I re-discovered haiku after taking a jazz poetry workshop and found that I enjoy the form. Most of the haiku I have written is related to jazz, but I am starting to use it for other topics. Here are three of those.

Mighty and muddy,
the river exudes power
and elicits peace.

Rivers turnover,
and like neighboring cities,
are revitalized.

Nature demands our
respect, but rewards us by
renewing our souls.

I attended a program about the Kennedy-Nixon Debates, which were the first televised presidential debates. This poem was inspired by remarks about the difference between politics then and politics now.

Give Me a Skillful Manager

I yearn for the days
when politicians were
engineers not ideologists.
Their decisions were not
pre-packaged, but freshly made
as called for by circumstance.
They did not vote against
other people, but other principles.
They practiced what seems to be
the forgotten art of doing
what is right at the time.

Two of my jazz poems were published in the Rusty Truck Poetry Zine. One is a biopoem of Lena Horne called Chosen and the other is three haiku that I combined into one poem titled Trio. Go to rustytruck.wordpress.com and scroll down to find the poems.

This poem was inspired by the same event as Humanitarians. Throughout the presentations and acceptance speeches, the ideas of advocacy, speaking out and finding your voice recurred.

Voices

Voices come in

different registers

different volumes

different temperments

different languages

different accents

different genders

different races

different ages

but they are all

made to speak.

I wrote this after attending an event at which a number of people were recognized for the good works they do. One of the honorees is a friend. The poem came from some of the words I heard that evening and from what I knew or learned about the honorees.

Humanitarians

Some have the resources
to change the physical
landscape of a community,
but more often, they alter
the social and cultural terrain.
They advocate, exhort and support
and likely are the first to do so.
They will influence some that they target
and some they don't even know exist.
They may be so far ahead of the crowd
that it seems they are talking to themselves.
Yet, the words carry and the crowd catches up.
They know that having rights requires
doing right, of your own accord.
They make us better because
they are the best of us.

Every so often, I come up with something that is a little lighter. This was triggered by a true incident, but the details are fiction. It lends credence to the idea that having the winning ticket doesn't always make life easier.

Can't Get the TV to Oklahoma

Won a drawing in Kansas City,
but I live far away
Thought my daughter
would help me get my prize,
but that'll be the day
Bought the ticket for a raffle
so my grandson could play ball
Now if I want my TV,
I'll have to rent a U-Haul.
The family thinks
it won by default,
but I'll have the final say.
I'll just move in with them
and never go away.

When I started working on this poem, I intended to write about several elements of autumn. As often happens, the piece took its own direction.

Autumn Revelation

Reds and golds and oranges
hang against a blue background,
are caught up in a chill wind
and eventually cover the ground.
Their absence reveals the framework
that is the constant in this cycle
and opens up views
that their fullness obscures.
The way we see our world each day
is altered by the loss.