Saturday, November 14, 2015

THAKSGIVING PRAYER

Five years ago, I posted the following prayer in this blog. I just think it's still relevant and more so these days. So here we go again.



Thanksgiving prayer

Thank you
my Lord and God
for gift of life and health
remembering our lost loved ones
once more.

Heed not
our weaknesses,
teach us how to forgive
and live in harmony with all
others.

So that
once more this world
of hate will be again
a place of love and peacefulness,
Amen.


Wednesday, November 11, 2015

Navy man's death




NAVY MAN'S DEATH

(For Gene de Guzman, husband of Nelia de Guzman in the tribute below, who passed away earlier as a Navy veteran).


I was there too under a shade
the gun salute shattered my pretense.

The bugle wail pierced the summer heat
for a moment drowning my grief.

Why is it that we only miss
those who are in their eternal rest?


In my book, Rustle of bamboo leaves, but originally published in World Haiku  Review, Vol. 1, Issue 2, August 2001.

Monday, November 9, 2015

CONDOLENCE MARE



FOR Mareng NELIA DE GUZMAN
(Condolence to her family and loved ones)

     autumn advent
     the last remaining leaf
     falls down from the tree
     on the gentle prodding
     of Santa Ana wind

     in unison we join
     our collective prayers
     for the eternal repose
     of her soul, mercifully now
     in a pain-free world

     from Pareng Vic Gendrano
     9 November 2015




On the passing today of Nelia de Guzman, the mother-in-law of my daughter Juliet.

Monday, November 2, 2015

SENRYU AND VANGUARD HAIKU


Senryu and Vanguard Haiku 

A senryu a day drives your shrink insane. - V. P. Gendrano's aphorism.

Senryu, a close relative (sometimes I refer to as a cousin) of haiku is another Japanese poetic poem dealing with human foibles, usually humorous and satirical.  Whereas haiku is serious, senryu is light-hearted.

Here are samples of senryu and vanguard haiku which I have written and some published throughout the years. In my book, Rustle of bamboo leaves, http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/rustle-of-bamboo-leaves/246155 I devoted no less than a whole chapter about it.

Facebook
the new public place
to bare yourself

Sketchbook, Vol. 6, No. 3
May/June 2011 

uncontrolled laughter
grandpa's dentures fly 
in my bowl of soup

behind her mom
she parries deftly
his flying kisses

more subdivisions
the distant echoes
of bird songs

texting while driving
he wakes in the hospital
with only one leg

Sketchbook, Vol. 6, No. 3
May/June 2011

young mother
she scolds her son
and joins him crying

he takes viagra
and almost died in bliss
his wife's wish

chilly morning
she grabs me back to bed
a little longer

World Haiku Review
January 2011

she sneezes once
twice then three times
girl with the nose ring

Sketchbook, Vol. 5, No. 4
July/August 2010