Haikumbha

2012-01-27T04:57:00.000-08:00

Dark green inferno
turning the past to ashes -
the conifer tree

2011-12-29T06:48:00.000-08:00

A palm frond thatched hut.
The sea wind in its fringed eaves
brings an inner ease.

2011-12-27T21:36:00.000-08:00

blood-coloured tide -
summer rains have dyed the waves
with the iron cliff's oxides

2011-11-09T03:59:00.000-08:00

Veiled in Summer's haze,
immortal as Mount Meru
- towering clouds.

2011-09-25T05:09:00.000-07:00

Upon experiencing Self-realisation Wumen wrote the following enlightenment poem:

A thunderclap under the clear blue sky
All beings on earth open their eyes;
Everything under heaven bows together;
Mount Sumeru leaps up and dances.

Mount Sumeru is the central world mountain in Buddhism. This central axis is reflected in a human being as the Shushumna channel in the spine. The Kundalini energy leaps up the spine and dances on the crown of the head during Self-realisation.

2011-09-01T08:33:00.000-07:00

A kookaburra
on a turning clothes hoist -
I miss it vanish

2011-09-01T08:30:00.000-07:00

Branches in earth
and roots in the quiet sky -
buds are opening

2011-09-01T08:25:00.000-07:00

Crowned with fresh needles,
surpassing me in silence -
The great pine's stature.

2011-08-26T07:55:00.000-07:00

Bright white cockatoo
like a flag on a bulwark
gainst the tide of night

2011-08-17T03:52:00.000-07:00

The world is a mirror
in which the Self sees itself -
night brings gusts of rain.

2011-06-22T08:09:00.000-07:00

Ink-black winter storm,
creating its opposite,
whips the ocean white

2011-05-19T20:16:00.000-07:00

like a well-thumbed book
the gate opens easily
-the overgrown path

(after Borges)

2011-05-19T20:12:00.000-07:00

Desirous of breathing
the fragrance of Truth's springtime
we welcome the Breeze.

2011-05-19T20:09:00.000-07:00

Teakwood cupboard
Steeped in the deep night of jungles
- the goddess of sleep...

2011-05-10T06:52:00.000-07:00

by a hidden path
in Autumn's forgiving sun
a rose opens

2011-04-10T18:53:00.000-07:00

a million hearts drum
for an elephant procession
- April clouds

2011-03-19T21:50:00.000-07:00

always looking at

future, past and present

the mind is blinded

2011-03-09T02:58:00.000-08:00

From distant hills
a grey but rainless sky stretches
to distant hills

(After Kafka)

2011-03-07T20:18:00.000-08:00

laid down over ages
the strata of crisp-cut pages
-brand-new history book

2011-03-07T03:18:00.000-08:00

Molten, the idol "I",
in the blue crucible
of the summer sky

2011-03-06T20:09:00.000-08:00

in the stillness
between two waves of the sea -
vilamba sandbar

(first two lines from TS ELiot)

2011-03-06T02:06:00.000-08:00

A subtle anniversary -
this soul has completed
an orbit of Self

-Jeronimus

2011-02-16T06:51:00.000-08:00

girls' wear mannequin -
its hand-sewn sequin heart
speaks of sweatshops

-Jeronimus

2011-01-31T04:51:00.001-08:00

In the courtyard
of the temple of the sky
blooms a flower.

- Jeronimus, after Kabir

2011-01-26T05:48:00.000-08:00

All that remains of
the infinite sea of night
are these words of ink

Jeronimus (inspired by a haiku by Jorge Luis Borges)

2011-01-26T05:43:00.000-08:00

Rescued from the ferns
the grey watering can will rain
for the vanished clouds

-Jeronimus

2011-01-17T03:41:00.000-08:00

The evening sky
is an old master painting
of a blue-ware bowl
-Jeronimus

2011-01-11T22:04:00.000-08:00

Like gold, this blue runs
molten in the crucible
of the summer sky
-Jeronimus

2011-01-11T21:53:00.000-08:00

Like Isis' sistrum
cicadas' summer shimmer
exorcises thought
-Jeronimus

2011-01-04T00:52:00.000-08:00

Kookaburras call
in jungles they've never seen,
thanks to Hollywood.

-Jeronimus

2010-12-24T21:44:00.000-08:00

A cool conflagration
roaring in the high canopy.
I melt in summer's forge.

-Jeronimus

Evening

2010-12-19T01:13:00.000-08:00

In the night that comes,
these trees will still be green,
this sky still blue.
-Jeronimus

2010-11-22T20:49:00.000-08:00

Cypress pines - brushes
dipped in the infinite ink
of marine winds

-Jeronimus

2010-11-12T20:32:00.000-08:00

on the warming lawn
various grasses compete
like warring kingdoms

-Jeronimus

2010-10-20T00:18:00.000-07:00

Plumes upon the green Earth's helm
bending in the still chill wind.
-Poplars by the roadside.

-Jeronimus
('upon' is archaic but it sounds well with plume and poplar)

Spring-summer

2010-10-19T23:58:00.000-07:00

On the boundary
a hedge sends errant tendrils
toward the summer

-Jeronimus

Immortality

2010-06-16T03:49:00.000-07:00

high fine clouds like phoenix plumes
- a sickle moon scythes past lives
In afternoon blue

-Jeronimus

Who is the Poet?

2010-06-09T21:51:00.000-07:00

No subject comes to mind -
the whole vibrating world's a poem
with sun and moon for metre.

Blue and Gray

2010-06-09T07:42:00.000-07:00

Weeks of gray skies
brushed away by a cold blue wind.
New slates cover blue sarking.
-Jeronimus

Early Winter

2010-06-05T05:32:00.000-07:00

a single shining sound
in the darkness before dawn,
- the rain-quickened stream

-Jeronimus

2010-02-01T23:51:00.000-08:00

Perfuming the mind with depth
the wind from the sea
brings bursts of rain.

-Jeronimus

Purusha

2009-12-05T01:13:00.000-08:00

The sound of distant thunder -
Personhood expands to fill all space.
Sudden, brilliant, as the lightning bolt.

-Jeronimus

2009-12-05T01:00:00.000-08:00

All night, drop by drop,
the owl's incessant question.
The mind overflows with it.

-Jeronimus

2009-11-10T02:21:00.000-08:00

Like the shimmering sound of
shell beaches sifted by summer waves
- a sea breeze in the leaves.

-Jeronimus

2009-11-05T20:54:00.000-08:00

A reverse universe:
blue clouds in a white sky -
jacaranda trees, overcast day

-Jeronimus

The jacaranda is a tree with blue to purple-blue blossoms, native to Central and South America.

2009-10-23T01:05:00.000-07:00

A great river flows,
irrigating the senses
through a few simple lines.

-Jeronimus

2009-09-11T04:52:00.000-07:00

thriving in deep shade,
cliveas make their own suns
of bright, warm orange

-Jeronimus

2009-09-08T20:13:00.000-07:00

green like copper domes,
tenacious to the hot-plate slate -
lichen on the summer roof

-Jeronimus

Formlessness

2009-09-01T20:42:00.000-07:00

Don't look for images in clouds -
Not even the faces of the gods.
Their glory lies in formlessness

-Jeronimus

Winter Almost Over

2009-07-31T01:26:00.000-07:00

Spring in the step of shoppers.
Cloud cows browse the blue above.
Many forms, one purity.

-Jeronimus

Fujitaka

2009-07-29T00:01:00.000-07:00

Inishie mo
Ima mo kawaranu
Yo no naka ni
Kokoro no tane wo
Nokosu koto no ha

In this world that remains,
Past and present
Unchanged,
I leave these words:
Seeds of my spirit.

-Fujitaka
Upon receiving this poem, Emperor Goyozei ordered an end to the siege of the castle
in which Fujitaka expected to be killed.
The pen was proved mightier than the sword.
This is not a haiku.

2009-07-28T23:53:00.000-07:00

As I dried my sleeves,
drenched with chrysanthemum dew,
did an age slip by?

Jeronimus, after the ancient Japanese poet Sosei Hoshi

2009-07-11T00:16:00.000-07:00

1)
a moment,
the waves show
the water beneath

2)
ah!
the butterflies'
shadow

3)
sleeping
after graduation -
dreams of cotton in the wind

4)
opening the door
to sweep the dirt out -
heavy summer rain

-Bhalachandra

Hydrangeas

2009-07-10T03:08:00.000-07:00

A recent painting, acrylic on canvas, 12 x 12 inches.

Blue clouds, brains of rain,

'vessels of water', in Greek.

What angel arranged hydrangeas?

- Jeronimus

2009-07-02T22:29:00.000-07:00

Pine trunks creak in the breeze,
as if an old chest had closed
- winter afternoon

-Jeronimus

2009-06-23T07:33:00.000-07:00

Clouds on the horizon
bleached by marine distance -
as old as driftwood

-Jeronimus

2009-06-16T05:03:00.000-07:00

no more
questioning
-birds singing on
every tree

-Bhalachandra

2009-06-16T00:47:00.000-07:00

To the vain, it's grey.
To a weeder, it's green
- time has many hues.

-Jeronimus

2009-06-11T02:03:00.000-07:00

After rising
I wash my eyes in the sky
-a blue ablution

-Jeronimus

2009-06-04T04:51:00.001-07:00

No stone can shatter,
no dust can gather on
the mirror of the lake

Jeronimus (after Thoreau)

2009-06-04T04:48:00.000-07:00

After days of rain
no other reality
exists but green

-Jeronimus

The Sport

2009-06-02T02:43:00.000-07:00

White camellia -
its inner child has spattered
one petal with red

- Jeromimus
Note: A 'sport' is a flower that has an unusual colour variation.

Basho

2009-05-30T08:22:00.000-07:00

Do not seek to follow
in the footsteps of the men of old;
seek what they sought.

An autumn night...
don't think your life,
didn't matter.

There is nothing you can see that is not a flower;
there is nothing you can think that is not the moon.

2009-05-30T00:09:00.001-07:00

Twilight is silent
behind the raucousness of
the cockatoo flock.

Bhalachandra

2009-05-29T23:38:00.001-07:00

back to sleep
at dawn -
outside, the birds
only know the morning

Bhalachandra

2009-05-29T23:36:00.001-07:00

spring in Seattle -
the white side of leaves
showing in the wind

Uejima Onitsura 1660-1738

2009-05-29T23:20:00.001-07:00

To finally know the plum,
use the whole heart too,
and your own nose

A voiceless flower
speaks to the obedient
in-listening ear

Silent the garden
where the camellia-tree
opens its whiteness

2009-05-29T01:51:00.000-07:00

the water fountain
has ceased -
autumn leaves rustle above

-Bhalachandra

2009-05-29T01:50:00.000-07:00

before leaving
to teach,
the rain begins

-Bhalachandra

2009-05-29T01:46:00.000-07:00

amongst pine trees,
a metal pole
is slanted

-Bhalachandra

Winter Haiku

2009-05-29T01:23:00.000-07:00

Denuded branches -
roots seeking the sustenance
of the quiet sky.

Ventilators

2009-02-21T18:11:00.000-08:00

on the rain-washed roof -
prayer wheels to an unknown god
- ventilators spin

Palm tree

2008-04-21T20:51:00.000-07:00

In the palm trunk shade
a sunbeam illumines eyes
left by long gone fronds.

Juice Bar

2007-09-02T03:22:00.000-07:00

A pile of peeled oranges -
Many and segmented worlds
but all are orange.

2007-08-22T21:38:00.000-07:00

Veiled by spray of waves,
in the sea of the unreal
is a heart-island

2007-07-03T04:30:00.001-07:00

The Spring breezes pull
the unopened jasmine buds -
Impatient for scent.

2007-07-03T04:27:00.001-07:00

A shining salt lake
humbly casting no shadow -
The Sun's priceless throne.

2007-07-03T04:21:00.000-07:00

The Self has no other
but It knows no loneliness -
sunrays embrace Space.

2007-07-03T04:20:00.001-07:00

Thunder at midnight -
The backdrops for the new day
are being rolled in.

2007-07-03T04:18:00.000-07:00

Though resembling ash
left by the world-consuming fire
clouds revive the tree

2007-07-03T04:09:00.000-07:00

Clouds drift forever
Without ever leaving home -
The infinite sky.

2007-07-03T04:05:00.000-07:00

What surname has salt
which, like the parentless Self,
dissolved in the Sea?
.

2007-07-03T04:04:00.000-07:00

Coconut palm trunk -
So swiftly, without knowledge,
the squirrel ascends.

2007-07-03T04:03:00.002-07:00

Extract the sweetness
of the world's punishing cane
in Silence's press.

2007-07-03T04:03:00.001-07:00

Maroon evening
Coconut palm silhouettes -
Shadows of fireworks.

2007-07-03T04:01:00.000-07:00

Many births I had
Revelling in many forms
To know formlessness
(After Kabir)

2007-07-03T03:54:00.000-07:00

2007-07-03T03:38:00.000-07:00

Nocturnal stillness.
A bell-collared cat hunts mice -
thought's futility.

2007-07-03T03:37:00.000-07:00

Crow at the window
vainly pecks its reflection -
Thought attacking thought.

2007-07-03T03:36:00.000-07:00

Flower in a vase,
only now, at midnight, I hear
your colour sermon.

2007-07-03T03:33:00.000-07:00

Brain-shaped cumulus
containing no other thought
than the lightning bolt.

Emily Dickinson

2007-07-03T02:06:00.000-07:00

Her small poem/waves
Truths that dazzle gradually -
eroding "I"-lands

2007-07-03T01:56:00.000-07:00

feeding green reed flames -
a lamp of golden butter -
the evening lake