wakakusa

2007-01-29T05:33:00.000-08:00

http://dustinneal.blogspot.com

2007-01-04T19:00:00.000-08:00

hello.

2006-11-21T15:54:00.000-08:00

Friends & Poets,

I have the itch to publish a 50 to 75 page book of my published and selected haiku (and possibly tanka) from the past two years. I think it would cost me about $100 to publish with at least fifteen copies. I would like to know who would be interested in purchasing the copy? I would probably sell the book for about $7. Anyway, if nobody seems interested, I would probably still publish. I’m just looking for support.

Thanks,
Dustin Neal

2006-10-21T11:33:00.000-07:00

goodbye.

2006-10-18T12:01:00.000-07:00

campfire ash
she wipes the sleep
fom her eyes

2006-10-17T02:01:00.000-07:00

big dipper,
do you hold more
than darkness?
tonight I long to pour out
her thoughts of suicide

2006-10-16T17:29:00.000-07:00

tracing
outside the lines,
the child
follows the sunlight
across the page

2006-10-15T12:01:00.000-07:00

down stage!
center stage!
up stage!
the audience applauds
this indecisive fly?

2006-10-14T00:01:00.000-07:00

mushroom
gathering at dusk—
the straw hat
to the brim with
youthful memories

2006-10-13T00:01:00.000-07:00

how patient
you stand, old tree!
will I ever
get tired of stargazing
this side of heaven?

2006-10-12T12:01:00.000-07:00

one slice
of cornbread left
tonight—
I think of every girl
that has a piece of me

2006-10-11T00:01:00.000-07:00

earthworm,
will we ever reach
paradise
before the sun dries
both of us up!

2006-10-10T12:01:00.000-07:00

still lake
a cork passes through
the sardine cloud

2006-10-09T00:01:00.000-07:00

a boy
unwraps his mooncake—
harvest moon

2006-10-08T11:15:00.000-07:00

one last toast
rises above the crowd—
—oh, the moon!

2006-10-07T16:58:00.000-07:00

late night
phone conversation
she tells me
about her window view
of the harvest moon

2006-10-06T10:45:00.000-07:00

still pond
she walks ankle-deep
in the harvest moon

2006-10-05T17:36:00.000-07:00

dandelions seeds
great grandmother's hands
full of hair

2006-10-04T00:01:00.000-07:00

..dus........k
.on...........e
...l..........eaf
..dri.........fts
..dow........n
.the sp.......lit
..oak t.......ree

2006-10-03T13:06:00.000-07:00

Today's Schools

With the autumn wind at my back, I walk up the steps of Scarborough Chapel while wiping the last bit of sleep from my eyes. Birds chirp over my yawn. The professor hands back my test as I enter the dim, makeshift classroom. Everyone turns around in their desks and compares grades, but the only thing I find comforting it so slump down and out of the uncomfortable desk.

The door slams behind me.

late night news:
police caution tape
around the schoolyard

2006-10-02T10:28:00.000-07:00

Thirst

The students slowly pile into the chapel. Blacks sit to the right, whites up front, Hispanics scatter, and sleepers in the back. I sit alone in between them all.

The speaker raises his voice with each scripture: Matthew to Mark; John to Exodus; Revelation to Psalms. I thirst for something new. My eyes lower into Basho and Bukowski.

A few hands rise toward God, some rise simply toward the ceiling. My hands cup to catch the third sneeze. "Help me to get through this, God," I mumble to myself. Others look my way and nod their "bless you." I smile and reply, "I'll keep the cold, but this Gospel is too much for me to handle."

almost winter
the dog's chained neck
bent toward the bowl

2006-10-01T12:12:00.000-07:00

Weekend's Hunt

The college crowd stumbles in and out of drunkenness. Autumn wind pushes the drunkest to one side of the lawn and then back to the other side. The girls begin to make their passes at the boys. The boys knock over bottles with their denim erections.

"Happy Birthday," they yell and toast for the fifth time. Nobody cares for this celebration of birth, the years, the past; they only care for another hard swallow of alcohol; just the weekend's hunt for the opposite sex to devour.

Darkness slowly sets upon everyone's face.

autumn dusk
the doe looks back at the deer
in headlights

2006-09-25T09:55:00.000-07:00

Bukowski's voice
rumbles from the speakers
midnight thunderstorm

2006-09-24T09:51:00.000-07:00

autumn chill
the download
at 75%

2006-09-23T18:37:00.000-07:00

school parking lot
summer grass
flows into the drain

2006-09-22T09:45:00.000-07:00

The Black Box Theatre

The lights dim; red, blue, green still trace our faces. Our stillness turns into movement, and back to stillness, no voice in our midst, no lines, just movement. We breathe as one in each new vector; exhale to a new partner. We trust our bodies to tell a story. We trust this black box to shadow who we really are.

moonless night
a boy and girl dance
in and out of headlights

2006-09-21T09:50:00.000-07:00

in the parking lot
a black bird
pecks at pecans
along with the black man
who holds a wedding invitation

2006-09-20T09:49:00.000-07:00

buried
in low clouds
the steeple
reminds me of the wine
that clouded our judgment

2006-09-19T08:29:00.000-07:00

the motorcyclist
flashes his headlight
harvest moon

2006-09-18T10:25:00.000-07:00

fallen leaves
another rejection slip
blows off my desk

2006-09-17T09:45:00.000-07:00

autumn equinox
half the puzzle still scattered
on the floor

2006-09-16T17:42:00.000-07:00

white petals
fall upon the cracked
concrete
as i question the pale
scars across her wrists

2006-09-15T08:09:00.000-07:00

an orange toboggan
over grandpa's gray hair—
the moon pushes back the clouds

2006-09-14T09:51:00.000-07:00

"go get a nail!"
my father yells
hammering the screw

2006-09-13T13:56:00.000-07:00

street corner
light flickers
in the rain

2006-09-12T13:50:00.000-07:00

broken guitar strings—
her hair falls
into teary eyes

2006-09-11T13:50:00.000-07:00

half moon—
the child slices
into a navel orange

2006-09-10T13:49:00.000-07:00

her new blue contacts.....the cocoon opens

2006-09-09T13:45:00.000-07:00

...........................horse track
........betting slips tumble
..through the dirt

2006-09-08T13:38:00.000-07:00

cluttered desk
an ant paces up
the Norton Anthology

2006-09-07T22:20:00.000-07:00

empty theatre—
oedipus' blood
dries on the nightgown

2006-09-06T22:19:00.000-07:00

meditation—
our breath one
with the train's whistle

2006-09-05T22:18:00.000-07:00

her book bag taps
the back bicycle tire—
summer's end

2006-09-04T22:14:00.000-07:00

the last bite
of a pale apple—
crescent moon

2006-09-03T11:20:00.000-07:00

another news report
of a suicide bomber—
the Dahlia flower opens

2006-09-02T22:51:00.000-07:00

summer's end the heart monitor flat lines

2006-09-01T23:08:00.000-07:00

adolescent literature class
she asks if I read
Derrida or Nietzsche

2006-08-31T23:04:00.000-07:00

theatre auditions
her face bright red
in the dim room

2006-08-30T22:56:00.000-07:00

evening walk
a butterfly's shadow
fades into mine

2006-08-29T19:47:00.000-07:00

what more
can be said?
.................autumn leaves . . .

2006-08-28T20:19:00.000-07:00

hot summer night
the pop up
freezes my screen

2006-08-27T13:09:00.000-07:00

the dirt clouds
above two dogs,
first autumn rain

2006-08-26T11:36:00.000-07:00

after the pop fly
an empty glove—
cicada shell

2006-08-25T09:14:00.000-07:00

sweat drips
on the spring photograph
—dog days of summer

2006-08-24T19:14:00.000-07:00

.....autumn rain . . .
....................spam e-mail
..........floods my inbox

2006-08-24T10:15:00.000-07:00

end of summer
a co-worker's parking spot
empty

2006-08-23T12:12:00.000-07:00

open boxes
grandma's home scent lingers
in my dorm

2006-08-22T12:42:00.000-07:00

reaped field
the autumn wind stirs dust
into grandpa's frown

2006-08-21T12:44:00.000-07:00

in the porch swing
back and forth
autumn wind

2006-08-20T23:11:00.000-07:00

my thoughts
somewhere in the wind—
—dandelion . . .
you and i always come back
after we drift away!

2006-08-19T19:20:00.000-07:00

used car lot
the thick wrinkles
in dad's frown

2006-08-18T16:41:00.000-07:00

cotton flower—
my shirt button
snaps

2006-08-17T12:01:00.000-07:00

crescent moon—
half the canvas
still white

2006-08-16T11:21:00.000-07:00

taking flight
the fish in the blue
heron's mouth

go check out the new simply haiku!

2006-08-15T00:01:00.000-07:00

kickoff!
a thousand blurred faces
in the stadium

2006-08-14T08:10:00.000-07:00

his wedding ring
in the car's ashtray—
crescent moon

2006-08-13T19:37:00.000-07:00

sunset strip—
heavy fog drifts down
the leaning palm tree

2006-08-12T12:01:00.000-07:00

canning figs
grandma's white knuckles
glisten at dawn

2006-08-11T12:01:00.000-07:00

sunlit window
her tattooed arm
in the pathos ivy

2006-08-10T12:01:00.000-07:00

dus..........k
on...........e
l...........eaf
dri.........fts
dow.........n
the sp.....lit
oak t.....ree

2006-08-09T00:01:00.000-07:00

okra patch
grandpa scratches his head,
listening for a moment

2006-08-08T12:01:00.000-07:00

red leaves
the park ranger flicks the ashes
of his Marlboro

2006-08-07T00:01:00.000-07:00

pond at midnight
the deer's tongue
deepens into the moon

2006-08-06T00:01:00.000-07:00

open window blinds
smashagainsttheglass . . .
cat's paw

2006-08-05T10:09:00.000-07:00

dusk cattails point opposite of the tide

2006-08-04T10:06:00.000-07:00

silent backyard—
grandpa still fills up
the dog's bowl

2006-08-03T07:25:00.000-07:00

grandpa forgets
the safe combination—
starry sky

2006-08-02T16:01:00.000-07:00

was it something i said?
the kitchen knife
handle-deep into the apple

2006-08-01T07:30:00.000-07:00

after the tide
ants march between
the catfish's ribs

2006-07-07T08:18:00.000-07:00

summer puddles after the rain claim the shoreline

2006-07-06T13:39:00.000-07:00

shaky fawn—white spots shimmering this starry night

2006-07-05T13:34:00.000-07:00

clouds rolling in after the boat's wake white heron

2006-07-04T19:33:00.000-07:00

fourth of July—
headlights go off
in the cemetery

2006-07-03T00:01:00.000-07:00

dusk . . .
the doe in the road crosses
a deer carcass

2006-07-02T11:52:00.000-07:00

dogwood petals
rest under the heavy eyes
of a hound dog

2006-07-01T00:01:00.000-07:00

friends,

the first issue of clouds peak is done.

thanks,
dustin neal

2006-06-30T11:06:00.000-07:00

welcome!
the hotel sign
at dusk

2006-06-29T01:59:00.000-07:00

eggs sizzle . . .
the yellow circles
around the waitress' eyes

2006-06-28T12:01:00.000-07:00

william

we take our slingshots and shoot rocks at nearby trailers; the loud thud meant we were doing our job right. after hours of destruction, tired arms and wrists, and yelling neighbors of spanish tongue, we retire out slingshots to our back pockets and head back home.

"i'll give you this nolan ryan for your barry bonds card," william says, his light blue eyes eager for a trade. i give it thought but decline. william drops his head toward the ground as he fumbles with his possessions. "i'll trade you slingshots," i say. however, i knew his slingshot was cheap. "okay, but lets go get those trailers we missed," william shouts.

as we both walk around looking for rocks, william tells me i'm his best friend. i smile as i watch william pull back his new slingshot to test its strength. "we'll always be together, dustin," william says, putting his arm around my shoulder.

family reunion—
a relative hands me
the obituary

2006-06-27T00:07:00.000-07:00

"hallelujah!"

the summer lake roles over my toes. i role my blue jeans up. the heat strikes my brow; sweat pours down my face. i take her by the hand, drift slowly into the mossy waters, waist deep, boat waves hit our chests. somewhere in the midst of thunderous claps and splashing water i hear her mother shout, "hallelujah!"

church construction . . .
a noon drizzle
baptizes the frame

2006-06-26T11:02:00.000-07:00

cathedral bells!
the jingle of coins
in my pocket

2006-06-25T10:57:00.000-07:00

four o'clock am
the waitress' loneliness
in me

2006-06-24T10:50:00.000-07:00

starless sky—
the waffle house cook's toothless
smile

2006-06-23T12:47:00.000-07:00

movie
credits
roll
a
boy
zips
up
his
pants

2006-06-22T00:01:00.000-07:00

solstice
a segall fades into
the cloud's peak

2006-06-21T12:01:00.000-07:00

spring poem
unfinished—
summer deepens

2006-06-20T00:01:00.000-07:00

my eggs
sunny-side down—
first day of summer

2006-06-19T00:01:00.000-07:00

early morning . . .
the osculating fan silences
birdsong

2006-06-18T00:01:00.000-07:00

a cigarette burning
moments before the filter—
summer sunset

2006-06-17T00:01:00.000-07:00

..............clouds
........then
smoke