In Broad Daylight

Politics of Distraction, VII:

Any resemblance to current events or actual locales, or to living persons, is NOT coincidental. 

a poll sign

against the White House fence: 

Pope vs Dope

a mangy stray corks its leg 

marks Dope with a yellow stream

NeverEnding Story, April 14 2026

FYI: The Nation Magazine, April 13 2026: Trump’s Deranged, One-Way Feud With Pope Leo

He’s finally met someone he can’t bully.

To conclude today's "Special Feature" post, I would like to share with you Pope Leo's post on X, April 14:

God’s heart is torn apart by wars, violence, injustice and lies. But our Father’s heart is not with the wicked, the arrogant, or the proud. God’s heart is with the little ones and the humble, and with them He builds up His Kingdom of love and peace day by day. Wherever there is love and service, God is there.

Stand with Pope Leo XIV. Even the Iran War!

Added: Politics of Distraction, VIII:

Donald Trump

         

    $ 20,28

  per gallon

Feeder Haiku

government shutdown

I fill the backyard feeder

day after long day

5-7-5 Haiku Journal, November 2 2025

Hazy Crescent Haiku

again her smile fades ...

I awaken to the silence

of a hazy crescent

NeverEnding Story, April 12 2026

FYI: My haiku below could be read as its prequel and sequel respestively 

her empty bed ...

get-well cards catching

winter sunlight

"Modern Haiku," Under the Basho, 2014

And

hazy day moon 

alone, awake with the weight

of memory

PoemHunter, February 16, 2013

Added: Politics of Distraction, VI:

Make America Great Again

After the failed peace talks, leaning over the Resolute Desk toward the camera lights, the man vows with a meaty smile, "I'll block ships crossing the Strait of Hormuz."

block the blockade

to break the blockade ...

in the briefing room

silence broken only

by a buzzing fly

FYI: Time Magazine, April 12, 2026: Trump Says U.S. Will Blockade Strait of Hormuz After Iran Peace Talks Fail

Added:

peace talks stalled

I hold onto the long half

of a wishbone

Added:

home from work

the opening door spills

darkness 

Added:

moonlit wave

after wave after wave 

the ocean 

grows louder with her 

gone a year now

Added:

coloring the morning breeze cherry blossom rain

Added: No More Fairy Tales, LII

El Niño pulses ... 

war is peace, peace is war

circled red

FYI: The New York Times, March 12 2026: Odds Rise That El Niño Will Soon Bring Weather Extremes

The climate pattern known for intense heat, floods and drought is likely to develop this summer, raising questions about disaster preparedness.

Scientists at the Climate Prediction Center, a part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, had raised their estimate for an El Niño event this summer from 60% to about 80%.... Forecasters now predict that the coming El Niño -- a warming of the Pacific Ocean that deeply affects global weather patterns -- is likely to be as severe as the one in 2023-2024, which triggered severe flooding and prolonged heatwaves around the world.

Imagine, a Dreamer

just to be alive

on this dew-drenched morning

a green-leafed breeze

"I don't know a dream that's not been shattered ...," Paul Simon's voice whispers in a corner of my mind. I repeat to myself, "I'll be alright."

As snow geese unzip the morning sky, I start taking the first step of my new life journey of a thousand miles.

Drifitng Sands, 34, 2025

Rain Chain Haiku

    winter

drizzle down

       the

  rain chain

      this

    life, yet

      slow

 and short

The Pan Haiku Review, 6, 2025

Tree House Haiku

tree house in twilight

another layer of dust

on The Little Prince

folk ku, 6, 2025

The Passion

the glow of fireballs

in a dead baby's eyes

the stone cross tilted

Silhouetted against the half collapsed and blood-splattered wall, the parish priest of Holy Family Church looks into the cellphone camera, and says in a firm voice, "nuns and I will stay and take care of elderly and wounded people, pregnant women and children."

"Are you not afraid of dying during the next Israeli strike?"

"Jesus is weak and vulnerable among people who need help and comfort, and that is exactly the way, the only way,  in which Jesus can be with us and help us."

Contemporary Haibun Online, 21:3, 2025

Anything New outside St Peter's Basilica?

a magical-realism tanka prose written on Pope Leo XIV's first day

as dusk deepens

a white-haired refugee's shadow

slips into the church ...

after mass, a priest muses

if he ranks love for others

Half awake yet half asleep, he glances at the LED bedside clock: 03:00 flashing red. Flanked by LED numbers, a blindingly bright human figure starts chanting:

Religion says don't hope

outside this whitewashed wall.

But then, once in a lifetime,

these longed-for tidal waves

of justice, peace and love

can rise up under the morning sun

if faith and action rhyme

Chrysanthemum, 35, 2025

German Translation:

Gibt es Neues vor dem Petersdom?

Eine magisch-realistische Tanka-Prosa, geschrieben am ersten Tag von Papst Leo XIV.

bei zunehmender Dämmerung gleitet

der Schatten eines weißhaarigen Flüchtlings

in die Kirche ...

nach der Messe sinniert ein Priester darüber

ob er die Liebe zu anderen über alles stellt

Halb wach, halb schlafend wirft er einen Blick auf den LED-Wecker: 03:00 blinkt es rot. Flankiert von LED-Ziffern beginnt eine blendend helle menschliche Gestalt zu singen:

Die Religion sagt: Hoffe nicht

außerhalb dieser weiß getünchten Mauer. 

Doch dann, einmal im Leben,

können diese ersehnten Flutwellen

der Gerechtigkeit, des Friedens und der Liebe

unter der Morgensonne aufsteigen,

wenn Glaube und Handeln sich reimen

Easter Lily Haiku

Easter lily

a curl at each edge

deepens

NeverEnding Story, April 6 2026

Added:

Jesus Wept

war news on mute ...

the sound

of Easter rain

church spire's tip 

piercing through half-sleep

a child's scream

I cry 

no reason, and yet

(this silence)

FYI: The title,  "Jesus Wept" (John 11:35),  is widely recognized as the shortest verse in the English Bible (King James Version and many others).

We are growing accustomed to violence, resigning ourselves to it, and becoming indifferent, indifferent to the deaths of thousands of people

Pope Leo XIV,  his first Easter Mass

And The Nation Magazine, April 13, 2026: Trump’s Deranged, One-Way Feud With Pope Leo

“I have no fear neither of the Trump administration, nor of speaking out loudly about the message of the Gospel,” the pope told reporters on his plane as he headed for a visit to Algeria and several other African countries.  They asked about Trump’s comments on Truth Social, and Leo responded: “It’s ironic—the name of the site itself. Say no more.” He added: “I do believe the message of the Gospel—‘blessed are the peacemakers’—is the message that the world needs to hear today.”

And this is a sequence to my tanka set below:

What Will Come Next?

in Easter sunshine

a billboard atop the church

proclaims:

Mary, called Magdalene

host to seven devils

Jesus is Risen

drifts from the whitewashed church

on the corner

a middle-aged black man

wears a crown of thorns

NeverEnding Story, April 5, 2026

Added:

After Easter

slate-gray sky

white, trumpet-shaped blooms

curl inward

church door closed

a fallen petal

cups the last light

Added:

a gembun written to T.S. Elliot

April is the cruelest month, I murmur to myself

drinking alone

the sound of snowfall

deepens

Added:

alone ...

the dawn sky 

tinged gray

Added: Politics of Distraction, V:

written in response to the Convicted Felon/Peanut-Brained man who sits behind the Resolute Desk

Does this political senryu (comic haiku) work well?

two-week ceasefire …

mid-bite of a taco

he mumbles, I won

FYI: taco stands for Trump Always Chickens Out

Added:

two-week ceasefire

pop, popping under the hood

of a Ford Mustang

Added: 

love in my dream

eyes half-closed, lips parted ...

surf crashes ashore

Easter Sunday Haiku

Easter Sunday

as the churchyard mist parts

another grave

NeverEnding Story, April 5, 2026

Added: 

What Will Come Next?

in Easter sunshine

a billboard atop the church

proclaims:

Mary, called Magdalene

host to seven devils

Jesus is Risen

drifts from the whitewashed church

on the corner

a middle-aged black man

wears a crown of thorns

FYI: White evangelical Protestants have emerged as one of the most loyal and crucial voting blocs for Donald Trump, with approximately 72% to 80% supporting him in the 2016, 2020, and 2024 elections... excerpted from Pew Research Center, Feb. 9, 2026: "White evangelicals remain among Trump’s strongest supporters,"

Golden Glow Tanka

one year older

as sunlight floods the bedroom,

a golden glow

brightening each corner ...

Death and I minds apart

Chrysanthemum, 35, 2025

German Translation:

ein Jahr älter

als Sonnenlicht das Schlafzimmer flutet

ein goldener Glanz

erhellt jede Ecke ...

Tod und ich sind uns uneins

Father's Ashes Haiku

winter fog

heavier than expected

father's ashes

Autumn Moon Haiku Journal, 9:1, 2025

First Frost Haiku

my breath

curling through my wife's

first frost

Asahi Haikuist Network, Nov. 7 2025

Youthful Face Tanka

my wife

braids our daughter's hair

with lullabies ...

my five-year-old self gazes

at Mother's youthful face

Fireflies' Light, 32, October 2025

Anxiety Wolf Tanka

in the moonlit dark

its eyes gleam, jaws slather

and teeth gnash...

this anxiety wolf stares at me

while dizzy, breathing fast

Fireflies' Light, 32, October 2025

Whitewashed Road Sign Tanka

The Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCLXXXVIII: "a whitewashed road sign"

dust swirling past

"<-- Tarqumia, Jerusalem -->

peace be with you" 

under the scorching sun

a whitewashed road sign

NeverEnding Story, March 30 2026

Added: The Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCLXXXIX: "skeletal house"

skeletal house  

and charred pottery shards --  

grass creeps in the cracks

Added: The Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCXC: "between wire fences"

slate-gray sky

swarm after swarm of flies

between wire fences

Added: The Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCXCI: "the Death Bill"

Sde Teiman

silhouetted against desert sunset 

on the TV

passing of the Death Bill

popping of champagne 

FYI:  Sde Teiman is a scandal-plagued Israeli military detention camp in the Negev desert near the Gaza border.

And Haaretz, April 1, 2026: The Death Penalty Bill Illustrates How the Kahanist Revolution Has Taken Over Israeli Society

The evening of the vote marked not only a moral abyss, but also anointed the next right-wing leader: Itamar Ben-Gvir, who has managed to transform himself from a marginal thug into a shaper of right-wing ideology

Add:

straddled between

this war-torn world and the one

in my mind ...

I slam the blinds down

as fists crash on the street

Law Is King

Trump Empire, Inc, XC

written for No Kings protests

just a dream, and yet ...

the mountain lion roars

to grazing sheep:

once elected as your King

I'll be vegetarian

the peanut-brained man

behind the Resolute Desk

grins to cameras,

just a little excursion...

oily clouds over Tehran

how much bullshit

can come out of one ass-hole

a veteran’s refrain

cracks and booms through iron bars

at the White House gate

the Capitol fence

shadowed against the sky

in twilight chill

lineups snake at the pumps

and at food banks too

chant after chant

of eggflation, fried truth

scrambled justice ...

a mutt's neck sign: I can poop

a better president

FYI: The title alludes to the famous quote from Thomas Paine's 1776 pamphlet, Common Sense: In America, THE LAW IS KING.

NeverEnding Story, March 28 2026

Added: Trump Empire, Inc, XCI

the stacking

of KKK hood, MAGA hat

and ICE cap ...

my beagle takes a dump

it steams the same in the snow

Added: Politics of Distraction, IV:

An Elegy

Silhouetted against twilight, the façade reads:

"The Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts"

across slabs of vein-streaked marble.

will the past be past?

redbud petals curl inward

this spring equinox

FYI: L1 of the haiku alludes to a famous assertion by William Faulkner:

The past is never dead. It's not even past.

This line, from Requiem for a Nun, resonates with historical context: Faulkner’s work was deeply admired by President John F. Kennedy, who, following Faulkner’s death in 1962, led national tributes stating, "Since Henry James, no writer has left behind such a vast and enduring monument to the strength of American literature."

In the haibun, the literary ghost/Faulkner reference in L1 functions as a structural haunting, bridging the weight of prose with the delicacy of haiku.

In literature, ghosts rarely just haunt—they speak. A "literary ghost" is one such spirit: a text, a phrase, or an idea from the past that refuses to stay buried. Unlike a simple allusion, which nods at another work, a literary ghost inhabits a new piece, creating a spectral presence that shapes meaning, mood, and memory.

Where an allusion informs, a literary ghost haunts. It can transform names, places, or words into conduits of history and memory, making the familiar feel strange, uncanny, and alive.

For more about the use of literary ghosts, see To the Lighthouse: Literary Ghost, A "Specific and Powerful Type of Allusion"

Election Buzz Senryu

blowflies around

last night's leftovers ...

election buzz

Fireflies' Light, 32, October 2025

Trade War News Haiku

yellowing leaves 

astir in the night wind ...

trade war news

Fireflies' Light, 32, October 2025

Spiral Slide Haiku

last rays of sunset

the curves of laughter 

down a spiral slide  

 

tsuri-dōrō, 30, Nov/Dec. 2025