Blog Archives
Laughter
A mural in Artists Alley, Ajo, Arizona
Listen to girls laugh—
no two are alike.
One’s laughter is sweet,
the other’s rings of deceit.
The best laughter
(think of someone you know)
surprises you
like hair falling
across your eyes
just as the blackbird
lifts off to fly
and all you can see
is a wingtip
and then it is gone.
Yet of life’s ten thousand joys
this is only one.
Poem and photo © 2017 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Sunday’s Whirligig #122
More Poetry Pantry #364 at Poets United
More Sunday’s Whirligig #122
More Poetry Pantry #364 at Poets United
Imagine
~~ 1 ~~
imagine
red roses growing
in tar pits
among loathsome bones
with rotting sinews
~~ 2 ~~
The bowl of water
does not sense its own wetness,
nor the twig its bud.
Mud knows not its sliminess,
nor do thorns their prickliness.
~~ 3 ~~
When the ship I love
leaves the harbor without me,
seagulls lose their voice,
their little silvery tongues
weighed down by loathsome cankers.
~~ 4 ~~
heaped in the temple
ten thousand desperate pleas
unanswered by God—
perhaps a thief in the night
will snatch the sweet ones away
~~ 5 ~~
last downpour of spring—
even the woman who sins
murmurs prayers of thanks
Tanka and haiku © 2016 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Poetry Pantry #307
More Sunday’s Whirligig #64
Picnic
It’s picnic time in Anthill Town,
Some go up, and some go down,
Sniffing for a summer treat,
Something good and something sweet.
Haiga, haiku, rhyming poem, and photo © 2016 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Midweek Motif at Poets United: “Picnic”
Fragrance
Creosote bush blossom, Sonoran Desert, Southern Arizona
a single blossom
sweetening the wilderness—
fragrance of wisdom
Haiku © 2016 and photo © 2013 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Haiku My Heart at Recuerda Mi Corazon
Festive
Japanese Friendship Garden, Phoenix, Arizona
In festive garments
they tell again the old tales
at the woodland shrine.
Haiku and photo © 2015 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Sunday Scribblings 2: “Tell”
More Carpe Diem: “Inuyama Festival”
Another Baja Whirl
Each breath-of-a-poem begins with a phrase taken from The Forgotten Peninsula: A Naturalist in Baja California by Joseph Wood Krutch
~~ 1 ~~
Saints and mysteries
will keep any plague at bay
for an hour or two.
~~ 2 ~~
near my own front door
the blasphemy of a clown
making oaks tremble
~~ 3 ~~
From the burning wood
a whole tale of woe is born—
my house turns to ash.
~~ 4 ~~
deserted village—
the deck of the grandest house
crumbling into dust
~~ 5 ~~
the northwest corner
where all the temple monkeys
chatter morning prayers
~~ 6 ~~
peach tree in full bloom—
she savors the sweet, ripe fruit
five months from today
~~ 7 ~~
a wizard’s garden—
his rustling among the herbs
till he plucks one leaf
~~ 8 ~~
to travel southward
where the hills are dry and brown—
the pilgrim’s longing
~~ 9 ~~
the caressing warmth
of a single tear flowing
down her furrowed cheek
© 2015 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More The Sunday Whirl, Wordle 203
Marketplace
Chinatown market, Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii
in the marketplace
something sweet and savory
for a new year’s treat
Text and photo © 2015 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Carpe Diem: “First Market”
More Haiku My Heart at Recuerda Mi Corazon
Sweet
Wayside shrine, Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe, San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, México
all the little shrines
reviving weary pilgrims—
honey on the way
~~ ~~ ~~
Sweet is the taste of holiness.
Text and photo © 2014 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Six-Word Saturday
More Shadow Shot Sunday 2
More Twelve Days of Mary at Recuerda Mi Corazon: Day 6
Incense
Ironwood (Olneya tesota) in bloom, Sonoran Desert, Southern Arizona
Never uprooted,
ancient ironwood still blooms—
sweet desert incense.
Text and photo © 2013 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Macro Monday
More The April Heights 2013: “Uprooted”
