Another Day, Another Fight

a long walk home

after my first AA meeting

a neon sign

brings the flavour of beer

to the tip of my tongue

I repeat to myself

a day of sobriety

is wavelike ...

each one comes forward

with its own up and down

all I want

is to drink one beer (or two)

and pat my dog ...

alone at the crosswalk

a traffic light turns yellow

NeverEnding Story, September 21 2025

Added:

flowers wilting

in my front yard garden

a morning breeze

                 lets loose

a petal song for autumn

FYI: It might be interesting to do a comparison reading of the following tanka:

in a world

of green

one branch

burning

into Autumn

NeverEnding Story, September 22, 2017

Kris Lindbeck‏

Added:

a street preacher talks

over a line of pro-choicers --

his arguments

frothy as soapsuds

get big ... and bigger

Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCXXIX: "between reality and the vision"

Between Reality and the Vision

Yom Teruah

this Jewish day of blasting ...

from Gaza 

the faint boom, boom, boom

fueling the fire of revenge

a dream, and yet ...

dry bones in Gaza's graves

reshaped

into skeletons, filled out with flesh,

standing on their feet, alive

FYI: Yom Teruah, also known as Rosh Hashanah or the Feast of Trumpets, is a Jewish holiday marking the beginning of the Jewish New Year and the High Holy Days. Its name translates to "day of blasting" or "day of sounding the shofar" (ram's horn). The central element of Yom Teruah is the sounding of the shofar, which consists of 100 blasts during a traditional Rosh Hashanah service. The teruah sound itself can mean an alarm, a signal, or a shout of joy.

Added: Trump Empire, Inc, LVIII

written in response to the Convicted Felon's hourlong "your countries are going to hell" rant

Donald Trump is right

about everything, everything

echoes, echoing ...

in the gathering dark

the psych ward hallway

FYI: CNN News, September 23 2025: Trump’s ‘your countries are going to hell’ UN speech, annotated

Haze Senryu

right place, wrong time?

this five-glass-of-wine haze

of jet lag

NeverEnding Story, June 14, 2025

FYI: This is a response senryu to the following:

jet lag

a street cat stretches

into the night     

Failed Haiku, 6:61, 2021

Hazel Hall

Lone Cry Tanka

the lone cry

of a goose out of the flock ...

my drunken shadow

and I slow-dance to the sound

of our migrant memory

Ribbons, 21:1, 2025

Years-Old Game Tanka

night walk

from drizzle to sleet to snow --

this years-old game

of would have, could have, should have

with my drunken shadow

NeverEnding Story, January 27 2025

Added:

talk of divorce

on the long way home

for an hour

her silence speaks louder

than the sound of a blizzard

Added:

Glimpses of Light

burnt houses

the fruit of a charred citrus tree 

clings to its branches 

smoldering ruins

an etched mural stands alone

at the temple 

FYI: This is a sequel to the following haiku:

No More Fairy Tales, XLIII

a stairway

what remains of a burned house ...

Pacific Coast sunset

Added: On the Brink of Trumperica, IX

the White House

pronounces, only two sexes...

trans youth trapped

between black-and-white Kansas

and rainbow-colored Oz

FYI: In 2021, President Joe Biden issued the first presidential proclamation recognizing Transgender Day of Visibility. And the first International Transgender Day of Visibility was held on March 31, 2009.

Alone Together Senryu

a  l o n e togethermemyolddogdrunkshadow

Failed Haiku, 9:103, 2024

Midnight Wander Haiku

midnight wander

my drunk shadow and old dog

set their own paces

The Bamboo Hut, September 2024

Knock-Down Fights Senryu

glass after glass ...

more reeling, knock-down fights

with my drunken shadow

folk ku, 3, 2024

If he’s gone

what am I supposed to do? Hit my nagging wife when she keeps on like rain dripping? my old neighbor whines at the trial coverage, while holding a half-empty bottle of wine.

 

trance

after

trance

Trump

atop

us

Cattails, April, 2024

One More Glass Senryu

one more glass 

to make it this year's last ...

pre-AA meeting

tsuri-dōrō, 19, Jan/Feb 2024

Boxing Ring Kyoka

in the ring

jabs, missed punches

and clenches ...

round after round

I fight my drunken shadow

Failed Haiku, 8:96, December 2023

First AA Meeting Senryu

first AA meeting

a whiff of whiskey

or all in my mind?

Cold Moon Journal, October 2 2023

Light of Dawn Tanka

alone again

I pour another whiskey

and wait 

for the first light of dawn

and her return ... or not 

folk ku, 2, 2023

Impulse Tanka

the clock's hands meet

as the last customers leave
in dim barlight
glass after glass this impulse
to drink away my past

 
Haiku Canada Review, 17:2, October 2023

Happy Hour Kyoka

alone again

during Happy Hour

in dim light

I raise the last glass 

to my reflection

Failed Haiku, 8:93, September 2023

Thanksgiving Emails

reading between the lives and writing between the lines, LXXX

Subject: thanksgiving alone

To: my self [stuck in life] 

From: me

Date: November 23

at daybreak flickering birdsong

Re.: thanksgiving alone

To: my drunken self

From: me

Date: November 24

alive in this broken world

NeverEnding Story, November 24 2023

FYI: This is the first set of English language tanka written in the form of an email. And L5's of two tanka allude to the thematic focus of the following poem:

“Invitation” by Mary Oliver

Oh do you have time

to linger

for just a little while

out of your busy

and very important day

for the goldfinches

that have gathered

in a field of thistles

for a musical battle,

to see who can sing

the highest note,

or the lowest,

or the most expressive of mirth,

or the most tender?

Their strong, blunt beaks

drink the air

as they strive

melodiously

not for your sake

and not for mine

and not for the sake of winning

but for sheer delight and gratitude –

believe us, they say,

it is a serious thing

just to be alive

on this fresh morning

in the broken world.

I beg of you,

do not walk by

without pausing

to attend to this

rather ridiculous performance.

It could mean something.

It could mean everything.

It could be what Rilke meant, when he wrote:

You must change your life.

Added: This Brave New World, CXI

Now, This Promised Land

written on the 50th day of the Israel-Hamas War

the blood drips

from his big dirty hands

Netanyahu lookalike 

Hostages Square

a girl's candle flickers

in the cold air

FYI: Demonstration at what has become known as "Hostages Square," in Tel Aviv, near the Ministry of Defence, marked 50 days since Hamas attack on Israel...Hamas delayed the release of the second group of captives, accusing Israel of violating the truce, which started on Friday and is expected to last for four days... excerpted from Al Jazeera, Nov. 25: Tens of thousands rally in Tel Aviv amid delay in release of [second group] of captives.

And the following tanka could be read as its sequel:

This Brave New World, CX

Kidnapped

pasted over Occupier

pasted over Kidnapped

above the photo of a man ...

this battle for perfect victims

NeverEnding Story, November 18 2023

Added: This Brave New World, CXII

this hazy night

before the ceasefire ends

shortness of breath

Added: This Brave New World, CXIII

between his teeth

a piece of hummus-stuffed bread ...

maimed orphan's last meal

FYI: Haaretz (founded in 1918, the longest running and most progressive newspaper with with an "exposure rate of 4.7%" in Israel), Nov. 28: Gaza's Unfolding Disaster: When Humanitarian Aid Is Your Last Meal... Orphans are multiplying in the streets, the bombing survivors are traumatized and once the truce ends, everybody knows death may fall again from the sky at any moment.

...a representative of Save the Children stated, “Every ten minutes, a child in Gaza is killed by a bomb and every five minutes, a child is wounded, in an asymmetric warfare situation that testifies to the failure of international law, whose aim is to protect civilian lives.”

And Reuters, Nov. 28: WHO warns disease could be bigger killer than bombs in Gaza

WHO spokesperson Margaret Harris on Tuesday said the agency is already seeing a dangerous surge in diarrhea in Palestinian children.

“We saw a very high number of cases of diarrhea among infants and again, no, there’s no treatment available for them. You know, if you have a child with diarrhea you need to give them re-hydration in order to keep them going until they get better and if you’re not able to do that, they can die very quickly from dehydration.”

In Wine, There Is Truth

Breaking News! New national poll shows hypothetical Biden-Trump rematch in a tie. Like blowflies, these black, boldfaced words buzz around what's left of my sanity. I put away the newspaper.

Each night has enough trouble of its own.

dim barlight

alone with a bottle of gin

I count Trump charges

Happy Hour

I raise the last glass

to my reflection

Tomorrow will take care of itself. This is America.

Drifting Sands, 23, 2023

FYI: The New Yorker, Nov 9: The Warnings About Trump in 2024 Are Getting Louder

This was the week, to mangle a phrase, when people finally freaked out about Donald Trump becoming President again. “Whichever individual poll you choose to believe or not,” Susan B. Glasser writes in her latest column from Washington, “the data point overwhelmingly to Biden sitting at near-historic lows in popularity and being essentially tied with Trump, a man who is running on an explicit platform of revenge, retribution, and Constitution-termination.

And CNN, Nov. 10: ‘That’s insane’: CNN panel on what Trump said he would do if re-elected

“CNN This Morning” panel discusses Donald Trump’s interview with Univision, in which the former president hinted he would weaponize the Department of Justice against political enemies if re-elected.

Drunken Shadow Haiku

laid off ...

my drunken shadow stalking

what's left of the night

Cold Moon Journal, January 6 2023

The Burden of "Used to be ..."

in dim streetlight 

I stagger out of the bar ...

rough-and-tumble

conversations with my shadow

spill into the cold

bare-knuckle brawling

with my drunken shadow

on the wall

a frenemy of ten years

in my immigrant life

fleeting moments

between waking and dreaming

I muse

on the extended “if”

of twenty years younger 

Ribbons, 18:3, Fall 2022

Heartbreak Tanka

alone again

with my drunken shadow

at the edge of night ...

my friend died from heartbreak

and I am still alive

NeverEnding Story, December 7 2022

Added: written in response to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's Netflix Docuseries

before I went to the UK

most people didn't treat me

like a Black woman ...

a Jamaican turns off the TV

then gets stains off the diner floor

FYI: Yahoo! Entertainment, Dec. 8: Meghan Markle on meeting Prince William and Kate Middleton: "The formality on the outside carried through on the inside."

"A friend of ours actually suggested that we document ourselves through this period of time," Harry explained. "With all of the misinformation that was going on out there, especially about us and the departure, it seemed like a really sensible idea."

Added Markle, "The past six years of my life, books are written about our story from people I don't know. Doesn't it make more sense to hear our story from us?"

And Rolling Stone, Dec. 8: Most Shocking ‘Harry & Meghan’ Revelations So Far, From Nazi Costumes to Hushed Racism

The Royal Palace Silenced Meghan and Harry When It Came to Racism

Before her relationship with Prince Harry went public, and months after they began dating, Markle says she wasn’t often treated like a Black woman. “It’s very different to be a minority, but not be treated as a minority right off the bat,” she explained. When press headlines and commentary made the Black element of her biracial identity the centerpiece of their grievances against her, the Prince added, the palace issued clear instructions to them both: “Don’t say anything.”

And The New Yorker, Dec. 15: Meghan and Harry’s Netflix Fairy Tale by  Rebecca Mead

...the newly released Netflix documentary series, Harry, the Duke of Sussex, uses a similar, if less pithily expressed, formula to characterize his own sense of having been squeezed by an unwelcome triangulation: that between himself, the Palace, and the press. Harry describes a summit with other senior members of the Royal Family that was held, early in 2020, at Sandringham, one of the Queen’s country homes, to discuss what, if any, future role he and his wife, Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, might play within the institution of the monarchy. “It was terrifying to have my brother scream and shout at me, and my father say things that simply weren’t true,” Harry said. “I think, from their perspective, they had to believe that it was more about us, and maybe the issues that we had, as opposed to their partner, the media, and themselves in that relationship that was causing so much pain for us.”

Royals exist to be seen. No longer regarded as divinely authorized, and for centuries deprived—thank goodness—of meaningful legal power, the monarchy has only one real function: visibility. To be a working royal is to show up and be looked at, whether it’s attending the openings of hospital wings or factories, or arriving at galas and state ceremonies...

Bear Foam Kyoka

beer foam

spilling over his hand

in soft light

he sweet-talks

at his blind date

NeverEnding Story, September 19 2022

FYI: For more, see my "To the Lighthouse" post, Character/Persona Tanka