We Watch The girl with a nose ring, watches from afar, longingly, came closer--nearly--to say: "You know what? I am short listed!" I gave her pat on the head, said, "Keep up the good work, sweetie." ©Byung A. Fallgren

Sometimes I feel as if, I've lived for years in an outland, just returned home; everywhere strangers, myself a hundred-years-old tree. the next door children, now parents of their children. only the old man walking the dog, same as before; the man whose heart monitor wouldn't let him relax, has to move and move, except the night when asleep; a little evidence that most in the world, not a hundred percent good or bad; why worry so much? How 'bout be little like the little creature snuggles on the petal and asleep, let the God decide its fate of waking, in an enemy's belly. Absurd, you might scoff, but i need it now, or might lose more. ©Byung A. Fallgren

My poem Spring and two haiku are published in the Weekly Avocet #540. Thank you Charles, Vivian, and Valerie for taking the pieces.
Cleverness, Modern Wave The Farmer entered a contest, after putting together the words she raised and nurtured, which she thought great, waited for five months, hoping she'd win. The final month, countdown; four, three, two; the final week, she got a letter from the judge: "Dear contestants, will you see me at the ceremony?" Having been suffering from arthritis, the farmer replied; "I'm sorry, Ma'am, I won't be able to, perhaps next time." Soon after that, she got a rejection letter from the judge. The heartbroken farmer realized: the judge chose ones who would go to the ceremony. What a trick. She nods, with wry smile; this is how the brains of shady modern souls work; in doing so, quality of winner's work and the contest compromised. Next time, she knows what to say to a clever judge. Byung A. Fallgren