Thursday, December 19, 2013

CALIFORNIA DREAMY......Sunset Sequence












today's sunset
yesterday's dream
where do they go
after dark


Saturday, November 23, 2013


Word Count 36792  -  7 more days!



journeys end
a curve inhales
the north wind



Friday, November 22, 2013

50 YEARS AGO TODAY - JFK


A DAY OF FORMIDABLE CHANGE
by Stevie Strang


It was Friday morning, church day for the ninth and tenth graders, and we were on our way to Mass.  Down the dreaded steps to the lower field, across the volleyball court and then up another steep set of stairs to the campus chapel.  It was a weary trail of exercise just before lunch and too soon after the morning gym class.  We couldn’t wait to be Seniors and then we would be able to walk across the coveted ramp that ran beside the library windows on the second floor.  The ramp was a straight walk from the classrooms to the chapel but was also a privilege, earned and reserved, only for the Senior class.

Three months into the new school year and already two tenth graders were expelled for smoking marijuana in The Cave under the Senior ramp.  As we filed into the little European style chapel, Sr. Ursula stood at the foot of the alter, arms sternly folded at her chest and hidden under the bib of her black habit, waiting to reprimand both classes and warn us of the perils of cannabis and mortal sin.

Gabby, Yvette and I sat on the ninth grader’s side, in the back pew next to the stained-glass window that had the most purple in it.  The morning sun filtered through the windows on the other side of the chapel and beamed their brilliant colours over to us, making rainbow fairies on the wall just above Elaine Bronson’s ratted Bubble hairdo.  Why we thought that was so funny, I don’t know, but we sat there and giggled about it until Elaine turned around and told us to shush.  She was holier than we were, silently kneeling and praying for forgiveness before she would receive communion, so we followed her example and knelt down.

innocence
even the rainbow fairies
laughed

Pat Crumley came in late, as usual, and sat in the pew in front of us next to Elaine.  She was detained in Sr. Leo’s office with a verbal warning about her skirt being too short…again.  Sr. Leo did not know that Patricia was with the two tenth graders in The Cave, under the ramp; Pat gave us a quick glance of relief as she knelt down in prayer.  The first year at the Academy, a prestigious all-girl college prep school, was a filter.  If you were called into the office three times you were expelled, never to return.  That was Patricia’s second offense. 

It was almost eleven o’clock and Mass had not yet started.  Sr. Ursula told us to read our prayer books or quietly say the rosary while she went to see what was delaying Father Booth.  As soon as she was out the door both classes started accusing each other of snitching about the marijuana incident.  

“You should be expelled too!”  A tenth grader from the front pew stood up and pointed a finger towards Pat.

“Shut-up candy-ass or you’re gonna get pants’d during lunch.”  Pat shouted back.

Blame was echoing all the way up to the exposed wooden beams of the tiny chapel when Sr. Sheila, the principal, finally came in and slowly walked up to the podium.

“You’re a goner now, Pat,” Yvette whispered and then made the sign of the cross and sat back in the pew.

Sr. Ursula and Sr. Sheila scanned the chapel from front to back with solemn faces of disbelief, seemingly searching for someone to blame, something to scream at.  Gads, had we been that loud? 

The chapel went completely silent.

“I have some disturbing news...” Sr. Sheila hesitantly said.

The pause was almost unbearable for Patricia.  She closed her eyes and bit down on her lower lip. 

regret
remembering the moment
just before

“The President…our President…” 

Patricia opened her eyes. 

“President Kennedy…has been shot and killed.”

Pat turned her head towards us and let out a scream then quickly covered her mouth. Yvette’s face went pale as Gabby gathered our three bodies together and cried. Two boarder students from Venezuela fell to their knees and started praying the Hail Mary out loud.  Elizabeth from Connecticut fainted.  One by one bursts of tears and gasping screams emerged from each pew and flooded the chapel as tenth grade girls comforted ninth grade girls.  Elaine Bronson threw up.

Sr. Sheila tapped the microphone.  “Girls, girls…now girls, we have to be strong and pray for the departed soul of our fallen President, for his wife, his children, and our saddened country.  Father Booth will not be available for Mass at this time so please return to your homerooms for further instruction and information.”

She then excused herself, her black veil rhythmically flying up in an angry breeze that was powered by her hurried exit back to the privacy of her office.

Stunned into silent weeps, we filed out of the chapel, past the nurse who was tending to the bump on Elizabeth’s head, back down the stairs to the lower court and up the second set of stairs, without complaint, holding hands and comforting each other as we returned to our homerooms to listen on the PA system to the sparse details of what had gone so wrong in Texas. 

The mundane childishness of ninth and tenth grade bantering and silliness seemed pointless. The purity of innocence was shattered.  We were thrown into the grown up world, by tragedy, by default, by necessity. 

We did not know it then but we were changed in many ways; many ways that we had yet to discover and fully understand.


November 22nd
how green the grassy knoll
was


Published in SIMPLY HAIKU, Winter 2011, Vol.8 No. 3

Thursday, November 21, 2013


Word Count for NaNoWriMo  31936



haunted moon
the shadow of a child
left behind


Sunday, November 17, 2013

Word Count for NaHaiWriMo 24310



the protagonist
is about to get murdered
indian summer


Monday, November 11, 2013



Veterans Day - for my brother Fred


I remember the day we drove you
To the airport that dreary morn

All of us bravely smiling at you,
Young and somber in your uniform

We knew the one-way ticket ride
Was a crap-shoot you were attending

All in the name of Freedom
With the outcome terrifyingly pending

Did I ever tell you, “Thank you”
Did I ever say I’m sorry  

When you came home such a different man
When your eyes looked haunted and weary

From the things you saw and experienced
Those few years that you were away

It made a difference in all of us
For the price that you had to pay

Every day we thank our lucky stars
That you are with us still 

Unlike the boys we grew up with
Who never made it over the hill

They will forever be in our thoughts
As we think of their families

And give thanks to you and all of our Troops
That we live in a Country that’s free

Did I ever tell you, “Thank you”
Did I ever say I’m sorry




Saturday, November 09, 2013




evening stroll
along the harbour
...singles bar
the night goes on
without me



Tuesday, October 15, 2013



autumn leaves
getting lost
on purpose



Thursday, October 10, 2013



autumn deepens
a blue jay flies
through his shadow



Sunday, September 29, 2013




autumn light
working its way
across the morning



Sunday, September 01, 2013



after the sunset
still
more sunset


Saturday, August 31, 2013



already
the oak leaves turning
summer wind




Monday, July 22, 2013


NaHaiWriMo prompt  -  distance


in my reflection
the mother
I used to know

…losing mom to dementia


Friday, June 28, 2013



waning moon
the emptiness I feel
when you're away



Monday, June 24, 2013



sometimes
I just like to
let things go..
and see
what happens next


Friday, June 14, 2013

Haiku San Diego - Wabi-Sabi interactive workshop with Naia.





resisting..
pulling the string
last dance

Friday, May 24, 2013



all the shadows
in a yellow poppy
full moon


Saturday, May 04, 2013



california fires
and then
a snowy white egret


Friday, April 26, 2013




all night the warmth of its glow pink moon


Monday, April 22, 2013

Sunday, April 21, 2013



Met with JRuppStudio yesterday and brainstormed through the night. He left me with a gift of one of his early works.  Beautiful, evocative, deeply resonates.  Thank you, Justin!

fallen sky
mending the pain
one piece
at a time


http://www.jruppstudio.com/