Eight Senryu Poems by Ken Gosse

 

Romancing the Rain

Rain dances bring rain

if the dancers continue

until the rain starts.

 

 

Sour Senryu

 

If the milk is sour,

it doesn’t matter whether

the cup is half full.

 

 

Snare of the Sierra Madre

 

Going for the gold

will do more harm than good if

only gold matters.

 

 

Elmhurst Streetlights

 

Our hometown streetlights

soft sirens gently calling

brought us home at dusk.

 

 

War of the Words

 

In a war of words,

the better part of valour

should be discussion.

 

 

Cave

 

Fighting to decide

who is right is very wrong

in so many ways.

 

 

Freedom of Improvement

 

The right to write wrongs

should start with sincere efforts

to right our own wrongs.

 

 

Forsoothsaying

 

“I told you so,” means

they think they knew the future

now that it’s the past.

Ken Gosse usually writes short, rhymed verse using whimsy and humor in traditional meters. First published in First Literary Review–East in November 2016, he has also been published by Pure Slush, Home Planet News Online, Lothlorien Poetry Journal, and others. Raised in the Chicago, Illinois, suburbs, now retired, he and his wife have lived in Mesa, AZ, for over twenty years, usually with rescue dogs and cats underfoot.