* * *

13 to 50
like a house built up on blood
a nation is born

* * *

now i see darkness
no sign of life anywhere
welcome to the scene

* * *

composed in my bed
the poem was forgotten
when i fell asleep

* * *

she was infectious
her nose ran like a track star
we kissed anyway

* * *

absentmindedly
i listen to the music
blare from the speakers

* * *

no one left to blame
i brought this upon myself
will i never learn?

* * *

there is no future
no past to live for either
i'll live for today

* * *

drink yourself to sleep
let your booze rule over you
let fear reign supreme

* * *

sick of complaining
i'm bored with my own problems
may as well move on

two years of hard work
got nothing to show for it
just pain and failure

* * *

dentally-challenged,
all my friends said she was plain
I still dated her

* * *

don't believe in god
don't believe in my country
i believe in me

* * *

a sensitive girl,
she'd faint at the sight of blood
unless it was mine

* * *

a social misfit,
if not for the internet
i'd never get laid

* * *

listening to it
outside watching some cop pull
somebody over

* * *

cold saturday night
spinning records so it's not
so quiet in here

* * *

one hour ahead
i look @ the clock just to see
what time it is where you are

* * *

from a mile off
it shines over all of this
let it shine on us

* * *

no music just yet
we'll concentrate on breathing
and each other's breath

* * *

awkwardly kissing
our breaths hot like torches
push yours against mine

* * *

almost crushed your back
i would do anything
to keep you here with me

* * *

get right down to it
it's all just reaction
and not that much else

* * *

bottomed out again
crawling back to the same hole
i could use a change

* * *

killed another day
falling back into habits
that were so hard to break

* * *

with regards to love
one person will always like
the other one more

* * *

inexperienced
and i must say that i am
scared for the future

* * *

reading it i note
a quiet desperation
permeates throughout

* * *

saw you on the steps
you seemed happy to see me
off in a hurry

* * *

disrespectful to
the art of haiku, 5-8-5
not 5-7-5

* * *

i've got to confess
my only predujice is
i hate white people

* * *

hung up on that cross
jesus, you died for my sins
then i converted..

* * *

perfect dream just now
had my arm draped around you
then the cat woke me

* * *

i dreamt about you
and we were hitting it off
so unlike real life

* * *

got the card you sent
it put things into perspective
i am an asshole

* * *

thinking about you
a bad movie on tv
is this all there is?

* * *

guess you must be out
cos no one sleeps that soundly
i wish you'd pick up..

* * *

now i felt foolish!
lost more hearing attending
another dumb show

* * *

watch who you step on
as you climb up to the top
one might break your ass

* * *

i will follow through
right down to the bitter end
please hold me to this

* * *

the pathetic depths
i can sink to are sometimes
quite astonishing

* * *

so stupid sometimes
i amaze even myself
that's quite a statement!

* * *

they look in on me
i bet it's disappointing
when they see nothing

* * *

a wicked shadow
casts its crooked shape on you
i hope it will pass

* * *

i'm a bad spectre
hanging above you always
like a fly to shit

* * *

bones are crushed to dust
as i watch your suicide
from a safe distance

* * *

for you i'd have died
yet right now i feel happy
just bein' alive

Dear Rubin Farr,

RF, a couple of interesting poems related to haiku in your batch:

listening to it
outside watching some cop pull
somebody over

This one's a senryu, pure and simple. Some books by R. H. Blyth and Makoto Ueda on the topic, listed below, if you're interested in pursuing it. (Also, do you know the poetry of Etheridge Knight? Some haiku sprinkled throughout the work of this outstanding Black poet. And there are some really fine haiku among the too-many in Richard Wright's recently published book of haiku from the 1960s, also listed below.)

cold saturday night
spinning records so it's not
so cold in here

A little tanka-esque for haiku, maybe, but headed more in the haiku direction than most of the other pieces you sent, some of which are interesting, but not haiku (really) . . . meanwhile:

I'd like to suggest that RF make some further investigation of what "haiku" is really about...

I realize that this message may seem self-serving, since I am the author of a number of books on the subject of haiku, but if you check them out, you may find that my 40 years of study of the subject brings some useful information to you. You can find the three most prominent on A****n.com at the following URLs:
[He goes on to give me links to A****n.com where I can get all of his books] Almost all of these are considered fundamental works, foundation books for those interested in haiku--which is not just a variety of poetry written in a certain number of syllables, but a traditional type of poetry with 500 years of its own history on top of 5 millennia of East Asian culture.

Although I think this guy (and whatever it is that he and his old guard pals stand for) is completely full of shit, I'll let you decide: the following haiku were given awards by The Haiku Society of America.

new in town
the scent
of unknown flowers

foghorns ...
we lower a kayak
into the sound

new butterfly ...
folded wings
lean into the wind

morning overcast
a few seeds still dangle
from the dandelion

here in a nutshell
the history of haiku:
one big circle jerk

* * *

history's nothing
cos one million years from now
the sun will explode

* * *

poor exhausted artform
500 years only produced
unbridled mediocrity