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, LXVI

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

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

FYI: For more poems about the Israel-Hamas War, Special Feature, October 7: Selected Poems for Reflections on "CeaseFire Now" and "Saving the Children"

Sounds of Death Tanka

Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CV: "the sounds of death"

First "thought experiment" tanka to George Berkeley's ghost

if one-ton bombs fall 

on housing blocks, but no Israeli’s there 

to hear them ...

in a mobbed pub I muse

does they make the sounds of death?

FYI: "If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?" is George Berkeley's philosophical thought experiment that raises questions regarding observation and perception. For more about writing sarcastic tanka, see To the Lighthouse: A Rhetorical Device, Sarcasm.

And this tanka could be read as a sequel to the following:

Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, XVIII: "Rafah"

attacks on Rafah ... (now on both Gaza and Beirut)

will the sound of bombings 

echo, echoing

in the ears of the World

thousands of miles away

NeverEnding Story, February 12 2024

Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CVI: "one year on"

One Year On

this silent scene

spins in a mother's mind

like a kaleidoscope:

smashed blood-stained photo frames 

cover lifeless kibbutz children

shrapnel wounds

on the faces of Gazan kids

who look for mothers ...

another US-made bomb falls

to finish all that remains 

an old man

crying out, where should we go?

the Heavens blocked

by a swarm of fighter jets 

and the fire-smoke of Death

this endless loop:

October 7, October 7 ....

[and yet 

the decades before

and the day after...] bloodshedding

NeverEnding Story, October 7 2024

For more poems about the Israel-Hamas War, Special Feature, October 7: Selected Poems for Reflections on "CeaseFire Now" and "Saving the Children"

The Torah tells me

"Your brother's blood cries out from the ground, but no one, including my rabbi father, tells me that it also cries out from the blood-stained uniform I wear, from the memories I shared with fallen comrades..."

The twentysomething soldier pauses for a moment, looking intensely at the reporter. "Most importantly, no one tells me that there is other blood crying out from a hand in the rubble, from a mother with her dying baby, from my dreams ..." Angrily, he turns around and walks away.

"Together We Will Win"

fraying at the edges ...

sirens pierce the night

Drifting Sands, 28, 2024

FYI: For more poems about the Israel-Hamas War, Special Feature, October 7: Selected Poems for Reflections on "CeaseFire Now" and "Saving the Children"

Quilt Haiku

tenth year in exile ...

the frayed edges

of my mother's quilt

The Heron's Nest, 26:3, 2024

Moonlit Dark Haiku

the neighbor's garden
fading into moonlit dark
a foreclosure sign

NeverEnding Story, October 4 2024

Added:

three glasses down

the lingering smell

of his apology

Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CII: "between fireballs"

calm between fireballs ...

moonlit ravens' kraa-kraa-kraa

darkening

Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CIII: "Israeli settler"

First Three-Line Visual Tanka

          under        slate-gray            skies

                                 |                          

a settler aims his gun | a boy throws his rock

                                 |

          tank track marks on the grass

FYI: The "single vertical line" has become the standard format for tanka written by the Japanese poets since the latter half of the 19th century; However, Ishikawa Takuboku, author of Poems to Eat and Romaji Diary and Sad Toys,  advocated for and started writing two or three lines, depending on the rhythm of each tanka. For more, see Hiroaki Sato, “Lineation of Tanka in English Translation,” 42 Monumenta Nipponica 3:347-56, Autumn 1987.

Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CIV: "scream after scream"

a scythe of lightning 

in Beirut's smoky orange sky

scream after scream cut off

FYI: Reuters, Oct. 6: UN refugee chief says airstrikes in Lebanon have violated humanitarian law

Rent Hike Senryu

another rent hike ...

one more dip into the bank

of Mom and Dad

Failed Haiku, 9:100, 2024

Neighbor's Clothesline Kyoka

sleepless again

I look out the window

a breeze fondles

bras, panties, and lingerie

on the neighbor's clothesline

Failed Haiku, 9:100, 2024

US-Made Bomb Tanka

Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CI: "Hezbollah" 

the shards

of a US-made bomb 

glistening  

the skeletal remains 

of Beirut apartments

NeverEnding Story, October 1 2024

FYI: The Times of Israel, September 29: Israel confirms bunker-buster bombs used in attack on Nasrallah

Wikipedia Entry Bunker Buster: A bunker buster is a type of munition that is designed to penetrate hardened targets or targets buried deep underground, such as military bunkers.

More recently, the US has developed the 30,000 lb (14,000 kg) GBU-57, which was designed to penetrate up to 200 feet of reinforced concrete.

NBC News, September 30: Lebanese worry nowhere is safe amid widespread Israeli bombing

Democracy Now, September 30: Israeli Assassination of Hezbollah Chief Hassan Nasrallah “Shocked All of Lebanon.

I mean, Lebanon has one of the most, if not the highest percentage refugee population in the world. Now a million people are displaced. Many are trying to go into Syria right now.

Elder Friend Tanka

written for the 4th annual National Day for Truth and Reconciliation

my Elder friend

murmurs to himself:

the only time

Indigenous people in the news

drumming, dancing, drunk or dead

NeverEnding Story, September 30 2024

FYI: For more poems, see Special Feature: Selected Poems for Reflections on National Day for Truth and Reconciliation

One way of posing the "question of who Canadians are" ... is by asking whose lives are considered valuable, whose lives are mourned, and "whose lives are considered un-grievable."

-- paraphrasing Judith Bulter

Wildfire Haze Haiku

wildfire haze ...

the raven's kraa-kraa-kraa

darkens

Wales Haiku Journal, Summer 2024

A Fistful Tanka

a fistful

of childhood river sand

sifts back to sand ...

without my first love

Time and I become one

NeverEnding Story, September 28 2024

Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, C: "Hezbollah" 

pillars of fire 

and cloud after cloud of smoke ...

the minutes

unrolling Hezbollah news

and news spreading fake news

Added:

between the pages

of The Art of Loving

a wrinkled note ...

this borrowed book gives me

a borrowed life from my dream

FYI: The Art of Loving, a 1956 book by psychoanalyst and social philosopher Erich Fromm, explores the meaning and practice of love, arguing that it is not a feeling but an art that requires knowledge and effort to truly thrive.

Added: 

the tip 

of a blade of grass

at twilight

this floating world 

in a dewdrop

Robinsong Haiku

alone and sleepless ...

yet the day

breaks into robinsong

tsuri-dōrō , 22, July/August 2024 

Southbound Geese haiku

southbound geese the way mother waves goodbye

The Pan Haiku Review, 3, 2024