Ode to Inkwell the Cat

Fast kitty,
Sneaky kitty,
Often hard to catch...
Nasty kitty,
Bitey kitty,
SCRATCH SCRATCH SCRATCH!

English Haiku

Each poem has 17 syllables, five in the first and third lines and seven in the second line. It doesn't follow traditional Japanese poetry, really. It's just a word game. And when you are really really bored sitting in a meeting listening to information that's already been presented three times, you start to play word games to get through it. Not that I would ever scribble bad haiku in the margins of my notes at a meeting...

COUNCIL CHAMBERS

I'm writing haiku
to keep from falling asleep
meeting never ends.

FORMAL

A mud puddle splash
Black slash on the white jacket
Washed away by rain.

ARGUMENT

The horse is deceased
beating won't drive it farther
Summer waits outside.

ACCIDENT

Relief! My car stopped.
Dread sound of screaming brakes... Thump!
Coins burst to car floor.

PRESENTATION

Ceaseless droning talk
decisions made and unmade
time breaks and oozes.

BRUSH FIRE

Smoke looms over town
a curtain driven by flame
The foothills burn.

TWO HOURS IN

The bored computer
drops to black screen, ignoring
hollow empty words.

COUNCIL CHAMBERS REDUX

Another haiku
falls useless out of my pen
the sun has gone down.

Monday Linkdump

Trying to clear out some old links, so enjoy a list of what interests me...

Best tweets during the Blackout Bowl. I thought it was the best thing to happen during the Super Bowl in ages, personally.

I love new archaeological discoveries. Ones that come with ancient poetry are even better.

Then there is Oak Island. A new film claims to solve the mystery to some degree. I think I'd love to see it as a Fortean, but I'm not sure I'm willing to believe any of it.

Here's a decent piece on the whole Richard III thing. There are some good links from there, and a comment on the piece points out that people who have scoliosis don't look nearly as deformed as some folks might think they do. The Guardian says there will be a lot of debate on the subject of Ricky. Yup.

Speaking of science, don't forget that scientists are human too, and have been known to be very childish at times.

John Scalzi illustrates the proper way to deal with trolls.

Absolutely awesome Doctor Who crafts. I'd love a custom Aquaman in that style.

Advice from Jane Yolen on how to find your plot. Be sure to click through and read the comic, which uses repurposed pages from the actual graphic novel.

Aquaman! Control your sea friends... Seal pup doesn't wanna be in the water, so it ends up sitting on the dashboard of a car, enjoying the storm from a warm and dry spot.

While I don't think alternative medicines are a good idea for everything, I also don't believe they should be automatically ignored. This story seems to illustrate that, and it seems to me that the parents went about it just the right way, as well. Trust in your doctors, but don't be afraid to question.

An idea on how to fix the too-big-to-fail problem. I think I mostly agree. It could work, but would never get through our broken political process.

Linkdump

More information about stolen Brent Anderson artwork.

JSA returning? Good news for hubby-Eric, if true.

Of course, I entered the Space Needle contest. I actually would prefer to win dinner at the Space Needle, but a trip into space would be cool, too.

Holy Carp in a Koi Pond! Poetry on-the-fly is a beautiful thing.

Tangible versus Intangible.

I'd try it. Depending on what the frozen Han Solos were made of... (click image for full-size)

NPR wants you to vote for the top 100 Science Fiction and Fantasy titles. Not a bad list to choose from, although some of my favs were missing.

Historic Crayola Rainbow.

Don't you hate it when your whole day is Shatnered?

It appears that 92% of Gingrich's Twitter Followers are fake. I wonder how many of mine are fake?

Wait, these aren't pugs... they aren't even dogs... er...

Right, well for the in-laws: Things that Confuse a Pug.

A Poem

                The words
                             are
                                       scattered across
                                                             the page
         Splashed
                      droplets
                                    in a mud
                                                       puddle
                        The
                           meandering
                                     thoughts
                                make
                             no
                        sense
                             to
                                the
                                   modern
                               eye
                         when
                a life
                      can be contained
                                        in less
                       than one hundred
                  forty
                        characters.