The give us today our daily grind haiku

Most irritating:
can’t even see what they’ve been
grinding all morning.

– Leonard Blumfeld (© 2014)

Razor-edge-of-time reporting from the noise front. Picture the building as a giant tooth, with a gigantic dentist going at it. I can feel the damage done to the enamel all the way to my work room on the 1st floor.

You are like a hurricane

Again woke up with a song playing in my mind that seemed to have sprung from nowhere – Neil Young's Like a Hurricane, essentially a one-image song: that of the stillness in the eye of the hurricane while the storm rages, blowing the narrator away.

It is one of my favorite Neil Young songs, but I haven't listened to it in ages.

What could have caused this to rise to the surface this morning?

Musical affliction

Has it ever happened to you that a song implanted itself in your inner ear, seemingly out of nowhere, and would stay with you for days?

Hank Snow's One More Ride has been with me off and on for several days now. Where did it come from? No source I'm aware of. It's unlikely that I heard it somewhere here in Italy. It certainly would not be played in any Roman store or elevator.

I remember recording this song on my reel-to-reel tape recorder from the country music hour at SWF 3 around 1973 and must have listened to it a lot back then. I loved country music at the time and hardly ever missed that radio show on Saturday afternoon.

The clickety-clack of Hank's railroad track has been calling me much too long. What to do? I have no button to switch it off.

– Leonard Blumfeld, musically afflicted

The art movie haiku

So I decided
to make an art movie. Long
long shot of nothing.

– Leonard Blumfeld (© 2014)

Note
Today’s horoscope said my creativity was going to be low today. But I tried anyway. The picture is a still from the movie – 90 minutes of showing the shadows play on my balcony.

Proverbs from the Chinese XIV

Gifted, intense talk may be another form of rot.

Once again, a piece of Chinese fortune cookie wisdom happens to coincide with Three Word Wednesday's selection of words: gifted, intense, rot.

Whoever wrote this may have been thinking of politicians. Except that what they spout often could neither be called gifted nor intense. Just plain rot.

Rowing my boat in the right direction

Your current situation doesn't allow you to fulfill your potential, and you are now becoming aware of this. You're dreaming of travel, study and different professional experiences. Row your boat in the direction that draws you, for any move forward right now will be a positive one.

This was part of today's horoscope, and it was spot on. At least the first part about my current situation. Better start rowing that boat!

– L.B.

The Anish Kapoor haiku

A gigantic fat
blue donut rolled into my
art field of vision.

– Leonard Blumfeld (© 2014)

Note
Very much razor-edge-of-time reporting of an actual virtual (because computer screen-limited) visual event.

In a jam

When in a jam
when in jam
when jamming

Jabbering away
with a swagger

You get my drift
you aren’t daft

Riverrun dry
riverrun open
riverrun die

Mikey mukey moke
is poetry a joke?

– Leonard Blumfeld (© 2014)

Notes
What brought this one about? 1. Reading some poetry by an eminent contemporary British poet that did not make the least bit of sense. 2. What's worse: I didn't even feel like trying to read some sense into it or break my poor unpoetic mind doing so. 3. I'd also read the riverrun quote* somewhere today, so it was lurking in the back of my mind.
Have a mukey poetry day!

*From James Joyce's Finnegans Wake (1939).

The perverse urge to do anything but what is most urgent

I’ve been a practitioner ever since I can remember.

Always thought I was the only one until I saw a German movie, one of those shallow TV productions steeped in exaggeratedly shining colors, in which some middle-aged woman writer avoided writing her urgently needed new novel by doing all sorts of chores in house and garden.

But my avoidance maneuvers aren’t even chores.

Listening to Steve Earle cannot possibly be called a chore, right? What about running downstairs and eating three cherry tomatoes?

– Leonard Blumfeld (© 2014)

The May morning stupor haiku

Dazed, coffee did not
help, hay fever-feverish,
typing is a chore.

– Leonard Blumfeld (© 2014)

Razor-edge-of-time reporting from the work front. The truth and nothing but the (un)poetic truth. What an awful thing to have to deal with in the merry month of May.

101

My new book is out!

Leonard Blumfeld, 101

Contains 101 short poems (haiku and fibonacci)

From the cover text:

Leonard Blumfeld, a character sprung from a story by Franz Kafka, is the part of me that can take virtually any prompt, look at anything around, think of anything or anyone and make a poem out of it – be it humorous, deadpan, philosophical, silly, absurd or reticent. Many of these dash-down instant creations take an appropriately short form – like the haiku and fibonacci assembled here. They are poems about mundane events, such as enduring bad weather or looking at the meager contents of a fridge, about artists like John Singer Sargent or Amedeo Modigliani; they invoke music, like the poems based on classical Indian ragas, digest books read or comment on news events.

Can be ordered from Amazon.de or any bookstore in Germany. ISBN: 978-3844290943. Amazon.de also ships to countries outside Germany. The e-book version and printed version are also available directly from the publisher in Berlin.

Signed copies are available upon request and can be shipped internationally (please leave a comment).

The electric bike ditty

(An electric bike-age homage to Dr. Seuss)

We like our bike, and this is why:
the battery does all the work
when the hills get high.

– Felix Morgenstern (© 2014)

The challenge at Poets United was to write a poem with a bicycling motif.

Toilet bowl smartism

The toilet bowl-proof smartphone has yet to be invented.

– Leonard Blumfeld

Note
Razor-edge-of-time reporting from the toilet bowl accident front. And no, the Samsung Galaxy is not toilet bowl-proof.
What does this teach you? Keep your smartphone away from toilet bowls.

The art gallery haiku

Squeaky clean wooden
floors that squeak when trodden on
as rapt viewers walk.

– Leonard Blumfeld (© 2014)

A good poem

Never fight a moon.
Where are the misty seas?
The moon dies like a stormy breeze.

– Leonard Blumfeld (© 2014)

Note
I must admit that I had some help writing this. The original version came from the Poem Generator. I modified it to make it even greater.
Why is this little poem good?
Because it contains some of the most important key words, images and subjects used in poetry throughout the ages. Such as moon, misty, seas, breeze and death.
Guaranteed to work each and every time!

The I could haiku

I could do many
things right now. But they are not
things I have to do.

– Leonard Blumfeld (© 2014)

Notes
Inspired by a poem of the sort that lists things the author could do, like polish his shoes, add more sugar to his coffee, muze about friends, family and pets, muze about the mellow April weather, prune the bushes, etc. In the end he decides to do nothing but listen to the sprinklers come on and observe their “immaculate band of light over the lawns.” The immaculate has become stuck in my mind like the proverbial sore thumb. Seems to be about as debatable as the immaculate conception.
As to the things I could do, there are many, as the haiku says. But bread-winning work calls and needs to be taken care of. Sadly.
Oh, and by the way: I would call this haiku a deadpan poem. As opposed to the immaculate band of light kind.

Best of Meme

My out-of-print book Best of Meme now goes for $67.17 at Amazon. Wow!

The haystack haiku

Today I have to
find three bent needles in a
PC file – achoo!

– Leonard Blumfeld (© 2014)

Note
In my work as a coordinator of translations, I have to deal with the idiosyncracies and erratic behavior of a CAT software named Star Transit. Most likely three occurrences of an apostrophe in a text file caused Transit to stumble and fall today (it stumbles and falls a lot in general). These are the bent needles I have to find in the haystack. And I do have a highly developed allergy to such problems (which are a great waste of time and nothing else), hence the achoo.

The smartphone disability haiku

For S.

My love sends me lobe,
lisses and all gibbt – please help
me decipher that!

– Leonard Blumfeld (© 2014)


Note
Have you noticed how typing accuracy has gone down the drain with the advent of touch screen keypads? A great big cheer to the advances of technology!

The coherent world view haiku

I do hope that a
coherent world view steps out
of these counted words.

– Leonard Blumfeld (© 2014)

Note
When a well-known poet does not have a major poem to his name (such as, for example, T. S. Eliot would have The Waste Land or Ezra Pound would have the Cantos), literary criticism focuses on the merits of the so-called coherent world view, i.e. it is good for a poet to have one (and, by implication, bad if you don't have one). I remember some article about the poetry of James Schuyler, where the critic spoke of this. Alas, I don't remember what the critic's ultimate conclusion was. I only remember that I strongly disagreed with both major notions of the article: 1. That there are no James Schuyler poems of major importance (to me, many of his poems are by far more important than anything erudite, contrived and sterile T. S. Eliot ever wrote), and 2. That it is difficult to discern a coherent world view in the body of James Schuyler's poetry. (To which I would say that there is hardly anyone else to rival the rendering of 20th century human experience I see in Schuyler's poetry with more coherence.)

Failed in all three

The three-gated word check applied to a poem as it is coming into existence

I
Is it true?
No.

II
Is it necessary?
Probably not.

III
Is it kind?
Definitely not.

– Leonard Blumfeld (© 2014)

Written in response to a sufi saying encountered on the Internet:

Before you speak, let your words pass through three gates:

At the first gate, ask yourself:
'Is it true?'

At the second gate, ask:
'Is it necessary?'

At the third gate, ask:
'Is it kind?'

This explains why sufis don't talk a lot and why there's a lot of poetry.

The conclusive haiku

You were about to fail
the practical part. But I
was sure you’d prevail.

– Leonard Blumfeld (© 2014)

Note
The other night I had a dream about a friend. In the dream, she was trying to get her driver's license, which was probably not going to be easy, considering she's over forty and has never driven a car before. She asked me whether she was going to pass. Somehow I knew she'd fail the practical part the first time around, but I also knew that she would eventually pass. Why did I know this? Because concealed in my right hand I held a small black lacquered box, and because of something inside that box I knew. Strange. But that's how dreams are.

Posted to Poets United.

Everything will work out

Don't lose heart and continue with your efforts - everything will work out.

Those were the soothing words the Astrocenter tarot reading had for me. After advising me that today might be kind of tough going...

Let's see what happens.

408311

Have you ever noticed that some PINs – or number combinations in general – are much easier to remember than others?

The generator gave me 408311 today, which struck me as one of the ones you need to look at twice before you enter it.

On the other hand, there are some numbers that are so good they stay with you for ever and ever. Like my first Colorado license plate: MW 9552. Even though I can't explain exactly why I find this one easy to recall...

Anyway: have a good day!

The imitation Picasso haiku

Some eyes like targets
somewhere, some nippled boobs,
a hoof, Mae West lips.

– Leonard Blumfeld (© 2014)

Note
Inspired by a painting from a Berlin art show photo. Would love to reproduce it here for better understanding, but fairness forbids.

Roja

Watched Mani Ratnam's Roja from 1992 again after a long time. Enjoyed it immensely (despite its obvious flaws). Fabulous music by A. R. Rahman.

Oh help me

My muze
has got the blues

She couldn’t care less –
so there goes any hope for success

– Felix Morgenstern (© 2014)

A silly ditty written for Poets United.

The Mark Rothko haiku

Two bed sheets, one black,
the other vaguely blue, strung
together to dry.

– Leonard Blumfeld (© 2014)

Note
You might have guessed it: Mark Rothko is not among my favorite painters. Even though the entire art world seems to be all gaga about his big two- or three-colored bed sheets.

New Google Maps

The new Google Maps is SHIT.

Why does Google proclaim this is easier to use? The exact opposite is true.

All the essential tools and options are no longer displayed where they used to be (and should be), but hidden behind some nincompoop icon.

The Roman neighbor girl on Saturday morning haiku

This house has thin walls –
and she’s already on a
full-fledged whinging binge.

– Leonard Blumfeld (© 2014)

The truth and nothing but the (un)poetic truth. Razor edge of time reporting.

The Modigliani haiku

Squinty little eyes
and narrow face? Good chance it’s
an Amedeo.

– Leonard Blumfeld (© 2014)

Note
The above painting is Gypsy woman with baby (1919) by Amedeo Modigliani.

The no idea haiku

This one has not a
single idea. It lives in
things, in things only.

– Leonard Blumfeld (© 2014)

Note
This one toys with the well-known and often quoted William Carlos Williams’ statement “No ideas but in things.” Actually, it fails on both accounts – it has neither ideas nor things... It is a very reticent poem, one might say.

Recommended viewing: Poets United.

The knife haiku

You looked so sharp this
morning! But now, after work,
you look rather dull...

– Leonard Blumfeld (© 2014)

Inspired by Haiku Heights and Sharp.

The John Singer Sargent haiku

John Singer Sargent, White Dresses (1911)

Two women slain in
battle? No – white dresses in
peace on parched grass...

– Leonard Blumfeld (© 2014)

Note
When I first glimpsed this painting, my initial flash was that it represented an after-battle scene – bodies strewn on the ground, limbs sticking up.
The first real haiku I've written in a while ... with that sudden flash of recognition in the second half.

The kitchen mishap haiku

Big coffee puddle
on kitchen floor. No-one to
tell me who done it.

– Leonard Blumfeld (© 2014)

Note
Derived from a dream I had last night. Tons of unknown people, all German, were milling around the family cabin in the Black Forest, which, in reality, was torn down a few years ago because of sad neglect. Someone had made the above-mentioned coffee puddle. In the dream I did not ask who had, supplying the explanation in my mind that these people did not know the place and were obviously incompetent as well. Was too shy to out myself as the one who had known this cabin since childhood. Now what do you make of such a dream?
By the way: happy new year!

The rear gear haiku

I’m in backwards mode
again today, where I want
nothing of this world.

– Leonard Blumfeld (© 2013)

Note
Do you ever go through these moods where everything seems futile? Where cell phones, movies, social media hoopla, poems, paintings, consumerism and poop seem all the same? Where you sort of feel like Buddha, wanting to spend the rest of your life sitting at some intersection somewhere in Bihar, having nothing and wanting nothing? You do? Then you know what this haiku is about.

The thanks haiku

For S.

Thank you India,
thank you Sadhana! Thanks!
You’ve been good to me.

– Leonard Blumfeld (© 2013)

It's the thanksgiving time of the year, and I'm joining in along with Haiku Heights.

I must admit that the first line was inspired by Alanis Morisette's song Thank U, so I'm also giving thanks to that song:

Writing in Montreux

The Jethro Tull said hi,
bonjour, grüezi* in Montreux
and proceeded to play.
And I’ve almost finished my
seven lines in Montreux,
looking out on the lake,
listening from far away.

– Leonard Blumfeld (© 2013)

*Swiss German greeting (more or less like "good day!")


The challenge was to write seven lines in a place where one has never written before:

One poem.

7 lines in length. 

Make it perfect.

Poets United

Selfie, helfie, shelfie, footsie - new words explained and illustrated

While watching the news on Al Jazeera this morning, I learned some new words from a short special they did.

Selfie – a self-portrait shot with a smartphone and shared on a social media site. Apparently invented in Australia in 2002.

(The example shown is actually a double selfie. Looks like I'm about to say something to myself.)


Helfie – a self-portrait showing only the hair or top of the head of the person.

(Low-quality, taken with front camera.)


Shelfie – a self-portrait taken in front of a book shelf.

(Shows my erudite and eclectic taste in books and some knicknacks gathered over the years, just like a proper shelfie should.)


Footsie – well, that's my own little gift to social media. A traditional footsie (foot shot).

Common features of all four are a. shot with a smartphone and b. shared using social media.

Bless the weird world of social media!

All pictures taken with a Sony Ericsson Xperia.

Jotted down

Don't just get caught up in the rush of the day, LEONARD. You could have a feeling of acceleration, like time is flowing by too quickly. But if you can take a few minutes and breathe, you could have some important insights. Your analytical mind is processing lots of information now, and you could come up with some exciting concepts. Take moment to jot your thoughts down so that they aren't lost!

(Today's web horoscope)

So the first thing I jotted down right on command was the horoscope itself, easy as 1-2-3. Thank you, Windows, thank you, Cut, & thank you, Paste.

Time is flowing by too quickly. I've been complaining about that for years to that elusive goddess called Time.

That is the first important insight, no matter that I've had it many times before. And what good has it done (like most important insights)!

My mind is indeed processing lots of information, albeit in a somewhat dazed state. Comes with Monday morning.

So these thoughts jotted down. No guarantee, though, that they won't be lost.

PS1: I love that personal computerized LEONARD. My horoscope knows me!
PS2: Added a picture from the scene of the crime.

The seven days haiku

Seven more days! I’ll
be waiting at the station
for her to arrive...

– Leonard Blumfeld (© 2013)

A contribution to Haiku Heights and Seven.

Note
Actually a very abbreviated version of one of my favorite Bob Dylan songs – Seven more days.
This one is more or less fictitous (but I do wait for my love regularly, about five days out of seven).

Seven more days in a live performance by Ron Wood:

The limited appeal horoscope

This was in the mail this morning:

Today, being slightly more aggressive than usual would heighten your appeal, which is limited by Neptunian fog.

I'll try, I'll try! I am worried about my appeal.

(But could anyone explain to me what Neptunian fog is and why Neptune has it out for me?)

– Leonard Blumfeld

Happens to include the words aggressive, heighten and limited, which were demanded by 3WW today.

The Let Them Eat Cake Variant Haiku

Grass cake, grass pudding,
grass soup, grass dumplings in grass
sauce should fatten you.

– Leonard Blumfeld (© 2013)

Written on the theme of grass at Haiku Heights.

Alludes to the quote ‘Let them eat cake’ misattributed to Marie Antoinette, queen of France, beheaded in 1793, and a satirical film about the Ceausescu regime of Romania, in which the dictator’s wife recommended grass as a solution for the starving Romanians.

The lifetime achievement haiku

Pointed hats, pointed
people in undershirts and
different attire.

– Leonard Blumfeld (© 2013)

First haiku in the artists haiku series.

Tarot and horoscope today

Tarot says:

Your emotional situation isn't that great today. With the Hanged Man and the High Priestess there's precious little chance of you spreading your wings. You're feeling rather discouraged and apathetic about work and towards those close to you, or towards your partner if you have one. Don't let it get you down - the sun's bound to shine tomorrow! At work, you may feel that your abilities are not being fully appreciated. Despite the obvious talents lavished upon you by the Empress, the Hanged Man is about to sow the seeds of doubt in the admiration of your colleagues or your friends. You'll do everything right and then you'll be criticized for doing a bad job! The image people have of you today will be enough to drive you crazy!

 Horoscope says:

You could feel lighthearted and a bit silly. Your sense of humor will be stimulated. People don't always realize that you are a kid at heart! You might spend some time cracking funny jokes. Or you could have fun sending some silly e-mails to your friends. You'll be entertained by TV or movie comedies. You might even come up with a comedy routine of your own. Celebrate the laughter in your life. 

Theoretically, if there was some universal truth to tarot and horoscope, these two should have something in common for the same person on the same day.

So – what to make of this?
a. The two do not seem to have a common denominator.
b. Thank God I don't have to work today, so will hopefully do without the seeds of doubt in my colleagues and my poor image.
c. In view of b., I'll skip the silly e-mails to my friends suggested by the horoscope.
d. Pretty poor universal/celestial/spiritual showing from whoever did tarot/horoscope.

The den haiku

The lion’s den – used
to be the dragon’s lair – what
awful putrid strench!

– Leonard Blumfeld (© 2013)

Written for Haiku Heights and den.

Note
More than anything, this one plays with fixed expressions and treats them literally.

The black haiku

I have to turn my head until my darkness goes
– The Rolling Stones, Paint It Black

You said, paint it black,
so I did. Now everyone
calls me negative.

– Leonard Blumfeld (© 2013)

Written for Haiku Heights and black.

Note
Goes to show that you should not always listen to what people say.

The myth haiku

Myth is alive, myth
is afoot, myth never died.
Naked myth does thrive.

– Leonard Blumfeld (© 2013)

Instigated by Haiku Heights and myth, with a huge dose of inspiration from the Leonard Cohen/Buffy Sainte-Marie song God is Alive, Magic is Afoot.

Notes
Myth is rampant in this oh so scientific age. For example, the myth that we should get a new cell phone at least once a year in order to always stay connected in the latest ways, to keep up with the Joneses and to fill the pockets of Tim Cook and other CEOs. Or the myth that freedom can coexist with the NSA spying on everyone and everything in the whole wide world. Etc.

Proverbs from the Chinese XIII

Easygoing handsome facts are in the air for you today.

This was today's original Chinese horoscope.
Can't wait to be faced with these easygoing handsome facts!
(It's usually the hard and ugly facts that cause you pain.)
As to their carrier – the air –, it is cool and breezy today – full of the promise of those pleasant facts ...

– Leonard "Loves Facts" Blumfeld (© 2013)

Posted for 3WW (easygoing –  handscome – fact).

The butter haiku

You sweet and creamy
thing! How you get slandered as
saturated fat!

– Leonard Blumfeld (© 2013)

Written for Haiku Heights and butter.

Notes
No comment needed for this one.