Haiku with the fishes

Deep beneath the sea
Across 100 years’ time
Tragedy echoes

Luxury, hubris
Trapped in their lovers’ embrace
Of endless rust, rot

Unsinkable ships,
Banks too big to fail tell us
We learn, then forget

“You could look it up” haiku

Something to check out:
National Library Week’s
In full swing — no charge!

Love browsing the stacks
Seeing what’s new and what’s old
How titles evolve

My library rocks
Though Internet puts so much
At my fingertips

I love Google, but
Librarians are so smart,
So cool, so helpful

My library card
And librarian still make
A great search engine

Someday I’ll curl up
With an eReader, I know
But not yet, not yet

Ink’s look, paper’s feel
Ignite imagination
I’m bound to binding

Good old books don’t need
A wireless connection
Batteries recharged

And when I need help
My library peeps are there
They’ve got me covered!

And these are from last year, sparked at the time by the annual meeting of the Kansas Library Association. This year’s starts today, in Wichita.

Librarians fine
But overdue for big bash
Break out the bookmarks!

Where else can you say
Dewey Decimal System
Is a hot topic?

Seriously, folks,
They’re working on challenges
Of digital age

Can we use Facebook
And Twitter tweets to trigger
Library flash mobs?

The answer, my friend,
Is blowing in cyber wind
Of tablets, smartphones

Hey, I love gadgets
But not for reading Shakespeare
After a hard day

If pixels be food
Of love for literature
Don’t play on — Kill me!

Amazon has tried
To Kindle my eBook flame;
It always fizzles

Once, a Nook and I
Stared blankly at each other
Like a bad blind date

So, I think nothing
Will ever match the beauty
Of a book in hand

Romance suffers too
When the best pickup line is
“Your iPad or mine?”

For we are such stuff
As dreams are made on: Yes, us!
Not some avatars

In reading, life, love
I must say: Ain’t nothin’ like
The real thing, baby

“It’ll last longer” haiku

Eadweard Muybridge, April 9, 1830 — May 8, 1904
Today’s Google Doodle, April 9, 2012, is here.


Are horses’ hooves all
Off the ground at the same time?
Eadweard Muybridge asked

To find out he took
A gallop poll — with cameras
Triggered in sequence

One shot answered “Yes”
And the rest advanced the art
Of motion pictures

Zoopraxiscope:
He invented an early
Movie projector

Muybridge also shot
Athletes and other people
As they moved about

Muybridge also shot
Wife’s lover dead — talk about
Dark room negatives

Jury rejected
Insanity plea but still
Found him not guilty

“The Photographer,”
Film scored by Philip Glass, told
The trial story

In real life Muybridge
First to charge to see movie
— But no 5-buck Cokes

Edison followed,
Others too, so it behooves
Us to remember

“Crossed my mind” haiku

Give pause, thanks, thought, love
Humble sacrifice to make
This a good Friday

And here are some from last Good Friday, which happened to fall on Earth Day.

Double duty haiku

Good Friday, Earth Day
The Cross, cracked continents say
Our sins have a price

Good Friday, Earth Day
Offer hope for redemption
Of our life and land

Earth Day, Good Friday
“Reduce, re-use, resurrect”
Has a ring to it

Good Friday, Earth Day
Soon the tomb will be empty
So get back to work

Good Friday, Earth Day
Bunnies get their tails in gear
They’re on in two days

Gaga haiku

Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, March 28, 1986

It’s Gaga’s birthday
Wonder what’s her idea
Of a “birthday suit”?

A star for this age
Socially aware, using
The ‘Net to connect

A star of outrage
Or at least one who’s able
To create a stir

A dash of Grace Jones
And echoes of Madonna
Still, Gaga’s unique

And beneath the flash
She can really play, write, sing
— And sell to millions

Not just marketing,
I think, when she stands against
AIDS, and bullying

She appreciates
Being different, celebrates
Living on the fringe

We marginalize
Way too many dear people
She welcomes them in

So happy birthday
Stefani Germanotta
Have a Gaga day!

“In a word” haiku

World Poetry Day
Shanti, irini, malu
Béke, fifa, peace

Of what use are words
Vrede, wolakota, fred
Sérë, amani

If not to heal hearts
Sidi, layeni, hoa binh
Kapayapaan, paz

If not to bind wounds
Heiwa, rukun, hasiti
Ukuthula, pasch

If not to spread love
Soksang, pokoj, santiphap
Peoning hwa, pax

All we are saying
Paix, taika, rongo, baris
Uxolo, paci

Is give peace a chance
Solh, mir, pau, hetep, shalom
World Poetry Day

Japan, redux

From a year ago:

Life-giving waters
Transformed in a flash, become
Japan’s wall of death

Lands lurch and seas surge
Turn nature into monster
Devastatingly

Terror, anger, grief
Emotions crash like the tides
Overwhelmingly

Thousands lost, millions
Ever changed, a giant tear
In the Earth’s fabric

The sakura weep
Nuclear tears, radiant
With history’s haunting

Japan like a bird
Without a branch to land on
Pray its wings stay strong

Women’s Day haiku

Dignity to claim
Power to tap — Women’s Day
International

The truth for millions
Obscene beyond all telling
But truth should be told

Pains of oppression
Rape, mutilation, bondage
Poverty, hunger

Mothers and daughters,
Sisters, men who stand with them
Rally on this day

Imagine a world
Of liberty, justice,
Non-violence, peace

Education, hope
Freedom, opportunity
True equality

Slogans are just words
But if they move us to act
They have done their work

And so much good work
Awaits to bridge the canyon
Between real, ideal

International
Women’s Day — power unleashed
Dignity reclaimed

March 6 haiku

March 6: Michelangelo born (1475), Missouri Compromise (1820), Dred Scott decision (1857), Bayer patents aspirin (1899)

Gazing at ceiling
Reminds me: Happy birthday,
Michelangelo

Devil’s day doubled:
The Missouri Compromise,
Dred Scott Decision

Bayer gets patent
Excellent pain reliever
Lousy birth control

Speaking of Missouri …

Missouri shows us,
Picks Limbaugh for Hall of Fame,
Reverts to “Puke State”

And at random …

While meditating
I wait for enlightenment
To speed the heck up

“Ex- chromosome” haiku

Double helix found
Gene genie unleashed this date
Watson, Crick get wish

“Double Helix” book
Tells story, not all agree
Watson, Crick quarrel

Double helix splits
Bad feelings replicate till
Watson, Crick divide

“This Date in History” entry is here.