Pseudo-ku

Short poems written to the Haiku syllable count (approximately),
but style purists wouldn't call them Haiku.




Cafe, Berkeley


Ice-cold Asian chick,
blueblack tattoos, window seat.
Low sun. Pauses, sips.


JDP 97/06




Cafe, Berkeley


Hong Kong girls. Black shifts,
drifting hair. Silver, rubies,
Jasmine tea. Twilight.


JDP 97/07




Cafe, Berkeley


Vietnamese girl.
Rice paper, hungry pen strokes
home. Sacramento.


JDP 97/07



Lilith Fair, San Francisco


Golden, blonde girls sway,
float, dream. Tresses tangle. Kiss.
Jewel is singing.


JDP 97/07



Top Fuel Trials, Sears Point


Monarch floats. Nitro-
methane crackles butterflies
snap. Time does not stop.


JDP 97/07



Dick Dale, Live--San Jose


Listen--waves
are breaking. Redondo Beach.
The moon--past full.

What year is it?


JDP 97/08



Berkeley Nocturne


Sheltering cedar.
Marble--whispering, silence,
summer rain. Breathe. Breathe.


JDP 97/08



Under Campanile, Winter


Last leaf--Tourette dance
anticipating sparrows
mating in leaf dust.


JDP 97/11


Copyright John D Porter © 1997

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