Day of the Dead

I'm having morning tea
With dead people on the patio
Bach is whining but happy
He has lost that damn wig
Wilde makes cheeky pokes
But Cezanne just doesn't get it
Burns is bitching about the rain
Saying isn't this California?
Finally I've had enough and
Serve the bloody mary's so
I can tell them all to shut up

November 1, 2012

Samhain

Samhain's gate has open
I light candles
Pour drams of whisky
Oh faeries and spirits
Prank on my enemies

October 31, 2012

Desk-bound

Desk-bound, I am left
To wonder photos from
Other's wandering path
Through verdant forests

October 25, 2012

It was charred
That is all there was
You are shocked
That it was flesh?

October 19 2012

About Vietnam

It doesn't always occur
Keep the head down
There will be less splatter

October 19, 2012

It was the bunt eye brows
She looked at me
The world then changed

My extinct culture
Now replaced by fossils
How can essence fight MPH

I travel thousands miles
To see faded  stones
My souvenirs of 13 generations

Blood glory

Crescent moon sets
Where is my nebula in
Its red blood glory?

October 19, 2012

Gingko

Pungent, no putrid
Smell of crushed gingko nuts
Indian summer fades

Darker

Scratching quill on paper
Blood like ink dries darker
More bitter on gritty soil

October 17, 2012

Echoes

I had a dream before waking in which I was a student again and my professor tasked me with designing an eight story tall library building. I left campus not knowing what to do because I had one night to design it. I went to the hospital to go talk to my mom but she was busy teaching her own students (though she never teaches in real life). I left and went to a pub, some place unfamiliar though it felt like the west side of San Francisco perhaps the Richmond near USF. The inside of the pub was greenish. I could not find a table large enough to layout the roll of schematics and blueprints I had under my arm for a long time. The pool tables were taken. Finally, I ordered a chicken fried steak but had a hard time choosing a beer. The barkeep finally suggested an Oktoberfest styled beer called Echo after he showed me the grains and hops they use to brew the beer.

October 12, 2012

Rot

This morning leaves are still damp
Wooden fence displaying water streaks
Finally, first rain has come to bathe
The people's resentments, but fruits of
Collective discontent when wet, rots

October 10, 2012

Almost Autumn

My almost Autumn
Killed by Indian Summer
Give me fallen leaves

October 2, 2012

crow

crow caws thinks leaving
passing day move on
flight feathers new journey

september 27, 2012

Bitter

This tea so fragrant
So green like shadows
Of reluctant sunrises

This fragrance stirs
Dried leaves inside; sparks,
Soon feathers will aflame

September 27, 2012

Departure

Glancing out the window at
The earliest shades of Autumn.
Leaves contemplating departure

From graying gnarled branches; a
Gradual decent to mist dampened soil.
A red tailed hawk swoops low; tilts,
A flash of sienna in its spread tail.

The hamster pauses then freezes;
still motionless tribble-like, as
I fill another Yixing cup with Oolong.

September 24, 2012

Autumn

Early morning bitter red tea
Steam rises to face, a seasonal touch.

A few dry leaves crunch
Underfoot leaving rusty crumbs.

Autumn arrives; my heart warms,
Soon crackle of chestnuts roasting.

September 22 2012

Sencha and The Boss

Sencha and The Boss aren't companions,
First thing in morning, when sun glows
Through grey dawn cover. He speaks
Of faith, I try not to snicker. Thinking about
Trading summer colors for autumn's rust & decay.
He sings about pushin' it till it's understood
And these badlands start treating us good.
So I pick up the quill and pot of ink,
On rough paper this landscape will be redrawn.

September 19, 2012

Paths

A hazy morning or is it fog?
Either substance, the path
Dully shimmers like warm
Breath on cold crystal.
Many hours before time
for sleep and already the
road is long, has been long.
Are cobblestones beneath
Fast waters a blaze to salvation?
Or is there a pyre in which to
Ignite for ashes becoming feathers?

September 18, 2012

Sympathy

Asters glowing in the sun gazing
Up at the lone mourning dove
Quietly perched alone on faded fence
Golden petals drooping in sympathy
For his solitary silence as Autumn nears

September 14, 2012

Wish Tree

Leaves trying to drift with wind
Still tethered to branch and trunk
Wishes desiring pilgrimage to heaven
Still burdened with earthly vices
My wish tree is one I draw each day
Then burn to free them from my mind

September 10, 2012

Trade

Scent of Oolong in my nose
Warm early sun grazes asters
Shade on far side hints of Fall
Time to trade wool for cotton
Eager for coming season's frost

September 9, 2012

Waking

Feather quill scratches paper
Feeble vibrations grazes my hand
Vellum's tooth evokes dormant dreams
I know this process from time past
I have seen these images already
Time for spirited imaginings to wake

September 4, 2012

Quill

It started as a blank, once a living tree
Felled and cut to pieces,
Limbs and digits bleached in the sun
Now in this tired fingers I search for its life
Turning it into something to be stained
Into something manipulated and pushed
It becomes an extension of this tired hand
It becomes a tactile voice of these tired eyes

September 3, 2012

Thinning Vines

Thinning tomato vines
Beneath a grey late Summer ceiling
Pungent scent on my stained fingers
Fine cilia scratches skin like
A cat wanting attention
Scarlet orbs in dirty palm
See translucent fragile skin
Mouth waters imagining taste of
Sweet savory fruit dipped in sea salt

September 1, 2012

Autumn Moon

The sound of mourning doves
cooing through the open window
woke me ahead of passing cars

Soon the night air will be too cold
to leave the glass open wide

Soon I will have to place a blanket
on the bed instead of soft thin sheets

But I am already imagining
the Autumn moon feigning shyness
behind gossamer clouds
during the cooling midnight

I will watch her and wait
for the silhouettes of migrating birds
against her bright face flying South

August 31, 2012

Endings

Summer is waning and
I can't wait for autumn

Give me the falling leaves
Give me the golds and reds of forests
Readying for respite

Summer will lie down when the fall
Mist greets me in mornings

The smell of dry bark will tickle my nose
The sound of cracking twigs will make me giddy

And I shall watch the orange sun
Each evening reflecting fallen foliage

August 30, 2012

pre dawn

before dawn wakes i toil restlessly
in dreams to push her away
looking for more hours of sweet slumber
looking for more hours of reverie
to soothe my bruised soul
yet beyond these eyelids there is pink
it is not my thin flesh but the magenta of a new day

 august 28, 2012

Chino the Hamster

He was sleeping in my arm and started snoring. We managed to get only one squeak before he woke.