As the old year slips
away, what have you learned that’s
worth taking into the new?
~
Years; they come and go
as, in my experience,
do all things, both fair and foul.
As the old year slips
away, what have you learned that’s
worth taking into the new?
~
Years; they come and go
as, in my experience,
do all things, both fair and foul.
NOTHING stays the same
in our stunning Universe.
Bad news for Conservatives.
~
Still, some things are worth
conserving: integrity
and the earth to name a few.
With the clock ticking,
our anxiety grows great.
Will we act in time?
~
There is always hope.
That other clock’s been ticking
seventy-five years so far.
What’s this nausea?
Is it a stomach virus,
or is it just politics?
~
It’s a systemic
virus. That we know for sure.
Let’s take the steps for a cure.
The impossible
takes a little longer, but
some of us want it right now.
~
Is it possible,
as we await perfection,
that our wants might change?
Conspicuously
absent in our government;
from whence will three wise men come?
~
This time around we
should be looking for three wise
women and the gifts they bring.
On this day of His
holy birth, may compassion
at last take root on this earth.
~
Render unto man
all the manly attributes
espoused by the NRA.
Negativity
very rarely yields results
of a positive nature.
~
But what if what you’re
seeking is not addition
but just subtraction?
Could it be that these
two, Franklin and Lindsey Graham,
are, as the Brits say, crackers?
~
Fissures dating back
to earliest childhood
yield fragmented brittle men.
Sometimes poets just
need to sit and drink a beer
and leave the cap on the pen.
~
While staring at the
froth and foam of existence
inspiration might appear.
May we find a way
to contribute our gifts to
the well-being of the whole.
~
Collectivist thoughts?
You’d best be careful there girl,
lest the Senate name you Red!
And the dice are cast…
All that remains to be seen
is which numbers will come up.
~
It seems everyone
has his number. The question
is how and why they’ll use it.
Struggling to find
our way in the midst of all
the fret and fury.
~
Gavrilo Princip’s
rash, impertinent action
once touched off a powder keg…
The sound of his voice
has that magical power
to cause all ears to bleed.
~
If it were only
ears that bled, it wouldn’t be
as bad as it has become.
Ever wonder what
the Prince of Peace would make of
our violent ways?
~
If I remember,
the Prince of Peace was heard to
say, “Render unto Caesar…”
History, Tragedy,
Comedy, and Drama all
have their place upon the stage…
~
At this stage we need
less tragedy. We’ve had quite
enough and could use a break.
If he can’t be Time’s
Person of the Year, he can
still be Idiot in Chief.
~
When the bigly man’s
trumped by a mere teenage Swede,
any superlative works.
It’s not just earthquakes
that rend this land asunder,
rageful rancor does it too.
~
If we avoided
fracking and fractious debate
quaking would subside.
It’s the twelfth day of
the twelfth month and our leader
acts like a weird twelve year old.
~
Meanwhile, Congress
counts coup in five minute chunks
and Senate sucks their thumbs.
It’s Sixty degrees
with snow forecast by morning.
That’s Virginia in winter.
~
This, in the era
of radical climate change,
has become the new normal.
Be on the lookout.
It’s possible sanity
might make a brief appearance.
~
You’d need keener eyes
than mine, to find the barest shred
among all that murky verbiage!
When people offer
constructive criticism,
some feel unjustly censured.
~
Humility helps
us all to listen and learn,
but it doesn’t come easy.
Seventy seven
years ago today, the one
who gave birth to you was born.
~
Seventy-seven
is the smallest integer
pronounced with five syllables.
Deep in the jungle
of a lifetime’s collection,
what might the descendent’s find?
~
It’s not what they’ll find;
rather, it’s what conclusions
they will draw from their findings.
When the song you sing
has only shrill notes, who can
harmonize with you?
~
Dogs will howl along
with your high pitched keening:
whistles only they can hear.
Merry Christmas, Y’all!
Scrooge hands down the gift of choice;
the poor must choose, heat, or food.
~
He just took Christ out
of Christmas, but will his
evangelical base care?
Hard not to lose heart
when those in power show none
and we have much to repair.
~
Repair all you want-
if we don’t fix the breakers,
we’re in for endless despair.
People can argue
about the ways and means if,
at least, their goals coincide.
~
Therein lies the rub.
Some act like they have the same
goals, but in truth they do not.
Every now and then
we catch a glimpse of the light
that abides within.
~
Inner glows are fine,
so long as we have refrained
from ingesting radium…
As the tryptophan
coma begins to subside,
we’ll see what Black Friday wrought.
~
The coma persists
but on Black Friday it’s one
of the walking kind.