Wooden Jesus Tanka

slanted sunlight

reaches Wooden Jesus on the cross

I close my eyes

... yet nothing whatever emerges

in my mind or my heart

NeverEnding Story, October 28 2024

FYI: This tanka could be read as a prequel to the following:

in the chapel

I pray to Jesus

hour after hour

finally tired of me

Time leaves me alone

NeverEnding Story, September 15, 2017

Added:

a  l  o n e togethertogether a l o  n  e

       meandmydrunkenshadow

Added:

the patches

on my neighbor's screen door

foreclosure notice

From Sleet to Snow Haiku

sleet turns to snow

the coldness of tonight

without her

Cafe Haiku, August 10, 2024

North Wind Haiku

another year ...

the howl of the north wind

through more gravestones

Cafe Haiku, August 10, 2024

Budding Snowdrops Haiku

budding snowdrops

in my old neighbor's garden

For Sale sign

Cafe Haiku, August 10, 2024

Summit Haiku

fiftieth birthday

halfway to the summit

in silence 

Cafe Haiku, August 10, 2024

Patriot Tanka

Patriot: A Memoir

written in blood, sweat and tears ...

the battle

continues from Navalny's grave

as the Kremlin is cloaked in shadows

NeverEnding Story, October 23 2024

FYI: Alexei Navalny began writing Patriot: A Memoir after his near-fatal poisoning in 2020, and his wife, Yulia Navalnaya, helped piece together the book following his death in February. The book, released on Tuesday, is set to be published in 22 languages; the English-language edition hit number one on Amazon’s bestselling book charts just hours after its release.

The book recounts his youth, activism, personal life and his fight against Putin’s increasingly authoritarian hold on Russia. US magazine The New Yorker published excerpts from the book on October 11, titled Alexei Navalny’s Prison Diaries, an account of his last years and his admonition to his country and the world.

You're Not/Knowing

Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CXIII: "preparing for settlement in Gaza"

no visible trace

of the walls of my house

of the living room

chairs, tables, dishes, and beds ...

a Gazan sighs between fireballs

each bombed-out house:

an album with no photos

but with people

the living, wounded and dead

pressed between its pages

NeverEnding Story, October 22 2024

FYI: "Israel's oldest daily, Haaretz" Editorial, Oct. 21: Netanyahu's Party Is Clearing the Path to Settling Gaza

...a conference titled "Preparing for Settlement in Gaza," that is slated to take place on Monday. Effectively, it is signed by the Likud party.

"We are honored to invite you to participate in the 'preparing for settlement in Gaza' event ... and to be hosted in Likud's sukkah," the invitation says. The ruling political party is thereby inviting the general public to a conference that includes building an illegal outpost, as a step toward building a new settlement in northern Gaza. This insanity is part of an initiative led by the Nachala movement, which is known for promoting illegal settlements in the West Bank.

And Haaretz, Oct. 21: 'Conquer, Kick Out, Resettle': At the 'Preparing to Resettle Gaza' Conference, Wishful Thinking Made Way to Concrete Plans

At a Sukkot-themed gathering near the Gaza border, settlers and far-right leaders outlined plans to reestablish Jewish settlements in the Strip 'within a year.' Police blocked counterprotesters from entering the event, as speakers called for the 'voluntary transfer' of Gazans and the redrawing of Israel's borders to stretch 'from the Euphrates to the Nile'

Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CXIII: "olive harvest in the West Bank"

the sun glints

on a settler's M-16 ...

olive harvest

FYI: Reuters Video, Oct. 21: Palestinians say West Bank olive harvest "tarnished with blood"

Palestinians harvesting olives in the West Bank faced Israeli soldiers blocking access to land. Rights groups say settlers have attacked farmers and damaged groves as tensions from Gaza worsen the situation in the region.

Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CXIX: "dead-end, no-end war"

Gaza news

a world away this dead-end

no-end war on drugs

Added: Game Show, 2024, LXIX

with no hairnet

Donald Trump works 15 minutes

at a McDonald’s

shoulder to shoulder protesters shout

minimum wage, maximum rage

Added: Game Show, 2024, LXX

smell of sunshine

a turd-shaped monument (installed on the National Mall,  Washington, D.C.)

for the Jan. 6 mob 

Should’ve List Haiku

my wife’s should’ve list

growing long ... and longer

cicada summer

Asahi Haikuist Network, August 16, 2024

Forget-Me-Not Path Haiku

my shadow and me

on the forget-me-not path

this graveyard silence

Poetry Festival, August 14, 2024

Bonfire Haiku

bonfire flaming red

children’s eyes spark at Grandpa

telling love stories

Poetry Festival, August 14, 2024

Shelter Window Tanka

a girl

sticks her tongue out

at snowflakes

her mother's smiling face

in the shelter window

NeverEnding Story, October 17 2024

FYI: For more examples about mood haiku and tanka, see To the Lighthouse: Mood Haiku and Tanka

News on Mute Haiku

the news on mute ...

I'm quiet and quieter

as my old dog sleeps

NeverEnding Story, October 17 2024

Added: No More Fairy Tales, XXXVI

New Delhi draped

in layers of toxic haze

this sense of dread

as October rolls around

chokingly dark... and darker

FYI: New Delhi started the week with a PM 2.5 concentration nearly 80 times the World Health Organization’s recommended limit, according to Swiss air quality company IQAir (2023 survey) 

And CNN, April 26, 2024: The world’s 100 worst polluted cities are in Asia — and 83 of them are in just one country, India

For more examples about mood haiku and tanka, see To the Lighthouse: Mood Haiku and Tanka

War Crime News Haiku

Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CIX: "war crime news"

war crime news on pause

the rise, fall and rise again

of my newborn's chest

NeverEnding Story, October 16 2024

FYI: Israel's Oldest Daily, Haaretz Opinion, Oct. 15: Israel Has Shelved the Rule of Law in War and at Home

Wild conduct by soldiers in the West Bank and Gaza, destruction of property, using Palestinians as "sniffer dogs" and indiscriminate killing of civilians have become accepted norms that draw their legitimacy from being an inseparable part of the holy war in which all is permitted.

The Times of Israel, Oct. 15: US warns Israel that weapon supply at risk if Gaza aid crisis not addressed in 30 days

Middle East Monitor, Oct. 14: Ireland says attack on northern Gaza is a war crime:

 

Micheál Martin, Ireland’s Tánaiste (deputy prime minister), described the scenes in Jabalia as “horrific” in a statement on Sunday, adding:

An offensive by the Israel Defence Forces, backed by tanks and air strikes, has left dozens of civilians dead, many close to starvation, and access to humanitarian aid extremely curtailed. An entire population is being encircled and forced out, with nowhere for them to go...

Haaretz, Oct. 6: Al Jazeera Documentary Uses Israeli Soldiers' Social Media Footage to Accuse Them of War Crimes: Names and identifying details of soldiers who served in Gaza are used in the film, alongside footage they posted of their own misconduct throughout the war.

ICJP Panel: Israeli soldiers document their own war crimes online

On Wednesday 9th October 2024, The International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP), hosted a documentary screening of Al Jazeera’s documentary film titled Gaza, followed by a panel discussion featuring eyewitnesses of the war crimes.

And this haiku could be read as a sequel to my tanka prose below:

A Corner of This Broken World

After a long pause, her voice cracking on the phone, my Israeli friend tells me, "I don't know how to calm my two girls. We're near the border, and they're frightened by the piercing sound of fighter jets constantly flying over our community. Sometimes, they can hear the boom, boom, boom from a distance just minutes after fighter jets fly past our house. I can only comfort them by saying that these are good booms. I feel guilty, I... " My friend hangs up the phone.

the sunset

in a blaze of orange and red

across the sky ...

Gazan children's faces raw

with fear of the unknown

Ribbons, 20:2, Autumn/Winter 2024

Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CX: "one way"

written in response to Crime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's remark:In the Middle East, without the sword there is no forever.

one way forwar(d)  fireballafterfireball

FYI: Haaretz, Oct. 10: "We Won't Be Forgiven for Weakness": Golda Meir's Warning Revealed in Declassified Yom Kippur War Tapes

Fifty one years after the Yom Kippur War, the IDF archive releases a recording of a November 1973 cabinet meeting in which there was total consensus: There is no chance for genuine peace with the Arabs

"We'll be forgiven for many things, all but one – and that's weakness. The moment we are marked as weak – it's over. This is an unforgivable sin."

These words, spoken by Prime Minister Golda Meir, were recorded at a cabinet meeting that took place 51 years ago, right after the Yom Kippur War. 

The unequivocal conclusion of the meeting was bleak: There is no chance for real peace with the Arabs.

Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CXI: "two deaths, Palestinian and Israeli"

One War Story and Two Deaths

a head

severed from the body

grits its teeth ...

moonlight luster on the faces 

of young Israeli soldiers 

back from Gaza

Ezra couldn't stop the war

in his head ...

our father holds his shroud tight

as he is being buried

FYI: National military service is mandatory for all Israeli citizens over the age of 18. 

CNN News, Oct. 21: ‘He got out of Gaza, but Gaza did not get out of him’: Israeli soldiers returning from war struggle with trauma and suicide.

CNN News, Oct. 24: The Israeli military has used Palestinians as human shields in Gaza, soldier and former detainees say

The Israeli military has forced Palestinians to enter potentially booby-trapped houses and tunnels in Gaza to avoid putting its troops in harm’s way, according to an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldier and five former detainees 

And a Jewish burial shroud is a simple hand-made garment that has no buttons, zippers, or fasteners of any type.

Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CXII: "still alive"

a clay oven

made from mud and straw

a generator

assembled from machine parts ...

a Gazan's X post: life goes on

Added: Game Show, 2024, LXVIII

the TV blasts

from fine people on both sides

to the enemy within ...

ten feet higher the fence 

between my neighbor and me

Un/Knowing

my love grasps the thread

of her breath from the edge

of orgasm

she spins, spinning it

into a passion story 

love after love

we exhaust each other –

in her heart

swirls something dark

in a space I cannot see

Under the Basho, August 6, 2024

Thanksgiving Dinner Haiku

Thanksgiving dinner

between mouthfuls and refills

this hushed silence

NeverEnding Story, October 14 2024

For more of Thanksgiving poems, see Special Feature: Selected Poems for Reflections on Canadian No/Thanks(Giving) during Hard times [for Whatever Reason]

Facebook Outage Haiku

Facebook outage

I listen

to midnight stars

Cold Moon Journal, August 13, 2024

A Makeover

oh, you speak well

where are you really from?

behind the fence

my neighbor, a native speaker

of the weasel language 

this dream loop,

a moment in Taipei

then next in Ajax ...

mental quicksand where

the past drowns the present

another round

of armed conflict in the news

as a new year starts

I ponder the endings

in my immigrant life

Ribbons, 20:2, Autumn/Winter 2024

Yom Kippur Haiku

Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CVII: "Yom Kippur"

written on Yom Kippur (lit. "Day of Atonement"), Evening of Fri, Oct 11 – Sat, Oct 12

Yom Kippur 

A Gazan doctor's blood flows

over dried blood on the floor

NeverEnding Story, October 11 2024

For more about Israeli War Crimes, see Special Feature: "Selected Poems for Reflections on UN Commission Report on Israel's War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity"

Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CVIII: "Lebanon Attacks"

above

pillarsofsmoke

pillarsoffire

Beirutcondos

above

FYI: Politico, Oct. 13: 40 countries ‘strongly condemn’ Israeli attacks on UN peacekeepers

At least five members of UNIFIL peacekeeping mission have been wounded in south Lebanon in recent days.

And Democracy Now, Oct. 14: Israel Accused of Committing War Crimes by Attacking U.N. Peacekeepers in Lebanon

Path of Milton Haiku

No More Fairy Tales, XXXIV

the path of Milton ...

a bunglow tied down by straps

bolted to the ground

NeverEnding Story, October 10 2024

FYI: The New Yorker, Oct. 8: Why Hurricane Milton Is a Sign of the New Abnormal

“We are stepping into a critical and unpredictable new phase of the climate crisis.” This assessment, co-authored by several of the world’s leading climate scientists, was published on Tuesday, in the journal BioScience. 

Milton, pretty much from its inception, has been an abnormal storm. “It is exceedingly rare for a hurricane to form in the western Gulf, track eastward, and make landfall on the Western coast of Florida,” Jonathan Lin, an atmospheric scientist at Cornell, explained to Vox. As Milton swirled over the Gulf of Mexico, it encountered water that was almost three and a half degrees hotter than usual for early October. 

The storm went from barely a hurricane to a Category 5 storm in less than twenty-four hours (FYI: CBS News, Oct. 10: Hurricane Milton makes landfall as Category 3 on Florida's west coast.) 

Florida’s governor, Ron DeSantis, says that he’s “not a global-warming person.” Just a few months ago, he signed a bill that erased most references to the problem from state law. 

Added: Game Show, 2024, LXVI

written in response to ABC News, Oct. 7: More than 230 people have been killed from Hurricane Helene, which unleashed devastation across Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee.

raging waters

tear through state after state

drill, baby, drill louder

FYI: KALW Public Media, Oct. 8: Donald Trump's "drill, baby, drill" policies will worsen the climate crisis. And MSNBC, August 8: Trump’s "drill baby drill" plan: The wrong answer to the right questions

Asked about his jobs plan, Donald Trump pointed to oil drilling. 

Asked about housing affordability, he again pointed to oil drilling.

Added: No More Fairy Tales, XXXV

bumpertobumper 

traffic on the 12-lane highway

as raging waters sweep

we'reallinthis

t o ge t   h  e   r  a gain

Added: Game Show, 2024, LXVII

my body, my choice 

penetrating the distant chants

of USA!

I gaze at Lady Liberty’s

forward-facing charge

Void Tanka

three lines

into the first tanka

of this dark night ...

I pause and listen

to the void in my life

Ribbons, 20:2, Autumn/Winter 2024