Fort Walton, Florida Series

Day 1
green umbrellas complement the
brown seaweed strewn on white
sand from last night's high tides,
a precursor for today's light rains,
early morning before sunrise
winds along the gulf's coastline
moves with the land's curvatures
keeping it cool, even when sunny,
behind cumulous clouds raked
together like fallen fall leaves,
the sun pokes out occasionally
reminding us of seasonal changes,
northern tourists flock to white sands
as if they were bees to honey...
cats to catnip or mosquitos to pale skin,
and when the day unfolds to noon
into the rooms the oiled bodies flow
for nourishments and pit stops, breaking
from reality just a little while making
sure, ritualistic routines continue.

May 12, 2025

Travelers

through four states they came arriving
florida, alabama, Georgia, tennessee
cars, buses, trains, airplanes
luggage together in one tandem line
searching and reporting all they saw
keeping notes in journals frequently
clothes rolled and folded in bundles
tied with twine to lock in freshness
roping the moment with their thoughts
stepping across the line most often
saving their stamps in green cards
buying it all in bulk saving money
wandering nomads, they once were
carrying wooden chips on shoulders
not as narrow as their petty minds,
fugitives they once were, now are
favorite sons and captive daughters,
remembering little from the vision
save the memories taken with them.

May 11, 2025

Alpha Omega

from beginning to end we are
birth and death - to us all occurs
some lives better than others
as might be expected but not
all are the same, even when in
the same jurisdictions...
blessed are the lives of some
while others not so much,
we all experience doubts,
concerns and petty grievances
learning our accommodations.
we struggle with the one
as well as the other - nowhere
is there a record of beliefs that
we blindly follow except to 
breathe, eat, and defecate...
one people are we not, never
will be no matter how hard
we beg for assistance - leadership
is individual, never group owned,
as was originally intended...
from womb to tomb we live for
as long as we've been given,
hoping for long rather than brief,
wondering all along if there is
any kind of point to this madness.

May 10, 2025

Early Warning

a blueish green haze lays on me
each morning when I rise
casting spells and making
prognostications about the
future in front of me...
a blueish grey sky forecasted
around me, lets those who
would be in fear, gentle down,
for tomorrow will be sunny...
an orange red sun sinks down
behind the mountains, casting
doubts on the evening which
kindled so much of our fears,
a desperate eulogy is spoken
for the dead have reawakened,
roaming the streets of our youth
as if we were still around...
a brown haze has come to replace
the one I wear before the day
descends into chaos and I am
summoned by the courts to pay
all my outstanding warrants.

May 9, 2025

A Designated Mind

morning drizzles in 
not too far fetched
as the evening's forecast
of a doomsday scenario,
kidney beans and rice
is the staple by which
we mend our lives
and nourish the soul
to continue its struggles.
morning drizzles in
as was intended here
in the valley of surrender
and complacency...
living in the codes by
which we were raised,
morning drizzles in
replacing the night
whose darknesses kept
us separated from truth
and the realities around
which our lived have
been formatted - we are
creations of science and
those who manipulated
the rules to create us...
we are the life intended
for others who had yet
another destiny in mind.

May 9, 2025

The Light Within

lights shine in the eyes of every newborn

that decline as we grow older,

darkness replaces the light as we replace

ourselves in natural transitions...

a forgiving sun rises on the horizon

providing the way as best as it can

giving the circumstances of its inauguration,

and those who cast not their opinions...

rising tides along the coastlines give

warning to sailors who fail to heed the call,

soon finding themselves drowning

in pools of bureaucratic nonsense tossed

out for our relative but unnatural safety...

lights shine down on the unworthy and

those who know not who they are,

even after years of therapy reveal 

they are who they were meant to be.

May 8, 2025

Marked Days

days are marked with samples of

forgotten journeys, people we

never met and expectations

never realized since accountability

fluctuates with the weather...

days marked with confusion

replaced those days marked by

the reality of another's dreams

oftentimes filled with the pomp 

and ceremony of death...

days marked with joyful wisdom

came once or twice a year, are

now scheduled by decades if

and when numbered evenly and

and not the sodomizing odd ones...

days are now randomly occurring

offering consolation prizes to those

who stayed all week, regardless of

life's temptations and its alter ego

that seems to enjoy everything.

May 7, 2025

A Few Windows

green leaves through the window seen

waving at me surreptitiously

standing fast are trees in obeyance

tied down by the roots projected

learning and unlearning the useless

protocols of life guiding us...

wound and re-wound are our minds

save the parts already sold...

eyes, through the window glares

like birds of prey flying low

seeing with tunnel vision only that

which they are fixed upon,

nothing else matters,

nothing else is of concern...

drifting and grifting in flight,

are we that simple minded, say?

flights of life delayed without prey

resumed when faintly seen...

through the windows are too many

for one person to understand

the natural reason for families

dissipating into the wind like everything.

May 6, 2025

Season Change Us

we stood united but no more
no interlocking of arms
no sharing of the minds
we are independent
self-sufficient and alone
a surviving species without support
of our own kind...  a travesty
some might say, others not
opinions differ, so do tastes
we care not for one
yet do for another...
no longing trying - just accept
words fly by like birds
flying south in the winter,
leave behind - don't look back
you are no longer a part of me
nor I of you - go separately
young man or not - just go...
no longer welcome in this here land
moving on as best we can
a new season has come at last
and we be on it pretty damn fast.

May 4, 2025

This Here Dirt Road

this here dirt road leads to the hard surface road
the hard surface road takes you to the two lane
the two lane takes you to the four lane
the four lane take you anywhere you want to go
its all about roads and destinations
directions and time - stopping along the way
the freedom of mobility - the mobility of freedom
acting and reacting upon each other like jealous twins
trying to garner the attention of their creators
even roads east and west - odd roads north and south
we can travel anywhere with these roads
are we blessed or cursed, I wonder?
progress defines the road, the road defines the progress
we plan where to go, when to go, and how to get there
but not where to build the roads or how
manual labor and machines side by side
working together as if it were meant to be
if only it were that simple - progress or not
we never know until it is done
until we need to travel somewhere and must use roads
not there for our convenience but our responsibility
a responsibility to the future not to our past
roads don't care about the past
roads were intended to take us forward
we travel them as if we cannot wait to get there.

May 3, 2025