Remember: schools graduate students;
It's NOT the other way around.
Students do NOT graduate schools
But FROM schools. And yet I've found

That many speakers confuse the expression,
Turning it around, and hence,
When they say they graduated
A school, it ends up making no sense.

Therefore, say you graduated
FROM a high school or college, please.
To say it correctly doesn't take
A great deal of expertise.

Schools that graduate many students
Ought to clearly and directly
Teach their students to say which school
They graduated FROM correctly.

-by Bob B (5-9-22)

If I were a woman, my
Reproductive rights should be
MY business alone, not YOURS.
YOU are not my referee.

If I became pregnant through ****,
My voice would be loud and firm:
It’s up to me if what is growing
Inside me should be carried to term.

I would not listen to hypocritical
Views about protecting life
From those whose words of shame and blame
Ignore my feelings and cut like a knife.

I would not listen to people who
Ignore what should be a woman's right.
And yet to secure this right, women
Always seem to be having to fight.

I would seek out expert advice
And weigh the options to do what's best.
I know it wouldn't be an easy
Decision. To that I would attest.

No, I'm not a woman, you see.
My name certainly gives me away.
But still I try to listen to
What many women have to say:

"You have the right to express your displeasure.
Yes, that would be fair and fine.
But I'll stay out of YOUR insides,
And you, in turn, stay out of MINE."

-by Bob B (5-4-22)

Compared to the age of the universe,
Our time on Earth is rather brief.
Still, the longer we live, the more
We'll walk hand and hand with grief.

Death knocks on the doors of others
And calmly ushers them away.
No matter how much a person resists,
Death will have its final say.

When losing family and friends,
It's hard to describe the pain we feel.
But when we consider our own demise,
The whole idea is oddly surreal.

The thought of suddenly being no more--
At least in our current ****** form--
Is totally foreign to us, for knowing
The world through our senses has been the norm.

Someday my favorite chair
Will no longer feel my rear.
The sound of my voice--my cries, my laughter--
Will not reach a single ear.

When I go, I’ll join the ranks
Of billions of other people who
Have died before me, which reminds me
That having to die is nothing new.

To let go and face the unknown,
Not to worry, not to fret…
We know that life is constant change--
That death is part of life--and yet….

-by Bob B (4-26-22)

Republicans used to believe
That democratic values will win.
Lately, however, they sing a new tune:
To hell with democracy; save your skin!

Power is what excites them now.
"Voter fraud!" is what they spin.
Voter suppression's their goal as they cry:
To hell with democracy; save your skin!

McCarthy and McConnell knew
The mess that Donald Trump was in,
And yet they chose to honor the motto:
To hell with democracy; save your skin!

It used to be that any support
For an autocrat would be a sin.
Now in bed together they shout:
To hell with democracy; save your skin!

To gain more power, they gerrymander
Districts in states, which is akin
To trashing our system as they proclaim:
To hell with democracy; save your skin!

Deceitful methods to stay in power
They will use and feel no chagrin.
The battle cry uniting them is
To hell with democracy; save your skin!

-by Bob B (4-22-22)

Despite what people want to believe,
COVID hasn’t disappeared,
And yet there's less attention being given
To masks and precautions, which is weird.

The virus continues to mutate, and though
It's maybe less potent than earlier forms,
The clouds haven't dissipated,
So we can expect future storms.

Even though the virus seems weaker,
People still grow ill and die.
The vaccinated are more protected;
There's no need to wonder why.

It's sad to see restrictions being
Lifted too early in certain cases.
Variants of the virus are spreading
Rapidly in certain places.

Conspiracy theories abound regarding
The COVID vaccine, sad to say.
But I'll take my chances with the vaccine
Over COVID any day.

And if you think that COVID was bad,
Experts warn us not to be smug.
Chances are good that in the future
We will see a deadlier bug.

In the meantime, I'll keep getting
My booster shot, and I know I'm
Going to be wearing my mask in buildings
And also on planes for a long, long time.

-by Bob B (4-21-22)

How I look at the world each day
Is a curious interplay
Of fire and earth, cadent and fixed,
And often my impressions are mixed.
The world entices me from the cocoon
Of my Leo Sun and my Taurus Moon.

How I shine and how I feel…
To find a balance would be ideal.
The goal, of course, is to do what's right;
The nuances are ever so slight.
It's just a matter of being in tune
With my Leo Sun and my Taurus Moon.

Although I'm more complex than this,
Their strong influence is hard to miss.
Understanding who I am
Partly comes from the diagram
Of what occurs when they commune--
My Leo Sun and my Taurus Moon.

It isn't just as simple as that--
My Sun and Moon both having a chat.
It might make me ill at ease
To ignore the many intricacies
Of aspecting planets. Never jejune
Are my Leo Sun and my Taurus Moon.

Add my Rising Sign and see
How other people look at me.
Virgo adds more earth to tame
And somewhat soften my Leo flame.
There's no reason to ever impugn
My Leo Sun and my Taurus Moon.

Finding answers within and without
Helps to dispel the burden of doubt.
Tools to study the self abound;
What we discover can be profound.
Knowledge of self comes never too soon
With my Leo Sun and my Taurus Moon.

-by Bob B (4-19-22)

Ramadan, Passover,
And Easter coincide this year,
But THAT doesn't matter to Vladimir Putin,
For he has a war to engineer.

He has arranged for a senseless war
To be carried out on Ukrainian soil.
Why be concerned about human compassion
When there is a neighboring land to despoil?

Geneva Conventions to Putin mean nothing.
Depraved dictators make their own rules,
Bombing civilian hospitals,
Train stations, homes, and schools.

The world has witnessed other examples
Of paranoid, cruel, despots before
Who have no qualms about committing
Monstrous atrocities during a war.

To massacre innocent people so
Is nothing short of genocide.
When the war is over how many
Innocent people will have died?

Whatever you are celebrating--
If anything--don't refrain
From holding a special place in your heart
For the people suffering in Ukraine.

-by Bob B (4-17-22)