Poem of the Month
December, 2023
EarthWorks
At ease being a son of the soil
Life stays close to the ground
Steady in my convictions
Certain of where I’m bound
No troubles of the ruling class
Everything has a rhythm
Living in the present
Embraces a perpetual wisdom
Adapting to changing circumstances
Vigilant of what’s around
Humming a soulful song
Creates an aerospace of soothing sound
Working class heroes
Don’t get the recognition
Of the powered and politicians
Who make the publicized decisions
The certitude of fairness
Acknowledging right from wrong
Will be my legacy
When I am long gone
I sleep soundly at night
Never compromise my integrity
Make do with what I possess
With clarity and rationality
Cut through the distractions
That surround us all
Stay true to what guides you
Stand proud and tall
October, 2023
A Beacon of Light
Rod left this earth
The way he lived his life
At peace with the moment
No stress, no strife
He would sit in his chair
Understanding look on his face
As I acknowledged my shortcomings
Without any disgrace
Rod would often say to me
“The universe doesn’t give a shit”
So I would journey inwards
To seek how to be fit
He helped me find purpose
And live in a meaningful way
Guided me to find balance
As I often did stray
Rod changed my life
Without taking responsibility for it
Showing me how to deal with pain
Never give up and fully commit
He was much more than a therapist
And became a very special friend
Who guided and supported me
All the way to the end
What would Rod have said
About his spirit taking flight
Maybe “Never out of mind”
“Just out of sight”
Poem of the Month
November, 2023
Those Hands
Those Hands
So supple and strong
Moved so rhythmically
Where they belonged
Performed with his wife
And that trop-rock band
Put a smile on your face
Made you clap and stand
Hands grasp
A life to hold
Those Hands were harmonious
For you to behold
Music doesn’t die
It’s created to survive
Cradled in our memories
As we view the deep blue sky
October, 2023
A Beacon of Light
Rod left this earth
The way he lived his life
At peace with the moment
No stress, no strife
He would sit in his chair
Understanding look on his face
As I acknowledged my shortcomings
Without any disgrace
Rod would often say to me
“The universe doesn’t give a shit”
So I would journey inwards
To seek how to be fit
He helped me find purpose
And live in a meaningful way
Guided me to find balance
As I often did stray
Rod changed my life
Without taking responsibility for it
Showing me how to deal with pain
Never give up and fully commit
He was much more than a therapist
And became a very special friend
Who guided and supported me
All the way to the end
What would Rod have said
About his spirit taking flight
Maybe “Never out of mind”
“Just out of sight”
Poem of the Month
September, 2023
Sanctuary of Suffering
What is preserved
on a reservation?
How do we endure
the hopelessness
the humiliation of the reservation?
How do we toil
on barren soil?
Where is our place
amidst the paleface?
Why do we continue to taste
the tears of promises long broken?
Why do we continue to caress
the wounds of generations passed?
Why do the spirits
that dance among us
never vanish from sight?
Why does the drum
distant and diffuse
keep beating
with a rhythmic cadence?
Poem of the Month
August, 2023
Assaulting Ourselves
What would happen
If Americans couldn’t
Take each other’s lives
With flesh-piercing bullets?
With our world-renowned Yankee ingenuity
Would we discover
Ingenious ways
To wipe out a school
Or eliminate unwanted visitors?
Would people be
Ambling about
With a quiver of arrows
On their shoulders
And a bow in their hands?
Would people be
Forced to be
More intimate
With their victims
And invade personal space
With cutlery perhaps?
What is it about
We Americans
With all of our endemic advantages
And personal freedoms
That we eliminate
So many lives
With firearms?
How can a weapon of mass destruction
Be a tool for conflict resolution?
We have more guns
Than people in this country
Do we have more
Courage than cowardice?
​
Might we finally
Figure out
The desperation
That breeds violence?
Poem of the Month
July, 2023
Anam Cara
It was heartbreaking
Yet merciful
It was swift
Yet timeless
Powerless
to intervene
Hopeless
to bear
Breath
Becalmed
​
Poem of the Month
June, 2023
Navigating to Nowhere
My Dad was meant to sail the sea,
To navigate his vessel and be set free.
Binoculars in hand, smile on his face,
Bracing himself, in his own sacred space.
Navigating his ship in his own private Idaho,
Sailing to a destination with nowhere to go.
The feel of salt water pulsing through his veins,
Would curtail his proclivity for raising Cain.
For when he spied terra firma and hit land,
That is when all the trouble began...
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
​
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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