SHAOLIN SONNET

Tags

aesthetics, king fu, poem, poetry, satire, writing

SHAOLIN SONNET

we had
a debate over
aesthetics

became
a friendly
discussion

then
less than
friendly

unfortunately leading
to my WU SHU-ing you

after which
in act of contrition and respectful recognition
I stole your words

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KAGE

Tags

Language, metapoetic, Nuclear, poem, poem poetry political moral, poetry, thermonuclear

KAGE

sometimes a
carbon life-form
produces poetry

hydrogen and oxygen
uplifting each word
that we might
hear it better

and he we are
if not just
things of words
things
that cast shadows

over forty percent hydrogen
stuff that the stars and
our ending is made of

drop a
poem

on Hiroshima
or Nagasaki

see if your
reader is
lost in
the shadows

is turned
into a shadow

not that
I know the
word for
shadow in
the Japanese
language

anyway, so much,
in fact
everything,

lost
in translation

IN EACH LINE

Tags

poem, Universe

IN EACH LINE

wave after
suicidal wave

a war
of Empire

to teach the world
discipline, duty, and, yes, beauty

a simple aesthetic yet
here
so deadly

blood in each line
of your superb haiku

KENSAI

Tags

afterlife, death, Japan, katana, KENSAI, Life, poem, poetry, power, samurai

train a lifetime
and it is over in
a split-second

the flash of reflected light in arc
or parabola

then
you or
I

left with
the never-to
-be shared
key
to all mysteries

or,
perhaps not

say it is so
and I
I would beg to
differ

all I know is
the way
of the blade
and
what cannot
be said

my body feeling, carrying,
ghost scars of
ancient
mortal wounds

but whose are these memories:
wind, sun, moon, rain

all
failing to express,
struggling to tell me

LET ME BE EMPTIED

Tags

poem, poetry, Universe

let me be emptied
until I am
but
a drop

until I am
something
small
as a
Rumi poem

and
as vast

WAKIZASHI

Tags

poem, poetry

WAKIZASHI

wakizashi drawn
I await an
intimate enemy
my shadow
warrior

he bears the
same wounds
and scars as me

our styles, our skills,
our deep
lethal hatred

matching
perfectly

MINDFUL

Tags

poem, poetry

MINDFUL

Let me
be

mindful
let me

be folded into
myself

today
you wanted machine
you wanted
automation

did not
covet words
longed for

desire
roaring like
a beast
of prey

like the
sea

like the
pack alpha

wished devoutly
to be
devoured

swept away

not to burn slowly, steadily
like a perfumed candle.

TIGER TANKA

Tags

poem, poetry

TIGER TANKA

My poem
is tanka
it is haiku

it is
Kobiyashi
Maru

no recourse left
but seppuku

but when it comes
to you
butting your
head in my
poetic business

then
here I come
dropping out
the Sun
tuned kamikaze
(nothing going
to stop me
delivering
this
bomb)

OVERHEAD

Tags

poem, poetry, science fiction, Universe

I dreamt
I was a
flying
saucer

flying high above
the mountains

in the valleys
so much bloodshed
incessant war, no
true victors

but in the mountains
men whose minds
clear as crystal
meditate
upon the spirit

dream of knowing light
and darkness, the rules
to the great
chess game of
the Universe

and me still saucering
overhead.

EVENTUALLY

Tags

poem, poetry

EVENTUALLY

eventually
ode after ode
elegy after
elegy

distilled down
to epigraph, to a haiku

poetry gets down to
embraces
first principles