Timerick: China & Taiwan.

 

A basilisk both strong and sleek/looked upon a rabbit meek/Hissing in a friendly way/the basilisk began to say/"Little bunny, do not fear/I am only coming near/for a peaceful tete-a-tete/your friendship for to supplicate"/The bunny looked about for aid/but there was none, I am afraid/So it made the best of its position/masking all its deep suspicion/And gave the basilisk a gracious nod/keeping up the grim facade/Soon after Mr. Basilisk/began to caper and to frisk/The world looked upon it much askance/Knowing well what caused the dance/For the little bunny was no more/and no one cleaned up the sad gore.

Today's Timericks: The Seasons.

 

Apples, corn stalks, pumpkin spice/Oktober Fest with edelweiss/Then comes candy and first snow/Shoveled when it's ten below/So the seasons still rotate/while bureaucrats all hibernate.

*****************

 Another winter with covid/and I just might flip my lid/Santa please bring me new blood/proof against this creeping crud/All our doctors are wore out/So  bring instead a plague of gout!

******************

I have watched the seasons shape/my life from vine to withered grape/Now the frost returning soon/reminds me I'm a pantaloon/slow of step and thought and deed/My memory a tumbleweed/But spring will come, and summer too/with Tums before the barbecue.

Today's Timericks: Federal Government may default on Social Security payments next month, among other things.

 

The government is out of bread/there's nothing in the kitty/Seniors eating Alpo straight/now isn't that a pity?/The Senate sits around and stews/while millions of tax payers/depend on charity and humble little prayers. 

Idaho’s governor left the state. His lieutenant governor took power and banned state vaccine mandates.

When the cat takes feline leave/the mice will always mischief weave/Idaho is no exception/where conservative deception/has cocked a bright red snook/at laws already on the book/When the Gov returns I think/he'll throw some people in the clink!

U.N. weather agency says world ill-prepared for ‘looming water crisis’

Soon the world will thirsty be/and we'll have to drink chablis/cuz the water is so foul/it would strangulate an owl/So stock up now on good cheap beer/and let the teetotalers live in fear.

Today's Timericks: Pandora Papers expose the untouchable offshore accounts of the rich & famous

 

Taxes are a bore to pay/But if you're rich there is a way/to prevent the bureaucrats/from poaching on your habitats/Offshore banks will veil your wealth/with sure and nearly obscene stealth/Then you can face the world and boast/that you are paying out the most.

Oil spill threatens Southern California wildlife and closes beaches as Coast Guard investigates

Hark, the little fishies choke/on oil slicks as thick as yolk/Where did all this grease come from?/Companies are deaf and dumb/Maybe it's from outer space/or a tainted bouillabaisse/Anywho, the beaches now/look and smell like puppy chow.

Bombing outside Kabul’s main mosque leaves at least 2 dead, Taliban says

It is normally the rule/things blow up in old Kabul/Outside mosques or airports busy/all that din will make you dizzy/No one knows just who to blame/for the damage and the flame/All I know is you're a fool/if you stay in old Kabul.

Haiku. 詩人はイライラしている

 

there are bad moments

for lovers and dreamers now

due to climate change

地球温暖化により、愛好家や夢想家にとって今は悪い瞬間があります

So I saw a hawk

and then a cat prowling by

after my sparrows

最初に私はタカを見て、それから私のスズメの後にストーカーをしている路地で猫を見ました


Alone all the day
unless I bake and serve cake --
A bribe to have friends
友達に賄賂を渡して訪問するためにケーキを焼かない限り、一日中一人で

Today's Timericks: As Trump hints at 2024 comeback, democracy advocates fear a ‘worst-case scenario’ for the country.

 

The Boogey Man is really true/and he will come to frighten you/If you are bad and hit your mum/down the chimney Trump will come/to pull your hair and scratch your face/then win a Presidential race.

"Ivory-billed woodpecker officially declared extinct, along with 22 other species."

This woodpecker is now extinct/Another species we hoodwinked/If we keep up this reckless pace/then Nature is our welfare case/I wish we would exterminate/a certain GOP magnate . . . 

"Alabama governor defends plan to use covid relief funds to build new prisons."

Covid ain't the problem, child/Here in Mobile folks is wild/shootin', stabbin', settin' fires/pullin' down the old church spires/So we got to lock 'em up/in a metal wikiup/Once we got 'em all in jail/we'll see about this virus tale . . . 

Haiku. 非常に多くのメール

 

So many emails --

can ten fingers handle it?

Better to chant "Om"

非常に多くのメール

指が死んでいるので、「オーム」と唱えます

So many emails

So little is said in them

So much time wasted

非常に多くのメール

何も言われず、彼らは私の時間を無駄にします


So many emails --
The mourning doves outside fly.
The wind hisses "Come."
非常に多くのメール
荒風の中、鳩と一緒に飛んでいきます

Today's Timericks: Senior Democrats are trying to craft a proposal to tax carbon — a potentially powerful weapon against climate change — that would not violate President Biden’s pledge to spare middle-class Americans from tax hikes.

 

Taxing carbon sounds ideal/in a world that isn't real/But such pixie dust won't fly/with our own Joe Sixpack guy/Any tax that sounds too green/no doubt will threaten gasoline/Let us tax instead hot air/that comes from ev'ry keen longhair! 

You’re going to be asked to prove your vaccination status. Here’s how to do it.

I went into my coffee shop/the manager told me to stop/She said I needed proof of vax/otherwise I could make tracks/So now I stay at home and drink/plain tap water from kitchen sink.

South Korea considers ban on eating dog meat, as pet ownership grows in the country.

Man's best friend in some locations/makes for hungry expectations/Curly tail and panting tongue/go into fine egg foo young/But pooch pate is on the wane/viewed as worse than acid rain/Crickets now are all the rage/sauteed with some ripe greengage.

Haiku. 毎日の通勤

 

The daily commute --

piling up coin for eyelids

that will close at last

毎日の通勤

ついに死んだら目を凝らすためにコインを持ち込む


The daily commute 
to a big empty office --
we are out of soap
大きな空のオフィスへの毎日の通勤
私たちは石鹸が不足しています


The daily commute --
birds have offices in trees --
mice in the dumpster
毎日の通勤
鳥は木に彼らのオフィスを持っています
鳥は木に彼らのオフィスを持っています

Haiku. 固ゆで卵の皮をむく

 

Peeling hard boiled eggs

Are the eggs bad or am I?

The smell of sulfur

固ゆで卵の皮をむく

硫黄の匂いは私か卵のどちらかが地獄に行くことを私に思い出させます

Ants on the sidewalk --
Stepping on their busy flow --
I am a killer
歩道のアリ
私はそれらを踏んで気にしません


The horse chestnut tree --
the leaves look so razor sharp --
they wouldn't slice fog
セイヨウトチノキ
葉はかみそりのように鋭く見えますが、霧をスライスしません