7 Haiku for Parsha Balak by Rick Lupert (Ohmygod a talking donkey!)

I
Meanwhile the king
of Moab tries to hire a
wizard to curse us

II
The wizard agrees
to go – but only nice words
will leap from his tongue

III
A talking donkey
scolds the wizard – You heard me
a talking donkey

IV
Balak thinks Balaam
doesn’t quite understand the
mission – Curse strike one

V
My family rises
like lions. Just try and curse
a lion – You can’t

VI
The curse turns into
words I say every morning –
or am supposed to

VII
Yeah but the world will
end says the failed curser who
wants to seem useful

Los Angeles poet Rick Lupert created a the Poetry Super Highway (an online publication and resource for poets), and hosted the Cobalt Cafe weekly poetry reading for almost 21 years. He’s authored 20 collections of poetry, including “I’m a Jew, Are You” (Jewish themed poems) and “Feeding Holy Cats” (Poetry written while a staff member on the first Birthright Israel trip), and most recently “Donut Famine” (Rothco Press, December 2016) and edited the anthologies “Ekphrastia Gone Wild”, “A Poet’s Haggadah”, and “The Night Goes on All Night.” He writes the daily web comic “Cat and Banana” with fellow Los Angeles poet Brendan Constantine. He’s widely published and reads his poetry wherever they let him.