When in Another's House

1.  Let sleeping dogs lie.

2.  Resist the urge to rush to the kitchen and pour yourself a bowl of bran buds with milk.

3.  Try to keep the freezer door closed. Do not steal frozen steaks.

4.  As for the broom closet, stay out of it.

5.  Stop refolding the linens.

6.  And measuring out the laundry soap.

7.  If you must peak into cupboards, then go ahead! try on the shoes!

8.  But please ask if you wish to borrow a coat, a scarf, a tie, a pair of gloves.

9.  Try not to leave your own hair tangled in another's brush.

10. And please cease hiding shots of bourbon under the bed.
      Did you think I wouldn't find the glass?

Items Encountered in an Archive

scribbles sketches notes laundry lists love letters bills negatives pins photographs chairs heartbreak sorrow silly joy sheet music eye infection envelopes drawings paintings stitching clothespins rhymes wine stains examples of the colonial everyday the march of the zoaves money coins hate letters contracts empty notebooks reading notes glasses cigarette burns the smell of smoke lyrics instructions for new regimes of hygiene lists of names soap burma shave jingles yarn needlepoint brooches picture frames wine stains water damage evidence of mice insects ink spatters a bit of egg damnation pencils a pricked finger stop a drop of real blood

ii.
a sonatina followed by another is a sonatina played upon the ivory.
alone I mean.
tickle
me.
can tickle we
can tickle

iii.
Hinky Dinky
Parley Voo
Cheer up face
The war
Is thru

iv.
how's this for economy
how much there is for you in me

Red Boat Haiku

Thin skim of sea ice
and a red boat is still docked,
tethered to summer.


Notes
Poetry exercise. Take a picture. Then describe what you see, simply, in one short line. Make sure you place the kireji, the twist in the middle at line two; you are looking for a break in logic, the shift that alters a reader's mental picture. Complete the idea. 17 syllables: 5/7/5. Voila: Haiku.