Deface of Defaced Art

Bathos • \BAY-thaws\ • Noun - 1a: the sudden appearance of the commonplace in otherwise elevated matter or style b: anticlimax 2: exceptional commonplaceness: triteness 3: insincere or overdone pathos: sentimentalism

Looking for humor
Bathos rears its ugly head
M Lisa moustache

Boys Beware

Hoyden • \HOY-dunn\ • Noun - A girl or woman of saucy, boisterous, or carefree behavior

Amazonians
The ultimate hoyden clan
Don’t cross them buddy

Haiku for the Marauder

It's a bird feeder
Doing at least half its job
Those dadblamed squirrels!

Miles in a Day

Sketches ● \skech-uz\ ● noun – 1a: a rough drawing representing the chief features of an object or scene and often made as a preliminary study b: a tentative draft 2: a brief description (as of a person) or outline 3a: a short literary composition somewhat resembling the short story and the essay but intentionally slight in treatment, discursive in style, and familiar in tone b: a short instrumental composition usually for piano c: a slight theatrical piece having a single scene; especially: a comic variety act.

Miles Davis. So smooth

Kind of Blue, Sketches of Spain
This guy’s in heaven

Lineman Appreciation Day Haiku

Power is life, heat, light
Loyal linemen keep it so
Show them praise today

#nationalhaikupoetryday

Happy National Haiku Poetry Day

The art of haiku
Sometimes good, sometimes awful
Makes old minds feel young

#nationalhaikupoetryday

Catnap in God's Summer Spotlight

Grimalkin ● /grih-MAWL-kin/ ● Noun – A domestic cat; especially: an old female cat.

Bright square of sunlight
Warms grimalkin’s brittle bones
Sleeps with tiny snores

Sylvan Slumber

Sylvan /SILL-vun/ Adjective – 1 a: living or located in the woods or forest b: of, relating to, or characteristic of the woods or forest 2 a: made from wood: wooden b: abounding in woods, groves, or trees: wooded.

Shaded sylvan glade
Mottled sunlight filters through
Leaves dance in the breeze

Yes Sir. Anything Sir!

Myrmidon ● \MER-muh-dahn\ ● Noun – A loyal follower; especially: a subordinate who executes orders unquestioningly or unscrupulously.

Slavish myrmidon
Does anything asked to do
Even eat a bug

Season's Change

Deliquesce ● \dell – ih – KWESS\ ● Verb - 1: to dissolve or melt away 2: to become soft or liquid with age or maturity—used of some fungal structures (as the gills of a mushroom).

Soft warmth of summer
Deliquesce to brisk fall
Season’s last farewell

Cool Hands of Healing

Vulnerary ● \VULL-nuh-rare-ee\ ● Adjective – Used for or useful in healing wounds.

A nurse’s soft touch
Rare, vulnerary treatment
Grace from soothing hands

25 Minutes of Silence: Tribute to a Podcast

Evanescent ● \ev-uh-NESS-unt\ ● Adjective – Tending to vanish like vapor.

Silent web podcast
Evanescent verbal pause
Great time for a nap

25 Minutes of Silence

My Toes on Vacation

Sun, sea, sand and toes
Breezes ruffle unbound hair
Warm sun glows, cares flee

A Twitter Troll Trolls Garfield

Eat my lasagna
Bitter tears of my trolldom
All cats bow to me

A Woman Scorned

A friend reported a woman had run amok in her neighborhood, bashing her man's truck with a tire iron. Good mulch for a country song. Or, a horrible haiku...or two:

Version 1

Red lights. Flash warning.
Angry woman with tire iron.
Next? Gray bar motel.

Version 2

His dark, cheating heart
Angry wife, vengeful tire iron
Dents adorn his truck

Hydro Flows Here (a tribute to the Bonneville Power Administration)

If the sun doesn't shine
If the wind doesnt blow
There's always hydro

Dung Polish

Gild the lily • \GILD-thuh-LILL-ee\ • phrasal verb – To add unnecessary ornamentation to something beautiful in its own right

Fossilized Feces
Gilding the Lily of Time
History Is Changed

This was the very first Horrible Haiku done for the Energy News Digest

Motion Sickness Serenade

Deasil • \DEE-zil\ • noun – clockwise

Ride the tidal surge
Inner tube in deasil spin
Give me ‘Dramamine’

Planning on Planning

Ideate • \EYE-dee-ate\ • verb – To form an idea or conception of - to form an idea

Ideate a Plan
Put it into Motion Now
Seemed Right at the Time

The Storm, God's Broom

Maelstrom ● \MAIL-strum\ ● Noun – A situation in which there are a lot of confused activities, emotions, etc.; a dangerous area of water that moves very fast in a circle.

Storm bears down on us
Nature’s fury unleashed
Gods broom sweeps briskly

A Tree's Last Stand

Trees stand so serene
Unexpected tempest looms
Bow down to the storm

I See Stars in Your Eyes

Empyreal ● /emp-pie-REE-ull/ ● Adjective – 1: of or relating to the heavens or firmament: celestial 2: sublime.

Spangled night of stars
Sky of empyreal glory
Pinpoint lights shine bright

Piss Poor Decision

Guerdon ● /GURR-dun/ ● Noun – Reward, recompense.

See instant karma
Pee on an electric fence
A painful guerdon

Haiku Holler for Joseph Clift

Evanescent ● \ev-uh-NESS-unt\ ● Adjective – Tending to vanish like vapor.

Silent web podcast
Evanescent verbal pause
Great time for a nap

25 Minutes of Silence

Horrible Haiku for a Horrible Game

I love watching pitchers duels in baseball. But this was an...um...yeah.

Seahawks, Cardinals
Tie. Tastes like bland tofu. Meh
Bless me, Saints are next.

And yes. I know saying "bland tofu" is redundant...

Elegy for an Election

Verity ● \VER-uh-tee\ ● Noun - 1: the quality or state of being true or real 2: something (as a statement) that is true; especially: a fundamental and inevitably true value <such eternal verities as honor, love, and patriotism> 3: the quality or state of being truthful or honest.

Hued levels of truth
True verity gone missing
Tuesday’s final test

Salmon. A Soft, Light Touch

Lambent ● \LAM-bunt\ ● Adjective – 1: playing lightly on or over a surface: flickering 2: softly bright or radiant 3: marked by lightness or brilliance especially of expression.

Prodigal salmon
Swims home ‘neath sharp lambent light
Ends with future’s hope

Curses. My Kids are Golden Statues

Auriferous ● \aw-RIFF-fuh-russ\ ● Adjective – Containing gold.

Gold’s evil glitter
Midas’ touch, king’s unwise choice
Auriferous curse

A Franz Kafka Thanksgiving

Kafkaesque ● /koff-kuh-ESK/ ● Adjective – Of, relating to, or suggestive of Franz Kafka or his writings; especially: having a nightmarishly complex, bizarre, or illogical quality.

Thanksgiving weather
Threatens roasted turkey feast
Kafkaesque, you bet

A Snail's Tale

Ergo • \AIR-go\ • Adverb - Therefore, hence

The order was void
The cargo was escargot
Ergo it was yuck

Hauschka Head Games - A Kicker's Lament

Head games for Hauschka
Unpredictable feet too
Missed again, dammit

Farewell Sweet Princess -- Leia

Cognizance ● /KOG-nuh-zents/ ● Noun – 1: a distinguishing mark or emblem (as a heraldic bearing) 2: knowledge, awareness b: notice, acknowledgment 3: jurisdiction, responsibility

The Force is weakened
Sad cognizance, Leia’s loss
Farewell, sweet princess

Happy Thesaurus Day! (January 18)

Thesaurus ● \thi-SORE-us\ ● Noun – 1: treasury, storehouse 2a: a book of words or of information about a particular field or set of concepts; especially: a book of words & their synonyms b: a list of subject headings or descriptors usually with a cross-reference system for use in the organization of a collection of documents for reference & retrieval

It’s “Thesaurus Day”
Words morph, meanings stay the same
Roget’s pretty cool

Ode to Cooper Studios

Photographers flit
Like dragonflies on the wind
Shutterbugs in flight

Song in a Gilded Cage

Carceral ● /CAR-suh-rull/ ● Adjective – Of, relating to, or suggesting a jail or prison.

In a gilded cage
Songbird sings carceral blues
Tears flow, a sad song

Love's Permanent Mark

Tattoo ● \tatt-too\ ● Noun – 1: a rapid rhythmic rapping 2a: a call sounded shortly before taps as notice to go to quarters b: outdoor military exercise given by troops as evening entertainment
Tattoo ● \tatt-too\ ● Verb – (used with object), tattooed, tattooing. 1: to mark (the skin) with tattoos 2: to put (tattoos) on the skin.

The love in my heart
Permanent as a tattoo
Lives forever more

Froggy's Courting Song

Sing you lonely frog
Join the aquatic chorus
Spring's sweet song of love

Hitler's Phone

Mundane ● \munn-DAYNE\ ● Adjective – 1: of, relating to, or characteristic of the world 2: characterized by the practical, transitory, and ordinary: commonplace

Who bought Hitler’s phone?
Mundane tool, evil’s mouthpiece
Death dispatched by wire

Bodacious Water Horse

Bodacious ● \bo –DAY-shus\ ● Adjective – 1: outright, unmistakable 2: remarkable, noteworthy 3: sexy, voluptuous

Hippopotamus
Wild Kingdom’s bodacious star
Most impressive smile

Blossom Branches to the Sky

Ramify ● \RAM-uh-fye\ ● Verb – 1: to split up into branches or constituent parts 2: to send forth branches or extensions 3: to cause to branch

Spring’s impending change
Trees ramify; limbs reach high
Bear fragrant blossoms

Sock it to Me, Baby!

Vade mecum ● \vay-dee-MEE-kum\ ● Noun – 1: a book for ready reference: manual 2: something regularly carried about by a person

See Funk and Wagonalls
Vade mecum of “Laugh In”
Sock it to me babe

Sunflower Dominance

Effulgence ● /if-FULL-juns/ ● Noun – Radiant splendor: brilliance.

Sunflower’s vast bloom
Golden effulgence, bee’s feast
Peaceful, green giant

A Dove's Coo

Coo ● \koo\ ● Verb – 1: to make the low soft cry of a dove or pigeon or a similar sound 2: to talk fondly, amorously, or appreciatively.

Soft is dove’s spring song

Sweet coo rouses me from sleep

Day’s promise foretold

When Balloons Attack

Softly they approach
Floating, silent, to your hair
Vexing static charge

Silence of the Tomb

Tomb ● \toom\ ● Noun – 1a: an excavation in which a corpse is buried: grave b: a place of interment 2: a house, chamber, or vault for the dead 3: a building or structure resembling a tomb.


Silence of the tomb
Shelob waits in the shadows
She sees you, precious

Undying Love

Oath ● \ˈōth\ ● Noun – 1a: a solemn usually formal calling upon God or a god to witness to the truth of what one says or to witness that one sincerely intends to do what one says, 2: a solemn attestation of the truth or inviolability of one’s words. b: something (as a promise) corroborated by an oath. 2: an irreverent or careless use of a sacred name; broadly: swear word.


Promise me something
Any little oath will do
My undying love