Transitions
Tercets, Haiku, Epigrams
(2017-2025)
By Mike Garofalo
You can sometimes
get a handle on life,
but it often breaks.
cellphone
rings—
selling things
soft pillow—
sleepy
tired eyes
giving back—
eye for eye
tit for tat
April
bright lamp
white page
pencil scratching
freeway wreck
traffic stalled—
playing my harmonica
Mendocino
soil and sun—
Rhododendrons
Learning how to see
Beyond
what is in front of me
Listening to crowing
Crows
cawing raucous melodies
Feeling my stepping
Feet
stacatto steps on cold streets
Discovered complexities
Walking
over ideas flowing under me
Learned how to be
Me
imbedded in other realities
Funeral Blues
soul vanished
body died—
consolations of lies
his gray hair
brushed—
funeral cosmetics
the Smells of
multi-colored wreaths—
perfumed corpse
he looked good
for a corpse—
dressed perfectly
Amazing Grace
funeral blues—
tears on the casket
a coffin
for a home—
unconfined anywhere anymore
A small card summarized
his life in 49 lines,
read in 75 seconds.
Goodbye!
requiem in pacem
nowhere
beyond time
Tools of the Trade:
Abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
abcdefghijklmn
opqrstuvwxyz—
Zyxwvutsrqpo
Nmlkjihgfedcba...
Stirring Alphabet Soup
sunflower seeds
fast food
my mood improved
no insights
tonight
fewer delights
buttering
toast
breakfast jokes
Winter
Tshirt, thick shirt,
sweat shirt, hat
coming
going
staying home
Spring
appeared today
tulip time
muddy boots
untied
lunch time
May
Tercets and Haiku Research
English Language Haiku and Tercet Poems
By Mike Garofalo
Research, Studies, Notes
Bibliography, Links, Docs
A Little Book on Form: An Exploration into the Formal Imagination of Poetry. By Robert Hass. Ecco-Harper, 2018, 446 pages. Tercets, pp. 53-83.
Great Short Poems. Edited by Paul Negri. Dover Thrift Editions. Dover, 2000, 54 pages. Paperback, VSCL.
The Essential Poet's Glossary. By Edward Hirsch. 2017, 385 pages. VSCL.
Hiddenness, Uncertainty, Surprise: Three Generative Energies of Poetry. By Jane Hirshfield. 2008, 64 pages. VSCL.
The Zen of Haiku: 1000 Tiny Poems. By Jay Verney.
Little Poems. Edited by Michael Hennessy. Everyman's Library Pocket Poets Series. 2023, 256 pages. Hardcover, VSCL.
Tercet, Triad, Triplet,
Terza Rima: aba bcb cdc
Invented by Dante Alighieri, Divine Comedy, 1305
Used by: Chaucer, Shelley, Randall Jarret, Robert Pinsky, Wallace StevensVSCL.
Cuttings: Haiku and Tercets (1998-2016)
Transitions: Haiku and Tercets (2017-2024)
Stopping to See: Haiku and Tercets (2025-)
25 Steps and Beyond: Collected Works
Epigrams, Quips, Sayings: 1,000 One Liners
Tao Te Ching: Concordance, Anthology
Zen Poetry: Bibliography, Links, Resources
Poetry Research by Mike Garofalo
At the Edges of the West, Volume 2
Highway 99 and Interstate 5
At the Edges of the West, Volume 1
Highway 101 and Hwy 1
Reginald Horace Blyth (1898 - 1964)
Mike Garofalo lives in Vancouver, Washington.
He worked for 50 years in city and county
public
libraries, and in elementary
schools.
He graduated with
degrees in
philosophy,
library science, and education. He has been
a web publisher since 1998.
25 Steps and Beyond; Collected Works
This document was last edited, revised,
reformatted, added to, relinked,
changed, improved, or modified
by Mike Garofalo
on March 27, 2025.