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 Dec 2018
croob
The clown would’ve been beaten up and down
a long time ago, if he didn't know
how to force scowls into smiles,
bafflement and battles into laughs
like startled bells and baby rattles.

Who would he be now, if he didn't know
how to play the jester, how to stitch
his words together
like the mouth of a snitch
or a quilt of dodo feathers?

He learned it from pain: how to be a joker,
how to act the fool.
Does it count, still, as stand-up comedy
if he's just crying on a stool?
 Dec 2018
Lawrence Hall
The American Legion meets in the parish hall
Third Tuesday every month (missed you last time)
Old men in funny hats saluting the flag
And then again re-living AIT

Their perimeter shrinks as children rehearse
Their songs and dances for tomorrow night
In honor of Nuestra Senora -
With Juan Diego’s tilma She blesses the Americas

In a classroom across the way the AA
Are fighting their dragons as manfully
As good Saint George, and so in very truth
They are fighting dragons for all of us

This is Our Lady’s cocina, open to all:
Everybody meets in the parish hall
 Dec 2018
Colm
On a dime it turns
Vertical and sharper than any knife
Falling to one side
Suddenly
And the next thing you know
You’re not there anymore
In life
This is about sudden change and the shift in perspective. How quickly things turn on this human earth. Like finding songs, changing directions and the like. Some things just pop up out of the nothingness of the unexpected life. Why? Why did you choose? Why did you try? Or not... Just because. LOL.
 Dec 2018
Dess Ander
Illusions are the new reality
Victimhood the chosen mentality
Opinions lead to fatality
Common sense is the new insanity
 Dec 2018
eileen
ʳᵉˡᶦᵍᶦᵒⁿ ᵈᶦᵛᶦᵈᵉˢ
ʳᵉᵍᶦᵒⁿˢ

Is it in the name of their God
that they create war

Is it
the lack of humanity
we've lost

makes the earth shake
disappointed
with their faith

I use to believe
in angels
and demons

I recognize them

- driving cars
- on TV
- buying groceries

I know
there's
- pure hearts
-  good words
- happy places

careful now

I've spoken to Earth
she's afraid
of the billion pairs of feet
stomping their way
through her grounds
she's enraged
of the billion pairs of feet
tearing down her lungs

Sᵗᵒᵖ ᵐᵃᵏᶦⁿᵍ ᵐᵒⁿᵉʸ ʰᵒᵘˢᵉˢ
ʰᶦᵈᵉ ʸᵒᵘʳ ᶜʰᶦˡᵈʳᵉⁿ
ᵈᵒⁿ'ᵗ ᵗʳᵘˢᵗ ʸᵒᵘʳ ᵖʳᵉˢᶦᵈᵉⁿᵗ
ᵗʰᵉʳᵉ'ˢ ⁿᵒ ᴴᵉᵃᵛᵉⁿ
ⁿᵒ ᴴᵉˡˡ
ʷᵉ ᵐᶦᵍʰᵗ ᵇᵉ ˢᵗᵘᶜᵏ ᶦⁿ ᵗʰᶦˢ
ᵖᵉʳᵖᵉᵗᵘᵃˡ ᵒᵇˡᶦᵛᶦᵒⁿ
 Nov 2018
Napolis
You were

7 or 8 years old

and all

that could

be heard

throughout the

house was

dinosaurs

dinosaurs

dinosaurs!


not just any dinosaur

we had to go

twice a month down

to the San Diego

Natural history museum

for a $40.00 Carnegie

collection dinosaur.


to say in those

days that that

put a dent in

my beer

budget and

golf money is

an understatement,


but each month

just like the moon

following the sun

they came.


I might not of

been as tipsy

in those days

as before,


and my buddies

often left for golf

without me,


but I would not

of changed a

thing.


to be intoxicated by

the joy on your

face with

each new dinosaur

we bought,


to hear you struggle to

say each new

dinosaurs name

over and over again

until you

got it right,


these moments

with you

became the

bearings of

my life.


and even now

you at 34 years old

we still talk about

our treasures and

you have each

and every one,


and I can't wait for

you to have a

son and to

hear the

echo in

this old man's

heart.


dinosaurs

dinosaurs

dinosaurs.!


and answer "yes they

are my beautiful

grandson,


yes they are".
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