It’s Sixty degrees

with snow forecast by morning.

That’s Virginia in winter.

~

This, in the era

of radical climate change,

has become the new normal.

Be on the lookout.

It’s possible sanity

might make a brief appearance.

~

You’d need keener eyes

than mine, to find the barest shred

among all that murky verbiage!

When people offer

constructive criticism,

some feel unjustly censured.

~

Humility helps

us all to listen and learn,

but it doesn’t come easy.

Seventy seven

years ago today, the one

who gave birth to you was born.

~

Seventy-seven

is the smallest integer

pronounced with five syllables.

Deep in the jungle

of a lifetime’s collection,

what might the descendent’s find?

~

It’s not what they’ll find;

rather, it’s what conclusions

they will draw from their findings.

When the song you sing

has only shrill notes, who can

harmonize with you?

~

Dogs will howl along

with your high pitched keening:

whistles only they can hear.

Merry Christmas, Y’all!

Scrooge hands down the gift of choice;

the poor must choose, heat, or food.

~

He just took Christ out

of Christmas, but will his

 evangelical base care?

Hard not to lose heart

when those in power show none

and we have much to repair.

~

Repair all you want-

if we don’t fix the breakers,

we’re in for endless despair.

People can argue

about the ways and means if,

at least, their goals coincide.

~

Therein lies the rub.

Some act like they have the same

goals, but in truth they do not.

 Every now and then

we catch a glimpse of the light

that abides within.

~

Inner glows are fine,

so long as we have refrained

from ingesting radium…

As the tryptophan

coma begins to subside,

we’ll see what Black Friday wrought.

~

The coma persists

but on Black Friday it’s one

of the walking kind.

It takes a supreme

effort to drop the snarky

and go for the nice.

~

Sometimes a supreme

effort is insufficient

to redress some foolishness.

Shall we cultivate

gratitude or sour grapes

in this contentious era?

~

Gratitude is soul

satisfying unlike the

 whine of sour grapes.

How do you plan not

to be naughty and just be 

nice this holiday season ?

~

THAT is NOT my plan

neither has it ever been

nor, I think, shall ever be!

Paper hanger’s choice.

Democrat…Republican;

over the top…down the wall.

~

When power papers

over, covers up or hides,

it’s not time to hang up. Vote!

Learning never stops

unless, of course, you’re Trump. In

that case it never began.

~

Seems he’s not alone

in lacking life long learning;

endemic to rich white men?

Self proclaimed greatness,

despite converse evidence,

isn’t just sad, it’s scary.

~

Tooting and tweeting,

he grows dizzy from touting

his own delusions.

I know you’re thankful

for your mother’s wise counsel,

but might there be something else?

~

In the grand vastness

of this stunning universe

is there else worthy of thanks?

In America,

our foreign born citizens

are clearly true patriots.

~

They know tyranny

when they see it and the pain

it inevitably brings.

Dare we remember

when conservatives wanted

to conserve more than power?

~

“If the big lie fails,

we’ll call it conspiracy!

That’s sound policy, right guys?”

When your yardstick’s long,

no matter what others say,

know you’ll never measure up.

~

Why use yardsticks when

objective compassion will

yield better results?

Lies are like kudzu,

sapping life followed by a

massive cover-up.

~

And, like kudzu vines,

lies grow in all directions

until whole worlds are consumed.

When tragedy strikes

some pursue a lighter mood

through gallows humor.

~

Humor can help us

survive and even thrive when

things seem unsurvivable.

Wisdom can be found

in all kinds of places. You

have to remember to look.

~

Wisdom, like beauty,

can be found most everywhere

if you look past the clutter.

As momentum fades

they need a little kickstart

to rekindle their fire.

~

 They don’t need a kick

 to keep going. What they need

are well-tended vehicles.

Now that you’ve been to

the Big Apple, did you take

a bite or were you bitten?

~

More of a light nosh

than a full five course dinner-

satisfying none the less.

Hours on the road

followed by abject panic

because the show must go on.

~

The show will go on

because of the devotion

of cast and parents like you.

The evening sky was

all aglow, celebrating

your entry into this world.

~

No Christ-child I,

evidenced by neither star

nor wisemen wending westward!

Coexistence ‘tween

Boomers and Millennials?

Never heard of Thunder Snows?”

~

We of the Silent

Generation endure their

thunder and their snows.

Winter is coming

soon. It already resides 

in the frozen hearts of some.

~

This long dark tea-time

has left us all seeking warmth

in the face of frozen souls.