Category Archives: Poems

Gift of Tomorrow

We should live life as optimists
knowing the sun will rise again in the morning
for if it didn’t, who will ever care?
So rise, knowing you are blessed
with life which brings us our tomorrow’s
shepherded by our Angel of Today in
her enveloping wings into a future
unknowable, unseeable and possibly even
unfathomable…

Everyone believes they have a destiny
as if faith of the future is enough, when
it is what we work for which matters and
shapes our future, it is a matter of
life preparations, of life-entangling
experiences, and a dollop of random which
shape our destiny, and all we must do
is live as an optimist would, preparing
for our tomorrows, trusting our Angel of Today…

and rise up and accept the gift of tomorrow!

 

 

Flowering Future

Sometimes unrelated things inform
on the other, creating a symbiosis of value
more than the remora knowing
its usefulness to the great white
rather, like a flower cultivated for
its beauty, could only exist for the
expressions of love we value to share,
to achieve a symbiosis of hearts,
and so beauty begets beauty, and
heart’s experience of joy ensures
the future of both, as life is given
in for love, and love gives life to
the flowering future, and we
see in the art of words, and valued
visual experience we are informed
of beauty, and thus the future of life,
and with these symbols, with beauty,
we can grow and evolve to a more
beautifully cultivated humanity.

So give a flower to someone today!

Happy Birthday Miracle

Every birth is a miracle, for we are
all here against all odds.
A billion chances must align for
our identity to be written in the stars.
A million more must align for a last
gasp of science in conception of beauty.
A thousand more give your mother the
strength to bring life to you, despite all odds.

And yet here you are!  A beautiful miracle
in which there is proof that love prevails,
that God wishes for you to have your
chance to change the world for the better
against all odds!

Happy Birthday Alayah – 27 July 2024!
Congratulations Julie and Abe!

 

 

I Believe in Magic

And how could I not?
When the sun is so hot
and the moon so cold
and the earth so old
and we are so young
here in our time, among
each other, to share this life
on the sharp-edge of a knife,
in a world of climate-brittle
where it seems so very little
we can do, but to live
fully and share and give
love, as we all pray for that
rabbit to be pulled from a hat.

Yes, I believe in magic

For I’ve seen chains unchained
and yet those lives unchanged.
I’ve seen failures redeemed
by luck, and then the esteemed
recipient be hailed as a hero
even if mad as the fiddler Nero.
And thus, a neat trick of fortune
creates a sort of wicked torsion
on the crowd-thinking masses
and they believe this luck passes
for magic, or divine intercession
leading to red-hatted accession
like the woman sawed-in-two
magically rejoined for all of you.

Do you believe in magic?

 

 

Summer Cold

Summer cold gets in the way
of my thoughts, and what to say,
with the coughing and rattling
deep in my chest causing addling
of my mind and loss of the rhyme
when it comes to this next line
and freaking thoughts won’t hold
on this poem, nor a brain fold
which used to work well, before
a summer cold came to my door.

 

 

 

 

The Great Debate

Old men hanging on to the past
trying to make glory and fame last.
Phantom ideas, words hard to find
confusion and retribution in mind.
Grievances and fears are being sold
along with tennis shoes of gilded gold.
Stumbling remnants of poisoned populism;
in debate sounded like a bad case of botulism.
We know about the stories and lies
we know of corporate greed and ties
of influence money ugly and dark
of dangers presently near and stark.
And so here’s the choice,  Hell No
versus sad alternative of Oh No!

God Help Us!

 

 

 

Risk

This very simple poem by Anis Nin (1903 – 1977) contains much complexity about the risk of change in order to blossom into our most beautiful selves.

Risk

And then the day came,
when the risk
to remain tight
in a bud
was more painful
than the risk
it took
to blossom.

 

 

Dad

Of all the occupations I’ve known
and titles important I’ve owned
none have given me as great a pleasure
nor made me worry if I would measure
to the example my own father has given
and thus be worthy of this title, I’ve striven!

Happy Dad’s Day to all of you who understand
the measure! 

 

Green-Blue Seas

I look out on green-blue seas
with unlimited possibilities.
Almost all of it unknowable, hidden
and awaiting a future forbidden
to be seen, but it will always find you
and surprise you with something new.

For we a product of the past,
the ice flows which didn’t last
the evolution of life, love, friends
will determine where infinity begins
and the fullness of life ends for we
are part of this green-blue sea.

Ethos

Ethos – The characteristic spirit of a culture, era, or community as manifested in its beliefs and aspirations. 

Shaped by our storytellers
by leaders who inspire us
by our collective yearning
and inclusive learning
of what makes us who we are.

Enduring it should be
and survive generationally
because the vision is as true
as the red, white and blue
of the flag of our fathers.

It is a duty, it is a call
for us now, to us all,
to be not distracted by
pretender’s distorted
and venal visions.

At times we must be
reminded of who we are,
and re-hear the stories
and recover our reason
and our Ethos!

 

One of our great storytellers is Ken Burns:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9n1OqPzIKH4https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9n1OqPzIKH4