Time for no regrets

                                                                 Roy Lichtenstein

i wake up this morning
shape of grey dawn

where did the time go

to roads filled with cars 
to brown office buildings
to conformity and neat address labels

you said it didn't matter that you lost the game
but i can see the hurt in your eyes

if you can rewind the time

to starting lane, empty room      
to pursuing that wind blown page
to artless conversations

when does the flower know when to bloom 
nor the grapes grow plump for the plucking

i draw a map hammering the future,
but the wind has other ideas,
scattering the colors of leaves everywhere

you hit the ball, and try to catch every pass,
careful not to hit the outside lines, you jump 

blurring the lines, it is difficult to tell
which option or choice is best like 
deciding if apple or pear is a better fruit 


legs and hands, tired and bruised, 
you change clothes and go back in, 
straight back, steel fire in your eyes

time does not have a face nor mirror
nor is real life like a cartoon strip in grid map-
we don't always bounce back after each failure

but i try to 
for your sake  
and no regrets from me either  
  

picture credit:   here

Posted for D'verse Poets Pub - Post modern (High/low art) - A bit of surreal pop art with my real life journey. 

My daughter's team lost all of their 4 volley  ball games this morning- finals among Grade 8 schools.   Though she played well all throughout the game, the team could do more practice and fire to win the games.   For me, it was chance to cheer her team, stay home and catch my breath as it has been a crazy week in the office.   Thanks for the visit ~  

All Hallow's Eve

The hour before midnight moon
Silk veil flutters and dips low
As black crow
Shrills the air, wolves in lair
Awake, eyes aglow
I listen in fear, lips sealed 
Dead walks past corn fields  

The hour after the moon rises
Incense fills the room - prayers, 
Fragrant pears,           
Healing songs, and all wrongs  - 
Forgiven, the tears
fall like river, missing piece
Dead departs in peace !



Poetry form:  Following the Paul Laurence Dunbar's 7 line structure from his poem Melancholia:   

Silently without my window,  (a)   8 syllables
Tapping gently at the pane,  (b)   7 syllables 
Falls the rain.  (b)   3 syllables
Through the trees sighs the breeze (Internal rhyme c / c) 6 syllables
Like a soul in pain.  (b)   5 syllables
Here alone I sit and weep;  (d)   7 syllables
Thought hath banished sleep.  (d)   5 syllables

Spooky Black Velvet Cupcakes 

Happy Halloween !!!

Posted for OpenLinkNight - Imaginary Garden with Real Toads (Monday)
and D'verse Poets Pub (Tuesday)

Witching time

                               

circle of shadows - 

white candles on altar, burning  

for restless souls    

~0~0~ 

witching spell:

rose quartz in water glass, full moon -

awakening love   

~0~0~

haunted house

incense: sage, cinnamon, patchouli -  

calming night breeze  

Posted for Haiku Heights:   Witch - Thanks for the visit ~

picture credit:   here

Colors of autumn

pale skin under the sky 
bare limbs, empty of sheath   
color of autumn - cherry red
like your lips - parting mine 

~0~0


falling leaves on green meadow  
caressing softly  arms  and  hips 
color of autumn - golden orange
like your hands - warming fire 


~0~0

half-crescent moon in cool night 
glimmering dew on maple skin
color of autumn - plum purple 
like your eyes - raging storm


Posted for OpenLinkNight - Imaginary Garden with Real Toads (Monday)
and D'verse Poets Pub (Tuesday)

Poetry form:   Jue ju (Chinese)

Line length: 5 words per line
Lines per stanza: 4
Theme: Often suggestive of erotic love
Rhyme scheme: couplets or unrhymed

Picture credit:  here

a Zen moment

i inhale

slow gathering of green and red blooms,

rising sun

~0~0~

i exhale

choking shadows and grey clouds, 

 empty bird cage     

~0~0~

i cluster

all the decaying golden leaves,

seeded poems 

Posted for:   Haiku Heights - Conscious
                   and Imaginary Garden with Real Toads - A Word with Laurie - Zen Meditation 

Picture credit:   here

At midnight

                                                             Midnight Snack, 1984, by Curtis Wilson Cost

on rye bread
a day old, we prepare smoked ham,
slices of tomatoes, cheese and lettuce leaves


with 2 pop cans and bag of chips, 
we have the forest around us, leaning to hear    
each word, each story of lingering souls 


its midnight
we are hungry for the wind to keel and
make our knees tremble with fright  


here in Grandma's creaking house 


Posted for The Mag - 139 

Thanks for the visit ~

Leaves of autumn

Grace @ Everyday Amazing - beside our house

autumn leaves

cover the ground - soft carpet

of afternoon sky 

~0~0~

cool wind gathers 

pine cones and green needles,

warm bed for winter  

~0~0~

maple tree 

shiver in dress of dying colors - 

she dreams of tulips   

Posted for Haiku Heights:   Shroud and Haiku My Heart

Happy Weekend and Thanks for your visit ~ 

Two sijo poems: Autumn

Grace @ Everyday Amazing - at our backyard

~0~0~0

heart of me - ashen purple - fell from the sky, spiral plunge. 
the ground swelled as autumn burst into fire and licked my wounds. 
i slow die -  when forgiveness comes short - on bed of leaves, a black stone. 

~0~0~0 

sharpest blade - but oh so cold -  
strongest wind, none can break me.
but my will, calm acceptance  
to let go, and fall gently. 
pale snowflake - into arms of lover - 
    moist brown as earth, warm cider.      

Posted for: OpenLinkNight of  Imaginary Garden with Real Toads (Monday) 
and D'verse Poets Pub (Tuesday)

Poetry form:  This is a more developed form of tristich (poem in three lines) called Sijo[pronounced see-szo], which is the Korean cousin of Tanka and Haiku.  

Lines 1 and 2 are written in four phrases of syllables counted as follows: 3 - 4 || 3 - 4 with a major pause at the end of the line (i.e. no enjambment) and a total of 14 syllables per line.

Line 3 is also written in four phrases of syllables counted: 3 - 6 || 4 - 3 to a total of 16 syllables.

Some leeway is allowed within this structure but the end result should be between 44 and 46 syllables.

Forest

tall forest treetops,

wide sky and lush maple hills-

where my eyes linger

~0~0

where wildflowers,

bathe in mountain rain -

my words breathe

~0~0

on bed of needles and
blanket of thousand moss,
the moon beguiles

~0~0

under towering pines,

beside river of hundred leaves -

my feet rest

Posted for Imaginary Garden with Real Toads - Transforming Fridays with Hannah Gosselin
Haiku My Heart and  Haiku Heights:   Home

Lunch room

Prawns and Celery Chapsui with Thai Noodles

Picture credit:   Gloria of Canela's Kitchen

at the office lunch room,
i try not to inhale deeply other people's food -

tuna sandwich, slice of leftover pizza,
green salad and mashed potatoes -

because its not polite to peer beyond the
free news daily and magazine glossy covers, camouflaged

flour-fried fish and chips, chicken cream on noodles -
all from the pre-packed frozen trays at the grocery store 

busy, running behind the schedule, traffic at free way, because ...
a million reasons, as I eat my beef stew, warm from my kitchen 

bicycle-loving young fair lady loves Asian spice and flavours,
eating with chopsticks,  must be so love with her Indian boyfriend

two ladies share their food, even down to pineapple
upside down cake, immersed in their problems, an island in table of six

while thin-reed woman complains she over-toasted her beef patty, 
and I tell her - you can have my yogurt cup -

she smiles her thanks, voice subdued in room, I always hear
her voice, strong and high-pitched above the office din...must be tough to be a widow, 

i turn to finish my salad, 30 minutes came fast like summer season 
and i am back at my cube, looking outside the window,  trying to catch   

each maple leaf, each shrub swaying in cool autumn


Posted for D'verse Poets Pub - Poetics, 6 billion others - Hosted by Brian Miller