sprawled on the floor, a barefoot bride without makeup

*   *   *

along with a martial arts master sprawled out
on the floor a barefoot bride without
makeup everyone you knew thought
it only a fragile joke and then

you pulled the trigger: blood runs
toward the tub drain what made you think
I had any clue what was afoot? martial arts student
sprawled out on the floor, a barefoot bride

without makeup, everyone thinking it only fragile
joke blood running toward the tub drain what
made you think I had any clue what was afoot?
a martial arts master sprawled out on the floor

a barefoot bride without makeup everyone you
knew thought it was only a fragile joke
blood runs toward the tub drain? what made you think
I had any clue what was afoot?

kick higher, kick higher
from the floor

~*~

Poem copyright 2016 by Jnana Hodson
To see all 50 Preludes & Fugues, click here.

to lovers who were never quite present

*   *   *

good-bye in the night who never were lovers
repeatedly saying good-bye in the night
who never were lovers repeatedly saying
good-bye in the present night who
never were tubercular contortions or squiggles
good-bye tubercular squiggles to lovers’ night
repeatedly saying never quite contortions
squiggles repeatedly saying good-bye
to lovers never quite tubercular night

~*~

Poem copyright 2016 by Jnana Hodson
To see all 50 Preludes & Fugues, click here.

cruelty that arises from bitterness
spanning a rocky streambed

*   *   *

the Japanese bow to India
with its dry ferns and maple
with its fronds becoming a cob of ribbon

in the dry fronds of Japanese
ferns and half-devoured cobs
the Indian maples bow and dry

cobs of corn and fronds
in Japan the Indian bows
as the ferns and maple

dry fronds of Japan maple
cobs of Indian corn from
stepping down to the streambed

a staircase cruelly arises
from rocky bitterness, yes, a staircase
cruelty that rocky that bitter
from that staircase cruel, yes,
arises rocky and bitter

~*~

Poem copyright 2016 by Jnana Hodson
To see all 50 Preludes & Fugues, click here.

red maple on gray rock against
vertical tan stripes
the pooling and hill

*   *   *

blue-eyed moth on yellow chopstick folder
star lilies against horizontal green striation
Chinese river scene, the coin inscribed
from a tickle-free zone of “Dried Dark Plums”

red maple on gray rock against vertical tan stripes
pooling under a blue-eyed hill of moths
over another yellow river, the Chinese “Dried Dark Plums”
held aloft on scenic chopsticks or inscribed coins

as folded red maple on gray rock against vertical tan
line up between the pooling and hill of star lilies
as horizontal green striation from a tickle-free zone
the blue-eyed river inscribed with yellow moths

as “Dried Dark Plums” are maple red on gray rock
against vertical tan striped pooling water buffalo work
in a wet field of chopsticks between star lilies open
against the blue-eyed horizon with its variations

as coins and moths inscribed in yellow Chinese
calligraphy, the tickle-free zones become a river scene
for a “Dried Dark Plums” holder of chopsticks
made from red maple in their tan stripes

as the gray rock against vertical pooling
toward the hill of star lilies and their horizontal
green striation from a tickle-free zone
water buffalo patiently work a field

~*~

Poem copyright 2016 by Jnana Hodson
To see all 50 Preludes & Fugues, click here.

the angel Aquarius, with a bare foot pointed to the stars
reclines on a stone bench
in front of a domed courthouse

*   *   *

Vermont green in decline where money
was once transformed into Corinthian columns
and porticos overlooking lawns high over reflected
water as much as the Grand Hotel first-floor porch
the length of a building that would blast your yuppie façade

hidden opposite a kitchen under an atrium lined
with classical Greek busts inscribing some tryst
in Greek drama nightlife countered by the classical proportions
of a domed courthouse goddess in laurel and a red gown
far from the masted ships in a storm, her arms bared

her bare feet Vermont green, reclining where
once money was made carving Corinthian columns
uphold a portico on a Grand Hotel high over the water
with a first-floor porch the length of the lawn and
your blasted yuppie façade hides a kitchen under an atrium

its shelf of classical Greek busts inscribed with dramatic
trysts countered by classically proportioned nightlife
behind a domed courthouse goddess in lilac and laurel
and a red gown mast stripped in a storm of Vermont green
to such bare arms, bare feet now in decline

there was once money to be made behind Corinthian column
porticos on lawns high over the waters of the Grand Hotel
porch the length of your yuppie façade kitchen
atrium with classical busts and dramatic trysts
countered by dome nightlife courting a Greek goddess

in laurel and red gown stained glass, a Greek revival mansion
with four pillars and broken colonnade dividing a green lawn
from a tall hedge statuary in a gray-headed cemetery
the angel Aquarius, with a bare foot pointed to the stars
now intertwined with tree
(Ursula, Arctos of bear legs and bear paws)

reclines on a stone bench in stained glass statuary
in a gray-headed cemetery (Ursula, Arctos of bear legs
and bear paws) revives four pillars as the angel
Aquarius, with a bare foot pointed to the stars reclines
on stone bench broken colonnade dividing a green lawn

from a tall hedge now intertwined with trees
in stained glass statuary in a gray-headed cemetery
(Ursula, Arctos of bear legs and bear paws)
reclines on a stone bench with no uprising of life within it
this Greek revival mansion with four pillars
broken colonnade dividing a green lawn from a tall hedge

in stained glass the angel Aquarius, with a bare foot
pointed to stars now intertwined with trees
statuary in a gray-headed Greek revival mansion
with four pillars, the angel Aquarius now intertwined
with no uprising of life within it dividing a green lawn

~*~

Poem copyright 2016 by Jnana Hodson
To see all 50 Preludes & Fugues, click here.

four pale sets of lips
rimmed in frost
prayer flags and the Potala

*   *   *

prayer flags and Potala of burning Buddhas
in rocky arena “251,” plus that Tibetan Red Tara’s
recipe for Himalayan incense prayer flags and

the Potala of burning Buddhas in rocky “251”
four burning bushes in the recipe for Himalayan incense
prayer flags plus Tibetan Red Tara recipe for incense

four burning bushes, four pale sets of lips
the Himalayan prayer flags and the Potala recipe
names “251,” plus the rimmed frost of burning

Buddhas in a rocky arena of four burning bushes
prayer flags and the four pale sets of lips
as recipe for Himalayan incense prayer flags

rimmed in frost of burning Buddhas, Hari Om Tat Sat:
the hairy WHAT? pale sets of lips burning
Red Tara in a prayer flag recipe from the Potala

~*~

Poem copyright 2016 by Jnana Hodson
To see all 50 Preludes & Fugues, click here.