Everyone's a poet

A recent visitor to my blog saw some poems I posted in one of my entries and asked about other haiku (poems about Mother Nature) and senryu (poems about human nature) that I had written.
Well, here they are, for better or worse.
I realize that many writers of haiku and senryu in English tend to dispense with the traditional 5-7-5 syllable structure. I like it, though, because it forces me to express whatever I have to say within very strict confines. You be the judge as to whether it works.
Plus, as a newspaperman, I find it very good practice for writing headlines, which have their own set of strict parameters.
So, here goes:

Shiny-penny moon:

Miracle of creation

becomes clear to me.

Alone with my thoughts

Haunted by the bitter things

I shouldn't have said.

Gray hairs on my head

Each one a mocking witness

to empty worries.

For Gerald "Ski" Evans-sensei

A friendship grown old

You don't have to say a word,

Hearts communicate.

Thinking of Japan

Ripened rice a golden green

Autumn in the air.

"How is your dessert?"

"Fine," she says, fully sated

Now, awkward silence.

A thought arises

I try to chase it away

but like it too much.

Don't let anger rise:

One more precept I can't keep

The list grows longer.

Cat sleeps in my lap

Too old to do much but purr

Just wants to stay warm.

Sakura City, Japan 1997

Cute girl on a train

Smiling, offers me a plum

Alas, it's my stop.

Forgot my cellphone

Finally, blissfully free

of prying voices.

Sun is a blood spot

in a searing summer sky

Not a hint of breeze.

And just who am I?

Particles of shit and spit

Exactly like you.