Panda Haikus

You eat food all day –
lying on your back, upside
down – bamboo buffet.

Panda, you are not
bio-logical more like
bio- illogical

A Poem for the Street Sweepers

You sweep the streets
of a nation,
carefully brushing over
ditches and cracks
accruing dust,
as the wrinkles
on your face
seem untouched
by the same care.

I cannot begin to
feign an awareness
of the burdens
you have born,
balanced precariously
on the backs of bicycles,
the curvature of neck and spine,
the pinky fingers
of your heart.

But I cannot help but wonder
whether you deserve
better

than this.

An Ode to the Taxi Drivers

This is an ode to the taxi drivers
who pick me up from unfamiliar streets

This is an ode to the taxi drivers
who humor my pronunciation,
pay attention to my gesticulation,
and make every attempt at communication

This is an ode to the taxi drivers
who fill the space

with talk so small
it almost slips
between the cracks of translation
into that place where
true human connection

resides

This is an ode to the taxi drivers
who hock loogies so large I wonder
if the car behind us
will hydroplane

This is an ode to the taxi drivers
who give me hope
I will make it home