MAKATA Vol. 13, Issue No.1 : Bonsaic Verses

by the ruins
the long silence of
a broken bell

morning mist
a string of diamonds
on a spider’s web

window with a view
the misty glass door
hides her nakedness

snapshots –
children flying kites
and paper planes

old tarsier
slow now with his leaves
and tango years

sunset –
Buddha’s third eye
before he sleeps

morning breeze
the smell of her breath
and dripping hair

scent of apples
no not the trees
but the story

child of the quick hands
a fruit stand
an apple less

evening rain
a homeless angel cradled
on a wooden cart

Urduja House –
all quiet now the golden
song of cicadas

stone monument
not the parthenon i’ll build
for poesie

moonless night
thinking of Himalayas
and her eyes

tequila night
after clicks of glass
blackout

O Libya
men yearning for your mien
and oily skin


(for Liz Taylor)

violet-eyed moment
a petal falls
a lover’s sigh

last,train,out–
listening,to,Doveglion’s
comma,poems


haiku is…

that one breath
that one misses
aftermath

night sky
no super moon
in sight

tattoed
on her navel
blue roses

wedding day –
her last look at
the ‘best man’

summer breeze –
still missing the rain
and your embrace

ides of March
here it comes with
bonsaic verses

stargazing –
a sprinkle of Tinker Bell’s
pixie dust

dried between the pages
of Love Songs of Sappho
rose petals

writer’s block
on an empty page
my coffee cup

full moon
listening to spoken word
and bamboo song

catwalk
deep into the night
scent of jasmine

sunset
flight of white herons
hanging on a wall

hovering over
the flight of the hummingbird
of Nazca

soft rain
a frog leaps from
one leaf to another

creeping fog
a little moonlight
crosses the river

Tsunami –
the crescent moon
a wreck in the clouds

hush!
in the evening wind
crickets compete

floating in the mist
the rice paddies of
Pay-yo

summer camp
a line of smoke
climbing the old trail

coot or moorhen?
this forest dweller
with a rasping call

sunset –
white herons return
to the mangroves

after the rain
a child’s hand full
of paper boats

evening drizzle
soft cooing
on the rooftops

autumn birds
arrows soaring
upstream

sundown
on the hillock –
reclining Buddha


Published in the Philippines Free Press, June 25,2011 Issue and Manila Times / Sunday Magazine, November 13, 2011