blue dusk --

 faint memories drift

 in a tenor jive

                  - JW, 5-12-13

Haiku art = haiga

It’s incredibly rewarding to know that something I wrote moved someone. My artist buddy, Matty Cipov, was taken by a throw away haiku that never made it into the art-haiku broadside we collaborated on back in 2007-2008 (That Smirking Face). It stuck with him and here is a brand spanking new, absolutely incredible drawing Matt created to accompany my haiku:

mysteries

tangled within

her dark hair

The haiga is available through Matt’s online shop.

peering down
with a century of smug
stone gargoyles
                         - JW, 10-3-12

red --
the prominent role
in one life
                 - JW, 8-16-12

    jazz club --

my cognac snifter fills

with lost bop

           - JW, 6-30-12

   city still life --

the flower planter

tethered to a wall

           - JW, 6-6-12

shadows

darken into menace

stone gargoyle
        - JW, 5-3-12

  back alley walk

I sort through the conflux 

of my thoughts

                       - JW, 5-2-12

The Doorman’s Diary: 4.28.12

The jazz club was rolling Proud-Mary-slow at the start and then suddenly it seemed like Tina Turner’s legs were dancing and kicking people through the doors by the van load.  One large group clogged temporarily at the door as they searched among themselves for cash. They were all in the debit-card generation—under 30. I assured them that they could put their covers on their bar tab but they must have sensed my reluctance. I find that the government’s failure to phase out paper money in favor of coins pretty amusing since the debit / credit card will do it for sure. It started in 1971 with the big Eisenhower silver dollars and then the quarter-size Susan B. Anthony dollar and then the Sacagawea dollar and then most recently the presidential coin series. Because of budget constraints and increasing stockpiles of Sacagaweas and the president series, minting for new dollar coins was suspended on December 13, 2011. The plastic card will triumph, probably followed by retina scans, tattooed bar codes, or implanted points. The new world order. To connect with a couple sitting near the door, I mentioned that the bass player with the exaggerated Italian name had received his over-the-top name after returning from a trip to Italy. They found it amusing and said they themselves are going on a 10-day trip to Italy in three weeks. I was able to connect them with the bass player when the group broke after the first set. Serendipity is wonderful and magical… hip, hip, urrà!

he hobbles. . .

my old friend 

who is old

                       - JW, 4-23-12

2am taco truck...

a drunk steps in 

a hot-sauce splotch

                       - JW, 4-7-12

post bar-close

I snarf an egg sandwich

from a gas & go

                       - JW, 3-24-12

dusty emptiness

the ifs

of my life

                       - JW, 3-1-12

day’s end

the darkness

lets itself in

                        - JW, 1-7-12

dark for hours --

someone somewhere

re-enacts his day

                        -  JW, 12-10-11

wee hour

the last taxi

arrives

            - JW, 11-30-11

bang at the door

a dark figure fills

the ripple glass

            -  JW, 11-19-11