Surprising fire

illuminating the night

testament of wedded bliss

~

I celebrate your

fire and the coolness of

what you choose to share.

Saturdays sometimes

bring rest, but more often they’re

used for catch-ups and errands.

~

Those Saturday tasks

may seem onerous at first,

but can be meditative.

No pressing demand

generously grants to us

leisurely awakenings.

~

Let’s treasure these days

and bask in the pleasure of

every leisurely moment.

This patch of land has

held me for more than twenty

years, thanks to your wife and you..

~

For us, it’s just land.

On it you have built a home

and that makes all the difference.

From those wizened hands.

through which every tool would slip,

emerge the most wondrous works.

~

Years have gone into

this artisan’s craft with such

amazing results.

We patch together

bits and pieces and believe we’ve

formed a quilt of truth.

~

Like kaleidoscopes,

what we see contains the truth,

obscured by glittering gems.

Boneless with fatigue

rising from this chair to bed

seems the herculean task

~

Sisyphus says you’ll

move from chair to bed before

he completes his task.

Reminding my son

to do his part, only to

find I had failed to do mine.

~

They say “shit happens”.

I say that’s all well and good

If the poetry don’t stink.

As sails luff, useless,

we flounder without rudder

and we make no steerageway.

~

Waiting for changing

winds, we sit and talk

about bringing oars next time.

Looking closely, we

might find several treasures

we unwisely left behind.

~

Leaving things behind

may not be all that unwise;

looking at their cost to keep.

My soul remembers

every piercing jagged step

on that sun-baked gravel lot.

~

And the body stores

that memory in every

cell lest you forget.

The cats brought a mouse

as a breakfast treat and were

perplexed when I wouldn’t eat.

~

Equal, I presume,

was their stunned consternation

when you didn’t give it back!

Equals before God…

Yet we all, somehow, assume

ourselves to be the better.

~

If we really thought

we were equal before God,

we’d treat each other better.

Even with many

letters to choose from, it can

still be hard to find the words.

~

Some things defy words’

ability to convey

the deepness of their meaning

It’s the little things,

Seeming insignificant,

Which are the most important

~

Looking back we can

sometimes see how important

those little things were.

Our wandering pup

now has a tracker so if

he strays from home we will know.

~

So it’s safe to say

you take due notice of him

and tiled him in due form?

Warm spring evening

Resound with persistent peeps;

Tree frogs awakened

~

Knox listens closely,

hoping it’s his beloved

sticks summoning him.

When a smile comes,

pause, inhale fully, exhale

joy into the world.

~

CO2 may be

a joy for plants to behold

but for me, it’s a waste gas.

Encountering gods,

even for the most devout,

is often best avoided.

~

Divine encounters

happen every day, but we

fail to notice them.

Knox decided to

try out for the opera

when he spotted that squirrel.

~

Canine arias,

regardless provocation,

sure are an acquired taste.

Just catching a glimpse

of a squirrel is enough for

Knox to be off and running.

~

Why does that great beast

relish chasing squirrels while my

chihuahua runs chasing bears?

When minds are made up

and hearts are closed, there’s no way

to hold a conversation.

~

No conversation

can ever be successful

with a cement wall.

With mouths afire

in sublime satisfaction,

we depart the restaurant.

~

Sounds like a blazing

good time was had by all, but

I was left out in the cold.

Stop where you are. Look.

Look up. Look down. Look around.

Anything you missed before?

~

I miss days of bliss

full ignorance occluding

political circuses.

Standing here, in line,

performing civic duty,

thinking, “Is this all an act?”

~

An action taken

responsibly is

an act of caring.

A lot is said, but

not much is done in the House

of Non Representatives.

~

Actions speak louder.

Words spoken for the record

underscore deadly silence.

Attend the quiet

gossamers silent drifting

among branches bare.

~

It’s easy to get

caught in that web of beauty

and just stand and stare.

We never know what

the day will bring. It could make

us howl, stomp, or dance and sing.

~

Through hard work we learn

to circumscribe desires

and keep passions in due bounds.