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If You Are Not a Reader
If you wait until the end comes, friend—
the end of the world, I mean—
to pick up a book and read,
you will never find out
how love and lust,
though cousins, differ,
and why one is far superior to the other.
Luck may sometimes nudge you in the right direction,
toward love and not toward lust,
but how lucky can you be if you are not a reader?
Poem © 2018 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Sunday’s Whirligig #165
More Midweek Motif at Poets United: “Lust”
More Sunday’s Whirligig #165
More Midweek Motif at Poets United: “Lust”
Picture this
Detail from an outdoor mural, Prescott Public Library, Prescott, Arizona
Picture this:
a woman
full of innocence
finds herself
trapped
in a confining marriage.
She thinks to herself:
I am capable
of escaping this maze
and pursuing my dreams,
even though the huffing monster
edges closer and closer—
and she does!
Poem and photo © 2017 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Macro Monday 2
More Sunday’s Whirligig #113
More Poetry Pantry #355 at Poets United
Searching
A vaquero searching for his cattle, El Charco del Ingenio conservation area, San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, México
searching for lost calves
and hoping he finds them soon—
a lone vaquero
Haiku © 2016 and photo © 2015 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More SkyWatch Friday
Riffs on Autumn
Cottonwood leaves with autumn color, Yavapai County, Arizona
~~ 1 ~~
her passion for trees
especially in autumn
when leaves turn golden
~~ 2 ~~
autumn afternoon—
hoping to find her lost keys
under yellow leaves
~~ 3 ~~
drifting near the edge
of a little woodland pool—
seven autumn leaves
~~ 4 ~~
autumn afternoon—
wandering with my lover
through the browning fen
~~ 5 ~~
autumn afternoon—
somehow the sky seems lighter
shrugging off the rain
~~ 6 ~~
late autumn twilight
making me blink once, then twice
in awe and wonder
~~ 7 ~~
With wild geese wheeling,
how can I count the autumns
that have flown away?
Haiku © 2016 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Macro Monday 2
More Sunday’s Whirligig #82
More Poetry Pantry #325 at Poets United
Lost
A callejon (alleyway) in San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, México
Richard Wright’s haiku about being in a strange town is a familiar experience, and inspires me to write a new haiku:
I have lost my way
In a strange town at night—
A sky of old cold stars.
~~ ~~ ~~
A strange town at dawn—
if I take these cobbled steps,
will I find my way?
Haiku in bold and photo © 2015 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Blue Monday
More Shadow Shot Sunday 2
More Carpe Diem: “Utabukuro #8”
Beginnings and Endings
~~ 1 ~~
A night with no wind—
the novice lights three candles,
dreading the first gust.
~~ 2 ~~
the sun for a while
hovering over the oaks
then plunging earthward
~~ 3 ~~
a night with no wind—
the sound of gravel shifting
on the garden path
~~ 4 ~~
The whore’s rose perfume—
for a while the prodigal
misses his mother.
~~ 5 ~~
a night with no wind—
grieving the loss of the last
white chrysanthemums
~~ 6 ~~
for a while at dusk
an unexpected longing
for him she once loved
~~ 7 ~~
a night with no wind—
hoping to find a willow
for a resting place
~~ 8 ~~
For a while at dawn
the tavern at the corner
shuts down for cleaning.
~~ 9 ~~
a night with no wind—
the young monk hoping to learn
something from the stars
~~ 10 ~~
treasure for a while—
three golden melon blossoms
melting in the sun
~~ 11 ~~
a night with no wind—
mice rushing through the melons
music in their feet
~~ 12 ~~
for a while the roar
of the melons in the field
startling the farmer
© 2015 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Poetry Pantry #252
More Sunday’s Whirligig #7
More Carpe Diem: “Basho’s ‘For a While'”
More Sunday Scribblings 2: “A Night with No Wind”
