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Timothy Ward Jan 2016
a forgetful squirrel
obsessively hoarding acorns
his forest restores
Timothy Ward Sep 2017
An open door
Never a score
Don't use me

Open wounds
Still marooned
Don't abuse me

Crystalline heart
Ethereal parts
Don't break me

If...

You love me true
I'll love you too
Never to leave you
Perhaps someday someone will be deserving and brave enough to share this sacred covenant of two souls searching and wanting to connect in time and space albeit briefly but in a very special way!
Timothy Ward Oct 2016
"I"
My mind
The creator
Of unachievable
Adonistic beliefs
Goes hammer and tongs
As an angry blacksmith
Fragmenting further
What was once
Beautiful
Innocent
Whole
Humility is such a rare element. The campus and surfer communities are so full of chest pounding ego pumping Neanderthals I often wonder if they ever started innocent too?!! Of course they did!
Timothy Ward Jan 2016
you and me
tentative
beads of
sweet
salty
sweat
let us
lick
each
others'
doubts
away
Timothy Ward Jan 2016
an afternoon surfing
a whale pod is near
the whales are warning
'tis me they fear

i try...i wonder
at just what we've done
tearing pacific asunder
to be so shunned
Saw 2 mother and 2 calves and a larger male swimming 150 meters away from my board this summer - Off Pismo Beach central California
Timothy Ward Sep 2017
After the rain...
While the grass
Is still wet
And the trees
Are still dripping
And the earth
Is still absorbing
Our tears

I will pause

And think of you
And feel refreshed

...after the rain
Timothy Ward Oct 2017
a score
and two years
of love and
conflict and
rejection and
illness and
acceptance and
love
all over again
reduced to
ashes
.... and memories
We had a tense and rocky relationship as I came of age as a young gay teenager in a Christian household! We ever saw eye to eye and she thought It was her fault I was gay and she had to rectify the error - me! But she softened as only a mother can - and just as we began mending fences and I too started growing up and being less recalcitrant she fell ill. It brought us closer faster, but not close enough, nor fast enough nor LONG enough before she was snatched away. I’m left with ragged bittersweet memories as I try to make sense of the shifting sands beneath my feet and I miss her and regret so deeply the years I truly wasted in trying to establish an “identity” that in death is meaningless!!
Timothy Ward Jan 2016
you comb your fingers
ploughing warmly through my hair
my body shudders
Yes I know - far from the traditional format but I like the compact form. I guess purists would say drop the term haiku - I say go read Basho in kan'ji bro! Haha just havin fun : )
Timothy Ward Jan 2016
lust driven
sin-onyms
heartwarming
antonyms
where truth is
semantical
and lies
dialectical
and fine double
negatives
are asynctactically
superlative
Pedants Gone Wild!
Timothy Ward Aug 2017
The sun is up
And hope returns
Anew
Preparing
For another
Tomorrow...

I fell asleep praying
Praying
For exile
From bedlam
Forever

But life
Is cruel
Prayers but guttural  
Chantings
Of quiet
Desperation

Nightmares
Shatter
My nightly vigils
Sleep
A blood curdling respite
From sun-baked
Depression
Why do I endure this
Charade
This caricature
Of ritualistic
Living

Why must anything matter
Anymore
This lonely
Battle
This battle of
Loneliness
I am
But "an army of one"
Decimated

Atrocities establish
Beachheads
Crowding out
Feeble counterattacks
Demanding of meager
Resources
From a soul so utterly
Bankrupt

And yet I wake
And yet I eat
And yet I sleep
And yet I hope
For another
Tomorrow?
I am needless to say struggling to keep head above water. Personal tragedy has hit home again - not complaining! But just sometimes there's only so much one can shoulder. I'm simply putting one foot in front of the other - numb to the world around. Not as strong as I think I am.
Timothy Ward Oct 2016
Honest souls
Dishonest lives
Gracious hearts
Calculating minds
Fractured families
Love unwinds
When you find yourself at polar opposites on almost every issue that bifurcates the family it is time to question belongingness. Especially when you find yourself on the wrong side of bigotry, intolerance, prejudice, pettiness and conditional affection. Time to move on.
Timothy Ward Sep 2016
hypnotic voice
mystic eyes
this pining soul
of mine is crying
restless nights
an empty bed
my heart sinks
ol' demons dread
When the witching hour lasts all night long and despondency is sweet relief
Timothy Ward Oct 2017
the monarchs migrate
a forest is cremated  
dark autumn skies
This year has been a difficult one for me personally and for others too! And nature’s wrath it seems is unabated...but it seems to me that the annual migration of my favorite butterflies- the giant Monarchs this year has been bittersweet. They carry with them the weight of my grief on their delicate wings, and as they waft away on currenets of air, i’m reminded of the fragility of life and to live every moment to its fullest! Meanwhile the forest fires consume and I don’t know what tomorrow will bring...

I know one isn’t supposed to explain their haikus but ***** tradition...! The butterflies represent ppl around me who are moving on with life and in time!!! The forest ...are my parents and the lives we lived...our memories and experiences- and the autumn skies is the unknown future I am ****** into each day - even as I am stuck in a blaze that has passed me by!

Wish I could make sense of it!
Timothy Ward Oct 2017
cool morning sunshine
a maple leaf is falling
windswept graves lay clean
I found myself alone - a lonely wanderer by the graves this week. People are too busy with the living to commune with their past I guess...I shouldn’t judge. Just exacerbates my sense of disconnectedness. I don’t know where this is all taking me or if there is a journey or a destination in all this grief. I wish I could talk to you...
Timothy Ward Sep 2016
a cold winter blast
two songbirds boldly took flight
eloquent silence
Sometimes haiku is utterly powerful and transcendent in its compactness and simplicity
Timothy Ward Sep 2016
stormy waves pound shores
rocky beaches lay barren
hermit ***** scurry
The art of haiku is to use the prism of detail to magnify and vice versa - without too much explaining. I hope I've done better on this one.
Timothy Ward Jan 2016
songs of endearment
enticed us here
deep blue sanctuary
not man's "frontier"
the seas grow silent
of sacred sounds
"humanity" bereft
of life we have drowned
Timothy Ward Jan 2016
lazy saturday morning
eyelids heavy
nuzzling under
down comforters
extracting one last
rebellious wintery snooze
it's my turn for breakfast in bed
freshly brewed coffee
banana pancakes
smothered in love
...and maple syrup!
Timothy Ward Sep 2017
my quills I aim
right at your soul
were I to bear
fair Cupid's bow

I quiver, tremble
lose control
o cast a glance
so I may know!
Timothy Ward Sep 2016
Phoochkas to right of me
Phoochkas to left of me
Phoochkas in front of me
Garnished and Savored
Spiced with chaat this shell
A pani puri dunking swell
Into the jaws of yum
Into my mouth a spell
  Phoochkas by the dozen!
It's really difficult to describe this Indian street food snack I was introduced to by some Indian friends on campus. These are like tortilla chips puffed up and filled with potatoes and lentils and topped with some yummylicious date and cilantro chutneys then dunkened in a hot/sour/salty/spicy cold broth and shoved in ur mouth. When u crunch down on it it is a MOUTHGASM explosion of flavors. It's the ******* of snack foods!!
Timothy Ward Jan 2016
a candle burns bright

                       a                       t
intent   w                                                    s
          ­                         f

across the room
our world (in)action
Timothy Ward Sep 2016
We now desire less
Eating beyond gluttony
People are starving?
Less than 1% of the world's wealthiest  own more than 50% of the world's wealth!!
Timothy Ward Oct 2017
diving deep
deep beyond
sadness
loneliness
emptiness
one cold
bleak
autumn night
i found
warmth
and love
and tenderness
and forgiveness
Timothy Ward Oct 2017
our battle...over
come, celebrate my dear friends
let’s light a candle
Happy Diwali to all my wonderful Hindu friends from India and the Indian diaspora on HP. Thank you for your kindness n support but also for sharing your creativity and brilliance. I went to the local Indian store in town and bought some Jalabees and Rasgoolas and Samosas that I’m going to sit down and eat for dinner as I think of all of you, Indian Temple architecture and visiting India someday. Happy Diwali!
Timothy Ward Jan 2016
do you ever
stop
for a moment
from your lurid glances
through beady middle aged eyes
sweaty palms groping feverishly
through my nylon soccer shorts
at junior boys' camp,
do you ever
stop
to think
beyond your own
abusive selfish intentions
to a world
beyond
your decrepit
**** *******
rotten soul?
do you ever stop?
I share this autobiographical poem in the hope that it helps other survivors and STOPS any abusers! I am 21 now and at peace with myself, but it's a rough road strewn with anger and bitterness and demons from the past haunting the present. You can get over it and you can move forward and I'm still writing my story... :)
Timothy Ward Jan 2016
you're my reason
you're my will
felling demons
so we may build
our little Eden
gives me chills
love love's freedom
love the thrill
Timothy Ward Jan 2016
we've melted our poles
yet we polarize ourselves
in intolerant black and white
Timothy Ward Sep 2016
and
when my
anger
finally extinguished
itself and me
i was nothing
but
a hollow shell
of emptiness
Timothy Ward Sep 2016
the might redwood
standing tall resilient
ignoring      mankind
I came, I saw, IKEA :(
Timothy Ward Sep 2016
bullets pierce the night
another black father is stopped
fall is in the air
Enough violence on the citizens. A father of 7 killed while waiting to pick up his child from the school bus stop for mistaken identity and not following orders??? ***!!!
Timothy Ward Jan 2016
bashful lips
brazen nips
ever wanting

alluring eyes
sweet surprise
ever wanting

laconic smile
hearts beguile
ever wanting

souls entwine
love enshrined
ever ever wanting!
Timothy Ward Jan 2016
what of the poets
who tire of whine
as our village is crippled
with Bukowski and whine
being creative is playful
when there is pride
but it's dreadfully painful
if excitement has died
some legends have packed up
and its too late too rue
lets take pride in this village
we call planet blue
Timothy Ward Jan 2016
tender nips
luscious lips
tremulous dips
thrusting hips
sweaty grips
sensual slips
heartbeat skips
total eclipse
Timothy Ward Jan 2016
flash floods of emotion
moisten dry parched lips
sensual springs effervescing
quenching unquenchable hips
tranquil rivers wind
hearts entwine
breath skips
This was a very tantalizingly challenging rhyme scheme within a rhyme scheme. Last word on line 1 and first word on line 2 must rhyme, same pattern in line 3 and 4, while u continue with an a/b, a/b rhyme scheme for the remainder as the poem compresses! WHY? To hone the craft I suppose hahaha I forget the madman who devised it? Longfellow?
Timothy Ward Aug 2017
a flutter of wings
the long goodbye is over
we are at peace now
The last day when mum finally passed on and I saw a white pigeon fly away from the hospital window. 12 hours later she was gone. It was the first and last time I saw a white pigeon in the crowded city.
Timothy Ward Jan 2016
these tsunamis
of rage
are submerging
your lust borne
hate disguised as
moral judgement
forgiveness has
expunged my soul
of you
and I am
a pacific
battlefield
Timothy Ward Oct 2017
stop the tears
quell the fears
hope capsized
dreams realized
the feuds erased
a son embraced
requiescat in pace
A friend shared with me today that even as I grieve I must find a way to see the gratitude in the time that we had together. The last days for mom were tough and the decisions I had to make difficult, but I was lucky to have the time to be there with her. It wasn’t catastrophic where she got hit by a car or some other catastrophe!

Not much consolation but some perspective nonetheless.
Timothy Ward Jan 2016
fear not radicals
they hunger - much as we do
break bread together
Timothy Ward Jan 2016
a family rips
the village embraces a child
the ascent of man
Timothy Ward Jan 2016
lightning strikes
thunder detonates
the rain soothes
3/5/3 format - not the traditional 5/7/5.
Timothy Ward Jan 2016
out of africa
awoke a great species once
still 99% but chimpanzee
Timothy Ward Jan 2016
frantic inner voice
tsunamis        of  memories
a merciless night
Timothy Ward Jan 2016
waves caress our shores
sandy beaches laying bare
naked - we embrace
Timothy Ward Jan 2016
cradled in your gaze
in the absence of movement
we are one - at peace
Timothy Ward Jan 2016
winds blow ceaselessly
waters rush down rivulets
a mountain crumbles
Timothy Ward Jan 2016
my heart feels heavy
wasting away last goodbyes
lost in the present
Timothy Ward Jan 2016
the sheets still fragrant
an empty bed inviting
this cold winter night
Timothy Ward Jan 2016
angel wings flutter
a hummingbird pirouettes
the forest renews
Timothy Ward Jan 2016
a giant redwood
kneels down to the axe of man
a butterfly weeps
Timothy Ward Jan 2016
A thirsty ant sips
From a flooded river bank
The village scurries
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