Mon, 27 Apr 2026 08:26:20 -0700WeeblyMon, 25 Dec 2017 19:35:16 GMThttps://www.herbkauderer.com/poetry-samples/weight-restrictionsI
know
I missed
my chance to
bring the virtual
record of my uncle who was
the one person who believed I would live on Luna. 
I think he would understand that
a computer was
not needed
to bring
him
here.

first published in Scifaikuest print edition February 2017 (v14#3)
]]>Wed, 19 Aug 2015 21:30:50 GMThttps://www.herbkauderer.com/poetry-samples/oldiesDion Dimucci sings
“Why must I be a teenager in love?”
ignorant of the simple answer 

because he is blessed

blessed with love in youth
the only time love can be so simple

and the reason we don’t sing

“Why do I hafta be middle-aged
          and in love?”

is that we’re busy

and trying to keep our confusions
to ourselves

because we can’t let anyone know
we’re barely holding on


"oldies" is excerpted from "Threads, Knots, Scissors" which first appeared in my first master's thesis titled Lines of Separation August 13, 2000.
It later appeared in the chapbook Wedding Songs August 29, 2004.]]>Wed, 19 Aug 2015 21:23:34 GMThttps://www.herbkauderer.com/poetry-samples/when-the-last-lamp-is-shatteredFroggy saxophone in the night
laying hollow layers of mourning
on the aspirin-shrouded corpse
of a party.


first appeared in Star*Line V.15#3 for May/June 1992
collected in Olives: a Jar Full of Small Pokes October 20, 1995
reprinted in Micropoetry May 7, 2015

]]>Wed, 22 Jul 2015 01:39:06 GMThttps://www.herbkauderer.com/poetry-samples/petuniaI rescued a friendly feral cat
and named her Petunia 
before discovering
she was a he
and people wondered 
why I gave him away...

first appeared on Botaiku June 28, 2015

]]>Wed, 22 Jul 2015 01:37:05 GMThttps://www.herbkauderer.com/poetry-samples/rustling-leavesdeciduous forests

slowly reclaim

asphalt plains


first appeared in The Oak v3#3 May 1993
collected in Olives October 20, 1995
reprinted in Images May 7, 2003
reprinted in Micropoetry July 22, 2015]]>Mon, 20 Jul 2015 01:26:21 GMThttps://www.herbkauderer.com/poetry-samples/lead-upPennsic

approaches and

big plans shrink to fit the

time left as practicality

wins out


a condensed version of this tanka appeared on Heart Soup Poems March 14, 2015
it appears in this form in 'Modern Poems of Pennsic']]>Mon, 20 Jul 2015 01:24:33 GMThttps://www.herbkauderer.com/poetry-samples/calm-before-the-stormanother year brings

big plans, hard work, high hopes and

great expectations


This haiku appears in 'Modern Poems of Pennsic']]>Sat, 18 Jul 2015 19:57:57 GMThttps://www.herbkauderer.com/poetry-samples/the-years-like-milesthe busy crowds pass

filled with old friends & lovers

distant but not gone


first appeared in the online version of Haiku Journal on April 10, 2015
reprinted in the print version of Haiku Journal #36 on April 14, 2015
collected in Modern Poems of Pennsic scheduled for July 19, 2015]]>Sat, 18 Jul 2015 19:55:22 GMThttps://www.herbkauderer.com/poetry-samples/hephaestusMisformed son
of unforgiving parents

you asked little
received less.

After your parents cast you out from Olympus
and Athena spurned your love
you received a wife
Aphrodite,
sad side effect of your father’s hate.

Even then your constancy
fathered Eros
a god of love.
A god of faith.

But your own love was unrewarded
with a most unfaithful wife
and even this you took
without retribution
working at your forge
creating.  Building.

Of all the gods who filled Olympus
you were the most like man,

the most like me
imperfect
a worker
a lover
a survivor

And of all the Greek gods
whose stories have been told
it is easiest to believe
that YOU are the one still there
beneath Mt. Aetna, working in the flames
surviving
even now.

I hope so.


first appeared in Midnight Zoo v1#5 1991
intended as part of a future collection titled 'Letters to Olympus']]>Sat, 18 Jul 2015 19:48:36 GMThttps://www.herbkauderer.com/poetry-samples/chasteI searched a thousand poems I’d written
to find those that used the word chaste.
There were none...


first appeared on The Botaiku June 28, 2015

]]>