Things Lost — Things Discovered

ALMOST HAIKU 

I 

The tranquil Buddha 
Third eye of focused blindness
In cosmic journey

II 

Lovers at sundown 
In darkness two shadows merge,
Sigh, one shadow shy

III 

A descending leaf 
Agreement with gravity
For an early Fall 

IV 

A drunken man falls 
Without pain or injury
I’ve done that once, too

V 

By meditating 
To see the real face of God
I’ve tried many times

VI 

Thinking about it
While silence is deafening
Noise is sometimes sweet

VII 

Buddha’s inward gaze 
Eliminates the ego
By inward journey

VIII 

Like giant sails of ships 
The plump rain-filled clouds approach
Frogs waiting to sing

IX 

Shadows have no name 
Remaining a mystery
Ghosts in a forest

X 

Buddha, the serene, 
Found third eye epiphany
Journeying inward

–Morrey Grymes

Four Haiku

 Soil is moist and dark,
buckets of rain drench gardens,
quickly, worms dig deep.

Leaf an open hand,
needy veins reach my fingers,
sugar melts at once.

 Supermarket Flowers

Not the gold standard,
Appalling to the florist,
Riotous blossoms.

Inside Out

My beating heart cries,
Your soul the silence of two,
Blue bird in my hand.

— Evelyn Ann Romano

Be thoughtful 

Don’t let rage consume
No response to hate can sate
Know reason is real

–Pete Terzian

Faces

Faces float before me.
Vague. Dim. Difficult to see.
Damn! A Zoom meeting!

–Al Carlson

[If your appetite for Haiku is still unsated, click here for some Haiku dessert. — Editors]

Morrey Grymes has taught Life Story Writing, poetry, and chess courses for OLLI. He is a founding member of Live Poets discussion group, and active participant in two writing groups.

Evelyn Ann Romano was a member of the Lifelong Writers at USF for several years and has been a member of OLLI since 2016. She has taken OLLI courses in poetry, writing, technology and laughter yoga. Her latest anthology of poems published in February 2023, Eve Redeemed, is available from Amazon and other book sellers.

Peter Terzian began his career as a school media and technology teacher in 1980 and retired in 2017. He started brewing a few years ago as a hobby and is now OLLI-USF’s resident expert on turning natural ingredients into tasty beverages. He now enjoys volunteering for arts, education, and technology projects. He teaches for OLLI and contributes to OLLI Connects and the Facebook Group.