Haiku
by “Clear Dew” Ibuse
On this New Year’s Eve,
shining in the dark night sky,
Mars sparkles scarlet.
“Clear Dew” Ibuse is a poet of traditional haiku.
~~~
Haiku
by “Wired Clues” Abe
It was the end for
one-hundred-seventy-nine
when the jet plane crashed.
“Wired Clues” Abe is a NewMillennial haiku poet.
~~~
On the Planet Mars
by I. E. Sbace Weruld
December’s daze is fading with the carols and the hymns.
Commercial tunes of yesteryear are something some will miss.
The large displays on lawns are coming down, as are lights strung,
the ornaments and trees as well, along with stockings hung.
A new year is beginning, and an old year goes away,
repeated every single year in the U S of A.
How many centuries will this occur? Some want to know.
And yet, despite so many things, it’s how it seems to go.
One wonders if there will be Christmas celebrations on
the planet Mars, when humans show up in the coming dawn.
One looked out of the rocketship, upon its lengthy trip—
a sky of stars on Christmas day, it was an epic gift.
Hard Janus
by I. E. Sbace Weruld
He was content to have a cup of coffee in his hand;
it was one more December coming to an close again.
Hard Janus looked both forth and back, at doorways, starts and ends.
He saw that pale god at Dawn, undressing spacetime bends.
There was a tightness in his aspect and his rising spine,
aligned with heavenly dimensions, utterly divine.
He had been absent for so long. The days were shorter now,
What did he think that he could do? O, what could he endow?
Was he the intermediary found between life’s dreams
and time’s reality’s continually changing schemes?
He took another sip of coffee, focusing on taste;
its bitterness was unredeemed, but truly not a waste.
Mr. I. E Sbace Weruld is a poet of space.
~~~
Newsreel:
State-sponsored Chinese hackers breached the US Treasury,
and stole unclassified materials clandestinely.
~~~
Flashback 2014:
No, not another one, a lost Malaysian plane,
AirAsia Airbus 3-2-0 lost contact with
air traffic…there is no…control…no, not again.
Kuala Lumpur-based AirAsian jet—o, this!
From Surabaya, Indonesia, it took off,
enroute to Singapore, it vanished in the mist—
almost immediately missed—lost in the fog—
a news blackout, because nobody knows its fate.
How many people were there on the aircraft’s log?
Who were they, and what happened to them on this flight?
Why did the pilot want to change his preplanned lane?
Where are those passengers who vanished in the night?
~~~
Newsreel:
Again, it seems a private group will try to find that plane
beginning in this January, going until May.
~~~
Hadleigh Castle by John Constable
by Basil Drew Eseu
The Hadleigh Castle painting by John Constable
is bleak in black and brown and grey and blue and white.
Everything that’s not awesome in it is awful;
it is darkness made visible, tangible, bright.
Above, the clouds are large, sharp-shaped in the harsh wash;
below, the weathered structure stands decayed, upright,
surveying muck and grim surroundings with a splash
of water in the distance at the right. There stand
two figures looking out on the strand. One lone ash,
or other tree, grows near the monument, and
appears decaying too. Birds cover the rubble,
white seagulls o’er black rocks, black birds against hard sky.
Basil Drew Eseu is a poet of 19th century British art. John Constable (1776-1837) was an English Romantic landscape painter.
~~~
The Pendulum
by Lee Ubis Cardew
The pendulum o’ th’ old grandfather clock goes back
and forth, and forth and back, and back and forth, and forth
and back, again, again, again. It stays on track,
and oscillates both east and west, or south and north,
depending which way its positioned in the room.
It is as regular as thunder thrown aft Thor
throws lightning through the air. With very little pomp,
its tick-tocks tack through drip or boom, for droop or bloom.
It metronomic’lly goes on through rest or romp.
It keeps it up methodic’lly. Its only lack
is change, which it does only when it’s time to stop.
This New Year’s Day
by Lee Ubis Cardew
The Sun-Light streamed, in lucid beams, in through the window blinds
awakening inhabitants—the shutters open wide.
It lit upon the pirate ship upon the bright white shelves
beside green fake ferns trailing off the edges in long veils.
The house was peaceful, tranquil even, people waking up.
One smelled the coffee-maker perk before th’ attendant cup.
This New Year’s Day was quiet, free of media and news,
as well as late night celebrations—Jim-Beam-bourbon brews.
This New Year’s Day was freezing, but the house was warm inside.
One had to wait till later to find out how many died.
Lee Ubis Cardew is a poet of time measurement.
~~~
Newsreel:
New Orleans mayor said the incident on New Year’s Day,
when at least fifteen died in a vile “terrorist attack”;
within the murder car, the flag of the Islamic State,
as well as multiple pipe bombs and IEDs…alack.
~~~
The Chickadees
by Birdee Euclaws
He loved to watch the chickadees in winter foraging
beneath the thorny rosebush in the winter flourishing.
They bounced about the stems and leaves, their tails flickering;
and moved around abruptly fast with little bickering,
retrieving any seeds they could for eating later on,
so busy and industrious, such frenzied catering.
Their bibs shine black, as do their caps, their tummies buff and white,
like tiny, flocking acrobatic spheres, sheer-pierced delight.
Their flights are furious—they fly up through the bare-limbed trees—
and then they leave enthusiastic’lly. Oh, he loved these.
Birdee Euclaws is a poet of birds.
~~~
He Wondered
by Éclair Dub W. See
He wondered at the wonderland that lay before his eyes;
there was such scintillating beauty; it was quite a prize.
He felt like as a happy treasure-hunter finding jew’ls,
that sparkled lovely in the mind, like lily pads on pools.
A fountain rose up overhead, a reservoir of shine,
so nice to see and feel, as though the thought caught the divine.
He wondered that he had not seen such beauty heretofore.
He wondered where he had been all this time; his thoughts so poor.
Éclair Dub W. See is a poet of visions.
~~~
A Few Days After Christmas
by Cu Ebide Aswerl
A few days after Christmas, thunder rumbled in gray skies.
The rains fell down onto the ground without aid of AIs.
The Christmas lights came on because it was so dark outside.
O, even inside socked feet were quite numb from wintertide.
The heater wasn’t warm enough to take the chill away,
although it gave one hope to cope on such a frigid day.
He dreamed of putting rigid wood upon a burning fire,
enjoying watching it ignite; that was his firm desire.
Deciduous leaves had turned brown; the roses had declined;
and yet their beauties still remained, so pink, so fresh, and nice.
Cu Ebide Aswerl is a poet of leisure.
~~~
Newsreel:
According to PolitiFact, the biggest lie o’ th’ year
was “Springfield…eating…dogs…and cats…[o’ th’] people that live there.”
~~~
A Brief on thé Abdominals
by Rudi E. Welec, “Abs”
Across the body’s front are thé rectus abdominis,
attached to pubic bone come from fifth, sixth, and seventh ribs.
Next are th’ external óbliques, outermost, for torso turns,
arising from th’ eight lower ribs, attached to the hip bone.
Th’ internal óbliques, lying deeper, also help with twists,
and they, in turn, connect to thé hip bone and lowest ribs.
Transversus abdominis is the deepest muscle ab,
along th’ inguinal ligament and iliac fascia,
that broad paired sheet that is attached up to the pubic crest
internal aspects of low ribs and costal cartilages.
Last mentioned is the vertical pyramidalis linked
to the linea alba. Could this brief be more succinct?
Rudi E. Welec, “Abs”, is a poet of exercise and musculature.
~~~
Comparing the Largest US Cities @ Census in 100,000s
by Urbawel Cidese
1910
1. New York City 4,766
2. Chicago 2,185
3. Philadelphia 1,549
4. St. Louis 687
5. Boston 670
6. Cleveland 560
7. Baltimore 558
8. Pittsburg 533
9. Detroit 465
10. Buffalo 423
11. San Francisco 416
12. Milwaukee 373
13. Cincinnati 363
14. Newark 347
15. New Orleans 339
16. Washinton D. C. 331
17. Los Angeles 319
18. Minneapolis 301
19. Jersey City 267
20. Kansas City, Mo. 248
1920
1. New York City 5,620
2. Chicago 2,701
3. Philadelphia 1,823
4. Detroit 993
5. Cleveland 796
6. St. Louis 772
7. Boston 748
8. Baltimore 733
9. Pittsburg 588
10. Los Angeles 576
11. Buffalo 506
12. San Francisco 506
13. Milwaukee 457
14. Washington D.C. 437
15. Newark 414
16. Cincinnati 401
17. New Orleans 387
18. Minneapolis 380
19. Kansas City 324
20. Seattle 315
Boston @ about 674,000 was 24th in the nation in 2020.
2010
1. New York City 8,175
2. Los Angeles 3,792
3. Chicago 2,695
4. Houston 2,099
5. Philadelphia 1,526
6. Phoenix 1,445
7. San Antonio 1,327
8. San Diego 1,307
9. Dallas 1,197
10. San Jose 945
11. Jacksonville 821
12. Indianapolis 820
13. San Francisco 805
14. Austin 790
15. Columbus 787
16. Fort Worth 741
17. Charlotte 731
18. Detroit 713
19. El Paso 649
20. Memphis 646
2020
1. New York City 8,772
2. Los Angeles 3,889
3. Chicago 2,741
4. Houston 2,300
5. Phoenix 1,611
6. Philadelphia 1,601
7. San Antonio 1,438
8. San Diego 1,385
9. Dallas 1,303
10. San Jose 1,010
11. Austin 963
12. Jacksonville 950
13. Fort Worth 922
14. Columbus 905
15. Indianapolis 887
16. Charlotte 876
17. San Francisco 870
18. Seattle 738
19. Denver 717
20. Washington DC 690
xx