Gambler

I left four pennies
on the gambler's gravestone
remembering how
my friend's luck
ran out so soon

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

What is left

For those of you who are not in Facebook, I am uploading the following poem here to share with you. I wrote it last Saturday for Susan Rogers on the news of her father's accident and the uncertainty and sad plight of our mutual twin friends. I wrote this on the spur of the moment right after reading Susan's poem, What Returns, in Facebook. I think the poem just wrote itself and I am not revising it.


WHAT IS LEFT

(To Susan)

after the gale
and onslaught
of the fury of
the wild wind
devastating
everything in its path

there is always something
left behind in its
indiscriminating
path of destruction

a young sapling
bowed but not broken
buried but live seedling
awaiting the warmth
of a sunny day

for there is always
tomorrow even after
darkness of dying day

for so long
as man is man
with indomitable
spirit and faith in God
and friends lofting
their collective prayers
he will prevail

Sex harrassment

sex harassment
in workplace or elsewhere
no laughing matter

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

Trilingual haiku

TATLONG WIKA, ISANG KAHULUGAN
(Three tongues, One meaning)

1) KALUNGKUTAN (Tagalog)

gabing walang bituin
hinihintay kita sinta
kahit sa panaginip


2) SOLEDAD (Español)

la noche sin estrellas
esperaré por tu amor
aún en mi sueño


3) LONELINESS (English)

starless night
I'll wait for you my love
even in my dream

After the rain

unhurried walk
the smell of clean earth
after the rain

World Haiku Review
Vol. 8, No. 1, August 2010

Los 33

Now that the Chilean miners have all been rescued, I just want to share this poem I wrote four days ago which I sent to my friend Gigliola Lubiano of Chile. I join the world in saluting their indomitable spirit and courage.

LOS 33

by V. P. Gendrano
11 October 2010

In Camp Hope
your loved ones wait
from darkness
to redemption
where hope and prayers
mingle with tears
in undying faith
to man's humanity
and God's grace

Monkey

watching
a playful monkey
I see myself

One of my six haiku included in the Southern California Haiku Study Group recent (2010) anthology, "an island of egrets." First published in World Haiku Review, Vol. 5, No. 1, Spring/Summer 2005.

Bullying

In memory of Seth Walsh, 13 years old, of Tehachapi, California and similar victims who were bullied before him. May their tribe decrease! (Los Angeles Times, Oct. 8, 2010). Like highway accidents during vacation times, there ought to be a continuing statistics reported nationwide of teenage suicides resulting from bullying.


schoolyard jungle
the bullied boy
commits suicide

World Haiku Review
Vol. 2, No. 2, January 2010

Another friend's death

(for Dani Aguila)

a gentle breeze
nudges the last leaf
another friend's death
the weight of years
in eagle's nest

cartoon clouds cover
the October sky
friend's funeral


Dani of Nashville, Tennessee is a reknowned cartoonist and writer.
He is a generous and loving friend with an endearing sense
of humor. Memorial service on Monday, October 4, 2010.