Autumn Friday Haiku

In the Glade

Footfalls on the crisp
fallen leaves, hurried and light.
The wait is over.

Daybreak

Haiku for today:

Fallen leaves in a
slow winsome breeze, drifting up
into the morning.

Say Uncle

My legendary uncle (and I do mean legendary- friend of businessmen and bikers, record-holding athlete in his Kansas high school (Wilt Chamberlain came up to him and said, ‘Are you F--- Stanfield?’; long story), mass imbiber of adult libations and fantastic tipper of beleaguered waitstaff which makes them embrace his extreme extrovertedness (it’s a word)) was in town this past week, wanting to see a bit of what makes Nashville Nashville before heading down to watch car races in Alabama.

The place I always used to take visitors, The Broken Spoke, has sadly left this world and left it poorer than it found it. The typical set-up there was not a band, though they occasionally had groups perform, it was a couple of singers sitting on a stool with guitars in hand belting their hearts out. I have heard rumblings that it was rejuvenated like the progressive party. Dare I dream?


The Broken Spoke
www.leetylerpost.com

Instead, I took my renowned relative to Broadway, probably the main street in downtown Music City, Tennessee. The first place we sauntered into had a woman singing a mixture of old country (Emmy Lou Harris) and old rock (Stevie Nicks). I thought, ‘Man, this gal has some pipes' and my uncle thought so, too. The soft stuff soared and the hard stuff howled.

We wanted to see more so we left, reluctantly. As good as gal was there had to be more to see, so we went next door. Literally next door. I thought, ‘Nothing is going to top what we just saw.’ Well, I was wrong. There was a band playing (with Johnny Cash’s bass player) and they had some whiz-kid guitarist that could make that six-string do whatever he wanted. It was loud, fast, lilting, precise, grinding, just astounding in every sense of that word. After about an hour we just looked at each other and shook our heads. My uncle said, “Think anything else can beat this?” I said, “Probably not, but let’s try anyway.” Uncle bought a CD and we moved on.

You would think I’d get used to being wrong. The place two doors down had a keyboardist (who sells a disc called ‘The King Kong Daddy of Rock and Roll’ …hah!) who was playing the piano so fast his hands were a literal blur. He had to have known he reminded folk of Jerry Lee Lewis because he played a song or two by him. His set looked both exhilarating and exhausting. During the solos he would not only pound on the keys, he would jump up on his seat, play with his boot (!), turn around backwards, stand up and theatrically pose for cameras, and probably a few more things I can’t remember. My uncle, liquid refreshment in hand, said, “This is why I came to Nashville.” Made me remember how much raw fun this town can be.

Coast

Yet another autumn Friday haiku for your perusal...

Coast
Glasses clink and songs
rise as the barge slow-drifts down
the watching river.


Red River Evening
Blogspot.com

Fall Haiku

Two haiku this Friday (lucky you):

Zen

Nothing remembers
and in time this earth will spin
away into night.


artofgregmartin.com

Quiet

Eyelids clamped thoughts lost
endless rooms to roam within
nowhere and no one


redbubble.net

Tides

Today would have been the walrus’ 69th birthday. Happy birthday, John. We wish you were here.


beatlesnumber9.com

And, in a matter of lesser importance, here’s my Friday haiku:

On The Beach
Wondering how the
rest of the world lives as the
tide rushes to us.

Friday Haiku on Thursday

Mum’s visiting and I may not be anywhere near this new fangled interweb tomorrow, so I’m posting my contribution for Haiku Friday today. You’re welcome.

Last Night
Bright half moon nestled
inside idle clouds, gleaming
like the eye of God.


renegade-online.com