’33 — Christmas, ’06

BD of JB
And Soul Brother No. 1
Liked to celebrate

Came up the hard way
Picked cotton, scrounged coal, danced, sang
Did hard time for theft

Then he showed the way
Mixing rock, funk, soul and rap
Before we said “rap”

James Brown poured it on
For “Live at the Apollo”
An all-time classic

Hardest working man
In show business always gave
100%

So get your hot pants
Pop up some mother popcorn
Start the sex machine

Please please please, JB
And thanks thanks thanks for makin’
Us shout “I feel good”

“Requiem for a heavyweight” haiku

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Walt Bodine’s last show is today on KCUR, 10-11 a.m.

It’s been a great ride
For our city’s talk show king
Walt ruled for decades

From his dad’s drugstore
To his KCUR mic
Memories galore

Linwood and Troost was
Crossroads of Kansas City
— And America

As a soda jerk
Walt soaked it all up — asking,
Telling, retelling

This city became
Part of Walt Bodine, and he
A big part of it

Walt found his calling
Behind a radio mic
First in Sedalia

Next came Atchison
Then WDAF
Other KC jobs

1983
KCUR called, and Walt
Had found his last gig

The talk of the town
Whoever and whatever
Walt had on his show

Movies and restaurants
Politics, history, gossip
Walt served it all up

Walt’s been fading, true,
For some years now. Still I’ll miss
That voice of our town

World heavyweight champ
Rocky Marciano called
It quits on this date

Walt Bodine signs off
On this date, too. There are no
Coincidences

A nice look at Walt’s career is here.

“Fanaticism fulfilled” haiku

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In Oklahoma
April 19th, ’95
Gates of hell open

Ryder truck, diesel,
Ammonium nitrate, hate
Madness lights the fuse

Bits of fabric, flesh
Flutter in the wind — hope dies
In fireman’s arms

Building’s shattered face
Jagged, empty spaces, voids
In the web of life

It’s the end of time
For 168
19 little kids

17 years pass
Some questions have no answers
Except the sunrise

American icon haiku

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Drape Bandstand in black
Then keep on rockin’ — Dick Clark
Would want it that way

Count on his countdown
Each year the ball dropped, but he
Never dropped the ball

“That’s a big 1040, good buddy” haiku

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For those of you just wrapping up (or getting started). Written last year.

Income tax, oh joy
I don’t mind paying my share;
Paperwork, I hate

Income tax, oh joy
What form does Charlie Sheen use?
1040 Slea-Z?

Income tax, no fair
Jim Beam’s allowed to write off
His liquid assets

Income tax, oh joy
April 15th’s the 17th
This year. Is that clear?

Income tax, oh yeah,
This year we get two more days
To stew over it

Income tax, get this
My brilliant deductions would
Impress Sherlock Holmes

Income tax, say what?
You sure I can’t count my dog
As a dependent?

Income tax, oh joy
Even my new computer
Despises this stuff

Income tax, no fair
Donald Trump gets to deduct
That thing on his head

Tax time, go figure
Trump’s wives are good examples
Filling out their forms

Income tax, oh joy
Why do I think there must be
An easier way?

Income tax, oh joy
Just total up your earnings,
Mail ’em to D.C.

Income tax, oh joy
My accountant’s not too bright:
H&R Blockhead

Income tax, oh joy
Loopholes somehow turn into
Noose around my neck

Income tax, oh joy
With help from the IRS
Hey, stop that laughing

Income tax, devised
By the best politicians
That money can buy