sizefifteen

Thank You

2009-04-28T02:13:00.000-07:00

Thank you for taking the time to read my poetry.

You can find more of it at http://jerrysana.typepad.com

Let me know what you think.

Jerry

Three Score and More

2009-04-11T04:31:00.000-07:00

I am a man of Biblical age

In these days a faint tonsure celebrates my head

The cold has numbed my bones

The children in the streets call me "Pops"

The next generation asks if I am OK

I guess it is the way I move

I leave a trail of footsteps and the mark of a cane

I am in trouble with a doctor

He is so young

I cannot abide his advice

I sit on an stainless steel exam table

A paper sheet to cover my exposed parts

I feel the coldness of his stethoscope on my chest

I inhale and exhale while he listens to my lungs

I try to stay still while he pokes me

I hope that my knee will jump

To the bang by his little hammer

I try to read what he has written on my chart

I try to understand his jargon

I try to read the prescriptions he gives me

I do not want to get any the side effects

I wonder which is worse

My illness or them

I do not want to know how much time I have to live

I do not want to slow down

I want to eat anything and as much as I want

I want to smoke a pack a day

I want to stay up all night

I want to drink anything I want

I want to get a second opinion

I want to get as opinions as it takes to get what I want

I fear confirmation of the first diagnoses

I know that pain and wisdom are twins

Use It Up

2009-04-10T07:19:00.000-07:00

a scent of manure

over a vast green expanse

little is wasted

Another halku for lovers #5

2009-04-10T07:12:00.000-07:00

on a very weak knee

one life asks for another

who will scrub the floors

A Little Story

2009-04-10T07:06:00.000-07:00

The story is about

Four faint footsteps on a beach

A bluesy fog horn

A clear path to the water's edge

An ebbing tide leaving no traces

New Wave

2009-04-04T08:14:00.000-07:00

no children playing

piles of trash at the curb

gangland battle ground

once a library

now a church soon a crack house

next a bare lot

no evidences of what stood there

until it becomes an archeologist's dig

boarded-up town houses

half-dressed young men loitering

inner city blues

unmaintained roadways

awaiting gentrification

Dragon

2009-04-03T07:46:00.000-07:00

Around the corner what awaits me

Will there the dragon's breath be

Will it illuminate the night

Scaring away fright

Singeing the cowardice in me

Will there an imprisoned damsel be

Will her countenance help me

To see the love, that is the rest of me

Election Day

2009-04-03T07:32:00.000-07:00

It has finally come

The opportunity

The chance

That glorious moment

The fearful thing

That Plato regarded as man's finest hour

Belonging to the franchised

Without exercising it

No one has reached humanity's

Final and most Precious 'Good'

Now at last open and without barrier

The whole world can see

That all the talk about equal opportunity

Is not just political correctness

And there is on a ballot

For the President of the United States of America

An Afro-American a man of color

TheCave

2009-04-02T06:17:00.000-07:00

The grotto was dark and forbidding.

Its edit was shrouded in the shadows.

I wondered what lived in it.

My tortured and wearied soul

Needed a place of repose.

Would I find this if I entered it?

Dare I enter it?

I tasted the blood on my lip.

I had bitten myself at the thought of it.

In the darkness of the grotto I found

Only that which I took in with me

When I entered it!

Eleven Haiku and Tanka

2009-03-31T05:38:00.000-07:00

skeletons in dresses

sauntered down the runway

noses in the air

rickety Ferris wheel ride

roller-coaster pulling Gs

riding out the summer

III

hot and hazy days

some like them some don't

the nature of things

insects grow quiet

darkening clouds in the West

tornado warning

roofs fly off to distant places

a cameo is all the family found

a clear winter's night

gallon jugs at the ready

tasting moonshine

carp swam in the pool

white noise with a touch of gold

sound of running water

VII

after they parted

their shadows continued on

walking hand-in-hand

VIII

what's left to do

wipe the salty sweat away

can anyone beat Tiger

a sunny torrent

heat waves cavort on the road

atoms break-dancing

all is quiet

except for that thing in the attic

restless for the dawn

no morning paper

can't drink my coffee without it

a hole in my donut

Black Magic

2009-03-29T03:42:00.000-07:00

unforgettable

is the blackness you wear

no little cocktail dress

with spaghetti straps

your skin taut, tight and smooth

unforgivable

your summer tan, almost black

it's seasonable

but so inconvenient

the rest of the year

Get Evening

2009-03-27T03:10:00.000-07:00

Unequivocal

success by the black man is

the only revenge

Haiku for Lovers #3

2009-03-26T02:52:00.000-07:00

the toilet seat was left up

hose drying on the curtain rod

how about a truce

Pomme

2009-03-26T02:39:00.000-07:00

Let's say that it was an apple

An apple that the snake offered to Eve

An apple that led to the knowledge

Of good and evil

The forbearer of that apple

That led Newton to discover gravity

A force of attraction

Gravity that led to black holes

And showed the equivalency

Between mass and energy

Giving birth to fusion and fission

Leading to weapons of annihilation

Such was the gravitas of an apple!

New

2009-03-13T07:58:00.000-07:00

another halku for lovers

2009-02-25T02:36:00.000-08:00

fresh from the shower

beads of water loving you

making me jealous

homey

2009-02-25T02:30:00.000-08:00

from out of the past

they came together

doubling tapping

right fist to right fist

together they said

let's do it

upon parting

together they said

watch your back!

fashion

2009-02-23T08:13:00.000-08:00

where do you get

them baseball hats

with the bills

in the front

on the left

on the right

and in the back

where do you get

them denims

with the extra long rise

that settle

somewhere between the waist

and the knees

where do you get

them sneakers

that don't lace up

with tongues hanging out

in that rich dirty white color

where do you learn

to use "you know"

instead of

commas, colons, and semi-colons

you know what I mean

is it all just a fad

is something vatic being said

at another time

it was a perfectly creased fedora

sporting a wide stiff brim

a suit of bright yellow cloth

football shoulder pads in the jacket

nipped at the waist by a single button

trousers that ballooned at the knees

and tightly hugged the ankles

all accessorized with a six foot gold watch chain to whirl

sans a watch

while swaggering down the "Avenue"

to a mantra of

hi-de-hi-de-hi-de-ho

A Haiku for lovers #1

2009-02-22T11:13:00.000-08:00

after lovers fight

who will zip up her black dress

or fix his bow tie