Things might go better

if congressmen, like dogs, had

a park to bark, run, and play.

~

Who let the dogs out!

Senators and Congressmen?

Woof! Woof! Woof! Woof! Woof!

This warming weather

belies the coming winter

with its dearth of snow.

~

Maybe the weather

should go before the Supremes

and have its fake case dismissed.

Let’s build a fire

of forgiveness and toss in

all those useless resentments.

~

There’s not sufficient

accelerant in the world

to ignite a blaze that vast.

Does half this country

really believe wholesale fraud

robbed them of their chosen one?

~

People can believe

great absurdities if they’re

primed to be angry and scared.

Even when we have

nowhere to go, we are still

in a hurry to get there.

~

Urgency, it seems,

is wholly independent

of actual importance.

Mournful cry echoes

o’er frosty hill and hollow:

Vixen screams out the season.

~

That vixen you heard

might have been me proclaiming

I had turned seventy eight.

As the birds gather

at the feeder, a few white

flakes fall. Winter approaches.

~

And chickadees wait

patiently upon the branch

while jays bedevil the squirrels.

Joining and parting,

spinning together for now

until time to whirl away.

~

Such is the nature

of the dance we do as we

twist and twirl through life.

Have you made your list?

Have you checked it twice? Do you

know who’s been naughty or nice?

~

This lopsided list

is so weighted to naughty

that the nice is hard to find.

People disagree.

But can they do that without

being disagreeable?

~

It is certainly

possible, but not very

likely unless they want to.

Wishing sun could melt

iced over hearts just as it

melts frost covered ground.

~

Frosty demeanors

and icy cold calculus

oft require greater heat.

As the days unwind,

languishing in late autumn,

can we avoid hebetude?

~

One suggestion, but

not a very good one, is

to follow Fox News.

December arrived

with gusty winds blowing cold –

a rebuff to November.

~

A stark reminder

of autumn’s historic role,

despite pressure to forget.

Racing across the sky,

These clouds, those stars and the moon

clearly have some place to go!

~

Unlike so many

of us who race but don’t know 

where we are headed .

Nighttime fears falter

when they meet the light and find

their place in a larger whole.

~

The cleansing power

of bright, unfiltered, sunlight

emasculates dark demons.

I can’t remember;

what day is this that has dawned

without a poem written?

~

Sometimes days go by

so fast that inspiration

fizzles and poems aren’t written.

When one poet’s down,

we will take a brief break ’cause

we make these things together.

~

Sometimes there are no

words powerful enough to

pierce the throbbing fog.

Though we couldn’t all

be together, the sun sent

warm greetings this Thanksgiving.

~

And culinary

adventures will continue

to warm us all from within.

Dons shining armor,

mounts noble steed and sallies

forth to tilt children’s windmills.

~

We knew the wind was

of his own making, but Don

has nothing noble to ride.

What did today bring –

a song, a sorrow, a sigh?

How was it received?

~

Today brought labor,

received with some scant patience

and with even fainter praise.

What does it mean when

someone’s behavior is best

described by hazmat symbols?

~

If you have to ask,

it must mean you have limited

emotional intelligence.

Mind says there’s so much

to do. Body says first thing

on that to-do list is rest.

~

Any call to rest

supersedes other labor,

per procrastinator’s creed.

Not all Jay’s are blue

but they are all obnoxious,

overbearing bullies.

~

When Jays meet squirrels

at the bird feeder, they have

 a bullyful time.

Political Hint:

Can’t show grace under pressure?

Best not to show off or up.

~

Realpolitik

is based on pragmatism,

not amoral coercion.

Haiku-ku-ka-choo!

I write absurd poetry;

How ‘bout you? You write it too?

~

Sometimes instead of

my writing the words, they write

me. Seems this happened to you?

As the temperature

drops and winter approaches,

poetry could keep us warm.

~

At the very least,

if writing fails to warm hearts,

rough drafts can feed our fires.

We found the secret

of literary success:

post nothing; get lots of likes!

~

No need to struggle

with words and such, just keep your

readers in the dark.

Christmas Cactus bloomed

the day he won signaling

a prickly outcome.

~

It’s almost as if

it thought a show of color

might, somehow, soften the blow.

Patiently waiting

for temperatures abating

once the sun has set!

~

A welcome delay

to the ongoing decay

of the glacial ablation.

Celebratory

excesses notwithstanding,

there is a poem to write…

~

You chose not to take

a birthday pass, my son. That’s

the mark of a true poet.