Tell me, can you count

slowly to ten before you

send that fire-filled reply?

~

Of course I can count!

I bought the best M.B.A.!

I just don’t want to.

Ironic that masks

hinder communication

more than virtual meetings.

~

Though imperfect, both

ways of communicating

are statements of care.

When minds and hearts take

off on an anxious journey,

writing guides us home.

~

Reading travel guides

helps us circumnavigate

mindless fears of the unknown.

Confront unreason!

You can’t expect any change

but silent is complicit.

~

Unreason is a

calling card. When it is passed

out, speak up and close the door.

Stoking the flames of

appreciation – that field

of bright sunflowers.

~

Oh how they brighten,

turning their faces skyward,

warmed by their namesake’s return.

Days and days of gray,

cool, cloudy, crummy weather

can’t constrain summer swelter.

~

How ironic can 

it get – cool, cloudy and gray

still can’t keep the heat at bay.

Pointing the finger

at peaceful demonstrators,

Trump decries democracy.

~ 

Blamers gotta blame.

It’s the only thing they know

how to do without prompting.

When the simple things

appear insurmountable,

it’s time to go take a walk.

~

When we’re stuck it’s best

 to relax and be guided

by a different GPS .

Can’t meet in Rumi’s

field when a wall of harsh words

restricts our access.

~

People who build walls

clearly have zero interest

in trying to build bridges.

Long weekends working

leaves little time for thinking

lyrically in language.

~

The language such long

working weekends produces

is expressive nonetheless.

If you lie like there’s

no tomorrow, you still can’t

erase the truth of today.

~

Despite denials,

all your lies of yesterday

can still wreck your tomorrow.

Preparing for storms

is often a daunting task;

more so when the winds begin.

~

Daunting though it is,

taking time to prepare does

beat getting caught unaware.

Unconventional

and conventional wisdom 

gone missing at RNC.

~

That’s not all that’s gone

with the wind at that event;

so too, it seems, a platform?

Two poets asleep

at the switch and the delayed

dual response is just this.

~ 

If the heart is not

willing, the eyes won’t see

what is right in front of them.

~

Seeing with the heart

sometimes requires blindness

to what some call obvious.

Our capacity

for exercising patience

requires frequent practice.

~

Fortunately, life

gives us numerous chances,

not always welcomed, to learn.

What gives with those who

don’t give a damn, but simply

take and take and take?

~

A giving spirit

gives up material things;

instead seeks intangibles.

Some people proclaim

that better late than never

is not axiomatic!

~

Could those someones be

contrarians who like to

flee from static certainty?

When we disagree,

let’s do it civilly and

form a vital harmony.

~

Point and counterpoint

must exhibit some restraint

for us to hear the descant.

Droning Cicadas

and peeping of those tree frogs;

sounds like Congress in session.

~

The sounds of tree frogs

and cicadas have a point –

Congress not so much.

It is what it is

except when it isn’t. Then

it’s fake news from Trump’s White House.

~

Some people reject

objective criticism;

embrace denialism.

Throttlebottom! Rake!

Unmensch! Meshugga! Pisher!

No greatness recipe here.

~

Name calling is his

special talent. You can’t match

it. Don’t even try.

Huge Pound and small Pence

walk into a dirty Barr,

suffer bankruptcy.

~

 Having sold their souls

earning moral bankruptcy,

a dirty Barr harms them naught.

It’s Monsoon Season

in this once temperate land

suddenly more tropical.

~

Things are heating up

because cooler heads are not

able to prevail.

Let us not divide

and conquer. Instead, may we

unite and prosper.

~

Since long divisions

are the only math some know,

let’s teach them new equations.

An exposure by

children of friends of our friends

may present our greatest risk.

~

We must learn how to 

be friends to ourselves as we

meet in friendship with others

Time and tide wait for

no man as Chaucer said so

many years ago.

~