queen deals halloween a blow

spooky place

unretouched photos (c-2016) 

haiku x 2

a drone at dawn 

an air on an broken piano 

sam plays it again . . . and again

we smoke another camel

and down another bud

the weather couldn't be better

impenetrable to man - the background radiation

light years distant

and all the blinds are pulled down

- is someone asleep?


if there is a god in a heaven that's where it could be / behind the background radiation / that surrounds the 14.7 billion year universe / as the shell of an egg surrounds all that's inside it / and so we peck away / like chickens trying to be born

a drizzle of leaves

home with a bag of cheap books

and the sky turning black

Up

Up 
in the steel grey  
sky

the millionaire cranes
are swinging back 
and forth 

and forth 
and 
back 

above 
the city's 
token planted tree 

beside a road 
where a blue
-grey bird 

is nodding
and pecking 
in roadside grit

and a man on skid row
in need of a bath
is sitting alone

in a shelter
for public 
transport guests

haiku-pecker

peck peck-peck peck-peck / 
peck-peck peck peck peck-peck-peck / 
peck-peck-peck peck PECK!                                       

temporary solution

haiku

election fever

signs of insecurity

minds of peace now gone

haiku

call me back later

man is a work in progress

of the glowing depths

so much depends
upon
a red wheel
barrow
glazed with rain
water
beside the white
chickens


William Carlos Williams

catching a thought

not one thing exists

and yet the seasons come and go

and things not there we see

as through a mirror

fallen apples

again

last night 

the wind shook 

apples from the tree

the small, the medium and the large

the red, the yellow, and the green 

the blemished and unblemished fruit

the knobbly and the perfect formed

reunited in the bucket 

were carried to the cellar dark

to lie and wait  

till time is ripe

to bring them into light 

again 

The Babylonian Rag

The Babylonian Rag

Is an oracle of sorts

With a whole page devoted

to predictions and projections

Their hot-line is a number

to phone up on my birthday

They charge in cents per minute

Below a small star.

There's an email address

for my lucky lottery numbers

And a website to visit

With books there to buy.

They list their 12 signs

from Virgo to Leo

And turn a blind eye

to the doctor - Ophluchus.

The paper is free.

It keeps me warm in the winter.

the doctor and the zodiac

Ophluchus - the doctor and the snake

The so-called signs of the zodiac are of unequal length;  the sun is in Scorpio for only 7 days, but in Virgo for 45 days, and so on.

A line drawn from Earth to the Sun, the alignment, points to Ophiuchus for 18 days a year.

Between 29th November and 17th December the Earth is in the house of Ophiuchus. 

The houses number 13.

13 is not 12.

Ophiuchus is a doctor or serpent bearer. A healer.

Just what the world needs.

20 Jan - 16 Feb - Capricorn

16 Feb - 11 Mar - Aquarius

11 Mar - 18 Apr - Pisces

18 Apr - 13 May - Aries

13 May - 21 Jne - Taurus

21 Jne - 20 Jly - Gemini

20 Jly - 10 Aug - Cancer

10 Aug - 16 Sep - Leo

16 Sep - 30 Oct - Virgo

30 Oct - 23 Nov - Libra

23 Nov - 29 Nov - Scorpio

29 Nov - 17 Dec - Ophluchus

17 Dec - 20 Jan - Sagittarius

pollo alla cacciatore

I got a pollo alla cacciatore from the freezer and slammed it into the micro. It wasn't bad; not like the picture on the package, of course, but there was an element of excitement as I sifted through the thick red sauce, encountering pieces of olive, tomato, and mushroom until I discovered the elusive piece of chicken.

- Len Deighton's 'Violent Ward' 

one unseen morsel 
in the tasty sauce
to be found       

pond life

 ripples in weeds 

brimming with life
ducks to the pond