Cuttings - April

Haiku, Concrete and Short Poems

 

By Mike Garofalo 
Red Bluff, Tehama County, Northern California

 

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head on hand
eyes down
whiskey breath

 

 

Buddha's birthday
2566 candles
burned to nothing.
 [Siddhartha Gautama, circa: 4/8/563-483 BC]

 

 

roses
cut in the rain
pouring fragrances

 

 

Mt. Shasta in
my rearview mirror
Mozart on a CD.

 

 

Her long stare;
a wink away
from the blush.

 

 

Arguing about Iraq
over lunch
heartburn.    

 

 

The truth beyond words
beyond silence
her big grin.

 

 

Absentmindedly
walking nowhere
orange sunrise. 

 

 

Black butterflies
making love
April moon.

 

 

Ahh!  The wide almond groves in full white flower
Stunning in the morning sun.
Old naked Winter in his garb of grays
and browns has run.
Forsythia blooms come and go in the blink of a yellow Eye,
Then, suddenly, mysteriously, Green erupts; and we sigh.

 

 

Dropped off
body and mind
weeding new cuttings.

 

 

Pines needles
silvered by the sun
clear blue skies.

 

 

Flowers flying
in the breeze
sweet scents of spring.  

 

 

 

                             ['crete'oems:mpg]

 

 

 

April showers
dogs cower
from the thunder.  

 

 

A homeless man shivers in the sunshine.
Home of the free; land of the hungry.

 

 

Soldiers on both sides
shiver at dawn
homesick.  

 

 

iridescent red
hedge roses
scattered fog

 

 

one less
blanket on the bed
April

 

 

Easter morning
rising over stones
poppies.

 

 

Patriotism ripens till rotten
And the stink of revenge
Perfumes the victory prayers,
Or pathetic platitudes intoned.
Flesh falls from bones,
Sons become tombstones;
Mothers moan, fathers groan,
Brokenhearted in empty homes.

the military graveyard
needs mowing
not a soul in sight 

 

 

Storing away
winter clothes
months since she died.

 

 

Full speed into the void
arriving late
before anyone.

 

 

2,000 pound bombs
explode
freedom rings   

 

 

    the icy silence
    day after day
smoldering anger  

 

 

She caught my eye,
high in the sycamore
a poised hawk.

 

 

America attacks
flags hang
at half-mast.  

 

 

walking in the weeds
    Sneezing
into the spring breeze

 

 

 

 

 

 

Weathered shed,
screens crawling with wasps
shaking in the April gale.

 

 

Two mares snoozing
in the tall spring grass
cold north wind.

 

 

Web of grapevines
    crisscrossing the trellis
ants ........

 

 

Sunday rest
on shaded grass -
sermons by cherry blossoms.

 

 

Everyone smiling
on the warm clear day
Spring Fever.

 

 

Red winter,
Creamy white spring,
green summer

firethorn.

 

 

Cheering our hearts
flushed spring leaves
applaud the winds.

Heartsick girl
sobbing on the schoolyard
mind moves - flag flaps.

Flip-flopping leaves:
silver, green, silver, green, silver ...
indecipherable winds.

 

 

Walnuts
last to leaf;
The Queen makes us wait.

 

 

Reading Issa,
sipping tea
smiling.    

 

 

McDonald's Breakfast Club
the good ol' boys
calling for Al-Quida blood.

 

 

Headless mouse
    by the back door
ruthless cat.

 

 

bad dream
the sitcom laugh track
wakes me up.    

 

 

Hot boulders
drying creek beds
greening willows.

 

He raises a toast
we pause ...
lifting our spirits.

 

 

a long drag,
a slow exhale
deeper into dreams

 

 

long thick hair
    my eyes to Full Hips
wandering lust

 

 

Scattering
behind the mower;
Clumps
of wet cut grass.

 

 

Jerked awake from
wrestling with demons.
Wunded dawn
bloodied but triumphant
reborn
utterly fresh. 

 

 

walking on and on .........
my sweat steams back

 

 

Pine candles flickering green,
junipers yellow headed,
roses vibrant red ...  Stopping - I stared!

 

 

trenches dug
sore back
tired arms 

 

 

plastic chair
blown on its back,
resting today

 

 

below the bridge
    a wrinkled crone
    sleeping alone 

 

 

She pours more tea
politely
our chopsticks pause.

 

 

Bees in pink-purple
plum blossoms
first days of spring.

 

 

slowly awakening
curled in the covers ...
           smelling coffee

 

 

Full kiai
    bouncing off the dojo walls
        shaking in sweat-soaked gi

 

 

Enlivened gestures
perfect and strong.
T'ai Chi Ch'uan with Patricia Long.

 

 

Taxes forgotten
weeding
mindlessly

 

 

Tax and spend Democrats.
Borrow and spend Republicans.
Nobody else can get elected, so
we fold up the flag. 

 

 

Stop!
Under this huge cottonwood
Dancing up a storm 

 

 

black life on dead pulp
a fly
on my book 

 

 

working on
a split rain fence
big brown hawk
hiding his claws

 

 

Lively white cat,
dead brown sparrow:
Didn't get along!

 

 

black cows
fattened on high green grass
shadowed by black clouds

 

 

Truckload of cattle
on Slaughterhouse Road.
The would have not lived
without man. 

 

 

Red Bluff Ro'day'o
Rounding e'm up
Pointy toed boots and Stetsons.

 

 

The thousandth time
the train tracks roared
dogs again bark back.

 

 

Cut grass clings to
wet brown boots  
daybreak. 

 

 

Sick son
worried
as I.

thin arms,
balding heads
cancer ward

cold
x-ray room
groaning patients

savoring each thin breath
the weak old man
recovers from pneumonia

My son,
weakening ...
sleeping half the day.

 

 

Stopped!
    Sunset Road Panorama
    pulled me over

 

 

half a leek left
somewhere content
a farting gopher

 

 

 

 

Sex, A Concrete Poem by Michael P. Garofalo.

 

                                                       ['crete'oems:mpg]

 

 

Backyard rock garden
my Stone Forest of Yunnan
beloved odd stones.

 

 

Chicken manure
ca ca doodle do do
foul food for squash

 

 

Into the twilight
a brown jackrabbit
heads to the pond

 

 

Peacocks and guinea hens
screeching
the foals bolt.

 

 

Weeds in bloom
bright red, yellow, white
mowed down.

 

 

Preachers
gagging on their false truths
infants vomiting formula.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Samsara winks
Spring smiles
    Nirvana trickles underground.

 

 

bloody dead dog
crushed again
turning trucks

 

 

One week a hero for many,
next week an enemy for some
Palm Sunday

 

 

A woodpecker's knock
Cracks the quiet sky
Echoing off hardwoods

 

 

One not two,
two not one
legs on a snake.

 

 

The dark pines edge the deepest shade,
While cherry blossoms set and fade.

 

 

In downtown Portland, the sunlight shimmers
In walls of glass, mirroring steel and river.

 

 

Sea and creek meet
over rocks and sand
    noisy reunion

 

 

one toad
occasionally croaking
lonely garden

 

 

Unafraid of demons
baffled by the zig-zag bridge
the yellow carp swims
straight on.

 

 

lush green meadow
orange glazed
poppies

 

 

skittish girls
ogling a cute boy
blushing

 

 

Redbuds in bloom:
purple on purple,
Royal purple.

 

 

Pekin and Rouen
ducklings in the brooder,
peeping not quacking.

                    

 

white roses
white cherry blossoms
up in the blue dawn

 

 

hot rod parade
up Hilltop Road
"Cool April Nights"

 

 

Years ago ...
my dad died
the sadness still comes
and goes.

I held his hand
limp and pulseless;
both of us breathless.

my Dad for fifty years,                           
Forever now:  a dead man.

Michael James Garofalo  1/10/1916 - 4/2/1997

                                   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cuttings:    February     March    April     May     June

 

 

 

Months and Seasons
Quotes, Poems, Saying, Lore, Myths, Celebrations
Holidays, Gardening Chores
 

Winter

Spring

Summer

Fall

January

April

July

October

February

May

August

November

March

June

September

December 

 

 

 

 

 

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Copyrighted © 2008 by Michael P. Garofalo. 
Green Way Research, Red Bluff, California.
All rights reserved.

 

I Welcome Your Comments, Ideas, Contributions, and Suggestions
E-mail Mike Garofalo in Red Bluff, California

 

Who is Mike Garofalo?

 


Cuttings:  April Spring Days
Haiku, Concrete and Short Poems by Michael P. Garofalo
First Distributed on the Internet WWW in September 1999.

 


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Cuttings - Haiku, Concrete, and Short Poems by Mike Garofalo

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