I’m done racing rats
Through a seeming endless maze
Chasing smaller chunks
Of stinking green Limburger.
I see, now, the trap
Set by those soulless fat cats
To keep us from succeeding.
irony
Seeing Red
Amidst a mess of document
left in a box in this old home,
new to us these last few years,
mixed among the old receipts
for plumbing work and seedling trees
and appliance manuals
for appliance dinosuars
long gone to their extinction,
I found a weathered yellow sheet
Typed upon in fading blue,
a restrictive covenant
that pierced my heart. Could it be true?
Did my predecessor here,
in this vibrant melting pot,
this neighborhood of polyglots,
seek, back then to enshrine
his bigotry upon the land
from that point and for all time?
Yes, my friends, I’m sad to say,
around the time my dad was born,
some lofty ass took it to mind
to codify a huge red line
around this humbled cot of mine.
Talking with Grandfather in his Cluttered Workshop
Am I a hoarder? Surely no!
This workshop might belie that, though…
Full of bins of salvaged parts
of broken things from long ago.
That bin of wheels from broken carts
I though might be replacement parts
for whom a use has not been found
These odd bits, we’ll use for arts?
My thinking here might not be sound.
But I like having parts around
to employ when something breaks
And another can’t be found.
Still… None of this was some mistake!
Imagine all the things we’ll make.
Imagine all the things we’ll make!
Dawning Images (38)
All these little aches
accompany us daily;
our lifetime boon companions.
Decisive Daffodil Duo
Version 1
Daffodils care not
For the mad machinations
Of tyrants or mortal men
~
Version 2
Daffodils care naught
Of the mad machinations
Of tyrants or mortal men.
Two subtle wording differences produce two wholly different feelings.
Understatement
Leaves and twigs slashing
horizontal in the gale.
Winds birth tears and bears them forth.
~
Umbrellas invert.
Hats depart for warmer climes.
“Wee bit breezy”, he mutters.
He and His Glasses Case!
Look! Possessive Squirrel!
Dragging his bed place to place.
Material contagion.
Oh God, what hath humans wrought?
An Unplanned Siesta
Again, I find myself
Standing at a crossroads,
Pondering directions.
Unsure which path to take.
Should I? Could I? Perhaps?
~
The sun is overhead.
At the roadside, flowers.
Birdsong lilts from afar.
Wheat heads rustle nearer.
~
It’s been a long journey,
Full of rush and bother,
That led me to this place.
~
Beside these thoroughfares
I shall pause, breathe, relax.
~
There’s time for a siesta.
Savage Waters
This disease leaves wounds,
rivers both wide and deep.
Too deep for fording
and much too wide for bridges,
so we build ferries
and brave treacherous waters,
holding connections
to our loved ones long estranged
by these savage waters wide.
A Statesman’s Prayer
When we disagree,
can we not remain civil
and work to find common ground?
~
You know I love our country,
as I know you love it too.
Let us not cast stones!
Ridiculously Rote Rhetoric
Unnamed Politicians!
Can you perceive the irony,
As you march in this parade,
On this public highway,
Closed today by state police,
Between county fire trucks,
And city rescue squads,
Past these public schools,
All the while waving
Your banners proudly claiming,
“I Fight Socialism”?
My Struggles
Not to your vile
nature nor to your greedy
ways do I owe my sorrow.
~
I revolt myself,
every time I wish you ill,
yet I can’t refrain.
That Sad Little Bird
Alone in the dark,
he cries out for relevance,
love, being unfamiliar.
Masked
Behind bravado
Cowers insecure infant
Confidently clothed.
Aroil in Pain 