Thanksgiving prayer

Thanks God
for gift of life
and blessings we enjoy.
Please help us to realize that
hatred
only
begets hatred;
but love engenders love
if we give it a chance to bloom
once more.

Runaway Son

One dreary autumn morning I went to the YMCA for my twice-weekly exercise. There staring at me from the door was a big poster with a boy's picture. It is a wanted sign with the parents offering a monetary reward for the safe return of their 14-year old runaway son.

I was so touched by this sad incident which kept haunting me that later that day, while waiting for lunch at my favorite eatery, I wrote these poems at the back of the sales receipt. This is an example of a poem that wrote itself.

First I tried a haiku:

a broken bat lies
in his near empty room
their runaway son

but I needed to expand it a little bit more, so I wrote a tanka:

autumn chill
a broken bat
and busted ball crowd
his near empty room
their runaway son

LOS ANGELES FIRESTORMS

Yesterday, north and south of Los Angeles, CA was beset by bush fires which burned houses and properties. Many people were ordered to be evacuated to safe places, including their livestock. The forest fire is still going on in some areas, undoubtedly abetted by the cyclical Santa Ana winds. As ashes cover part of my car and driveway this morning, I penned these sequence of haiku while eating breakfast at my favorite fast food place.


she gingerly picks
the charred remains
of her Barbie doll

rain of ash covers
the Los Angeles basin
egged by Santa Ana wind

no picky fire
humble abode
nor stately house

feisty firefighters
fight fires with their lives
we salute you friends

tales of survival
abound with the
homeless people

we pray with them
for hope and strength
to carry on

VETERAN'S DAY

marching band
he pats the Purple Heart
over his feeble heart

veteran's park
he feeds a one-legged bird
from his wheelchair

end of parade
he gazes at the birds
flying to sunset

Vic Gendrano

ALONENESS

Dry leaves
smother the bench
where we used to daydream
and watch the waning sun give way
to night.
Alone,
I try to resurrect those days
which seem eternal spring.
But winter's here
again.


Reader's comments:

This mirror cinquain (2 4 6 8 2 2 8 6 4 2) creates an almost overwhelming sense of isolation. The image of "Dry leaves / smother" ing is a dominant image in the first verse; followed by the image of the "waning sun" are two well juxtaposed images that establish the theme of passing--the passing of natural objects and the passing of human relationships--the daydreams and a spouse who is now absent. In the second verse "resurrect" confirms the images of dying in verse 1, and juxtaposed with "eternal spring" and the arrival of "winter . . . again" intensifies the feeling expressed in the title. The expert selection of words to convey an image and a feeling is illustrated in these words: "smother", "used to daydream", "waning / to night", "resurrect" / "eternal spring", and "winter". "Aloneness" is a well crafted cinquain.

THE LIGHT

Reprinted from
Sketchbook, A Journal for Eastern & Western Short Forms
Vo. 3, No. 10, October 2008

For too long
I have dwelt in darkness
blinded by false promises
of a world gone mad,
consumed by the egomaniacal
instant gratification creed
and narcissistic idolatry
of the throw-away generation
peopling today's society

Where booze, drugs, sex
and getting high are
the main preoccupations
of mostly young purposeless lives
consigned to the quagmire
of hopelessness, despair
and unacknowledged guilt
with like-minded friends.

Then I see a light
flickering at first, till gradually
its blinding radiance consumes
all darkness and its minions;
and I feel so naked
afraid and ashamed
to show my face
with its telltale mask
of indifference and hate.

A gentle, soothing voice
then lifts and gathers me
in a warm embrace.

"Child of darkness
open your eyes,
come see the light
and confront your demons.
Resurrect the inherent goodness
they took away from you.
Take refuge in the security and love
of the family you have long forgotten.

Above all, come to me and
I will give you comfort and peace."

More tanka poems

the unraked leaves
play catch up with the wind
this autumn day
she asks the mailman twice
for his letters

In my book, RUSTLE OF BAMBOO LEAVES, but first published in Ribbons, Vol. 1, No. 3, Autumn 2005

autumn chill
her bougainvillea sheds
all its leaves and flowers
an empty wheelchair lies inert
near the hospital bed

In my book, RUSTLE OF BAMBOO LEAVES, but first published in World Haiku Review, Vol. 4, 2004