In this heat even

a short walk seems long for both

eager Knox and languid me.

~

Long walks in the sun

are often salubrious…

Not in Virginia summers!

Threatening weather

seems all the more annoying

when it brings no rain!

~

But not far away

there was a stunning rainbow

along with some flooded roads.

Does anything say

Southern quite like magnolia

blossoms and sweetened ice tea ?

~

Bless her little heart!

How could she have forgotten

the art of Southern Good-byes.

That which people fear

most often cripples them more

than true evil intentions.

~

Our minds can conjure

lots of dark scenarios

that cause us to dim our light.

Let’s celebrate this

just right Virginia weather

while we have the chance.

~

These fleeting moments

of salubrious comfort

soon succumb to canicules.

Why bother building

bridges, since it’s easier

drawing lines -on maps -in sand?

~

Building bridges is

not easy, but it’s the more

hopeful of the two.

Insistent demands

seem to be the currency

changing hands this Father’s Day.

~

What better honor

than to be asked to lend your

hand on Father’s Day?

So! Crucifixion

is the ivory soap certain

fate for all who confront him?

~

Fox is his soap box

and fiction is what is used

to crucify dissenters.

Have truth and wisdom

followed faith and charity

into history’s dustbin?

~

Truth and wisdom, faith

and charity still reside

among us dust free.

So, let me get this

straight – groping and grabbing is

ok if you’re rightly aligned?

~

Groping and grabbing

is ok if you’re blind to

basic human dignity.

As the wind begins

to howl and rains to fall

dare we hope for some relief?

~

Here in Virginia

we can expect some relief

from untimely heat.

What if we spent as

much time noting simple joys

as we do dissatisfactions?

~

Noting simple joys

offers scant satisfaction

over dissatisfactions!

I don’t want to hear

the latest dreck to dribble

from the “oval orifice”!

~

I’m astounded, my

fellow poet, that you would

close your ears to false facts and fear.

The first thing to seek

is understanding of self

and others. Love flows from there.

~

What can follow from

peace, love, and understanding

but maybe more of the same?

Narcissists believe,

despite all the evidence,

all press is good press.

~

Underneath it all

they are consumed with a need

to know they really matter.

Tell me, how many

golf trophies does it take to

feed those felled by hurricanes?

~

Gilded plastic cups

will not change mud to water

nor will they feed the hungry.

How can that huge bird

thread these woods so silently;

flashing soundless ‘tween the trees?

~

Unlike He Who Shall

Not Be Named. that bird has not

discovered Twitter

Is there anything

more chilling than sheer darkness

clothed in robes of white?

~

Terror often comes

clad all in shining raiment

to mask its vile nature.

From an early age,

some lap the milk of human kindness;

others… hate’s dark fire hose.

~

Throughout our lives we

choose over and over from

which source we will drink.

Hurricane relief?

Why bother when there are so

many jets to charter?

~

If we took those jets

and flew them ’round hurricanes,

the cash would be better spent.

Sometimes a respite

at exactly the right time

can recharge flagging passions

~

The wise among us

know that sometimes a white flag

is no sign of surrender.

Sometimes even the

best of us draws a blank. We’ll

let the reader complete this piece.

~

When we’re heading down

familiar paths that lead to

 pain, what helps us turn around?

~

Agony’s byway

has so many deep worn ruts,

breaking free is quite the chore.

How can we keep track

of the constant info flood

without some medication?

~

 We must build dikes to

 keep the floods at bay and thus

halt the need for med-evacs.

When the seductive

siren of self-aggrandizement

calls, what will help us hang up?

~

Answering machines

help us to avoid the calls

of unsavory critters.

As chaos fosters

rhetoric more bellicose,

can we step back from the brink?

~

You’ve got the order

wrong. As rhetoric grows more

bellicose, chaos ensues.

e

Why can’t we see Truth

even when it stands before

us glowing with light?

~

Often glowing truths

are really will o’ the wisp

hastening us to our doom.

We choose our focus.

Will it be thorns or blossoms

or the value of both?

~

Both the bloom and thorn

serve a unified purpose:

assuring reproduction.