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American Haiku

Shawn Misener

American Haiku
by shawn misener

bigger and safer
fuel-efficient/ dominant
nuts exposed to kick

price of milk doubles
when cows demand their corn feed
and humans oblige

I found the wizard
deep inside my cereal
drowning in skim milk

I smirk at my luck
when the lottery ticket
fails me once again

I may find myself
leaning out of the drive-through
looking for the sun

the candy bars shrink
an outsourced golden ticket
defies children’s hands

0 thoughts on “American Haiku”

  1. This kicks Basho’s ass on his damn nature hikes! Yes, give me that urban jungle rife with division of labor psychiatric ward…fruit dangling off the vine where dogs and men vie for vini vidi vici (actually dogs can’t eat grapes…but they can wear togas and get away with eating shit) (i don’t envy that last part).
    i enjoyed the string of haikus…just one is too minimalist which is a big problem in poetry nowadays…everyone thinks you have to keep it simple, basic, unadorned, ‘economy of words’, all that stuff…i love the long long lost and accurate ramblings Cavalier Baroqe with personality…not wallowing in man’s cesspool of cliche. Social man lives constantly outside himself, so much so that he lives in the opinion of others. Break the academic mold. whew.
    Anyway, yeah, I never did get that golden ticket either, and i remember well my stint at the drive-thru…which, i guess is not too bad cause you get too look down on people all day like Odin the one-eyed, but then that ends when they say “i didn’t want a latte'”…and then you become Loki the trickster and spit in the new one. Just don’t look down women’s shirts from up there (unless you have shades on).
    Cows and corn feed…ha! I luv it.

  2. Thanks Quasi- I wasn’t even aware that I had submitted this one. Basho is my hero, though, so no trash-talkin’. America needs it’s haiku. . . and this isn’t Therou’s world any longer (at least not in Southern Michigan).
    I actually haven’t written poetry in a while. I’m working on a short novel. The Whooshay has been shelved for the time being. He’s too long and involved.

  3. yeah, my bad. Usually i don’t trash talk (i’ve been a dick lately)… Off my axis lately with layoffs at work. Basho is fine fellow…warrior turned writer. I still have that National Geographic issue somewhere with pics of area he traversed..very beautiful in Japan there. I’d like to visit Japan one day and drink saki with the Geishas.
    I’d ask what your novel is about but that’s bad form…they say when you talk too much about a project you’re writing on, that you lose much of the ‘umpph’ of completing it with passion…and if you’ve already expressed that passion verbally, it goes limp.
    I don’t know, i’ve never done a novel…seems like huge undertaking. I have an idea for one that is in style of Vonnegut, my hero, but don’t think i’ll ever have time to write it. Maybe. Kid Rock took over Thoreu’s place, i think. I’ll put whooshay to work. Later, stay cool.

  5. Sorry, bad joke.
    I smirk at my luck
    when my bad education
    fails me once again
    “cause i’m a cow-boy ba-bey..
    with the top rolled down
    and the sunshine shining…”
    but really, i need to do penence
    for trash talking (and for comparing Thoreau to Kid Rock)… so name my community service.

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