Haikus For Jews

 

It is common knowledge that poetry lovers have been frustrated by the fact that no poet has  chosen to express Jewish themes and feelings in the haiku style (three unrhymed lines of five, seven, and five syllables respectively). Filling this gap in poetic literature, David M. Bader has recently written a book titled, Haiku’s for Jews.

Here are a few examples of his poetry:

 

Is one Nobel Prize
so much to ask from a child
after all I've done?

Five thousand years a
wandering people-then we
found the cabanas.

In the ice sculpture
reflected bar-mitzvah guests
nosh on chopped liver.

Beyond Valium,
the peace of knowing one's child
is an internist.

The same kimono
the top geishas are wearing-
got it at Loehmann's.

New, at Oys "r" Us!
Hypochondriac Barbie
has a gout attack.

Jewish triathlon-
gin rummy, then contract bridge,
followed by a nap.

Looking for pink buds
to prune back, the mohel tends
his flower garden.

Look Muffy! I've found
the most splendid tchotchke for
our Hanukkah bush.

Scrabble anarchy
after putzhead is placed on
a triple-word score.

The sparkling blue sea
beckons me to wait one hour
after my sandwich.

The wily red fox-
at temple, I spy its paws
lurking in a stole.

Hava nagila,
hava nagila, hava-
enough already.

Would-be convert lost-
thawed Lender's Bagels made a
bad first impression.

Quietly murmured
at Saturday services,
Yanks 5, Red Sox 3.

Today I am a
man. Tomorrow I return
to the seventh grade.

The sparrow brings home
too many worms for her young.
"Force yourself," she chirps.

Today, mild shvitzing.
Tomorrow, so hot you'll plotz.
Five-day forecast-feh

Left the door open .
for the Prophet Elijah.
Now our cat is gone.

The pure white lotus-
how rare to glimpse it parked in
my neighbor's driveway.

The shivah visit-
So sorry for your loss. Now
back to my problems.

Now that Koreans
are "the New Jews," the old Jews
can leave for Boca.

Swollen by spring rain,
flowing into inky pools,
the varicose vein.

Yom Kippur-forgive
me, God, for the Mercedes
and all the lobsters.

Hard to tell under
the lights-white Yarmulke or
male-pattern baldness?

Lonely mantra of
the Buddhist monk-"They never
call, they never write."

"Through the Red Sea costs
extra." Israeli movers
overcharge Moses.

No fins, no flippers
the gefilte fish swims with
some difficulty.

Yenta. Shmeer. Gevalt.
Shlemiel. Shlimazl. Tochis.
Oy! To be fluent.