Ignoring the Science

an endless supply of heat hits

the valley each day, despite

the desire of the residents to

experience cooler temperatures,

nature can never be controlled

no matter how much wealth

we want to pour into the project;

destined to pass through four

seasons, we in the valley are

lucky since some locations are

privileged to experience two

and some three although that

is highly unusual and unlikely,

nature has her annual requirements

to honor and typically displays

no deviation regardless of those

who claim it is lack of climate

control and those who have made

the decision to ignore the science.

August 25, 2023

Heat's Humidity

the sun's heat buries the imagination

eyes shut tight avoiding

on the ground laying against its coolness

spoiled by mother nature...

heat filters through the water

fish swim down towards the bottom

away from anglers and heat

desperately looking for shade...

mountain streams that run cold

are now cooled and warmed,

trout float on the top like buoys,

conservationists know not what to do;

water flows inside the coolness

of the mental cave into which we

all have retreated...  humbled by

our surroundings and the heat.

August 22, 2023

Nature's Love

an isolated sunset,

a tree falls in the forest

that no one hears...

is makes no sound,

a forgotten sunrise,

an eagle flies north

to escape the heat,

no one cares...

a snake slithers across

a country pond

as if it were attempting

to communicate,

a field mouse sits on

the bank of the pond

smiling at the attempt,

nature holds it own

accountable as it nurtures,

but could care less about

mankind who has invaded

her domain, changing

her love of life forever.

August 22, 2023

Too Far In

the road to depression passes

through loneliness...  as one

comes to terms with being

alone even though there are

many people around...  it is

a mental aberration when one

is alone in a house full of 

people who are willing and

able to provide entertainment,

but it is not entertainment

that is being sought....  it is

an understanding that is well

beyond our ability to fathom,

we offer help - we offer caring

we offer guidance - we offer

compassion but those who are

in this state are not aware of

roads that lead in or out of it

and they languish in the town

of depression as if it were the

only place for them to reach.

August 22, 2023

Three Cats

three cats on the tops of couches sit

two on one, leaving the youngest alone,

for thirteen years together have been

giving us love and frustration both

but we would not change a thing...

three cats for two people

two of which have bonded with adults

while the third cannot seem to decide

which one is his favorite, if either...

three cats who stay together and play

when alone show jealous tendencies

when the human are home...

odd as it may seem sleep side by side

on the spare bed when it is cold,

and act like they are not friends when

the sun arises and it is treat time...

this is just the second house in which

they have lived although one lived

in an apartment with its master

for a while...  and, it is this second

house that these three cats and their

two humans like the best it seems.

August 20, 2023

Uninterrupted

objects seem closer outside my window

trees with bright shades of green leaves

red birds standing guard against the

blue jays looking for nest covering...

shadows behind the leaves hide the

chipmunks and squirrels scampering

up and down the trunk, chasing each

other although one is much bigger...

objects outside my window form faces

that smile and frown at the same time,

hard to interpret their true nature, their

eyes appear to be hollow with circles

that mimic their duplicitous nature...

objects underneath my window, not

seen by the eye, tend the reflect the

in a not so favorable way as it moves

from the back yard to the front, casting

shadows that move in both directions

trying to cast doubt on the endgame...

objects above my window provide me

with shelter so the games I play each

day will continue and be uninterrupted.

August 20, 2023

House on the Corner

no association lives in this neighborhood

but there are rules by which to abide...

no clothesline in the back yard,

no fence taller than 4 feet,

no side building unless it is attached,

no large trailers in driveways,

no children allowed in nearby yards,

no cars parked in the street...

we have these rules where we live

and none can be broken or waived,

even if you know the right people;

the man who lives in the house

on the corner enforces these rules

and it is from him if there is an

exception to be granted...  but, it is

also this man who lives in the house

on the corner who does not follow

these rules, setting a bad example...

Fifty one years ago, these rules were

set into motion and must be renewed

every ten...  but, the man who lives

in the house on the corner has failed

to renew them so now all the residents

who live in this community are free

to do whatever they damn well please.

August 18, 2023

Run Down

paintings hang on the walls

along with an ancient clock,

time has not been kind to

this dwelling as ivy and moss

cover the outside brick as if

painted by an artist whose

work is not known...  inside

there are only a few rooms

standing as the separators

have all decayed and rotted,

roots of the trees can be 

seen traveling beside the

lumpy sidewalks as weeds

replace grass in all directions,

holes in the walls that used to

be windows now look like

the eyes of dead relatives

whose image was burned

into the concrete and bricks,

holes in the roof or what is

left standing allows the sun,

wind, and rain to flow freely

in all the rooms giving the

house a swampy appearance.

August 18, 2023

Self Imposed

a black man in the shadows stand

watching white children play

wondering why they weren't black,

a white man in the shadows stand

on the other side of town, watching

black children play, wondering

why they were not white....

two cultures live in harmony on

opposite sides of a city, not knowing

what exists on the other side...  and,

too afraid to venture out of their 

own comfort zones to explore...

each has their own reality and each

wonders why there cannot be more,

each hides for fear of being discovered

and dealing with the consequences of

an angry mob....  and, in the daylight

hours each man goes about his business

as if there was nothing more to think.

August 16, 2023

Robot Watch

two by two they march

some holding hands

others not...  a lone bird

on a telephone wire

watches them pass,

silent and solemn as if

to a funeral were going,

some are old while

others are young,

some are male while

others are female,

some tall and skinny

others short and fat,

and all the rest of them

appear to be normal

whatever that is...

at the end of the column

are a pack of wild dogs

growling from hunger

that has been with then

for days...  but on leashes

they are and their masters

are behind them without

any expressions at all on

their shiny metal faces.

August 16, 2023

Legacies

a ceiling fan rotates untold revolutions

each day as it is never switched off and

continues to rotate until the motor dies,

much the same as human life except its

life expectancy is far less than man's...

the ceiling fan is taken for granted and

is always ignored until not working,

but man is noticed everyday by what

is done and how it is done and how

much output is produced...  which is

unlike the ceiling fan since no one

measures how much air it displaces

or how much cooler the room is...

The ceiling fan earns no wages but

uses resources in its operation,,,

these individual resources are never

calculated to determine its efficiency

or contribution to those in the room...

even though both with eventually die,

mankind does try to make a contribution

that will last well beyond their lifetimes.

August 14, 2023

Hegemony

the world lacks compassion and empathy

the world as a whole is barbaric with its

endless quest for hegemony and land...

but the land refuses to be purchased

the land as a whole is not for sale

the land survives as mankind disappears

and another species begins living here;

the world is full of bullies and all those

that are bullied in the hopes their lives

will be spared by the hangman...  we

live in uncomfortable times because

people are uncomfortable with who

they are or want to be...  and in the

process of their discovery, they like

to hurt others out of frustration...

nature knows this all too well as it

has fallen victim to the powers of

mankind for many years and has

just waited around for the haters to go

but when they do, they are replaced,

and sometime the replacement is

worse and the wait continues and

will continue until mankind is gone.

August 14, 2023

Failing to Lose Time

look at me today or tomorrow 

and I will be gone,

try to follow and I will lead

you in the wrong direction,

I am one of many who will

stroll by your pleasures

wanting to sample and leave,

stay with me tonight

I will be gone tomorrow

leaving you alone in your grief

and sorrow of it all...

take me down to the river bed

and show me where you

catch your food and how you

cook it over a fire so I can

eat and say goodbye,

I am the river...

I am the dust...

I am the wind that blows

from one side of your smile

to the other, leaving you

old and forsaken...

I am what you need most but

cannot have no matter how

hard you beg or how much

you offer....  I roam from

town to town taking youth

away from its owners...

I will live forever inside you.

August 11, 2023

Our New Ways

night tumbles into the valley like 

a rock falling off a mountain side,

we stand out of the way and let

her roll in her own direction...

days are not as long as before

now that the summer has come

to an end and students are once

again back in the classroom...

memorizing for the grade and

not to retain anything...  we are

the one responsible for those

decisions based upon the way

we focus our demands...   we

light a candle to see the way

since electric is at a premium

and our vehicles must have

the priority...   we bathe in an

area around the cook stove

not looking at those around

us as we are of mixed race

and gender and need to stay

in our own lane and heritage.

August 11, 2023

Welcome Home

a rocking horse sits atop a cabinet

next to a miniature merry-go-round,

the cabinet is full of classy porcelain

and should not be disturbed unless

the right visitors are around... a slogan

hangs on one side of the wall while

a painting of a white flower hangs

on the other...  a table that seats eight

waits for dinner to be served not

caring about the wait...  laminate

floors on which everything is placed

share their colors with the furniture,

but only in a complementary way;

a forest of light shines in through

the windows in front and back...

a lonely fireplace, out of place is

around the corner waiting for cold

weather...  no one in the house has

read the instructions on how to operate,

so it sits on the floor of confusion

hoping that someone will soon care.

August 8, 2023

Numbers

two plus two plus two plus two

equals more than a week, I see,

remembering my addition classes

from someone's school...  naive

it is for me to think I need to know

more than I do, since I no longer

use what I have supposedly learned;

one divided by one divided by one

is still one but we live together

today in pairs just like animals

but we hunt differently than they...

counting by threes takes more doing

once you have exceeded twenty-one

but I don't ever plan to go much

higher than that in my lifetime...

when I am on all fours, I feel a

little powerless in my environment

and am smiling boldly when five

comes to my rescue eventually.

August 8, 2023

Waiting For The Rain

the light fades from another day

tasks not completed left for tomorrow

the downing sun has a ways to go

ice cream in my belly is cold...

mental thoughts rearranged

not sure what other thoughts there are

but these have a tendency to

come and go at their leisure...

I wonder if the store has anymore

of this ice cream still?

the pebbles are out but not spread

work for another day, I suppose

the heat was not bad this morning

but there were other chores...

I wrap my mind around a word

and cannot forget it for the day or

I will be forever lost wondering

where it went and what I might have

imagined from its meaning...

days tremble at the announcement

of more rain but I like it when it pours

down endlessly as if we are all just

going to float away somewhere new.

August 8, 2023

Sky Creatures

the stars stand guard over the heavens

or so it is believed by some... 

for the rest of us, the stars are beacons

to guide spaceships from one port

to another on their way to find their

destiny predicted by ancestors;

we are creatures of the sky

sky creatures of a sort that must

journey to find their answers...

answers to questions that have no

answers, still the search continues

in the hopes that clue will unfold

and one will know what is unknown,

so that the quest for something new

can begin again...  we are sky creatures

sailing the universe for answers, hoping

to find the right questions in the process.

August 6, 2023

The New Territory

the laminate floor and its shades of brown

cover the house except for the bathrooms,

red, black, grey, and white rugs are laid

out throughout, complementing all the

other colors...  a distressed table and chairs

in the dining room sits, awaiting its visitors

as it basks in everyday light that enters

from the sunroom... whose walls and roof

were built by an amateur... only trees can

be seen through its windows from my

location but there is a yard with grass

several feet wide between the two...

a gas fireplace stands silent like a Roman

sentinel waiting to be called into service,

and in the meantime, just waits in place...

cats enter the house through the door that

has been left ajar even though it is relatively

hot outside...  neither occupant stands to 

close the door...  it is a mental war they wage

with each other hoping the other one gives

in first...  but there is no prize to the victor

and yet the game is play anyway...  the

lights in the house have all be made brighter

but is yet to illuminate anything...  waiting

for the end of the day and the disappearing

sun to see if it was worth the price paid.

August 6, 2023

A Sailor's tune

we sailed into the sunset

disappearing on the horizon

lost and forgotten sailors...

venturing into that which

no one has ventured before,

caught in the fog of daylight

blinded by the sunlight

hiding from the heat below...

we dare the monsters to find us

dare them to eat us alive

knowing our words are nonsense

pretending we are already dead...

anxiously awaiting our fate

we steal a glimpse into the unknown

trying to see what we can see

as far as we can,,,  nothing...

we have reached out to oblivion

and she has responded with

absolutely nothing...  desolate

quiet reaches into our souls

we are abandoned and not

worth saving by the gods.

August 6, 2023

Presumptions

twenty feet in front of me is another twenty feet

and I wonder how long I will have to walk in

order to find my way home...  twenty hours of

daylight left and then darkness will prevent my

journey from continuing...   no light source can

be found other than what is provided by nature,

my mind whizzes around light's harnessing,

only to realize it cannot be done with the little

amount of knowledge I possess...  and some

would say that the law is based upon possession

but without the law there is no possession to be

discussed...  inside the law, we reach outward

in an attempt to control its actions, but nothing

has been written on which the law is based and

all of our assumptions are meaningless...   it is

not life that we regret today but the presumption

of innocence that life must convey to everyone.

August 4, 2023

Capitulation

along the highway of least resistance, 

we travel looking for the right exit by

which to escape...  we are uniform in

our actions - different from the others

who obey what they are told...  we, in

turn, do not comply with their orders

and rebel against their authority, making

the highway on which we are traveling

not as safe as it one was...  most exits

are guarded by those officials who need

to enforce the rules, checking all vehicles

for compliance, arresting those who are

not in compliance for reprogramming;

death to who we are, never again seeing

the light of day or a day of light as we

would be held in a lightless cell until

we capitulated with our evil thoughts.

August 4, 2023

Gentle Ye Be

a wooden heart and steel hand

built this land in which we live,

blood and sweat poured out of

our veins as the fought the land

and its obstacles...  we bathed

in her rivers, wore clothes made

from her animals and feasted

on fish and fowl...  we were the

pioneers who settled this land

and tamed her wildness so that

our wildness could prevail...

we were crude and ruthless

in all our undertakings as if it

was meant to be  and no one 

should stand in our way...  we

stole what we wanted, caring

not about what we may need...

we were those who gave you

your future so that your lives

might be somewhat gentler.

July 1, 2023

Honor

good intentions paves the road

diversions found on side streets,

bad decisions teach lessons

proper decisions build character,

we learn from living while

trying to live to learn...  a life

of contemplation is what we

don't need at this time...  a fist

and finger points the way to

new destinations above and

beyond the horizon line of

our imaginations...  still, we

long for simplicity and strive

for completion in all tasks

that we know to be honorable.

July 1, 2023

Dark Light Shadows

curved lines of dark and light

on the wall appear,

their source undetermined

bent shadows surround

horizontal and vertical these

lines appear naked...

the shape two dimensional

without depth

without substance

yet they attract and enhance

the curiosity of those who

reluctantly notice...

a blank wall supports their

claim to the space

and a vase stands alongside

their peculiar design

as is some sort of centurion

standing guard over an

empty tomb...

above an outlet holds a light

around which is a gate

and when the light disappears

it illuminates and creates

is own creative tapestry of

light and dark shadows.

July 29, 2023

Bending Conveniently

we walk inside the circles of convenience,

self-imposed desires brought about by our

unique need to feel accepted by the majority,

we condemn individuality and self-expression

especially when non-conforming beliefs are

expressed to the general public...  as they

proven themselves incapable of comprehension

when the processes of thought are required...

we have condemned ourselves to self-imposed

slavery as we remain in the box of conformity,

bending ourselves, our values, and our integrity

to the wills of those we call our leaders...  but,

who do everything they can to avoid leading...

we are not victims but willing participants,

abandoning our own dreams so that life can

remain undisturbed melting into the Mohave

on which the scavengers and scorpions feast.

July 29, 2023

Afterwards

sequoias fall to the ground

without a sound,

no one was around to

hear or care...

lightning hits the ground twice

without obstruction

no one was around to

see or care...

a land desolate and bare

offer no truth anymore;

no prints of any kind found

paw or foot nor fish or fowl,

all the remnants of life

gone or disappeared or vanished

into the thin dirty air...

no one around to pay attention

no one around to stare,,,

all the photographs and memories

exist not in this barren land.

July 27, 2023

Colors Galore

a house of many colors is often

not a home...  it is a place of

many shadows and shades of

confusion and deceit...  a place

that gives birth to doubt and

regret from the time anyone

ever moves in...  its blank walls

offer no qualities and happiness

is oftentimes absent...  its corners

are rounded instead of squared,

it offers illusions instead of the

realities to which we are accustomed,

it is painful to enter and even 

more painful to leave as it changes

the voracity of memories as

easily as its colors change in the

night...  it has no closets for the

fairytales that are shared nor does

it allow dreams to roam freely...

its multi-colored personalities

leave us frustrated and ill tempered.

July 27, 2023

Alone

alone in a forest of loneliness

an island have become,

closing the door to anyone

who wants to get close...

trees protect me against enemies

the leaves provide shelter

a hollow trunk shields me

from light's onslaught...

animals gather me for comfort

that we provide each other,

birds and crickets sing me to sleep

the morning crows awaken me,

I am what I am and am regretless

basking in the friendships

that offers no pain...  my eyes

seek out truth from the environment

she offers up her secrets

for a price...  it is paid by my

presence and protective nature,

and life leaves me satisfied.

July 27, 2023

Decisive

four chairs placed around a table

too small decided

replaced by six chairs - a longer table

just right perceived

the size of the room was contingent

perception was forth coming

decision made in the moment

changed upon reflection...

we are not accountable

nor do we ever expect to be,

we are different in our expectations

but not in our choices,

no one knows what we think

we share not with anyone,

pick up where we left off

hoping the day is like a song.

July 25, 2023

Life Skills

the drawer of reality does not pull all

the way out from the chest of life, we

use our influence to ascertain what

will or will not be...  correct or not

correct makes no difference because

time steadily moves forward and we

are not sure if time begins or ends...

who built the chest - we do not know,

and some say it matters not because

we will never meet the craftsperson,

others believe we will, spending time

teaching themselves all the skills we

perceive as necessary to be fulfilled;

Life is what it is and offers only that

which we want it to offer as there is

no need for anything else... other differ

in that they believe life should burst

forth like an explosion capturing as

much as you can as you fly by...  we

sometimes split the difference thinking

we have more or a need than others

not realizing that the chest has been

and will continue to be reconstructed.

July 25, 2023