From work to love.
From family and friends
Have you encountered this Senryu?
Being betrayed
Is insidiously mean
By those you trusted
(575)
(C)
Copyright John Duffy
Categories:
encountered, humanity,
Form: Senryu
Walking past the dreadful land,
I realized it was someone’s last few breaths.
The sorrow in their eyes,
The misery that just landed in their life,
With the heavy blue right above their head tight.
Is going to pass just like a season, right?
With a touch of grief,
He left the world with few flowers and prayers in his brief.
The possessions he left behind
Are the only things on their mind?
Sitting perplexed in a corner
I wonder which is the peaceful place he encountered.
Categories:
encountered, angst, death, emotions, grief,
Form: Free verse
The first time I encountered a phoenix
I was horrified when he frizzled into ashes
Not realizing he was going to come back
In better shape than ever
I had made a friend out of him on a Saturday night
We were in a speak easy,
but the speaking was not easy because it was too loud
So I took him home, carrying his cage gently
We spoke well into the night
I was horrified that he was rapidly molting
Terrified he was dying
Not realizing that was his way to come back better than ever
Categories:
encountered, 3rd grade, 4th grade,
Form: Light Verse
These are some thoughts that I've
Encountered while strolling
through my mind
Such as why is it called a tire?
When it wraps around the wheel
It should be called a wheel wrap
But that's just my opinion
Why do ducks and geese sound different
They both walk the same
Quack, quack-honk, honk
Waddle waddle see what I mean
Why I can't birds soar upside down
Is it because they can't see the ground
Here are two more thoughts I encountered
While strolling through my mind
How many hours would it take
To make seven days worth of minutes
And
If someone gives you a piece of their mind
Does it make theirs smaller
and yours a little bit bigger
These are just some thoughts
that I've encountered
While strolling through my mind
Categories:
encountered, imagination,
Form: I do not know?
T'es Ou?
That's all I heard for 10 minutes straight
one sautéed Brussels morning in the metro
with everyone, their brother, perhaps their dog
peeing on my leg, or at least, it felt that way,
sweat running down inside my trousers
and this one woman who refused to shut up,
pink phone clutched in glittery talons,
cheap earrings swaying in time with her hand
and three offspring exploring the car like raccoons
in my trash, threading through my legs, drooling.
"T'es Où?"
"Where are you?"
as they say in London
Who could say? Possibilities abound.
Prague is nice this time of year.
The local department store had an ad,
two-for-one socks, today only.
North Korea's not half bad.
"T'es Où?"
Not here, obviously, being brighter
and more fortunate than I, who is here,
who can hear you, who wishes he couldn't ,
who wishes North Korean visas
were easier to acquire.
"T'es Où?"
was the last thing I heard, her voice,
her odour, her brood, trailing out the door
into the baked street above, where she
may still be looking for that person's hiding spot,
her children sniffing trees in her wake.
Categories:
encountered,
Form: Free verse