Shooting Blanks

(Haiku or new haiku? That is the question!) It’s awful, those days when you seem to shoot blanks, When your poet’s voice just isn’t humming, Your only sure asset is freedom of choice, But the titles, ideas aren’t coming. When Nature haikus seem to float in the air, Should you give in, just pen a fluff notion, It’s really enough that you “picture” us there, With so many adrift on the ocean? Humanity’s never been so out of touch, Might not poetry help with the answer? When fear as emotion is all that we know, This emotion’s a new kind of cancer! It’s time for the poet to teach us to feel, And our standard be passion not turtle, Our fear of life tempts us to just close our shell, Concrete images what we must hurtle. Brian Johnston May 5, 2016