Author: cfblack
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Hair tonic for men
Sunday morning rituals Polished shoes, dark socks, Dress pants, shirt, tie, Wear your damn belt, Comb that rat’s nest Go back and part your hair Do something with your cowlick You wanted Brylcreem “a little dab’ll do ya” But Dad used Vitalis Hair Tonic for Men He was bald on top You knew why he…
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Haiku Meditation on a Sunday Morning Sitting by the Remains of Last Night’s Fire with a Cup of Coffee Watching Birds in the Park Across the Street at Sunrise
1) Sunday morning shoes canvas loafers don’t need shined Dad would not approve 2) ash remembers fire when flames don’t stay the night trees filter morning 3) crow stares with one eye red birds forage for breakfast jays flash blue on green 4-18-21
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Looking for an omen
An hour before the sun Owl hoots in your backyard tree Two longs, two shorts, a long and a short Over and over and over Maybe it’s wearing ear buds And talking to an owl on the other side of town Or maybe, when it’s agitated, it talks to itself, too You get out of…
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reading Odysseus
I feel sorry for Penelope Ten years warring Ten years wandering And no one knows for sure Suitors come daily Walk through her door Demand she chose One of them to marry She knows they don’t love her Lust for her in the night Like great Odysseus They only want to be king 4-16-21
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for Jane
I journeyed to Cedar Creek to visit a friend She made me lunch, talked of her children memories of her husband plans for her house and yard She introduced me to her friend who lives on a hill through the trees We walked home through the woods she showed me all that was and all…
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cup of confidence
Because I never waited on tables I didn’t learn to carry coffee and walk at the same time Every morning my confidence spills over the brim and drips upon one shoe 4-12-21
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Stopping to feast along a gravel road
1) Rancid meat only vultures crave; they never wait their turn to tear flesh from bones of what remains. I slow down to avoid interrupting the feast and wonder, if vultures eat vulture roadkill or leave it for the crows. 2) On my office shelf sits mom’s old schoolbook, 101 Famous Poems, copyright 1929. Sometimes,…
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haiku while sweeping pollen from the porch
on a screened porch silllooking out, a dead wasp lieslonging for freedom 4-10-21
