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Haibun: Bathing the Turtle
Sheltered by a stand of willows, I watch a young boy giving his pet turtle a scrub in the pond. Obviously this turtle’s well cared for, and no disease will carry it away. Such empathy! I fight the urge to cry out, “What a great kid!” If only I had some flowers to leave to show my appreciation for this boy’s tenderness. But I must go. Thankful for this little diversion from the day’s bad news, I turn toward home. It’s a long walk. If I’m lucky, I’ll get there before dark.
All my bitter tears
vanish in a single note
from the blackbird’s throat.
Haibun © by Magical Mystical Teacher
Walk
A lone shoe would, if it could, walk to find its missing mate.
It is not yet dawn
and already the old shoe
clamors for a walk.
Haiku and photo © by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Haiku My Heart at Recuerda Mi Corazon
More Midweek Motif at Poets United: “Walk”
The Pimple Ripens Slowly
~~ ~~ 1 ~~ ~~
The pimple ripens slowly, so everyone can see
That this unsightly blemish is clearly part of me.
~~ ~~ 2 ~~ ~~
Cancer turns a man to dust.
What is this, if not unjust?
~~ ~~ 3 ~~ ~~
Empty your closet, toss out your belts—
With global warming everything melts.
~~ ~~ 4 ~~ ~~
Is anyone clever enough to measure
The actual weight of the thing called Pleasure?
~~ ~~ 5 ~~ ~~
My horse will wear silver, my horse will wear gold,
He’ll walk where he wants to, and not where he’s told.
~~ ~~ 6 ~~ ~~
Your spine belongs behind you, not in front, my dear,
For if your spine were frontal, where would be your rear?
Poems © 2018 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Sunday’s Whirligig #175
More Poetry Pantry #416 at Poets United
Clerking
lipsticks on the left
hairspray on the right
a narrow aisle between them
clerking in a white smock
she squeezes her hips
through the straits
looking for something
a customer wants
seldom does she walk home
after her shift is over
without wondering how she can
do this chore for the rest of her life
the wisp of a dangling spider web
sticks to her left eyelash
startling her out of her reverie
and she brushes it away
along with her thoughts
Poem and photo © 2017 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Sunday’s Whirligig #118
More Poetry Pantry #360 at Poets United
More Sunday’s Whirligig #118
More Poetry Pantry #360 at Poets United
Unanswered
Courthouse Square, Prescott, Arizona
On a shady walk
a question goes unanswered
until six o’clock.
Haiku and photo © 2017 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More SkyWatch Friday
More Haiku My Heart at Recuerda Mi Corazon
Drink
November morning glory, Riverside County, California
on my daybreak walk
a drink of wayside color—
these morning glories
Haiku and photo © 2016 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Blue Monday
More Macro Monday 2
More Haiku Horizons: “Drink”
Walk
Indigo Bush (Psorothamnus fremontii), Sonoran Desert, Southern Arizona
first walk of springtime—
hoping thunderheads will form
to freshen the earth
Haiku and photo © 2016 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More SkyWatch Friday
More Haiku My Heart at Recuerda Mi Corazon
Four Tanka
~~ 1 ~~
Sing me a riddle:
How many crooked pathways
make a journey whole?
How much food for sustenance
will you need on the long walk?
~~ 2 ~~
Making no progress
while trying to navigate
her soul’s deep waters,
she struggles to breathe slowly
to conserve her energy.
~~ 3 ~~
Murmuring prayers
that could double as weapons,
a renegade priest
transforms wine into water—
his convoluted world view.
~~ 4 ~~
Run to the orchard!
It is time to name the fruit
clinging to the trees,
and to pick the juiciest
with your deft and practiced hand.
Tanka © 2015 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More The Sunday Whirl, Wordle 221
Small Tales
~~ 1 ~~
a coatless woman
shivering under the bridge—
the scent of jasmine
~~ 2 ~~
slices of white bread
arranged on a blue platter—
the homeless shelter
~~ 3 ~~
memo to herself
scribbled on an envelope—
cigarettes and cream
~~ 4 ~~
the roadside barber
clipping shaggy pilgrims’ locks
a penny an inch
~~ 5 ~~
At first light of day
she bows before the mountains
in adoration,
while a dozen cactus wrens
sweep away leftover stars.
~~ 6 ~~
Time to say good-bye
to birds hidden in the bush—
one is in your hand,
one is nestling in your hair,
one is becoming a star.
~~ 7 ~~
It is not yet dawn
and already the old shoes
clamor for a walk,
their wrinkled tongues chattering
of paths they took long ago.
~~ 8 ~~
how the gods play games,
breaking open the bundles
of rye and oat straw,
while the farmer and his wife
take up their lamentations
~~ 9 ~~
breezy autumn day
tattered prayer flags on a fence
flapping crows away—
farmer’s unspoken longings
for a bumper crop of corn
~~ 10 ~~
exhausted pilgrim
thinking of another way
to make this journey
so that her threadbare tunic
will last another six months
~~ 11 ~~
in her small kitchen
a sip or two of cocoa
from a broken cup—
savoring the memories
of more than seventy years
~~ 12 ~~
one more touch of myrrh
to burn the tip of her tongue
with mortality
© 2015 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Poetry Pantry #262
More Sunday’s Whirligig #17
Web
Spider, Sonoran Desert, Southern Arizona
after my walk:
a perfect spider web
stuck to my glasses
how magical the world looks
through a thousand silken strands
*Opening gambit © by Lee Gurga
Final two lines © 2015 and photo © 2013 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Haiku My Heart at Recuerda Mi Corazon
More Carpe Diem Tan Renga Challenge: “Lee Gurga’s ‘A Perfect Spider Web'”
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