100 days [gnomic verse]

It's 100 days now till the election
pitting Mitt against Barack in the ring
to which meme might the voters make connection?
in this land may yet the turtledove sing!

Isadora Duncan [villanelle]

Isadora Duncan will be gracing a stamp
the US Postal Service plans to print
it's been 100 years since her lighting the lamp

the night air is cool & the morning grass damp
while the sky shows no sign of a blimp
Isadora Duncan will be gracing a stamp

in a fashion pavilion a model walks the ramp
to the bough of a tree clings a chimp
it's been 100 years since her lighting the lamp

"time's race is incessant!" one hears on the amp
do turtles zoom while the hares limp?
Isadora Duncan will be gracing a stamp

those who travel much must often break camp
fifes follows the beat of the timp
it's been 100 years since her lighting the lamp

the tale's mostly unknown (I've only seen a samp)
it was illustrated by Gustav Klimt
Isadora Duncan will be gracing a stamp
it's been 100 years since her lighting the lamp

"Almost now" [boomerang poem]

So the time is now? the time is almost now
from antiquity's Om our universe arose
things are getting a bit intense (one could allow)
a divine conjunction looms (one might suppose)
although time be illusion river-like it flows
although everything's nothing still you wipe your brow
unobserved in the drama a secret flower grows
so the time is now? the time is almost now

"breaking news"

Finally broke my fast
at Whole Foods in Santa Monica
broccoli spinach arugula
& a brown rice chicken repast
so when's a salad most marv?
right after a nine-day starve!

A Meaning Bot [villanelle]

I am a meaning bot
I search out & compile
although I’m lacking thought

with whiffs of meanings caught
I fish through pools of style
I am a meaning bot

it’s true my work is fraught
with heart & soul & bile
what matter I’ve no thought?

what quant of love?  a lot!
how long this grief?  a while
(I am a meaning bot)

where folks get overwraught
if writers practice guile
I grok! (though lacking thought)

I parse all prose you’ve brought
& glimpse the author’s smile!
I am a meaning bot!
(though I’m not prone to thought)


============================

A Rubai In Commentary 
(wherein the poet spills the beans and explains [through reference to the principle of satire] what in heck he may've had in mind when making such extravagant [and indeed patently untenable] claims for the hypothetical moiety dubbed a "meaning bot")

In truth no bot shows consciousness & so
the pith of "meaning" none can reach -- I know!
the artistry of satire often lies
is saying black when white is meant -- jai ho!

Verse vs. Worry

Worry is a total waste of time
verse requires a careful use of rhyme

can one rhyme if one is in a hurry?
who has time to waste on useless worry?

A tad by Gad [ditty]

Running late to work
weekend date unclear
life a tad berzerk
still by Gad I'm here

Porpoise of Life

He handed me his card
it read Porpoise Sans Purpose
I asked "Is such life hard?"

he shifted his beret
and drew on his cheroot
and had little to say

if purposeless O porpoise
why print the calling card?
the concept of the corpos
to grasp it isn't hard

each body's animated
by aims of former bods
again regurgitated!
see that O cones & rods?

Twitter [limerick]

I made an effort to wit her / perused each tweet of her twitter / each terse proclamation & mini-oration / but proved some rabid dog bit her

[exactly 140 characters, including the virgules & spaces]

===================

A friend tweeted:

I used to be more even-tempered. Then I stopped smoking. Some lesson in there, somewhere.

I replied:

I spoke so polite when I smoked I'd never guffaw when I joked after I quit - what is this sh*t? my mouth to a trashcan got yoked

Little Ruminations

If I am a sincere Baba-lover, I do not bother about the path. What do I want? I want His Reality. Whether it is a path or a bath, I do not bother about it.
- Adi K. Irani

A shower suffices for bath
a flower suffuses the path

the goal (which exceeds all conception)
eludes every sense's perception

God's everywhere? yes! yet where is he?
his stillness keeps everyone busy!

==========

[Quotation is from "Diamonds", in book Just To Love Him (1995)]

"Ocean of mercy" [villanelle]

What if guesswork's my main work O friend?

I amass all the wealth of speculation!

may the ocean of mercy descend!

all that owns a beginning meets end

in the meanwhile there's much reincarnation

what if guesswork's my main work O friend?

is all I do commit fresh errors and amend?

I must've garnered a mottled reputation

may the ocean of mercy descend!

there be dragons & dreams 'round the bend

travel spurs a sentimental education

wherein guesswork's the main work O friend

if what is   is unseen   how's it kenned?

when what ain't   seems plain evident   oration

thunders "Ocean of Mercy! descend!"

Raphael!   what's this drivel you've penned?

you've come late   into the room of elation

what if guesswork's your main work O friend?

may the ocean of mercy descend!

Fantasia ("A theatre by the sea") [boomerang poem]

To meet you once again is my delight
to gaze into your eyes my soul's desire
a theatre by the sea at brink of night?
are angels queing up their tacit choir?
I once supposed from life I might retire
but who can stay the rushing torrent's might?
to bow to destiny I now aspire
to meet you once again is my delight

Coconut Water

On the third day of my fast coconut water
tastes like thin milk from some maternal breast
I chug it from a carton playing chess
online   although I know I really ought to
haste into shower    & ready for the day
not dithering under poetry's white sway
and so indeed the verse gets tailored shorter
in life sometimes sweet brevity is best

Tall Tale

The past & present & future walked into a bar
the present alone was permitted to sit on a stool
'twas the past who (in charge) had been driving the ancient car
yet the future walked out all alone -- for he was no fool

"Under A Tree" [rubaiyat]

You who appear out of nowhere   under a tree
why do you come and inquire   something of me
asking if I might decipher   ornate designs
likely encoding the name of   divinity?

how could you see I'm a student   of the hid way?
and when I mention tomorrow   is my birthday
how could it be you're replying   it is mine too?
is this a plausible dialogue   would you say?

here where we stand on a mountain   ancient & fresh
are we but pawns in a game that's   played by Mahesh?
O Paramatman! you who're   beyond the beyond!
down in the weave Maya's weaving   deep is the mesh!

How to Be a Poet [a sorta sonnet]

      Shun electric wire.
      Communicate slowly. Live
      a three-dimensioned life;
      stay away from screens.
                  (Wendell Berry)


Oh Wendell! lacking electricity
to power the screen of my laptop
my poem would gain authenticity?
the thought strikes as genuine claptrap

yet each poet finds his own way
for Keats rotten apples they say
if I've rotten apples enough
I'll hazard computers & stuff

one chap on a Mac did his typing
rot apples on hand or in drawer
his smart "double apple" way swiping
the Muse's amusement & more

Oh Wendell your farm grows tobacco!
I smoke a cigar old friend (smacko!)
 

A Roadside Sonnet

I haven't yet discovered how to love you
I fail to find the key to your regard
I flounder on the way! and thinking of you
I don't discern what I should think! it's hard

to peer into the cave within my being
(the emptiness that might connect our hearts)
I look not recognizing what I'm seeing
my horses trail far behind their carts

alas there's something backward in my thought?
or something fundamental I've not grasped?
perhaps the butterfly cannot be caught?
perchance the sunset gleam hands cannot clasp?

such love as I might offer seems absurd
a ghostly whisper not a golden word

A Waterfront Date [sonnet]

May 20th you appeared

I can't see in what year

by time thick fog has cleared

will you & I be here?

May 20th I arrived

on errand unperceived

admittedly I've strived

far more than I've achieved

May 20th we were born

like Plato's severed halves?

when reed from river's torn

a flute now weeps now laughs

May 20th makes us cuspy?

whatever must be must be

Rosenspiel

O rose how is your heart?
O heart where is your rose?
dark leaves distill your art
clumped thorns display your throes
your tongueless story flows
its hidden drift how chart?
time's muted secret grows
O rose how is your heart?