Though the rain persists,

my spirit is not dampened.

I know the sun shall return.

~

In the transition

between raining and sunshine,

the sky’s an artists delight.

The ides of July,

dawn to cool refreshing breeze,

soon turns thick and syrupy.

~

For a brief moment

July relinquished its bold

claim to beastly heat.

What is it about

us humans that we travel

afar in search of what’s here?

~

Have you not been told?

The grass is always greener

the farther you get from home.

Holding on to junk

long past its useful purpose

can hardly be a virtue.

~

Practicality

frequently takes the back seat

to sentimentality.

When days are packed full,

it’s important to take time

for a bit of spaciousness.

~

Vast empty spaces,

ultimately, get packed full;

nature abhors a vacuum.

How can people act

so completely soullessly

and still call themselves righteous?

~

Righteousness can be

a convenient cover-up

for self-serving behavior.

Day Lilies show us

a way to greet the day, but

I’ll go with Weeping Willow.

~

Willows gentle sway

reminds us of ocean swells

and the wombs rocking comfort.

Looks like summer heat

or grandchildren’s invasion

has stifled your pen, partner.

~

Stifled and swamped, I

inadvertently laid my

pen to rest. I’ll rally soon.

Having overslept

overworked to compensate

and so scribble some drivel…

~

Scribbling drivel

is better than the nothing

I can do these days.

For all its blessings

modern technology can

be the devil to work with.

~

Seems the road to Hell

Ain’t paved with good intentions

but rather printed circuits!

Modern politics

bears a strong resemblance

to Pacific Cargo Cults.

~

Such resemblances

abound, but are seldom seen

by so-called civilized folks.

Smokey skies reflect

our lack of care for the earth.

When will we wake up and look?

~

As the heat rises,

it’s business as usual

like those proverbial frogs

It’s a miracle

poets lived to scribe again

after days like yesterday.

~

For folks who like short

poems such days encourage

writers to oblige.

Because we want things

sooner, we often end up

paying for them much later.

~

We also end up

paying more for what we want

than if we had just waited.

Dishwater grey sky,

Oppressively sticky air

Portend evening turbulence

~

And early the next

morning the trees glisten, kissed

by the rising sun.

Where the poet starts

and where the poem goes can

surprise even the poet.

~

Poets are open

to chronicle all events

no matter their relevance.

Seeking the answers

seems a futile exercise

when the questions keep changing.

~

As I age, questions

and answers absorb me less,

and being interests me more.

The sun made a brief

appearance, but long enough

to lift our spirits.

~

And afternoon storms

dampened me and my spirits

while I smoked pork for dinner.

Aching muscles

serve us as a reminder

that our peak is in our past.

~

When goals muscle past

good judgment in an effort

to be met, aching ensues.

On that rainy day

it seemed inspiration was

washed away, but it returned.

~

The tide ebbs and flows.

The seasons follow their course.

Great Sequoia sprout and fall.

Rainy beginnings

turn to felled tree removal

leaving little time to write.

~

Rain and felled trees can

delay the most committed

of writers, but you rallied.

Remember when we

tried to pass for twenty-one?

Lately I aim for sixty.

~

Seems the “Golden age“

is always somewhere ahead…

until we think we’ve missed it.

Despite diligence

even well-tended gardens

sometimes run to weeds.

~

Diligence matters

nonetheless as the harvest

eventually will make clear.

That politician’s

sharp tongue cuts truth in two, leaves

behind maddening half-truths.

~

As they slice the truth,

so too, does their rhetoric

cleave our United Nation.

The pressure to rise

and greet the glorious dawn

often comes from the bladder.

~

Sometimes it’s the dog’s.

Sometimes it’s our own. Sometimes

the dog fakes it ’cause …squirrels!

The hummingbirds ask

why do they eat seeds when they

could sip sweet nectar?

~

A liquid diet

leads some to intemperance,

thus they eat seeds and berries.

The call of the sheets

on an overcast morning

is difficult to ignore.

~

Alas, I couldn’t

answer the call and it was

sent to rest waiting .

Will liberty and justice

for all be upheld

or will we all be let down?

~

One man’s liberty

is another’s oppression…

or so zero-sumers say.

Behold the dawning –

glorious, in its splendor,

slowly supplanting darkness.

~

We too can be part

of a dawning, supplanting

darkness if we choose.

Another Monday

has arrived and we’re counting

the days til Friday.

~

Enumeration

matters less each passing day

as we near the goal.