My apologies

for the grimness yesterday;

it was the migraine talking.

~

With a migraine, you

still chose to join this noisy

bunch – that speaks volumes to me.

So, can we just say

a little bit of being

together goes a long way?

~

If we knew today

was the last we had to live

is this how we would spend it?

As the sun descends

after another long day,

shall we not embrace the dark?

~

Evening and night hold

a gentle offering of

sanctuary at day’s end.

Can you tell me what

sun says to morning dew that

sets her ashiver?

~

His protestations

of hot incandescent love

reduce her to steamy vapors.

Thanksgiving’s approach,

for the over-functioner,

means more work than giving thanks.

~

Under-functioners

give thanks for their existence –

makes their own much easier.

Countdown to that time

of year when friends and family

gather and flaunt politics.

~

Just keep “Uncle Don”

and his crotch-grabbing cronies

far from the children’s table!

How many times can

they paint unchanging landscapes

before the gallery revolts?

~

The landscapes, they are

a-changing even if the

big painters persist.

When we’re broken, friends

 and family help us pick up

the pieces and help us mend.

~

But don’t expect that

help to come without a price;

sarcasm and snarky wit.

Why must tragedy

inevitably contrive

to strike amid swirling chaos?

~

Swirling chaos, love,

and tragedy intermingle –

such is the nature of life.

Since Moore is less, can

 Alabama do what’s right

and remove the blight?

~

Kudzu is a blight

Alabama can’t remove;

a little Moore can’t be tough.

Young poets sent me

lyrical birthday greetings.

What else could a man ask for?

~

There’s nothing better

than personally crafted 

messages from the young.

On this your birthday

please share the profundities

you’ve learned through these many years.

~

After many turns

round about this yellow star,

I’ve yet to learn very much.

~

Aw shucks!

When the curtain falls

and the set is finally struck,

what beyond memory stays?

~

New skills mastered, new

limitations seen, old friends

and new  – these and more remain.

When I saw your tears

flow with pride at your son’s good

work, my heart danced with both of you.

~

Oh! Dyspepsia!

An unwelcome counterpoint

to a pleasant evening…

When the lights go down

and the music starts to swell,

will it be a trick or treat?

~

You never know ’til

the last curtain falls. Sometimes,

even then, it’s too soon to tell.

As the temperature

plummets, will government turn

a cold shoulder to the poor?

~

No turning needed.

Governmental indifference

is established precedent.

Rainy November

voting night – New Jersey and 

Virginia spoke loud and clear.

~

Spoke both loud and clear

but will it have an impact

on those tuned into fake news,

An old religion,

Marlin, Thompson, holy Colt.

Diabolic trinity.

~

This diabolic

trinity of firearms

has brought hell to earth.

Do you think Autumn’s

fire can consume Summer’s

shining lethargy?

~

Already Autumn mists

mute bright shining morning skies

harbingers of winter grey.

Oh we busy bees,

leading our so busy lives,

didn’t find the time to write

~

Out there having fun,

there’s sure something wrong with us,

playing, poems left undone!

Oh you! Camilla;

lending just a hint of spring

to all this autumn splendor!

~

Timely reminders

like these help us remember

that beauty has no season.

How do we react

when asked the impossible

on an hourly basis?

~

When we find ourselves

in such places, they say we

 can fight, flee, or freeze.

We’ve traveled so far

together – I wonder where

we will wander next?

~

Whither we wander

we will wander in wonder;

a wonderful world awaits.

Some may take offense

at all things outside the norm

but does their shock make them right.

~

Culture is maintained

by the norm but advanced by

what lies beyond it.

What beckons you on

these colorful days of Fall –

anything at all?

~

Today, a feather,

flotsam from some passing goose

seized upon my attention.

What if we saw we

were a part of the natural

world and not apart from it?

~

As John Muir once said,

most people are ON the world,

fewer are IN it!

Asleep at the switch

as the Mondo Train goes by

unnoticed by these poets!

~

But we awakened

in time to try our hands at

a belated rhyme.