The Monster
Its powerful and green
The biggest we’ve ever seen
Whining wickedly, it stops with a grind
Monster with ravenous hunger on its mind
Massive arms lift the offering provided
Best to feed the beast we’ve decided
It growls, belches and groans
Devouring the offering proffered
….. at each of our homes
For those of you that would like to know what “The Monster” is and haven’t figured it out. The answer if you read right to left is:
k c u r t e g a b r a g
I’m Irish Today
It’s Sunday, it’s time to post
I have nothing to say or boast
But it’s St. Patrick’s day
And everyone’s Irish today
So, I’ll too wear green
The finest color ever seen
And keep my post simple and fun
Letting my little limerick out for a run
Maybe even find a happier hour
Allowing drinking rhymes to flower
As my thirsty mind slowly spins
Thought begins and then ends
And when I can no longer rhyme
I’ll sing in three quarter time
Nice and slow so I don’t slur
Such fine words all in a blur
For today and all the time
Seven percent of me is Irish
… and I can certainly rhyme
Progress
Sister joins brother and I so we moved. Learn new address, mom repeats to us 942 Progress. Progress was brick houses in a row, but not too much progress, field of dandelions growing across the street, but still it sprouted yellow fire hydrants. Two per block. Everything seemed bigger, the basement looked like a playground. The backyard was for playing tag. Italian family next door made wine in the basement. English family survived the war, dad with a hole in his back that was permanent reminder. Mack down the street throws baseball over the rising moon to my dad, who throws it back just as high, I only dream of being able to catch it. Meanwhile the street lights keep track of when we’d have to be home for the night. We all walked to school in the mornings and back for lunch, and back and then home during the cooler parts of the year. We played tag along the way. When the snow comes we shovel a path in the backyard to play with football, dive into snow and catch. We liked falling and catching and running. Boots for walking latched with metal clip right over school shoes. Milk in the milk chute froze one morning, and broke. Milk flows down the basement stairs. Rubber boots were fine. Mittens smelled like spoiled milk for the rest of winter. And it seemed I would sniff them every time I wore them, even tho I knew they’d still smell. But this was progress. We played, we learned, we were kids.
The Wall
I come from a thousand miles away
Drawn to you, so smart, energy, beauty,
To make my world, life right today
To be part of you, of all you stand for
But you put a wall up to keep me out
When all I have for you is love and adore
I know no other way, so
I’ll find a way, I’ll climb over, or go around
And find a way to stay
In your paradise, the one you’ve told me to come and see
When you said …
“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free”
When your liberty stood tall
Inviting you, your family, all
But now I see and feel a wall
You use to feel safe and protected again
But what are you afraid of
Allowing another that loves you to come in?
Anticipation
For somethings we must wait a lifetime
Moving as we do, in not-so-straight line
Sometimes without knowing we wait
As we allow for the vagaries of fate
But knowing can be anxious, as we wait
As we think, feel, and anticipate
With hope of something great
Even if it seems a little late
Maybe even a wonderful surprise
If we allow for
the possibility of love to arise
Chasing a Thought
If the words could be found
I’d say something profound
That would inspire heart and mind
If just that thought I could find
And it wouldn’t be this time
Some silly idea with a rhyme
But something greater, something apart
That would inspire readers
to tear the page and hold it to their heart
But no muse, no nature does inspire
Critical thought or such passion desire
That would drive my feeble pen
To share a beautiful thought from within
These two sides of my brain
No germ of idea, not a single grain
Lost forever in clouded rhyme I fear
Until there’s a thought I find dear
And those words would be found
Allowing me to say something profound
Like, simply… “love one another”
February
It snows in Michigan and it just looks so mean
Arizona desert is cool in white we’ve seen
Colorado powder is great for skiing
Florida shorts and sandals, living the dream
February is shortest month of all
It needs a booster chair
…. For every fourth year
To be at the table with all the rest
It has a day for love in the middle
It has winter, spring, summer and fall
…. All in one
As it tries to compensate and claim the title of the best
Declaring a National Emergency
Congress just won’t act to protect us, so I must
Declare a National Emergency
So we can keep evil from our borders
We need the funding for the wall and YCE
That is Yogurt Customs Enforcement
Yes, we need YCE
We need to protect ourselves from the Greeks
They are coming in hordes with their Yogurt
It’s a conspiracy, they are going to kill our digestive systems
With their sour, hidden active bacteria
They are going to take over our culture
Then our economy will be threatened by Chobani
It’s also a humanitarian crisis
Women are becoming yogurt slaves
Children are being exposed at ever younger ages
We need the wall
We need YCE
We need to keep the terrorist Greek’s out
And make America Great Again!
The Kids are Here
It’s morning
The kids arrived late
Happy to be relieved of long drive
Kids is not right, they brought their own kids
The baby was not ready to go back to sleep
Wes couldn’t wait to play with toys
But they go down eventually
Now it’s early for them, and cartoons are on, and both boys get mom up
Mom’s not really awake, she stares at the cartoon lightly rocking Carson
Who’s sipping a bottle
While Wesley sprawls on the couch mesmerized… happy to be lost in a world of Disney Junior
It won’t be long before full throttle play will take over morning quiet.
At my height, the horizon is just 2.9 miles away… yet it is a life journey to get to the edge of vision.
The Horizon
Edge of our vision a horizon is there
Just an hour’s walk away if we dare
And yet we cannot see past there
No matter how hard we stare
There’s always another horizon out there
But it’s the journey for which we should care
And all the precious moments on the way there