The question remains –

who benefits when fear wins

and love is mocked as weakness?

~

Weakness and fear are

all that remains when love is

mocked and questioned for profit. 

What is the purpose

of putting nose to grindstone

except to ruin flour?

~

Such activity

can also serve the purpose

of giving us daily bread.

When the pied piper’s

tune is finally over,

who will we follow sober?

~

They who make outland

ish promises of grandness;

that’s the American way.

As home fires near

and adventure draws to a close

Is ennui avoidable?

~

Ennui goes up in

flames when curiosity

takes the reins and guides us home.

How can we bring home

 Hawaii’s soothing balm to

apply when needed?

~

Time flows differently

at ten thousand feet. Perhaps 

these soothing mists will linger?

Now that sun and fun

are done, will mundanities

beckon banished sanity?

~

Perhaps sanity

can be reconstituted

with sun and fun included.

Can anything free

the minds of those securely

held hostage by fear?

~

More importantly,

will those liberated souls

appreciate their release?

With sun and sea breeze

restoring aching spirits,

what will drag us back to blahs?

~

Anticipation

of the blahs to come will wring

out the joy this moment brings.

When our dreams take flight,

can we just travel with them,

or must we show them the way?

~

Dreams are our pilots

and we are both passengers

and maintenance crew. 

When the time arrives

to take flight and venture forth,

how know you, it’s time to fly?

~

Sometimes we know and

sometimes we don’t, but it is

helpful to be pulled or pushed.

So, two poets walked

into a bar, looked at  one

another and said…?

~

Shall we have a Rye?

Or perhaps, just a good cry?

Politics led us awry!

When your fellow man

goes collectively insane,

Where’s the hope for the future?

~

Hope is there, but not

in the lemming-like minds of

those willing to jump off cliffs.

When lies and mindless

rhetoric take center stage,

what is lying in the wings?

~

And the Oscar for

Political Theater

Goes to the boldest liar

How can we not quake,

after February’s storm,

before March’s lion’s roar?

~

February’s storms 

were enough to make even

climate change deniers shake.

 Is it better to 

run and stumble than never

to have run at all?

~

To run and stumble

is, by far, preferable

than to run and fall

Is this the season

when rationality reigns

in dawning days of reason?

~

There is no reason

to think rationality

could reign or run this season. 

When the sky is full

of  pigeons are we being

sent messages from on high?

~

If the sky is full

of pigeons flying above,

the message will be messy!

When that crushing weight

lands squarely on our shoulders,

what, on earth, are we to do?

~

First we ask, “Is this

weight mine to bear?” and then

we move on from there.

How can we keep our

wits when many candidates

and congressmen have lost theirs?

~

Well, finders keepers

leaps to mind, but in battles

of wits, everyone loses.

Can we find comfort

in that sure and certain faith

despite all the damage done?

~

Would we, no matter

the damage, need comfort if

our faith were certain and sure?

When dotting I’s and

crossing T’s trump the meeting

Of the people’s  needs, what then?

~

Dotting I’s? Crossing

T’s? That doesn’t sound like Trump

to me. As for needs? Puh-leeze!

If the worm hadn’t

gotten up before the bird

would worm still be here?

~

If worm lounged abed,

that sluggard, then early bird

would have to settle for brunch.

Can we acknowledge

both our success and failure

nondisingenuously?

~

Indeed we can, but

when disingenuousness

is trumped by lies, let’s just cruz.

What will keep us warm

when our fire begins to 

die and we grow cold?

~

Bask in the warmth of

past successes or wallow 

in the burning of old shame.

When snow turns to sleet

And later to rain, do we

rejoice or despair?

~

This is a question

for the ages – youth, age, and

those who lie between.