Mississippi River Ice – Clifton Terrace – Alton, Illinois Area

Christmas in St. Louis – Big White Hands, Big Four Wheels by Jim Dine – CityGarden

dreams like old catfish – haiku / senryu

dreams like old catfish
surfacing, huge, dark, and cold;
slip back into depths

Snow and leaves

Pagoda Circle in Snow – Night Photography – Forest Park, St. Louis

in the hood folks pass – City senryu / haiku

in the hood folks pass
you on your right; the only
way to get ahead
__________
I guess it is a night for rather serious little poetic reflections as the first snow of the season descends on St. Louis and I work the reference desk for a snow-averse colleague. I actually composed this piece about a month or so ago almost as a sort of calming down exercise in response to being livid yet again at being passed on my right while behind a row of cars waiting for a stop sign and the offending car breezing on through it; sometimes it happens with red lights. No, not everyone passes on the right. No, I do not really understand the antinomian psychology of it all, other than to know that, truly, I too will just as surely break the traffic laws in different conditions, just not in such socially infuriating fashion.

Reference desk reflection – Library poem

The young man with a mustache
And mop of unkempt, curly hair
Walks by muttering, counting off his points
On fingers raised, as if in argument with himself.
It is is the fourth time.
Each time at the water fountain he lets the water run
For half a second and then one long, loud slurp,
And then back to his seat again.
He comes again and slurps and turns to go
But then he stops, turns, and slurps again.
People never fail to surprise you.

The Last of the Mums – Fall chrysanthemums

Three of King Louis IX of France – St. Louis Art Museum – Forest Park – Night Photography