Tag: tanka

Sept 28 2025

Posted on by Pete

The Daily Dread

Yesterday



If you step on mine
Then I'll have to step on yours
Life in a minefield 



Unsteady hands with a key
Leaves many scratches to see
On the escutcheon 
That protects the truncheon 
Behind the locked door
That can break the glass
In case of emergency 



I wear an escutcheon
Over my head to protect
My many stimuli keyholes
From falsehood formed truncheon 


Metal escutcheon
Around perception keyhole
Is scratched and pitted
From inanities truncheon
Efforts to unlock function



Evil was seeping
Torture attic was weeping
Eaves dripping with red
A.I. image generated from the word prompt keyhole

Sept 23 2025

Posted on by Pete

The Daily Dread

Yesterday



an ache with each bite
of the apple of knowledge
that some folks chose this


Notice prime bellwether clue
Private armies for the few
A catastrophe for all
Siren song before the fall



Reeling in my prize
Rocking on Michigan waves
Feeling hungover
Replaying the night before 
Landing this Coho Salmon 



With every false claim
Honking like a strangled goose
The bellwether ache
Reeking like week old salmon
I feel deep down in my gut

Sept 20 2025

Posted on by Pete

The Daily Dread

Yesterday



another day with
another catastrophe
life in the food chain


carb apocalypse 
free infinite pasta bowl
with every order 


the A.I. cascade 
of nonsense pulls a cartload 
of code cooling dope
over the bones of the dead
to where the mirror meets the sky



Experiencing
infinite catastrophe?
Call Cascade Cooling
555-5555
Open 24 hours


A.I. image generated from text of a work van from Cascade Cooling in front of a business.

Sept 19 2025

Posted on by Pete

The Daily Dread

Yesterday



from now on I will 
only make life decisions
based on messages 
received from bacteria
blooms residing in my gut.



tracking my journey:
the eternal extrusion
into persistence 



a social faux pas
an intrusive extrusion 
when not requested



reap the memory
a harvest of each time we
made each other glow


time warp in reel time
just this side of eternal
as this term may seem

Objet de Arte

Sept 16 2025

Posted on by Pete

The Daily Dread

Yesterday



original sin
heinous concept of belong
root of all evil

 

A spark was kindled
With a smile and a hair flip
Once forbidden fruit 
Now open to conspire
Consummated lush desire



soft orchid petal 
walnut firm and ridged surface
contrast forged delight



reality grift
pick our brains like a walnut
then discard the shell
conspire with the wealthy
to hoard all that ain't nailed down
Photo by Alexas Fotos on Pexels.com

Sept 15 2025

Posted on by Pete

The Daily Dread

Yesterday



time to pull the rein
of diabolical reign
vicious viscous rain
ideological spew
drenching us to the marrow

delivering pain
deceptive criminals reign
time to pull the rein


toadies in a row
all queue up to kiss the ring
hopping for more flies


basking in a field
peering through lush blades of grass
Bambi pronking by

212

A.I. image generated from single word prompt "hamartia"

Sept 14 2025

Posted on by Pete

The Daily Dread

Yesterday



Pocket my cell phone
Wander through my neighborhood 
Haiku Will Travel



Playground politics
On a national level
Playing "Made You Flinch"
 

passing the bottle
of Wild Irish Rose around
my last memory 
crashed out in chrysanthemums
woke up in a public park
Photo by Athena Sandrini on Pexels.com

Sept 9 2025

Posted on by Pete

The Daily Dread

Yesterday



how can one person
embody all the vile things
found in one nation



A plain brown wrapper 
Sent via the Post Office
Retro Only Fans



This years harvest time
May be strictly DIY
So happy pickin'



Flapping wings above
The spector of a sparrow 
Now casts doubt about 
A harvest of happiness 
When hope had a common goal



Do people with no intelligence
Lean on artificial intelligence 
To try and look smarter


It's artificial
So artifactual clone
Copy and pasting
Losing presupposed vigor
Of purported intellect
Photo by cottonbro studio on Pexels.com

Sept 8 2025

Posted on by Pete

The Daily Dread

Yesterday



Willow in the wind
Flowing dance to nature's call
Shameless shimmy shake 



Horrid little thing
Squeezed out of its hardened shell
I know how to fix
Butter garlic and some bread
Special plate with little pits



Only time will tell
If only I could tell time
Mind your own business



when selling power
meets stern buying resistance 
art of the squeal 



Some very smart people
Believe some very dumb things
Photo by Christina & Peter on Pexels.com

Sept 4 2025

Posted on by Pete

The Daily Dread

Yesterday



some barely conscious 
of IRL surroundings
subsumed all day while
partaking of violent games
ingesting haughty delights



Open eyes receive
Open ears and minds absorb
Harvest stimuli


I met the new moon
Just the same as the old moon
Shadow creep display 


In new moon dreaming
I harvest my conscious thoughts
Til sunrise bird song



Phrazez that Payzez 

Anguished product of my own individuation. 
Via Very Bad Wizards 
Arthur Schopenhauer
German philosopher

Wikipedia