Blog Archives
Old Age
Old age is a neat little trick
For people who never get sick.
But if you’re not well,
Old age can be hell—
As if you were hit by a brick.
Limerick © 2018 by Magical Mystical Teacher
Diary Entry
O my little pumpkin-head,
How you thrilled me when you said,
“Bring me milk and bring me dirt—
I will teach you how to flirt.
All night long we’ll play at love,
While the wheeling stars above
Shape and shape anew our dream:
To have love our only theme.
Neither brick nor bird nor car
Will outshine that dazzling star,
Star that guides our hands and feet
In the ways that lovers meet.”
O my little pumpkin-head,
I’m still thrilled, though you are dead.
Seeking Sugar
~~ 1 ~~
last year’s ornaments
still shining in their splendor
for a few more hours—
a luxury to see them
among the pots and kettles
~~ 2 ~~
Where do they come from,
these poems at break of day,
wild as mists rising
high above the balcony?
Even ravens flap away.
~~ 3 ~~
brown wicker hampers
with dirty clothes poking out
spilling to the floor—
you’ve seen them in apartments
where the water’s been shut off
~~ 4 ~~
Behind closed windows
someone is brewing coffee—
a curtain flutters
and dancing daydreams scatter
like a flock of frightened hens.
~~ 5 ~~
Even coming twice
the horses seeking sugar
do not get enough
to satisfy their hunger—
they press against the railing.
~~ 6 ~~
Whose old singing voice
nestles in the empty pot
in front of the redbrick wall?
Tanka and haiku © 2015 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Poetry Pantry #271
More Sunday’s Whirligig #26
Photo Album
This week’s words: amalgam, gravel, trash, nothing, cheat, vacant, brick, mouth, tentacles, fence, notices, everything, balance
~~ 1 ~~
an old photograph
amalgam of sepias
staining the paper
~~ 2 ~~
Forties photograph—
we are planting apple trees
near the gravel pit.
~~ 3 ~~
She writes poetry
on the photograph’s edges—
two words rhyme with trash.
~~ 4 ~~
Her crushing losses—
nothing in the photograph,
but what is missing.
~~ 5 ~~
See this photograph?
Even though her bed’s on fire,
still you cheat on me!
~~ 6 ~~
From the photograph
she stares out with vacant eyes—
no one knows her name.
~~ 7 ~~
Frankfurt photograph—
graffiti stains a brick wall,
while old men play chess.
~~ 8 ~~
her mouth makes an O
staring at the photograph
of the one she loves
~~ 9 ~~
Grandma’s photograph—
apron strings in disarray
tentacles of grace
~~ 10 ~~
Old fence photograph—
cowboys will never forget
mustangs corralled there.
~~ 11 ~~
A faded photo—
she notices his squinting
eighty years ago.
~~ 12 ~~
everything but one
shows in the old photograph—
miser’s wizened heart
~~ 13 ~~
on a balance beam
the small child in the photo
smiles with confidence
© 2013 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Poetry Pantry #172
More The Sunday Whirl, Wordle 131
Crumbling
Clifton, Arizona
Whether brick or stone,
all edifices crumble—
preening ravens gloat.
Text and photo © 2013 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Blue Monday
More Ein Stück Himmel #75
More Haiku Heights: “Stone”
More Blue Monday
More Ein Stück Himmel #75
More Haiku Heights: “Stone”
