A Difference of We

You check the radar                                                    I look at the sky

             who knows how far                                                   dreams and wishes fly

You balance the books                                                I devour them

            catching corporate crooks                                           counting sins condemn

You write checks                                                        I scribble poetry

            as a mirror reflects                                                       only what one can see

You make cash to spend                                             I make heads and tales

You whom I depend                                                               especially when my plan fails          

You swig beer to relax                                                I gulp coffee to think fast

           tense about some tax                                                    calculating the past

You who have jumped from a plane                           I have only danced in the rain

You can sleep late and snore                                      I rise early and fall fast

            on the couch, chair bed or floor                                  blinking the hours past

You want to erect and build                                       I like to break things down

             happy when the schedule's filled                               happy to get out of town

You are often confused by me                                   I have figured out and see

            alone is the only free                                                   add it up-in summary

            Plus the prose                                                              Less the cons

            as a duck one knows                                                   about a bevy of swans

You are growing older                                                I am aging slightly

            getting bolder                                                              forgetting politely

You are left                                                                 I am right

            romance bereft                                                            passionless night

Perhaps growing apart,

is my newest work of art.

Adding it up is where I'll start,

this analyzation of the heart.

Our desire to be free,

results in a different kind of We.

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0

Image "A Difference of Opinion", 1897 (Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts) by Lawrence Alma-Tadema [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Road Rage

I found this small torn out article (below) from an unknown date (1950's?) stuffed and saved amongst my grandfathers stories, he had a unique sense of humor. I will transcribe the story below the image.

(CHELMSFORD, England) -  "A motorist, cigar in mouth, honked his horn at the mailman whose bicycle blocked his way to the stoplight.  The mailman, outweighed but not intimidated, stared back.

Then the fun began before a fascinated noontime crowd here Monday.

First the motorist edged his car forward and nudged the mailman from his bike. The cycle fell over.

The mailman turned around and kicked both headlights on the car.

The driver stalked from the car, walked over to the bicycle laying on the road, and jumped up and down on its wheels, bashing in all the spokes. Then he returned to his car. 

The mailman, who had watched all this impassively, kicked in the car's foglight-a cruel blow to England. 

The driver got out again, raised the bike high above his head and dashed it to the ground.

The mailman leaned over, took the tire pump from his bike and thrust it through the car's windshield. 

The motorist surrendered.

With cigar belching smoke, he got back into his car and drove off.

But the mailman wasn't finished. As the car went by, he kicked a dent in the door. Then he picked up his disabled bike and walked off.

No one knew who the two men were. And neither of them said a word throughout the whole affair."  

Auto accident image from Wikimedia (public domain) National Photo Company, 1923.

Gray Stray

I have this cat, he's a Russian Blue.

But everyone that has cats knows that's not true,

because as felines profess know-it is they who own you.

He's not even really blue, more of a grey,

but his silver coat shines in a certain way

in the afternoon light of any sunny gold day.

He showed up one day where I now live,

asking for any extra love I could spare to give,

though hardly desperate and still quite furtive.

Sure it started out so innocently slow,

an outdoor kitty, but inside he's soon allowed to go-

he's on my bed right now-I just know!

He has a smoky cough and missing part of his left ear,

yet even with his claws and flaws, to our family he’s quite dear.

He’s even learned some English within the first year here!

He likely has a sorted past.

His walk is any gait but fast.

We will never bother to ask where he was last.

He's the first of his kind upon my lap,

always kneeding to take a nap.

His purr melts my heart like sweet honey sap.

He's not a lean, skitzo, or hyper thing,

yet I have caught him imagining,

chasing his tail or lion-dreaming.

He must just smell that certain human look,

common to those ones who often carry a book,

because he knows they will always find the coziest nook.

Perhaps some of the cats we label as “stray”-

actually know their way,

but didn't have the words to say,

"I think I'll find a different home,

and until I find the right one I'll roam-

I hope I find one that has a decent flea comb.”

He's the other sock in a pair

the other cats he likes to taunt and scare,

as for me, he loves to just sit and stare.

It’s for sure,  I've never been loved more

by a furry thing with legs of four.

His Cheshire smile and blocky head I simply adore.

I don't think his nine lives will be enough.

When he reaches number 8 it will be rough,

(even though we both like to act tough).

Yet while he's here to help me every day,

laying on my stuff in that innocent way,

or scratching the furniture in bursts of play,

I'll worship him for the gift of daily smiles,

ignore the wafting back yard mystery piles,

and be thankful for his cat walk across miles,

where he found his matching human pair,

one that likewise does not yet have gray hair,

he’s my gray stray with a tryst, my feline affair.

Where Are You?

Are you moving?
              or just re-locating?
I hope you remember
              to pack all of you...

Or perhaps that's exactly
              what you've hoped to have left behind-
of course starting over
              is nothing truly anew.

Maybe you just need a vacation
              or a change of view
perhaps try re-decorating
              with things that are not really you.

Just don't set up shops
               or make your bed with security blankets-
the stock you take
                fluctuates in interest.

Why do we bother
                 to clean
pick-up, dust and preen?
                 Oh, how these routines are so boring!

Perhaps that's why we travel and plan-
                 do all that you can
Change it up, try something new-
                 feel free to live richly
and take it all in.

But as you lay
                 down your precious head
wherever you choose to keep your bed
                 rest assured you're always home
no matter where-
                 how far or long you may roam.



Image by William Merritt Chase via Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain. "Young woman before the Mirror" circa 1900. 
                 

A Sense of Commonality

Curious creatures
born with some sense
an uncommon menagerie

Included in these features
are those special moments
reminded by a stimuli-of the sensory

It's all quite clear-unless it blurs
the gift of gab is worth 2 cents
but for you, my friend, this is free

To taste sour grapes
to hear bitter words
to touch a note
or smell a rat
...feeling beautiful

When something smells fishy
our red flags are raised
whispering intuition

a bit o' Irish Banshee
a taste for success unphased
in a buzzing world of commotion

To know is to see
these senses rapture and amaze
an idea is just a nonsense notion

A pure heart will set you free
thoughts will make you crazed
lost in perpetual motion

seeking truth
hiding from reality
throwing caution to the wind
letting ourselves go
and letting ourselves go...

Let's try to be sensible
subdue this striking sensation
lost in sensitive reflection

Senses good and terrible
heightened by emotion
give us invisible detection (upon closer inspection)

When one is weak the other is able
to take charge and overrun
coming to conclusions

Are there really just these five
to remind us we're alive?
There seems much more we can derive

What about a sense of style?
The tact of a genuine smile
An air of calm, nothing for denial
a sense of humor or beguile
uncommon senses are undeniably worthwhile.


Image By Annie Swynnerton (http://sladept.com/artist/swynnerton) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons. "Sense of sight" 1898.

Using Bold

Using Bold

To grab the words from thin air

Hold them and put them there

to step out and permanently say

it is such and such a way

to jump deep inside

instead of hide

and face the face of one's mortality

infallibly

Food for thought is not always tasty

but our reactions still often too hasty

To be a writer it is brave

to the consensus you are a slave

and good writing is never easy

in fact some have made me queasy

But writing is still where I find

truly a piece of mind

Like a dentist I plaster and polish

wrestle and wrangle pull and push

to get a perfect smile

it takes a while

More than ideas are in my head

although I've been told the Art of Poetry is dead

I still see poems everywhere, through teeth in combs

and propped on chairs, words tangled in hairs

So I take to poems to let them out

rarely stopping to edit or doubt

Does this word even go?

Only the poet should know...

often I get it all wrong

out of tune, like this song.

Form and convention is sometimes a bore

All the devices and metaphor

This must follow that, trying to do the math-

what was the order? I'm off the beaten path

I think I used improper composition

or was it my terrible diction?

Either way before you go 

there's something secret you should know

A poet never wrote for fame

for the muse, it's just the way the words came. 

Image By Okeyes (WMF) (Own work) [CC0], via Wikimedia Commons.

   

Awesome Autumn

Fall is when-

night is up

early.

A seasonal flare,

triggered trees in

flames.

Waving their flags-

to snowy surrender.

Warning warmly,

of Winters wanton wrath.

The air is crisp-

brittled and bundled,

nipping at numbing noses.

The sun briefly visits,

in cool fading interest,

bowing to the Wind

conducting the colorful chorus.

Dying leaves

stray and wander

in drifting decay.

Stockpiled and strewn,

tokens of child’s play.

Crimson, copper, coral,

tangerine, apricot, peach,

amber, saffron and shades of blonde;

Mother Earth blazing trails,

spilt her prismatic palette,

all over the canvased

November sky-

for no rhyme,

or reason,

Autumn is a lovely season.

Image by Digital nick, "Autumn in Slovakia", Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.