Broke

Sitting quietly in the den,

sipping my morning coffee,

deciding between poetry and

the L.A. Times crossword.

Suddenly a loud thump,

from the kitchen,

all too familiar.

It can only mean one thing:

a broken window or

a broken neck.

A quick dash and glance,

no shattered glass.

A slanted peek at the patio,

no broken bird.

No birds at all at the feeder.

Well, one, a cooper’s hawk,

a big one, smiling that smile

through its eyes.

Missed that one, it seems to say.

Next time.

Oh, and thanks for the feeders.

I’m always hungry.

Suffering (a Quinzaine)

two riffs on the same thought, the prompt being "suffering" and the form is Quinzaine : 7-5-3, statement-question-question, unrhymed.

Koan I

No doubt, life is suffering..

How does one respond?

Truth or dare?

Koan II

No doubt, life is a challenge.

How does one respond?

Play or hide? 

Seekers

Searching for a new home
will gain one many new friends.
The realtors beget the lenders,
who send the inspectors,
and they refer the fix-it guys.
Let’s not forget the movers,
the neighborhood handymen,
the HOA, PTA, Neighborhood Watch.
The Mormons and SDA’s
always seem to find us.
Here’s an idea – how about we
have them deliver the mail,
they knock on every door, anyhow.
Oops, gotta go,
Molly Maid just arrived.

A Sevenling Poem

The sevenling has some interesting rules (some a little more abstract than others), but the basics involve writing a seven line poem comprised of two tercets and a final one-line stanza that kind of holds everything together, a punch line of sorts, or a narrative juxtaposition...Here's mine, today:

Feeding Time

There are four

bird feeders in our yard,

two seed, two humming.

There are many

types of customers for our largesse,

small, medium and large.

There is one very observant hawk.

Emily

A long time married,
seemingly forever,
or at least, like swans,
mated for life,
they still argued, bickered,
even fought.
To her, the fight was
always about him.
To him, it was
always about money.
It wasn’t that they
loved each other less,
simply that they
found things not to like.
At such moments,
and the reason they
stayed married forever,
a particular type of
etiquette prevailed.
They could yell, talk back,
accuse even, but one rule
always carried the day:
no matter what,
no matter when,
no matter where,
it was okay to act crazy,
so long as both of them
were not
temporarily insane
at the same time.

From an old conversation with Will

It really was
a beautiful ring,
and it cost just
a little less
than I loved her,
and then they
added the tax.

Hold That...

Hold That Pose

for me, if you would,

it would be great if you could,

though I’m not as quick as I should

be, I just hoped you’d understood

that there’s a reason for it all,

why you can’t answer nature’s call,

just keep your focus on the wall,

the one leading to the hall,

that place with vase and one thin rose,

giving pleasure to the nose,

one way the muse in me still grows,

if you would simply hold that pose.