ROAD HAIKUS

                              Lamenting guitar

                        soars over melted landscape

                             so begins Starless

                              Rock band playing hard

                               golden flute rises to lips

                               and the beast is calmed

                              Rehearsing music

                            always more to learn

                              after coffee break

                              Ten hours travelling

                            full day to set up venue

                            then two hours onstage

                              A big state, Texas

                           bigger when you go by bus

                          miles fly like eighth notes

                              Clouds watch ground below

                           their shadows dance with mountains

                                 as, above, I fly

                              Silent hawk on wind

                          Shinkansen glides past Fuji

                             my breath fogs window

                              Gulls swoop from above

                            through trees to littered platform

                               as my train pulls out

                              Air and light feel right

                            weather fits like an old glove

                               nothing like home town

                              Sweet saffron sunset

                            melts butter on the city

                             then deep blue descends

                              On the road again

                        unused resources are stretched

                              body remembers

                              Expanding the mind

                        in fourths and backward fifths

                             Chapman Stick tuning

                              Scudding clouds turn dark

                            bad night for an outdoor show

                                 manager bites lip

                              Sound pressure meter

                           tells how loud the music is

                             no-one dares to look

                              Got the haiku blues

                          well I woke up this morning

                            and that’s all I wrote

Dreams from the Bus Bunk

                              Cinnamon sunsets

                         distant cities in the mist

                         does our tour bus dream?

                              Lying on the beach

                        sand crab walks up, says “islands”

                              wave takes me away

                              Fingers fly unhinged

                         eighth notes colliding in space

                               anti-matter forms

                              Dog licking my face

                           so nice, but too wet. I wake

                              water bottle spilled

                              Black September rain

                            drunken cadence of wipers

                              thrum of the highway

                              Distant curve of sail

                           bisects the choppy seascape

                             gulls squawk and visit

                              Bunk in bus is soft

                              luxury of traveling

                            but where is dog’s lick

Hotel Quarantine Isolation

                              Floating bird lingers

                             outside my hotel window

                              perhaps lonely too

                              Ghosts of many kinds

                              inhabit our endeavors

                               guiding and chiding

                              Lacing up sneakers

                            after many days barefoot

                             old skills become new

                              Life offers a chance

                     when time moves in slow motion

                               to see without eyes