755

Town without signposts
Not knowing where you’re going
Still must make your way

754

Six minutes of joy
We’ll rearrange our lives for
Six minutes of joy

753

Day without regret
Open to experience
And second thoughts

752

It can not be done

But that does not mean yellow

And green don’t exist

751

Look at a spectrum
Try to define where green stops
And yellow begins

750

Each time I get sick
A piece of me wonders will
I ever get well

749

We’ve all got things we
Do to survive. Some feed the
Body. Some the soul

748

Set it up again
Let me have another chance
While I’m still willing

747

Angry GenXer
Too old to embrace the change
Too young to give up

746

Maybe your ticket
On the last train to glory
Is the stranger who…?

745

Let’s drop the pretense
Here’s the job I have to do
Here’s where we conflict

744

They do what I do
But aren’t like me in most ways
Which of us is right?

743

Making connections
Between things not related
Means you’re smart or mad

742

Go through the motions
Do the things that must be done
But don’t really care

741

We do things for them
And we do things for us. Which
Give us more meaning?

740

Good blogging is hard
Must be thought-provoking, quick
And above all real

739

We are grown-ups, right?
That means we say what we think
And don’t fear power

738

Day without meetings
Chance to clear piles off my desk
And read my email

737

Worst nightmare of all
Your child abducted and lost
Unknown horrors haunt

736

Set a new record
For athletics but more so
For maturity

735

Sitting by the pool
Got my sunscreen and my shades
Forgot my damn book

734

Rain, rain go away
You’re messing up my plans and
Driving my wife mad

733

The death of a friend
Reminds how fragile we are
And how short life is

732

Hide behind email
Never talking to people
Makes life easier

731

Such a pretty girl
Already knows pretty brings
Things not pretty won’t

730

Not good but better
Less tantrums and more focus
I can see him try

729

A leader takes charge
But does not do all the work
Must engage others

728

Untroubled sleep is
A distant memory when
They depend on you

727

Does the wall shock you?
What else can fathers build when
All they have are bricks?

726

The man will wander
Fifty feet in the ocean
Gets swallowed and lost

725

The heat of the sun
The freshness of the breeze and
The roar of the surf

724

Battles with the boy
No matter my intention
We keep butting heads

723

Eleven days out
Of the office and just two
Days of restful peace

722

Two days to get here
And two more days to get home
Vacation between

721

The little red star
Tells me I have messages
I’ll check them later

720

Time to disconnect
Unwind and do what feeds me
Not what feeds the world

719

Too much going on
Need a vacation. There’ll be
More when I return

718

You’re all important
Just not equally so and
Far less so than me

717

Set your own vision
And then manage your own time
To make it happen

716

Is it the worry
That makes success possible?
Lose one and lose both?

715

Stay calm, speak slowly
Remember it’s not a sprint
It’s a marathon

714

Meet each new challenge
With grace that comes from knowing
You pick your battles

713

Never ask your dad
If he feels like a grown up
He will surprise you

712

No longer their slave
A player with bigger stakes
And an equal voice

711

He thought he was good
How bitter it was to learn
He’s not good enough

710

It’s causing trouble
It really needs to go but
It won’t go easy

709

Being a leader
Takes courage. Being good one
Takes humility

708

I want to be free
Of things that restrain me and
Keep me from my best

707

Hate the things you do
But never stop doing them
No sense of control

706

That’s a good question
Something speakers say whether
It is or it isn’t

705

Wait! I can fix that
I have the tools and the will
But never the time

704

She’s got her values
She’s got them written down for
The au pair to read

703

Think before speaking
A moment to collect thoughts
Can pay big rewards

702

WriteCamp Milwaukee
It’s the second time I’ve come
Better than the first

701

We’re all so stubborn
Thinking that we’re always right
And must defend turf

700

Drama in real life
Some things you change for pacing
But conflict rings true

699

Skills a leader needs
Dialogue and inquiry
Purpose and presence

698

Ever stop to think
What the people we’re chasing
Are chasing themselves?

697

Pain like no other
Lights, noise, thoughts can make you sick
Lie down in the dark

696

Stay above the fray
They will tear themselves apart
While you appear wise

695

He fears just one thing
Not me nor the wrath of God
Loss of precious toy

694

Choose to be crabby
Dwell on the negative side
And the world seems bleak

693

Never will escape
The greed and intrigue of those
Above and below

692

It satisfies less
But is easier to get
Than that which fulfills

691

Always get nervous
Before speaking in public
But not while on stage

690

Waiting to connect
Mixed signals and dropped phone calls
Alone in public

689

Some don’t get published
I give you so many but
Some are just for me

688

Inspiration strikes
When I am on the road and
Exposed to new things

687

How does one discern
Sincere words of wisdom from
Empty platitudes?

686

Day to day we’re not
Afraid of dying. Most are
Afraid of living

685

It was yesterday
Or the day before. My time
Never seems my own

684

You’re running too fast
To know where you are going
It’s a blind alley

683

Who’s the builder and
Who’s the tool? Are you sure? Look
At what’s being built

682

Old man underwear
Waistband rides on belly roll
Looks wider than you

681

Write one page per day
Don’t worry if good or bad
Edit it later

680

The myth of control
Natural consequence of
The myth of free will

679

Write yourself a note
The most important thing that
You always forget

678

A head for business
And a temperament to match
What’s he doing here?

677

The life you have is
The one you made while you weren’t
Paying attention

676

He wants a trophy
Doesn’t know there’s more to learn from
Losing than winning

675

Not sure this will work
Also not sure how trusting
Guy upstairs will help

674

Stop being prepared
Can’t predict what happens next
Just go with your gut

673

We who are between
Still charge the hills as if young
Bitter when we fail

672

The old don’t attempt
They know their limits and stay
Where they won’t be hurt

671

The young charge up it
Drunk with power of their legs
No hill is too steep

670

Three generations
One young, one old, one between
All face the same hill

669

In a hospital
Two thousand miles away, yet
Offering wisdom

668

The story seems real
They ask if it’s where I work
It’s where we all do

667

The plants are sprouting
Pushing again through the soil
Hope springs eternal

666

Can a haiku with
This title not mention the
Number of the beast?

665

Haiku is wisdom
Brought to light for a moment
Quickly forgotten

664

Unable to sleep
Taking a new approach but
Still plagued with worry

663

The art of ending
Too soon and you hurt feelings
Too late you waste time

662

Sometimes it’s too much
Sometimes it’s under control
It doesn’t change; I do

661

Contracts with yourself
Are only useful if you
Have power to sign

660

One day you’ll wake up
And you’ll know your dad is dead
Time to be a man

659

Don’t quit your god, just
Quit your church. Or at least stop
Telling me it’s good

658

Now it’s lung cancer
Just six months without chemo
Or eighteen months with

657

Forgot to hit save
And lost two of my haiku
All art is fleeting

656

Guess who’s stopping you
From doing what must be done
Look in the mirror

655

Waiting at Noodles
Don’t feel like cooking and need
Quick dinner for one

654

The world will test you
Do you have the courage to
Create new meaning?

653

Where does it come from?
And where does it go? What do
You want it to be?

652

Lessons in blogging
Delivered from my own mouth
When did I learn this?

651

The kid has issues
No more than most at that age
Did you think he wouldn’t?

650

Best birthday wishes
From the ones and zeros at
MikeRoweWorks dot com

649

Don’t waste our time on
Decisions already made
We shape the future

648

Time spent is time served
Think about what you’re doing
And where it gets you

647

Tests of leadership
Come with big events and with
Each step on the way

646

I feel the same stress
Things added to my long list
By you or by me

645

Here’s some news for you
There are no better ideas
Just better insights

644

Cell phone poetry
Is not the same when you switch
To a Blackberry

643

Ways to be online
One who sells or one who hides
Tools to use or fear

642

Create a monster
Hide it where no one can see
Use it to control

641

We’re terrified of
His socialist agenda
Even if not real

640

Crank out the haiku
Pause only to count the beats
Pure creative force

639

The turkey’s gone bad
I smell it on my fingers
Feel it in my gut

638

He’s willing to fight
For the things he thinks are right
Even at long odds

637

Five syllable words
Are easy to find. Seven
Syllable words aren’t

636

Song about nothing
An ode to futility
Absent a meaning

635

He’s not very smart
Easy to manipulate
A heart but no pulse

634

Under the radar
Creating change in secret
Yet one with the world

633

Can’t tell them apart
Are they friend or are they foe?
Best just kill them all

632

The new patriot’s
Nursery rhyme: Enemies
Here, there, everywhere

631

No understanding
Of how the world really works
Yet cocky and sure

630

Give a gift each day
Make it great, worth receiving
Success will follow

629

The great author’s voice
Transforms truth from personal
To universal

628

Commitments are made
Contracts you sign with yourself
You will find the time

627

They love the drama
But ask how can he be so
Hopelessly naïve

626

Snows falls like powder
Light and winsome through the night
Crusty hard by day

625

Covering one eye
Makes you easy to attack
Ruins depth perception

624

We all make mistakes
Some cut far deeper than others
But all can be healed

623

The best stories have
Symbols supplied by readers
Not forced by writers

622

That which inspires
Gets lost in mundane details
Livelihood not life

621

Wore slippers to work
Next will be soft blankets and
Sipping hot cocoa

620

You are a dear friend
Should be said more than it is
Love and peace to you

619

Suffice it to say
The family’s doing well
And send you our best

618

Life’s often busy
Holidays uniquely so
Choices must be made

617

No letter this year
So sorry to disappoint
Do better next year

616

New Patriots say
His death buys my liberty
Price we must all pay

615

Old patriots asked
For liberty or their death
They lived free or died

614

He’s got the talent
Unrefined by discipline
No platform for launch

613

Let it grow too long
And now it’s hard to pull up
Best to prune or dig?

612

Two men meet for lunch
One has what the other wants
But no will to give

611

Whose side are you on?
Sometimes you need to pick sides
Most of the time not

610

I’m tired and crabby
What would life bring if I wasn’t
So tired and crabby?

609

You need to make choices
Some boxes you tear wide open
Some keep tightly shut

608

Seems like harmless fun
Until hours have ticked on by
More like obsession

606

Making an impact
Voice beginning to be heard
Bring change to the crowd

605

Moves from place to place
Unable to find meaning
Fiction reflects life

604

New group of critics
Not as helpful as the last?
Or too soon to tell?

603

Google ‘Smith’ then ‘Chen’
Smith wins, but there are more Chens
Google sees a slice

602

Dream you’re someone else
Not who you want to be, but
A mind you can’t know

601

How much time is there?
It seems like enough to Be
But not to Become

600

Hey! I’ll take the train
Not fight traffic, get work done
Always run on time

599

Jesus in disguise
Like the prophet, his message
Not clear ‘til the end

598

Our soul an effect
Of atoms and chemistry
Mind what the brain does

597

If ‘we’ manifest
Only in our actions, then
There is no ‘within’

596

They say there’s free will
But they assume we exert
Control from within

595

When does it happen?
When do facts become knowledge?
And knowledge wisdom?

594

Don’t get us wrong. We
Love socialism. But we love
Cocktail parties more

593

List of things to do
Eleven days to do them
Finished about half

592

A new way to write
Leave the door wide open, then
Kick a few things out

591

Voice of a city
Loud, cocksure and indiff’rent
People are its tools

590

Things that must be done
Come before those you prefer
Decide which is which

589

Two chapters ahead
But no sense of next few steps
Makes me feel anxious

588

Single point of view
Authoritative, and yet
Full of bravado

587

As they get older
Their presents get smaller and
Much more expensive

586

Eve ate the apple
And condemned us all to death
But Lilith didn’t

585

I want to be loved
Not worshipped or idolized
Small chance of either

584

Walk five hundred miles
And then walk five hundred more
Fall down at my door

583

The truth of one man
Revealed in the way he treats
Those who surround him

582

I’m out to destroy
Happily ever after
It makes fiction dull

581

You do what I say
I’m the boss, I call the shots
Darn tootin’ I am

580

It’s my policy
Treat them like responsible
Adults. Not like kids

579

They want a good yarn
With heroes beating villains
And happy endings

578

Loved the beginning
Are with me through the middle
Will they like the end?

577

Neither. Things are true
That can be demonstrated
Or made manifest

576

What makes something true?
Just my say so? Or the say
So of those I trust?

575

Holidays are here
Time to let OCDs shine
Get your way or else

574

Season’s first snowfall
Dusting of fine white powder
Over crunchy ice

573

A clash of cultures
We do this and you do that
Neither way is best

572

Always last to know
Symptom of position and
Personality

571

He’s always been slow
Slow to crawl, walk, potty train
He will grow in time

570

Should you still give thanks
When you don’t believe there’s one
To receive those thanks?

569

When it’s all too much
Put it aside for the day
Face it fresh the next

568

Each of them waffles
Like me they sit and observe
The next one will choose

567

I used to feel torn
Pleasing me or the masses
No longer a choice

566

Are they stupid? Or
Are they liars with agendas?
Or blinded by fear?

565

We pretend to know
Fooling the world and ourselves
It keeps us secure

564

Not doing my work
Planned to but it’s the weekend
And I’d rather play

563

Look, there ain’t no ‘the’
Eagles, Police, Talking Heads
Why do we add it?

562

Haiku six hundred
Could be the same as sixteen
Would I even know?

561

Create, innovate
Speculate, participate
Differentiate

560

Not a single strength
Leadership is a system
That perpetuates

559

Can’t please everyone
Better to achieve goals than
Keep the world happy

558

Don’t worry so much
You’re only failing by your
Own expectations

557

What is worth doing?
Are there ways to know without
Doing everything?

556

Trapped in a cycle
Stress-inducing thought patterns
Break free with vision

555

The man’s retired
He no longer has the means
Nor the engagement

554

In New York they leave
Yes, but what else is there in
Green Bay, Wisconsin?

553

Fans at Lambeau Field
Impress the Long Islander
Staying till the end

552

Best part of the day
No matter the agenda
Time I spend alone

551

We’re strings vibrating
In eleven dimensions
At once here and there

550

I know math describes
Reality. But can math
Define it as well?

549

iPhones need fingers
And Blackberries need your thumbs
But do you need them?

548

Dogs bark, pigeons swarm
Crazy beard man shakes the tree
And everyone smokes

547

Never look forward
To things you don’t plan. Others
Always disappoint

546

Still and quiet place
Distant hum of forced air and
Splish of things that drip

545

Texas won one war
And lost another. Both a
Struggle to be free

544

No written records
No photographs of their own
Their culture obscured

543

Sixteenth century
Horse armor. Metal shaped to
Mimic strength and grace

542

Gray and unfriendly
Just on the outside. Inside
Colorful and warm

541

Nothing’s harder than
The test of being alone
What you choose to be

540

Frustration and angst
Contradictory critiques
No clear path forward

539

World turned upside down
Old priorities give way
To pressing new needs

538

The book’s inside me
It won’t write itself, but will
Be drawn out in time

537

Really knocked them dead
Not just reading but acting
A whole new career

536

A wise one once said
Thoughts aren’t complete until you
Articulate them

535

Only thing I do
That makes me feel strong and true
She couldn’t care less

534

Write a haiku where
Each of the three lines ends with
An incomplete thought

533

Delegating is
Easy. What’s hard is holding
Them accountable

532

We teach them nonsense
And model bad behavior
Why don’t they behave?

531

We’re tired all the time
Stay up late, get up early
And we wonder why

530

Little girl turned five
Got Barbies, toy computer
Brother plays with both

529

Ran out of candy
Ghosts and goblins were polite
Happy Halloween

528

Thoughts can be expressed
Thoughts funny, selfish, sublime
Each kind feeds the next

527

Asked to read my work
On stage through a microphone
I am so ready

526

Haiku limits choice
Its form forces words and patterns
What about ideas?

525

It’s all connected
Everything you think, say, do
Comes from the same source

524

Too many podcasts
Hundreds left after I die
Easy to delete

523

Learning how to lie
Keep your secrets hidden while
Living in public

522

The next big challenge
Is to keep yourself grounded
And options open

521

Everyone is sick
Virus raging through our house
No school, still must work

520

Hard lesson to learn
Must entertain to inform
Truth cloaked in fable

518

Lord of his world, with
Attack dogs and sycophants
At his beck and call

517

Stories have three parts
Action, climax, denouement
Life repeats first two

515

Going to D.C.
Not taking a private jet
Don’t want a bail-out

514

To rhyme with seven
Must one always choose heaven?
Try bread unleavened

513

Opportunites
Do not just fall from the sky
You can grow your own

512

Why are they quitting?
Because they can’t hack it or
Need to blaze own trail?

511

Time to change things up
Start throwing heated curveballs
What was last comes first

510

We meet by chance, both
In formal wear, both alone
And we dance as one

509

Pay us more money
We’re worth it, you won’t miss it
Makes my life easy

508

It’s now down to six
It was up to twenty-four
Where are they going?

507

When do you write these?
Where do you ever find time?
I just work it out

506

Disadvantages?
Not really. Just the moral
Ambiguity

505

Proud of our bullets
Light, reusable casings
Still good at killing

504

I can’t do it all
Each moment just do the next
Most important thing

503

It’s scary to think
How much a slave we’d all be
If freedom was free

502

Being productive
Takes its toll. Sometimes you just
Want to let things drop

501

Not a good idea
To eat the fried food they serve
It will make you sick

500

How long has it been?
He got and has recovered
From AIDS and cancer

499

Does conformity
Occur from the top down or
From the bottom up?

498

It’s always the same
Brand-driven environments
Target and Starbucks

497

Put yourself out there
But don’t give yourself away
Writer’s dilemma

496

Read this book before
More times than I care to count
Help her make it new

495

If what you wanted
Was cup of cream and sugar
Why order coffee?

494

A few real people
Mixed with mostly cell phone bots
My loyal readers

493

She’s drinking coffee
Made the same calculation
Caffeine sans sweetener

492

It’s remarkable
How patterns of thought trap us
And limit our reach

491

People only care
When they’ve got something at stake
What’s in it for me?

490

Struggle of my life
I want to achieve something
But I don’t know what

489

There comes a time when
Diminishing returns force
A new strategy

488

I try really hard
To be the best I can be
Should I stop trying?

487

Is haiku best when
Read as a single sentence
Over its three lines?

486

I’m getting better
At making small talk, but still
Search for common ground

485

Try to imagine
What it must be like to be
The people you hate

484

Two friends having lunch
Once close, lives drifting apart
Still much in common

483

What can I recall
From last time we chanced to meet?
I seek connection

482

I once had big plans
Ways to rejoice, celebrate
Now they’re forgotten

481

Sixteen subscribers
The most I have seen so far
Will it go higher?

479

Doing his homework
A chance for father and son
To learn together

478

Two haiku a day
Keeps me fed but off schedule
Christmas in July

477

Drop in the bucket
A teaspoon in the ocean
Attempts not noticed

476

A strange place to write
Filled with tired faces and loud voices
But sheltered corners

475

They’re not wise like us
They’re foolish and won’t listen
Someday they’ll wake up

474

You need to make choices
About where to spend your time
You can’t do it all

473

They’re all so impressed
With how I think on my feet
Can’t they do the same?

472

It’s feast or famine
It’s absence or abundance
Never in between

471

You know you will pay
For making such dumb comments
As if you’re in charge

470

I have a puppy
His name is Milo the Dog
Milo has blue fur

469

Some things make me proud
Of other things I’m ashamed
To him they’re the same

468

Marks on the whiteboard
Asking how to spell haiku
Wants to be like me

467

Truth lives near the line
Sometimes short, sometimes past it
Never far away

466

There’s a certain thrill
That comes with crossing the line
And a price to pay

465

Went to Urgent Care
Daughter fell and broke her foot
It was not my fault

464

Now he does not care
After pushing me to act
He’ll hide in his weeds

463

We just keep eating
As waistlines grow we care less
Slow slide to old age

462

He’s seven years old
Cried at loss in first chess game
Did he think he’d win?

461

While the company
Besieged on all sides was forced
To stop playing cards

460

Up in Fond du Lac
A union shuffled the cards
And played the same hand

459

Call me Ishmael
And other opening lines
Beginnings matter

458

There’s no money left
In our wallet, bank, country
Let’s just print some more

457

We live in a world
Where madness is kept holy
And crime entertains

456

A river of pee
My daughter said. And the poops
Are going swimming

455

I like what it means
Much better than how it sounds
My wife’s the reverse

454

Bought a new laptop
Had my pick of nine colors
It’s small, light and fast

453

How does someone stop
Doing the thing everything
Else must depend on?

452

Don’t want to do this
Not now and never again
But I can’t just quit

451

Keep it to yourself
The world won’t accept your search
It will just harm you

450

Why am I writing?
Is it so others can read?
Or so I can live?

449

Look! There’s the rhino!
Sky glider is so much fun
There it is again!

448

A cry in the night
Heard between sleep and waking
Bad dreams trouble all

447

Don’t come here to learn
I come here to listen and
Decide what comes next

446

Best meeting ever
Team did great job all around
Now get back to work

445

Broken training wheel
Pale skin of motionless child
Sticky pool of blood

444

Leave out the pronouns
And other tricks for haiku
Need to keep it brief

443

Loves video games
Borders on an obsession
Would play them all day

442

Screams to get her way
Even when we ignore she
Screams to get her way

441

Simple truths revealed
Writing about a life is
Writing poetry

440

Not Left against Right
Today’s bumper sticker said
The State against you

439

Hard to get going
Start slowly and build up speed
Feels great when you’re done

438

Their young minds wonder
What does it mean to be dead?
They’re fearless and pure

437

Lost power last night
Stood watch over the sump pump
Protecting what’s mine

436

How was your weekend?
Great. Wish I could remember
What the hell I did

435

The wall that divides
What you wish from what must be
So they serve each other

434

Your full potential
Will only be realized when
You tear down the wall

433

We all know nothing
About things that matter most
We just think we do

432

Breathe it in deeply
Let it out throughout your day
It will sustain you

431

Pick it up, eat it
It’s not that dirty. Diff’rence
Between Mom and Dad

430

Deep morning stillness
Shades drawn, children are sleeping
Their untroubled brows

429

Center of my world
Not the thing that brings me joy
Thing that must be fed

428

They’re scared and they’re hurt
Failed my job to keep them safe
Now must keep them calm

427

I saw it coming
Could do nothing about it
Except run and scream

426

We’re giant people
Draped in non-descript fabric
Did you bring us food?

425

Think about writing
If it makes me feel alive
Why not do it more?

424

Meeting with my peers
Learning where we’re similar
More so where we’re not

423

What is there to learn
When you’re always the teacher
Never the student?

422

Lost my connection
Not to just the Internet
To my world, myself

421

There are choices to make
In moments of clarity
Be what you’d become

420

Back in the routine
After a week’s vacation
Both happy and sad

419

Follow your passion
And the money will follow
So says the artist

418

The Newport Resort
In Egg Harbor, Wisconsin
A nice place to stay

417

Follow our dumb rules
Not because they make good sense
But because they’re ours

416

They push and they pull
All expecting you to be
The thing they need most

415

A moment in time
Being what I yearn to be
It soon passes away

414

How could I forget
About going in to work?
And what if I did?

413

The rhetoric flies
He’ll destroy America
They’re driven by fear

412

Coming in early
Staying late, bringing work home
Feels just like old times

411

Feel like a grown-up
In control and confident
Making decisions

410

Duties to perform
Some you dread, some you don’t mind
They all must get done

409

Screams at the airport
Children scared and out of sorts
I know how they feel

408

It’s not paranoid
To see plots all around you
Just plots within plots

407

They’re not coming back
I don’t know how to get home
I’m lost forever

406

Drop him off and go
Does he ever get scared of
Being in strange places?

405

Some folks find problems
Wherever they go. Nothing
Is quite good enough

404

She likes to read books
Snuggled together in bed
Prefers Mom to me

403

Target is the place
For footballs and dance outfits
What a parent needs

402

There is no running
The game is golf not hockey
Will they ever learn?

401

Go at your own pace
Don’t let them push you around
You are in control

400

You live day to day
They’re looking years down the road
You must act as one

399

Don’t ask them what’s next
Tell them where you are going
And let them adjust

398

A happy place for
Little girls and little boys
Keep them warm and safe

397

Demands on my time
Competing priorities
Just can’t do it all

396

Pain in my stomach
Perhaps it’s something I ate
If not something worse

395

Bugs in the salad
Wonder how many I ate
Better not to know

394

Time at the office
Leaves little time to be home
Should spend it wisely

393

Waiting for a friend
Lunch talk to help us realize
Our full potential

392

I just can’t relax
I’m driving my wife crazy
I’ve no peace inside

391

Stop wasting your time
On things that don’t advance goals
You must stay focused

390

Ignore or confront?
There should be a middle way
To handle problems

389

They can’t get along
Nor meet each other half way
They won’t even speak

388

I am what I do
I am what people perceive
I have lost myself

387

A thousand small choices
Made over the course of years
Add up to your life