In an attempt to

be clever, we can sometimes

also be unkind.

~

In an attempt to

be unkind, we can sometimes

display hidden churlishness.

Modest proposals

may again be in order…

a zero state solution?

~

Humane solutions

are nowhere in sight when rage

rules and reason nears zero.

Old songs pick us up,

take us to a time long gone.

It feels great to sing along.

~

Sometimes traveling

into distant memories

is a trip down lonesome roads.

If you’re not a Jew

or a Palestinian,

suppress your opinions, please!

~

It’s time for us all

to show compassion and care

through words and actions.

Mounting excitement

as I read a self-help book

that is actually helping.

~

Find a self-help book

that will help you overcome

your biblioholism!

In the rain the birds

didn’t waste time pestering

each other. They simply dine.

~

Adverse conditions

are powerful inhibitors

of superfluous verbiage.

Scalise shows his smarts

by withdrawing from the race

no sane man can ever win.

~

When insanity

rules chaos ensues which makes

our enemies grin.

When our focus is

on what is missing we fail

to see what is there.

~

Having no focus,

I am like Schrödinger’s cat;

Everything is there…. and not.

In the vain pursuit

of perfection we may find

proficiency’s good enough.

~

Practice rather than

pursuit is not only good

enough, it can make us purr.

Murphy celebrates

my homecoming with soft purrs

as she settles beside me.

~

Begorrah chooses

Shrill yips and vertical leaps

to greet my timely return.

Why must chaos bloom

in those final moments just

as the cast steps to the stage?

~

Even then the show goes

on, even if chaos seems

to have taken center stage.

The leaves slowly shift

in color as they prepare

for a blazing finale.

~

Early shifters lay

languidly upon the ground

a carpet of yellow-brown.

National Mead Day

finds me driving far away

to sip fermented honey.

~

If you had stopped by,

there was a honey-do list

waiting for you close to home.

Sometimes we leap to

replace systems that can be

fixed with minor adjustments.

~

We have been misled

by disposable culture

to regard used as useless.

If there’s a logic

to automated systems,

it’s, somehow, beyond my ken.

~

It requires parts

working together, thus it’s

beyond the ken of Congress too.

Whenever I leave

the room, the cat scolds me for

failing to ask permission.

~

When you stand and go,

and thus, deprive her your lap,

she makes her displeasure known.

Ritual routines,

complicated, though they be,

serve to keep the mind alight.

~

As we grow older

it’s wise to do all we can

both to be and to bring light.

It’s hard to compose

a poem when you have all

those balls in the air.

~

If I let them fall

all hard across my keyboard,

I might gain a wide renown.

October sunrise

brings light and cooler weather

as geese honk their way southward.

~

Those wise geese flew north

just last week, before the storm.

Now, with Snowbirds, they return.

Why do we invest

our precious time, unknowing

if we’ll live to see reward?

~

If we spend our time

doing things that bring meaning

or joy that’s reward enough.

Though I’m grateful for

these cool days, I wish the sun

would come out and play.

~

But, alas, like Knox,

the sun knows little constraint.

Unfettered, it overwhelms.

Technicians depart,

grinning silently, knowing

the cost of free inspections.

~

Congress people go

home. Some grin openly. They

all know the people will pay.

Showing your butt in

public used to be a crime,

but now it’s done all the time.

~

What do you expect?

Stigma becomes Stigmata

in all theocracies.

Just try to fix it!

If it’s already broken,

failing won’t make it more broke.

~

Why try to fix it

when finding someone to blame

is our long-standing habit.

Storms come and storms go.

Right now I have to say I’m

glad this one has gone away.

~

Anticipation

of the after-storm relief

gets us through the harshest blow.

If you will not turn,

that little bend up ahead

may become your roadtrip’s end.

~

Eyes open, hands on

wheel, reasonable speed – all

help us navigate with skill.

The word is out. Birds

and squirrels know to hurry here.

where there’s food in spite of rain.

~

Skeins of geese elect

to tarry not in these parts,

flying on before the storm.

As you zip through life,

think! Sometimes you’re the windshield…

and other times, you’re the bug.

~

Which is to say if

you’re alive and in motion

there’s no other way.

Another face off

between two mourning doves lets

squirrels gather fighting tips.

~

As if Sciuris

needed any instructions

in the cantankerous arts!

No bird flies too high,

if lofted on his own wings…

or, at least, that’s what fools say.

~

High-flyers can run

into problems whether they

soar on their own wings or not