Near Miss Haiku

      by Anselm Hollo

 

order out of chaos equals frogs

 

                *

 

“here come the faster

                   ’n a rattler poets”

 

        o for the day

                   we hear that cry

 

                *

 

the competition

                   for World’s Most Virtuous Nation

        has been called off

(offer no longer valid)

 

                *

 

Modern Jazz Quartet

                   after all these years—

        a bit like when the man smiles

& says “well done”

 

                *

 

Max Bruch

                   violin piece

        full of glowing

inwardness

                   made him wipe a tear

        for his parents & think

(well)

                    “one hopes they had their moments”

 

                *

 

“he probably was a horrible guy”

                    “nooo, he wasn’t”

         “OK he probably wasn’t a horrible guy”

 

                *

 

“You can say things again.”

 

         “You sure can.”

 

                *

 

she has this in-

credible

urge

to tell

the

whole

story

all

the

time

 

                *

 

early moments of mother

                   must’ve been something!

        she could never live up to them later

 

                *

 

having picked it out of

                   an enormous pile of bodies

        the reader

                   opens the book

 

 

From Near Miss Haiku, Chicago, Yellow Press, 1990, pages 42–47.