Steganographic Poem After a Haiku by Basho

From nine PM we waited, knowing it was not yet
time for the eclipse
to start.

Time hung heavy on our hands, heavy as
the unfortunately manifesting
clouds above.

Give way, cumulus, you’re opaque, obscure, at
rest or in motion,
to us

the intended observers of this celestial event, this
moon-veiling, we would-be
beholders.

Books Available
The Day of My First Driving Lesson
Country Well-Known as an Old Nightmare's Stable
High-Voltage Lines
Knocking from Inside

Newspaper Taxis

Newspaper taxis appear on the shore
Waiting to take you away
Climb in the…
“Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds,” The Beatles

Newspaper folds to Boeing silhouette
taxis down a runway where the jets
appear and disappear: a liquid shimmer
on asphalt, mirage or something dimmer.
The business changes. Technologic ruses
shore up circulation, but the news is
waiting for a savior like Godot
to rescue it from being thought too slow.

Takeoff’s late, reporter on the beat.
You can’t catch the talking heads who tweet
away like birds in midair conflict zones.
Climb into your paper jet. Launch drones
in search of next hour’s topic. You can’t write
the copy ‘til you have it in your sights.

Available! High-Voltage Lines, Knocking from Inside

Radiance

If you wake up, really wake up
the world seems changed.
Radiance is everywhere. The smell
of roses. The fragrance of
a garden overflowing with the
thousand songs of Milarepa.
Suns dance hand in hand. You
were sleeping all this time. Wake
to see the bubbles of time
burst. Kick-start yourself
into eternity, into perpetual motion,
the dream of engineers forever.
Sky is the only limit
that the awoken recognize. Who
would dream on when they could
be awake
like this? Who would choose
the comfort of dreams over the
splendor of reality? Which
of us sleeps and which watches
the clockwork of the universe?
Mighty God, Most High
One of many Names
I lie wide-eyed at your feet. I
am your dog, your slave. I have
become your lover.
Death is only
the gateway to eternal life,
shatterer of chains, opener
of doors. Wake. The radiance of new
worlds awaits.

--for Big Tent's stegonagraphy award.
Collection available! Knocking from Inside