Through typhoon winds
Gushing drains
Submerged streets
Downed wires
Risking his life
The mailman at last
Reaches me and pushes
Through the slot
A rejection
From The New Yorker
So here's this Japanese woman
She's got a USA flag on both sleeves
And USA written down the back of her jacket
She's got a USA Army insignia
She's drinking a Coca Cola
And eating a Big Mac
I come up and say, "Hi, I'm from the USA."
She runs away.
A single insect
Lands on water
Meets itself
And walks together.
Christmas card
In January.
Someone forgot
Then remembered me.
This one was so thin
That opinions moved him
To the back of his chair
And forward again.
You can tell that Hemingway
Didn't believe in God
From the fact that he used
So few complex sentences!
Another one said.
Look at that ashtray,
A third said, and pointed
With his index fingers
Joined in a wedge.
Write everyday?
Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha
Whatever gave you that idea?
Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha
Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha
Next question, she said.
Why does Cupid
Have a bow &arrow?—
His father was Mars,
The last said,
Hunched over
The seminar table
Picking at a hangnail
As if it were a jewel.
You just want
a few minutes
of peace
before it starts
Growing up
was about permanence:
roads lasted forever
buildings never fell
earth was firm
steady & sturdy
not to worry
Growing down
is about maintenance:
filling in potholes
plastering walls
predicting quakes
trips to the jakes
Michael Fessler is an American writer and teacher living in Japan. His poetry and fiction have appeared in many journals and anthologies. He has published a collection of haiku, The Sweet Potato Sutra (Bottle Rockets Press, USA), and a textbook, Design and Discuss (Nan'un-do, Japan).
THE NEW
RULES OF
W R I T I N G
ISSUE:
S P R I N G
2011
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