Current Work

Sonnets, Haiku, Tanka, Free Verse
Short Poems, Sequences, Haibun
Quartets, Couplets, Tercets, Songs

By Mike Garofalo

Working File, First Drafts, Notes, Sketches
Practice, Studies, Ideas, Research
Poems in Progress in the Spring of 2025

1. Highway 101: Techaphi Mountains

In 1955 the Ridge Route drive, old 1933 Ridge Route Drive from Los Angeles to Bakersfield.
climbed up and down Cherry Canyons sides
pas the broken St. Francis dam up to the Crack and Pass
Grapevien Highway valley road
over teh jills Tejon Pass Castiac 15 MPG Castiac to Gorman
Techachapi Mountims
San Jaoquim valley Bakersfiedl
Betty Yarber and kids lived in Weedpatch pop 3000
Lamont Pop 15,000
Arvin Federal Government Camp

2. Potholes State Park, Washington State

April 2025

The tent buckled and shook
finally collapsed in a lump
relentless winds, blast after blast, these
high deserts winds attack and attack.

The April sun greed the rolling slopes
bald of trees, vacant of home,
ponds appearing willy-nilly
by the hundreds, here and there,
jagged small canyons filled with air
high desert sagebrush smells,
lizards breathing

Mauve vision, mountainless space,
spilling in six dimensions untraced
bidding colorful ducks to stay
counting potholes in which to dine.

Othello (5,000 Pop)

Moses Lake (25,000 Pop)

needle and thread grass

Rabbit brush
cheat grass
Russian olive
shrub-steepe
sagebrush
willows
riparian: willows, cat tails
basalt rocks

3. Killing for Fun

The rude boy stood tall
and told me he
shot squirrels and cats
with his Big Gun
for fun

I watched a TV "outdoorsman"
documentary.
Wealthy hunters gleefully
shot a Rhino.
Cowardly killers,
safely hidden in a blind,
with their Big Guns
for fun.

Later, I heard
that the rude boy had died
shot dead while "hunting"
a carless accident.
Revenge of the Cats.

African Park Guards
shot two poachers
through their eyes
intentionally.
Revenge of the Rhinos.

So, a lesson for me,
don't need Big Guns,
never went hunting.
Let cats, squirrels, and Rhinos
just Be Here like me.
No excitement for me in

killing creatures needlessly
or expensive escapes
hunting sprees
or Big Guns
for fun.

4. Complainers

When you complain, 80% of your listeners will ignore or forget what you said; and 20% will wish you dead.
Most people tire quickly of complainers, a few share their complaints ...

Complainers are not popular
in face to face encounters
except in politics where complainers
point their fingers along party lines
and remind us of their enemies
like Nazis attack Jews
like macho men attack women
like Republicans attack Unions
like Trump calls everyone fools.
Like Christians attack woke gays
like millionaires attach all taxes
like city folk insult county folk
like racists hat foreigners and Blacks
like Catholics attack public school
like Baptists attack Planned Parenthood
like Jews attack Palestinians
like Muslims attack other Muslims
like the KKK attack integrated schools
like King Trump attacks
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion,
like working folks attack welfare doles

I never though that most Christianity
were ever models of generosity,
compassion, or thinking well
Reading ancient Jewish folk tales
over and over
is to me a chore and bore.

5. Broken Leg

Coyotes cornered an injured calf
whose broken leg stopped his run.
The herd hung around fr awhile
seemingly guarding the stricken cow.

The herd of cows huddled by
the exhausted and helpless calf
whose broken leg stopped his walk
so he lay twisting in the grass.

The herd moved on to the barn yard
to eat, some milked, to stay
protected from the night's uncertainty.

Before the ranch hand
could shoot the calf
for venison dishes on Easter Day
the Coyotes cornered the helpless calf
killed, then ate his bloody carcass.

Some bones remained in the grass
picked clean by vultures.

6. Skinwalker

While reading
Navajo myths
and tales of Skinwalker's feared
their served cold and cruel
with a magical twist and knife
Cutting the head of guilty Vice.

The stories told,
perhaps centuries old,
crawled up my skin,
rather fairness thin,
called revenge justified,
against a killer's lies,
Skinwalker's son smiled,
his father feared.

The avenging Angedl,
cuts lives at an angle,
appears then disappears,
settling accounts in arrers,
knocks on the door,
of the rich or poor,
shows the warrant,
no matter how abhorrent,

hóz hó = Walk in Beauty

7. How to Resist?

Don't travel to any pro-Trump State
Try not to purchase products from pro-Trump States
Weekly write and send properly worded and fact checked
comments and suffestions to public officials by mail.
Support our Canadian allies.
Reduce our use of electricity and gasoline.
Don't fly in planes, or travel far away.
Support good people speaking out.
Embrace the challenges of simplicity.
Give money to decent leaders, politicans, influencers.
Garden at home more.

I had a bad dream. Mr. Trump dies of a heart attack while riding a golf cart at Mira Largo in the Florida heat. Mr. Vance crashed into a tree, like Sony Bono, while skiing in France. Elon Musk
was killed in his exploding electric car. The USA attacked Greenland and Canada to steal land
and resources for the wealthy to sell... Suddenly, I awoke in a stir. Good dreams, bad dreams,
it's a blur.

Good news
bad news-
releative to whom

8. Myths

Myths emerge
fro human concerss
centuries brewing
and stewing in souls
grasping scarecrow straws
hopeing magical rituals draw
Good to some, Devil to run
but effortless schemes galore
fail to keep troubles and woes
safely outside our doors.
Endlessly, we personify
Nature's indifference to our lives
inventing cherry stories of gods
and goddess and etherial beings
answering out prayers
fulfilling our dreams
rewarding us for trivial acts
holding our hands
patting our backs
pretending they care even a twit
about greedy human bad shit.

9. Queets River

flood plain glacially carved rain forest valley riparian
12 Feet of rain each year
salmon coho fall chinook winter steel head

red adlers, sitka spruces, bigleaf maples, western hemlock
black cottonwood, vine maple, western red cedar,
Douglas Firs
nettles
cougart, coon, otter, bear, eagle
First Salmon Ceremony
wild anaclromous salmon 5 species
heavey curtains of green moss, huckleberries,
hair braids of lichens
sword ferns,
elk browse
dappled sunshine dances across
the grass to an ancient rhythm
Chance are no one else around
black berries, thistle, bramble thicket
"spruce colonnades so grand they resemble a soaring cathederal.

10. Micellaneous

I uncomvofrtable stare in the Night's
disguise. Gathering stars and meteors
into a million memories los from
the years of dark times. Tired, no sleepy,
poetry book in hand, electric lamp
guiding my nightime flights
intoa strange land

In the solitudes of midnigh moons

the vieled velvet skies on the move"
My mind awake as a racoon's eyes...

Tired
Slower
Older

Held the fossil up to the light
turned and angled visibilities
a magnifying glass opened eyes
unravelled intricacis unseen
told a story without words.
A fish or some creature misnamed
that looks unlike a dirt-bound being
a dizen of an ancient stream
drying up in 250,000 BCE
Fish flopping in the mud
No dead, intomed in stone, all alone.

11. Soccer

Out Salmon Creek league/? high school age soccer team played its final game this Saturday afternoon. Parents and grandparents cheered them on with gusto. We only had 9 players to play the entire game, while our blue team opponend had 14 tough players on their team. It was zero to zero with onl 10 minutes to go. Then, we suddenly lost, 2 to Zero, and went home. Stocially groaned, then all went home.

Ford High School
soccer field
industrial zoned

blue team
white team
fighting on

club soccer
we played
in the rain

Last game
season ends
loosers not ashamed

mountains of clouds
dark valley
dim soccer pitch
rain on my face

Cannonball Quinn
out of the game
defense strained

Makenna
my granddaugher
two way play today

my grand daughter
played
80 year old cheerleaders

12. Gray Squirrels

Dancing darting Grey squirrels
hanging upside down comfortably
challenging others to fight or flee
coaxing romance between the leaves
raiding bird feeders for a meal of seeds
burrying peanuts to save for later needs

Gray Squirrels
dancing darting amivablly
climbing quickly up fir trees
shaking shrubs angrily
living in next 60 feet high in trees
Watching these nible little creatures
thriving on human generosityaa

One comes \
close to me
stands at attention
freezes

Walking in the rain
slippery footing under my step
raincoat becoming over whelemed.

13. Kansas

Rocking R Motel
Burlington, Kansas
Highway 75
June 1971
Karen and I drove from
Biloxi MS
to Los Angeles
on leave from military

14. April Random Notebook Entries

the racist cards
easily played
trumping spades

hat is easy
to energize
use fear and lies

SS Boosters
Skinhead pride
tatooed swasticas

15. Other April 2025

Stellar Jays come everyday, eating peanuts off of our bird feeder trays. The biggest bird, by far, making a living in our back yard. His bright blue feathers, his long regal pointed plume, his Covid cunning, his swack-caw-caw songs, quite a drama for us all.

blue feathers
raspy songs
Jays

lone Jay
raspy songs
invitation to a parth

16. Writer's Block Cracked

Where is my Muse?
She deserted me!
Blank pages accumulate
keyboard out of batteries
stuck and stumped of late
detained in wordlessness
locked out of date
void of metaphors fine
similes stopped on a dime
images dull derived
no rhymes for empty lines.

Catch a thought, then it flies
out the window gone and done;
invisible rememants of failed tries,
no words before my eyes.

Prompts did nothing
to trigger my verses;
the gutters of my dreams
were clogged shut with
unremembered themes.

No fresh ideas
not stale sentences to share
no striking insights
no old saws to sharpen
no clever phrases, anywhere.

I'm sure other poets face
similar frustrations occasionally
so doggedly they strike
to invent, to pretend,
to write something to tantalize.

Make a list to jog my brain,
to wiggle some words inside a frame
spill out nonsense lines unrhymed,
speed writing, extemporize:

sweet rocks
blind water
lemons talked
sun smelled
steel soft
legless walkers
radio off
time died
tornado lied
words crawled
hammers wept
baskets cried ...

Suddenly, I realized,
some words appeared,
my Muse arrived.

17.

Love is Not

Rather than Love Mankind;
I'd rather respect a few
good women and men.
Love is a focused way of being
and working well with
a few well known souls.
Love is not butter on bread,
suitable for everyone.
Love is often just appreciation
for those who flatter us,
parrot our fanciful themes, or
cater to our unusual needs.
Love is a slogan, a sign,
a chanted cheer for our
favorite home team or
our lame country.
Love is an uncanny addiction
to some-Thing we possess.
Love embraces beautiful things.
Our Loving takes hard efforts
close attention over time;
not two cents or a tossed dime.

One said
"God is Love."
Another said
"God loves everyone."
We doubters clearly see that
That God only loves
those who worship
the magical myths
from the Bible or Koran.

Jesus Christ must have
lost is mind
to volunteer needlessly
for a suicide mission
to "Save All Mankind."

He loved America dearly,
for It he was willing to die.
But stuck in the battlefield horrors
when it was kill or be killed.
hate not love
was all in his fearful mind.

Love keeps lovers occupied
by Nature's reproductive aims.
Addicted to intense sexuality
over in hours, finally, over years
that kind of "Love" fades away.

The Love of Wisdom:
an unread classic hoarding dust,
arguments with stubborn fools,
respected texts that make little sense,
flickering shadows on prison Caves,
language games with no rules,
Pascal's wager on canceled games,
Pragmatic evasions over ESP,
Hegel's History marching past Marx's grave,
Prolegomenas posted on paper trees,
Medical falsehoods overturned to late,
Scientific methods slapped in the face
Stale syllogisms out of tune
Metaphors stillborn: Beauty is Truth.

He liked to listen [Loves a stretch]
to Oscar Peterson on the keys,
Chopin Nocturnes by Maria Jão Pires,
or Bob Marley's Reggae hymns.

She liked to eat [Loves a stretch]
Mackerel nigri sushi
pickled ginger, wasabi,
spicy edamame with Sapporo beers.

He liked to walk [Loves a stretch]
every day to see something new
reminding him to stay.

She loved gambling
He loved a NASCAR auto race
They loved to listen to Fox News all day
We loved her bouillabaisse
He loved drinking bourbon straight
She loved him by their fifth date.

Love is fickle, love is faked
love is unpredictable, love ain't hate.

Love is wonderful, love is great,
Love is All, love ain't hate.

Love is fleeting, love is brief,
Love is time, Love a thief.

Yes, we do love precious souls
close by us as we grow old.
Family, friend, fellow travelers
on the stony path we all go.

18.

Cloud Hands Blog

Bundled Up: Tanka Poetry

Quotes for Gardeners

Zen Poetry

25 Steps and Beyond: Collected Works

At the Edges of the West, Volume 1
Highway 101 and Hwy 1: Pacific Coast

The Gushen Grove Sonnets

At the Edges of the West, Volume 2
Highway 99 and Interstate 5

Cuttings: Haiku and Short Poems
Arranged by the Seasons

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 and library science, and did further studies in business and education. He has been a web publisher since 1998.

Michael Peter Garofalo (1946-) grew up in East Los Angeles, was educated in Catholic Schools, lived with two other brothers, graduated (B.A., M.S.) from local universities, married Blanche Karen Eubanks, served in the US Air Force, worked in and managed many City and Los Angeles County Public Libraries, raised two children, socialized, traveled, and learned. Retired as the Regional Administrator, East Region, Los Angeles County Public Library in 1998. We moved to a rural 5 acre property in Red Bluff, in the North Sacramento Valley, CA. Webmaster since 1999. Worked part-time for the Corning School District (Technology and Media Services Manager); and as a yoga, Taijiquan, and fitness club instructor until 2016. Traveled extensively in Northern California, Oregon, and Washington. We both retired, and we moved to Vancouver, WA, in 2017. Currently in 2025: reading, writing, gardening, poetry research, harmonica playing, activities with children and grand-daughters, home chores, yurt camping, exercise, traveling in the Northwest, walking, web publishing, family events, photography, Northwest research, Nature mysticism, and sports events.

25 Steps and Beyond: Collected Works

Cuttings: Haiku and Short Poems
Arranged by the Seasons

Text Art and Concrete Poetry