Haibun 7

This Haibun has been removed for submission to Contemporary Haibun.

Haibun 6

This Haibun has been removed for submission to Contemporary Haibun.

Haiku 13 (Gift Haiku)

This poem was written as a gift to a Native American Healer that came to my poetry class a few weeks ago. I felt a little awkward about it because everybody else had neat printed copies or cards whereas I had to rip mine out of my notebook and forgot to put my name on it. I hope that he enjoyed it never the less, I actually spent a lot of time and care working on it.

Lift my spirits high,
Send me your gracious insights-
fly away on wings

Haiku 11

Iris in the sky
outline the wide universe-
in your basking glow.

Haiku 10

Me and my roommates found a stray kitten out in the cold about two or three weeks ago. We couldn't bare to let it freeze to death so we took it in for a few nights.

Haiku 10

Stray cat
cold concrete
rolling

Ikkyu Poetry

This is some of my poetry in the style of Ikkyu. The point is to be playful and offer insights on life. Feel free to let me know what you think. For some reason I think perhaps this style takes my work to a bit of the extreme content wise. Maybe it's the playfulness and the fact that in the style of Ikkyu any subject and insight is up for grabs.

I shovel a path through the snow just to make it by
I do the same with living

I was taking a shit in the bathroom and saw ants crawling on the floor
‘bet they hated the view from down there

Fuck expensive booze
it all does the same thing in the end

Sometimes I try to chew gum instead of cigarettes
the fire tastes better

Everyday I try to run ahead of the pack
but somehow the pack always ends up in front of me

Haibun 5

I debated a long time before posting this. I see my Haibun taking new directions, more so into past images for some reason. This is written about my friend Mark who died in a car crash over the summer. I have been struggling over the thought to write about it and I know deep down that I need too. The events of that July 4th weekend I returned to BG, the funeral, the calling hours:it still haunts me. His parents, family, all of my friends, twenty of us staying at my small shitty rental house on Wooster St for three days-sleeping in the garage, cars, etc. Going through it together. There is something there, a story, an account, but a part of me feels it is to surreal for words. The greatest challenge I have is writing about myself (perhaps the hidden use of this blog).

What still haunts me is his facebook page, which has not yet been deactivated. People use it as a living electronic testament to him and still occasionally post things on his wall. Sometimes it's a reflection, sometimes its a simple "I miss you". They used his quotes on his info page in his calling hours as well as a few notes he had written. I find it remarkable and foreign at the same time.

Haibun 5

I am friends on facebook with a dead person. He is my true friend. And when he died innocently in a car crash, people posted on his wall. It’s still there seven months later. I still don’t know what to write.

electronic epitaph
elegies never spoken
I am wordless still

Ryokan Poem

This past Friday's moon was absolutely huge and beautiful. I figured I'd share this poem. It is in the spirit of Ryokan (at least I hope so), a hermit Zen Buddhist monk.

Large bright moon-iris glowing.
I walk down the streets,
Hard asphalt is black-
Snow gleams in the radiant lunar glow.
People’s faces frantic in the night.
Pulled like waterless waves,
They laugh with one another.

Haiku 2

Pale white skin
turning pink,
on cold snowy ground.