marlene mountain
one-line linked haiku
1990

the hiro connection

june 13-19 1999

'Hokku and haiku have been written to congratulate, to praise, to describe,
to express gratitude, wit, cleverness, disappointment, resentment,
or what have you, but rarely to convey enlightenment.'
Hiroaki Sato, ONE HUNDRED FROGS: FROM RENGA TO HAIKU TO ENGLISH, Weatherhill, New York & Tokyo, 1983

one-line linked haiku       june 13-15 1999

you're doing the best anyone can in spite of vast clinton-haters
my mother 17 presidents during her reign
toward self-congrats uneasy in a what's-your-problem-girlie world
maya lin her strong hands heart mind in stone
a governor's rethinking of life a killer-wife's commuted term
the sun shining in the face of certain death

the girl for her first moon-time the boy for his first kill
authors of books which i throw across the room
women haijin even though blyth says they can't they have and do
better sooner than so late the medal for rosa parks
george wallace his heart changed by the course of a bullet
her viewpoint winnie begins to speak out

one-line linked haiku     june 13-15 1999

the word is not the thing but what a thing is the word
neglected garden better than it sounds asparagus
on this earth nothing more upright the ponderosa pine
'marija finally an archeologist i can love'
rocky mountain path snyder ahead chanting om shanti
how in the heck has this truck held out

overshadowed by disability not 'super' man's bright spirit
her eyelids the feathers of a fine white bird
way back when the concepts of adobe and straw-bale houses
in mid-day heat the inner-courtyard's coolness
gay & lesbian pride month not rev drake: against the word of god
swinging both ways the garden gate in june

4m) dr marija gimbutas; mm haiku from 'birdy the topless neolithic bird
shevinity' painting series 7m) christopher reeve 11m) cnn 6/15/99

one-line linked haiku     june 13-15 1999

to describe

in the blue vw blackberry brambles touch the top and bend
the old mattress beer- and semen-stained
even 'go-to-town panties' faded bottom earth on the bottom
in my thrift-store penny-loafers shiny pennies
bank statements in a haiku magazine mailer unbalanced
opening up an account the new-born baby's cry

my first memory the bars of a playpen a dark room a closed door
front porch freezer chairs ping pong table broken for years
country gas station once a week my right-front tire's slow leak
rain-clean pond where i don't watch the world go by
spring cleaning after dusting the mirror no better looking
reading glasses an ear piece up the other out & down

one-line linked haiku      june 13-15 1999

to express gratitude

for the kindness of the woman who denies me i give thanks
home decor: leaks yet a roof over the mess the stress
through the floor at night faint skunk perfume oh this sweet earth
rain the pretties even the rocks and i will dance
sweatlodge on a bed of fresh white sage all my relations
mother nature how would i make it without you

mrs box 'you like pink don't you' the start into thinking beyond
blue for little boys the freedom of the sky
performance artist who pulled a scroll of wisdom from her vagina
o'keeffe for the first time close up a yellow iris
haiku mates the energy the time the space for other ideas
broke will link for nothing and glad to get it

9m) carolee schneeman

one-line linked haiku      june 14-16 1999

to express wit

moments unkeenly perceived that fill our heads notebooks magazines
man of learning all the learning in his books
baum's mother-in-law's 'woman, church & state' courage heart brain
bolger's scarecrow scared of his own shadow
flag day freedom a local vfw burns a hundred 'old glories'
morning glory at night a little tattered

faded love she's cheating on me with her husband
hard to get under a man of few words
'yup' and 'nope' good enough for grace kelly in 'high noon'
heat humidity starts blackberry winter
bateson and mead a prickly marriage but fruitful
alone i make sense to myself

3m) matilda joslyn gage's ideas suppressed 100 years including by the likes
of susan b. anthony

one-line linked haiku    june 15-18 1999

to express cleverness

rocky marriages both my ex's from colorado
too smart to retie a tie
too dumb to stay out of the rain the rain
japaneasy haiku
new mexico where the sun shines without illumination
10 commandments house-commanded for school

baseball cards he ruined as a child now his new store full
with louise i can't even get to first base
'down there' + 'home is where the heart is' = 'down home'
adultery in a small town a hornet's nest
to control our minds they cleverly dub ru-486 'baby pesticide'
the last link in the mountain-hill chain note

12d) 'dutton' = 'hill town'

one-line linked haiku    june 16-19 1999

to express disappointment

as i seek untruths i find untrue gossip about myself
my frogs banished from the frog pond this spring
dd's frogs banished from the frog pond this spring
yahweh 'i will cast out nations before you'
hardly prey/predator just shelion's 'time to feed the kitties'
home again all the phone calls from creditors

'i'll remember it' then in the morning the poem forgotten
not left in the flower the moment
once again congress pulls the trigger on gun control
the fourth mistake the fourth estate
if the word was god in the beginning how far we've plunged
man-made myths my apples and snakes nature-made

4d) exodus 34:11-24

one-line linked haiku    june 16-19 1999

to express resentment

sez the prez it isn't sex as long as you don't enjoy it
gored by gore: god's green earth
gaia in constant recovery from 'civilization'
bible reader's guide add sexism 'vsld'
old glory on closer examination not so glorious
nra its unrealistic name

'the man show' et al ad nauseum called 'testosterone alley'
two corpses wearing helmets compare their dicks
mr religion tells women what's what can't fix christ's bride
sistine chapel a holy painting by a gay guy
not enough years left to express emotions or fix the erosion
extinction some links in the chain of being gone

4m) tv ratings 8d) painting by lawrence ferlinghetti

one-line linked haiku       june 16-18 1999

to express what have you

to tamper with only a bit of my land the rest mama nature's
this year's garden in a corner of my frig
cable co's young man now knows one old wom's views of male tv
and that's the way it isn't happy talk
ideas trampled by knee-jerking haiku cops and robbers
cricket cage the poet chirping chirping

at my chinese teacher's 'you must be like bamboo' i pine away
he's kept waiting while i get junk food
alone again but tonight it's pasta and wine anyway
i wake up to email full of caring
double rainbow the little people grab the pots of gold
idea: editors send sase for our poems

one-line linked haiku   june 14-16 1999

to convey enlightenment

feet in the earth head in the clouds nothing much in between
healing vision the pain told off but good
the lama searching the crown of my head for a sign of it
at my croning the witch shapes her voice into ours
tarot card the fool in his cups on the edge of a cliff
alley a rusty red rectangle

cezanne 'still life' my first jolt into two-dimensional space
wm blake 'to see the world in a grain of sand'
things as they aren't thru the eyes of any female told or not told
'first thought, best thought' the place of this the womb
fresh from little moments to 'breaking news' of a broken world
forest fire in a sparrow's beak a bead of water