Geography and time Separate
and also Unite…
if we allow them such powers.
Thankful for a Lesson in Patience
Ushered by a child to a table
to sit invisible in a service
dead-as-door-knob zone.
Watching service rendered
inefficiently to all others
by new highschool graduates.
Where one thing at a time
belays the visually apparent
fact they have two hands.
A drink served, from a bar
poorly provisioned without
limes on a busy weekend.
But we have bread and oil
and water, for the hour we
wait for our salads.
And yet we are seated,
listening to piped in jazz music
and each other…
We are not in a hot sun
waiting in some monstrous
queue for a handout of food.
We are not lacking for
indoor air conditioning
and restroom facilities.
Our car waits in the lot
and we need not trek
to a border, or crowd in a boat.
We only require patience
and the recollection of how
greatly we are blessed…
and newly thankful for the lesson.
An American Prayer
I’ve cried the Star-Spangled Banner
I’ve traveled America the Beautiful
I’ve faithfully Pledged Allegiance
I’ve sworn to protect her secrets
for which I had privilege to know.
I’ve saluted independence in poem,
and yet I’ve seldom realized
this is by fortune of birth for which
my joy and pride and all I respect
and hail as great is so rare and precious.
Independence and freedoms won
through blood and sweat and tears
and intellect and high ideals in times
long before, and in moments everyday
by those who keep the faith and
keep a most holy watch.
Quaesitum
Something sought or required
Like the movie with Billy Crystal
who is looking for that One Thing.
But isn’t this what life is, the
Quaesitum… the grand quest in
life for that one thing?
As Curly said, in City Slickers
“It’s up to you to figure it out”
… your one thing.
Life is a complicated thing
but so often the one thing
for each of us is a simple thing
May your life quaesitum
be worth the journey, worth the
quest, and you find your one thing!
Two Disasters at Sea
The seas are a brutally unforgiving
place to challenge adventure, and even
more dangerous for migrations to a better life.
We are simultaneously fascinated with risk
of discovery while repelled by the desperate hope
for a better life for the most unfortunate of us.
We cannot look away as five
wealthy thrill seekers face
their tragedy of life existence…
While we can easily look past another
unremarkable sinking of an overcrowded
boat taking the lives of hundreds of migrants.
What is wrong with humanity and
our fascination with the extraordinary
adventures of a few wealthy tourists?
While the drowning of hundreds of
unfortunate migrants fleeing oppression
causes us nary a shake of the head?
Where is our interest, where is our
concern, what resources are applied
to rescue, what resource to prevention?
We must wonder about how we value lives
and how we mete out our limited
attention, resources and prayers?
Father’s Worry For Their Children
Happy Father’s Day to all the Dad’s
Father’s worry for their children
unlike a mother’s worry for same.
For a mother worries they don’t get hurt,
while a father worries they find happiness.
Mother worries about those things outside.
Things outside the nest which may be dangerous.
Father hopes they are prepared for life adventures.
Mother worries of the stress and toil of life and love.
Father hope they learn more of stresses, toils and love.
Mother seeks to help them with their own nesting.
Father seeks to help them grow and to flourish
as much on their own as they can be, holding them
only as close as they need to be the beautiful people
they are destined to be… but Mother will hold them so
close forever, and together … it’s a beautiful partnership.
Appetency
A longing and desire
for something unique
for something tasty
for something valuable.
A tendency toward and
an affinity for activity
and action and power
a compulsion of sorts.
His need for power and
esteem is an appetency
which has driven his
entire existence.
Conveyed in crowd size,
ratings, the stars on the
shoulders of those who
served at his table.
The documents and trappings
of greatness, and importance
hoarded and protected
like fireflies in a bottle.
The women treated as
trophies of conquest,
no different than the
magazine covers, of his likeness.
Like Narcissus lost in the
his own reflection, he
has no soul, only the
reflection of a crafted image.
His appetency will be
the end of him just the same
and with this the honor
of all who held the mirror.
Appetency was the word of the day today… I thought it was very interesting…. the definition is included in the beginning of the poem.
“Tonight, I say this to my Republican colleagues. You are defending the indefensible. There will come a day when Donald Trump is gone, but your dishonor will remain,” … Liz Cheney.
The Gift of Time
Time is on my side says the patient man,
waiting for the moment to show his hand.
And yet time is no one’s friend,
it wins the long-game in the end.
Moments are very soon to pass
for those who thought it would last.
As if next-time would always be there,
because the last-time failed to declare.
And time will not be banked says the wise man,
it is to be spent before slipping through your hand.
The gift of present-time we should all be aware
is the most precious thing this life can share.
For Tiana and Ethan
Fairy Tales Come True
Born in innocence of youth
with a faith in each other
two worlds come together.
Journey’s intertwine
as streams flowing
graceful toward the sea.
Supporting each other,
perfect companions
flowing beautifully together.
Evoking a dream of you
who inspire each other,
and all of us to believe…
Dreams can come true
in the amazing fairy tale
told in the love shared by two.
Freedom
It has a nice ring to it…
Free as if it has no cost,
but it does.
Dom, as if it is a state of being
endowed as a right,
easily trampled.
Often heard as a rally cry
by those who intend to
strangle it.
Ringing true as a bell
in the subconscious of
those asleep.
Keeping them asleep,
for fear they should
awake.
For they might then see
that freedom doesn’t
mean alike.