God and Mortality

* * *


091229

WRITING AT ODD ANGLES

How I love a pencil
when I write in bed!
I can seldom count on ink
like I can count on lead.


WRITING TOOLS

Tonight,
I’m writing with a Papermate
Sharpwriter #2.

(Every paper needs a mate—
some sharp writer who
helps to maximize its worth,
bringing quickened thoughts to birth.)


BODY WRAP (for Ado)

When did my skin get so thin?
It’s like waxed paper crumpled
or an old silk-tissue sheath
I let get stained and rumpled.

[ASIDE: Although I was glancing at my own skin when
writing this, the poem when done aroused feelings of
connection with my friend and "adopted mother" Ado,
who recently died.]


091228

QUALIFICATIONS

You don’t have to kill yourself
looking for a job—at least not
the one that advertised:
"No expirence necessary."


THRILL OF A LIFETIME

When I went to Russia,
I walked the streets alone.

Well, who would want a
group or troupe
when one can walk alone?


LIGHT OF HEART (for Susan)

May we be thankful
today for the light,
which fills each of our lives
with love and delight
and, next to each sunspot,
shows all the more bright.

[ASIDE: Susan’s 10 most frequently used words on Facebook are:
thankful, today, may, little, more, our, which, sunspot, each, and light.]


PROSECUTORIAL IMMUNITY

If you are in a position
to stop a murder or other crime
and do nothing to prevent it,
you can be held liable
as an accessory to the crime—
unless, of course, you’re God.


CODE VIOLATION

I don’t enjoy washing cockroaches
down the drain and I suspect
they’re not thrilled either.
Why do I do what doesn’t make us happy?


CAVEAT PRE-EMPTOR

Here’s some advice,
straight on the level—
a bargain’s no bargain
that’s made with the devil.


ACE IN THE HOLE

Dad’s the king of comedy.
Mom’s a drama queen.
Brother—what a joker!

Our home is quite a scene.
(There are no guards
in this mental ward.)

In this place, I'm an ace.
I live in a house of cards.


CHILLED

Our bed is cold;
I'm about to freeze.
Come warm me up.
Come catch some zzz's.
Quit dallying—
you're such a tease!

“I guess I might—
if you’d said please!”


DIVINE INFERNAL

God is a heavenly
Being of love,
or so the scriptures tell.

His master plan
included man.
(What in hell
was He thinking of?)


091227

BE A PRO

Write as if.
That's your gift.

See it done.
Make it fun.
The odds against—
though stacked sky high—
are odds against
you must outfly.

Write as if.
That's your gift


091224

WASS AILING ME?

Christmas is here;
that time of hobnobbing.
All of my friends
are busy eggnogging.

I should feel cheer—
instead, I am sobbing
over a tooth
that set my jaw throbbing.

Wait! It’s come clear—
the cure for my flogging!
Drown it in beer.
Go glugging and grogging!


‘TIS THE NIGHT
BEFORE CHRISTMAS

I'm making a list,
checking it twice—
last minute shopping
for naughty and nice.


091222

IMPOUNDED

Bewildered--
that is my first impression
of the kennel occupants;
the dogs for whom life has
so abruptly changed.

I wonder, do they eventually
acclimate, resigning themselves
to concrete, gravel and chain-link?
Or is there even time for that?

Their bodies
express everything so candidly—
history, temperament, thought.

Love and pain co-reside in their eyes.

In this place, they receive
excellent care by caring people—
but they know, and we know
that life should not be like this.
This is not right.

We are brethren,
designed to be free—
following our hearts and noses
over the wide, wondrous,
sun-warmed earth—
not chain-linked to, or from, anything.


SEVEN WEEKS

People don't stay kid-cute long.
As for kittens, the window of cuteness
closes quickly.

At the shelter, animal discards
are caged and dated.
No matter their age now,
the young cats at pickup
were almost invariably
seven weeks old.
Something ended then
that can't be recaptured.


BARGAINER

Given time,
I swear I will.

Let me live
until until.


091221

THOU SHALT (for Ethan)

Hey, Yaweh!
Hey, Krishna!
Hey, Allah!
Who died and
made you God?

[ASIDE: I got to thinking about that strangely-worded
final sentence which is so often bandied about.]


* * *

Writer at Christmas

* * *

091225

DENTAL FLAWS

Hot and cold,
sweets (like cake)—
these things cause
my tooth to ache.

Though I beg
the pain to slake,
eyes and jaws
and cheeks partake.


091224

VERSE-ATILE

What shall we make a poem of—
a feather or a father?
A roux or kangaroo?

What shall we make a poem of?
Anything will do.


091223

DECEMBER 23

We're two days shy of Christmas,
said Adam, and—I believe—
that means tonight is Christmas
eve eve, Eve.


091222

WRITING
ASSIGNMENT

Others build
or grow
or fix.

Others mother.
I do this.



* * *

Winter and Aging

* * *


091220 (for Zach)

SNOW NAKED

Trees—
the elder
and the younger—
withdraw their energies
from these winter
silences and
furies.


091219

SURPRISE

Buzzard babies—
such a sight!
Who’d have thought
they fluff out white?


091218

IMMINENT DOMAIN

My chores were done,
and more to spare.

I headed for my easy chair.
Alas—the cat was sitting there!

“Forgive my breach of happy purrs,”
I told him, “but it’s time to stir.
So take my lap or I’ll take yours.”


091217

MUSE TO POET:

Yay! Hurray!
Oh, frabjous day!

You wanted a poem
joyful and snappy—
so, now are you happy?


BEYOND

After aftermath;
some nice surprise.

After all,
even winter dies.


091216

REMARKING TIME

For the unemployed,
meanings get reassigned:

- holiday/workday
- time on/time off

Vices become versas.


091215

NON SOM

Call it the “night bubble”—
that wide-awake, fret-tending time
between episodes of
sleep-it-under-the-rug.

Mind is a fitful child.
Might as well rise
and take care of it;
might as well walk the floors.


091214

AS LONG AS IT TAKES

Give me a word;
I'll give you a rhyme.

I'll give you a poem
if you have the time.


TOUCH OF THE DIVINE

Thank you, thank you,
powers that be,
for this human-inborn ability
to apprehend divinity!


091213

FUNNING ON EMPTY

"I'm in a bind," the poet whined.
"On my quota, I'm behind.
If there's a poem in my mind,
it's a poem I can't find."


091212

NOT OLD ENOUGH

I was born three-score
years ago, plus one.
And so, for Social Security
I'm too young.

For Medicare too; too young.
I'm sixty-one and I don't care.
I'm sixty-one; still young!


091211

DOWNSIZING

Goodbye,
right eye;
goodbye, left.

Farewell,
today's tooth;
tomorrow's.

Bone, muscle, skin—
your services;
suspend.

Goodbye,
dear body;
farewell, friend.


091210

WANDERERS, SQUANDERERS

Wasting, wasted, living lost lives
(barren, enervated, unenhanced),
we sleepwalk through paradise
oblivious, numb, self-entranced.


091209

GIFTED

Angelic?
Devilish?

Madness?
Sanity?

Gift of divinity:
our humanity.


091208

SHHHH

noise
annoys


091207

NOCTILUCID (For Rick)

Weatherman, we love you dearly.
You scan the skies day-month-yearly.

You’re a wizard.
You’re a wit:

"Behold that cloud, night-lit!
It’s more than cirrus merely;
it's noctilucent, clearly."


* * *

Scenes & Dreams

* * *


091206

HOW SUN BEAMS

In summertime
the day is long;
in wintertime
it's dusk and dawn.


SNOW MAN

Santa gives gifts,
but what does he get?

-Cookies and milk.
-Snowy, cold, wet.


091205

THERE IS A SEASON

Up around the corner from the
de-horned buck head lying centered
in the road this morning
is another deer head
lying centered in the road.

This is a residential area.

I imagine the message might be:
"Behold my prey, my mastery!"

I imagine the message might be:
"My kind will out-survive your kind."

I imagine the message might be:
"Boo! Ha-ha ha-ha-ha!"

Last week the herd at dawn
spooked when crossing the road,
skittering back and forth.

Vehicles stopped and lingered.

I imagine the message might be:
"Such wildness! Such beauty—
so vulnerable to me!"


091204

JUDICIAL RECUSAL

I don’t know why
you do the way you do;
your actions make no sense.
There’s no way to judge you
not knowing what you’ve been through
or what you’re up against.


091203

GRATITUDE LIST

Happy for happiness,
earned or unearned.

Glad for life lessons,
learned or not learned.

Grateful for friendship,
now and to be.

Thankful for moments
you share with me.


091202

UNSTRINGING THE BOW

Maybe it's a healthy sign
(one of life’s benign designs)
to follow work and weeping
with calm and over-sleeping.


091201

APPOINTED ROUNDS (for Jarrod)

I will be there. I'm a giver.
Come rain or sleet, I deliver.
Snow or no-snow,
I won’t be a no-show!


SLATED FOR A CLEAN SLATE

Prepare us, we said
to the much older couple.
What do we have in store;
what's likely to happen?

Well, she offered,
he used to forget appointments,
so I learned to remind him.
But now he forgets; then I forget;
and after that it's nice because
we both forget we forgot.
Later, when something reminds us,
we start over fresh.
We're old, but every day is new.


SUCH STUFF AS DREAMS

Emma is running upside down on the bed.
Both paws are twitching and,
under that fluffy tail, so are her feet.

I ran in my own dream last night,
one in which a cat was euthanized.

Supposedly, every dream-character
is really an aspect of the dreamer.
In the case of last night, that would
have me be very sad, angry, and dead.

I’ve heard this too—it works
to pose a question before sleeping
and expect an answer via the night’s dream.
Tonight I may ask about. . .

Well, that was quick!
But catnaps are supposed to be,
aren’t they, Emma?


091130

CHOICE

What is your wish,
asked genie of me.
Do you want to be good?
Or wealthy? Or free?

I have my wish!
I choose to be me,
trusting that me
is a good thing to be.


091129

WATCHING
THE GAME

quiet dim low
my light

i am angling for death
come on in
buddy
put your feet up
have a beer


091128

VISION OF BEAUTY

Query:
Online, your icon is a symbol
and your picture is an avatar.
Why don’t you use a photo?
Are you hiding something?
Are you ugly?

Response:
I look just like Audrey Hepburn
did in the movies.

Aside:
I open my eyes and take in
the scene.


* * *