Eclectic

***


091012

AAAAHMMM...

Make a face—
a smiley face!

Let smiley feelings come.
That’s one way to meditate.
Easy. Simple. Fun.


091011

LETHE

In the pantry of her brain,
the cheese
is her stored memories.

Lately it’s becoming plain;
some mouse
is nibbling at that cheese.


091010

POETRY READING

The chance to read
my pomes out loud
to one person
or a crowd
makes me humble,
glad, scared, proud.
“You want: me?”

When that chance comes,
I am wowed.
“Really? Me?”


091009

A TRUTH TO TRY

Then is just a story
made up by the mind.
Now is always friendly.
Now is always kind.


091008

APPROVAL

The mark
of endorsement
as a friend
is being entrusted
with other friends.


091007

BLESSINGS

When you’re young,
you’re smart
if you learn a thing or two.

There’s so much to see!

When you’re old,
you’re lucky
if you forget a thing or three.


091006

SENIORITY

Look! I made it to old;
not by being smart or bold,
or doing right instead of wrong—
just by being young too long.


091005

ZOMBIE

insomniac nights
maniac days

moonlit, sunlit
grays on grays

one long blur
of dismal haze


091004

IT

What is claimed,
I’ve not yet met—
but it is nearby,
beckoning.


091003

NEAR-FROZEN ASSETS

As talent, ambition,
even body grow cold—
how hold it together;
this life on hold?


091002

AS I AM

born
some several score
ago

born again
daily

a child, a child, a child

a baby


091001

NONEMPLOYED

Where can I find
a place to stay, a way to pay
(or even a reason to live)
when I can find no home
for what I have to give?


090930

"TREASURE"

No matter what it is,
if you like it or want it—

politicians are trying to grab it,
robbers to nab it,
elites to refine it,
gurus to seek it,
geeks to tweak it—

that’s what defines it.


090929

SILENT DRAMA

The picture window—
enormous, high, and therefore rarely washed—
frames a bright but overcast northern sky.
A spiderweb spans its peak.

The spider is enormous, too;
especially compared to the fly
that races up the pane toward it
in small erratic spurts.

This black-and-white melodrama,
absent of piano accompaniment,
is being played out for my private viewing.
This is not film. It is live theater.
There is no opportunity for intervention.

Higher and higher
the fly climbs;
closer and closer
to imminent doom.

All the while,
my witness role
becomes more and more
excruciating.

Just as the perimeter of the web is breached,
there is a shattering! An illusion falls in shards
as two scenes diverge, separated by a pane of glass.


090928

SOUP KITCHEN SOUP KIT

I count nine tomatoes,
three ears of corn, two onions,
and ten mason jars.

Also laid out
on the butcher-block surface
are squash, peppers, green beans,
spices and other soup ingredients.

"The idea," says the cook,
"is to go out into the garden,
pick anything edible,
put it into a big pot,
and cook enough soup
to make it through the winter."

Frankly, I suggest a recalculation;
he obviously hasn't counted
on drop-in guests.


090927

MAY BE BUSY

Today things went the other way
but yesterday was an ease-off day.

Tomorrow, well, who’s to say?
Tomorrow is another day.


090926

ETHICS

It’s so hard to be a person;
much less, a strictly-honest version.

“Daddy, is there a Santa Claus?”
“Not any more, if there ever was.”


BUGS

There’s always a bug
around somewhere,
everywhere you look—

a spider in a corner,
a cricket in a nook,
an ant, a bee, a fly, a flea,
a bookwork in a book.


LIFE-LONG FRIEND (for Kay)

She was that quiet, friendly sort
who smiles and works and pleases—
part Martha, part Mary;
devoted to us and Jesus.


ESCAPE ARTIST

Do you hear my pencil
scrapin’ on the paper?
Well, I’m makin’ me a pome.

I’m avoidin’ what’s annoyin’.

I’m markin’ paper—
scrapin’, scrapin’—takin’ time
to be escapin’ with a pome.


090925

BB&BBQ B&B

Rain threatened to put a “nix” on
this year’s Bikes, Blues & Barbecue.
But clouds parted!

Soon, bikes farted
along College and Dickson
and every available avenue.

My brother’s bed-and-breakfast
is hosting biker-friends this week;
that is, if they made it to Elkins
and if they ever sleep.


OLD HORIZONS

Do you have a thought for me;
to give, or share, or loan?
Do you have a thought for me?
I’m weary of my own!


SAYS WHO?

Before you impose your creed on me,
please confirm its authority.
If I’m required to defer to you—
how do you know you know it’s true?

Around what intangibles does it revolve
and which of these does it involve?
- Intuition
- Inhibition
- Interpretation
- Inquisition

Did an angel appear and tell you so,
or some preacher’s voice on the radio?
Is there a mother ship with you in tow?
How, pray tell, do you know you know?



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