River birch sunrise
Spindly branches, gentle breeze
Smudged rose horizon
Ansel Adams, Feb. 20, 1902 – April 22, 1984
Ansel orders up:
“Yosemite, organic,
“And hold the color”
“Two views” haiku
Reply
Category Archives: The public arena
Heroic haiku
Feb. 11 — Thomas Edison born, 1847. Nelson Mandela freed, 1990.
Imagination,
Inspiration incarnate
Magic, in the flesh
27 years
No chains could break his spirit
Nelson Mandela
Poverty, deafness,
Rules — no match for his genius
Thomas Edison
And some from back in October, the anniversary of one of Edison’s many inventions.
Thomas Edison
In 1879
A light bulb came on
Electric moment
Banished darkness forever
With incandescence
Edison, who said,
“There are no rules here,” made light
Of his glowing feat
Before his light bulb
What popped up over folks’ heads
When ideas came?
More efficient lights
Taking their place — Edison
Would want it that way
“Best of verse, worst of verse” haiku
Beatles land at JFK — Feb. 7, 1964
Charles Dickens, Feb. 7, 1812 — June 9, 1870
British invasion
Fixed bayonets? No, moptops
Armed with 45’s
A Friday landing
New York’s Kennedy Airport
Started their conquest
They’d topped U.S. charts
With “I Want to Hold Your Hand”
More where that came from
Thousands screamed non-stop
Lost voices, inhibitions
Beautiful release
Sunday on his show
Sullivan announced the charge
“Right here on our stage”
40% watched
That first TV appearance
Millions all tune in
Then D.C. triumph
Occupied Carnegie Hall
Sullivan again
Left us wanting more
Like Oliver with his bowl
Loved them, yeah yeah yeah
Here’s another twist
That first U.S. landing came
On Dickens’ birthday
Google Doodle says
Great British author was born
Two centuries past
Crusader with pen
Captured boarding school horrors
The courts’ injustice
Railed at his country’s
Poverty amid plenty
With fiction quite real
Brought London to life
Upper class privileged, stifled
Poor scrabbling to live
Serialized work
Gave his stories a rhythm
Cliff-hangers galore
And the characters!
Nicholas Nickleby, Pip
David Copperfield
The Artful Dodger
Uriah Heep, Wackford Squeers
Mr. Micawber
Samuel Pickwick
Abel Magwitch, Tiny Tim
Ebenezer Scrooge
Dickens visited
U.S. twice, reading his works
Exploring New York
For second visit
Departed England, where else
But from Liverpool
Wined and dined, he made
Dozens of appearances
Dickensmania
Dickens on death bed
Said “be natural,” fulfill
“All the rules of art”
Years later, Fab Four
Would do just that, bring U.S.
One more manic gift
Rasta man haiku
Nesta Robert Marley, Feb. 6, 1945 — May 11, 1981
I say “Bob Marley”
Play word association
Bet you say “reggae”
Or maybe “Legend”
His “best of” album became
Reggae’s best seller
The people’s heartbeat
The downbeat of oppression
Upbeat of freedom
Reggae superstar
But he told his son Ziggy
“Money can’t buy life”
Oppression goes on
Freedom cries out so long as
Marley’s music wails
Haiku XVII
There’s a game today?
Something between commercials?
Cool! Maybe I’ll watch
Madonna’s on too?
Figures — her wardrobe has been
One big malfunction
“Bridgestone Halftime Show”
Shouldn’t be surprised that it
Seems like a retread
Had one good movie
“Desperately Seeking Talent”
Or something like that
Seriously, she
Likes exposure, so halftime
Ought to be flashy
And what’s the match-up?
New York and New England? Jeez,
What’s new about that?
But everyone else
Will tune in, so pass the chips,
Roman numerals
Yeah, Eli’s coming
To battle Brady bunch — let’s
Watch till “Downton” starts
“There’s a word for that” haiku, redux
From Aug. 22, 2011, when the Oxford English Dictionary folks released an update.
People make up words
When old ones no longer do.
Oxford keeps a list
Wonder when the word
“Dictionary” first appeared?
You could look it up
Oxford started this
A century ago when
“Aeroplane” took wing
Today’s updates seem
Paltry in comparison:
“Woot,” “Mankini,” Ugh!
“Domestic goddess”
LOL, I like that one
And “sub-prime” is choice
“Cougar” (new meaning),
“Carbon footprint,” “Gastric band,”
“Slow food” have their place
Technology spawns
Some good ones: “Cyberbully,”
“Sexting,” “OMG”
Now if they’d just ditch
“Lifestyle” I’d be quite happy.
Fuzzy, mixed meaning
Yes, some made-up words
Still put me among WACOS:
“What A Crock Of … Stuff”
But I guess language
Can advance even if it’s
Sounding the retweet
“Never mind the” haiku:
Guy Fawkes, April 13, 1570 — Jan. 31, 1606
John Lydon, Jan. 31, 1956
Catholic monarchy
“Anarchy in the U.K.”
Dynamite notions
Revolution rocks
When freedom’s fire lights the fuse
But punks fizzle out
So Guy Fawkes’ plot failed
Johnny Rotten in vain wailed
And God saved the Queen
“Kissed with a Seal” haiku
Pirates prove no match
For well-trained Seals’ derring-do
The real swashbucklers
Two aid workers saved
From Somalians’ hell hole
The latest triumph
Get Osama? Check
Free some Iranians? Check
All in a day’s work
Now let’s have the Seals
Occupy Wall Street, rescue
The economy
“Continental (and sub-continental) drifters” haiku
Jan. 26, 1788 — First prisoner colony, New South Wales
Jan. 26, 1950 — Republic of India established
It’s Australia Day
Let’s raise a toast to the land
Of second chances
And in India
Democracy for millions
Born of Gandhi’s blood
“The doctor is still in” haiku
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Jan. 15, 1925 — April 4, 1968
A day to reflect
Resolve again to make real
A dream that won’t die
And re-postings from last year on April 4, Aug. 28 (March on Washington) and Oct. 16 (King Memorial dedication) should follow on the blog here.
Greg's Hack-u 