before evenfall
a halfmoon struggles
through a pallet of grays
before evenfall
9/2/2025
Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor[/b][/font]
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before evenfall
a halfmoon struggles
through a pallet of grays
before evenfall
9/2/2025
Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor[/b][/font]
Just read Inspector Imanishi Investigates by Seichō Matsumoto. In it the inspector has a haiku hobby, so I thought I’d give one a go. Mine’s pretty amateurish:
Alley Cat
Two green eyes glowing
Spine arched, teeth bared, mouse lies still
Man turns, walks away
Enjoyed... just need practice: the Japanese masters Basho and Issa are the Haiku masters I revere https://www.readpoetry.com/10-vivid-...ou-breathless/
Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor
Thanks for the link Tailor.
I liked this one:
How beautifully
That kite soars up to the sky
From the beggar’s hut.
-Issa
To me it evoked a sense of hope. The beggar is someone who’s struggling in life, but still enjoys the act of flying a kite. The narrator is someone who enjoys the beauty of the kite, but isn’t at all put out by the ugliness of the hovel. It reminded me a little of walking past a homeless camp and seeing that someone has hung Christmas decorations on their tent.
Attempt numero dos.
Waltzing towards Bethlehem
Three q’wota time
Step, two three. Step... She smiles
Self indulgently
Tres:
Traffic
Wicker basket and a bell
Horns honk. Dogs bark. But children
Just grin
Enjoying your Haiku ! Issa's Haiku is quite poignant. The image of one placing Christmas decorations upon a homeless person's abode gives me mixed emotions.
Here's a story I read many years ago about an exchange between Basho and a student of his: https://www.reliefjournal.com/blogpo...5/15/dragonfly
Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor
Nice.
It seems in addition to being a master of the haiku, Bashō was quite the sensei. By the way, in the book that kicked off my interest, Inspector Imanishi Investigates, the word “sensei” is used frequently. There’s a theater troop of young up-and-comers and they tend to refer to their mentors and each other as sensei. At one point a couple of university professors are sitting in a café and weigh in on this usage of the term. They are of the opinion only professors should be referred to as sensei. As a side note, I always thought sensei referred to that ‘roided-up dude who owns the karate business down at the strip mall.
Intento número cuatro:
Pineapple Express
Slate skies. Wind and Rain.
Atmospheric River arrives
Firs gain altitude
Re: sensei... hmmm, I have the same understanding.
'attitude' would work too. Enjoyed :)
12.16.2025
furtive quail scurry'round remnants of a downed tree
rustling golden leaves
12/17/2025
Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor
“Attitude.” Hmm. That would change the whole idea. I think I might change the subject from trees to my wife. And maybe change the form from haiku to limerick. My original thinking on that one was: trees need wind and rain to grow (gain altitude). Wind prunes the weak limbs and rain filtered through the soil feeds the tree. Douglas Firs are huge, 300 ft plus. I don’t pretend to understand the mechanism pumps that much water from the roots to the crown.
Pineapple Express redo
The rain roaring in from the ocean
Wind induces tree-top commotion
The weather is rude
She’s copping a ‘tude
This season yields spousal emotion
Enjoyed yours. Along the same lines of downed trees:
Numero Cinco
The Phoenix
The heat and flame
Leap from tree top to tree top
Lush grassland ensues
"copping a ‘tude"... love this expression. lol!
The Phoenix: the cycle of change after a fire, people notwithstanding, a natural thing... inevitable. Enjoyed :)
Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor
what oak leaves remained
what oak leaves remained
after a much needed rain
now lazily fall
12/18/2025
a feral cat visitation
a glass transparent
'twixt Tinky and the ferine
whilst she squirms, he whines
12/18/2025
Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor
Enjoyed both of those, Tailor.
I think your feral feline might be my alley cat from numero uno. Once he’d dined on downtown-dumpster mouse, he went uptown to scratch another itch. Billy Joel wrote a song about it:
Uptown Girl
https://youtu.be/hCuMWrfXG4E?si=xL6N9U0iixJx-WRs
I gotta say, I’m convinced my sensibilities are more aligned with the limerick than the haiku.
Great song. This little lady? cat has been hanging around for quite some time, not unlike Bounty's feral/neighbor's cat but not as long. She?'s very affectionate but will absolutely not tolerate being picked up (I've tried). My Tinky is an indoors cat only; he exhibits territorial behavior usually to the point where I sometimes have to shoo him away when I open a door. So, my wife and I feed her? as she? alternates between the two homes and we show her? as much love as the kitty will allow. A cat enclosure may be in the works when the weather gets really cold.
Reflecting on your poetic sensibilities - not all Haiku need be Zen/staid/profound... a bit of humor and/or whimsy that you bring to limericks would supply a niche, shared by not so many, that would be refreshing :)
Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor
Where is bounty these days? Our cat (Neko-san) is also an indoor animal, but we could sure use a resourceful feral feline out in the barn. Our compost-heap mice seem to decide, in late fall, the barn is a better deal. By the way the cat’s name is Neko, but since he’s noisy and opinionated, he thinks his name is — Shuttup you.
Last day of autumn haikus from the PNW
Snow Birds
(sans Winnebagos)
lenticular cloud
atop high mountain peak - geese
form aerial Vs
Snow Birds
(avec Winnebagos)
temps drop rains arrive
sunlight wanes, I-5 southbound
bumper to bumper
Enjoyed :)
Where is Bounty ?
Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor
Ai! Greetings to Neko-san,Sancho..
As I rarely read this thread I didn't know that a new cat was in the process of adopting you, tailor, and your wife.
Bounty seems to have succumbed to some very attractive sports and games sites.
Cats
Cat in the barn
Cat in the house
Lunching on ham
Or catching a mouse
Cat meeting cat
And that is that.
Neko-san would greet you back, Danik, but he’s busy napping. This time of year he stays curled up on the heater vent for hours on end. Heaven and earth cannot pry him off that thing. He only moves off it to demand his Friskies.
Hangry
Cold, wet, tired, and broke
Sisters of Mary provide
Sun shines more brightly
Aaiii! I don't have a cat anymore, Sancho. But on the windows sills of the apartments opposite to mine there appear just stretched out pieces of fur, blond, black, white, grafitte napping in the heat.
Airy window sills
Warrant better naps for cats
Than the elusive hills.
Enjoying these cat poems :)
Not Haiku, but in the spirit of previous posts :)
naming our ferine cat
thinking of a name
for our ferine cat
with one ear clipped
gender neutral of course
12/21/2025
Added a speculative Haiku
naming our ferine cat II
angel would be nice
phoenix, lux, or onyx too
zazu would be cute
12/21/2025
Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor
Ohh, I liked that one, Danik. Ya know, Tailor a good name for a cat is Jake, or Fellini… From one of my all-time favorite movies, Breaking Away:
https://youtu.be/nR-OSGM2NDc?si=5Drze0g9t3G78Q0H
I’m gonna move pretty far afield in the cat family from Jake/Fellini:
Black Panther
Sow leads through tall grass
Black tail flicks. Piglets panic
In all directions
Fellini is fine but it seems to be a female cat. The fur color is usually inspiring. Or the behavior of the cat. I have a friend whose job is to distribute the newspaper of her city. So at 4 in the morning she goes through the city followed by about 10-15 cats, because she always distributes cat snacks. Some of the names of these cats are: Smoky, Pauli, Tiger ...lwoullove a cat called Kerfuffle .
Enjoyed Black Panther :)
Kerfuffle would be a great name... We settled on Angel :)
A Bit of Rain
Angels hunker down
Atmospheric rivers clash*
Christmas will abide
12/21/2025
*2nd atmospheric river to flood California into Christmas https://share.google/70k4EoEH64yYZdGbV
Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor
Oh do my! Will you be able to stay at home?
Aaaaiiiiiiiii! I hope Angel lives up to her reputation and brings much joy!
Fire, wind and flood
On Christmas are not good!
Enjoyed :)
We'll be fine. Just the usually gully-washer as I used to call this type of weather in the past. The creeks may flood, but they don't affect my travel. The bridges (renovated many years ago) over the American River forks are high enough that they're not affected. Standing water in some places will hazard some hydroplaning... just need to keep the speed down and drive steady... and I usually limit my going out at all :)
Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor
I've found the opposite to be true. Where standing water is concerned, it's best to go as fast as you can so when your tires are no longer in contact with pavement you still have enough momentum to get to the other side:
— Hey guys I'm going for it. See y'all on the other side.
— Yeah, whatever man. See ya on the other side.
I have a similar technique for driving on black ice.
Lol. Got swamped using that technique once... water was deeper than I thought.
Once hit black ice on a steep grade 1/2 mile or so from home and slud into the left embankment with a 'neighbor' lady following who slud over the right where the cliff was... she ended upside down stopped by some trees luckily.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgakGjJidy4
Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor
I know that feeling! Also, that tune was popular at my job during the great recession.
Okay, so, this one is either gross or wonderful, depending on your perspective:
Host
Sustenance slides by
Hooked in tight to a warm, wet
Wonderful cosmos
From the point of view of the tapeworm, man was created by god to serve the appetite of the tapeworm.
—Ed Abbey
Lol, I'll stick to gross... but it is a revered theme in poetry to see life from another perspective :)
Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor
Haha, yeah I think I'll go with gross as well. Well then, from micro to macro:
Is there an edge?
Hard to see the edge
Of the known universe. From
the Orion Arm
Google AI:Cosmic! Enjoyed :)Quote:
That's a beautiful haiku reflecting our cosmic perspective: from the Orion Arm (or Local Arm) of the Milky Way, where Earth sits, seeing the edge of our own galaxy or the vast universe beyond is tough due to intervening dust, gas, and the sheer scale, but new mapping shows our arm is bigger, revealing more of our local neighborhood within the galaxy's spiral structure.
Key Takeaways from the Haiku & Science:
Orion Arm (Local Arm): Our solar system isn't in a major arm but a significant spur or tendril between the Sagittarius and Perseus Arms, a region rich in stars and gas.
Obscured View: Dust and gas clouds within the Milky Way block our view of distant parts of our galaxy and other galaxies, making the "edge" hard to pinpoint from within.
Redefining Our Corner: Recent studies, using data like from the Gaia mission, show the Orion Arm is much larger and more complex than previously thought, revealing more of our galactic home.
The "Edge": The "edge" of the known universe (the observable universe) is billions of light-years away, but even seeing the far side of our own galaxy is challenging from our spot.
In essence, your poem captures the humbling feeling of being embedded in a vast structure, the Milky Way, where our vantage point limits our view of the grander cosmic whole.
Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor
Hah!
So much for artificial intelligence eh? An actual human would have written something like — A mediocre haiku most likely written by a simpleton.
It's an Oddity
There's always a glitch
⚡️Ground Control to Major Tom⚡️
In human pursuits
Where David Bowie is concerned, I preferred this one:
Starman
https://youtu.be/aBKEt3MhNMM?si=6NxL8MNp_hv-oQCz
Lol... Great song... heard it last week watching The Martian for the umpteenth time :)
AI enchants me...
AI enchants me...
it is like rocket science
without the rocket
12/28/2025
Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor
Haha. Good one. Sticking with the motif:
It ain’t rocket surgery
Will A.I. be good
for us? Who knows? But Wall Street
thinks it’s a rocket
Nvidia is only up about 1400% in the past 5 years.
Enjoyed :)
I hear Wall Street , et al, has done well for the wealthy.
Will AI be good for us?
I tried to sing your
Haiku to a Queen tune but
Who wants to live for...
12/28/2025
... maybe Def Leppard: Rocket, Yeah! :)
Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor
tinky's gaze
furtive birds outside
catch a silken black cat's gaze
"ekekekekek"
1/20/2026
Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor
Bravo, Tailor, an onomatopoetic poem.
But who is prey? Owl see about that:
Birds are on the fence
House cat barred from the outdoors
Who cooks for you all?
https://youtu.be/0SwMJ50Dbz4
Enjoyed :) Tinky is indoors only also and our ferine Angel is outdoor only :)
Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor
Hello Kitty
We've had a number of indoor and outdoor and indoor/outdoor cats over the years. Presently our little guy is indoor only, except when he's quicker than me. His name is Neko-san. He mainly spends his days curled up on a heater vent, or basking in a beam of sunlight coming through the window, or sitting in front of his bowl and looking at it, not-so- subtlety hinting that somebody oughta fill it with Friskies. Before him we had an indoor/outdoor cat named Ichiban. Itchy was light colored and had a habit of sitting on a fencepost in the moonlight, which is why we think an owl probably got him. I doubt it was a Barred Owl though. They're too small. More likely it was a Gray Owl. For a time we had barn cat named Bob, so named because she had a bobbed tail. She'd lost her tail before she moved into our barn. Who knows, probably a fan belt took it. She was awesome. While she was here, all the mice moved next door to our neighbors barn. We've had others. Ned-Ned comes to mind. Ned liked to lay on the warm macadam road in front of our house. It was not a very busy road. One day I watched a car come down the road and stop in front of Ned. The driver revved the engine a couple of times and tooted the horn. Ned opened one eye, yawned, twitched his tail, then went back to sleep. Eventually the car backed up and went around Ned. The cat's full name was Ned-Ned-The-Melon-Head because he had an unusually large head, but after this incident he became know as Ned-Ned-The-Tire-Tread for obvious reasons. He wound up living to a ripe old age. Go figure.
Cats, eh?
Hello Kitty Il
I mostly remember three cats.
Jeremias was a birthday present, when I still was a kid. He at once asserted his independence by disappearing. We searched the big house, with cellar and all...no Jeremias.Hours later I went to get a pullover and there was Jeremias in the wardrobe comfortably sleeping on my woolen clothes.
When we moved to another house he sprang from the car. He chose to stay and became feral. I went once back to the house. I cal,Ed him and he appeared immediately. That was the last time I saw him.
So many years later there was Babalù, a black, cat ŵho walked like a samba queen, moving lightly her hips. She had scabies when we found her but when she recovered she grew a short silky fur. She had five kitten and disappeared one year later, probably stolen.
And then there was Tino, my siver cat that lived with me more than fifteen yerars.. He died of kidney disease.