Do you have eyes, old man, as airy as the sky?  
Do the trees grow through your eyes, old man?  
Do the starry leaves of your mind grow old with you?

Clamor and climb the city life
Lovely nightlights of needles & towers
A beacon bright brightly flashing flashy city
Miners minstrels & playthings, all that glitters...
Break for the Meadows, its inns & outlaws,
Each hot breath of loss, another moth.
Roll the Die in neon fires—it’s paradise lost.

only appears when

searching for
satisfaction

touching everything
it meets

saying life

is luscious
spilling over

it is too much
it needs more time

to explore

QUARTET OF HAIKU

just as the sun sets
if one turns in time to see
colors of life shine

her smile held me fast
illicit-flawed, by chance meet
of 10,000 days saved

out of night looming
two car lights careen, into
a dark road will reveal

carried by water
of echo repeat, on the verge
voices call out, to haunt

by Michael Perry

Were I as gifted as most
I would pull from the earth its very heart
As the rivers of its core washed over my feet
With its blood, I'd deem it modern art
Some gifted charlatan of beauty and grace
I'd burn all others work and praise
So it's of dietic thanks and situational applaud
That I never learned to take what I need to stand tall...