In whom do you trust

and is your faith well founded

if you’ve chosen unwisely?

~

I trust compassion

wherever and whenever

it flows. It’s there my faith grows.

Fat squirrels smile

as they down the last bird seeds.

The birds and I groan.

~

Smile in relief

because chubby smiling squirrels

won’t eat your car’s wiring.

There’s always room for

change, but that room often gets

stockpiled with excuses.

~

Some things never change;

like the stockpile of trash

in her excuse of a room.

Those who give freely,

with no concern for profit,

warrant positive regard.

~

That they walk among

us lifts our spirits, gives us

hope and points the way.

A stark reminder –

unrestricted rights to guns

lead to horrifying wrongs.

~

When those rights go wrong,

some call for some restrictions,

others just blame the shooter.

“Trust those on the scene.“

Hardest words ever spoken

to a family far away.

~

Holding their loved ones

in their hearts, the families

sit and wait and wait.

Vowel asks consonant,

“Will you join me for a word?”

Consonant replies, “Ok”.

~

Number feels left out

Begs to join the equation

Suddenly, there’s Algebra!

A curious thing

about humanity is

how inhumane we can be.

~

Might humility

aid in the reformation

of us inhumane humans?

Conservatives fear

governments restricting guns;

~

but, not so much, banning books?

It’s not important

to insure our safety, but

they must conserve ignorance.

When you were little

you were Movie Boy. Do you

remember your escapades?

~

How could one so young

be attuned to the culture

that would engender “Me Too”!

Will it or won’t it?

The weathermen can’t decide

what the weather will render.

~

Perhaps it they’d ask

a weather psychic, they’d get

a sense of how the wind blows.

How do you know when’s

the right time to say out loud

what you haven’t said before?

~

Prepare for the worst

response you can imagine;

there’s no time like the present!

Why would a grown man

hate receiving compliments

with a nuclear passion?

~

Such an explosive

response, whether shared or not,

suggests fear or pain.

Why tell the birds they

must eat all the leftovers

before they get more?

~

Feather brained eaters

often overlook good food

looking for the sweet tidbits.

Unexpected art

displayed surreptitiously

provides sudden public joy

~

This public display

reveals that art and joy show

no sign of stopping.

In these challenging

times, may we not lose sight of

all that is good in this world.

~

Seeing challenges

around every single bend

hides the forest behind trees.

Even cloudless skies

seem a watery gray now

in, this, the soul of winter.

~

There are some who say

winter has no soul, but they

are summer lovers.

An hour ago

trees and grass glistened with rain,

but now they’re coated with snow.

~

Barring arctic chill,

another hour’s passing

may yield a sty’s worth of mud.

This white line fever

of freshly laid road salt brine:

harbingers of, yet more, snow.

~

In December’s warm

weather, we wondered what could

the new year bring. Now we know.

It’s hard to keep our

equilibrium when our

world turns upside down.

~

Topsy-Turvey days

strung together endlessly

yield their own kind of balance.

In the middle of

inner and outer storms, it’s

easy to get distracted.

~

Whirlwinds and thunder

have a way of commanding

undivided attention.

This icy weather

slows us down, gives us a chance

to rest and reflect.

~

Unless life’s demands

drag us out into the storm

on some essential mission.

From Virginia, south

Peepers and Cicadas drone

Counterpoint on muggy nights

~

But right now on these

cold winter nights we hear limbs

fall, branches crack, and folks sigh.

Cold, gray, and windy –

an unappealing trio

belted forth today.

~

It’s Udon weather.

That, or maybe good Ramen,

will provide appealing warmth.

“Too good to be true“

may be just the axiom

to crush opportunity.

~

We can fail to seize

the moment because we have

seized this axiom instead.

On this cold winter

day, I choose to focus on

the warmth and light of the sun.

~

Like an LED

the brightest of winter suns

offer only scantest heat.

They saw we argue

more with those we love the most…

I guess I’m the odd man out.

~

Or just an odd man,

one who doesn’t insist he’s

always in the right.