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Nov 2017 · 454
haiku no. 116
Christian Bixler Nov 2017
to be commended
the lazy ****** rests
after dam-building

or

how estimable
the lazy ****** dreams
after dam-building
Nov 2017 · 389
Short Poem
Christian Bixler Nov 2017
To see better is to exist.
To deny better is to deny existence.
Therefore I say
that the cliffrose,
and the empty bottle,
and the blue sky,
and the heat,
and the touch of love,
and the iron of blood,
all
are beautiful.

Embrace all.
An experiment in the old Chinese way of writing, in which simple statements hold the most common use. The style of this poem is explicit; yet what it lacks in subtlety, it makes up in directness.
Nov 2017 · 316
haiku no. 115
Christian Bixler Nov 2017
speaking
is this how they feel
with wet feathers
Nov 2017 · 544
haiku no. 114
Christian Bixler Nov 2017
passing showers
press leaves to soil
a conversation
Seen through many windows, and as the rain cooled me in July.
Nov 2017 · 319
haiku no. 113
Nov 2017 · 323
haiku no. 112
Christian Bixler Nov 2017
before the last
of the light is gone
crickets
Oct 2017 · 315
haiku no. 111
Christian Bixler Oct 2017
wondering
how do they tell
at night
The experience this is taken from is that of standing up from sitting on the bank of a lake, and seeing all the little fish that feed there scatter because of the shadow and the movement.
Oct 2017 · 270
haiku no. 110
Christian Bixler Oct 2017
listening
here again there is
recognition
In listening to "My Sweet Lord", a song by George Harrison.
Oct 2017 · 238
haiku no. 109
Christian Bixler Oct 2017
not yet
waiting for night
and a family gathering
though the lines of this poem do not fall into the accepted format (short-long-short), it does I feel express the anticipation and energy experienced in this moment, in waiting. So I add it here.
Oct 2017 · 199
haiku no. 108
Christian Bixler Oct 2017
a new tradition
passing the old house there
we slow
Oct 2017 · 232
haiku no. 107
Christian Bixler Oct 2017
looking
there a twilit orchard
is barred

or

turning
now at my back there is
a fading orchard




halted
now as I turn there is
an orchard
note on the third: this one was made in the process of composing the second. It is included here because of the sound and the feel of it, though the words are misleading.
Oct 2017 · 418
haiku no. 106
Christian Bixler Oct 2017
seeing through
glass as clearing waters
a droplet
In reading the words of a recent poet, though he has long since passed, I found myself seeing his words almost as though it were he there, reading again the works of his hand. Always though, there was an element of myself in my perception, and so full transposition remained beyond me.
Sep 2017 · 213
haiku no. 105
Christian Bixler Sep 2017
is there a way
finding in an old photo
recognition
Viewing a small anxiety since passed by.
Sep 2017 · 242
haiku no. 104
Christian Bixler Sep 2017
think
how do artists paint
a leave-taking
Sep 2017 · 240
haiku no. 103
Christian Bixler Sep 2017
sightless bear
perhaps in time he
will grow into it
a white statue of a bear with the eyes shadowed by the light of the lamp.
Sep 2017 · 220
haiku no. 102
Christian Bixler Sep 2017
inadequacy
seeing it another way
it is peace
Sep 2017 · 259
haiku no. 101
Christian Bixler Sep 2017
old eyes
there the border worn
the bamboo
Sep 2017 · 258
haiku no. 100
Christian Bixler Sep 2017
border of bright
eyes it seems pinned
the bamboo
Christian Bixler Sep 2017
standing before the beat wooden table, artificial, I'm staring at a painting of white water, cool trees in late autumn, and a wide dim blue sky, clouds manifested as broad dashes of faded white blending somewhat with the blue behind it, so that the detail of the trees and the long staring streaks of cloud seem to express the fundamental oneness of opposites, the dim light seems to portend a storm hovering on the east winds...a waiting portrait blurred in a long time gale soaked with rain from the rolling Atlantic, all without the streaked panes of glass barring my eyes from the frantic surging.
somewhere sometime a lost sparrow's beating in the spray before sight of land..
Christian Bixler Sep 2017
tassels like little golden angels dancing in pattern without discernible sustainability some it seems fallen skirts blown back, or else kicking high in un-understandable ecstasy, beyond the grasp of my limited recognition of cognition, of understanding fullest being, expressive nonsense..Acceptance that this is not so, or at least only partially so, one being one mind one heart soul eternal there is only peace. Joy. Love. the depths of despair are only a manifestation of too deep a rut, too deep a meshing in the superficial nature of things, reality. Simple truths seen as incomprehensible because they are seen from eyes flipped upside down, backward set them right with the primal pattern which always is and always will be. See from the heart and the mind will settle in peaceful abandon...
Write to recognize the depths of confusion throw it away when one wishes to see the truth beyond limitation...mind not good not bad one with all a recognition of the truth is by no means necessary, only be, the fullest extent of yourself nothing means anything beyond there is nothing beyond self, which is all things...there is only being. Ever-present within without the dynamic expression change is an illusion fostered in the depths of blind submergence...
Aug 2017 · 1.0k
haiku no. 99
Christian Bixler Aug 2017
seeing it
there before the folding grey
a last cloud
Aug 2017 · 203
haiku no. 98
Christian Bixler Aug 2017
desert photograph
seeing a little better its perspective
a worn stone
Jul 2017 · 465
haibun no. 2
Christian Bixler Jul 2017
Said a man once from a motored caravan,

You are a fool.

Said I,

Perhaps. But in this, life is to me but one side of the coin; the other is death, and both are formed of experience, the one of this world, the other of the next. I am here without all that is necessary for a sure survival not by choice; but finding myself here I will not go back into those lands behind me, where men and women live in desperation, in servitude, in blindness. Not until I have passed through will I meet them again, and then only of necessity. And if I fail in my crossing, what of it? My bones will bleach here in the naked sun and the naked earth; the wind will scour them, and the sands will cover them, until at last they become one with the soil of the desert. My soul will be the same as it ever was, universal, eternal, one and separate from all things that are, existence. And my mind will be let go, in the doing of something great, and in the realization of it's place in the oneness of existence. That is enough. That is all.

daydreaming
even here there is
perhaps a cutting edge
The section of prose in this haibun is, as you might expect, both from its subject and from the haiku beneath it, a fictional account. Therefore the nature of this haibun must perforce be relegated to the category of "a desk work"; a piece of writing which has little or no basis in actual reality. However, in the time in which this imagining came to me, it seemed then that it would constitute a disservice to my Self, if I did not follow it through, and set it down in some coherent form and meaning. So if it is not based in actual reality, still perhaps it may have at least some connecting anchor to it, some form of reality, of understanding, which transcends the bounds of thought. Thus, the haiku. So ends the length of my justifications.
Jul 2017 · 227
haiku no. 97
Christian Bixler Jul 2017
yellow tassels
set in disarray perhaps
a static seabed
Jul 2017 · 217
haiku no. 96
Christian Bixler Jul 2017
twilight
there on the waters edge
a shells beginning

or

sunset
there on the waters edge
a shells beginning
Jul 2017 · 236
haiku no. 95
Christian Bixler Jul 2017
dragging wood
now at the end of a long day
a song for weariness
Singing an old song under the roar of the mower, and in those times when I found myself alone as I worked to clear several stands of new growth saplings. It was a shame to cut them. The song helped in keeping up my spirits.
Jul 2017 · 204
haiku no. 94
Christian Bixler Jul 2017
dragging wood
now at the end of a long day
an easy task
May 2017 · 435
haiku no. 93
Christian Bixler May 2017
monument
now upon the faded ground there lies
one more feather
Peace, in the oneness of things.
May 2017 · 351
haiku no. 92
Christian Bixler May 2017
simplicity
now in the flickering of a new bulb
a look-alike
May 2017 · 258
haiku no. 91
Christian Bixler May 2017
wondering
perhaps in the ocean's spray
a ghost's habitation
Goodbye and hello, as always.
the ghost crab--strange creature.
May 2017 · 386
haiku no. 90
Christian Bixler May 2017
turning inward
spring green bends to blended white
a small vase
All things are one.
Apr 2017 · 371
haiku no. 89
Christian Bixler Apr 2017
knowing the answer
in a porcelain vase the deutzia
is slowly wilting
The question of projection, and the peoples love for it.
Apr 2017 · 364
haiku no. 88
Christian Bixler Apr 2017
glistening
there beyond the hedge is
a gibbous moon
I have been feeling stifled for a while. I find myself yearning now, for some change, sudden or otherwise. And yet constantly, I am in dread of it. But perhaps the longing will outweigh the dread, one of these days.
Apr 2017 · 365
haiku no. 87
Christian Bixler Apr 2017
perhaps after
four or five winters it will come
splitting raindrops
Striving for focus, and a clear eye, in order to mark the Herald's approach.
Apr 2017 · 276
haiku no. 86
Christian Bixler Apr 2017
anticipation
listening to this track in the dim
in place of food
Apr 2017 · 293
tanka no. 1
Christian Bixler Apr 2017
after searching, at last
I find it
a great block of many names
softly the dark pines
sigh with my heart
Finding out that in a scholarship I'd applied for, I had been rejected. Clear eyed I see, and take a step forward.
Apr 2017 · 358
haiku no. 85
Christian Bixler Apr 2017
seeing the effect
in the place of adonis now
is a sapling

or

seeing the effect
now in the place of adonis
there is a sapling
Apr 2017 · 426
haiku no. 84
Christian Bixler Apr 2017
twisting fish
now they turn and do it again in a space
of six or seven inches
Apr 2017 · 187
haiku no. 83
Christian Bixler Apr 2017
these fish
swimming in a barren world
our eyes reflected
Mar 2017 · 310
haiku no. 82
Christian Bixler Mar 2017
dried plum
now at the pivot I turn
a lump of dirt
Eating a number of dried plums. Their seeds were bright and orange, but they will not grow. I cast them on the ground, to do what they will.
Mar 2017 · 205
haiku no. 81
Christian Bixler Mar 2017
for nine days
cupboard dust has smoothed it
affection
that which is careworn, old, mended, lacking in some way from the ideal of perfection...these may by some be accounted as perfect in another way, for the express reason of their flaws.
Mar 2017 · 234
haiku no. 80
Christian Bixler Mar 2017
for nine days
dust has smoothed it
this worn cup
sometimes through disuse, for a little while, those things we thought familiar and essential are shown to us, perhaps and perhaps not so; and in either case in a new and unexpected light.
Mar 2017 · 206
haiku no. 79
Christian Bixler Mar 2017
for nine days
this worn cup has lain untouched
wake-up call
I have not written or given much thought to poetry for about nine days, or near enough, as far as I can reckon it. It is time to put away the dreams of the past, and of the future, and to live in truth, in the present.
Mar 2017 · 218
haiku no. 78
Christian Bixler Mar 2017
what chance
meeting in a locked door
two kinds of fortune
Coming to the door late, after a nights work, I found it locked. Before entering the other way, I looked up, and all the stars were burning, marvelous in their number, and in their light.
Mar 2017 · 455
haiku no. 77
Christian Bixler Mar 2017
locked out
with no other recourse I look
up at the stars

or

locked out
in the quiet between scattered lights
star viewing
with the passing of time, to some recollections there comes a greater richness, and depth; and this is because he who views these things has grown, though in what way it may be hard to determine. But even the smallest of steps forward yet is a step forward, and, with the will to be, that is all that is necessary.
Mar 2017 · 317
haiku no. 76
Christian Bixler Mar 2017
even now
rain soaked roots are withering
reminiscence
Mar 2017 · 285
haiku no. 75
Christian Bixler Mar 2017
this growing town
perhaps it will learn
fallen seedpod
Recently I saw while on a walk two seedpods; one lay cracked and empty, while the other was whole still. There were no other seedpods about, except high in the tree. This struck me as so poignant a scene, that I could not help but write this verse around it.
Mar 2017 · 289
haiku no. 74
Christian Bixler Mar 2017
fallen seedpod
now curb your appetite
you sparrows
Mar 2017 · 208
haiku no. 73
Christian Bixler Mar 2017
hanging red
beneath an old nest
branches
Mar 2017 · 246
haiku no. 72
Christian Bixler Mar 2017
winter echo
buds
and an empty nest
A sketch, perhaps a metaphor.
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