How secure am I
if your insecurities
make me insecure?

Upwardly mobile,
that's the way I see you
from here on the ground.

I spend too much time
with things besides poetry
while the poems pass.

I have memories
of things that I only dreamed
and they feel so real.

Overheard outside:
“I’m just apologizing
For being human.”

I pray to be saved
while lost in crowded circles
of people and thoughts

I see what you mean
though it’s rarely what you say
I hear either way

As I've watched you climb
it's helped me to understand
others at the top

Unlike some others
G-d is kind and effective
True, unique Healer.

After you are two
you have to each still be one
or you’re neither one

The way we stare at
the phones we hold in our hands
Is so very sad

I’d bring dad Lysol,
replacing the last spray can
So he never knew.

The message I give,
the complex way that I live.
Am I combative?

When and how we speak
speaks large volumes about us,
Like my writing here.

Someone scolded me
about wanting to be liked.
I didn't like that.

Smiling means little
when it comes not from the heart
but just from the face

I say I don't know
but that can mean I don't no*
I do know, don't no

*no - verb, to say no

My thoughts that are not
of now should not be here now.
But I must be here.

The far side is still
very far away from us.
Or maybe it's not.

How much did you make
people ask about my book
but they mean money

May we be bringers
and also bingers of light
who transform darkness

Manipulation
makes a fine first haiku line
but sure hurts in life

Fabrics in windows
such as shades, curtains, and blinds
cover and reveal

My child inside
never wants to go to sleep
but reminds me to.

I'm not sure if we
shared or wasted time, or both
but we did something.

Craving attention
a dangerous human need
and a basic one

Is it the same guy
who goes to every concert
and screams "WE LOVE YOU!!!"?

It's just a number
is what we say as we weigh
how much age matters.

Much like tangoing
it takes two not to tango.
You and I should know.

1338

Not what he's known for
but I love his poetry.
That's the piece I get.

Yes, literally,
sometimes "literally" is
not figurative.

Then the lying starts
right after the blunt question
before the right time.

Reading a haiku
about rain, clinging, hope, leaves,
I absorb the thought

(A haiku about a haiku by Yair Shahak:

looking at the trees
rain clinging to leaves steadfast
like we cling to hope)

Busy's what we say
But other things are at play
Time flies anyway

1333

Strengths and weaknesses
Closenesses and distances
May G-d bless us all

Amidst the shouting
we forget to listen to
the still and thin voice

A Note Before Bed:
Remember that you're human,
angels don't need sleep.

I don't understand
why poets ruin poems
with too many words

1329 - Inspired by The Nesivos Shalom

Underneath the clouds
there is the chain of my faith:
Faith in faith in faith.

My Most Favorite

This waiter knows me,
knows me alone and on dates,
and I know him too.

He smiles widely
As I walk in now again,
after a long time.

He doesn't bring bread
- remembers I don't want it.
brings lots of water.

I feel a bit bad
because he knows me so well
but do I know him?

I see dignity
I see patience and kindness
I see he sees me.

Writing a poem
in the middle of the day
reminds me I'm me

*One For The Books

From behind, the years
seemed long, but now they run short
when recollected

1320-1321

Religiousless times
surround this religious man's
worn and torn spirit

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

My Uber driver
sees this hunchbacked woman walk
And opens his heart

The teacher teaches
poetry without a soul
and the kids hate it.

Things get heavier
As I experience time,
carrying my past.

Considering now
if it's springtime or the fall.
Taking in the trees.

1316

FOOTNOTE 1091

Can't indict him now,

because he's in his office.

Wonder what that means?

In this cold, dark world
in this earth in which we live
somehow, hope will grow.

My anxiety
wears a mask of busyness
and plays tricks on me

Remembering means
appreciating;and that's
very rare today

The Torah, the trees
live and breathe the same G-d's words
-part of His one world

Religious practice
and religious life can be
two quite different things

1310

Walking through these woods
on a journey to find peace
before peace finds me

Wintertime is when
each of my parents moved on
from this cold cold world

Death workers are tough

In a way it might makes sense.

They're worse than doctors.  

Ephron was the first
in the burial business
who talked a good game

It's always sudden,
there's no seeing it coming,
when it comes to death.

Along with all else
it's sad that money is made
from death and dying

Drinking chicken soup
Watching computer TV
Hopefully healing

Answers that we get
can mean many different things,
like questions we ask.

I have little faith
in the way some people judge
the faith of others

 --------------------

You need not count them
as haiku for me to keep
writing these poems

Is it the wet ice
or just my fear of it that
makes me prone to fall?

We all disappoint
and disappointment's no fun
- not from either side.

I can see right through
your lack of transparency.
It's ironic. No?

Paying lip service
to davening properly
is so sadly done.

I tend to count words,
to keep track and to measure,
to value what's brief.

1295

Hidden in plain sight
I put poems on my blogs,
just the way I live.

I'm a widower
who was married only to
both of my parents

There's that word again,
"connected," mid paragraph,
standing all alone.

1286-1292

It is hard to own
my responsibilities
because they loom large

To some, this writing
is either great or nothing-
to me it just is

Always brush your teeth
before any kind of sleep,
a dentist told me

It's a big planet
but I have seen its center
in Jerusalem

We singles should meet
and make lists of married friends
Who need our prayers

Inside what's hidden
there is even more hidden
and there- G-d is there

Maybe The Temple
is not a house for G-d, but
for us- our one home

1274-1285

Every new second
Each breath and step of living:
Here's looking forward.

Not letting people
who get to me get to me
is a source of pride.

I remember you
not remembering your past.
Are you still the same?

Sometimes people shine
brighter from beyond this world,
out of their own way.

If you really don't
play games, isn't it enough
to just not play them?

The fact on the ground
is that I am here on Earth
for another day

What's with Master Class?
How did they get these big names
to join the racket?

Some people are sure
"what they are looking for" - till
something else finds them.

And what? What is yours?
Your story that no-one sees.
What is your secret?

Today's feeling slow,
and I feel unproductive,
except in my head.

Facebook is a womb
in a crazy kind of way
where we want to stay

Most people live life
as separate episodes.
Mine's a long movie.