Nothing in Between

house cats become
deck cats and then
become park cats
as we expand the
realm in which they
were trained to live;
park cats become
deck cats and soon
become house cats
as the realm in which
they lives returns to
the way it has been
and we failed in our
understanding of the
basic nature of cats.

12Sept16

Humor

humor leave us speechless
when it fall on deaf ears and
ends up on the ground for us
to walk upon on our way home;
humor fuels the fires of discontent
when bosses force us to listen
and measure our future by how
hard that we are seen laughing;
humor offers sarcasm as its base,
reading contempt between the
lines and wonder why spouses
don not understand anymore;
humor destroys families as it
passes over those homes who
do not have bloody doors nor
did they ever want to have one.

12Sept16

Longevity

beyond the point of commonplace,
lies a world of forgetfulness of all
that is right and clean and we see
it everyday when we take our
constitutionals if weather permits;
inside the sandy dirt, we keep our
heads and their thoughts as we
tend to other business in a world
of fluid commerce, seeing all
strangers as welcome even after
using their lives to cash out;
we drift aimlessly in our minds
when we can and without permission
as if some secret agent on a binge,
knowing what we may find will be
quickly and quietly rescinded since
it was not part of our contracts.

12 Sept16

Election Day

freely frolicking funerals litter
our pedestrian highways on
more than one occasion recently,
no action on our speculations;
souls dangle in crisis unheard and
unseen by the popular majority,
who spends more time answering
questions than asking them;
mass confusions ushers us into
our own mass graves as politicians
feast on banquet venison and rice
honoring all righteous speculation;
caskets of hope are carried daily on
the backs of those already burdened
and who are ignored by the wealthy
until it is time for election day.

30Aug16

Our Serenity

life lives in the shadows
of the mind,
hidden from false pretense
and absurdities;
life dwells in the future
of uncertainties,
leaving the past to fight
for its own survival;















light and dark clash as
they always have done,
winning and losing, but
never giving up their cause;
knights of survival
pawns of disbelief
moral fabrics not blended
torn tapestries of time;
the game is always the same
always being played
living our feeble lives
in self absorbed serenity.

30Aug16

Fall Feast

fall fails to ignite an interest
colorful leaves fall still dead
rains make roads slippery dangerous
life guards have packed up their saving stuff
ballers run sprints up and down the field
hoopers practice since the season is soon
commercials depict winners and losers
and I know my time is yet to come, waiting
on the side of the road for the wrecker.

30Aug16

Living Easy

comfortable living suits me
nice and lazy and all
doing nothing all day
but living easy and free
without concern or attitude
and when the day is done,
I sleep well too since my
comfortable living world is
all about living with cancer.

30Aug16

Without Commitments

steroids blend health
with obesity in a final
attempt to regulate
control over nature's
outcomes, leaving its
victims powerless
with self controls that
may or may not work;
yet, as faulty as it sounds
logically, it leaves us
without a commitment
the following week to
be anywhere at any
specific time to be
tested once again and
fine tuned in an effort
to live a little longer.

29Aug16

Fueled Doubts

closeted feelings leap out
like a jack-in-the-box

when confronted under the
right set of circumstances,
hurting those around us due
to our previous silence;
yet, we do so anyway to
protect our own self worth
and because we seem to
feel more accepted now...
when acceptance is only an
illusion of equality in a
world that thrives on hate
and discontent fueling all
of our self doubt realities.

29Aug16

Editorials

pure thoughts and
pure love lay on the
ground in a twisted
and perverted mound
of sexual struggles;
teasing and pleasing
comrades until the end,
we have been told,
but, the ends of the
means is always
justified they say...
in weak editorials
of the dead, leaving
us to wonder if it is
what they claimed
or what we feared.

29Aug16

Chasing Tales

darkness lingers
inside me
like an old friend
who has over stayed
their welcome;



light stands in the doorway
of my imagination
like a mistress
waiting for money and
an invitation in;


death underscores life
in its battle for
recognition and existence
in the barren world
of conflict insanity
where evil and good
are non existent concepts;




filtering air
filtering blood
filtering life
as we spend all our time
chasing tales.

29Aug16

Released & Returned

falling rain hits on the
rooftops like waves
against a coastline as
I hunker down on my
couch, wrapped in a
damp robe from sweating,
smelling the aroma of
it all due to cracks in
our window frames;

shivering silence rolls
over me like nausea and
while sips of warm
coffee steadies the nerves,
I write my last thoughts
on paper inside a tablet
purchased at WalMart
just the day before last;
quivering fears are
politely quelled when
light appears from the
forgotten doorway in
my mind and I am
once again released back
into the sanity of day
and the light therein.

29Aug16

Spectators

light clings to the edge of night
as light clings to the darkness
that claims to be inside us all;
purging thoughts as we sleep
is what we do to cleanse and in
these dreams of affirmation,
we see the real spirit of the
offense that always disappears;
morning brings enlightenment
and a new claim of righteousness
as best efforts diminish within
the rising sun and its humidity;
but, in the dawn and the dusk,
the two sides debate our fate
and we are always seen as
spectators who never seem to
have anything to say about it.

28Aug16

Spooky

is it not as strange to
you as it is to me
that words keep
flowing out of my
mind daily without
the slightest bit of
effort on my part?
and, when
one or two
or more days
 are missed, these
words seem to know
and flow even faster
and more abundantly
than before and even
if it is alarming for
me, they arrive
anyway as if all
they really
want to do is
spook me.

28Aug16

Never Seems To Matter

September,
 is the next one in line
then October,
November, and December
and then,
not just a new month
but a new year
is given birth to us
like a savior,
allowing us to begin again
if we want to
but if not,
this new year always understands
and we live anyway,
experiencing the same
but different twelve months
just as before...
and, just as before that year as well
and all those years
we can remember backwards
since forwards
has not yet appeared,
and, what we thought we knew
never seems to matter
anymore to any of us.

28Aug16

Obituaries

sneaky thoughts hide
in the underwear of
men's imagination,
even though the
wash and clean cycle
cleans out most all
their nasty habits;
life falls short of
having clean dirt to
throw out and misses
the point when trying
to be nice, as that was
never taught in our
public school systems;
opinions lay on the ground
with all the drunks who
have been kicked our of bars
in the hopes of being
picked up by sanitation crews
and taken to the dump sites
for cleaning and disposal;
newspapers print what
reporter write, always
leaving out the truth
in the hopes of selling
more papers but never
omit the obituaries.

28Aug16

Overlooked

dawn brings with her all the
handicapped crutches of the
day and all those souls whose
lives have been marred by
pleasant dreams of our foolish
politicians...  and, in those
dreams are all the planted
seeds of doubt and concern
that doing the right thing has
been righteously overlooked.

27Aug16

Inappropriate

within moments of awareness
we buckle under not wanting
to seek our illumination or that
which we have been told is truth;
for in the telling, comes the lie
and in the lie is the disappointment
in the honor of the moment that
takes away our courage to believe;
and when that has vanished, the
tarnished cauldron in which our
lives had been cooked appears
as it did in childish dreams and
our sanctions lives become as
inappropriate as the awareness.

27Aug16

Insecurities

weeks steal the days
months steal the weeks
years steal the months
decades steal the years
centuries replace us with

substitutes who begin
again the process of
growth and illumination;
or, so we are told...
but, it is not so much
a process as it is rebirth;
and in this so-called
rebirth, we are exposed
to life with secrets and
must sacrifice life in
order to gain truth and
limited insights since
we know it cannot be
given all at once anymore;
still, we care not of
the beginning nor of
the conclusions nor of
all the misguided sentiment
in between it all as we
have all we need to have
and do all we need to do
because we know of
nothing else to do actually;
so, within this irony we
have piece-of-mind and
clarity and pursue all
avenues of growth and
doubt that create and
hone our insecurities.

27Aug16

Stopped

rumors were once
distributed freely
that better days were
just around the corner,
when there was never
really any corner in sight;
and while it fooled some
of the people some of the time,
it fooled all of the people
all of the time and so
the rumors were stopped.

26Aug16

Life All Along

days of circumstance
become circumstantial
evidence for those who
want to plead a case of
innocence in misplacing
their minds once joining
the ranks of unemployed;
yet, want to believe that
there is something waiting
in a box for them not too
far down the road instead;
and while we applaud the
spirit of their thoughts,
these young souls must
rest assured that there is
nothing to be had down
the road a ways or father,
as long as life continues
as it was meant to continue
before they had been born.

26Aug16

Civilized Law

the jury hangs you out to dry even
though your clothes are not wet,
but a conviction is required
once in a while
if we are going to be perceived
as somewhat civilized;
a mad dog barks down the street
seeking forgiveness and is shot
at Fifth and Main just in front
of a funeral parlor that seems
to have the same name as the dog
and no one is alarmed except
the women of indecent exposure
who surround his limp body;
justice rides in and out of town
as if tarred and feathered
as we applaud their efforts
towards seeking out the truth,
knowing all along that truth
is all that is left once the facts
of the case have been removed.

26Aug16

WORDS

words are like drops of rain

that always fall downwards,

slipping and sliding off of

whatever is in their way until

the bottom is discovered and

they percolate into the ground

or form pools of inconvenience

around which we must walk;

words hurt only those whose

intentions revolve around the

word itself as if a truer purpose

could not be found at all until

anger replaces embarrassment

and those who should be rather

ashamed want only to reconcile;

words can only hurt those who

are true recipients and never

those who were carelessly in

the way when first formulated.

7Nov16

Politely Thankful

we see chatter all around us

we hear visualization in our sleep

we manifest righteousness daily

we bend too much with shallow roots

we cascade differences like skipping rocks on a pond

we wonder why all is said and done

we lift nary a finger to help out

we attend Church as often as we can

we live in the shelter of unrealized fears

we calm anxiety with sweet tea an cokes

we tent to criticize what we don't understand

we try to understand what we don't really believe

we live for today and expect tomorrows

we see nothing beyond our horizons

we accept no limitations but test out nothing

we see no reason for concern outside of paying bills

we adjust when life steals our justifications

we are colorblind when it's convenient

we are open minded to our own desires

we fetch not what could be brought to us

we sun bathe in summer because it is our right

we have sex to justify our love and sometimes vice versa

we grow old because we have nothing left to do

we die when all else has been taken from us

we are politely thankful for it all.


22Aug16

Failing Health

my mind loses focus
my heart functions like a man's heart should at this age
chemo causes me to be without community
chemo cause me to be anemic and fatigued
chemo causes low platelet count
eyes have lens implants but still cannot see
teeth, dark from coffee, grow weaker
muscles begin to lose their strength
bones begin to aches under stress
arthritis lingers in joints and lower back
bowel movements are regular no more
sleep habits are altered
urination is more frequent
body sensitive to cold and heat
loss of hearing, smell, and taste
physical labor is much less
endurance lessens
and the mind struggles with
the currents of positive thoughts.

20Aug16

Shoulders

the arc of a door opening
signifies nothing more
than what one sees...
but, what about that
which is not seen?
imagined or otherwise...
it still might be there,

lurking around somewhere
and in such a way so as
not to be seen by us,
but why?
and, in the telling of
this story, do we see or
not see its purpose
lingering ever so slightly
on the shoulders of
our awareness?

8Aug16

Just Once

we cannot see that
which wee cannot see

nor can we know that
which we do not know
nor can we understand
that which we do not
explore complete since
we cannot believe that
which we struggle to find;
and, our simple lesson...
this pursuit of awareness...
have only a few blessed
souls who see it as a
necessary journey
somewhat late in life.

8Aug16

Left Alone

intuitive signs mark

the entrance, but few

open the door when

it is tightly shut due

to all the humidity;

still, one would think

the way is simply

the way regardless

of the circumstance;

but, in our societies

regulations flow

without regulations

leaving inherent desire

mixed in with all our

worries and confusions.

8Aug16

Order of Arrival

distant thoughts fall off
mental tree limbs
making no sounds at all,
not even to the trained listener,
if there is not intent;
distant thoughts burrow

into the hollows
of ignorance when allowed
to be sold at auction;
memories and cures and
cures for memories are rolled
up in uneaten rice paper
and laid on a heated hearth
to be cooked carefully
in order of their arrival;
a journey ends
as a new one begins
even before it was intended
and we see no harm
in the allusion of growth
or in its illusion of progress
as either way they
both cook away on the
slow fires of life in
the order of their arrival.

8Aug16

All Other Days

in through the glass windows
our morning light appears,
either soft or harsh
depending upon the year;
taken in gradually, we
begin our day just like
all other days here in our
lonesome little valley of
no concern to others who
may live right next door;
day -  after - day
it all begins and ends the same,
and when we sleep, we
we dream it will begin that
way again...  over and over, as
that is the way our valley is;
neither rain nor snow nor sun
hampers the progress of days
and the world around us flows
like it always flowed whether
it be up or down stream;
life rests gently on its surroundings
and falls hard without consequence
when observed by the casual eye
that sees no harmony at all.

8Aug16