Water slaps pavement
Loudly enough to wake me
Well after midnight.
I wait for a softer rain
To lull me back to my rest.
04/01/2013
How fine it would be
To sit awhile longer and
Talk the night away.
Duty demands that we part:
Tomorrow is a work day.
04/02/2013
He questioned my choice
Of brushes and ink stick meant
For a child to use.
Yet one must begin somewhere
When one is learning to write.
04/03/2013
To camp or daytrip?
I cannot decide which which one
Holds greater appeal.
The company of my friends
Or not having to sleep cold?
4/04/2013
Light and shadow play
Out a simple, old fashioned tale
That still wrings a tear.
The faces of those long dead
Still captivate the living.
04/05/2013
Mist blurs the hilltops,
Underfoot, the dewy grass
Seeps through my tabi.
Why did I rise so early?
The tourney is not for hours.
04/06/2013
It is a good hurt,
To wake a bit sore, thinking
Of yesterday's bouts.
Four wins only, but each loss
Was a far better lesson.
04/07/2013
At night, a high wind
Makes the house shudder and creak
Like a ship at sea.
Lying beneath the eaves, I
Listen to the storm's music.
04/08/2013
As the sun went down
I saw them hunting for fish
In the steel blue bay.
The pelicans have returned
And I sigh contentedly.
04/09/2013
A solitary
Clump of purple and white spills
From a stringy vine.
Perhaps by next spring it will
Cascade more elegantly.
04/10/2013
The street is quiet,
Light shines from a front window
At this late hour.
I try to tread softly as
I pass my neighbor's front door.
04/11/2013
A thousand years on,
Monkey looks back laughing as
Rabbit chases him.
Cavorting in faded ink,
The animals still frolic.
04/12/2013
A slice of moonlight
Shaped like a smile, or perhaps
The hull of a boat.
It rides above my road home,
Waiting for I know not what.
04/13/2013
Were they all real men
Or the imaginings of
Those who sculpted them?
Two millennia old, they
Gaze back at me in silence.
04/14/2013
It roars off the bay,
Yanking at half closed doors and
Rattling the windows.
Halyards chime noisily as
Boats jostle in their moorings.
04/15/2013
It's almost midnight
But this poem will not come
And I want to sleep.
Whose idea was this challenge?
Oh yes, that's right. It was mine.
04/16/2013
Flowering trees wave
Their gaily colored sleeves in
The morning sunshine.
I spare them a glance before I
Hurry off to my work day.
04/17/2013
Wrists ache from the weight
Of drills with sword and dagger,
Pass and pass again.
Is he having an off night
Or have I improved that much?
04/18/2013
The wheel turns again,
Now rising, now falling but
Always in motion.
No matter what the season
There is always more mending.
04/19/2013
Wind sighs through branches
And tugs halfheartedly at
A little boy's kite.
Serenaded by songbirds,
I lie back in the cool grass.
04/20/2013
A darting motion
In the corner of my eye
Alerts me to him.
He hovers, snatching insects
Wings blur with speed, then he's off.
04/21/2013
Windows thrown open,
One hopes for a cool bay breeze
Though it nears midnight.
Soon enough the birds will wake
Me with their noisy chatter.
04/22/2013
A field of green silk
Awaits my inspiration
"Paint me!" it whispers.
I dip my brush in pure gold
Steady handed by purpose.
04/23/2013
On a quiet night
A distant train horn echoes
Across the channel.
Footsteps on pavement outside
Hurry past, then a door slams.
04/24/2013
So bright a spring moon
Makes one yearn for poetry
And dreams of what was.
Alas, I must watch alone
As the rooftops gleam silver.
04/25/2013
Tonight the moon plays
Hide and Seek among billows
Of concealing clouds.
Now hidden, now peeping through
At its face deep in the bay.
04/26/2013
Measured in gray hairs
Or a clock's tick, time never
Stops playing its tricks.
Like water cupped in the hand
The day dripped through my fingers.
04/27/2013
Tiny white flowers
In the grass beneath my feet
Spring up like small stars.
A breath of sea breeze floats in
Off the beach beyond the trees.
04/28/2013
She waits in a web
Strung across the window frame
For a fly or moth.
A door slams downstairs, making
Her scuttle into a crack.
04/29/2013
Another sunset
Gilds the water as sea birds
Wheel and cry above.
I turn homeward, thinking of
What tomorrow holds in store.
04/30/2013
Cresting a hillside,
I could cup it in my hands.
My reach is too short.
The golden teacup moon seems
Caught in a web of branches.
11/01/2013
The maple out front
Still defies the season with
Sleeves still mostly green.
Only a few flecks of red
Hint at what is yet to come.
11/02/2013
An old song plays on
Within a fragment of dream
Unheard by others.
Who was I dancing with then
Beneath the breath of the stars?
11/03/2013
As the days shorten
The light seems to lean sharply,
Eager for sunset.
Fooled by warm breezes, the trees
Seem heedless of winter's fate.
11/04/2013
Honed to a bright arc,
The setting moon coasts lower,
Lost among rooftops.
A sudden chill presages
The darker season to come.
11/05/2013
Shoes are a poor lure.
The cosmetics counter holds
No sway over me.
But the time I could waste in
The aisles of a hardware store!
11/06/2013
Only the street lamps
And the trees mark my passing
At such a late hour.
The streets are empty but for
The rustle of fallen leaves.
11/07/2013
I can barely see
The old house across the street
Like a distant hill.
That looming ghost is only
A neighbor walking a dog.
11/08/2013
Whiter than paper
They pose calmly at bay's edge
Or scythe through the air.
Among the egrets floats a
Pelican like a great ship.
11/09/2013
A warm bowl of rice
Makes me suddenly drowsy
After a long day.
Perhaps a cup of tea will
Let me read awhile longer.
11/10/2013
Low hanging clouds lid
The bay, grey mirroring gray
To the horizon.
The city beyond is but
A jumble of pale shadow.
11/11/2013
Though it is quite late
Restlessness keeps me sitting
Awhile with my thoughts.
Heedless of my foolishness
Dark clouds play tag with the stars.
11/12/2013
To wear such colors
Would be more presumptuous
Than is in good taste.
As ever, the sky outranks
Those of us bound to the earth.
11/13/2013
A year and a half
It took for someone to give
The right instructions.
Hearing it phrased a new way
I now know what to correct.
11/14/2013
Soon I can take off
That smiling mask worn to please
A demanding world.
Soon I will smile for myself
In the company of friends.
11/15/2013
First come the fish eyes,
Then pearls rise to the surface.
Last, waves in tumult.
So did Lu Yu give names to
Stages of water boiling.
11/16/2013
They crunch and rustle,
Scuttling before the wind like
Startled animals.
The lawn is awash in waves
Of vermilion, brown and gold.
11/17/2013
Though it is early
I see them rowing each day
As I cross the bridge.
Swift as arrows, they slice the
Glowing waters of the dawn.
11/18/2013
Rumpled silver silk
Veils the wan cheeks of a sun
Seemingly mourning.
In the north, leaden clouds pile
Their dark threat of autumn rain.
11/19/2013
Piled behind the hills,
They scowl darkly with the last
Remnants of the rain.
The sunset breaks through, setting
The houses ablaze with light.
11/20/2013
On a night like this
The house shudders like a ship
On a stormy sea.
Windows shake in their frames and
Tree branches batter the roof.
11/21/2013
Moaning and rushing
Through the lane between houses
The wind is tormented.
Sighing, I wedge more paper
Into the window sashes.
11/22/2013
The day's duties done,
It is time to douse the lights
And seek a warm bed.
Perhaps tomorrow will bring
A new adventure or two.
11/23/2013
Lo these many months
We banded together to
Protect our Princess.
A reign ends, a reign begins,
And there is mending to do.
11/24/2013
Downstairs the clock chimes,
Telling me to seek my bed.
Yet here I still sit.
Inspiration fails to strike
As I struggle with these lines.
11/25/2013
The market buzzes
With pre-celebration throngs
Seeking provisions.
Arms laden with treats, I pause
To admire the sunset sky.
11/26/2013
Nights are not dark here,
Not with ships unloading wares
Beneath mighty cranes.
A cloudy night gone pale pink
With the bustle of the port.
11/27/2013
Some unseen creature
Is pacing the roof shingles
Above my head.
Bird or squirrel, it taps
And patters, then is away.
11/28/2013
They raided my grain,
I fought them back, laying traps
And small diversions.
In a day I took three heads,
Perhaps more will fall tonight.
11/29/2013
The hills are erased.
I cannot even see as
Far as the harbor.
The fog is a living thing,
Eating an entire city.
11/30/2013
Copyright 2013, 2019 Lisa A. Joseph