top of page

Poem of the Month

May, 2023

The Day

 

I walked in the back yard

Of the home I grew up in

The day my mother died

And I tried to cry

 

I saw my dad sitting in his lawn chair

Hat on head, shovel in one hand, a beer in the other

The day my mother died

And I tried to cry

 

I saw my dog Dixie running to greet me

Ears flapping, tail wagging, howling in delight

The day my mother died

And I tried to cry

 

I saw the garden, the mulch pile, the chain link fence

The green grass that was just mowed

The day my mother died

And I tried to cry

 

I saw my childhood vanish before my eyes

And I knew I would never stand here again

The day my mother died

And I cried and cried

Poem of the Month

April, 2023

Bipartisanship

 

If the geese

can do it in the air

Why can’t we

do it with our feet on the ground?

 

Backlit with an azure sky

looking up at two enormous

circular groups of geese

with long necks and wide wings

approach each other

from the eastern and western horizons

 

Swirling around each other

Getting closer and closer

Now joining together

 

A circulating ball of winged travelers

Shape-shifting

Into that familiar chevron-shaped flight formation

 

Headed west in unison

Honking encouragement to each other

Choreographed cooperation

 

Not that difficult is it?

Poem of the Month

March, 2023

Sheople

 

People are how people shape them

Fleeced without concern

Pursuing that beacon

at every turn

 

Thought is infertile

Actions are fruitless

The soothsayer's sign

is actually meaningless

 

Individuality

is a terrorist act

Truth

is fake not fact

 

Ignorance and arrogance

A dangerous couple

Creating a mind

far less supple

 

Drowning on dry land

The terrain of the free

Is this the way

we really want to be?

February, 2023

Harmoniousness

 

No need

for a song sung

between them

 

In tune

with each other’s rhythm

 

Synchronized swimming

Choreographed closeness

 

Tenderly together

January, 2023

Sursum Corda

 

Praise be to Allah

for morning wood

It can be counted on

to act as it should

 

Not so sure

throughout the day

How the splendid splinter

will obey

 

Will it be righteous

standing tall and proud

Or be tucked away

Concealed in its shroud?

 

Yet another inevitable adjustment

that must be made

For the price of a life long-lived

that must be paid

December, 2022

That Inky Magnificence

With my feet

firmly planted on the ground

I look up

at that inky magnificence

that encircles all of us

La Luna

Twinkling extraterrestrial bodies

 

Some day

everything that was so important

won’t matter any more.

By our hand

and the nature of our solar system,

life will not be able to exist

as we know it

 

What will become

of our legacies,

the distinguished deeds we have accomplished

that others need

to enrich their lives and prosper?

 

The amazing amalgamation

of interstellar gas and dust

that created us

in a boundless space,

may have formed other worlds

in that inky magnificence

 

Do we really think

we are the only intelligent life

that inhabits the universe?

November, 2022

Evensong

Bohemians, street performers

and everyone else

at Mallory Square

applaud the sunset

 

A dying ember

flaring up

as it sinks

into the horizon

 

The afterglow

of excitatory exhiliration

 

If the sunset was accompanied with music

trumpets would herald its grandeur

as a choir serenaded angelically

October, 2022

Autumnal

Fantastic Fall...

 

Warm afternoons and cool evenings

 

Forest afire with blazing flora

 

Magnificent musk of decay

 

Gently but spectacularly

transitioning to a time

of reflection and remembrance

 

The forest seemingly lifeless

 

Regenerating with stillness

to make rebirthing visible

 

Come: succulent spring

simmering summer

 

The circle of life

Amen.

September, 2022

Postcards

Selfishness and Survival

Retribution and Rebirth

Were these the reasons?

 

Why does a love

take flight

What do you do

when it’s out of sight?

 

Memories of pleasure

Remembrances of pain

How do you keep it together

How do you remain sane?

 

Postcards of places traveled

Experiences on the road

They are in the past now

As I unburden my heavy load

 

Still standing

Amongst the cremains

Thankful for life

And what still remains

 

Nobody gets away

Unscathed

Suffering and sorrow

Showered and bathed

 

Cleansed and Redeemed

Life will be lived

Accountable for all deeds

That one ever did

 

Don’t know how to hold on to love

Do know how to wallow in hurt

Feels like home when the pain is real

When the flowers shrivel in the dirt

 

Maybe I’m realizing

What I have and what I don’t

What I can do

What I won’t

 

Sometimes you have to lose

In order to find

What’s most important

Maybe even divine

 

A guiding light

Through the dark

May keep us together

Never far apart

 

August, 2022

Bird's Blues 

The predawn light

illuminates the bedroom window

as the pitter-patter of raindrops

fall on the windowsill

 

Rising above the winged symphony

the mourning dove’s melancholic cooing

takes center stage

as the other birds become background singers

 

On the wings of the mourning dove

I am transported back in time

to my grandparent’s cottage

nestled among the trees

far from the gravel road

where the mourning dove

would awaken me

cautioning the dawning of a new day

 

As shadows

darken the bedroom window

the mourning dove

repeats its melancholic lament

 

Has nothing changed

between sunrise and sunset?

July, 2022

Weathered Warriors

These weathered warriors

On a diamond tarnished

Still playing a youth’s game

Swinging bats with worn varnish

 

They grunt and groan

As they catch and throw

And hobble to the plate

With bat cradled just so

 

The crack of the bat

Still makes a thrilling sound

As shuffled feet

Hit the sandlot ground

 

The competitive fire

That’s always there

Stays kindled deeply

As everyone will bear

 

Adapting to limitations

That years have wrought

The hourglass fills up

As life’s lessons are taught

 

The youth’s delight

Can still be heard

As they congratulate each other

With an encouraging word

 

You legends of yore

Exhibit courage for us all

Still playing the game

Heeding the siren’s call

June, 2022

Unleashed

Wild old hound

That be he

No more leash

So he can be free

 

Nothing to fetch

No one to please

Relieving himself

Wherever he be

 

Long ears flapping

Hound dog howl

Tail wagging

On the prowl

 

Bandana on neck

Nose to the ground

Following a trail

That’s outward bound

 

True to what guides him

Following his bliss

The day dawns knowing

He has no more ass to kiss

bottom of page