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The air that you breath
And the sun upon your brow
Neath nature's blue vault
Is free for all and sundry
Yet tis more precious than gold
Tanka
Curl up against me
Lay your head upon my chest
And listen to me
As my syncopating heart
Beats a song of love for you
wipe away your tears
put your head on my shoulder
let me comfort you
i  will listen to your fears
i will carry your burden
until you are strong again
i love you that much
Choka
i think i am a
fatalistic optimist
accepting what comes
but in love with the process
i know the value of life
and the lessons to be learned
i try to stay positive
with a clear and open mind
so i can learn my lessons
with objectiveness and truth
and it is my firm belief
this will make me free
Choka
Trying and failing
A spider in the bathtub
Slips down the smooth wall
Haiku
it is so sad that
you are so full of yourself
nothing can get in
Senryu
looking right at me
you exposed a comely breast
a blithe seduction
driving me to distraction
letters falling from my hands
at a total loss for words
scrabble forgotten
Choka
caste down and broken
no longer able to rise
watching as life flows
around you and to the dawn
while you linger at sunset
praying for the endless night
so long overdue
Choka
on a cool morning
i meandered by the shore
the crisp salt air was pungent
as the first rays touched the bay
with dazzling reflections
the deep thrum of a tugboat
sounded across the inlet
from within a low fogbank
and ravens clacked and cackled
high up in the dark forest
beneath the steep, sawtooth peaks
i stopped then and looking down
saw small brown ***** scuttling
across the shell littered beach
fleeing a giant
Choka
i gave you my love
attention and respect
you gave me away
Senryu
Your vivid colours
Delicate taste and sweet scent
Luminesce my soul
you are speaking
but I can't grasp your meaning
slippery words
Senryu
a derelict house
windows gone and doors open
wrapped thick with brambles
under a spreading walnut
a doll glaring from the porch
Tanka
Truly and deeply
Beyond sad, I press bruised lips
Upon the marble
Curve of your neck and breast
Touching only memory
tanka
Powder blue and clear skies
Streaming chrome yellow sunlight
Good morning my love
Malicious gossips
Spitting in each others ears
Lips flapping wildly
In mad haste to be the first
To sink the knife and turn it
My dear Grandfather
You were always there for me
Calm and assuring
So it was a pleasant shock
To see you in my mirror
Tanka
the sickness of greed
where more never satisfies
a cold empty heart
Senryu
It is raining out
And my universe is grey
Beneath these dark clouds
Cars hiss by on the pavement
Pedestrians hurry past
But I just stand here and gaze
Lost in my own enigma
Wondering when light will be
Again in my heart
Choka
i twist and i turn
fast within life's chrysalis
developing wings
Senryu
acrobatic crows
clouds of leaves leaving bent trees
the door blows open
Haiku
countless brevity
coded in 5-7-5
though some do insist
10 to 14 syllables
a better fit to its' root
others claim it should be expressed
in one continuous breath
its' content man and nature
those describing emotion
and opinions, have been called
Senryu, quite justifiable
nevertheless they all are
contrasting puzzles that birth
  flashes in our minds
Choka
flashes in our minds
contrasting puzzles that birth
countless brevity
Haiku
Firecrackers at night
Orange flash, saltpeter smell
Pumpkin flashes smile
I have traveled far
On this journey we call life
And I assure you
The true road to happiness
Begins within your own heart
Tanka
The cold night air chased
Holidayers from the beach
And the tide swelled in
Washing the sand clean again
Smelt fishermen set their nets
Hunting tiny silver fish
Under a star speckled sky
And I was happy
Choka
I cannot forget
When I first laid eyes on her
Watch out idiot!
forget shame and guilt
they will only deepen wounds
learn to love yourself
forgiving your past wrongs
then find your inner children
and bring them back home
Choka
cold clear winter's night
spooning neath the counterpane
a fever rising
Senryu
rider in spandex
on his bicycle, texting
wrapped up in china
Haiku
hello bluebottle
sitting atop my canvas
shifting all around
what do your two red eyes spy
can you see me staring back
and what are you waiting for
all alone high above me
fidgeting and impatient
but of course you are quite right
to be so very careful
for that is a newspaper
rolled up in my hand
Choka
seize everything
that is precious to me
and steal it away
yet I will still be rich
for you can never take
the love within my heart
that will always be there
as long as I live
Choka
Manzanita bush
Dry, rust red and bleached limbs twist
Above, eagles soar
your moral high ground
is deep within the pit
that you dug yourself
Senryu
wipe away your tears
your love is a rainbow
the sun is rising
At the Firemen's  Club
Dancing to the saxophone
Beer puts the fire out
Abrupt, blustering
Critical and quick to judge
What a fool I think
so many people
ignore the plight of others
till they are in need
Haiku
I'm scaredid grandpa
I don't like train, I don't like it!
"there, there, little man
it is only passing by
i know its' horn sounds too loud
but to be heard it must be
and when it is far away
doesn't it sound kinda sweet?"
I like it, that sound, grandpa.
"and so do i, my dear child
hush now, go to sleep."
Choka.
i am one small voice
talking of love and respect
without fear and hate
Senryu
watching, witnessing
life is full of simple truths
that fill me with awe
Senryu
In a southwester
Bucket and shovel in hand
Strolling on the beach
Digging up clams along the way
Cell phones screamed from the bucket
Tanka
Too many heads in the sand!
f you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
  But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
  Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
  And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;
  If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
  And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
  Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
  And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
  And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
  And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
  To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
  Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on!”

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
  Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
  If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
  With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
  And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son.
this is who i am
neither better nor worse
than anyone else
Senryu
sooner or later
we all wither and die
like summer flowers
and blow away forgotten
or find immortality
of questionable value
pressed between pages
Choka
When people deep in thought
Ask with theory sought
"What comes of us in death?"
"Do we take wings like our breath?"
It's then time to say; fate makes us her play
With no ordinary stage nor script on page
Act one a prophet in clouds
Act two a body in shrouds
The theme to love the soul as god
And love for body evilly odd
The plot to hate the ****** norm
And raise the soul to immortal form
So strange a scene to me
With many a vain soliloquy
Questioning life from it's birth
In scriptures lacking mirth
And placing mind over matter
For teatime with the mad hatter

Please, come and hold my hand
And walk across the shining sand
Feel it's softness on your feet
And sunshines loving heat
Leave your clouds until tomorrow
Then you won't have to borrow
Spiritual bread from the dead
Wrote this when I was 16
In beauty may I walk.
All day long may I walk.
Through the returning seasons may I walk.

Beautifully will I possess again.
Beautifully birds . . .
Beautifully joyful birds


On the trail marked with pollen may I walk.
With grasshoppers about my feet may I walk.
With dew about my feet may I walk.

With beauty may I walk.
With beauty before me, may I walk.
With beauty behind me, may I walk.
With beauty above me, may I walk.
With beauty below me, may I walk.
With beauty all around me, may I walk.

In old age wandering on a trail of beauty, lively, may I walk.
In old age wandering on a trail of beauty, living again, may I walk.

It is finished in beauty.
It is finished in beauty.
A Navajo Prayer of the Second Day of the Night Chant (anonymous)
reaching to touch you
i plumb the mystery
of your sacred heart
and fiery carnality
my fingertips igniting
as i stroke your silken flesh
you tremble and yield to me
as i take you in my arms
kissing, caressing, merging
freed by loves' sweet urgency
conjoined transcendent
Choka
Inequality
And lack of social justice
In my opinion
Is the source of hate and rage
So, what do you think of that?
Tanka
twelve eagles rising
riding updrafts to the sun
four crows dive bombing
Haiku
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