A THOUSAND ARMIES
And the hapless Soldier’s sigh
Runs in blood down Palace walls
— William Blake
A thousand armies sat on a wall and
everyone of them was dead
eating sandwiches out of little tin boxes
yellow broken teeth and considerable chewing
But their eyes were [...]
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ONE DAY DEATH KNOCKED
One day death knocked and knocked and no one answered –
Only the door’s wood-grain in resounding unison answered
A water drop on the lip of a glass was held suspended –
Only shadows cast by trees like oars on a galleon answered
We were all safely dead to death – we were all satisfied –
Not [...]
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AS OF A GIANT CLOUD
A sweet-faced saint like a giant cloud
floats past the cliff edge where we
stand in wait for such saintly visitation
and he doesn’t disappoint with his fond
nod in our direction and a sidelong glance that
actually lays a stripe of sunlight along the
grassy fields down below as the day rises
We’ve waited here since birth [...]
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DEATH CAME IN RATHER SHEEPISHLY
In memoriam Imran Saithna
Death came in rather sheepishly having just
taken someone quite young and in the
flush of life and sat down in front of me in an
overstuffed chair and took off his shoes showing
two [...]
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Ruba’iyat XIX
I’ll take the blows upon my chin
I’ll rise, I’ll fight and I will win
I will be happy someday soon
I will leave behind this life of sin.
Smiling as I whistle and loosely croon
Living the beat of my new found tune
Tasting the elixir of the other side
A life with only patience hewn.
Remembering all the times I [...]
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THE PROPHET MUHAMMAD AROSE ONE MORNING
The Prophet Muhammad arose one morning
and by evening it was obvious he was no
ordinary mortal
He was a heart that spoke to a mouth that
spoke to the ears of multitudes
And it was our hearts that heard him
through the dust and blood of time and its
wrenchings its smooth valleys and its
sudden explosions [...]
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GOD’S ALCHEMY
Green elements turn into golden ones when
God’s breath flows across them
Gold dust motes float down as slowly as
elephants sinking into mud for a cooling bath
The whole golden earth turns its face to the dark
as its spine stands still and its tilt wobbles slightly
We turn our faces to the sunlight once or twice in [...]
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The sky is pewter…
No birds come to the feeder –
war desolates all
These haiku are inpremeditated, even unwritten until posted… spontaneity being one of the Haiku form’s essential earmarks (heart-marks?). Now winter both mentally and physically, the outside world is a bit bleak today out my window, and I can’t shake thoughts of [...]
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PATHETIC AS IT MAY SEEM
Pathetic as it may seem
this entire world sits on a table in a little
spotlight in God’s Throne Room and though actually
nearly microscopic in God’s eyes He totally
cognizant of every gnat’s move sees into our private
windows with so much compassion for our
foibles and the fact that in spite of this we
curse and [...]
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A rhinoceros –
beady eyes and quite small brain –
is running the war!
I’m sorry… The President of the United States was on the News Hour tonight defending his new strategy to “the nation,” and it was truly pathetic. This man has no grasp of anything beyond sloganized abstractions, even when he’s supposed to be giving [...]
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THE ENORMOUS CORRIDOR OF SORROW
In the enormous corridor of sorrow
masked Napoleonic pygmies play with human
souls in the
shapes of coke bottles and guided missiles
and the clatter they raise
is more deafening than silence but
leads to the same end the same bolted door
A gigantic wheel rolls down
sorrow’s enormous corridor aclattering
as if to challenge with grief its mere
invention [...]
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GOD’S MONOTONE
The rain’s coming down outside my window – leaky pipes – a background
monotone –
Raven the black cat on deep burgundy bedspread – green eyes blazing in pure
round monotone –
The world’s assembled in a cunning way to appear real to us –
If we saw it in its true dimensions we might feel a real [...]
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The heart breaks to hear
any news now from Iraq…
good… bad… such hardship!
Another:
We broke in — smashed things…
killed the king — now we want to
make them pay for it…
Another Sunday morning of Meet the Press, Face the Nation, in which so-called policy-makers and pundits in their neat suits and perfect haircuts (so American!) mouth sad [...]
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THE BALLAD OF THE TYRANT
The tyranny of Boulderoak the knavery of Dor
the flat out death at Zonderzee
the corpses on the floor
The scepter of the ruler in a leaden box of fire
you can’t describe the way the people
listen to the liar
If one soul shout they all shout if one soul yells they yell
but if one soul [...]
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Shouting God
The hills above The Dalles
are striped with snow and last year’s stubble.
Hawks hunt along the rows.
The hills were shouting God,
the trees were shouting God,
the fence-posts and frozen puddles
all joined the silent chorus.
The road under my wheels was shouting God,
and I too, I was shouting God,
God, God, there is no other.
The [...]
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“Osama… meet George…
Here’s bread and water to eat
the rest of your days…”
I’m frankly a bit obsessed. The “Islamic Haiku” I’ve been writing for DeenPort are turning decidedly political… and I thought this one might not be appropriate for a website that can be a forum for political views, but is not so dedicated.
Here’s a [...]
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We burn the town down…
then we send in more fire trucks
to patrol the smoke?
It’s the morning after The Decider’s decision to wreak more havoc in Iraq, with massive collateral damage (by western soldiers, never mind their own strife-killings) unreported by the western media, masses more American soldiers either dead or maimed for life, [...]
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Democrats cowards…
Republicans criminals…
I watch the sparrows…
This is a traditional haiku (5-7-5 syllable lines) of a decidedly political bent, to coincide with today’s touted announcement by America’s Commander [...]
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THE PROPHET MUHAMMAD WALKED IN
The Prophet Muhammad walked in – his face a moon – his head represented by God’s flame
The room filled with rose-scent – the windows with doves – in our hearts we scented God’s flame
How on earth did a man like this come among us? How beloved of Allah – how kind!
All [...]
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