Haikus: November 2013

HAIKUS: November 2013

By Peter Y. Chou
WisdomPortal.com

These haikus were written as exercises in mindfulness—
an attempt to catch the fleeting moment in my daily walks,
while reading, listening to music, and pondering about life.
(Underlined words are not for emphasis but to web links.)
This web page best viewed with Times font size 14.

Friday, November 1, 2013, 1:25-4:25 pm
Palo Alto: The Stanford Dish on Foothill Expressway & Stanford Avenue; Friend gives me ride to Foothill Day Hike class; Instructor Tom McCarthy; Got to Stanford Ave, 1 pm; Found parking at Nixon School

Began hike at 1:25 pm
Finished Loop at 4:25 pm
4-mile hike took three hours.
Friday, November 1, 2013, 7:40-9:30 pm
Palo Alto: Friends' House, 957 Colorado Ave,
Waverley Writers Poetry Reading: Featured Painter Joyce Savre & Poet Charlotte Muse on their book "Violin"; "Stradivarius' Ghost Speaks to the Future"

Read two tree poems tonight—
"Asymmetric Elm Tree"
and "Bending Bay Tree".

Saturday, November 2, 2013, 12:18-12:22 pm
Mountain View: Corner of Latham St. & Ortega Ave;
Halloween decorations on lawn at Hastings Square

Bats in Tree,
Skulls on Tree,
Halloween Panorama. Saturday, November 2, 2013, 5:09-5:17 pm
Los Altos Hills: Foothill College Krause Center
Jack noticed series of UFO clouds near the horizon

Foothill Cirrus Clouds,
High Tornado Clouds,
Krause Center Clouds.

Sunday, November 3, 2013, 4:00-5:45 pm
Los Altos Library: Finished typing Dumas 3-15-1833 costume ball story from Tom Prideux's The World Of Delacroix, 1798 1863 (1966) (pp. 122-124); Bought Nicholas Parsons' "Book of Literary Lists" (1987) for $3 (Hardcover $100 at Amazon). A collection of annotated lists, statistics, anecdotes concerning books.

Letter requesting 30,000 copies
of Kipling's poem "If" to be
given to World War I soldiers. Sunday, November 3, 2013, 8:00-9:40 pm
Stanford Flicks, Cubberley Auditorium;
Todd Phillips directs "Hangover Part III" (2013)
Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis,
Ken Jeong, Heather Graham, Jeffrey Tambor, Justin Bartha, Jamie Chung, John Goodman, Melissa McCarthy; (YouTube: 1, 2, 3, 4); Reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4

Wolfpack four not drunk
in Vegas but asked by mob
to retrieve stolen gold bars.

Monday, November 4, 2013, 12:09-10:00 pm
Palo Alto: Foothill Middlefield Computer Lab
Shakuntala Devi: Numerical wizard honored in Google Doodle [In 1977 Shakuntala Devi (11-4-1929 to 4-21-2013) extracted before an audience the 23rd root of a 201-digit number in 50 seconds, beating the Univac computer that took 62 seconds.) (By Erik De Castro, Christian Science Monitor, 11-4-2013)

Shakuntala Devi multiplied
two 13-digit numbers
in just 28 seconds. Monday, November 4, 2013, 12:09-10:00 pm
Palo Alto: Foothill Middlefield Computer Lab
Formatted 63 photos Stanford Dish Loop Hike
(4 hours); Web page of Stanford Dish Loop Hike
(1 hour); Wildlife encountered on hike: a chipmunk at its burrow, a lizard and a giant black beetle on the trail as well as a hawk soaring under a blazing sun; Favorite Oak photographs from Stanford Dish Hike:

Young Lithe White Oak,
Gnarly Old White Oak,
Expansive White Oak.

Tuesday, November 5, 2013, 12:31-10:00 pm
Palo Alto: Foothill Middlefield Computer Lab
Revised web page: Stanford Dish Loop Hike;
Replaced Chipmunk in Burrow with Victorian House;
Favorite photographs from Stanford Dish Hike—

White Oak on Hill,
Sunflare and Hawk,
"Two Battling Crocodiles". Tuesday, November 5, 2013, 12:31-10:00 pm
Palo Alto: Foothill Middlefield Computer Lab
Postage Stamps: Famous People; French; Letter; Delacroix 1951; Dumas 1970; Dumas 1855 photo
& Delacroix 1857 photo by Nadar (1820-1910)

France B259 Delacroix;
France B436 Dumas;
US 1097 Lafayette.

Wednesday, November 6, 2013, 12:38-6:00 pm
Palo Alto: Foothill Middlefield Computer Lab
Friend hikes with Cay at Jacks Peak Park, Monterey;
Jacks Peak 1068 feet above Monterey & Carmel (1);
Scottish immigrant David Jack acquired land in 1859

Amazed at Cay's stamina
after her car accident
hiking up Jacks Peak. Wednesday, November 6, 2013, 7:30-9:30 pm
Stanford University, Geology Building 320, Rm 105:
Diane di Prima: “Special Reading & How I Write Conversation”; People's poet (SFGate, 2-1-10); Bio; The Beat Page; 7-29-2010 Interview; Five Poems

I give him moonstones
He gives me shell & seaweeds
He backlights my dreams...

Wednesday, November 6, 2013, 7:30-9:30 pm
Stanford University, Geology Building 320, Rm 105:
Diane di Prima: “Special Reading & How I Write Conversation”; "Sacrificing everything to a clean line. Let the line shake the hand." PYC: reminded me of Blake's A Descriptive Catalogue" (1809):

"Leave out this line,
and you leave out life itself;
all is chaos again..." Wednesday, November 6, 2013, 7:30-9:30 pm
Stanford University, Geology Building 320, Rm 105:
Diane di Prima: “Special Reading & How I Write Conversation”; She closed evening reading "Rant"— "THE ONLY WAR THAT MATTERS IS THE WAR AGAINST THE IMAGINATION"

bring yr self home to yrself,
enter the garden / the guy at the gate
w/ the flaming sword is yrself

Thursday, November 7, 2013, 2:33-10:00 pm
Palo Alto: Foothill Middlefield Computer Lab
Musicians (1); Composers; Postal Museum; France; 1968 Niger Delacroix; Dante; Liberté; Tiger Hunt (1)

Italy 425 Gioacchino Rossini,
Romania 1343 Alfred de Musset,
France 243 Lafayette & Washington. Thursday, November 7, 2013, 2:33-10:00 pm
Palo Alto: Foothill Middlefield Computer Lab
"William Blake: The art of a 'lunatic'?"
(By Tom Lubbock, The Independent, 4-27-2009)

"The great & golden rule of art, as well as life, is this: the more distinct, sharp & wirey the bounding line, more perfect work of art."

Friday, November 8, 2013, 1:20-5:30 pm
Los Altos Hills: 3300 Page Mill Road;
Friend gives me ride to Foothills Park (photos);
Foothill Day Hike class; Instructor Tom McCarthy;
(Went on Woodrat Trail; Bridge end of Toyon Trail)

Crossing wrong bridge at
beautiful Borondo Lake
with white-billed coots. Friday, November 8, 2013, 1:20-5:30 pm
Los Altos Hills: 3300 Page Mill Road;
Friend gives me ride to Foothills Park (map);
Foothill Day Hike class; Instructor Tom McCarthy;
(Met Mark, Emma, & Robin coming back on trails)

Wildhorse Valley Trail
was not on official map,
too late for Costanoan Trail.

Saturday, November 9, 2013, 11:46-3:00 pm
Los Altos Hills: Foothill College Krause Center
LETTERS: Role of Humanities, in School and Life
(By Burton Richter, et. al., NY Times, 11-5-2013)

Students need open-ended inquiry
cultivated by the liberal arts &
scientific problem-solving skills. Saturday, November 9, 2013, 11:46-3:00 pm
Los Altos Hills: Foothill College Krause Center
Opinionator: When Socrates Met Phaedrus: Eros in Philosophy (Simon Critchley, NY Times, 11-3-2013)

Philosophical eros
is the effect of rhetoric,
of language used persuasively.

Sunday, November 10, 2013, 4:00-5:45 pm
Los Altos Library: Bookmarked 10 NY Times articles:
"BUSINESS: A Founder of Twitter Goes Long"
(Evan Williams is a contemplative 41-year-old Nebraskan; his net worth has jumped nearly $2.5 billion, owing to his 10.4% stake in Twitter.)
(By Matt Richtel, NY Times, 11-10-2013)

Medium's CEO Evan Williams
wants longer-form writing
to thrive, apps like Longform,
Longreads and The Verge. Sunday, November 10, 2013, 8:00-10:12 pm
Stanford Flicks, Cubberley Auditorium;
Guillermo del Toro directs "Pacific Rim" (2013)
Charlie Hunnam, Idris Elba, Rinko Kikuchi,
Charlie Day, Max Martini, Robert Kazinsky, Ron Perlman, Clifton Collins, Jr., Burn Gorman, Diego Klattenhoff, Ellen McLain; (YouTube: 1, 2, 3, 4); (Film Reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4)

Two pilots combat
colossal sea monsters
to save earth from ruin.

Sunday, November 10, 2013, 2:00-2:45 pm
Mountain View: Friend takes me grocery
shopping at Safeway (1750 Miramonte Ave.)
and later drives me to Los Altos Library

Tomatoes, yogurt,
mustard potato salad,
coconut shrimps & shrimp rolls. Monday, November 11, 2013, 5:00-5:36 pm
Mountain View: Computer Labs & Libraries closed
on Veterans Day; Went shopping at Wal-Mart
(600 Showers Dr.); Caught 5:50 pm Bus #22 home

Aim gel toothpaste,
Bag of 200 cotton balls
Dozen Shrimp Cup of Noodles.

Tuesday, November 12, 2013, 2:30-6:00 pm
Palo Alto: Foothill Middlefield Computer Lab
Took 6:18 pm Bus #35 at Middlefield & Charleston
to Palo Alto Train Depot at 6:41 pm; Caught 6:50 pm Palm Express to Oval at 7 pm. Formatted 92 of 104 photos taken 11-8-2013 at Foothills Park Hike—
Some favorite photos from Friday's hike—

Needle Reeds Window to Lake;
Closeup of Coot by Shore;
Rock in Boronda Lake. Tuesday, November 12, 2013, 7:30-9:30 pm
Stanford University, Geology Building 320, Rm 105:
"Never Lost: An Evening with Naomi Shihab Nye"
Naomi Shihab Nye; First time she turns on television, Carl Sandburg is reading his poem; 40 years later she buys Harpers Magazine for $1 at the airport and finds Carl Sandburg's article "Trying to Write"—

At age 65, Sandburg began
his first novel "You see
I'm still a traveler, a seeker."

Tuesday, November 12, 2013, 7:30-9:30 pm
Stanford University, Geology Building 320, Rm 105:
"Never Lost: An Evening with Naomi Shihab Nye"
Full house; Naomi signed her program afterwards

Loved the stories she told;
In appreciation, gave Naomi
"Bending Bay Tree" poem & Notes. Tuesday, November 12, 2013, 9:50-10:25 pm
Stanford University Oval: Waiting for 9:57 pm
Midnight O Shuttle to Cal-Train Depot for 10:23 pm
Bus #22; Hitched ride with Teeb who drove me home

She picked me up hitchhiking
because she saw me earlier
at Naomi Nye's poetry reading.

Wednesday, November 13, 2013, 1:03-10:00 pm
Palo Alto: Foothill Middlefield Computer Lab
Four hours to format 104 photos and 6.5 hours
to compose web page on Foothills Park Hike—
"Prayer Greeting for Old Oak Stump"—

Before they chopped you down,
you gave shade to all— I feel
your spirit still standing here. Wednesday, November 13, 2013, 1:03-10:00 pm
Palo Alto: Foothill Middlefield Computer Lab
Four hours to format 104 photos and 6.5 hours
to compose web page on Foothills Park Hike—
Some favorite photos from Friday's hike—

Boronda Lake Bridge
didn't have Five Steps Stairs
leading to Wooden Toyon Bridge.

Thursday, November 14, 2013, 12:45-10:00 pm
Palo Alto: Foothill Middlefield Computer Lab
A.Word.A.Day— mulligan: 1. A second chance;
2. A stew made from odds and ends, using
whatever is available. A Thought for Today:
Claude Monet, painter (1840-1926)—

"Everyone discusses my art
and pretends to understand, as if
it were necessary to understand,
when it is simply necessary to love." Thursday, November 14, 2013, 12:45-10:00 pm
Palo Alto: Foothill Middlefield Computer Lab
Photo: 5:14 pm Fri., Nov. 8, 2013, Foothills Park:
"Half Moon at Twilight" reminds me of Leopardi's poem "Alla Luna" (1819) as well as my poem "Meditation on the Moon" (12-17-2008) & Notes—

Can you draw a straight line with a curve?
Impossible you say— but nature does it
every month when there is a half-moon—
straight edge from curvature of sun & earth.

Thursday, November 14, 2013, 12:45-10:00 pm
Palo Alto: Foothill Middlefield Computer Lab
Naomi Shihab Nye; YouTube: Slowing Down; Creativity; Unfolding; On Inspiration; Dialogue;
Bill Moyers 2002 Interview; 1999 Interview;
Poem: "One Boy Told Me"—

Music lives inside my legs...
Just think— no one has seen
inside this peanut before! Thursday, November 14, 2013, 12:45-10:00 pm
Palo Alto: Foothill Middlefield Computer Lab
Photo: 4:31 pm Fri., Nov. 8, 2013, Foothills Park:
"Vista View of Light & Dark" reminds me of Lightness in Dante Purgatorio, Canto 9; essay for Kay Ryan's Stanford Poetry Workshop (1-27-2010)

Lucia is connected to lucent,
Patroness Saint of sight,
carrying Dante to paradise.

Friday, November 15, 2013, 1:00-5:00 pm
Palo Alto: Friend gives me ride to Arastradero Preserve (1530 Arastradero Rd); Foothill Day Hike class; Instructor Tom McCarthy

Nice view of lake and
valley oaks on Wild Rye,
DeAnza, and Meadowlark Trails. Friday, November 15, 2013, 5:30-8:00 pm
Los Altos Hills: Foothill College Krause Center
Evolution of Milky Way Galaxy Revealed by Hubble Space Telescope (Mike Wall, Yahoo News, 11-15-13)

Photos of 400 similar
galaxies evolving show how
Milky Way looked in the past.

Saturday, November 16, 2013, 12:33-4:30 pm
Los Altos Hills: Foothill College Seman Library—
Returned Books: Robert Miner's "Thomas Aquinas on the Passions"; Aristotle: "greatest pleasure derives from the operation of wisdom" (p. 166); Aquinas "Summa" 31.5.co— "Bodily delights are corruptible, and wane rapidly, whereas spiritual goods are incorruptible" (p. 169); "Summa" 31.5.co (p. 167)—

We have more pleasure
when knowing by understanding
than when knowing by sensing. Saturday, November 16, 2013, 12:33-4:30 pm
Los Altos Hills: Foothill College Seman Library—
Returning: Paul Bloom's "How Pleasure Works"; Goering's pleasure in Vermeer's "Christ with Woman Taken in Adultery" ceased when he learned it was a forgery by Han van Meegeren (p. 1-2);
2-year old Tenzin Gyatso identified utensils of 13th Dalai Lama when chosen as Dalai Lama (pp. 21-22)

He knew the authentic cane,
rosaries, quilts, and drum
from similar inauthenic items.

Sunday, November 17, 2013, 2:00-3:50 pm
Mountain View: Friend takes me grocery
shopping at Safeway (1750 Miramonte Ave.)
and Walgreens (1905 W. El Camino Real),
then drives me to Los Altos Library

Carrots, tomatoes,
dairy creamers, fruit juice,
chicken broth, garlic powder. Sunday, November 17, 2013, 4:08-5:45 pm
Los Altos Library: Photos of Cirrus Clouds (1, 2, 3);
Bookmarked 10 NY Times articles; BOOKS: Doris Lessing, Novelist Who Won 2007 Nobel, Dead at 94
(By Helen T. Verongos, NY Times, 11-17-2013)

Her Golden Notebook is
a structurally inventive and
loosely autobiographical tale.

Tuesday, November 19, 2013, 11:15 am
Mountain View: Surprise Serendipidity on Bus #22:
Yesterday, scanned Léo Bronstein's "Kabbalah And Art" cover and Dossi's "St. John the Baptist"; Today Leonard R. McCord boards Bus #22 at Rengstroff
and in 40 seconds before I got off bus at Ortega Ave, showed him book he checked out on July 22, 1988.

He read this art book
25 years ago that spoke
on your meeting with friendship. Tuesday, November 19, 2013, 12:05-10:00 pm
Palo Alto: Foothill Middlefield Computer Lab
"Leo Bronstein, 72, Fine Arts Author (NY Times,
June 4, 1976)— Leo Bronstein, a retired professor of fine arts, died Tuesday, June 1, Strasbourg, France, after being run over by a motorcycle. He was 72 years old and lived at 210 West 101st Street. (Bio)

Dazzled by the Grünewald Altarpiece
he walked out of the dark church
and didn't see the motorcycle.

Wednesday, November 20, 2013, 11:07 am
Mountain View: Pamela Drive & Phyllis Ave.
Took photo of Ginkgo Tree across the street
before running to catch Bus #22 on El Camino

Before wind and rain
remove your beautiful dress—
praise this blossom of orange. Wednesday, November 20, 2013, 11:57 am-10 pm
Palo Alto: Foothill Middlefield Computer Lab
Jack has good company of those born today—
Chester Gould, Robert F. Kennedy, Danilova

Nobel writer Selma Lagerlöf,
Astronomer Edwin Powell Hubble,
Baseball commisioner Kenesaw Landis.

Thursday, November 21, 2013, 1:00-10:00 pm
Palo Alto: Foothill Middlefield Computer Lab
BOOKS: Dad Was a Film Giant, Mum Was Mona Lisa, Perfect, Right? (Anjelica Huston grew up in such a bedazzingly beautiful place at St. Clerans, Ireland)
(By Janet Maslin, NY Times, 11-21-2013)

A Story Lately Told
on her dancer Mom Ricki Soma
& film director Dad John Huston.
Thursday, November 21, 2013, 1:00-10:00 pm
Palo Alto: Foothill Middlefield Computer Lab
Frederick Sanger, 95, Two-Time Winner of Nobel and Pioneer in Genetics, Dies (Two Nobel Prizes is
a distinction held by only three other scientists.)
(By Denise Gellene, NY Times, 11-21-2013)

Sanger's research led
to decoding of human genome
& developing human growth hormone.

Friday, November 22, 2013, 1:30-5:00 pm
Los Altos Hills: Friend gives me ride to
Hidden Villa (26870 Moody Rd);
Foothill Day Hike class;
Instructor Tom McCarthy

Spent an hour at barn
photographing sheeps & cows
before hiking on Bunny Loop. Friday, November 22, 2013, 10:00 pm-2:00 am
KKSF 910 AM: Coast-to-CoastAM, George Noory "JFK Special XI"; BOOKS: "Grateful Table: Blessings, Prayers and Graces" (2013); "Happiness Habits: 52 Ways to Live with Passion & Purpose"

Be grateful, count your blessings,
see positive in other people,
then good things will follow.

Sunday, November 24, 2013, 7:30-8:40 pm
Stanford Theatre: Preston Sturges directs
"Christmas in July" (1940), starring Dick Powell,
Ellen Drew, Raymond Walburn, William Demarest,
Ernest Truex, Franklin Pangborn, Harry Hayden;
(YouTube: 1, 2, 3); (Film Reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5)

Winning contest slogan:
"If you can't sleep at night,
it's not the coffee but the bunk." Sunday, November 24, 2013, 8:50-10:23 pm
Stanford Theatre: Victor Heerman directs
"Animal Crackers" (1930), Groucho Marx, Harpo Marx, Chico Marx, Zeppo Marx, Margaret Dumont, Lillian Roth, Louis Sorin, Robert Greig, Kathryn Reece; (YouTube: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5); Reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Harpo steals the painting
and sprays everyone to sleep
including himself at the end.

Monday, November 25, 2013, 3:04-9:00 pm
Palo Alto: Foothill Middlefield Computer Lab
Web page for 11-15 Arastradero Preserve Hike
Favorite photos from the hike—

Tree View via "Y" Valley Oak,
Eucalyptus in Sun Halo,
Birds on Cross Lorraine.
Monday, November 25, 2013, 3:04-9:00 pm
Palo Alto: Foothill Middlefield Computer Lab
Web page for 11-15 Arastradero Preserve Hike
Favorite photos from the hike—

Mistletoe Sighting,
Arastradero Lake Closeup,
"Daddy Long Legs" Shadow.

Thursday, November 28, 2013, 10:00 pm-3:30 am
KKSF 910 AM: Coast-to-CoastAM, George Noory interviews Brenda Knight (Bio, Web) "Gratitude & Mothman"; BOOKS: "Grateful Table: Blessings, Prayers and Graces" (2013); "Happiness Habits:
52 Ways to Live with Passion and Purpose" (2014)

That which you're looking
for is also looking for you.
Be grateful when you're vertical. Thursday, November 28, 2013, 10:00 pm-3:30 am
KKSF 910 AM: Coast-to-CoastAM, George Noory interviews Brenda Knight (Bio, Web) "Gratitude & Mothman"; BOOKS: "Grateful Table: Blessings, Prayers and Graces" (2013); "Happiness Habits:
52 Ways to Live with Passion and Purpose" (2014)

Be grateful, count your blessings,
see positive in other people,
then good things will follow.

Thursday, November 28, 2013, 10:00 pm-3:30 am
Mountain View: Read ART: Borges's Cosmic Ally
(By Larry Rohter, NY Times, 4-18-2013); Xul Solar appears as a character in one of Borges's most complex and influential stories, "Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius", which applies the painter's esoteric theories.

Xul Solar met and corresponded
with occultist Aleister Crowley
who introduced him to the I Ching. Thursday, November 28, 2013, 10:00 pm-3:30 am
Mountain View: Found my paperback of Borges's "Labyrinths" bought at Shakespeare & Co. in Paris (7-20-1979) and read "Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius" (pp. 27-43), first story in the book for the first time;
"For gnostics, the visible universe was an illusion."

On the Night of Nights,
the secret doors of heaven open
and the water in jars become sweeter.

Friday, November 29, 2013, 10:46-10:48 am
KDFC 104.9 FM: Paul Watkins conducts English Chamber Orchestra, "Romance", "Jeux interdits", Forbidden Games (1952), Video (Narciso Yepes)

Music is so short
but haunting tunes bring back
long lost buried treasured memories. Friday, November 29, 2013, 2:00-3:00 pm
Los Altos Hills: Hidden Villa (26870 Moody Rd)
Left camera chip home to take any photos today;
Traced spots where I may have lost hiking stick—

Fence near Buckeye Tree,
Scarecrow in Farm Garden,
Corner by the Sheep Barn.

Friday, November 29, 2013, 7:30-9:05 pm
Stanford Theatre: Preston Sturges directs
"The Lady Eve" (1941), starring Barbara Stanwyck,
Henry Fonda, Charles Coburn, Eugene Pallette,
William Demarest, Eric Blore, Melville Cooper;
(YouTube: 1, 2, 3, 4); (Film Reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5)

Screwball comedy film
rated #1 by New York Times
in 1941 above Citizen Kane. Friday, November 29, 2013, 9:15-10:33 pm
Stanford Theatre: Norman Z. McLeod directs
"Monkey Business" (1931), Groucho Marx, Harpo Marx, Chico Marx, Zeppo Marx, Thelma Todd, Rockliffe Fellowes, Harry Woods, Ruth Hall, Cecil Cunningham; (YouTube: 1, 2, 3); Reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4

Harpo plays the harp,
Chico dazzles on piano,
Groucho excels in dancing.

Saturday, November 30, 2013, 2:00-5:30 pm
Los Altos Library: "What Did Jorge Luis Borges See in Xul Solar?" (By Miriam Basilio, Hyperallergic.com, 7-16-13); Xul Solar (1887-1963); Jorge Luis Borges

Jorge Luis Borges regarded
his artist friend Xul Solar
as a model & inspiration. Saturday, November 30, 2013, 2:00-5:30 pm
Los Altos Library: Americas Society Exhibit
(April 18-July 20, 2013): "Xul Solar and Jorge Luis Borges: Art of Friendship" (Phoenix Art Museum)

Creative symbiosis
from a lifelong friendship
between artist and poet-writer.