999 Verandakus: #158 from Veranda Life and Summer

 

Moment by moment

Predictability fades

And all is clear

999 Verandakus: #157 from Veranda Life and Summer

 

Lights on in the rain

drain batteries in the sun

Memory banks fail

999 Verandakus: #156 from Veranda Life and Summer

 

Birds bend aerials

to suit their programming needs

They take the long view

999 Verandakus: #155 from Veranda Life and Summer

 

Driving one-handed

The man leans back, flicks fag ash

Sunday attitude

999 Verandakus: #154 from Veranda Life and Summer

 

Big man on small bike

His legs are pumping faster

than any street’s length

999 Verandakus: #153 from Veranda Life and Summer

 

Usual suspects

run themselves from sleep to fence

Extra barks for luck

999 Verandakus: #152 from Veranda Life and Summer

 

A half-chewed apple

browning nicely on the grass

Waste or donation

999 Verandakus: #151 from Veranda Life and Summer

 

A coffee mug lies

near the gutter alone

Breakfast refugee

999 Verandakus: #150 from Veranda Life and Summer

 

Flea market banner

shows the power of lost words

“Pre-loved tots and toys.”

999 Verandakus: #149 from Veranda Life and Summer

 

Man with a snipper

walks the streets in search of weeds

Hinting at menace

999 Verandakus: #148 from Veranda Life and Summer

 

Pub patrons outside

with their cigarettes and drinks

Hostages to smoke

999 Verandakus: #147 from Veranda Life and Summer

 

A stray dog joins me

And runs ahead, then behind

The ease of friendship

999 Verandakus: #146 from Veranda Life and Summer

 

Storm water trickles for days

Dry gutters suck the harvest

as the sun fights back

999 Verandakus: #145 from Veranda Life and Summer

 

In between showers

Rooves and roads dry out, wind blows

Leaves shake room for more

999 Verandakus: #144 from Veranda Life and Summer

 

When tea is steaming

Everyone dips biscuits

Who will admit it?

999 Verandakus: #143 from Veranda Life and Summer

 

Traffic lights stop us

I watch a dog stroll through red

Colour blind and free

999 Verandakus: #142 from Veranda Life and Summer

 

On foggy mornings

corellas among the lost

White wings beat the mist

999 Verandakus: #141 from Veranda Life and Summer

 

When you grow older

time’s no longer your lover

Revel in haiku

999 Verandakus: #140 from Veranda Life and Summer

 

A man walking home

carries wine casks in each hand

Balance found and lost

999 Verandakus: #139 from Veranda Life and Summer

 

Shadows shrink at noon

leaving their owners alone

to follow themselves

999 Verandakus: #138 from Veranda Life and Summer

 

Man bike string bookshelf

A long wooden tail rides home

to all lengths of tale

Remembering a Friend

 

My friend, Dorothy Porter, died on December 10, 2008, far too soon, and with much poetry left to write.  Here’s a small Veranda Life Verandaku tribute to say hello Dot and thanks for all the fish.  We suspect that you’re enjoying your new life in the other dimension(s) rather spectacularly.  So go you good thing and thank the Goddess you’re not here for the Ashes this time around. 

 

A flying balloon

red against a blue sky dawn

reminds me of you.

999 Verandakus: #137 from Veranda Life and Summer

 

Old women walk fast

Arms and legs pumping fresh blood

Hearts in extra time

999 Verandakus: #136 from Veranda Life and Summer

 

Thin women run past

fat women running, who ask

Were you ever me?

999 Verandakus: #135 from Veranda Life and Summer

A speedy toddler

will outrun a parent, two

Until the last step

999 Verandakus: #134 from Veranda Life and Summer

 

Roofing iron rests

after years at the top

Hard sheets on soft grass

999 Verandakus: #133 from Veranda Life and Summer

 

What do you think of

a signwriter who can’t spell

His van’s ad says so

999 Verandakus: #132 from Veranda Life and Summer

 

Mower Man Suite: 6

Mower man is done

His throne idles quietly

Grass lies low, for now

999 Verandakus: #131 from Veranda Life and Summer

 

Mower Man Suite: 5

The ride-on mower

Modern mechanical gift

Grass and people shrink

999 Verandakus: #130 from Veranda Life and Summer

 

Mower Man Suite: 4

On my walk back home

Mower man stalking the park

Grounded skywriter

999 Verandakus: #129 from Veranda Life and Summer

 

Mower Man Suite: 3

Mower man is bored

The blocks become his puzzle

He plans a surprise

999 Verandakus: #128 from Veranda Life and Summer

 

Mower Man Suite: 2

Mowing public space

He ambushes random blocks

Was smoko, toke-o?

999 Verandakus: #127 from Veranda Life and Summer

 

Hello and welcome to Summer in the Southern Hemisphere.  Veranda Life is celebrating summer with a month of images from the beach and its environs to accompany our usual array of Verandakus.  We hope you enjoy both the visual and the textual – they’re Veranda Life’s holiday season gift to you.  And there’s a bonus ku today on December 1, just for the love of the moment.

 

Mower Man Suite – 1

The mower man stops,

waves me on, and strikes a match

Settling for smoko