That Picture of You

That smiling picture of you
is framed with refrigerator magnets
so we can start each day
smiling together.

That beautiful picture of you
used to honor you in farewell
will forever produce instant sighs
of loving remembrance.

I am getting to know you
from across a great distance
through your imprint on everyone
that refuses to recede.

I like to think
you and I
would have been
fast friends.


ps: sorry I missed you



-for Valerie


Ken Owen
Van Niddy Press   June 2019

Vacation Haiku, Spring 2019

house after house

pale white roses--

city ordinance?

palm fronds rustle

in afternoon breezes

then, back to sleep

why so skittish, friend?

stay, drink up!--

hummingbird

-Yorba Linda, CA

**

she does sudoku

I write haiku--

cultural misappropriation?

angry fly

ruins my nap--

something i said?

a skilled trapeze artist

steals breakfast from a bird feeder--

fat squirrel

gardener's blower,

honking car horns,

invading Paradise

-Lafayette, CA 

Birds at The Airport

  birds 

     at the airport—

   no canceled flights

  birds 

  at the airport 

     not impressed

birds

  at the airport

  laughing at complexity

birds

   at the airport—

are you my mother?

-San Jose Airport

Ken Owen   Van Niddy Press
May 2019

Gendai Haiku

-in the style of and dedicated to Master Haiku Poet Kobayashi Issa

     i close my eyes

between poems by Issa

     and swallow them whole

*

morning tea--

sweet honey, bitter lemon

preview the day's possibilities

*

     warm bath, quiet reflection--

     the old man soaks 

      in peace

*

a troubled mind

melting 

     in the heat of worry

*

     lovers become enemies

now friends again--

     time brings wisdom for healing

*

the universe

interrupts my inertia--

cold coffee

*

the universe

delivers my exercise plan--

reheating cold coffee

*

tiny moth

shares my elevator--

what floor, friend?

*

tiny moth

shares my elevator--

apartment hunting

*

hillside cows

napping with indifference—

spring rain

*

      clouds admire their work,

the moon surveys the damage—

  spring rain

*
much in common,

morning sun warms old bones--

lazy house cat and me

*

careful, summer flies,

i have yet to clean

springtime webs!

*

midlife lament--
everything hurts,
reasons unknown

-for J.K. Jr. 

*

changing demographics
from old young man
to young old man

-inspired by JC of SSF

*

jumping to their death
to cool my hot bath--
beads of sweat

*

reading "Quotable Einstein"
at 3:00 a.m. --
who am i kidding?

*

walking the lake path
we speak of everything
and nothing

*

clouds parading west
seek storm instructions--
sunrise

*

short bird song
then quiet again--
"back to sleep, children"

*

short bird song
then quiet again--
bad dream?

-5:30 a.m.

Ken Owen

Van Niddy Press   May 2019

The Catch (I Saw Jesus, Part 4)

Photograph by Tom Wishing

I saw Jesus
watching them tear down
Candlestick Park.

He was thinking about
Dwight Clark's catch in 1982
that he had nothing to do with
but enjoyed very much

anyway.

Ken Owen   August 2015
Van Niddy Press

English Haiku, Bodega Bay

        

     coastline boulders

jump in to stand guard

breaking waves

shades of

sunset blue

uncountable 

  appreciating 

  majestic sunsets

        brings time’s true measure

     little buddha 

tiny party bag

     her perfect gift

     

     puffy-eyed tourists 

clam chowder and bloody mary’s 

     new years day

Ken Owen      Van Niddy Press

Bodega Bay, California 

December 2018

My Book of Thoughts

I sat down to

finish 

a book of 

Japanese poetry

but my mind was 

racing

and kept jumping 

off the page. 

It felt like I was 

reading

two books 

at the same time.

Sadly, my book of 

thoughts

was not nearly 

as elegant.

Ken Owen  Van Niddy Press 

December 2018

She Before Me

(Soft Eggs and Toast)

Photograph by Dianne Woods

The counter seats of most restaurants 

are full of men 

who have no one at home

to cook their soft eggs and toast.

These elderly gents

leave the house wearing their

favorite baseball cap and 

“World's Best Grandpa” sweatshirt

and take their place at the counter

with their friends from the neighborhood 

who have unwillingly joined the

“She Left Before Me” Club

though some 

silently refer to it 

as the 

“I Was Supposed to Go First” Club

and though they boast bravely 

of their willingness to be done with it all

happy once again

when reunited with their love

they do their best 

to hide their fear 

on days when their destiny 

overwhelms them

with news of 

an opening in the club

and a place 

at the counter.

Ken Owen    Van Niddy Press 

October 2018