Moving Away

May springs, cut kite strings
Cast my anchor far ahead.
Ship will follow suit.

Oh, that's sweet.

Sentimental dust
Variations in sugar
for sweet-toothed masses.

Locker Room Haiku

Grim Reaper tattoo
Shirt tucked in tighty whities
Tell me, who are you?

New Blossoms

I got back to Seattle on New Years Eve just in time to run home, change, buy champagne and head over to a friend's house for a great pork roast dinner with potatoes, squash and caramelized onions accompanied by sparkling shiraz, rosés and French 75s. I'm still a bit jet-lagged and getting myself tired out by bringing in the New Year night after night has added to the fatigue-it's time for a break from the holiday season and a little bit of normalcy this month-and year-with the new job, new friends and academic prospects. Glad to be back "home."

Haiku time...still bringing out the haikus from my creative marathon a few weeks ago.

Do withered flowers
Fear being plucked? Or do they
Pine for human touch?

Artwork by yours truly, May '06

Supernatural Swirly

End of Indy Four
Like end of Mummy Returns
Explody and dumb

Second screenshot from The Mummy Returns

Winter Haiku

Hear the devil laugh
When the weather reporters
Fail in prediction.

It is in cold hours
Candles are weak and I seek
the light of your eyes.

This cup was not meant
For hot liquids; you now run
The risk of melting.

Happy Hour

There are still a few places in town you can get a cosmopolitan under $5.00 during happy hour. What about $2.00? Believe it or not, Bleu Bistro serves $2.00 cosmos and lemondrops during their happy hours-often bringing them to the table two at a time. You also can't go to Bleu without having their Wasabi Grilled Cheese sandwhich served with three dipping sauces. Bread, cheese and dipping. Yes please.

Still my favorite happy hour in town has to be at Palomino from 4-6PM everyday. Who can beat $5.00 pizzas and $4.00 (formerly $3.00) wine, appletinis and draft beer?

Today's haiku:

I am at happy
hour on an empty stomach.
I will eat this lime.

Suspenders

I am writing an exciting new paper for a new conference. Grad apps are in. I completed my annual tradition of watching the Lord of the Rings trilogy-the extended edition, of course-during the month of December, though not in one sitting. It snowed. My apartment is freezing. I am going home for Christmas.

And poor as I may be, I allowed myself to buy a pair of suspenders this afternoon. I haven't owned suspenders in two decades-give or take. I also wrote just shy of a dozen haikus today. They will make their way onto the blog in due time.

Here is the first of the lot:

These new suspenders
Will make many more outfits
From this small closet.

And yes, dear readers, these are the very suspenders I now own.

So many wardrobe possibilities-possibly paired with a black bow tie or any number of the colorful and fanciful-and by fanciful I mean absolutely ridiculous-bow ties passed down to me from my father's childhood collection. Seriously, there's a box. Don't get me started on the neckties.

In The Industry

Today has been a rather stressful day at work, hence the frequent need to escape in the form of sweet poetry and all other sorts of fun-filled blogging practices.

My frustration in poetry form...

Hospitality:
May find it necessary
To pack a sharp shiv

Speaking of shivs...

Inmates have even
Sharpened the ends of pork chop
Bones to make weapons.

The White Van

For my job, I often am required to book shuttle service for large groups and one of the companies I was recommended by a colleague of mine was Seattle Shuttle. I very much trust the gentleman who suggested I use their services, although after increasingly odd interactions with their staff members and their use of large, unmarked vans makes me slightly apprehensive about calling them too often.

For example, while waiting for a pick-up a few weeks ago, one of the drivers-an incessant talker with deep set eyes and a greasy, brown ponytail-casually mentioned to me that he would like to murder the person who invented text messaging with a long-range rifle. He he he...

"Yeah...alright, sir...I'll just step over here."

I thought the circumstances merited a haiku.

Seattle Shuttle
Your generic white vans come
to kidnap my guests.

Work Haiku

Lilies-syrup sweet
Scent-recall the months I worked
A funeral home.

Double espresso!
How are you? The steaming wand
Screamed over your name.

As you and your friend
Ponder your poison at length,
My patience dwindles.

Food Haiku

I was drinking coffee at my apartment the other day and of all things, it inspired me to write some haiku-all of which, for whatever reason, ended up being about food, perhaps evidence of my lament concerning the ever-rising cost of food in this country.

The curls of the cream
In my coffee twist and turn
Somehow sinister.

Sometimes I subsist
On just grilled cheese sandwhiches
And tomato soup.

When someone makes me
A hot breakfast, my heart warms
More than my stomach.

Speaking of cream-curls, last year around this time, my coworkers and I spent a surprising amount of time taking pictures of cream falling and swirling into iced tea.

I'm quite fine with being so easily amused in this fashion.