I know patience is

a virtue but sometimes it

is hard to be virtuous.

~

And anger, a vice.

Why is it much easier

to retreat to viciousness?

Who could even tell

if the government shut down?

It’s been gridlocked for decades.

~

Government Service

is a high calling for those

who know how to serve.

Reset and restart –

a suggested agenda

for a nation gone astray.

~

Too late to recall

our recent dubious choice

but we could not re-elect.

Doesn’t that fool know

even allies become foes

when you grab their bottom line?

~

If those allies are

also foolish, they’ll remain

loyal even so.

If we aren’t Native

Americans, are we not 

illegal immigrants too?

~

Now let’s split some hairs:

Since we’re legal emigrants,

somebody gave us status!

Since he’s free to say

all these ridiculous things,

we’re free to ridicule him.

~

What is it they say –

freedom’s just another word

for nothing left to lose?

Complicit silence –

expediency’s coin to

assuage Tyranny’s piper.

~

Egomaniacs

hear all noise as ringing praise;

silence; implicit consent.

If you thought today

represents stupidity,

just wait until tomorrow.

~

It’s not the day nor

 the hour; rather, it is

our nation’s Tweeter-in-Chief.

When Obama speaks,

sentences are complete. Hope,

not hate, is offered.

~

Huge elitist snob…

clearly he’s not one of us…

show that boy he don’t belong.

Promises of rain,

here in the height of summer,

buoy weary souls.

~

But a whole week’s worth

will dampen the spirits of

even the most buoyed souls.

You can’t claim respect

by clinging to another’s

vision. You must find your own.

~

Looking back on it,

some folk are often confused

with respect to blind respect.

Time marches on, but

sometimes we poets misstep,

lose the beat, retreat.

~

And when we falter

we must, somehow, remember

to refrain from self-faulting.

Sudden summer rains

bring unexpected relief

from smoldering heat.

~

Though ephemeral,

who can’t appreciate this

respite from sultry weather.

How much smoke must rise

before deniers admit

that, somewhere, something’s burning?

~

It wasn’t only 

Nero who fiddled while Rome

burned – we are doing this too.

What lies ahead, we

don’t know. What we know is this:

where he goes, drama unfolds.

~

Some blame lightning rods

for drawing the lightning but

generators make current.

When there’s endless noise,

loudly signifying naught,

there may be a void of thought.

~

Sounds like you’ve been tuned

to Trump Broadcasting System.

Try switching channels.

How many times can

you cry fake news before they

carry you away?

~

Like That little boy,

oh so fond of crying “Wolf”,

when it’s real, you’re ignored.

One towering oak

can’t a healthy forest make;

No one thrives alone.

~

As Thich Naht Hanh says,

“we inter-are”. How well we’ll

grow when this we deeply know!

Let us listen to

the wind whisper secrets to

the trees – natural wisdom.

~

That’s a much better

whisper to which to attend

than hatred’s sharp scirocco.

When the “new normal”

begins to seem psychotic,

what is the best sane response?

~

Become abnormal

as fast as you can and join

with others marginalized.

At seventy-five

this is what I have to say:

find what you love and do it.

~

And at fifty-three

I have but one caveat:

live a lifestyle your love buys!

What purpose is served,

on this ninety degree day,

by that giant bonfire?

~

Got kids out of house,

roasted hot dogs, burned private

records – a three-in-one win.

We leave behind our

own humanity when we

deny others theirs.

~

Those without a soul

don’t know ’bout humanity

neither do they care to learn.

There’s healing power

in hard, manual labor.

Is this why our culture’s sick?

~

If those at the top

used their power and paid good

 wages, we’d be well.

Trump’s minions quickly

come in, pause, go out, leaving

chaos in their wake.

~

Some would say chaos

is just part of the milieu

in Trump’s “White House” asylum.

When the smoke obscures

the fireworks display, that’s

excessive exuberance.

~

 By now we should be

used to smoke that obscures. That’s

what our president is for.

Wandering among

the stars, she suddenly saw

that moon-jumping cow.

~

Realizing she

was that fabled dish, she thought,

“Where’s that spoon run off to now!”

Loudly, the masses,

proclaim their independence

eschewing diversity.

~

We know who they are

who proclaim independence

and eschew the truth.

As July simmers

we whimper, wishing for cool

days and cooler nights.

~

Until we get them!

Then we’ll all wail and whine for

halcyon summer splendor!

Negotiating

life’s little disappointments

is how we learn happiness.

~

We can till the ground

and tend the soil so that

happiness can bloom.