898

To "cruise on back home,"
that's all we each want to do,
to go home to You.

We seek protection

from the dangers of this life

We run for cover

Boulevard ALP

Rushing nowhere else
but elevators to rooms
they push their way home

895

A wind and a breeze

Like a cough and like a sneeze

Are their own alone

Sometimes I'm awkward
about my being awkward
and that's just awkward

You energize me
and yes, I do mean you ... if
you are poetry

A sanctuary
is what a shul's meant to be:
holy, safe haven

The year is a ride
You start at Rosh HaShannah
Later, you end there

890 (I Think... Haven't Numbered Since 855)

There is nothing like
Facebook comments from dead friends
to sober me up

Sometimes I feel I'm
A million miles away
Exploding with hope

Honor is respect 

Whether we get it or not 

"zehu kevodo"

Steam Haiku

We all build up steam
Stored emotional tension
Mist under our skin

Like that great engine
We need to harness our steam
Elevate hot air

----------------------------------------

When I was a boy
a woman from our shul died
after the steam room

--------------------------------------

Extroverts gain steam
from being around others
Introverts run out

Forget Haiku

Not free to forget
I don't choose to remember
There's just no choice

--------------------

Forget our old sins
Remember your great mercy
Be kind to us, please.

--------------------

The pen beats the sword
they say, but forget to add-
the pen must be sharp

--------------------

"Inadvertantly"
people tend to neglect things
and say they forget

You might never guess
who will be there when it counts
that's life's big surprise

Should I reveal that these are about a stomach virus?

Oinking and screeching
you knock me down to my knees
beast from my belly

You curse me as worse
than I ever feared I was
but you'll run your course

Under Haiku

Sometimes I stay home
weighted down under my fears
finding sad comfort

Under the weather;
laying in his his bed, coughing,
not yet over it

Under the surface
there lives a still and thin voice
calling out the truth

Seldom spoken word
of act quite misunderstood
Kindness is lonely

Sharpness and softness
one rests under the surface
the other on top

They'd put him under
and I prayed right beside him,
called him Superman

A lifetime ago
sadness was under her skin
till it took over

Lech Lechah, G-d said

The command: Go to your self

That is so like G-d

Haiku of Silence

Not making a sound
still and thin and loud and clear:
ear piercing silence

Silence is a fence
a fence that precedes wisdom
wisdom is presence

Silence is painful
when you wish your words were heard
sometimes that's better

Silence can hurt less
than having your words unheard
and yet that's the best

Poetry is speech
spoken in a deep silence
heard in a rare way

There's a warmth and light
inside of me from before
from before this life

When I feel pressured

I walk to the other side

step outside the stress

Diet Coke and cake
is nothing to make fun of
Better than real Coke

Over

A trajectory
passing from start to finish
over a lifetime

Mind Over Matter
Robert Klein's song and album
plays with me through life

Nothing is over
Even after it's over
Nothing is over

I get over you
over and over again
I'm not over you

I'm not over you
and we barely even met
It's not you or me

Storm 855

Violent strong winds,
disturbing thunder and rain:
tumultuous storm

Between 852-854

Into and across
our separation, something
connects between us

I stand in between
two poles labeled hide and seek
I stand in between

It's what's in between
the pauses and the spaces
It's what's in between

851

My poems are my

blankets of protection and

flotation cushions

850

Sad reality.

Friends close, enemies closer.

Basic survival?

849

Is there greater love
than life long conversations
that die after you?

848

Even though in truth
I hate being pushed around
I still invite it

847

When you can listen
with your kind, supportive eyes
then you truly hear

846

G-d please protect me
from my many protections
so I can be safe

841 - 845

Before

Dad was sharp and mom
was alive and I was in
love and fueled with drive

-------------------------------------

Inspired By Before

Periods of time
Leading up to this moment
I call it, "before"

Without a before

life loses its poetry

and just now can't count

Before is a bridge,

it is also an island

where the bridge begins

Know ahead of time

when you'll be meeting someone

who it is you'll be

840 For Rav Shimon bar Yochai

Hidden in the earth
in your life and after life
you enlighten us

May I plant my feet
firmly on the ground this year
with your help, dear G-d

838

Wiggle, don't force it

True about sticky locked doors

and true about life

832 - 837

A slichot crisis
Is the one I see right now
Not of tuition

We have many needs
And little understanding
Answer anyway

With the greatest care
That of a father to son
We seek G-d's mercy

Kindly awaken
The love that's old and sleeping
Between You and me

I fear I'm naked
In my observance of You
Hold my naked heart

Please don't be angry
Instead grace us with mercy
Remember Your word

831

If I'm a person
Then it's always personal,
nothing personal

824 - 830

Victimless right now
at least to a large extent
and I am grateful

Tell him I read face
a teenager said to me
about my colleague

Playing make believe
is no longer fun once you
say it's make believe

Deification
of alcohol is quite strong
in many a home

Some people are poor
lacking everything except
for lots of money

We're good Facebook friends
though we've never been friend friends
not as kids, not now

Damsel in distress
is your love connection role
which is why we're friends

810 - 823

Yerushalayim
Asks of our wholeness and peace
Because she loves us

What is my calling?
Perhaps I don't need to ask
But just to listen.

Parents and children
Means there will be some friction
And friction means warmth

I see no feathers
But I do believe in hope
I'm looking forward

I used to see him
But didn't recognize him
Fit right in in Schul

Israeli drivers
Are easier to talk to
Than my neighborhoods'

The Bridge bike riders
Seem to have all the answers
As I wonder why

Maybe because I
Was a kid when it opened
I love Kazablan

Belle Avenue is
not my home and yet I spend
a lot of time here

Sometimes I can feel
The kite pulling on the string
And sometimes I can't.

Forget our old sins
Remember your great mercy
Be kind to us, please.

May it be Your will
To choose to accept our prayers
Though we rush through them

Falling asleep with
this phone in my hands is not
the life of my dreams

My land line these days
receives incoming calls just
from solicitors

Welcome extroverts
This room is your stomping ground
Speak first, think later

Introverts have needs
that must be met if you want
them to contribute.

Mandel foundation
studied our education
got many answers

"All of you people
have made all this possible
through your examples"

The frontal droning
tempts to upset me, but I
choose to breathe instead

"We've never measured
If the fact that students sing
makes them religious."

The Kotzker Rebbe
said that we put words on hearts
for when they go in

The PR masters
never seize to amaze me
from so far away

809

A mikdash me'at*
has to do until I get
close to the big one

*http://www.thejc.com/judaism/jewish-words/31961/mikdash-meat

808

I want to relax,
then I will live in past tense
(-he wrote with a smile)

807

Those three Facebook dots
drive me crazy as they bounce
... Has my friend left me?

802-806

I am grateful to the website HaikuHorizons, which posts a haiku prompt every Sunday. Today's word is "brush."

----------------------------

Handled implements

used to groom, to paint, to cleanse:

brushes of our lives

A soft gentle brush

such a slight and fleeting touch

against me, briefly

Our souls are brushes

and our bodies are the paint,

the world our canvas

A pen is a brush with 

with just one point and just one ink

we paint with our words

I remember her,

how she drew trees that looked like

they were brushing their hair

795-801

Laying on my bed
You hurt me deep inside me
From so far away

From the dead carcass
We take a bone and break it
And we make a wish

Try meditation
Instead of medication
Or in the reverse

She sees my anger
And she sees how I've been wronged
So she tries to help

Perhaps addiction
Is what keeps me up at night
And what helps me sleep

Sometimes a straight line
Is nothing more than a lie
Whiting out the truth

Morning has broken
Maybe like the first morning
Maybe like brand new

G-d, bless me to live

as you rock my sleeping soul

through the dead of night

793

Three dots are dancing
Telling me my Facebook friend
Is writing to me

792

Sitting on the shore
staring into the ocean
from my sailboat spot

780-791

Do you own a snake?
is not my go to question
But it worked this time

Sometimes sleep's a dream
But life is not but a dream
And we need our sleep

Like our broken hearts
What we think is half is whole
In the most real way

Despite outside looks
That serve as strong protections
We are all human

Even a hero
has a journey to go on
and dragons to slay

The tragedies are
the way that it has to be;
it's not despite them

Judging our feelings
is in the wrong direction
honor them instead

The curse of feeling
is the greatest of blessings
so let yourself feel

We need to break chains
to honor our lineage;
remember and heal

We need to walk toward
when we want to walk away;
therein lies our growth

Say what's going on
In your thoughts and your feelings
Don't make others guess

It is hard for me
To say what I think and feel
And I need to learn

779

We're not family
more similar to neighbors
you who work with me

Changing A Light Bulb (778)

What if the light bulb
wants and doesn't want to change?
It's just a light bulb...

777

I've come to market
tides washing in on sidewalks
upon our bare feet

broken hearts are whole
and open hearts are strongest
first, you must have one

774 - 775

There's an opening
Let it let the light inside
Let it let you see

Sit by the window
and see what might not be there
See past the brick walls

Inspired by Haiku Horizons' prompt - "Window"

A light that serves one
- Ner le'echad... le'meah -
Can serve one hundred

- Groucho Marx

"Do you follow me?
Stop following me or I'll
have you arrested."

Your Haiku Classes,
the email subject reads and
I get excited

The candle of G-d
- Ner Hashem nishmat Adam -
Is the soul of man

769

"Like" was never good.
Somehow Facebook managed to
make it even worse.

Ambivalence here
I've come to cover up fear
but I don't work cheap

767

Verizon routers
and questions that surround them
are not on my route

762 - 766 (I Am He...)

Dad just said to phone
"He doesn't say very much."
Wonder who "he" is.

For all that I say
I think much more quietly
Need to balance that

Many extroverts
could learn a thing or twenty
from introvert friends

Sometimes I write here
instead of getting work done
This has to stop now.

I see pain in him
Though he says all the right things
I hope he gets to vent

761

I don't like to sweep
So I pay to get it done
All kinds of sweeping

760

Birth parents and blood
A home-life only we knew
and yet- vast distance

759

We say holy words
together with the angels
crowning him as one

758 - I Like This One

I'm ambivalent
about my ambivelance;
Not sure this will change

757

Always in a mood,
though we say, "I'm in no mood."
Poetic license.

756

So nice to have friends
and yet so sad that so far
they're so far away

751-755

Funny (not ha ha)

how relative things can be,
Like Amidah speed

Though so few listened
to their truthful reminders
we need prophets back

Just a year ago
I drank the IPhone Cool Aide.
I kept my passport

When Patti Lupone
took away someone's Iphone
It rang true for me

There were 2 Nancies
That my brother was friends with
I found a third one

750

On a two way street
There's a middle point to turn.
Most people pass it.

749

Strong Jewish haiku,
these short poems by a Jew:
Serious and real

737-748

How calm can we be
in this human life of ours
so filled with tension?

How calm was Grandpa
sitting in his big blue chair
next to the TV?

When we pray for peace
does it include peace inside
or only world wise?

Jacob yearned for peace
right before most of his sons
turned against Josef

Yoga people can
be less calm than anyone
pushing for their space

Only stressed people
command other people to
"Relax!" or "Calm down!"

If you get too calm
you can get to just not care
and then fall asleep

I used to recite,
"Music soothes the savage beast,"
trying to calm her

Staying calm between
the stimulus and response:
Victor Frankl's key

To become more calm
requires action and change;
there is no light switch

It is calm outside
pleasantly free from the wind
still, tranquil, quiet

Calm, free from anger;
not showing or feeling it
relaxed, unruffled

These were inspired by the promp of "calm" by HaikuHorizons. Please enjoy these and other poems on their site.

I forgot to link to the poems that site prompted last week via the word "thorn" - available here.

734 - 736

Roseanne Cash is wise:
G-d is in roses and thorns,
she once wryly wrote

Stiff, sharp and pointed
that's the way I feel your words
like a rose's spikes

There's always the thorn
in every situation
even rosy ones

Pain and beauty , me

Greatness grows through cracks of pain

Pain and beauty, you

Finding a moment
From all the moments are there
Finding one is key

Looking for control
I fell into the soup bowl
Same as every time

----------------

The need to be filled
Is a need that we all have
It's not about food

Your fear and anger:
Decide not to address them
and then you wear them.

728

Tides shift in our souls
Writing stories of our lives
Again and again

Tear Haiku

Pulled or ripped apart
as if shredded to pieces
How I feel sometimes

Sometimes there are holes
because something's been pulled at
with way too much force

The drops of liquid
your eyes release when you cry
say more than your words

Prompted by Haiku Horizons

724

From outside himself
He looked at the man he was
And apologized

723

When I'm in a dream
I struggle as though it's real
As when I'm awake

Secret Haiku 718 - 722

The big secret is
no secret is a secret.
Don't we all know this?

Rumi said to fly
travel to a secret sky
take steps without feet

Not meant to be seen
or maybe meant to be seen
but somehow unseen...

Getting started is
the big secret to getting
ahead, said Mark Twain

"The secret of life
is enjoying the passage
of time." - James Taylor

Haiku Horizons Inspired

717

Trust is a hard one
to write about and to do;
can it be complete?

I'm the 26th person this week to write haiku about trust prompted by Haiku Horizons.

716

Everyone alive
has one life or another
cherish your own life

704-715 Pond Poems: For Alley Pond Park and a Childhood Remembered

In Alley Pond Park
there was a pretty large pond
we used for Tashlich

We'd hang out and talk
throw our bread in the water
then eat honey cake

Prayers took the back seat
to the walking and talking
in the open park

I grew up next door
to the park named Alley Pond
Quite a silver lining

The park was alive
The pond had ripples, she waved
Till she disappeared

The pond was stagnant
then it got so small it died.
Once it was a world.

Years later I went
and found that park by my house-
like a museum

Once we tried fishing -
a friend and I at the pond...
The fish ignored us

One day in summer
I sat in the park's outskirts
pondering Rav Kook

It confused me that
there was never an alley
in Alley Pond Park

(At Alley Pond Park
I sat and talked with a bear-
He was a ponda)

Please check out these poems on song, also inspired, like these, by Haiku Horizons. I am profoundly grateful to the purveyor of this website.

Song Haiku

Water slowly moves
oblivious passengers
"gently down the stream"

"A heartbeat away,"
My father said that this song
brought back a dead friend

There is not one song
that I know all the words to
I realized today

We are in this world
to follow the song of G-d
and to sing our own

Some days are jazzy,
other ones are rock and roll-
sometimes they're the blues

In some languages
poems and songs share one name
But not in English

"I shall sing my song,"
are lyrics of a song
that resonate for me

Maybe my ear aches
come from all of the ear worms
playing in my head

People enjoy songs;
poetic compositions
are another thing

Lilting Jill Sobule
sings, "Having a better day,"
dovetailing my thoughts

I'm feeling that song
about beats freeing your soul
via rock and roll

"Fly like an eagle,"
Steve Miller's band sings-
And I will- one day

"When will our eyes meet?"
Barry Manilow once sang
Once when we were young

HaikuHorizon's prompt this week is "song"

Rorschach tests abide
in everything around us
Our life's an ink blott

Three dots are jumping

When will my friend answer me?

Waiting for Facebook

688

Like a link heaven

a haiku and blog filled post

windows of wonder

Burning out its time,

And timing its own burning,

One lonely candle.

685-686 - Women Like Men

They love macho men
who are also sensitive.
Like men, women dream.

We love the beauties
who are also well balanced
Like women, men dream.

683-684

Distressed feeling of
painful humiliation:
a sad legacy

Parents voices can
live on inside of your head
and make you ashamed

Fair Haiku 678-682

Life is like a fair
we do and get what we can
before the day's done.

This game we call "Life"
is truly named "It's Not Fair"
so you can't complain.

When we agree on
what's acceptable and right
then we claim it's fair.

What is fair and square?
Why is square the metaphor?
Fair can be all shapes.

Grouch said that if
you can fake dealing fairly
then you've got it made.

675 - 677

Going out the door
As always I'm wanting more
And also grateful

How could others be
thinking about me as much
as I think they are?

Mother's Day Express
Is what this bus should be called
It smells from flowers

674

It is my self talk
that plays a most major role
in my joy and fear

why do things exist?
because G-d said so, that's why
even the bad stuff

672

Saying "I'm busy,"
Feeling pressured all the time
May be about fear

671

Thank you Nicole Krause

for teaching me that "and yet"

is a full sentence

670

Her painted ponies

have stopped going up and down

her circle has closed

657-659

I just took a quiz
to see which quiz is the best
one for me to take.

Air conditioning
is on now; last night- the heat
Spring - Twenty Fifteen

The best icebreaker:

have everybody name an

icebreaker they love

656

There are many words
and also there are no words
truth can be silence

655

Good night and G-d bless

Don't see yourself as a mess

Don't rhyme and be less

654

Flying to England

to better see your U.S:

that's a metaphor

651- 653

Ben Lee sang the words
We're all in this together
He doesn't own them

I wish I focussed
with both eyes on the same thing
But one looks away

in class- just one pen
for me it's like forgetting
layers of clothing

650

Grandparents' bathroom
The first shudder I recall
Shudders are funny

649

The Gadol HaDor
That's the way they treated him
As opposed to me

648

Nice does not mean good
Wonder what it means at all
Would be nice to know

647

Oh how will it end
brother from the same mother?
Were we ever close?

646

Awesome multiplied
is still just simply awesome-
like when a crumb splits

645

G-d please forgive me
for not forgiving myself
I leave it to You

644

Advertise well and
then you have succeeded twice
- line from good movie

640 - 643

We pass our time back
as every second passes
Tests we hope we passed

A wedding - not ours
My circle passed your circle
and we almost touched

Please pass the water
is what I say, while thinking
about other thirsts

3 passes to 4
as I write instead of sleep
and silently pray

prompted sand inspired by
https://haikuhorizons.wordpress.com/

Prompted By Haiku Horizons

Thin pointed metal
feels like it's piercing through me
when you needle me

Neil Young's needle may
have been metaphorical
We each have needles

G-d says, "Open up
the size of a needle's eye"
He'll take it from there

https://haikuhorizons.wordpress.com/

Your sense of humor

Will drop by and save your life

If you let her in

634-635

Natah Greenblatt, Rav
has the same first name as me
Natah Schiller too

No. It's not Netah
Nor is it Noson Natah
Natah Zev's my name

631-633

On two two five street
two brothers, Brian and Lloyd
a long time ago

Then The Changs moved in
David and sister Bobby:
bright, rebellious, cool

Once it was one way,
Seventythird avenue-
a narrow dirt road

629-630

Passover fruit trees

redeem themselves once again

as we watch and learn

Man inside moment

inside of a taxicab 

inside redemption

(written April 5, 2012)

628

I come home tired
sit, cry into my Netflix
and then fall asleep

627

Now is in between
We are always in between
Once when and later

626

Walking on eggshells
Is not a good way to live
Something's got to give

625

I have some questions
about when to ask questions
questions on questions

One then another 
I write haiku; rinse, repeat
Until one strikes you

Moving so slowly

Part wants to fight, part wonders

if it's what I need

622

Some integrity
is a good thing to come by
One thing you can't buy

621

She was a wise one
Roseanne Rose-anna-danna
"It's always something"

620

I remind myself
to speak kindly to myself
as if to a friend

619

I write to be read
I write to never be read
I write in between

618

Waiting is weighty
It becomes lighter
when we live instead of wait

617

Lower the volume
so that then you can function
and then be grateful

616

I'm here and then gone
And the same is true for you
Be kind to others

615

My dear friend up high

you always encouraged me

I hope you are proud

612-614

Is it Appelfeld
or is it just Yitzchak Holtz
who I like so much?

If you have to say
that you're functioning okay
I have to wonder

All is from above
and yet we have our free will
Hard to understand

611

in uber again
heading back toward home and then
i've got things to do

610

How does anyone
so human and imperfect
fall asleep at night?

609

Good night and G-d bless
Red Skelton earnestly said
when his work was done

608

Your long hall matters
hall along and do not stall
navigate the hall

607

"Shabbat Shalom world

Pray for honesty and peace"

He writes pre-sundown

606

Some people are home
Some nice places to visit
And some are land mines

605

G-d I don't get You,
and when I get that that's true,
I can get a bit.

Sometimes I feel stuck
in Ahron Appelfeld's book
trying to get home

I collect girl friends
the way some collect girlfriends
or- they collect me

602

Your entanglement
is a mirror of my own
Let's talk when untied

Time for honesty
I believe in therapy
For you and for me

600

My mother's last words
looking at dad from the floor-
She says, "I can't breathe."

591-599

Actions speak loudly
I believe too much in words
Words alone are weak

Pushing doesn't work
at least not in the long term
Yet you can't just sleep

Putting out fires
can create fires inside
when done all day long

My issues exist
yet they need not torture me,
my breath lets them know

They exist and yet
I can let the noises go
lower the volume

It is what it is
like so many chilled sayings
is not without truth

Communication
can bring out beautiful things
when you say things right

Is only sleep sleep?
I want to replicate sleep.
Does hypnosis count?

Oh to get gotten
like in those Ben Lee lyrics,
I've got songs that give

589-590

Flannery was square
so uncool that she was cool
seeing what we won't

Appelfed just wants
to find his way back to home;
that's where I connect

585-588

Circle me with light
that spreads about to others
Enlightening G-d

Amidst the rushing
sometimes I stop and just breathe
taking time to live

A friend of mine thinks
that I was once a yogi
in a former life

A rebbe of mine
said I should read Sidhartha
because i am him

579-584

On the day we're born
more light comes into the world
through our shining souls.

My Jewish birthday
is the thirteenth of Tishrei.
This makes me happy.

Birthdays are good days
to look back and look forward,
take stock of our days.

Friend, I am grateful
for your celebrating me
on my day of birth.

Anniversary
of the day that I was born
I should celebrate.

Not just a number
that's a lie that people say.
Every birthday counts

578

We need some answers
though we'll never have them all
Life's a long question

The forrests and trees
Each in their way await me
I'd better focus

Modeh Ani, me
The body part of me says
Thanks G-d, for the soul

575

Wrong girl wrong lobby
Dating is a bad hobby
Like rhyming haiku

574

Because of the snow
everything's off, all has changed
G-d bring back the warmth

A hair line fracture
in the family system
Another fall down.

572

Walking through a day
many angels pass my way
on hidden display

Prioritizing
what is really important
like writing this now

568-570

The Macabeats sing
as their colleague gets married
and takes center stage 

He's overcome much
always staying positive 
always with a smile 

Now he greets his wife
standing beneath their Chuppah
sparkling with joy

567

Friendship is funny
and not in a ha-ha way
when it's platonic

Because I'm stubborn
stubborn people grate on me;
they don't see I'm right.

The shade drifts down low
Reminding me that I know
The way that things go

I sigh that I sigh
wondering, why do I sigh
then I sigh, again

All seems so quiet
on the Facebook front but there's
an underbelly

560-562

And yet stress returns
and sucks me into routines
pulling me from me.

So I have to work
on taking space from my work.
Working on myself...

So I eat and sigh
alone and wondering why
Praying silently

Chained

I had forgotten
that I needed to move on
stuck in my routine

I was reminded
I wanted to move forward
and saw I was stuck

Being stuck gets old
yet is not without its charm
so there's a conflict

Once you come to see
you're not where you want to be
It's hard to stay blind

I see all the time
as time quickly wiggles by
I want to break through

554

Sometimes I misspeak
Like last night to a colleague
Now I'm losing sleep

I'm free to forget

Yet I choose to remember

Sometimes there's no choice

552

Follow the lights home
Ryan Adams sang in song
They will lead you home.

551

Adam and Chavah
used their judgement over G-d's
We've done it since then

550

We each have something
that the other doesn't have
We each stand alone

We're not placeholders
Human beings are much more
Step back, show respect

548

Sometimes I breathe out
and feel her anxiety,
my mother, myself

543 - 547

With a scrunched up face
he prays like he's 100
but he's 25

The pattern repeats
I say I want us to talk...
I'm afraid to talk

We pray for judges
like from once upon a time
started by Yitro

You won't send us out
empty handed from Your place
We know You listen

Rabi Akivah
entered and went out in peace
May we be so blessed

542

Oy I feel so bad
I asked how his mother was
forgetting she died

When I see someone
that I really connect with
it makes me smile

540

Someone says something
I explain it in my head
I upset myself