Hello now

under the moon a tall boy pulls a knife and slices wood

#haiku: bold afternoon your shadow across my hand

at the local market my daughter forgets her heritage

ornate couch our whispers are memorialized

hem of the large carpet, brushing my thinning hair

in a room in the hallway the sound of a walker

my child imprisoned temporarily by anesthesia

small room ekg beeps a staccato refrain

near scentless peonies undressing this frail body

rice-planting songs taught to my son, door ajar

haze carries moisture along the village

cool sterility of the hospital waiting room chairs in blue

on my back this morning arrives on trembling leaves

next to me he lies as a fetus silent evening

morning: in dark corners our argument still ripples

m o r n i n g : i n d a r k c o r n e r s o u r a r g u m e n t s t i l l r i p p l e s | # s e n r y û

4am rain heavy footsteps on the porch

thick palms sentries at the local gas station

old river her skirts troubled our argument bold

driving past a catholic church, sign: 'pray for the dead'|#senryu

m o r n i n g w h i s p e r s f r o m a f t e r n o o n l i p s p e c a n t r e e s | # s e n r y û

shotgun house: haven't quite got me up and running yet

all is quiet my thoughts embalmed and intered

over kettles boiling her lips held tightly

louisiana kitchen smells of creole cooking

near the basin warm water receding from me #hokku

a red pomegranate's quiet wherever its planted #hokku

undressing in the shadow of doubt withheld breath

mountain evergreens soon forgetting loss

married to a man more chimera than man

cerulean wrap around thin shoulders dry afternoon moves

the child i carry no longer kicks-spilled tea

thinking, the hyacinth have dyed my shadow

day near the brook old moss bathing #haiku

downtown said a requiem for the homeless-amen

my husband's mistress a fleshlight and porn

low rise condo where i am touched i become woman

undressing he walks into a viola overture

overhead a weak sky throwing up bile

lost stress in chord progressions of pianoforte quiet hall

attending a Messiah concert speckled winter

shell colored dress over the bed unopened letter

first christmas dead daughter's portrait dusted

old carnation preserved beetween bible pages

our midnight groans stain new sheets

a tree-searing wind caresses her thigh

fearless grandchild an archer's arrow cutting the dark

leaves undress themselves this fall

searing dusk: bedroom stained in candlelight riding my man

s e a r i n g d u s k : b e d r o o m s t a i n e d i n c a n d l e l i g h t r i d i n g m y m a n | # s e n r y û

a ringing phone ignored ignored this autumn night

crushed morning-glories under feet moving toward the shed

disheveled room young woman curled up reading

yellow'd gown around her thin form ghoulish

a ghanian woman the hem of her kimono teal

cabled telegram from the mainland Thai schooner

lost my soul in ancient rain soggy skies

people's voices dispell a fresh autumn lovemaking #haiku

mother's den photographs in sepia aged

sunday's wash steaming in old gossip #haiku

withholding words hide them in your robe

my voice's reflection across cool linoleum

reading opera news oscillation of a mini heater #haiku

in a single breath my womanhood poured on concrete

parking lot running car he visits the ATM #haiku

northener as your guide he arrives weary #haiku

munich church his voice spinning in the cathedral

still not finished drinking country night #haiku

i am with him sometimes we're good we're bad

faded jeans tight around his waist quick sex

passing buick he kisses day from my cheek

cold eve grandma speaks in a yellow voice

out for sushi falling in love with the samisen

she steps over a top recalls his 8th birthday

early morning learning myself in a recliner

cold morning my son and his man sleep deeply

h e l e a n s a g a i n s t p o r c h r a i l h e a t i n d e x r e a d s 8 7 ° # h a i k u

vacant cabin oscillation of a maytag #haiku

old duck we avoid battered lake's edge

museum gallery perusing Monet's all afternoon

midnight chill my first taste of you

abandoning our bed tousled sheets blush

grabbing your buttocks unaware of my release

am i yours? pushing beyond a bonfire

lying with you--my thighs parted

and the fracture in the mirror her reflection #haiku

within the wind solitary leaves #haiku

beneath and beyond thunderheads #haiku

fragrance of the old bed #haiku

i am unstressed syllable on your tongue, an old wind

missive reaches lord shimazu cherry blossoms bare

Kagoshima castle couriers hasten old lord sips tea

lord of satsuma's death river darkens the sunrise #haiku

i look at my child see no homeland in her fall silence

his silence violates the air rain passes

in the night's cold its hard to breathe i hug myself

among sleet hips of a gypsy stirs up heat #haiku

your morning reproach in every pause peeling bench

hunched down in veins of skin depressive nights

old fence i love a man with no curve in his tongue

sprawling sound of his death sailing of butterflies

sepia mornings his breath exiled from my long touch

opera at Paris opera trying on a pink taffeta gown

quiet neighborhood over the veranda comes a voice #haiku

evening dusk low hum in the cool mountain #haiku

string of pearls wet at its hem old priest rests

angkor wat thick rain pelts a dry pond #haiku

night occurs in old house our shadows estranged

twilight from door to door selling cookies

in Kyoto i become Edo woman mountain in passing

come night my womanhood poured over his silence

old dumpster he thrusts in me deeper

at the edge of her land i remember pain

arriving at the cabin old lions hidden under snow

the train speeding through Cornwall tasting his lips

on her knees hands cleaning up his anger

the sound of his trumpet fading all i could remember

t h e s o u n d o f h i s t r u m p e t f a d i n g a l l i c o u l d r e m e m b e r | # s e n r y û # m o n o k u

bruised morning local cafe explodes killing 5

un-silent night christmas gala runs into high gear

lebanese winter near old coffee shop smiling in arabic #haiku

troubled lands village women preparing henna #haiku

paisely carpeting sun drifts through an old concert hall #haiku

Mississippi sunset Parker's trumpet merges with night #haiku

dank basement seeing through a senryu-eye

fragrance of night Parker's blues riff #haiku

inside you deep homegrown silence

eyes darken hands reach out to touch him

a t 4 a m f l i p p i n g p a g e s i n a s e n r y û p r i m e r

across our room darkness no hint of moon #haiku

through a rising rope of incense glow of tv #haiku

i preserve the litheness of my thighs next week as well

in thought my eyes see a water bottle|

i p r e s e r v e t h e l i t h e n e s s o f m y t h i g h s n e x t w e e k a s w e l l | # s e n r y û

in privacy i taste something i should not

as if stumbled into laughter the man shrieks

the corner my inert form wants love pressing

#haiku: sandstorms accompany his every exhalation

bringing me closer to you midnight too lightens

s w i s s c h â l e t w a r m e d b y f i r e o u r s h a d o w s m e r g e # h a i k u

in ivory pueblo swallowing your nighttime moans

parked Tahoe speckles of night on my coat #haiku

image of me against cracked adobe walls #haiku

uneven cobblestone road slow moon moves #haiku

local stroll scent of his cologne walks near me

cool evening prayers rise and mingle with night #haiku

evening in the 30's tassels on the scarf hums #haiku

evening in the 30's tassels on the scarf hums|#haiku

passage of evening speeding suv #haiku

thick evening foreign hand rubs my chest

midnight blues cool drizzle #haiku

glow of the moon a chair's 4 legs #hokku

even in silence i inhale, i find myself

eyes opened, sound of your breathing and my blood

daybreak stirs his body unaccustomed to me

old comforter loosened patch on the floor

in the empty house merging haiku and senryu into one

train heads to Pittsburgh slow drizzle stains the air

hands brush his powerful shoulders a tendril of lust rises

in silence i begin a letter

4 yr old lotion can't hear the first words he says

4 y r o l d l o t i o n c a n ' t h e a r t h e f i r s t w o r d s h e s a y s | # s e n r y û

my backyard holds the night sleepless and aroused

misunderstood
your silence, then
your abrupt
departure left
me and bed cold#tanka

hot bath alone watching Law & Order is my ritual

divorce stains her smile the children disappear

under night made his hands touch me, touch him

u n d e r n i g h t m a d e h i s h a n d s t o u c h m e , t o u c h h i m | # s e n r y û

city bus full of chatter silent convo with bus driver's eyes

throbbing blood at the bus stop humming rosaries

pre-autumn kiss quiet brook mumbles

nubile morning his breath walks my ear

n u b i l e m o r n i n g h i s b r e a t h w a l k s m y e a r | # s e n r y û

ghanian man her oriental eyes see polished lacquer

marrying the colonel she is ignored by the Issei*

speaking in childish whispers over apricot incense

evening sun lowering my gown before his gaze

can't scrub your scent from my pores

we move into this foreign land taste of samma fish

low palm trees undulating shadow of moon's tears

over tea she speaks of her abusive man

one eye blackened somewhere a barren sky moans

5:20am the prayings of two hours ago still ringing

green chevrolet ringing cell cuts into our talk

sound of dead leaves planter's peanuts

gardening gloves my body can't stand bending too long

even on this snowy night he's cold we have lost touch

local bar her hand on his thigh my husband's god

her long absence fuels my fear frying tortillas

n o m o r e w i s h e s s h e w r i t e s a m e r i c a n s e n r y û t h i n k i n g o f h o m e

memory of what? pulling on old cocktail dress as cars arrive

each thrust my breath catches he grabs my breast harder

bathing my kokoro fails me when i hear his return

cigarette-stained fingers deep red of brocade curtains

i search for eggs the pinions of my mother-in-law

stretched out in bed sounds of the highway

my period comes first freeze in a foreign land

a storm of rain i wait for his return the kettle sings

old prayers gruff man at the gas station

i search for eggs the pinions of my mother-in-law

5:20am awake the prayings of two hours ago still ringing

Moving Day (senbun 10/29/12)

Separating feelings of jealousy from my make-up. Its moving day; im stretched out in bed in the silence, not sure what I crave. The world has long since declined into insanity; im adamantly refusing to follow that flow. Im moving...well, eventually ill get outta this bed and move.



a gray quietness
stockpiling bits of contentment
to fuel my movement



*Senbun: Senryû and Prose, its similar to Haibun (Haiku and Prose)

Senryu For Me Is

music. windows. gumbo
and jambalaya conversation. satins.
The ocean. Mahler. Ellington. Senryu and haiku.
Autumn and fall. dark evenings.
natural hair. burgundy. cool rain. good friends.
snowy mountains. papyrus. mom & pop stores.
Ancient kingdoms. visions. candalabrum.
Denyce Graves. Her voice, a spining viola
...in the earth, rising toward Yahweh
like worship. Pine needles. fathers and mothers.
Cashmere and poetry. Two-stepping.
Wine. mountains. cologne. skin.
A tone released in major/minor keys.
music.



©2012

'Keep Running' (senbun)

every so often stopping-
....old well watering life



In the middle of my workings i'm listening
to the GAP band's 'Yearning For Your Love,'
hearing their refrain: 'Keep running...'
and dads message comes.
...
'you're full of extraordinary things!
.....don't give up!!'


proceeded by his ever-
present smiley face; thingey and for a brief
moment i couldn't do anything but shake my head
and smile. a quick, much needed re-up. a simple
reminder that there are mindblowing things buried
in earth known as me. there are deeper veins
of pure water that haven't been unearthed yet
and it'd do me good to tie those words around
my feet and continue to move, move, move.



peering btwn
parted tomorrows just
to appreciate now



*Senbun: senryu and prose



©2012 -SabahSee More

Those Moments (senbun)

under nameless skies
like ants we hustle and
...maneuver through events


canceled my last subscription of this travel
magazine we used to like together. got enough
strength to pack up my remaining belongings and
move to other side of the city. nice high-rise.
condo's like little perfectly packaged ivory boxes,
and i bought into it. four years pass by and life
has somehow returned to its hum-drum flowing.


deserted park
speaking in aged voice
twilight responds


new job's exciting. traveling and photographing non-
stop. by the time i looked up its four years later,
late November and cold. i love the cold. after
wrapping up a shoot and heading home to clean up
and change; i decide to head to Chastain's lounge.
entering the doors of this non-descript building full
of its vintage appeal, atmosphere bathed in all brands
of cigarette smoke yet diluted by various perfumes and
colognes; nothing to pungent...sort of just right; im in
there, greeting the 'beautiful ones,' while heading to
the bar for a glass of Riesling. the man on the cello
speaks to my corpuscles in youruba and bursts of ghanian
sunrises...i'm in there!
looking to my left, i see you...
.......my ex...




somewhere
night dips into a pocket
--chicago winter



©2012 -Sabah

'Randoms' (senbun)

thumbing through
immediate rememberances
...these out-live me



4pm. hotel lobby watchng Law and Order while reading how to write haibun/senbun. 1st cup of tea, with altoid mints to spruce up the taste. Really should be studying for this upcoming recital, but thinking of how beautiful it is to breath, to see, hear, touch, taste, and be seen. Remembering Dad's birthday last night. I come home and he'd bought me a birthday card, and two cd's of popular music. A self-less, unselfish man thinking of me on his day.


random images
your smile dominates
this living flow


October afternoon lengthens im wondering about this recital, traveling, pleasing Yahweh; and a myriad of other undefined thoughts. Its been a while since ive written any kind of prose; my instincts tell me its time to stop before this all begins to seem forced and disjointed.



each man
grappling for some sort
of soundness in this 'now'




©2012

Afternoon Stitching (senbun)

blk honey
are you aware of you,
...what are your colors


late afternoon giving me pieces of me i sit in a quiet corner, stitching me together; glimpsed the blueprints now suturing and stitching. emerging tapestry...so many colors; chile....whooooo.


in silence
stitching pieces of me
against guitar winds



©2012

‎'Fighting' (senbun)

i hve been a rebel
feet walking on glass riots
...and blk demonstrations



as long as i can remember, i've always fought my way in the earth. mamma said
i came pryed her legs apart and announced my own self. (chuckles) mamma can
exaggerate, but anyways. i always had this philosophy that nothing is ever handed
to you; you gotta go out and make your own way. so i've walked a hard life,
fighting for what i wanted, for what i needed...i'm not tired yet.


limbs stretched
in the art of war i excell,
i really seek rest




©2012 --Sabah

fresh stitches a dress barely worn

in your britches holes baked ham his return

Senryu collection: Creole Rain sequence

autumn chill
footsteps echo near a
stone god

somewhere between a savannah moon tips her hat

evening breeze
shoulders exposed
panties on the floor

gibbous moon
raw passion bottled
in her womb

married man
   arranging assignations
for his pleasure

married man
   he reaches for me
i reach back

married man
   infidelity in his smile
i grab for it

married man
afraid to text we
speak by phone

married man
   meeting him in
a hotel room

married man
   in the lobby throbbing
for him

philadelphia man
twirling his locs, his words wind

philadelphia man
dwntwn traffic jam @ 12

creole rain
  old plantation where
we embrace

creole rain
   near the bayou i
find myself

creole rain
  gibbous moonsongs
that echo

creole rain
   louisiana in my blood
heat in my wlk

creole rain
  hamburger stand
tasting night

creole rain
  trash pile the
car drives past

creole rain
  bathing
in love with her

creole rain
  outside kids play
adjusting the wind

creole rain
  old photo album
a kiss on my neck

creole rain
  gumbo and good
conversations

creole rain
  alone in bed he
'knows' himself

creole rain
   cajun gal curled
up with good book

creole rain
  invoking the name of
venus after 8pm

creole rain
  he is light skin parents
hate black

creole rain
  chill descends during
Saints game

creole rain
  tired. blk man so
tired. i cry

creole rain
  tale of two cities
in his eyes

creole rain
  delegation of rain
genuflects my feet

creole rain
  hush of the baby 1st
time today

creole rain
 her ignorance worn
around her waist

creole rain
 my genitals heave
raw autumns untoward

creole rain
  neon tears trail
this leather skin

creole rain
 dinner at her home
over candlelight

creole rain
 asking myself questions
about him. her. me.

creole rain
  she hardly stares
at his urn

creole rain
   in love, yes girl
smile hid behind daffodils

creole rain
 roll over ask this cajun
man for my soul

creole rain
  tired wisteria weep
after her death

creole rain
streets of New Orleans
no mirth

creole rain
  grand mere shuffles
pass the church

creole rain
  a house still dead, we
avert our eyes

creole rain
 blk man. white man. both
married, but don't care

creole rain
 kneeling behind the house
linoleum prayers

creole rain barefoot and naked my backyard

creole rain
  thin sheet covers
his naked pulse

creole rain
   fresh from bathing
curve of her breast

creole rain
  her dark voice mingles
with dark night

creole rain
  knowing myself i
bow in silence

creole rain
 pacing three yards
plant the next rose

creole rain
what the hell is going on?
no answer

creole rain
 i hve aided and abetted
my own thoughts

creole rain
  explanations and lies
from a stone mouth

creole rain
  wrack of magazines
unread, i pace

creole rain
  warm buscuits on
a cracked table

creole rain
   new dress the color
of saturn

creole rain
  we proceed dwn a
promenade of fear

creole rain
 my daughters barely
remember her

creole rain
  i am blk and my color
bleeds on life

creole rain
  senryu in my mouth
i touch light

every autumn i am rock beneath oceanic laughter

wasn't aware my breasts are gluten my thighs cedar

empty massarati court paralegal serves me papers

'caw caw caw' friday ignoring my son

heat dwn im west phoenix local diner

with formaldehyde mvts the Buick engine stalls

near a village my tongue is a henna tattoo

apartment in munich old binder discovering mom's opera roles

silent verandah earth's mouth spews demons

old cathedral across town her panties ripped

drunk sprawled over a memory of twisting you

nightfall thatched roof stirs mycenae coast

morning breeze no telegram arrives in fallen leaves

late winter rain monotone beep frm the heart monitor

near old barn door his dropped dog tags

old beetle he quietly turns radio on

your day to day walkings sound exploding crests on ears

frm your thighs wind as prayers

frm your thighs wind as prayers|#monoku

after dinner our lovemaking wrecking balls

water recedes frm walking lungs clutch mink closer

everything
begins on the cusp
of your smile

from my feet mists of Dunsinane recall Macbethlike laughter

fallen trees habitation of fears still i linger

in her high tower we feast on lightning bread

half decibel cry a god warms his hands by coals

this rock in my womb ministers of barbarity

morning she dresses in regrets

memories buried near kiwi waters walking tumors

empty home smoke walks from my nostrils

often i travel thick darkness 'neath my feet high fires

beneath tired gums i cradle bones of magicians

watching tv midwiving the oil frm roman hills

after midnight i cross myself with his confessions

behind clipped shrubs the breath of babies

moonlight on her skin she's an ordinary sound

wearing 55 yrs in my thighs uproot this breathing

in a back alley open galaxies btwn her thighs

touchup the mural on my back this dayshine

after our promise not to sleep around grass stains our back

memorials over our head ancestors restrain you

even in this dayshine her dash to the cemetery

hills / cool tears / winter #haiku

mulatto heat / crinoline melody / in earth's veins

my high octane anger her held breath

my nuncio / diseased shadows / in his cardinal's robes

my nuncio / incan prayer / frm foam lips

gutteral skies / have a certain bite / morning chill

gunmetal sky / windy touch / in Pukch'ong Coast

beach bonfire / in a conch shell / your womanpoems

assassins / 12 leagues to / Shushan palace

my elastic waist waiting for his sound

armadas / spanish sabers / cut through seas

over drinks / detach tongue / of pink regrets

after hours / against a blues / i hide in a lantern

after 11pm / her hips / my centrifugal force

picasso man / eyes on cups / blue haze

elongated gestures scorpion venom in her eyes

old desk / his feet / on a turkish divan

old dog house tattered robe opens #haiku

unreasonable / run in my stockings murmur

pass graveyard / baby sees inbtwn / your birth and death

old woman's / belt of rain / she coughs mountains

in a skinny sea / distended thigh / picks wisteria

at times i breath one thousand year old storms

r i s e o f h i s b o d y / w i l d s e n r y û / i n m y h a i r

m y s e n r y û / m y h a i k u / j u s t t h a t . . . . m i n e

her impulses / wild camphor / taints my air

wearing echo of your voice / damp shingles

w e a r i n g e c h o o f y o u r v o i c e " d a m p s h i n g l e s

senryu and haiku

frau cohen
washing clothes
children call her 'yekke putze'


dusk
western winds are
diligent terrorists #haiku


new york flat
old movies watched
with a moussad agent


in the theatre
he falls in love
with daughter of Allah


landscaping my backyard the Trojan war #haiku


she speaks ancient persian our tea grows cool


black september rain in Munich #haiku


flotilla
of sweat
assails my brow


nondescript yard
feeble afternoon #haiku


red file cabinet
aging house #haiku


so in tune...
commandments
etched on grass #haiku


city under unrest
city council can't meet budget


animal right's rally
mayor's wife in a new chinchila fur


evening metro
   uptown snow
and i greet him


his skin
    oil dark
        rustle of night winds

7 senryu

Hanukkah
israeli ambassador
pours a drink


dinner in Tehran
Shah Pahlavi admires her gown


thick snow
   old Vienna
stately and dignified


facelift
a clinic
near the Danube


late evening
near the Black Forest
singing Bach in local 'kirche'


spanish bellhop wrapping me in shudders / bird's wings


post summer
brushing her thighs in Tivoli gardens

gogyohshi

5am...
yea though i walk
through the
valley of sleep--
turning over

11 senryu, 2 haiku

feet walk arpeggiated lanes
lost fedora


crisp morning
    church expects negro spirituals
i sing Bach


his speech too angular to be straightforward


old pines tap water flows over her breasts


end of day
   washed age
down washbasin


jerusalem
    coffee on balcony
overlooking Golan Heights #haiku


old pickup
  we light cigarettes
talking 15 yr old tales


wisconsin mountains
my shadow stains rivers #haiku


roaring fire
seeing his bare body
in the tent #brokebackmountain


backdrop of thunderstorms
casual meeting at Chastain's


postcard
dated 1963 old sawmill closes


old chest...
buried sexuality
accrues dust


new dehli...
   peeling a sari
frm her cool skin

13 yongyohshi

scratch of
his pen. my sleep
invaded. slump
of worried shoulders


monday matin
saw him briefly. his
smile hidden
in tap water


midnight--
she's on her knees.
repentance
cools on the floor


in bed with him
race of c. parker's
last blue note.
my man sails me


this morning
wrapping me in  your
image...secure...
--old cutless in yard


crooked
picture over the
bookcase. a
ticking clock, my company


visiting hospice...
my mom is silent.
i sit by her bed
smelling withheld fears


rivers swollen...
lying against spanish
moss, she asks
about my ex-wife


old plates
packed. house up
for cell. she
maneuvers memories


her heartache
mingles with the
seafood takeout.
a strange wind.


old flat
his world antique
and quiet--
ex-stasi agent


old throw
serves as curtain...
he lies in bed
tv watches him


15 yrs--
a brief hug. in
and out my life...
crushed hibiscus

gogyohshi

quick trip
to the grocer's for
a roast i hate.
cooking. i turn over
thoughts of divorce

senryu and a few haiku

back neck--
    garden i no
longer walk


morning after i am pregnant with harp disrobed


in his feet norse god speaks splinters


old woman
    cries hibiscus red tears
and becomes anemone


passion
your wooden finger
dwn a divorced spine


unapologetic
i french kiss demons instead of light


late december
   their breasts withdraw
to shadows


when chrysanthemums mumble i embrace water


on my doorstep
     a garland of hatred
--end of summer


eyes empty
   the monitor
has the solo


12yrs
now i love my heritage
over wine


lit a cigarette
reading a letter
frm his lover


sunset--
strolling Pinkney's park #haiku


aged harpsichord
wine stain kisses a white carpet #haiku

carried clouds in eyes south wind rebels #haiku

3 yongyohshi

in blk hands
oak-like, your sound
cradled; dusk
upbows her viola


i distrust
her. her carribean
teeth sequester
lies unapologetically


over dinner
your tongue will
stretch dusk--
later he enters me

gogyohshi

after wrk
i rush home to
ride your
totem pole. inscribe
each stroke in cuneiform

yongyohshi

alone...
solace in hands
ready to
stroke away loneliness

in the kitchen i mount on sound become apparition

the vertebrae of her laughter fractured after midnight

yongyohshi

headed to
work last night lingers...
i am his avatar
conceived in colors & blue

gogyohshi

dinner at
the Catalan later we
head to a Lieder
recital by Mme Urmana
its a cool, rainy eve

yongyohshi

same cobblestones
now dampened with
rain--he stirs. he
sleeps. day moves me

yongyohshi

scrubbing
dishes Mme Urmana's
dark soprano
caresses Liszt- i sigh

i will lie dwn in this piano my skin dances 'gainst sleep

his legs
are candles I
inhale his lit
walkings...pomegranate

so in tune / commandments / etched on grass

red file cabinet / aging house

nondescript yard / feeble afternoon

flotilla / of sweat / assails my brow

black september / rain in Munich

she speaks / ancient persian / our tea grows cool

landscaping / my backyard / the Trojan war

in the theatre / he falls in love / with a daughter of Allah

new york flat / old movies watched / with a Moussad agent

dusk / western winds are / diligent terrorists

frau cohen / washing clothes / children call her 'yekke putze'

post summer / brushing her thigh / in Tivoli gardens

spanish bellhop wrapping me in shudders bird wings

facelift / a clinic / near the Danube

thick snow / old Vienna / stately and dignified

Hanukkah / israeli ambassador / pours a drink

dinner in Tehran Shah Pahlavi admires her gown

city under unrest / city council / can't meet budgey

animal rights rally / mayor's wife / in a new chinchilla fur

evening metro / uptown snow / and i greet him

his skin / oil dark / rustle of night winds

pentecostal pastor / preaches / daughter drunk across time

in a strained voice / i address / cool shadows

cashmere carpet cradles our midnight shapes

caressed bare breast / your moan / in the bedfilled night

war has casted shadows / delayed corn rises

dusk sketched in my naked body

his father's dying / embers have grown nonchalant

new years / jazz. laughter / to syncopated breathing

street lamp / casting light / over our cold detachment

raw apricot syrup your jaw stained by desert wind

splatter / of moonlight his body / curves over her

long after the rainfall / our skin damp and satiated

broken fingers / mother's buddah / too old to remember

morning expresso / steamed / in an empty kitchen

polished goblets / catching / freedom of her hips

dusty books on a shelf / moving truck arrives

your slow kiss / another dog bark

room in pink 25 yrs after daughter's disappearance

lonely kitchen morning breakfast for me and my fears

holy water praying it wipes away my past

in a book the number of the other woman in blue ink

son jailed blk mother's tears turn gray

mimosas arranged by brazen thighs we orate pleasure

i husband the mask i wear a cerulean god watches

near a mountain's base smoking dry deserts

across cancerous fences tongues divide pleasure

rash god waters the aria in a lonely dune fringe of you

crimson god sun staining judgments across our toes

old woman invited to corridor of graves no echo

brittle gods exhaling blades of age stone tears

unsealed wind / making love along / a comma's curve

after hours / his graveyard grin / alluring in oil spills

unsure of you / stagnant room imprisoned / in my mojito

it is woman / cast in sepia / she will hit the gong

graffiti / on my vagina / sings wildwater chants

on his bed i attend my own immolation

l o c k e d d o o r / p a r a l y z e d c h o r d s / a l o n g g l a s s t o e s

today 3 fields heave / in orgasm / bare branches

ive been silent / lo, these 400 yrs / i nudge bald seas

around the mausoleum / wedding of grass / hands in prayer

garish laughter / painting a most regal / black sabbath

from the past / a tentative thunder / kisses earth's underbelly

lunch of / spanish violins tuned / in turquoise milk

lone dinghy / sail length / of a casual touch

born / we lovecryhatesmile / die

death in my heart / near the hem of her satin gown / earthworms born cold

broken clavicle song / ruptured ant near woman's robe / bended soil

in two glasses / turquoise / wearied Napoleon

murdered afternoon / blood tables arranged / seated suns #haiku

the blk resistance / poisoned daggers stole / Malcolm & Martin

old body / detaching itself / Ito sea, fevered

s m a l l i s l a n d / s p r o u t s f r m a t r a i l " o f c a r t r a c k s

h i s r a u c o u s t h i g h " a l o n g i t u d i n a l s k y " b a i t i n g e a r t h # h a i k u

22nd floor dance / overlooks the city / pituitary snowfall

swallowing / the blue sanctuary of / ultraviolet rebellion

weak leaf! / evening is a frigid / maiden near death

f l u i d c a r n a g e " i a m a h e b r e w w h i s p e r e d " l e t t e r S h i n

pagan citadel / on the lips / of earth i congeal

under earth's maelstrom / i dispense / molten tears

descending stairs / rising i become / an uttered rain

How the Fence Divides: haiku sequence

How the Fence Divides
A responsive haiku sequence by Sabah and Christina Nguyen


he, commandant;
when he deftly navigate
a blackwomansail

mercy how shame is buried deep in liquid earth 

steel fence speaks separation
fractured sunlight her smile

barbed wire
the cuts
in my breath

aimless sound
scandal of our cousins

floating, floating
on needles
in the clouds

i found me
put away in an old chest
london evening

the blink
of a fawn’s eyelash
in the fog

depression sung through
a paintbrush mackerel skies

clouds
where the edge of the universe
hangs

fingers of the wind
light lullaby while washing

as the skiff
fills with sky
birdsong

old yacht • winds of the east • brush against we

plein air
the sweep of a hand
unrestricted

symphonic breath • my study time • disrupted

spilled confetti
a confession
under fireworks

eye lash
slight rip in her
heart

the creak
of an open door…
gone fishing

obstinate
child seething afternoon
sky breaks

with heels
dug in
raindrops

faction of rain
mount etna heaves and
pants in labor

how the fence
divides that haves
and have nots

balcony of thought
her arrogance festooned
like lanterns

the music beneath the harlequin mask

how we sing ‘neath crushed bones

driftwood…
white sails
against blue

cypress prayers
bended evenings
tailspin

in sparse sunlight
his rough hands
unwashed

we speak over
fences and skies
dead leaves



©2012

gogyohshi

gogyohshi (#5lines)


in sleep,
this incomplete
rest; your
image tugging my
dreams repeatedly


arriving home
your mauve day-coat
over packed
luggage...conversation
futile even after you leave


day yawns
opening her mouth
wide. humans
move, move, mooooove--
in bed i lie, Mahler in my ears

portrait
on the antique
table
you still take 3 lumps
of sugar in your tea? #gogyohshi

he is / remarkable in / this place / under a baritone / rainfall #gogyohshi

each sip of tea...
talk btwn us
one long string
of breath and
sound in old israel #gogyohshi #5lines

empty
evening laments from
steel lips

gogyohshi

'requiescat in pace'
uttered under her breath
smoothing wrinkles
in her skirt
5 yrs since his death

yongyoshi (#4lines)

facing east
this ordeal fades
away, your hands
around my waist

gogyohshi

away frm you
i become
an earther
these sabbath 
roots deflect

Yongyohshi #4lines

in the turkish
villa incense
mingles with a
late dinner

panting and heaving ancestral voices worn on hips

on the thin edge of sight nothingness

elite morning in fractured eyes gilded mvts

friday bald sky tethered to clothes line

old dreams // drip frm // earth maiden

old altars breakfast of haiku and buttered tanka

these tired sabbaths a spine stretching eastward

sang of redeemers polyphonic shimmer in leaden wombs

gargling baroque nerves a harlequin of pain

arching my throat consonants from morning stations

solitary table // Mediterranean skin // against whiskey

shake my skin loose palette of exposed chords

dull light // fingering file cabinet's edge // music stand

zootsuited eyes dance switchblade winds saunter

smelling wounds she passes through stone gates

smelling wounds she passes through stone gates

my thighs a waltz of wind i sweat guitars

Insha-allah empty villa on Bosphorus|#haiku

ditches of pheromones old ashtray|#haiku

Elah Illa-ah... feet along
Turkish parapet

morning finds me masturbating laughter turgid day

embankment back door ajar whippoorwills

young and aged hands porcelain brazier glows

unsung leaves mouth of autumn acapella

i hve been woman i hve been a silent reprieve

breakfast of cotton sheets chrysanthemums absorb our sounds

chickory coffee sun lassoed by the cup's tip

345 pm spy master folded up in shadows

hunger stenciled against a sleeping stomach

whitewashed celibacy in then out myself

near Koto garden of dead prayers her smile

parked car assignations at my glass's bottom

tree lined street serrated discontent in every home

next door neighbor sun tans brisk eyes fold back on themselves

ballerina veins alive with feet of marijuana

valley of dolls dead ashes stained with exertion

valley of dolls i am surrealist woman of arsenic

bed naked against Mahler's song cycle

this nascent silence unhinged my sleep

upscale morning spent a Tiffany's

half glass of wine angry piano score played

splattering of sleep mahler against blades of grass #haiku

one scream tossed in the belly of memory

unable to comprehend a night hilit a cancerous laugh

facilitate an in of empty outs blind rain

nursing home discarded souls collected in sepia

you in the middle of me bronze sky

relief found a small bag back room i snort it

casual rocking of train i am holding my insecurities in place

damp roof when we make love merged shadows

from my thighs amber afternoons blindly finding me

rusted commode my countenance withheld from mirrors

love for you a phylactery on my brow

breakfast nook on his lap children in school all day

torah studies one wrinkle in Rabbi's robe

slight depression in backyard he grabs my dress

ash blonde hair'd woman train station without color

cabin of logs pitter patter of trespassing rain #haiku

stretch out morning conjugations prayers frm you, colored teal

first night in Beauregard parish: bon chance

old cashmere coat carrying your humanity

2am coffee talk with self unclear intent #haiku

h i s p a r t e d l i p s a b l e m i s h e d u n i v e r s e # s e n r y û

burning log embers congregate en concert #haiku

i am creole prayer exorcising spotted shadows frm now

it is day i undulate movement string up breath

summer heat
invading each man's
muscular structure #haiku

out of bed out of himself

festering afternoon bloodies us with light #haiku

mid morning
your footsteps a
salivating wind

coffee break
my eyes her blue blouse
his on me

around unfamiliar house old photo of better days

train platform
his coming never materializes

untamed morning hustle creatures rush to work

cello interlude morning hustle downtown

morning never makes it pass closed blinds down pillows

arrangement of edelweiss fog of sleep in your eyes

let us look at
these reforms to our love.
  --scathing words pass

morning
fragments of my life
adorn a bare table

2 senryu

warm house drone of the air unit eating pea soup


this writing too liberal i am hung from a cross

often times i
move beyond me in my robe
   a new realm

hotel by the coast 77 rooms my man and his mistress

to peer into my history eyes raking dead clouds from view #senryu #haiku

discovering my body a rough tarp over the pick-up

your fast beat
 i am a strident wind needing grass #haiku #senryu

this cantankerous wind pillage whats left of the rain #haiku

i welcome a raping
wind in my creole manpoems
           --veteran's day

i am expanded
i am suddenly a burst
of primal tears

she and i. i and she. weselves...sprig of heather for memory

midnight dance old juke joint where i get loose

colliseum late afternoon my thoughts slightly gladiatorial

this middle aged laughter my body misplaced by thought

unresponsive to my touch cluster of grapes sing

in prayer
your laughter kissing
our spines

morning swim laughter cuts this hallowed air #haiku

over two
decades still tasting his
heartbeat

casino in the distance next door savoring creole food

new buckets of varnish grandson tells me he's gay

supermarket bitch next door flirting with my butcher

several years ago young tonight age like fine dust

i am allowed to be woman out of tune piano warms up

sanctified in newspaper my husband stirs up dust

old dirt road i am banished within myself

6 senryu

carving my touch after 5 cocktail gown

near a broken fence she speaks of some god

old cabin uncovering dusty memories

shadow of sun my voice becomes droning dulcimer

in a house not my own bell rung for dead ancestor

peeling myself from day empty lobby

2 haiku

sharing an old toothbrush our verandah wears thick fog #haiku

near a coal stove his lips taste of bare branches #haiku

5 senryu

from before  comes his rigid touch  comes a crushing wind

midnight  anna's neighbor  wails a lonely blues

late afternoon your smile my revolving door

mountain air creak of granny's porch chair

3rd night alone he becomes a negro spiritual

mon coeur s'ouvre... // dinner // along the Rue d'Orleans

midnight church service offers herself to ba'al