soldiers dig
trough becomes trench
and diggers hunker down and huddle
peek and fire
fortify and advance
dig in bug out die heroically
or inadvertently
with outmoded munitions
bought under entrenched conditions
to perpetuate a madness
that seems to be here to stay.
..
it is time to dig
a different way.
absolutism absolution
there is a central limit
and eke a second law
and if your headlights dim it
may not be due to flaw
..
the circle has no endpoint
the oval has no teen
the hyoid has no bent joint
some pintos never bean
..
some mountains are not rooted
some fountains come from pens
some woodwinds are not fluted
and ifless elses thens
perambulate in limbo
and percolate unbidden
a truth is falsehood’s shim though
and most fine sites are hidden
Diabetics Gone Wild
Two adult-onsetters
Going, going, gone
Throwing good sense to the winds
Bringing Sugar on.
Ordering four waffled scoops,
Calories galore,
Glucose level through the roofs–
May we have some more?
Oaths
I pledge my effort to this day;/May zero lassitide dismay.
I affirm that I will do my utmost to seek truth for the rest of my life.
There are sources of joy beyond impulse satisfaction, and I will value the former more than the latter.
Every person is distinctly different from me, and I will do what I can to respect that difference.
I swear with all my heart I am not done.
I’ll Tell You the Truth About Love
(A response to W. H. Auden’s “O Tell Me the Truth About Love”)
A poet named Dubya Aitch Auden
Once asked for the Truth about Love,
Untarnished, unsoiled, unsodden?
We hope and pray heaven above.
I think of a Hepburn named Audrey,
And then of another named Kate,
Who prove that Truth needn’t be tawdry,
And that Love is both wild and sedate.
..
So I say, late lamented friend Dubya,
That the Truth about Love is elusive.
Sometimes Love may seduce and then club ya
Sometimes Truth is not gladness-conducive.
But the Truth about Love is it’s needed,
And can beckon and cure the uncouth,
And the Truth is it’s lovely when heeded,
And is much that I Love about Truth.
My work in progress has progressed to its final stage, not as polished as it might be but also not as artificially slick as it might be. On to a new one!
My sweet cohabitant Donna has prepared a bowl of strawberries topped with blueberries and placed it near the rocking chair where I toil, with the red corpuscular cushion supporting my lower back, to bring my dual-acrostic illustrated poem to completion.
This is a moment created by the break Donna created when she said, “Would you like some strawberries?” and I replied, “Yes, I would. Thank you!” It is a welcome interruption worthy of capture, a delicious sliver of the day.
last month he was an arizonan and a phoenician
now he is becoming an ohioan from toledo
because love is grand and of colossal power
and the woman is lovely and kind and playful
..
leaving one community for another is not easy
it is an uprooting that includes many goodbyes
there is a hint of the funereal
with an unspoken “i will never see you again”
..
he does not miss the hellish heat
he sees the d-backs from a distance
he dines on broiled embellished meat
new friends will have some fun his stunts
..
it might be nice to be a buckeye
but this guy’s still a desert rat
and yes, it’s me and with some luck i
like ohio, trim my fat.
she used near-inaudibility
to keep me on my toes and in check
and it gave her opportunities to correct me
no
i said I heed you
not i hate you
..
i asked her to speak up
and then i learned of her wicked wit
for she levitated two yards above my head
and was harder to hear than ever
i had no clue what she was saying
itay not even have been words
..
then she tilted her head back
to speak up to the sky
or to a deity of rumbling thunder
and then i heard her clearly
as she declaimed I AM AS WELL
and the heavens or clouds parted
and lightning struck her
as a celestial voice responded
TRUE.
SO?
..
she was unharmed by the lightning
but miffed by the dismissiveness
so she began murmuring again
as she settled close enough
to breathe her voice into my face
several place t emse ves ab ve us
but i choose to be at your sigh
..
then she faded into the air around me
her disembodied face lingering by my ear
as she whispered find me
and was then gone
May the world not end.
May the killers go sane.
May the unworthy and wicked be stripped of the power that they wield.
May children enjoy their childhoods.
May good weather more than make up for bad.
May we choose not to fight.
May we find worthwhile uses for our time.
May we seek understanding, justice, and grace.
In the name and at the helm Universe of which we are an essential element, may Kindness and Reason prevail.
