rehearsals, day 17

Saturday, June 20th, 2015

He would speak into
the remote for hours. The
dog was not impressed.

• • •

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Wade’s 101: Haiku retrospective 35

Friday, June 19th, 2015

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weeds among the weary vehicles
The roving robot
wrangled wandering carts from
lot purgatory.

a period of unconsciousness
The hyphen lay still
between parentheses, just
out of his comma.

worlds apart
Let’s live in our own
universes, unchecked by
facts or sanity.

shirk ethic
Let the other guy
do it. Coffee breaks won’t take
themselves, now, will they?

a professional grump
It’s not for the pay.
The consummate grump does it
for the love of pain.

new new beginnings
This is the Monday
I start my diet, early
rising, workouts, prayers.

dine and dish
The kitchen crew spent
an afternoon lunch break with
laughter and rantings.

reset the chairs
Each seat would drift down
the sea of carpet, floated
back by tides of hands.

they who would do good but not good enough
The discussion on
hunger ended with guests’ half-
full plates in the trash.

emerging tendrils
The ground cannot hold
back the seeds reaching for the
unlimited sky.

half-caf, no-foam race relations
She handed out both
lattes and observations
from pale to dark brown.

give our regards to the chef
The first try was meh.
The second, somewhat better.
The third, edible.

even pups make believe
Two wolves battle for
territory and fat sheep
atop the canyon.

the wiggly tooth
The incisor found
no rest along the bottom
gum, so he cut out.

protecting the garden
Squirrels, rabbits and cats
circled protectively round
the blooming bounty.

the death of signal
The report is due
any minute. The wifi
commits suicide.

my heart, i give it to you
I spill my guts for
you to digest, not for real
but in many words.

steady the quiver
Bow before the bow.
Let the vile target tremble
till the point is made.

something but net
The accountant fed
each receipt, each napkin, each
stub into the gross.

app happy
When to breathe, where to
go, what to eat, how to move
and when to upgrade.

a masterpiece in three cuts
A snip here, a cut
there, soon it will be worthy
of an audience.

kale the wonder drug
Mash some up with your
pills. Rub some on your skin. Snort
it as a powder.

burnt roof-of-mouth syndrome
Eat the pizza while
it’s hot or suffer through the
bitter cold slices.

seat 48c
The tiny door slams
shut 10 times an hour, then
the sound of pissing.

fear of missing any
Goodbye to each lost
second, wasted minute and
ill-chosen hour.

and a bunny shan’t lead them
No lowly rabbit
or other creature would serve
as risen prophet.

not even to order flowers
She resisted the
necessity of calling
anyone at all.

to bare it all in an mp3
A jumble of words
into lyrics, a splash of
chords into a tune.

dare to be somewhat above average
The salaryman
dreamt of a slightly nicer
car and taller kids.

peas, love and understanding
From a little pot
grew a stem and some leaves and
pods in the offing.

the organizers
One wanted matching
T-shirts, the other wanted
spontaneous trust.

running lines
The tenor jogged up
and down the stairs before back
onstage to sing swing.

harvest of shamelessness
The country folk came
to gawk at the city folk
and sell peach preserves.

the queue for the 3d printer
Crosses, models, globes,
weapons, abstract sculptures, pens
and 3D toner.

no accounting
Piles of receipts plus
stacks of pay stubs minus debts
equals large headache.

road warrior 2015
Uber takes the wheel,
Siri takes dictation, and
hipsters take the bus.

shut the front door
The introvert stayed
at home and lived happily
forever after.

click play to save money
Do-it-yourself heart
surgery seemed easy thanks
to YouTube lessons.

the body, the antenna
Radio waves flow
through vessels and nerves, tuning
in the crooner’s soul.

seek pleasure or seek safety
Keep your head down or
go after your wildest dream,
the choice of each day.

what price oil?
Punch the ocean and
drown the men to keep our tanks
full of gas and blood.

down in the data mines
They chipped away at
boulders looking for nuggets
of consumer trends.

distracted guardians
The angel on his
shoulder was texting, while the
devil was sexting.

coswar
Nerds in Spandex line
up for popcorn and trade tales
of comic legends.

two days’ grace
Lie in meadows and
breathe in fragrant winds and bask
in joyous freedom.

the clinking of glasses
A happy noise rings
out over and over with
bubbly drinks and smiles.

a new routine
He considered a
change to his morning habits
while he overslept.

a tragedy, as told in bruises
Her arms marked where he
shook her; her neck, where he choked
her; her ribs, his jabs.

green scene
The fertilizer
nourished all. Even the weeds
grew thicker, lusher.

the post-drizzle unveiling
The crew swept away
the giant handkerchief to
reveal a dry field.

stenographers in progress
The room was quiet,
save for the clickety-clack
of keys lightly tapped.

invasion of the countertop ants
Ten ants crushed, and then
another 10 take their place
to steal tiny bites.

living history in short, violent booms
The North and the South
clash on modern battlefields
thanks to old blue laws.

blessed are the mighty
What good is holy
comfort at the expense of
the least among us?

sip and slur
The flask appeared quite
suddenly to offer a
brief but needed jolt.

fight night
All it took was one
demolishing blow to the
skull to finish him.

the good kind of tired
Chores done, projects checked,
birdhouses built, contracts signed
and love songs written.

when the car goes bump in the night
By the side of the
freeway, they swore at the hole
in the flat tire.

parade of homies
Paco didn’t mind
the jeers of rivals. To him,
they sounded so sweet.

hot head
Ultraviolet beams
cooked the bare sections of his
smooth ivory scalp.

a mother’s love
Tender, but also
fierce. Protective, but also
nurturing. Boundless.

infected with ideas
She wanted to change
her life, her job, her house, her
outlook and her hair.

of quiet desperation
The decades ticked past
with little to show heading
to oblivion.

the radio with a thousand presets
The driver couldn’t
find the station for reggae
or sports talk or folk.

everyone’s an expert
Let others decide
how much makeup, how to rear
kids and best yogurts.

conversation with a distracted black dog in the park
Who’s a good boy? bark
bark Are you having fun? bark
bark Come back! bark bark

low-information managers
They scurry from cube
to cube, seeking approval,
dispensing rumors.

in his bones
The weariness found
refuge deep inside his bones,
never to depart.

a sip of tea
The steam lazily
drifted ceilingward, with dark
eddies swirling round.

the platinum age of heroes
Comic panels spring
to life on 50-inch screens
with little Spandex.

thanks, dave
Late night no longer
a time to sleep, but a chance
to laugh and unwind.

the black eye of the gulf
It dwells below the
depths, a cesspool of mankind’s
oil addiction.

sea breeze
Not so much currents
of air as a lullaby
made of atmosphere.

the lonely dunes
I walked along the
lonely dunes and found myself
at one with others.

a holiday, not a holy day
Let us honor the
fallen without piety
or such idol worship.

extended salute
Honor our war dead
by taking proper care of
their grieving loved ones.

numb to criticism
Enough jabs and tweaks
at the hide make it callous
to compliments, too.

the countdown to moving out
Each lazy day brings
the ripe collegian closer
to new surroundings.

self-flagellation
Why are you hitting
yourself? Why are you hitting
yourself? To improve.

harmless rain
It trickled. It poured.
It seemed to never stop. The
ground soaked it all in.

minister of offense
Get in front of the
story, and keep the players
eligible first.

the suggestive jester
She would tell a joke.
Her audience would laugh, then
giggle thoughtfully.

the curiously cute scarecrow
The curiously
cute scarecrow failed to ward off
vermin but scored stares.

summer city scavenging
They posed in front of
the alleyway mural with
their mischievous smiles.

have a day
The cashier is too
cheerful. The phone rep is too
cheerful. Tone it down.

featuring miss snuggles
The teddy bear had
a starring role in the tyke’s
staging of “Snow White.”

selfie fixation
The mirror she used
had a lens and a thousand
faces looking back.

the neighborhood hoarders
The house next door has
more than enough mousetraps and
boxes full of clocks.

rich in nostalgia
Rich in nostalgia,
but poor in decency. Earth,
age 5 billion years.

pray for rain
The dust choked the life
out of everything. The end
days were upon us.

a furnace on four wheels
Open the door to
a blast of compressed hot air,
then stick to the seats.

the miracle of sewage into potable water
Tubular filters
purify waste water in
under an hour.

sleep is a fickle mistress
Many concepts turn
into fickle mistresses
because we lack sense.

the finest print
The elders stared in
wonder at the wee words all
but unreadable.

a mind made of weary
His overtaxed brain
revved down to minimal speed
and seemed to have stalled.

the verbal exhibitionist
Not keen to make friends
but perfectly at ease while
gabbing to thousands.

the summer of me
Popsicles and walks
in twilight and fireflies
and sandy beaches.

zapping the summer doldrums
Does boredom still come
round when the sun’s high and kids
worship Xboxes?

no ac, just 94-degree weather
They sweated themselves
dry in the burnt surroundings
of the living room.

guns win gun war
Let us not weep for
those shot down as long as we
worship firearms.

system of tepid beliefs
I don’t know if I’m
strong enough to stand for some-
thing, for anything.

• • •

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Photo: Steve Johnson (CC)

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guns win gun war

Thursday, June 18th, 2015

Let us not weep for
those shot down as long as we
worship firearms.

• • •

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no ac, just 94-degree weather

Thursday, June 18th, 2015

They sweated themselves
dry in the burnt surroundings
of the living room.

• • •

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zapping the summer doldrums

Tuesday, June 16th, 2015

Does boredom still come
round when the sun’s high and kids
worship Xboxes?

• • •

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The Birmingham channel: As seen from above

Monday, June 15th, 2015

A look at Birmingham in videos …

Drone footage of Red Mountain and Vulcan Park. From Ken Heron.

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Drone footage of Vulcan at night. From Michael Mayhew.

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Garth Brooks performs “Shameless” at the BJCC Legacy Arena this weekend. From Anna Lacy McMains.

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One Huntsville guest’s guide to Y’all Connect 2015. From Moxie Beautiful.

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Tuscaloosa’s Deontay Wilder defeats Eric Molina in round 9 of Saturday’s WBC Heavyweight Championship at Bartow Arena on Southside. From ShoSports.

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Members of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Circus celebrate Blair’s 19th birthday in Birmingham. From HeyoDamo.

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Soccer match featuring the Birmingham Hammers at the Mississippi Brilla in May in Clinton, Miss. From Mississippi Brilla.

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Holocaust survivor Ben Karel Benninga shares his family’s experiences during World War II in German-occupied Holland. The lecture took place May 12 at Homewood Public Library. From Birmingham Holocaust Education Center.

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“The Nearness of You,” performed by Birmingham musicians Chuck King and Tony Lombardo. From King Power Cinema.

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“It was never my dream …,” a look at clients of Grace House Ministries in Fairfield. From Grace House Ministries.

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Top 5 Things to Do in Birmingham. From Megan Tsang.

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“Doggone,” a night of poetry and hot dogs February at the Desert Island Supply Company in Woodlawn. From Jeff Marley.

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Legacy Arena at the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex gets its signage. From Telegraph Branding.

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“No More Birmingham,” a public service announcement on ending violence in the city. From Marks Media.

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The National Transportation Safety Board shares lessons from the 2013 crash of UPS 1354 on approach to Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport. From NTSB.

• • •

Send us links to your videos. | More videos on the Birmingham channel.