Season Change

winter lives on the back porch
of spring, providing that summer
is not too far behind...  it is a
generous nature that allows us
to experience seasons without
the regrets of pallbearers who
are hired to transport the old
one into the land of nothingness
where only memories of a few
are allowed to survive and the
rest are buried with all the over-
exposed film that was used...
summer carries out her wishes
into fall when all the colorful
leaves fall to the ground and
are carted away like memories
we no longer want to remember,
winter wages war with nature
and the prevailing winds always
seem to force cold weather into
the southern hemisphere for
safekeeping...  all seasons have
sprouted out of old one - we
see the transition and declare
we ae not the owners of the
climate just unlucky recipients.

April 19, 2024

Surrogate Realities

ageless spirits sit on tombstones guarding
that which they know will soon be gone,
once a thriving agriculture, we have become
toxic chemical compound for illegal immigrants,
who care less about the country they have
invaded than they do about what they left;
tears roll down the skulls in the ground of
those who died saving us from destruction
only to find their effort proven futile at best;
criminals manage the city councils and those
recently released from jail have become
member of law enforcement sworn to guard
the people they want to kill, since the pleasure
of life has long since been taken away from
them and substituted for the star of David...
ageless spirts sit on tombstones wondering
how long before they are replaced by birds
of prey that have been released by the zoos
and when their keepers will appear to return
them to the only home ever known by them,
since the will of the people no longer prevails,
stars fall from heaven quicker than Hollywood
can create new ones amid the legalities that
surround creating surrogate humans to love.

April 19, 2024

No Rain in Sight

incongruity leaves us speechless
uncertainty leaves us powerless
forbidden is what we were meant to be
and life is always unexpectedly ending,
a cruel joke perpetuated upon us
from the very beginning and we
like everyone else believes in it...
we mourn its conclusions while feeding
on all of its possibilities like fools
dancing in the rain on some broadway
show we were told about when young,
drifters bring their handguns as if
this were the wild west - law and
order is kicked out of court after
being changed with contempt...
nature holds the key to our survival
but has no desire to share since we
are not good stewards of her land,
laughter lives inside us all, buried
deep inside our subconsciousness,
and no one has a fishing pool and
line long enough to retrieve it now.

April 18, 2024

Tunnel Vision

ceiling fans turn
windows and doors open
iphones are charging
on the counters,
light illuminate dark rooms
cats sleep on beds 
without heating pads,
all is well in the village
and we outside dwell,
green grass glistens by
the morning dew,
babies cry to be held,
nature forces us to tan
our skin in places
we cannot hide...
rumors run rampant
throughout the land
knights fight battles 
with swords in hand,
and we sit aimlessly in
our rocking chairs
waiting for the end of life
telling stories of a 
past life, and casting votes
in a reckless town...
no more we are told
but more is on the way,
words cannot eliminate
what we fail to debate.

April 17, 2024

Ancient Times

light falls down two sides casting

shadows on the limestone ground,

darkness cascades down a third side

and the fourth side is still unknown,

palm trees stand tall along the river

bank as feluccas catch the wind,

 height adds a majestic atmosphere,

white robes flow to the ground

their feet in sandals unseen

turbans cover their heads

their outer garments sheer gold,

the structure shines in the sun

shiny surfaces all around

and guards with gold bracelets

stand watch as if turned to stone,

animals with curved necks carry

passengers back and forth while

others walk along holding tablets

and slaves, like horses, pull carts,

in the air are hovering craft that

watch over the tasks below - once

in a while a foreign voice is heard

giving order to those on the ground,

floating down on currents of air are

the messengers who understand all

that must be done and the timetables

in which it all takes place long before

another changing moon when the

elders will return and results expected

or repercussion for all will soon ensue.

April 15, 2024

Sunshine Happiness

heat follows us around

sunshine without rain,
wind lightly blows the
cool temps away...
shorts and sunglasses
are on display as more
people than normal
can be seen frolicking,
shade trees act like
beach umbrellas and
underneath the old folks
enjoying their brief
moments outside...
there will be a time for
lamenting later - today
we celebrate profoundly,
the birds sing songs with
nt meaning and the larger
birds steal all the worms,
except those found earlier
by those at the pond...
dogs chase each other as
they bark - we wonder how
they can do both since they
don't seem that coordinated
inside the house...  and when
the day passes and we all
find ourselves ready for bed,
a fond memory we will have
if and when we can fall asleep.

April 15, 2024

The NEWS

north - east - west - south
we call it news
domestic or international
it is truth and reality
combined with a flair
of the personal,
the opinionated,
the biased...
hoping no one will notice
until the next day
or much later
when it it old news
no longer relevant...
we cast doubts on truth
we cast doubts on reality
a matrix life is what we want
no questions asked
and none answered,
just an acceptance of what it,
will be or could be...
like minded folks keeping
the record straight and accurate
as the news was intended,
we are the new barbarians,
the new sentinels come to tell you
what you should think,
what you should believe
and who you should hate...
crime is no longer an option
but a necessity, and while we
grow it at home,
importing is better giving us
sufficient room to blame...
it's just the news we want.

April 13, 2024

Not Expected

on this couch I sit and ponder
trying to understand and grasp
the reason(s) for your love...
a love that knows no bounds,
no limits, and has no restrictions
on what is said or done...  loving
you was easy - easier than one
might have first imagined and
while that love has surpassed
three decades, neither one of us
can imagine why...  from two
different worlds we are, two
different cultures and families
that raised us differently as
we were exposed to all that 
the other was not...  and the
words between us cannot begin
to describe that misunderstanding,
that difference of opinion and
how we interpreted the results,
kindness beget anger and anger
beget mistrust and mistrust had
us at each other's throats wondering
why we married in the first place,
it was mystifying and confusing,
convincing ourselves a mistake
had been made and needed to be
corrected...  and yet, nothing...
there was nothing happening...
we simply went to bed and woke
up to a new day and to a new
type of beginning with different
results that brought us together.

April 12, 2024

Watching the Watcher

I saw you in the shadows from the shadows
night before the night before when you when
you were following the one following you,
and in the moonlight, your eyes glistened
light bounced into the darkness around you
and died an inconsequential death as it
wrapped itself around the wall of the alcove
in which you were standing...  and I, across
the way in another alcove watching another
day being given birth...  a hollow victory for
those who love the night and it absences...
clarity of the moment entered our minds as
we shared each other's trauma and the failure
our exposure gave the other side...  we were
like two peas in a pod, and the pod hanging
on Apa branch that broke loose from the tree,
had fallen to the ground, cracked open the
pod, allowing the peas to escape...  one 
rolled to the left the other to the right and
the third one managed to remain steady,
and when the evening exposed itself to 
the morning sun, we were nowhere to be
seen and no one knew that we had been
there except the dust we left on our collars.

April 12, 2024

Fallen

we dance inside the mind when 
confident of the outcome,
parading our posturing in front
of those who would be amazed,
silencing our critics and putting
to bed any fears of not being up
to the task at hand...  but, what
do we do when we fail and that
failure is monumental and beyond
any comprehension of the possible
upside to the situation...  our heads
are hung in disgraces and darts
thrown at our photos hanging in
the bathrooms of places visited;
we are a disgrace...  an outcast...
someone to be avoided, ignored,
and not talked to...  let alone be
invited to a company brunch...
yet, those are the same once
praised and admired, whose
names are give to our children,
and profile studied in an effort
to be and become more like them,
how far have we fallen and how
much disgrace can we bear and
how often to we long for the end.

April 10, 2024

Life Above Ground

we live inside the conspicuous confusion
of a preconceived reality passed down to
us by those no longer in touch with the
nature of the human condition...   we are
a species that survives by killing others,
taking what they have, and making it
better according to our standards of life,
we steal, cheat, and lie because it allows
us to feel superior over those who don't
share our same values - values that are
now grossly out-of-date, no longer in a
position to serve our unnatural greed...
life is death and death is live and the
church leaders know the difference or
so they proclaim...  no longer do we
believe or want to believe even though
there are some who are self-aware...
we live inside the failures of our self-
justifications believing or wanting to
believe, we are justified with our false
actions since there is no competition.

April 10, 2024

Our House

light flows in through the windows
pushing out the darkness of night,
corners of each room protect and
the walls separate reality from the
illusions around which we live...
floors slide from one room to the
other when walking and we hold
onto to furniture to maintain our
balance....  gas stoves cook the
air we breathe, cut into pieces,
put into pans and refrigerated...
cats guard the perimeter while
awake spending most of the day
sleeping on heating pads...  we
hold up our legs as the cleaning
robot passes underneath enen
though it seldom returns to its
charging station without help...
rugs covers our mistakes and 
are cleaned regularly to prevent
confusion but we are resolute in
the residence that we still own.

April 10, 2024

The City's Finest

a trained eye sees the many faces
an artist's hands paints a royal sky,
the illuminati steals the headlines,
the pope decline communion to a
dysfunctional  cardinal's ex-wife,
Berlin tears down its barrier walls
while their enemies send spies and
the world of justification has just
about blown a fuse over abortion;
politicians and criminals share the
same lawyers and party at the same
clubs in new york city and paris
while the billionaires fly spaceships
into the atmosphere because it is
the next best thing to being there,
hookers sit in fancy restaurants
waiting for the weather to change
watching a line union workers
forming in front of the mayor's
lemonade stand with discount
coupons received from the hookers
who had sent them all invitations.

April 7, 2024

Courage

courage sits on the nightstand beside the
bed in which we sleep at night so it can
be used by the heroes of our imagination,
a tribute to our nocturnal dreams that 
start during the day as they interpret our
true intentions with how we live our lives;
it is a generous attempt at the salvation
we perceive is due but never arrives...
we fight the demons of our illusions,
defending our actions by the donations
we make to our favorite charities...
courage sits on the nightstand waiting
for its opportunity to be retrieved  for
some nefarious process in which the
bold and the brave converge, shake
hands and part company as friends...
courage sits on the nightstand with the
nose spray and anti-acid tablets neither
of which are seldom used since the
case was made for sleeping pills to 
supreme justices, all of whom concurred
with the logic of the nightly intake.

April 7, 2024

Fishing Dreams

a quiet fog lays on the ground
hiding the tree where, as a boy,
I leaned against while fishing.
it was a large gentle tree with
soft bark, many limbs with a
preponderance of large leaves,
offering shade on those days
that the sun rose hot and rose
early giving us all the time in
the world to imagine being in
head boat on the outer banks
reeling in the blues as they
swam in schools even though
there was no school for us...
living in past memories,
living in caged dreams,
and remembering...
older and wiser we claim to be
or so we tell ourselves,
convince ourselves of stories
some of which never happened,
none ever remembered correctly,
but we were boys then and
thoughts rocked our minds
and our imaginations...
now we remember what we can
creating the dreams never had.

April 6, 2024

The Lies of Memories

bundled up and discarded like

Moses in the basket, a series

of encounters slow down the

process of identification...

worn on the hip like a sword,

cell phones become the only

link between past and present,

the Nile River valley, death

valley, the Ohio valley, and

the Tennessee valley are all

pathways from one side to 

the other as so many of us

have crossed through the

valley of shadows and were

allowed to survive...  we cross

over and return, bring with us

the legacy of memories and

all the lies associated with 

them, told by historians who

were paid to write the winner's 

tale, knowing it held nothing

of value is told another way.

April 4, 2024

Nature's Party

the warmth of spring vanishes

like day turning to night

clothes once packed away now

have returned to our closets...

squirrels hide inside the trees

that hide behind each other in

the hopes of maintaining heat,

huddled together, their limbs

poking each other in the sides,

Koi stay on the bottom of the

pond and prowling cats remain

inside...  dogs do not have that

same luxury and are released

after dark without leashes....

firewood cut and stored inside

is now burning again and its

smell filters through the air,

that had just been cleaned...

nature is notorious for changing

her mind once the comfort

settles in a while but those who

have been around the block a

time or two, understand how

much of a bitch she ca be.

April 4, 2024

Modifications

weaponizing
dehumanizing
abandoning the cloth
overseas manufactured
cost of labor
crime and violence
illegal drugs and death
felons with no jail time
illegal immigrants
one-sided opinions
and more hate here than
in the civil war...
we are the new generation
of voters and we do not
like our parent's world...
age is a barrier
innocence is stupidity
the titans clash,
the fire bells alarm
and another law
bites the dust,
we are who we are
make no apologies
and you must buckle under or
find another place to live,
the rules are in our favor
we will not work a day,
the government owes us and
we will either collect
today or tomorrow.

April 3, 2024

Melancholy

without the slightest provocation
a feeling of lifelessness permeates
the body and into the soul...
a feeling of worthlessness and
self-doubts.... purposelessness,
as if there is no reason to exist,
and the family and friends who
ae surrounding my environment
offer no encouragement or even
give the impression that they care;
all tasks are overwhelming and
sleep becomes the easy out...
the way to pass the day, rather
than even trying to contribute but
when you do - all efforts are in
a state of flux, turmoil, and there
is no reason to make the transition,
since no matter what one does or
what one tries, it is going to fail...
age only makes it worse but there
is hope that death comes early and
puts an end to this state of depression.

April 3, 2024

Heaven Can Wait

bodies flow in and out as if

there is some sort turbulence

in the order of things...

rings of influence rotate

around each other as if 

there is some sort of hidden

force guiding the flight...

the ebb and flow of tides

are changed by these random

acts of chaos and we try to

understand the skies as if we

navigating a road map...

stars bounce along the ripples

of time hoping to find shelter

in a nearby, phantom nebula...

light travelers skip along

clusters of clouds that have

reached out to the dark energy

only to be pulled back in line

by the gravitation force of

orbits circling the perimeters

of Novas, apparently lost and

looking for planet solitude.

April 1, 2023

Coming Around

warm days - warm nights

fans turn in the rooms

shade trees have room enough

for both cats and dogs...

sun bleached hair and shorts

surf boards in the sand,

florida dreaming we become

tops down and sun glasses

six pack sitting in the floor

country music on the dial

singing as we roll along...

t-shirts and tennis shoes

the smell of fresh cut grass

hotdogs and burgers

sitting at the table at our

favorite spot on the lake;

water hoses and flowers

carpenter bees and pests,

all have a place in my heart

as I reflect upon the past

whenever spring rolls around.

April 1, 2024

The Unknown Journey

along the bank of an unknown river,
we walk with our companion,
a female of the species, I  presume
although it was never checked...
some say leashes are important
others disagree - for all I know
neither point of view is correct
as nothing is ever absolute...
nothing is spoken between us
we walk in silence, finding
comfort in being together...
and when it is night and cold
we curl up together under a
tree, my head on its shoulder...
mornings find us both awake
standing on the river bank
completely our morning ritual,
and once bread is broken and
water shared, we both without
the slightest word, decide to
continue our journey...  and,
after several days of following
the river, we come across an
unknown town with unknown
people milling about in an
unknown fashion...  and once,
greetings are shared we are on
our way, except my companion
decided to stay behind a while,
no animosity is felt between the
two of us, especially since we
were going nowhere in particular.

March 29, 2024

Abandoned

abandoned
left for dead
the soul reaches out
no one answers,
a gentle stream
flows through the mind
the soul acknowledges
terminating the search;
a body on the ground
lays quiet as it 
listens...
sounds of the living
deep inside,
caves of hope
offer solutions,
the soul similes at all
its good fortune...
the ground on which
it lays turns to 
quicksand....
slowly sinking down
into something...
waving goodby to all the
fools that would not help,
the soul is devoured
and no longer is it
abandoned.

March 29, 2024

Out of Balance

there is an end to a beginning
and a beginning to an end,
all things harmonize
all things experience entropy,
it is the way of life
the way of physics that we
have come to understand...
our earth has a moon and sun
the force of gravity
pulls and separates us but
our moon is the weaker one,
giving us stability...
and when a fourth body arrives
it will throw our balance into
a chaos we've yet to experience,
we have no warning
we have no pre-planning
it just is or it is not...
moving around each other
as if it were intended and not
just some coincidence from 
which we have all benefitted,
on borrowed time we are,
living in oblivious happiness
thanking no harm will come
to those who once believed
so strongly in the future..
we were warned and ignored it
forgetful that we ae mere bugs
in a vast universe in which we
were privileged to live a while.

March 28, 2024

A Sinking Ship

we sleep in the shadows of our memories
bathe in the river of forgetfulness that
keeps us free from self-incriminations...
we dig our own shallow graves for all
the impure thoughts we have only to
find ourselves unable to climb out...
we live inside the world of no opposition
and have yet to identify our enemies,
except for those who stand across the
street, listening to our conversations...
we are free to leave or free to stay but
either way we live a doomed existence
not much different from the deer we
for sport with high powered rifles just
to prove our superiority - the animals of
the woods stay clear of us when on a
family vacation, since it is then that we
are at our worst - the gods look down on
us with disdain and contempt for the
legacy that we hae ruined for others...
we turn our backs on the god and their
teachings since we perceive that we now
know more than they ever will, yet we
hide from their memories like rats who are
smart enough to leave their sinking ship.

March 28, 2024

Chicken on the Grill

soldiers of the night do not knock on doors
breaking through without provocation,
suits of a legal kind make unwarranted
demands upon the court - their decisions
target a special brand of individuals,
adversaries flock across the border as if
no one bothers to check their legalities
with taxpayers footing the bills for the
indiscretions they have yet to commit;
 justice sits like a doormat at the entrance
to the devil's house and the guardians of
the free have retired to southern Florida,
children of democracy have their lips
sewn together, received nourishment
from a tube in those noses and doctors
live in a bewildered state of anxiousness
not caring if they are citizens or not...
mothers hide their daughters from all
the rapists around while sending out
their sons instead in the hopes they will
marry a newly approved FDA trangendered,
stocks in the marketplace rise and fall as
social truth gains an unexpected lead and
while the barons of the street desperately
try to ascertain the subtleties of the moment
the middle class cooks chicken on the grill.

March 27, 2024

Confrontation

a rabbit in the yard sits not

knowing which direction to go,

a yellow cat on the deck sits

watching its indecisiveness,

in the sunroom I stand 

mesmerized by the scene

unfolding in front of me,

fascinated by the interaction

or lack thereof of the two

animals in front of me...

a wilderness of thoughts

flow through my mind like

the tension between these two

and I wish there could have

been more involvement but

today was simply not the day,

and all I remember of the

brief even was the white tail

of the rabbit bouncing off

into a wooded area in which

to hide and collect his breath.

March 27, 2024

Wind Riders

riders of the wind assemble
in colors of the night
black and gray
red and purple
inside wing suits they wear
soaring high and low
curving left and right
tumbling and turning as if
there is no end in sight...
riders of the wind gather
showing no feelings or fear
leaving family and friends
behind to collect the mail,
pay the bills and water the
plants and feed the cats...
riders of the wind unite
in freefall ceremonies of a
time long since departed
when skies held only birds
and the currents were strong
at certain altitudes not yet
reached by man of any sort...
riders of the wind survivors
remember little of that day
what happened perhaps
or what did not,
and when all was done and
darkness covered the land,
there were no riders in the sky
or on the ground, disappearing
into that which we could see.

March 23, 2024

Bright Sky

we look up at them - they look up at us

it is all relative, they say - knowing not

who they really are...   evenings fulfill

the fantasies of the day - the day explains

the misconceptions of the darkness and

we all adjust in some meaningful way

to life around us...  still, we want to know

what is out there just as they want to know

about us - at least one would think that is

the case...  or perhaps its sinister appearance

is not as bad as we expected...  after all,

we only know what we see when we look

up into the sky and imagine their gaze on

us as we both try to understand and try

to interpret each other's presence...  a

gift from the sky some would say that

has visited before but left no markings

from its visit except for a few structures,

we claim they do not exist just as they

claim that we do...  but tonight, as we

see is a sky full of bright stars above us.

March 23, 2024

Brevity is Life

Willy Loman had nothing to do but

to grow old and die, leaving behind

a family he hardly ever saw but

claimed to love...    his future was

over before it started as is the curse

that hangs around the necks of all

people who unfortunately have been

born into this world...  some of whom

have earned great fortunes, acquired

numerous assets, have left several

legacies and have friend all over the

world - death equals the playing field;

there is no truth, only that which can

be proven in a court of law, and even

then that truth could be ignored by the

jury that is just as human as you or I.

we live fast and loose and believe only

in  tomorrow if it becomes today and

never look back on the past and the

things we could have done - might

have done if things had been different.

March 22, 2024

Innocence Interpreted

ripples in the water

flat rocks skim the surface

june bugs on strings

swung around our heads,

cat tails at the water's edge

a snake head appears

just to the left of center,

black tennis shoes and

water soaked levis are

highlights of spring...

a robin's nest built in

a dogwood tree a blue

bird house on a pole,

insects buzz bright lights

just below the entrance

of the treehouse that had

three floors and a porch

on which we sat at sunset

eating hotdogs without buns,

toy pistols and cowboy 

clothes and rake handles we

used as horses - these are the

memories of innocence that

have long since died after

the first summer we failed

to show up...  bulldozers

knocked down trees on

which our house was crudely

attached and new homes

were built for all the new

families with children that had

no wooded area to play in.

March 22, 2024

Concerned Citizens

the tune of change filters on the air

the tune of revolution too but do not

despair my child since actions and

results are much the same these days,

citizen soldiers sharpen their knives

and axes, carry water since the heat

is traveling too...  preparing for a

conflict they are...  taking the high

ground they do... and wait as they

have been for months waiting for

the leaders to do what they do...

banjos sound the alarm, followed

by guitars and bass as the Spirit

of Seventy-Six marches down

past the main gate....  chickens on

the grill instead of steak give us

the healthy advantage over those

who want to steal our food and

while we can feed them scraps

from the table like we do our dogs,

we elect not to anger our pets...

along the creek the ferns grow as

freely as our freedoms and we are

not about to lose either one of them.

March 21, 2024

Promises

the appearance of impropriety

flows through the valley like

a feral feline looking into the 

privacy of someone's home...

neighbors watch while others

take photographs and the clever

videotape the proceedings in

the hopes of selling the footage

to a local entrepreneur for a fee;

we are invaded by those we do

not want around and they in

turn steal from us to show their

appreciation...  the process is

one step away from anger,

one step away from violence,

one step away from changing

our perspectives forever...

each new day brings more of

the unexpected and we in the

valley are tired of listening to

those who can only promise.

March 21, 2024

Walking

walking along the sands a time
a child holds the hand of his parent
walking with a quick gate
the child struggle to keep up,
looking at the parent with a plea
of desperation to slow down;
pointing to the death clouds
high above their head, the child
understands the urgency, picking
up the pace without hesitation,
dark clouds descend and the wind
begins to howl through the trees,
birds are no longer chirping nor
are any of them in sight...  a bolt
of lightning slashes its way down
from the sky - striking the parent
in the head and to the ground falls,
without making a sound or releasing
the hand of the child...  who, on the
ground sits like a dog with its master
waiting for normalcy to return...
and when no changes are made, a 
gust of wind scoops up the child
carrying its passenger high into the
as if the wind had the wings of a
bird, disappearing into the cloud.

March 20, 2024 

The Memory

locked inside a memory, we see life

as it needs to be not as it is...

life based upon changing perceptions

changing values and norms...

not a perfect world but a changed one

dealing with our particular needs,

wants, and fantasies...  evolving

into a world of sublime interactions

where what is said is always and

perpetually understand, and the

reply always what we wanted...

not that we were right but that we

can never say anything that might

be misconstrued from its intent...

a memory that unfolds slowly so

that each moment is absorbed and

appreciated without cloudy skies

or any rain in the forecast...   to

dampen the sensation or the time

we have been allowd to spend in it.

March 20, 2024