Amateratsu brings sunlight back to the world

Her smile reflecting
off a small mirror she holds
that early morning

Forest Temple

white columns -- beeches
temple in an old forest
morning solitude

woodpecker

feathered jackhammer
on an old-growth tree
relentless

Labor Day Weekend

Labor Day weekend
summer ebbing away
autumn's impatient

Charm City

inner harbor
smell of cinnamon and brine
in old Charm City

Baltimore, Maryland
when McCormick Spice was downtown
and the Baltimore Colts still had the city's heart.

Bobby Thomson

he is so careful
as he rounds the bases
not hearing the crowd


Bobby Thomson has gone home.
In 1951, his home run gave the NY Gaints the pennant.
"A shot heard 'round the world."

Nagasaki

too early for lunch
a schoolboy frowns at a clock
eleven oh one


11:02 am, local time, August 9, 1945
Nagasaki, Japan, the bomb detonates.

Somalia

"charred goat bones"
they say -- without conviction
Somali nightmares

summer puddles

puddles everywhere
after a summer's rain
all made for splashing

Better Morphosis

what if a bug
morphed into Franz Kafka?
better morphosis?

a tribute to Brian Aldiss's "a Better Morphosis

The Umbrella Man

Standing on the curb
making bucks off commuters
the umbrella man

Deconstruction

deconstruction --
wrecking ball of writing
Jacques Derrida

World Cup

Sixty third minute
the Cup's first goal scored by hosts
a kick in the grass

crickets

field crickets chirping
nature's summer soundtrack
as the credits roll

baseball and softball contrasted

ballpark wisdom
baseball's about going home
softball's about beer

Memorial Day

beach towels in hand
we pause at the curb and wait
for a hearse to pass

It is a day to commemorate those who gave their last full measure of
devotion to the land they loved and for ideals that never die.

It is a time to pause, to honor men and women who never came home.
Many lost at sea, others buried -- as in the poem -- in small corners of foreign fields.

Others did come home. To be buried. They lie in hometown graveyards not far from where they played baseball and football as kids, or ran track, or led cheers -- not far from where they hoped to grow old at peace with the world.

philosopher or butterfly

butterfly dreaming
philospher also
either/or -- Zhuangzi

email vs. texting

old people email
she smiles, as she texts
eloquent thumbs

the passing of Robin Roberts

number thirty six
the former 'Rapid Robin'
is safe at home

Ursa Major

The big bear pads
silently -- as I look up
starry, night sky

Moonshine

Hundred proof moonshine
can leave craters on our brain
Sea of Storms

Egret and fishes

what of the fish
darting to escape from
an egret's beak

Stephen Crane's demons

limitless nights
dark demons scampering
no place to hide

In honor of Stephen Crane, his dark soul

April baseball

April baseball
fans dutifully keep score
of hotdogs and beer

remembering FDR's passing

'Going Home' he played
and his tears flowed freely
Warm Springs, Georgia

Daigensui, a deity of Japan

wage peace each moment
without ever ceasing
until victory

The Sorrow of Milk

from her mother's breast
she suckled her fears, tears
memories of pain

Catbird 55

Homage to "The Sorrow of Milk" (2009) a film that
chronicles the violation of women in Peru's Quechua-speaking
areas by Sendero Luminoso, paramiltaries, state police, and the Peruvian Army
from 1980-1992

soft winds

only soft winds blow
across an Earth in pain
quakes, mudslides, bombings

Tea and Entropy

yesterday's hot tea
will not warm us today
damn entropy!

Hoop dreams from the heartland

Northern Iowa's
sweet-shooting Farohkmanesh
ends Kansas' hoop dreams



Ali Farohkmanesh plays guard for the University of Northern Iowa. His three
point goal in the final 35 seconds of the game sends overall first seed Kansas
home to Lawrence.

Ali Farohkmaneh, son of an American mom an Iranian dad was born in raised in
America's middle earth, Iowa.

garden of forking paths

with each step I take
I come closer to a fork
what path to take?

Volcano god

Volcano god
four sufferin' bastards later
lava flow and drums

Nature and number

One, two, many
numbers fail to account
for winter's snowflakes

Florida Statehood --the 27th state (1845)

beaches and glitter
a river of grass flowing
Florida's contrasts

Celebrate Pi Day (3.14)

For those who love math
the day before the Ides
is Pi in the Sky

from 'Detroit Red' to Malcolm X, 1925-1965

Detroit Red's long walk
from prison to pulpit
Salaam, Malcolm

Torah Bright @ the Olympics

brightest of smiles
lights up a cold winter's night
Torah's gold medal

Copernicus

right in the middle
he dared place the Sun
Copernicus

rescued from under the rubble

Winnie Tilin
stares at her rescuers
an old woman's eyes

-- a 16-month old baby rescued in Haiti.

An Old Viking

his team's colors
he now wears on his body
Favre's purple bruises

Midnight Treasure hunt

fridge door opened wide
desperate midnight hunting
for a tasty snack

my epiphany
sleeping on a grate downtown
for twelve nights now

Holocaust museum killer dies, alone

an old man's last breath
drawn in a prison cell
its own cold Hell