If accuracy

matters, can we call these clowns

leaders and keep a straight face?

~

In this Double Act,

it’s a challenge, to be sure,

telling straight-man from buffoon.

If we can’t admit

when we make a huge mistake,

we preclude any learning.

~

 If we acknowledge

we’re only human, we can’t

keep pretending we are gods.

Hearing that gaggle 

of geese, I thought I was in

the halls of Congress.

~

And watching that skein,

winging mindlessly onward,

reminds me of Senators.

Hide the smoking gun

in a smoldering crater.

Assure Pyrrhic victory.

~

And the resulting

implosion will echo

across space and time.

We lost a good man

today. He showed us how to

play life’s game with grace.

~

True man of stature,

in both his size and his skill.

A figure larger than life.

When Betelgeuse blows

some will surely find some way

to make hay by nova light.

~

How we respond to

this harmless, exploding star

will reveal our minds and hearts.

Openness to truth

 seems to disqualify them

for their party’s endorsement.

~

Since close-mindedness

seems to be their litmus test,

should we feign surprise?

Children can’t expect

to be treated like adults

when they sulk and rant and pout.

~

It is confusing

to children though when they see

our president acting thus.

Sometimes I get by

with a little help from my

long-suffering son.

~

He’s a chunk of meat

sandwiched between the fossils

and the chittering monkeys.

When you bought the judge

and the jury’s got your back,

what could possibly go wrong?

~

May a will  and a

way be found to finally

 end such crookedness.

Senate Repubs: “Let’s

 perform magic and make truth

and justice vanish.”

~

It seems preordained.

Like the trial of those fiends

that cruelly murdered Emmett Till.

Beneath Winter’s stars,

surrounded by frigid earth,

iris and crocus emerge.

~

An invitation

to remember even in 

the heart of winter hope springs.

A cold, rainy day

and here I sit warm and snug,

a good book not far away.

~

I was standing line

in the ninth circle of hell…

the Virginia DMV!

I had a passing

thought I thought I’d want to share

but somehow it escaped me.

~

Sometimes those thoughts we’d

like to pass on pass through so 

fast they leave no trace.

Is playing golf his

version of fiddling while

our country goes up in smoke?

~

With all these irons

in the fire, how can we

hope to find the time to write?

~

Hope springs eternal

that we’ll make the time amid

demands infernal.

Poets sometimes hide

themselves so deep inside that

we forget they’re even there.

~

And, alas, sometimes,

in body, mind, or spirit,

they’re not really even there.

Feelings sometimes hide

themselves so deep inside that

we forget they’re even there.

~

And sometimes they climb

right out there upon the sleeve

for the whole wide world to see.

Discomfort tends to

sharpen lazy mind’s focus

and promote action taking.

~

True, but sometimes we

choose denial and divert

ourselves with quick remedies.

In this seventy

degree, January heat,

we need a cool assessment.

~

This is Virginia.

If you don’t like the climate,

wait a minute, it will change.

Sometimes arrows miss

their mark leaving archers to

blame the wind or sun or bow.

~

Blaming, though easy,

doesn’t help us hit the mark,

but a calm assessment can.

In relationships

we learn which matters more – to

win or to connect.

~

 The greatest failures

are those who value winning

regardless of the expense.

Supergiants tend

to burn bright for a brief time

before they supernovae

~

Tend to the core lest

there be an inner collapse

and then a big explosion.

When did we become

 the Polarized States

of America?

~

“Make America,”

his slogan may as well be,

“Balkanized instead.”

The Captain must go

down to Davy Jones’ locker…

more so when he sank the ship!

~

He may be counting

on being airlifted by 

his staunch followers’ prayers.

Isn’t it time we

say, “You’re fired” to him who

always fires from the hip.

~

If Americans

lack the will to reign him in,

someone will surely geld him.

Experience improves

performance across the board.

Remember come November.

~

It can if it’s joined

to a willingness to learn,

but that’s not always the case.

The whole of nature

calls out to us to not let

our small minds destroy the whole.

~

One man’s destruction

might be seen as creation

through the eyes of sycophants.

Can you please explain,

after waiting two decades,

why this week seems eternal?

~

New Millenniums

seem to promise so much, but

can be slow to deliver.

Whether we will skip

or crawl in the coming year

remains to be seen.

~

I imagine we

will skip, slog, and crawl in turn

as this new year progresses.