Alegria Imperial
haibun
Bucky Ball
High in the mountains, breathing a winter sun . . . the wind is light-footed here like a monk going through the narrow lanes of mundane. Nothing except the prayer flags move as I follow the tabby cat who moonlights as a Zen master on her less busy days.
‘Lots of space, nothing holy,’ she finally breaks the silence ‘that’s what enlightenment is.’
I am a bit baffled with her mongrel diction, but then she does have nine lives over me.
‘Isn’t every vacancy filled in by something else? Create a vacuum and the universe rushes to fill it.’ I say ‘So by extension wouldn’t a renunciation be replenished by the holy?’
‘Too many question. Far too many.’ She chastises snapping at an imaginary sparrow, then adds ‘And that might just be the reason, why you would find enlightenment a bit out of reach. But then probably you are better off. Enlightenment is the ultimate disappointment.’
empty spaces
the wind too
howls in protest
Paresh Tiwari
The People Next Door
I can never be sure what the people next door are doing. The cause of the shouting and screaming is left to my imagination. An inexplicable banging continues way into the evening. Once I heard them saw off the leg of one of their boys, well, that is what it sounded like – the screaming. But the following day, I saw both boys running about on all four of their legs. And then there’s the dog . . .
summer breeze
the smell of my neighbour’s
dog poo
Martha Magenta
Night Fishing
I saw five patients today, most of whom were only there for medication refills. One very typical lady’s doctor recognized she had become chemically dependent on her anxiety medication and switched her to another, non-habit-forming medicine. She didn’t like that and told him, “If you don’t give me the medicine I want, I will go to the emergency room and get it from them.”
So in she walked to see me.
night fishing,
hook in the inky sea;
fish jump into my boat
behind
Eric Lohman
The Prophet
“It was never you,” she sneered at me. “You were a vessel, a conduit. There haven’t been seers for thousands of years. Get over yourself and move on.”
desert moon
visions of death
on the windshield
Dave Read
2 works by Pat Geyer
Through the Looking Glass
watching schoolkids vajazzle their insides with bottled sugar Justin Bieber and stuff on their smartphones I’ll never understand I don my headband and plunge back into a Wonderland of warm school milk rationed tv and phone box queueing in the rain
afternoon play
I pinch myself
over and over
Helen Buckingham
Too Much Moonshine
the tidal bulge that occurs during high tide in the world ocean follows the revolution of the moon and the earth rotates eastward through the bulge once every 24 hours and 50 minutes the water of the entire world ocean is pulled by the moon’s gravity on the opposite side of the earth simultaneously there is a high tide due to the inertia of the ocean water and because the earth is being pulled toward the moon by its gravitational field yet the ocean water remains left behind this creates a high tide on the side of the earth opposite the high tide caused by the direct pull of the moon
throbbing headache . . .
do I dare disturb
the universe
Haibun prose from a Wikipedia entry
Last two lines of haiku from The Lovesong of J Alfred Prufrock, by T S Eliot
Marion Clarke
Glass Prism
Not all rainbows paint the sky. Without warning, they spangle glass panes. You could step on them in cross streets. Feel them when kissed.
singing marionettes
far off
a sunrise
Alegria Imperial
Interview of an Apple
During research of my daughter’s American Indian heritage, I met Apple* through a friend who is a full blood living in town. I asked if she and I could meet sometime for a proper interview. She suggested the Bingo Hall on the North Side.
November, 1992
Fort Worth, TX
I’ve never been to a Bingo Hall, what do we do?
Start by picking up a Bingo sheet and buy a dauber.
I choose a sheet and pay the cashier.
Well, I’m playin’ ta win. It’s four for me, and a cover-all.
(She’s tall, dark red, and rough. Although the hall is packed, we find a vacant table).
My lucky table, she says, as I place the voice recorder between us.
Why meet here?
Too cold to find a date tonight, her reply, while searching her sheets for the called number.
When did you start tricking?
In high school, when I discovered boys like me. I may not be book smart, but I’m bright. I know what men like… they pay.
Where do you live?
Out on Midway Blvd. with mom and dad, and my younger sister.
And they know you make money dating?
Yeah, we don’t talk about it.
How do you find your dates? Do you have a pimp?
Naw, don’t need one… I need all my money.
I find dates by walking, in some places I know.
How old are you?
28.
So, you’ve had your business a good 11 years?
She nods.
Do you ever get a mean date?
Used to, now I can tell right off th’ mean ones.
Do you carry protection?
I’m packin’ now… but you’re talkin’ condoms, right?
I nod.
It’s an option, but it costs more without a condom.
She wins the “four corner” game and cashes out …
As we head out the door I ask,
Can I drop you anywhere?
Sure, drop me down at the bank parking lot, 820 and I-35.
That’s nowhere near Midway Blvd and it’s cold out!
I’ve got my heavy coat; I’m good.
gravitational waves the half-life of blood
(One year later I am hired by the local school district as the Coordinator of the Indian Education Saturday program).
November, 1993
Fort Worth, TX
Parent’s day:
Apple walks in with her mom and dad, and proudly stands next to one of my students, a ten year old girl.
time/space continuum a parallel anomaly
…
*Not her real name – “Apple” is a term used in Indian Country for a full blood who has lost touch with his heritage. It is uttered as a lament, not a derogatory term.
Jan Benson
the other bunny 