Haiku
by Ibe Ware Desue, LC
Gray empty branches
of the flowering pear tree
sprout white, bright blossoms.
Haiku
by Ibe Ware Desu, LC
Morning doves coo-coo,
coo-coo, oblivious to
coronavirus.
Ibe Ware Desu, LC, is a haikuist who admires the poetry of Yosa Buson (1716-1784).
~~~
And We Waved Good-bye to Those Who Left
by Drew U. A. Eclibse
It was about the outset of December it began;
we heard about it through the gossip on th’ E-lec-tro-span.
In ordinary discourse we would talk about it then,
but not that much; there was a lot more on the Internet.
They said it came from Wuhan, China, from a restaurant,
but darker voices claimed it was a biolab spin-off.
And then it surged, and sprang upon us, like a w-i-l-d cat;
and we were well within it then, o, this Year of the Rat.
It mattered not from whence it came; it mattered it was here;
and the coronavirus spread—and spread—this was its year.
Ten thousands were infected, and some thousands of them died.
Though it was not a tsú-na-mi; it was indeed a tide.
We had no trusted papers in those days; the media
was fact-loose, clothed in half-truths, rumour-mill expedient.
And the official sources out of country were much worse.
You couldn’t trust their propaganda mills. That were a curse.
We struggled on, while those around succumbed to the disease;
and economic losses deepened exponentially.
As February finished up, one saw in the night sky
the slender smile of the new moon; and we waved good-bye
to those who left.
Drew U. A. Eclibse is a poet of the Moon and people and things that are eclipsed. In China, as the number of cases passed 80,000, the number of deaths reached 3,000. In South Korea the cases passed 5,000 and the deaths 30. In Italy, with the number of cases went over 2500 and deaths went to 100, schools have been closed. In Iran, as cases reached 3,000 and deaths 100, the government has freed over 50,000 prisoners for fear they will spread the disease.
~~~
Key Features of a Tyrant
by Eric Awesud Ble
“Abajo la Dictatura”
—Cuban-Americans in Miami
Within the “Theory of Dictatorship”, Michel Onfray
examines the key features of a tyrant and his lie.
In route to the destruction he desires to inflate,
these are the things the modern tyrant will appreciate.
Destruction of all liberty and freedom is a must.
Impoverishing language is an article of trust.
Abolishing the truth is necessary to be king.
These are the kinds of things one sees in China’s Xi Jinping.
And there are more. One must suppress the World’s history,
denying nature all the while, for truth might set one free.
And further then, one should aspire to an empire’s realm,
and propagate a lot of hate, so as to overwhelm.
Michel Onfray reminds one of George Orwell at his best;
for Orwell saw with piercing eyes tyrannic ruthlessness.
Eric Awesud Ble is a poet who channels George Orwell. Michel Onfray is a contemporary French philosopher. The Wuhan seafood market has been demolished, lest anyone investigate it too closely.
~~~
Airlines around the Globe
by Air Weelbed Suc
Airlines around the Globe are limiting their Chinese flights,
American, Iberian, and Austrian Airlines,
Lufthansa, Philippine, Air France, El Al, and KLM,
all Russian, but for Aeroflot, and Royal Air Maroc,
Latam, Oman, Tajikistan, and Scandanavian,
Mongolian, Air India, Kuwait, and Kazakhstan,
United, British Airways, Ryanair and Singapore,
Korean, Delta, Vietjet, Air Canada and more.
And many other airlines now have closed flights to Iran,
as well as Thailand, South Korea, Italy, Japan.
Air Weelbed Suc is a poet of air flight.
~~~
In Doha, Qatar
by Secwer El Dubai
US and Taliban officials sealed a deal to
end eighteen years of Afghan War. What will it really do?
Will peace come to Afghanistan, or will there still be war?
The US will pull out 8,000 troops, and maybe more.
Will human rights and women’s rights continue to improve?
What does the Afghan government think of this latest move?
The Secretary of Defense stressed this was just a start.
The road will not be easy as Americans depart.
To date the Taliban and Afghan reps have not yet met.
In Doha, Qatar, attitudes were cautious at the best.
Secwer El Dubai is a poet of the Arabian sheikdoms.
~~~
O, Città
by Alberdi Ucwese
He went down to the cellar where the casks of wine were stored.
He wanted to tap into one—o, that it could be bored.
And he could drink that golden wine Amontillado, yes.
O, Fortunato was excited; he would soon be blessed.
He had just come from partying in fancy suit and tie.
He’d been directed to some casks. He was a happy guy.
But while he rested in a corner niche he was shoved in,
the only things that he could feel were anguish and chagrin.
This pat trick with a trow’l and mortar took him by surprise,
and in the catacombs he felt fate fingering his life.
O, Città, I’ve been taken in and shoved against a wall.
O, Città, I have done all this but for some alcohol.
The Venice Carnival
by Alberdi Ucwese
The Venice Carnival was stopped—cornavirus fears.
The celebration was called off due to disease concerns.
As cases rose and people died, officials, rather than,
turn a blind eye, decided to, ban large group gatherings.
Guv Luca Zaia told the press, boats will be scrubbed and cleaned.
museums will be closed, and people coming will be screened.
Due to concerns, the last two days of partying were dropped.
The flights from Hong Kong, China and Macao have all been stopped.
Some areas of Venice and Lombardy are locked down,
and people could not leave or enter into many towns.
Alberdi Ucwese is a poet of Italy. Italian writer Giovanni Boccaccio lived through the Black Death, as it ravaged through Florence in 1348. The experience inspired him to write “The Decameron”, one of the classicas of Italian literature. Of its many stories, “Federigo’s Falcon” is one of the best.
~~~
His Life Was His Philosophy
by Erisbawdle Cue
He was like Kant—alone, unhappy—in a cruel clime,
a man against the World of ideas, facts and time.
His life was his philosophy, an Herculean force,
which did its best to come to terms with Earth, and ran its course:
spectacular and meteoric, wretched, rich, a mess,
a constant effort spent in challenging all consciousness.
He was an Austrian in English clothing strug-gəl-ing
to find a space to place his mind amidst such ugly things,
a muddle wrapped in an enigma reimagining,
a sick, prosaic Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein.
Erisbawdle Cue is a poet of philosophy, Wittgenstein (1889-1951) was an Austrian philosopher.
~~~
Clark Kent
by Wic E. Ruse Blade
When Clark Kent gets out of the bath, he lifts his arms to fly;
but he is only stepping out upon a tow’l to dry.
He looks dynamic and dramatic, on the shower door,
but he is but a dude who’s making contact with the floor.
When Mister Kent gets dressed in body shirt he likes to use,
he doesn’t mess around with capes, and puts on socks and shoes.
He puts on underwear to go around his dick and balls;
he doesn’t want to bother anybody on his calls.
When Clark Kent goes about his daily business, clean and dressed,
he purchases what he can find to make him feel his best.
Wic E, Ruse Blade is a poet of the comics.
~~~
The Evacuee at North Star Mall
by “Wild” E. S. Bucaree
The North Star Mall in San Antonio was closed a day
for a deep cleaning after a coronavirus stay.
The customer, who visited the mall just recently,
had tested positive upon her last test—number three.
But she had been released already not evincing signs
that she was carrying the covid-19 cells inside.
She’d come from Wuhan, China. She was an evacuee.
She had been placed in San Antonio, in quarantine.
Let go, she went off to the mall of giant cowboy boots;
but when the test came in, she was chased down in hot pursuit.
“Wild” E. S. Bucaree is a poet of Texas.
~~~
Tanka
by “Wired Clues” Abe
A resounding crash,
followed by heavy silence,
then wailing sirens.
An ambulance speeds away
into the neon display.
“Wired Clues” Abe is a poet of Japanese forms and NewMillennial technology.
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