( The haiku are from Jack’s forthcoming book,
WIDE ROAD TO THE EDGE OF THE WORLD:
301 haiku.)
*
Hearing Mom and Dad
fighting in the bedroom room.
Outside, the red moon.
*
I lost who I was.
Then I found who I would be.
Only who I was knew.
*
In the safe darkness
of the theatre I find truth:
Annie gets her gun.
*
There’s Charlie Chaplin
running but getting nowhere—
a plan for a life
*
falling in rhythm
to the buzzing of the bees
over something dead
*
Would that I was wise,
not this enlightened monkey
wearing monkey mask
*
They open my chest
and then put my heart on ice
while my brain simmers.
*
To write War and Peace:
In the stationary store
ask for more paper.
*
Poetry kills me.
I can’t face its stern demands,
heart filled with cobwebs.
*
When I’m gone, I’ll sure
miss that dove whose song wakes me,
but will she miss me?
*
Fortune cookie says,
“You will go on long journey.”
Pay check. Leave at once.
*
How to eat this life?
Break the past into pieces,
eat one piece at a time.
*
I love this sharp knife.
How it cuts the red pepper.
Salad filled with blood.
*
My childhood is gone.
I don’t want to go back there.
Too much mystery.
*
Once I was a dog.
No one was afraid of me.
I licked people’s hands.
*
I’m a proud Virgo.
One day I’ll be organized,
surrounded by worms.
*
Some things are too sad
to write about on paper.
My closed mouth writes too.
*
Poems not money
give such meaning to my life.
Sometimes meaning sucks.
*
Shakespeare, bricklayer.
Dante, the wise carpenter.
Me? Corn to chickens.
*
At a loss for words?
Call Jack Grapes, home or office,
day or night, for help.
*
I’ve squandered so much,
and given less than I could,
asleep in the rain.
*
Sit still a minute.
Now, let your heart open wide
and see what falls in.
The Juice Bar 
Simply terrific/reading these haiku makes me/love you even more. Xoxo, Alexis
next time, lovely lady, we need to do it with oranges!
Jack, Jack, Jack…you had me at Haiku! I adore these and you, brilliant! And Alexis this photo HAD to be squeezed at The Juice Bar…it’s priceless!! 🙂
lisa, again many thanks for thinking to squeeze me. Grape juice for Lisa.
Yankl, I adore you. Some of these are beyond wonderful. The rest are just great. Xxx Chava
awwwwwwwwwww, you had me with yankl.
lotta juice for one apple, lotta love for Jack Grapes, brilliant haikus (and I love the picture too)
Barbara, hand over heart, deep bow. As artist, singer, songwriter, poet, actor, you’re the whole bowl of fruit. Appreciate your comments.
Dreaded association:
1. Blood Moon
2. Time traveler
3. Yin Yang
4. Karma
5. Yellow Jacket
6. 🐵🙈🐵
7. Reduction
8. live/love letters
9. Grandmother Spider
10. ✌🏼
11. ☠
12. Integration
13. Bleeding heart
14. Armarium
15. Obey! Good boy.
16. Compost
17. Compassion
18. No!
19. Free range
20. Private eye
21. Wool gathering
22. Eternity
it’s taken me awhile to go over each one of these. So clever that you did this. You’ve invented a new form. Dreaded Association Haiku. Hugs of Haiku to you, Haiku of Hugs as well.
❤️ and haiku to you too Jack.
I love these so much! “Pay check. Leave at once.” That makes me so happy. Learning how to write War and Peace is a bonus. Thank you.
What’s not to love. These Haiku are fabulous, lovely and cool.
As for me, I’m inspired.
At a loss for words?
keep tryin’ jack be nimble
he don’t let u down
Barbara, such a clever haiku riposte. I love it! a smackeroo for you!
Isabell, next time, just for you, I’m writing a haiku for the New York Telephone Directory.
So much impact in a few little lines. Love.
Jessica, you should see what I can do with punctuation. You’ll swoon at my commas, faint at my semi-colons, fall into the ocean at my quotation marks. Just for you.
Loved everything about this. The photo is perfect. So you. Focused but with constant movement. Your Haikus are amazing. Makes me want to give it a try right now.
Deborah, “focused but with constant movement.” I like that. But sometimes, I’m totally still, dazed and confused.
Appreciate everyone’s comments. The book should be out in a month, all 301 haiku, plus 450 pages introduction,
which contains 201 chapters, 601 paragraphs. That’s haiku for you.
These are the gourmet chocolates of the soul! Thank you Jack and Lisa!
Happy Valentine’s to you, and your book!
Is not it rich?
Aren’t they a pair?
Jack juggle apple –
Jack be most rare!
Lee, I really touched by your poem. Grapes juggles Apple, Grasp exceeds reach, Lee’s a sweet plum, Perry’s a peach.
Jack Jack Jack!!! You are killing me and it’s only noon on a Friday. Damn! I am eating all of these nuggets for lunch and the apple that Alexis Fancher put upon your head. Love you, too, Miss Lisa Thayer.
Listening to love songs on radio on a Friday night in my cozy study, writing about Fortunatas, 6th century poet from Gaul. You’re the lovely lady, fit for any poet, in any century, any time.
What a great lesson in haiku, transformation of haiku, haiku with soul. Love falls in.
Thank you Linda for a sweet comment. Love falls out, all for you.
I find myself wondering why,
Jack Grapes has entered my life so,
Inspiration surrounds his metal chair.
Jack Grapes doing haiku- Fantastic!!!!!
Jennifer, what a great transformation line: you find yourself, you find yourself wondering. There’s your magic key. When you wonder, you find yourself. Not just wonder, as in daydream, but wonder, as in embracing the awesome dazzle of the universe, the wonder of it all, love and loss and solitude and solidarity. Keep wondering, and you’ll never be lost.
Jack!! Lisa!! I like it when you two team up! My appetite is so whetted for more of Jack’s haiku. I hope 301 of them will be enough. These are pretty amazing. Can’t wait for the brick, I mean book . . . .
e. e. cummings poem has a brick joke in it: “Would you hit a lady with a baby?”
“No, I’d hit her with a brick.”
Who knew the brick could be a book. Can’t wait to hit you.
Wait!!! This squeeze was a ménage à trois!!! Alexis, of course, brought the apple . . . . Yay to you three “P’s”–poet, poster, and photographer.
Manage à trois? Who knew. I was aiming for a menage à cent.
Each one, a sumptuous treat, leaving me wanting more. Can’t wait to devour the book. Alexis, awesome photo but I expect no less.
I’m a proud Virgo.
One day I’ll be organized,
surrounded by worms
Yikes its me
But the fortune cookie one soothed me back
Jacquelyn, glad to hear you want more. Help is on the way. Hope these two one hold you until the main course of the book finds its way into your hands:
on television
we land a man on the moon,
but moonlight’s unchanged
coal mines of my heart:
the canary dies,
it’s time to get out.
thanks for you lovely comments.
Bartender, I’ll have another shot of Jack please! And call Uber. I’m too drunk to drive.
Grapes of Jack are juice
A rhythmic fluidity
Jump aboard the train
Thanks Lisa, Alexis and of course you Jack.
Its funny I thought of Matisse, when reading these poems. How Matisse’s work evolved and developed over his lifetime, through many styles, imitation to being revolutionary and finally a crystallization. Jack, there’s perhaps a crystallization of your work with the Haiku’s. Using this simple strict form you approach the marrow of your life, your work, ideas, themes, and of course your humor, to a new clarity. Often artists particularly young ones shun form, this is natural and does create breakthroughs and you’ve done that. But also Jack you love form and the play of it and it’s history. Spiritually and Philosophically besides Shinto, Haiku is connected with Zen, it seems an easy progression in what we saw in “Sad Angels,” as an embrace of some existential ideas. These poems, as I said remind me of Matisse, to be precise, his cut outs for Jazz ( originally to be called Circus, hmm ). They are spiritual, full of grace, play with love and the love of art.
Matthew, very interesting and perceptive comments. I’ve always been a big fan of Matisse, since college. Your observation about form is right on. I think artists always have a love-hate relationship with form. One important theme of my 450 pages introduction to the 301 haiku has to do with why I chose to use the traditional 5-7-5 syllable 3-line form when many Japanese and American haiku poets no longer feel bound by that form. Many haiku poets today use a one line form, or a three line form that disregards the 5-7-5 syllable count. The whole question of form is a contentious issue with so many haiku poets, tons of essays and discourses about it. So why did I settle on the classic form when I’m certainly not a formal poet? You’ll have to read my essay to find out, n’est pas? But you’re right about the poems in many ways, the cut outs for jazz, etc. I look forward to hearing your assessment of the book when it’s out. Thanks for the trenchant comment.
Wow Matthew I love your insight!
You would be a great writing teacher too!
Love you, love Jack, love words, love Haiku, love poetry. ❤️
thank you, jack. you are my teacher, my mentor, the great guru i credit for every word i put on paper, including shopping lists (which always contain images, moments & details), ever since i had the good fortune to attend your brilliant classes back in the 90’s, when we were all young & beautiful – which you, of course, still are.
juicy grapes of jack
flowing with fluidity
jump aboard the train
Jack, I loved these wise and some humorous gems that touch my heart.
Ready Jack to be hit by that little brick book.
That magical photo captures your essence.
Jack, I love these wise, sometimes humorous, thought provoking gems
that touch my heart. The photo captures your magical self.
Can’t wait for more in that little brick book.
Who knew that just a few little words could touch me so deeply–thank you Jack and Lisa (and Alexis for the great photo)
juicy grapes of jack flowing with fluidity jump aboard the train
Sent from my iPhone
>
I’m laughing. I’m crying. I’m writing War and Peace about my own childhood, while listening to that old red moon. Very touching work Jack. Thank you as always for sharing with us.
jack is my teacher/mentor/guru without whom i couldn’t even write a shopping list – which i now do in haiku, thank you.
Well I let my heart
open wide and guess what fell
in? Jack Grapes, that’s what:)