Adventure and Speculation

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110222

MIDDAY NAP

Someone wearing white stockings,
petticoats, and a gold silk pinafore
is tumbling down a long, cushiony hill.
Lying in bed and viewing this,
I know it’s me, gently bouncing down
from lush spring-green heights,
skimming over golden tufts
of autumn grasses, and approaching
a long, gentle out-of-view slope
that will end abruptly and culminate
in something wonderful or tragic.


110221

NEWS OF THE DAY

People- and earth-
quakes rumble.
Dictators and buildings tumble.

Thinkers fumble.
Doers stumble.
The world is all a-jumble

[ASIDE: Uprisings in the Middle East,
Earthquake in New Zealand.]


110220

JUST DO IT

Coax bad habits
down the stairs?
Slow-mo tweeze
your nasal hairs?


110219

CAT: A TONIC (for Butterscotch)

What once was merely preferential
now is clearly near-essential:
a daily dose of cat to schmooze
(it hardly matters whose).


110218

"WHY" GENERATION (for Allan)

Why are unanswerable
questions the ones I pose?
Why, why, why
am I obsessed with those?


110217

IN BRIEF

Why use
long words?
Short will do.

Short is better;
four-letter…
three-letter…
look, too, to two.


PLAY, MATES!

To kinder spirits,
it’s one big garten.


THINKING ABOUT
NOT THINKING

I was born.
I talked.
I stopped to think.

Now I think
it may be better
not to talk,
not to think.

Such emptiness
may well be
death’s birth canal.


110216

CLOUDS FORMING

“Such a pretty sunrise—
but enjoy it; this may be
the only sun we see today.”

“What—are there more?”


PEACE BY PEACE

When belief causes grief,
this may make some sense:
seek contrary evidence.


110215

TREAD LIGHTLY

I don’t know what happened
to elicit this—but, dang!

“Don’t insult me, mister!
I’m the quiet type with fangs.”

[ASIDE: Encountered on Twitter.]


A WALK IN THE “PLARK”

That’s when play and work
run together indistiguishably
(walk together; same thing).


GOOD WRITING (for Christopher)

Take a simple story
with characters
you care about.

Tell it well. No doubt,
your readers will care too.

Face your fears.
Accept help, insights,
feedback, and advice.

Join others who
struggle like you.

Get unserious;
make it fun.
Go nuts!

Keep it simple.
Be bold.
Write with guts.

[ASIDE: Comment/synopsis made at:
http://www.fuelyourwriting.com/
power-of-words-the-kings-speech-and-good-writing/]


110214

LOVE IS BLIND

Chocolate candy, pink lace hearts,
red-red roses, cupid darts…
From dollar store to galleria,
valentine excess overflows.
Bows and arrows, ribbons and bows…

Surely, everybody knows...
had it been a fresh idea
(something neither myth-icized,
love-aligned, nor cute-ified)—
cupid would be stupid.


DEAR YOU… LOVE, ME (for Darby)

Beyond this world’s illusion,
we are in collusion...
enacting love’s inclusion.

Love is all we are.
Love is all we do,
even when not meaning to.


LOST IN THE MIDDLE

I like to piddle.
I like to twiddle.
I like to not make up my mind.

Or else, I find,
I like to make it up one way,
then down another,
again and again and again.

I like to piddle
and twiddle and fiddle—
but why? That’s the riddle.


NEW MEMBER (for LeaAnn)

“LeaAnn Van Winkle-Gisler”
…now, THAT name is a whistler!

How many other times
ya think this “LeeAnn” rhymes?


110213

DAY? OH!

Sun.
Him come.
Him wake up
everyone.


110212

RIGHT?

To believe a belief,
one has to believe
all contrary evidence
lies.


LEAD ON

How will You direct my day today;
what will You have me do?

How will You invite, incite;
what will You move me to?


NOT ALL THAT UNEXPECTED

Why do scientists keep discovering
fabulous things like quarks and quasars,
black holes, and distant planets?
Because we keep thinking them up.

[ASIDE: Some posit that the universe is made of thought
and keeps extending outward from our consciousness
as the range of our thought increases.]


DESIGN SPECIFICATIONS

My latest rabbit hole
(a logo design contest)
was a lost cause
from the get-go.
So I got-gone—
or at least
my prospects did
(which means I’m still snagged).

Well, I will submit my superb
(trust me) entry anyway,
sure that it will be disqualified
on a technical technicality—
specifically, my lack of
the specific technology needed
to produce the design
in a specific software format.

But I can hardly call this
a “lost weekend"—
the difficulties were such
a satisfying challenge.

[ASIDE: My determination to do my best, once I’d launched,
resulted in a submission that did meet the design specifications—
thanks to contributions of knowledge and expertise by
some of my artist friends… may they be blessed!]


110211

AS EXPECTED

“What if?”

That’s the most
wonderful wonder.

What if… I’m okay?
What if… it’s okay?

What if it’s okay
if I’m okay
with whatever is?


110210

QUI SUM

Throwing off fear,
shame and sham,
I claim myself.

I say who I am.


PIQUANT

To a poem,
time is spice.
Read it slow.
Read it twice.


DEFLATED

Sixteen inches this morning,
compared to twenty yesterday:
a too-quick collapse of our
wonderful snow soufflé!


COLD, HARD
LIGHT OF DAY

Last night, I placed paper
and pencil by my bed.
In the dark, I wrote a poem.
There was no pencil lead.


NOLA PRIMA DONNA (for Valerie)

Alligator... hurricane...
you'd think she was a bold one.
No, she's mean and vain;
she taunts;
she flaunts good fortune.
She's the cold one!

[ASIDE: Valerie, my niece, contrasted her fine evening
in New Orleans with the circumstances of Arkansas relatives
blanketed under 20” of snow. Why? Because (she said) she is mean.]


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