Blog Archives
Haibun: Imagine
Posted by magicalmysticalteacher
Imagine that you can go back in time to when you first loved the sound of rain in the night, or when you first identified the singing of the thrush. I know what you’re thinking: I’ll always be stuck in the here-and-now. But you don’t have to be. Imagine!
In the autumn woods
a tree stump becomes a throne
for an aging queen.
More The Whirligig #289
More Haiku My Heart at Recuerda Mi Corazon
More Writers’ Pantry #43 at Poets and Storytellers United
Posted in 5-7-5, haiga, haiku, Haiku My Heart, Poets & Storytellers United, Recuerda Mi Corazon, The Whirligig
Tags: always, back, first, imagine, know, night, rain, singing, sound, thrush, time, when
Aphorisms
Posted by magicalmysticalteacher
Write your name outside the box;
Help your neighbor mend her socks.
If you use your white paint first,
Things will go from worse to worst.
Anything on page sixteen
Will remain, by Jove, unseen.
Sentences are like a thread
Leading to the living dead.
Letters written by one’s hand
Are most certain to withstand
All the ravages of time,
Quite unlike this awful rhyme.
Poems © 2018 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Sunday’s Whirligig #187
More Poetry Pantry #428 at Poets United
Posted in light verse, Poetry Pantry, Poets United, Rhyming poetry, Sunday's Whirligig
Tags: anything, by, first, help, letters, name, outside, page, senteces, white, write, written
The Worst of Rhymes in the Worst of Times
Posted by magicalmysticalteacher
Slides exist, along with swings—
So do birds with broken wings.
Test the syrup in the cup.
If it’s bitter, lap it up.
Don’t despair when despots rule.
One day they’ll be dead—how cool!
Break bad habits or they’ll last
Even after your life’s past.
Happy are the ones who do
Homework by the rules—it’s true!
First or last, last or first,
These rhymes are the very worst!
Pretty bad couplets © 2018 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Sunday’s Whirligig #186
More Poetry Pantry #427 at Poets United
Posted in couplets, light verse, Poetry Pantry, Poets United, Sunday's Whirligig
Tags: break, cool, despair, exist, first, happy, homework, rule, slides, swings, syrup, test
Dowdy
Posted by magicalmysticalteacher

Robert J. Moody Demonstration Garden, Yuma, Arizona
First week of autumn—
the dowdy old sunflowers
put on their last show.
Haiku and photo © 2017 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Haiku My Heart at Recuerda Mi Corazon
Take a word or two
Posted by magicalmysticalteacher

Beavertail cactus blossom, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, Southern California
Take a word or two—
mingle, calendar, or burning will do.
Splash them on a page,
or hang them with rope
from a branch
like lumps of suet
to feed the hungry jays.
All words woven by your hands
become poems, my daughter,
and yours will be the first weaving
to awaken daffodils
from their winter sleep.
Even the jays
will be amazed.
More Macro Monday 2
More Sunday’s Whirligig #109
More Poetry Pantry #351 at Poets United
Posted in Anza-Borrego Desert, cactus, California, Macro Monday 2, Poetry Pantry, Poets United, Southern California, Sunday's Whirligig
Tags: branch, burning, calendar, daffodils, daughter, first, jays, mingle, rope, splash, woven, yours
Visiting
Posted by magicalmysticalteacher

Metal sculpture, Cattle Track Arts Compound, Scottsdale, Arizona
first days of the year—
visiting the sculptor’s house
for the seventh time
Haiku and photo © 2016 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Shadow Shot Sunday 2
Posted in 5-7-5, Arizona, haiku, Scottsdale
Tags: Arizona, Cattle Track Arts Compound, days, first, house, Scottsdale, sculptor, seventh, year
Swept
Posted by magicalmysticalteacher

First blossoms on an ironwood tree, March 2015, Sonoran Desert, Southern Arizona
swept up together
first blossoms on the ironwood
and the bright blue sky
Text and photo © 2015 by Magical Mystical Teacher
For my inspiration, I have used this haiku by Santoka Taneda:
dew and
fallen leaves
swept up together
More Blue Monday
More Macro Monday 2
More SkyWatch Friday
More I Heart Macro at Shine the Divine
More Haiku My Heart at Recuerda Mi Corazon
More Carpe Diem: “Inspired by Santoka Taneda”
Posted in 5-7-5, Arizona, blossom, Blue Monday, Carpe Diem, haiga, Haiku My Heart, I Heart Macro, ironwood, Macro Monday 2, Recuerda Mi Corazon, Santoka Taneda, Shine the Divine, Sky Watch Friday, Sonoran Desert, Southern Arizona
Tags: blossoms, blue, first, ironwood, sky, Sonoran Desert, Southern Arizona, swept
Savoring
Posted by magicalmysticalteacher

Sundown on a chilly January day, Sonoran Desert, Southern Arizona
first month of the year
savoring soup at sundown
to ward off the chill
Text and photo © 2015 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More SkyWatch Friday
More Carpe Diem: “Zooni (a New Year’s vegetable soup)”
Posted in 5-7-5, Arizona, Carpe Diem, Sky Watch Friday, Sonoran Desert, Southern Arizona, sundown, sunset
Tags: chill, first, month, Sonoran Desert, soup, Southern Arizona, sundown, year
Creeping
Posted by magicalmysticalteacher

Templo de la Purísima Concepción, San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, México
first evening shadows
creeping up bright painted walls
and in dead men’s shoes
Text and photo © 2014 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Poetry Pantry #190
More Shadow Shot Sunday 2
More Haiku Horizons: “First”
More Postcards from Paradise at Recuerda Mi Corazon
Posted in 5-7-5, church, Guanajuato, Haiku Horizons, Mexico, Postcards from Paradise, Recuerda Mi Corazon, San Miguel de Allende, Shadow Shot Sunday 2, shadows, The Poetry Pantry
Tags: bright, dead, evening, first, Guanajuato, Mexico, painted, San Miguel de Allende, shadows, shoes, Templo de la Purísima Concepción, walls
Oddities
Posted by magicalmysticalteacher

This week’s Sunday Whirl words: scarlet, first, struck, pair, expect, sky, save, caress, bit, spare, might, behind
~~ 1 ~~
scarlet rebozo
draped around her thin shoulders
keeping in the chill
~~ 2 ~~
first prune the plum tree
the grapes will wait till Wednesday—
the cellist knows why
~~ 3 ~~
struck by lightning bolts
the mausoleum in ruins
plumes of marble dust
~~ 4 ~~
pair of dead man’s shoes
stuffed with twenty-dollar bills
cradling baby mice
~~ 5 ~~
expect the raven
to guide you to your true home
hapless wanderer
~~ 6 ~~
sky rolls and tumbles
the fist of a thunderstorm
punching the prairie
~~ 7 ~~
save another’s dreams
stuffing them in your pocket
with lint and spare change
~~ 8 ~~
caress the old cat
until she purrs with pleasure
one more smoky night
~~ 9 ~~
bit, bridle and rein—
after an early breakfast
the journey begins
~~ 10 ~~
might stories unfold
from unexpected sources
Scheherazade knows
~~ 11 ~~
spare bedroom
hosting guests tonight
three beggars
~~ 12 ~~
behind the old doors
the gentle susurrations
of travelers’ dreams
© 2014 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Poetry Panry #183
More The Sunday Whirl, Wordle 142
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