A Solution (A Haiku)

 


As a companion piece to the haiku "Knife Fight in Shanghai", which I wrote for my friend and teaching colleague Doc G, I wrote one for his wife, Doni, about a true experience from her time in Shanghai:

A Solution

Cold night in Shanghai

What can be done about it?

Hot water bottle.

Knife Fight in Shanghai (A Haiku)

For National Poetry Month (April), here's another haiku I wrote, but first, the backstory. When I was teaching, one of my best buddies was an English teacher, Dr. Don Gallinger, known to his students (and some colleagues) as "Doc G". Once, one of his students noted a prominent "worry line" across Don's forehead, mistakenly thinking it was a scar, and asked how he got it. Don jokingly replied that, several years back, when he'd been on sabbatical in Shanghai, China, he'd gotten into a knife fight. His students, not realizing he was joking, were greatly impressed that he'd been in a knife fight, and had survived against an opponent who, likely Chinese, must have been an expert fighter, as seen in many cheesy "Kung Fu" movies. When Don told me this story, I was quite taken with the phrase "knife fight in Shanghai", and decided it was worthy of a haiku. (I know: Haiku is a Japanese, not Chinese, poetic form, but it still seemed apt.)

Knife Fight in Shanghai

Knife fight in Shanghai.

Dat's how Doc G got dat scar.

He ain't no punk, man.

The Ideal (A Haiku)

The ideal: Do right
for no other reason than
because it is right.

Wordplay (A Haiku)

"Monosyllabic",
despite its definition,
has five syllables.

Backscratcher (A Haiku)

Little wooden hand

On a stick of curved bamboo

Blissful itch relief.