haiku

she says one day we’ll
wake up caring for the earth
beautiful dreamer

for Tuesday Writing Prompt Challenge

haiku

the earth keeps warming
with attendant extinctions
we say i miss you

for Tuesday Writing Prompt Challenge

haiku

little yellow root
shows me colors of my mind
i didn’t know i had

for Tuesday Writing Prompt Challenge

haiku

are brave hearts a thing
with lions or are they wired
and what about me

for Tuesday Writing Prompt Challenge

at the bedside

my great-grandfather lay near death, breath weezing.

“give me a kiss, my darling granddaughter,” he, yes, weezed.

i gave him a last dying kiss. but i mean, whew, his breath.

we sat for a bit, me waiting for my sinuses to clear, and then he repeated his request. i leaned forward and obliged.

the second last dying kiss was tough as the first.

after four of these, i spoke.

“Are you hungry, great-grandfather?”

“I could eat,” he said.

for Tuesday Writing Prompt Challenge

Hard Night

We played a gig last Saturday. Lester Ruffin on bass, Mischievous Waters (son of Muddy Waters) on piano, and me on horn.

Hot summer night. Moist. Heat lightning in the sky. The Hemp Club packed, overhead fans not working. Everybody replacing their sweat with beer. We played hard and loud, tearing the place up.

Mischievous came back from a break with tears in his eyes and one hand holding the other. Cheated at craps, got caught, got his hand busted up.

His younger brother Serious Waters was in the house and filled in for him but it wasn’t the same. In spite of the heat, the place cooled down.

for Tuesday Writing Prompt Challenge

haiku

to be crucified
is not often suicide
except now on earth

for Tuesday Writing Prompt Challenge