What was once normal

seems strange after living through

an abnormal year.

~

Perception, it seems,

not possession, as professed,

constitutes nine tenths of all.

Premature warnings

that sad news is forthcoming

cruelly fosters foreboding.

~

Though well-intentioned

such warnings prolong, rather

than soften the pain.

Late evening diners

land on the feeder and are

aggrieved that nothing is there.

~

Bolder rodentia

knock and demand sustenance

when feed’s in absentia.

Why all the hurry?

I, for one, am in no rush

to expedite my exit.

~

Unfortunately,

we’re aptly designated

members of the human race.

Seems I’ve been drafted

again. Sometimes the clock moves

faster than the pen.

~

Those blasted clocks spin

faster as the years go by…

soon they’ll pass politicians.

That green leaf let go

and fell. Was it trying to

be a pioneer?

~

Despairers in Spring

are regarded with pathos,

not lost in rustling Fall.

There is naught like pain

to bring all into focus;

everything in sharp relief.

~

Sometimes pain narrows

our focus and everything

we see we see though that lens.

We ended the day

with a steam bath, compliments

of warm earth and rain.

~

When the Monsoons come

neither compliment or curse

will impact the outcomes much.

I remembered him,

my namesake and my mentor,

opening that old soap dish…

~

I remember him

too, your namesake and mentor,

an expert at whitewashing.

I guess if you’d been

asleep for seventeen years,

you’d have a lot to say too.

~

Seems that Snow White

may have been an outlier;

she was sure no chatterbox.

Why are some afraid

to acknowledge history?

Doing so affirms no guilt.

~

They might think that what

they don’t know can’t hurt them, but

that’s where they’d go wrong.

The sky’s no limit

if you’re Jeff Bezos. He’ll ride

Blue Origin’s first crewed flight.

~

Misplaced confidence

and grand gestures of the same

lead many to their ruin.

A celebration,

regardless of the reason,

is always a good idea.

~

Who, what, or why we’re

celebrating determines

if it’s good or not.

Knox met a turtle

today, tried to coax him out

of his shell. No luck.

~

Friendly overtures

can often be misconstrued

during initial contacts.

After summer rains,

misty wisps rising in fields;

surreally ethereal.

~

Those wisps remind us

to be on the look-out for

daily mysteries.

So many problems.

So little time. Let’s hope we

can prioritize.

~

Priorities change

with every new election,

yet the problems still remain.

After Cicada’s

incessant drone and chatter,

these woods seem sadly empty.

~

Much like the house feels

when children depart for camp,

travels or college.

Obstruction is the

last resort when the truth is

there for all to see.

~

This is a time when

rebuttal serves no purpose

nor does elaboration.

When tardy becomes

truancy, can we hope to

prevent recidivism?

~

First comes awareness,

then comes desire, then comes

practice, then comes lasting change.

Sudden change is hard

to assimilate. We must

be gentle, give ourselves time.

~

Given enough time,

that sudden change we’re facing

will, most surely, change again.

Some purse their lips to

kiss and others purse their lips

to show extreme displeasure.

~

The same lungs we use

to whisper we holler with;

the intent governs the act.

How many sheepdogs

does it take to safely herd

one myopic ewe?

~

Apparently it’s

two, especially when that old

myopic ewe has no clue.

When judging ourselves,

do we value what we do

over who we are?

~

What we do and how

we do it, reveals who we

are to ourselves and others.

Even the pets felt

today’s heat and showed they much

preferred air conditioning.

~

Meanwhile, I spent

my day proving that adage

‘about mad dogs and Englishmen.

A cool gentle breeze

may be all I desire;

I get hurricane warnings.

~

When the new normal

is hurricanes, a gentle

breeze seems too much to hope for.

I hope the gently

falling rain will wash away

the cares of the day.

~

Falling water

may wash pollen from the air,

but can not resolve all cares.

Traveling up north,

I find Cicadas galore,

risen from millions of holes!

~

Though their journey took

much longer than yours, they stayed

the course, arrived with a song.

I pick up a pen,

make a mark on the paper,

create a wordless poem.

~

Why bother with pens,

or paper for that matter,

since we write with electrons?

Sometimes it may seem

the world is conspiring

to keep you under its thumb.

~

Laughter can loosen

the world’s hold and refresh our

worrisome, world weary hearts.

In that time after

the sharp bite of blaming words,

let’s practice self care.

~

So that we may be

better able to curtail

our acerbic impulses.