Cards Fans-Cats Fans (Haiku)

Cards fan win or lose
Cheering on our beloved
Respect the other

Cats fan they must win
Love the Cats hate the other
Don't win burn the couch

Basic difference
The one based on affection
The other far less

One for the contest
The other for self-image
Fans inferior

Hindsight, A Curse (Haiku)

Wishing to go back
Seeing the long term effects
To change what was done

One knows exactly 
What one would do differently
In treating each child

One can be involved
Without causing permanent
Patterned responses

Hindsight in advance
A gift for the very few
A curse for others 

Just Say No (Haiku)

An approach to life

Saying,”No,” and meaning it

Creates time for Aim

In our heart of hearts

To be, to do, to have, hold

Is what we desire

Knowing what we want

Allows decisions to act

To realize Aim

Stepping back to ask

What am I doing and why?

Leads to decisions

Short of stubbornness

But making decisions stick

Allows Aim to win

Pleasing of others

Is not an aim, an excuse

Takes the easy way

Realize the rest

Is others’ demands on us

To satisfy theirs

A time has to come

When one must ask the question

Answering with heart

The Spectator Haiku

Special in your own mind

Mundane and ordinary

As others see you

Seeking the bubble

Even vicariously

Of recognition

Watch others perform

Enjoying their winning ways

Thinking it is you

Harsh awakening

If it ever should happen

Hopefully never

The House with Six Chimneys

Jeffery and Sophie are both about thirteen years old. They live on the same street and have known each other for as long as either can remember. The shared experiences all the way back to before pre-school when they played together in the neighborhood and they still pal around together even though they go to different schools; it’s just that they don’t see each other every day now.

Jeffery is at an awkward age for boys. His feet are a little big for his body and his face is somewhere between boy and man, mostly boy. Not ugly but not the darling little boy anymore. He has played soccer since he was six years old, so he’s fairly fit. He’s confident but not a smart aleck.

Sophie is changing rapidly from girl to young lady and is still a little awkward about it. She’s more athletic than glamorous and plays field hockey on her school team. She has lots of friends and really enjoys Jeffery. They seem to get along really well together.

This little escapade was unusual for them, not something they’d ever tried before. It sort of developed as a mutual dare after they ran into each other at the mall that afternoon. Jeffery suggested it as a way to get a head start on Halloween. He started the idea by saying, “Wouldn’t it be neat to just sneak out one night?” They certainly knew the area well enough but being out there late at night would be different and fun. Maybe Jeffery was setting things up for later intrigues; maybe Sophie was feeling a little adventurous and ready to do something exciting and different. It quickly resolved down to—tonight, at midnight.

It was the middle of October; the night was clear and there was a bright full moon. The two of them quietly snuck out and met each other on Aiken Road right behind their houses. They started walking in the moonlight, chatting and not paying much attention to where they were going. They found themselves at the entrance gate to the old house. It was open so they started down the lane.

It is known as the house with six chimneys and nobody has lived there for years. You can barely see it from the road because it sets back, way back. It is back so far that you must look for it from the Beckley Station Road intersection where the ground is higher and even then there’s a big field in between so it seems far away.

There is a dead tree among the tall trees along the lane and just as they walked past it an owl screeched loudly from its branches and frightened them. They laughed and began to run. Since the owl was between them and the gate, they ran towards the house. They could easily make out the ruts of the lane in the light of the moon. When they got near the front steps and the porch, the door creaked open. Someone, or something, inside was slowly opening it.

They were a little afraid now, but when the owl screeched again from right behind them, they bolted up the steps and stopped just before going through the door. But it was too late, the door suddenly opened and a net on a large hoop, like one that a dogcatcher uses, swung over them and they were trapped. They thrashed around wildly trying to get out of it but every time they pushed or pulled at it, it gave way without tearing. The more they struggled the more tangled they became. Jeffery and Sophie sat on the floor of the porch, exhausted and out of breath. They were in a real mess, snared in a dogcatcher’s net on the front porch of a deserted house. Now the door opened even wider and all they could see was the black void of the inside of the house. It was even blacker due to the brightness of the moon and they were scared stiff.

They saw the eerie whiteness of a bony hand in the doorway and then another just as eerie. Their eyes followed up what would have been the arms and to their horror; a ghostly skull with empty eye sockets was grinning down at them. It was almost covered by the hood of a long black robe that hid the rest of the apparition, making it almost invisible. Now they were terrified. Was it a mask or a real skeleton that had them trapped? They were losing their hold on reality.

Slowly the hands gathered the net and dragged them across the threshold into the blackness of the house. As they slid across the floor they noticed a terrible smell, sort of like when you’re out walking and you notice this smell. You can’t see anything, yet you know that it’s something dead. It’s the smell of decay and it added to their dread.

It was Jeffery who was taken first. He didn’t have time to react when all of a sudden a white cloth covered his nose and mouth. He inhaled deeply to yell but instead of air he inhaled a gas that choked him at first, then he was out. Sophie reacted but before she could scream, the hand did the same thing to her and she was also out. With both of them knocked out, the apparition stood up. A man took off the black robe and the mask.

He knew he had some time before they would awaken, so he walked out of the front room into the kitchen where he lit a Coleman lantern for light. He was tall, skinny, and unshaven, with wispy, reddish gray hair. He was so gaunt that his neck muscles were easy to see, as were the veins in his neck, arms, and hands. He had several teeth missing and those that he had were all yellow and gnarly. His mean eyes seemed to glow red, and he looked like he hadn’t smiled for a long time. He sat down at the table and shook out a cigarette. He was thinking about what he would do with the two trespassers who were lying on the floor in the other room. What he didn’t do was tie them up and we don’t know why not.

As the man sat there, Jeffery came out of his gas-induced sleep. First he opened one eye just a little to see if the apparition was still standing over them. Then he saw the light in the other room and the back of a man sitting at the table smoking, he didn’t know that this was who had trapped them on the front porch. He almost cried out to get his help, but just then he felt the robe lying on the floor next to him and he realized that the skinny man in the checkered flannel shirt and suspenders was the living skeleton that they’d met in the dark.

He reached out and poked Sophie to see if she was awake. She jumped, not up but reacting to being poked in the ribs. Now she was awake. Jeffery signaled her to be quiet and pointed to the doorway and the man sitting there. Jeffery looked around and saw the open door to the outside and the moonlit lane leading back to Aiken Road. He tapped Sophie on the shoulder and with the same finger pointed to the doorway. She understood right away what he meant and they both got up and very quietly tiptoed across the room towards the open front door and freedom.

Just then, Sophie stepped on a loose board in the floor and there was a loud squeak. They froze in their tracks. They could hear the chair scraping across the kitchen floor as the man shoved it back to get up. He came swiftly towards them but not quite fast enough.

They ran for it! Across the room, out the open door, across the porch, they jumped down all the steps at once to the ground. The man was right behind them and caught Sophie by the back of her shirt. Jeffery was running and didn’t know she was caught until he heard her scream. The man had her; she was screaming and struggling for all she was worth but the man was too strong for her. He had her up in the air, dodging her hands and feet as she tried to hit him and kick him to get away. Up the steps and back into the house, she was fighting, and kicking, and screaming all the way.

Jeffery stopped and turned when he heard her scream. He knew that the man was too big and strong for him. So instead of running straight back to the house along the lane, he dodged to one side and ran back along the tree line where he could not be seen. He got to the house just after the man disappeared inside with Sophie. Jeffery could hear Sophie yelling at the man to put her down but of course he wouldn’t let her go.

Once in the house, the man grabbed the cloth and knocked her out again. Only this time he found some rope and tied her hands and feet so she couldn’t move. She was on her stomach with her wrists tied behind her back with her knees bent, her feet were tied not only together but also to her hands. She couldn’t even roll over.

The man went back outside to see if he could recapture Jeffery. He walked out onto the porch and down the steps. As he did so, Jeffery slipped into the dark house, unseen. He had been hiding behind a two large clay flowerpots on the porch. Once inside, Jeffery called softly to Sophie to keep from giving himself away. He heard no reply and realized that she must be unconscious. He almost panicked when he heard footsteps on the front porch because he knew they wouldn’t escape a second time if he got caught. As he groped around, he felt the robe lying on the floor. He quickly pulled it over himself and disappeared into the blackness of the room.

The man came back into the house but he didn’t see Jeffery. He went over to Sophie and snorted a guttural laugh as he pushed at her with his foot. “Your little friend took off on you,” he sneered. She didn’t stir; she was still out.

The man went back into the kitchen. Jeffery heard him pressing buttons on a cell phone and then one side of the conversation: “Yeah, it’s me. I got some company tonight, a couple of kids. One got away but the other one isn’t going anywhere. It shouldn’t make any difference; come on ahead.”

Pause.

“Yeah, I just wanted you to know.”

Pause.

“As you come in, keep an eye peeled for a boy about thirteen or so.”

Pause.

“No, just come on, we can still load everything and get out of here before daylight.”

Pause.

“I don’t know yet, but I’ll take care of it somehow.”

Pause.

“Yeah, ok.” And he pressed end.



When Jeffery heard this, he knew he had to free Sophie and the two of them had to get out of there fast. He kept the black robe over himself and crawled over to Sophie, who was just coming to. He whispered to her to be quiet as he felt the ropes with his fingers, then he got busy on the knot. He had to free her before the man came back to check on her. This was their chance, the man was busy with something else; it sounded like he was stacking crates on the back porch. Sophie was still a little groggy but quickly realized that she had to get herself together and go with Jeffery.

Finally, the knots loosened, she pulled free and threw the rope aside; they ran out of there as fast as they could, not even worrying about noise. Once again they jumped all the way down the front steps but this time, instead of running down the lane, they ran to the field beside the lane, into the tall corn that had been left to dry on the stalks for feed. It was stiff and scratchy but it didn’t bother them as they ran for their lives through the rows. They didn’t know what was going on at the house. Had the man noticed that Sophie was gone?

When they got to the fence corner at the far, upper end of the field, across from Beckley Station Road, they stayed down in the cover for what seemed like a long time. Sure enough, headlights came out of the lane and a pickup truck sped up Aiken Road towards them, past them, and on towards Old Henry Road. They stayed in the cover. They heard the screeching of tires; then headlights lit the pavement in front of them and came speeding back, it passed them again going the other way, on down Aiken Road, past the entrance, speeding on towards the new bridge. This time Jeffery and Sophie came out of the field, through the fence, and across the road. They ran as fast as they could to Sophie’s house.

The sky was just starting to turn to that inky twilight of the pre-dawn. Sophie eased open the front door of her house and slipped inside. The lights snapped on and there stood her mother with her hands on her hips. “Young lady, where in the world have you been?” Sophie ran to her and hugged her tightly. “Oh momma, I love you so much, I’m just happy to be here!” Then came the questions that Sophie was expected to answer. Jeffery didn’t stick around for questions but went quietly back to his own house where he slipped back into his bedroom without being heard. Both of them knew that they’d had a close call. They didn’t want to think of what would have happened to them if they didn’t get away.

Meanwhile, the pickup truck came back to the entrance, drove all the way in behind the house and the lights went out. A few minutes later, the headlights of a car lighted the lane; it too went behind the house and turned off its lights, only moonlight lit the scene. Two voices could be heard.

“Hey.”

“Hiya, let’s get this revolting stuff out of here. The boys’ll be waiting for it. Where’s that kid you told me about?”

“I don’t know; she got away. Probably had help from the boy.”

“We’d better make it snappy. No one else knows we’re here and if we get out of here fast enough, no one else’ll ever know.” The two of them worked quickly to load the crates in the truck and into the trunk of the car.

“We’ve got to deliver it all to Bardstown before seven-thirty; so let’s get going”

Later, in the afternoon, Jeffery went back to the house. It was empty and wide open; no smell and no sign of anything, except a black robe lying in the middle of the front room floor and a long piece of clothesline next to it.

He never said anything about what happened that night and neither did Sophie. No matter how many questions she was asked, she never admitted that she was at the house with six chimneys. They didn’t see each other for more than a week. And when they did, they didn’t talk about it. They simply understood that they were two lucky kids.

End

The Labyrinth and Marina

On the way to and from school, Marina passes the Church of the Redeemer.  On the adjoining lot there is a labyrinth installed in the ground using bricks to outline the path.  

I walked her home from school one afternoon while visiting there, which we do annually, and asked if she wanted to walk the “labbierinth.”  She corrected me and said, “It’s labyrinth, Grandpa!” And each time thereafter when we passed, I would say it incorrectly and each time she would correct me, getting a little more impatient each time.  

The visit ended and a year passed.

The very next year we were back and were once again walking home from school.  This time I asked her, “Do you want to walk the labyrinth?”  She was quiet for a moment and then said, “How come you didn't call it the labbierinth?”

Pop and the Old Wine

The house was modest enough, in a nice neighborhood in Florissant Missouri.  They’d been in it since 1964 and this was now 1991.  It was midsummer and the days were long and hot.  Outside the sun shone brightly and inside the bedroom was bright as well because it was on the west side of the house.  Thank goodness for air-conditioning, it was comfortably cool in the room.

Pop had been confined to this hospital bed for more than a year.  His body had become stiff from head to toe.  He responded well to exercise once or twice over the past couple of years but now his particular kind of Parkinson’s disease manifested itself with this stiffness.

Rose, his wife, ministered to him day and night.  They had been teen-age sweet hearts in Germany and when he left in 1927 she followed him on her own, found him, and married him in 1936.  There was never any doubt that they loved each other completely.  Now, and for the past several years, she saw to his care and feeding every day; rolled him this way and that to prevent bed sores, combed his hair, and changed his bed clothes whenever necessary.

There were visiting nurses who came to monitor his vital signs and give him a bath several times each week.  He was well taken care of, his daughters visited with him often, staying longer in the living room but I’m sure the sound of their voices in the house was music to his ears.

Carola and I visited when we could, we lived away and came to the St. Louis area for Christmas and occasionally during the year.  It was on one such visit that I found myself in his room, talking to him.  From the time I started courting Carola, he and I would spend hours talking, mostly him talking and me listening, to stories of Spaichingen and his coming to this country and the way he got his career job at Wagner Electric in the tool department where he became night shift foreman and remained so until he retired in 1976. Now I supposed it was my turn now to do the talking.

On this particular day, I was alone with him at his bedside.  He strained to talk and managed to say, “Chon (he never lost his German accent), go down in the basement and get that wine and pour it for the people out there, it's not any good anyway.”  I said sure and continued to talk to him about what was going on with us. The visit wrapped up and we left.

A couple of months later when we were  visiting  he told me again “Get that wine and serve it to the company because it ain't any good.”  I still didn't know what he was talking about and passed it off.  When we finished talking, I left the room and joined the others. Then a while later I went back into his bedroom, got down close to his face and said, “Pop, you know that wine you wanted  to get rid of?”  “I gave to the people out there; they drank it and didn't know the difference.”

His blue eyes twinkled, his face got screwed up into a smile and he laughed.  He was so pleased to be finally rid of that wine.

  

Change Your Thoughts (Haiku)

Changing thoughts to kind
Brings a change in your own heart
You see you better

Self Absorption (Haiku)

Self absorbed people
Never think of anyone else
Only me, me, me

So consequently
Never expect a thank you
It ain't happening

If you teach your child
To say "Thank you" for every
Kindness they receive

Their way in the world
Will be appreciated
By those helping them

Undone and noticed
The person is put on hold
For future kindness

Then dropped from the list
Of those for whom others care
Having shown they don't

The Buddhas (Haiku)

California,

A Buddha laughs with the fish.

Virginia too.

Found alone, smiling

In a dark Chinatown shop

They now have purpose.

Uniting two coasts

Common ground for grandchildren

Sharing for sisters.

Why Am I Doing This? (Haiku)

Inadequacy.
Buy the popular logo
Assuage your feelings

The Cadillac SUV
Parked in the no parking zone
Compensates for it

The shirt is the same
As that in J C Penny's
Except the logo

The golf ball is sworn 
To be more superior
But just for the pros

It takes a good eye
To see through the marketing
And spot quality

Impossible if
Inside is the nagging voice
Your not good enough

Waiting For It (Haiku)

What while awaiting
An important appointment
Whittle while you wait

Otherwise engaged
The time passes too quickly
Momentum is built

Not engaged at all
The time passes too slowly
Inertia is built

Prepared and ready
One does mental gymnastics
Moving on smartly

Stepping to the plate
Hit or miss he swings the bat
Connects one in three

Percentage improves
Spending more time at practice
Building confidence

Confidence is king
At the plate or on stage
Built by doing it

Californians (Haiku)

Californians
Take themselves entirely
Too seriously.

That Stuffed Shirt We All Know So Well (Haiku)

Overly impressed
With himself is how he died
Never having lived

His resume' packed
With honors and citations
He read with relish

The admonition
To ignore publicity
Somehow forgotten

Like Aesop's fable
The vain toad blew himself up
His ego's victim.

Michael's New SUV (Haiku on a changing lifestyle)

How deep will he sink
In the morass of middle class
Only time will tell

The green subaru
Given over to and sold
The scooter remains 

A vestige of self
As responsibility
Replaces the good life

Unsung Heros (Haiku on our sexuality)

Guys dress to play down
The sexuality that
Gals dress to play up

Attracting the man
Women can always say no
Men always say yes

Conditioned from youth
Each to their own apparel
Comfortable in clothes

The humble coutures
Play a significant role
In procreation.

Get It Back and Don't Lose It! (Haiku)

Others think for you
Listening to the radio
Don't let them do it


Love, hate, and venom
Spew from every speaker
Vying for your heart


Thinking for yourself
Allows imagination
That, is rewarding

Why We're Here (Haiku)

Imagination

Is why we are where we are

Building on the past

Two Big Debts -- Haiku

We spend more and more
Not thinking how to repay
But paid it will be

We use more and more
Thinking it will not run out
But run out it will

Our greed to consume
Yields a false prosperity
We have to have it

The environment 
Is changing as we sit here
The future is now

Expediency
Avoids facing both issues
We'll cry tomorrow

The New Hostess, a Parable /Story

The Story Continues; not only continues but also gets bizarre.  The man found out a short time later that the hostess, who'd been thrown out for her inappropriate behavior, was hired by that very restaurant with the promise of help in finding her another group of diners.
_______________________
Epilog:  Now a few months later, the remaining guests at the feast told the new hostess to leave; they threw her out in spite of her protests.  The man and others who'd left the circle returned.  
_______________________

There once was a man who frequented the same restaurant for many years.  He met a group of people there to have a weekly feast.  

The table would seat from ten to thirty people and although a few of the attendees were regular, it was not always the same people.  There were new people who were attracted to the group and others who drifted away.  

It was the custom of the group to allow one of the assembled to sit at the head of the table.  That person was to guide the serving and the conversation to be sure that all had enough to eat and a good time.

A new person came to the group and asked to sit at the head of the table.  It seemed that she was nice enough, and well enough mannered that the group agreed to it.  So one fine day there she sat, at the head of the table.

She reported that there had been an incident and two people who were members of the group were poisoned. She told the assembly that they should not be concerned about this, that dinner was about to start and she didn't want any negativity in the room.  

She said that these two were poisoned for good reason and that reason did not concern anyone here.  As for the dead bodies in the room, what difference does it make.  The feast must go on and all would have a good time. 

When the man asked what happened, he was told to mind his own business.  He rightly thought that since he was going to be eating there he would like to know how they were poisoned because he didn't want to suffer the same fate.  

He asked others who were involved and some of the information even came from one of those who had been poisoned, just before he died.  The story the man pieced together was consistent in fact but not in the reasons why they were poisoned.

Since there was some question about the circumstances of their deaths, the man asked to see the menus from some meals that were paid for by the entire group but eaten by just a few while making plans for the feasts.

He asked the custodian of the menus to see the menus. It was part of the custodian's job to keep the menus but he had turned them over to the new hostess at her request.  

She said that no one, not the man or anyone else, was going to be allowed to see them until she was ready to allow it.  She said it would be at least six weeks before anyone could see them and they would be in a new book.  Certainly enough time to alter the menus and delete the poisoned entrees.

This didn't set well with the man; he passed notes to the hostess for an explanation.  The notes came back saying to stop asking.  When he tried to speak with her, she turned her back to him.  

Meanwhile the feast continued.  The hostess monopolized the conversation, her manners were crude.  She wouldn't pass anything on and soon all the food was in front of her. 

She proclaimed that the people shouldn't be concerned, they should be happy because she would see to it that they had their fill soon enough.  It was the dawn of a new day.

The man was hungry and disgusted so he excused himself saying he had some important things to take care of and left. He didn't know what the others were thinking but he knew that time would tell.

Au Contraire--Haiku (for he/she who would take the other side no matter what)

Some take the other
No matter what is said first
Just to disagree

Those who contradict
Are at best an annoyance
Never erudite

The disagreement
Is gratuitous nonsense
Just to say something

Never offering
An opening opinion
Ready to argue

One contradictor
Once went first with opinion
And was pilloried

Retaliation
A sweeter form of revenge
On the naysayer

Adolescent Haiku

Before adulthood
It is what I want to do
Not what others want

Then enlightenment
Perhaps we understand it
It ain't always so

There's death and taxes
And what we want from others
It is always so

To get what you want
Use assets and connections
Which require others

The adolescent
Believes in autonomy
It is rarely so.

Haiku to Take You On

See two other blogs
Philosophical Poems
Philo two by two

One a work of art
The other for reference
A way of looking

Both describe life themes
One mostly emotional
Then with intellect

Both provoking thought
Meant to be entertaining
Could be serious

(Same author, Philosophical Poems and Philosophy 2X2)

Marina's Jam in Haiku

We had such fun here

At Christmas and after that

With you and Lilah

Then I found the fruit

In the refrigerator

Very fresh and cold

It was washed with care

Put it in a great big pot

And cooked until soft

Then added sugar

And made it extremely hot

Then the jars were filled

All the germs were gone

All the jars and lids were boiled

For a long, long time

So enjoy your fruit

On bread with peanut butter

Or on your ice cream!