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Archive for 'Daily Haiku'

even thieves need to recharge

Thursday, May 16th, 2019

The burglar stopped to
pet the cats and hunt through the
refrigerator.

• • •

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disinterest rates

Wednesday, May 15th, 2019

So many movies
to skip, so many people
to fully avoid.

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huddled around the phone

Tuesday, May 14th, 2019

The video plays.
We’re unable to stifle
ruptures of laughter.

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murder none

Monday, May 13th, 2019

Shoot whoever you
want, but be wealthy enough
to purchase justice.

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yellow snow

Sunday, May 12th, 2019

Filing nails to a
fine powder, keratin falls
in a flesh blizzard.

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fair-feathered fiend

Saturday, May 11th, 2019

I kept an owl
to scare the mice and hoot hoot
around the house house.

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true hunger

Friday, May 10th, 2019

Never being full
on water, ketchup soup and
ketchup sandwiches.

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milky ways

Thursday, May 9th, 2019

Many dimensions,
but they’re all based on shades of
white, eggshell, ecru …

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you never know how you’ll be judged

Wednesday, May 8th, 2019

Height, weight, hairstyle, wealth,
credit score, car, breath, teeth, shoe
size, grammar, aura.

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the asians you see on tv

Tuesday, May 7th, 2019

Nerd, tech guy, awkward
loner, kung fu guy, but not
the love interest.

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aging eyeballs

Monday, May 6th, 2019

The letters became
blurrier and blurrier
till he switched contacts.

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to swerve man

Sunday, May 5th, 2019

It is not enough
to feign disdain; let us dig
deep and feign action.

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three kinds of memory

Saturday, May 4th, 2019

Long-term fact storage.
Planning future strategy.
(I forgot the third.)

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short play date

Friday, May 3rd, 2019

The pit scampered in
and made a beeline for the
comfortable couch.

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Wade's Daily Haiku

Wade’s 101: Haiku retrospective 49

Thursday, May 2nd, 2019

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  1. drives of fancy
    They shut the highways
    down to rebuild. If only
    hovercars swooped in …
  2. cotton candy snickers
    Every candy has
    a set of improbable
    flavors to stump tongues.
  3. the struggle is fake
    No victims but me.
    No truth but my talking heads.
    No vengeance but mine.
  4. a swamp to call one’s own
    Turf gives way to mush
    as rainy season brings a
    never ending soak.
  5. in the foothills of appalachia
    A remarkable
    city teeming with magic
    and nothing to lose.
  6. do i dare eat a peach?
    We fail to reckon
    what we put in motion with
    choices, abstentions.
  7. the three kinds of happiness
    Holding a kitten.
    Finishing a marathon.
    And eating ice cream.
  8. snow dance
    Trudge in a circle
    around empty milk cartons
    while shaking textbooks.
  9. junk in the junk
    A place to store junk.
    A place to pick up bought junk.
    A place to junk junk.
  10. the broken parts of the library
    The heat and AC,
    the escalators, leaky
    ceilings, sewage flow.
  11. ghost of writings past
    Struck hard by a muse,
    the words flowed with grace and ease
    till they came up dry.
  12. common bore
    They teach to the test,
    the test that measures how well
    students fill bubbles.
  13. yada yada yada
    Ten years of tweeting
    gets you a dumb hashtag and
    some aching fingers.
  14. pro-creation
    Stop buying and start
    making. Imagination
    fuels the best presents.
  15. the not me theory of achievement
    To motivate folks,
    “Well, someone’s gotta do it.”
    History is made.
  16. to sleep, and sleep some more
    The snooze button is
    a mere suggestion. Fatigue
    is the only clock.
  17. inner growth
    It is not enough
    to claim our past misdeeds but
    to learn from them, too.
  18. affirmative reaction
    A yearbook full of
    bimbos wearing blackface who
    grow up to be pols.
  19. inside the industry
    Surly manager
    barks at servers, customers
    to spread her bad cheer.
  20. books not yet on tape
    The narrator sits
    in the booth surrounded by
    ghosts of characters.
  21. contentment on demand
    No button on the
    remote can scare up what we
    demand in our souls.
  22. the re-evolution of language
    More tech, more letters
    and emoji for more weird
    acronyms, hashtags.
  23. confession is good for the soul
    Let us lay bare our
    foibles and weaknesses to
    grow stronger for it.
  24. affection disorder
    Love (remarkable
    and unremarkable) fills
    the world with splendor.
  25. gratitude day 0
    Let me recall the
    ways my life is very good
    when times are rotten.
  26. with liberty and gaping wounds for all
    I pledge allegiance
    to the gun, to the lobby
    for which it adores …
  27. a most comfortable rut
    The status quo so
    ordinary it defies
    extremes and insights.
  28. shortcuts to culinary mastery
    Is it cooking to
    assemble a meal kit? Or
    to microwave stuff?
  29. papy r us
    It’s a paperless
    world till you write a check, send
    a letter, swat flies.
  30. soggy state of affairs
    The scorched earth has drowned
    in weeks of rainfall. The skies
    will show no mercy.
  31. the cookie fairy
    Boxes of delight
    and sugar fly to the door
    steps of those who dream.
  32. beyond the bible and pilgrim’s progress
    No one can be bored.
    No one should be bored. We live
    in this peak culture.
  33. state of the union
    Corruption upon
    corruption, lie upon lie,
    so much truth to find.
  34. oscar sunday
    Check on the limo,
    squeeze into impossibly
    tight dress, wave to fans.
  35. the new shorthand
    Let us trade our thoughts
    in acronyms and smileys,
    hashtags and selfies.
  36. mineshaft means
    Work in the dark. Breathe
    in the dark. Go home in the
    dark. Die in the dark.
  37. living dead metropolis
    Smashed parking meters,
    burnt shells of houses, rubble
    roads, murderous wolves.
  38. rip western
    A grocer made his
    way through growing pains and tough
    times, feeding us all.
  39. water worked
    The best tear-jerkers
    bring joy then sadness, hope then
    hopelessness. Then hope.
  40. a most imperfect impression
    What do we remem-
    ber? What do we recall with-
    out flubbing details?
  41. the promise of a park
    Where once rubble could
    emerge a green space. Instead,
    a new interstate.
  42. say it with gifs
    Silent cartoons that
    pop with personality
    on screens big and small.
  43. look higher
    If an employee
    fails, check out his boss. If a
    child errs, probe parents.
  44. the harm from words
    The testimony
    of the oppressed yields tears and
    yawns from oppressors.
  45. common senses
    An outlook shaped by
    media and moms, values
    and voices. We think.
  46. at the end of her trope
    She swooned at the ball.
    She waited helplessly for
    him. She cried and cried.
  47. verbing weirds language
    Real adults know that
    “adulting” is not a word.
    So very childish.
  48. revisionist reality
    What was history
    becomes modern trauma when
    the facts are questioned.
  49. strip mining for data
    A soul laid bare for
    computers to harvest our
    tastes, sins and secrets.
  50. how ai wins
    They will not need to
    own us, just impersonate
    our online presence.
  51. fitzgerald and me
    Let me tell you a-
    bout the very rich. They are
    different from you.
  52. beyond trauma
    When surviving is
    no longer the most urgent,
    take some time to heal.
  53. all the broken happy ever afters
    What about us? What
    about all the times you said
    you had the answers?
  54. the hatred behind closed doors
    Teens say the word and
    giggle. They learned it from their
    community clans.
  55. an eternity and a day
    Life’s too short. Or is
    it too long? Depends on which
    end you’re living in.
  56. library of regress
    Leaky ceilings and
    broken escalators in
    the home of our books.
  57. wagers of sin
    Always bet on your-
    self. Unless you suffer from
    a gambling problem.
  58. season’s greetings
    Warm thoughts turn to warm
    days, warm ways. Rejoice in the
    demise of winter.
  59. snooze and snooze again
    Just five more minutes.
    Hide under the covers till
    reality wins.
  60. work of the past, work of the future
    Hard labor to desk
    jobs to lives of uselessness
    in front of bright screens.
  61. the classics
    Where titans conquer
    and peasants falter, where man
    meets himself and weeps.
  62. the great gatsby
    Self-made man worships
    ritzy ditzy blonde, felled by
    American dream.
  63. a portrait of the artist as a young man
    Coming of age in
    Dublin, straying from and to
    the Church, a soul freed.
  64. the chronicles of narnia
    Seven books proclaim
    loudly: Have you heard the Good
    News about Aslan?
  65. moby dick
    Like “The Old Man and
    the Sea,” but with a bigger
    fish, meaner captain.
  66. the passing of the family dog
    He begged for scraps, dug
    up the yard, chewed on shoes. And
    will be sorely missed.
  67. 1984
    Winston smoked out by
    police. Oceania
    wages war on truth.
  68. fahrenheit 451
    Books make good kindling.
    Fear the written word, but not
    the flames it brings forth.
  69. a song of ice and fire
    When you play the game
    of thrones, you win or you die.
    There’s no middle ground.
  70. trolling millions
    You can fool a lot
    of the people a lot of
    the time with Facebook.
  71. watching hoops on 11 screens
    With each basket, the
    cheers grew louder, the drunks got
    drunker. Go, team, go.
  72. digging for ones and zeroes
    Tiny bots with no
    degrees dive deep into the
    data mines for days.
  73. not a name but a data point
    White, female, 30,
    Baptist, 5-foot-4, middle
    class, 110.
  74. more data points
    Shops at Target, hits
    yoga every Thursday, drives
    a black Explorer.
  75. data points in action
    Sell you this, at the
    right time, right size, right price, through
    manipulation.
  76. track and field
    Joggers and doggers,
    strollers and rollers, walkers
    and talkers go round.
  77. where new cars graze in place
    Shiny vehicles
    occupy every parking
    space and fire lane.
  78. the resurrection of the receiver
    All it took was a
    simple unplug and plug to
    bring it back to life.
  79. the forest, but not for long
    Groves of pines, maples
    and oaks sacrificed themselves
    for a new Marshalls.
  80. the soul-sucking news cycle
    Stay informed and go
    nuts vs. ignore it all:
    A false dilemma?
  81. rare catch
    Fish parts wrapped in rice
    and seaweed, with a little
    wasabi and soy.
  82. alexa is listening
    Jeff Bezos, you are
    eavesdropping on my private
    convo with my cat.
  83. regrets and remissions
    Sometimes, a money
    order is just as good as
    an apology.
  84. taxing situation
    Fill out the form, fill
    out the checkbook, look at the
    receipts, check the math.
  85. notre dame
    A majestic church
    where eyes turn heavenward and
    souls sing and rejoice.
  86. uncurrent currency
    Money orders, beads,
    barter, two-dollar bills, fine
    metals, shells, squirrel pelts.
  87. corneal implode
    Eyes burning with specks
    of pollen, stings of contacts,
    strains of tiny words.
  88. chicken coop co-op
    Poor possum. Trying
    to eat farm fresh, but cannot
    get to store on time.
  89. silence breeds creativity
    The golden sound of
    nothing yields a delight to
    ears and minds and hearts.
  90. the promise of easter
    Can we be reborn?
    Can we atone for sins and
    grow into new selves?
  91. leaves behind
    Trees shiver in their
    nakedness. How long before
    their new coat is done?
  92. the haunted rite-aid
    Aisles empty, lights on,
    ghosts of shoppers chit-chat with
    ghost of bored worker.
  93. the war over grass
    Puff puff pass. Send ’em
    all to prison to enrich
    the rich, slam the poor.
  94. the russians aren’t invited
    To our socials and
    our media, to our votes
    and our candidates.
  95. viva los measles
    Spotted tongue, spotted
    skin, spotty info, hot spots
    for bedded bodies.
  96. the heroes we deserve
    Enthralled by big screen
    spectacle made from comic
    book pages sprung to life.
  97. the worst seat in the house
    Stumbling around in
    darkness hitting stairs and rails
    sitting in a lap.
  98. quicksand of emotion
    Sinking ever so
    slowly into malaise and
    comforting sadness.
  99. what was once television’s provenance
    YouTube the teacher,
    the babysitter, the stealth
    corruptor, the void.
  100. spoiler phobia
    Don’t tell me about
    the show. No no no no no—
    dammit, tweet screwed me.
  101. comfort drink
    A shot, a beer, then
    three more shots and an IV
    drip of tequila.

• • •

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Wade's Daily Haiku | Photo: Steve Johnson (CC) https://bit.ly/23DJ3yF