My dad drove a Cadillac
Smooth Catholic operator
Cruising the inside track

My dad kept many boats afloat
Powering through the turbulence
All the while sowing wild oats

My dad was a 60s *******
He knew his cocktail parties
Proud, charismatic fly boy

My dad lived larger than most
Denying himself nothing
The ten of us can boast

My dad loved our mom
And us; in his own way
And carried on with aplomb

The past passes
Frightenly fast
What you were sure was
Wanes to whatever

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Access denied
Memory error

But we remember it
We know it was there
(I made it; it was mine)
Now just victim of time

Dusk to dust
Ashes to ask less
Things fade
Past is pastiche

Yesterday, a poem fluttered by
Fragile clumsy moth
Colorful, felt, smelt,  
It had something to do with
Light, shadows, and
A hint of vanilla
From ponderosa pines

In the breeze
From the trees
In a Mary Oliver forest,
“I thought the earth remembered me
She took me back so tenderly.”

Stillness.
Warmth.
Water.
Eagles.
Paddling.
Friendshi­p.

Sharing food with
Campfire laughter
Loving this life:
Going far away
To come home again

The tired spider
More than retired
Is now expired

Three days in shower stall
Stalking the white wall
No way out, none at all

Eleventy-seven in spider years?
Lifetime tumbling fears?
Multiple eyes filled with tears?

Wait! Spatula rampart!
Put there with heart
By Lady Ann; smart!

Freedom! No: checkmate!
Alas, too little too late
Tragic arachnid fate

— — —

Human.

— — —

Concentration.

— — —

Camps.

— — —

Human:

Dominant earth species

No sub-species

— — —

Look left; look right

Who do you see?

Humans of

All sizes

All colors

All ages

All here

— — —

All endowed with

Inalienable rights

Among them

Life, liberty, happiness

Despite status

Not 3/4 human

No one illegal

All human.

— — —

Concentration.

— — —

Focus with

Deep thinking

Devising resolve

About human rights

Declared by Lady Liberty

Lifting her golden lamp

To those yearning to be free

Welcome to this shore

Huddled masses.

— — —

Camps.

— — —

Huddled masses

Yearning

Human

Children

Concentrated

Not free

— — —

Not right

Un-American

Unimaginable

Untenable

In-human

— — —

Concentration Camps.

— — —

We here now say with

Concentrated resolve

In English,

“No more!”

En español,

Decimos,

“¡No más!”

“¡Nunca más!

¡Nunca más!

¡Nunca más!”

— — —

Feeling pathetic.
Can’t get that feeling back.

“Alexa, play Latin music”
“Alexa, play Rhythm and Blues”

“Alexa, find Wait, Wait”
“Alexa, play KNHM”

“JPR News and information
From Tune in”

Not Sabor Latinx
Not The Place

A Noh space
Weird weekend disgrace

White as white can be
I miss your bright
polka-dotted plastic wrap

Add a slice; baloney
Individually wrapped
Orangey faux cheese

Yes, please!
Squirt on the mustard!
Mayo? Yes, buster!

Side of chips, potato
Paper plate, if you say so
Good lunch or just snack, natch!

Take me back, back, Tang to
A way-way-back machine
To my own personal 70s show!

Who to hedge?
Mayor Butigedge?
Camelot with Harris?
All trying to scare us
Bidin’ my time
With this rhyme
Oh! Sleepy Joe
Establishment’s gotta go
Does Bernie Sanders
Really furnish answers?
Can Gillibrand
Instill a better plan
Choose Hickenlooper
Over Agent Cooper?
Is Eric Swalwell
Really ready as well?
Is senate Bennett
Really in it?
With smart I could I hang
Can do, Andrew Yang
There on the end,
Author Williamson
Sometimes chiming in
Hanging in
Add it up, Kamala
Show us the algebra!
Universal health care
Always and everywhere
Here’ a real shocka:
Gotta keep that DACA
We need legislation
To fix immigration
And yes we can
Care for veterans
Tax the rich, *****!
Time to shun guns
Meet the feed need
Help the poor more
All in a home zone
And note every vote
And yo:
Not your embryo

eye of newt
dash of doctor
who?

pratchett hatched it
gaiman gamed it
netflix flinched

part python humor
jon hamming it
derek? can it be?

good, evil, in between
a constellation of stars
many tongues deep cheeky

dark discworld
don’t you panic
don’t discard your towel

witches
demons
angels

bell
book
candle

those silly brits with
ineffable end-times fun:
good omens!

A man with four names and
A heart as big as the sky
And surety of purpose
And graceful intent

Moves mountains
Changes lives and
Works and works and works
Not afraid to reinvent

We are proud to call him friend
Proud of his accomplishments
We’ll see you back again as
Our house, you know, es su casa

Traffic whines as
Trucker chaos decides
With or without earplugs

Subliminal rumblings
Traffic stumblings
Above and below

Up here, it’s obvious distractions:
******* lane changes
Big-rig disruptions

Down here it’s subtle diffractions:
Kaleidoscope differences
Elysian needs

Wait for it
Hope for it
Refreshed release

Just let go of
Pandemonium
Forget regret

I usually do due diligence
For most every major purchase
Eschewing the apples of my eye

Sound, round, research
That’s what I’m known for
Predictably, boringly prepared

Whiff of cheese
Trap snaps! Now:
Purchasing peripherals

ENTRopy

ENtropy

Introphy

Intrope

Scope

*****

Sleep

. . . eep

…eep

.…eee—

Thank you Boxed-in Home Office
For a decidedly devilish diversion
An unexpected beguilement

Conveyed to a time and place
Almost misplaced in memory’s stream
With Wm. S. informing S. Dakota

Whispering to writers
Of language nearly lost
Discourse both dandy and dangerous

Characters familiar
Plot’s circle elliptical
Storytelling respected

“Make a poem about that!"
He spat into the phone
Peppered with F-this and F-that
Just more smotherly love,
A little familial fun

My words weren’t aimed at you
Had nothing to do with yours
What triggered your kraken response?
What brought out the bully?
Me standing for women?

No apologies
Load the traps
“Release!”
My pigeon words fly
Your scattered shots miss

Sudden shutdown
Decades gone
Sheroes silenced

No one home
No one on the phone
No one

Still, vestiges
Residuals
Echoes of what

Entropy enterprise
Someone scrubs
What once was

Fading…
Fadi…

Gone

Too quiet unnerves me
Distractions are needed;
Sounds of birds chirping
Demanding tabby talking

Too quiet scares me
Only my thoughts
Are they too much
Or not nearly enough?

Too quiet is too much
“Alexa, turn on NPR”
“Alexa play acid jazz“

Microwave
Washing machine
Anything

When one of ten
Cacophony always company
No choice in that matter
Finding comfort in discord

Too quiet
Turns inward
Alone with
Solo voce

I want to redo some of this
White-out some wrong doing

Left swing the other things
Highlight the bliss

Put it back in place
And if by grace, it stays

29 years ago I woke up
Nervous, determined
My best man and man
Let me know how lucky
I was am will be

We primped and
Straightened ties, took pictures
By the purple rhody up in front
I got into my little red democrat car
And sallied in my stallion

(No, really! A
Mini-hobbie-horse, a
Leftover Christmas ornament
Bounced my rear view mirror as
I galloped northward)

A cassette played
Philip Glass, no less
Philip Glass, no less
Me in my tux
Wending north:

“Over and over again:
Bravery. Kindness. Clarity
Honesty. Compassion. Generosity”
I try to live these words with you
And when I don’t, I’m sorry

One year shy of thirty
We set out again
Adventurers both
Marking the remarkable
Happy anniversary!

We loved you
Pumpkin pie

And you
Bahzie boy

My bridge to the
Equine kingdom

Mitten, you made
My wife like cats

Begins a tragedy of three
A tale of other kitties

Stanley wandered too far
A tragedy of traffic

Babad not as far…
Both waited for us

No one wants to die alone
But still, we’ve been blessed

Goldie, I’m glad
You loved me

Little dog with
A heart too big

Thank you, Sue
For trusting us with Trudy

What a lucky man I am
To garner such love and trust

And of course, biggie guy,
He who once was named Hunter:

Gunther.
(Inset sadness here)

Chessy taught responsibility
With insulin shots at 6 & 6

Tristan y Isolde
(Stanley and Zolda)

Operatic lives lived
As comedy/tragedy

And, et-hem; yes
Even you, Ms. Berry

Past denizens
Of Chateau Flobo

Let’s not not leave out
The current cohorts:

Free spirit, wild child
Lucky Ducky

Biggie boy found you
You adopted us

Ms. Black-in-the-box
Moved herself in

And Fred—well,
Fred is just being Fred

They all found us
Not the other way around

From a big family,
We’ve loved/love a big family

I cleaned up my **** today
Then, afterwords,
A lot of mouse turds

Decades-old dirt
Archived, postponed
Obvious duff discarded

Genetic leavings
Fingernail clippings
The flakes of folks we were

Cobwebs cleared
Mouse traps sprung
The new has begun

BAM!
The cudgel descends

RIP!
The bandage off

****!
Old wounds can fester

POW!
Kicked while down

WOW!
Past is present again

GET UP
Brush it off
Mend your wall
Stand tall and
Walk away

In the typical male *******
Live 250 million half-lifes
Each a potential human being

Every ***** is sacred
******* is ******-light
Every man masterbates

Even 25 old white Alabamans
Who whank their shanks at least
Once a week for 50 years

Time for math:
25 senators
55 years

72,000 shank whanks
(an underestimate)
1.79e13 potential people

Dried on tissue
Flushed away or
Down another senator's throat

Criminal!
Put them away!
For 8e14 years!

Behold!
The magnificent
Centipede!
100 legs cruising
At full speed
Ten thousand toes
But now suppose
He trips on tiny little
Poppy seed
The tripping ripples
An all toed tumble
With no intercede
Behold the now curled
Chicken feed

I want to go back in time
A little bit, somewhat, a lot

I want to go forward in time
Somewhat, a lot, exponentially

What really happened?
What conceivable can be?

So I: get up, get out of bed
And drag a comb across my head

Here’s something silly:
This ***** likes CW’s Supergirl!

Sassy, strong and successful
Word: She’s Super!

Simply, Sublimely subversive
Saving aliens from all areas

It’s observable, undeniable
You can set your clock by it

Forget innuendos
Reject insupportables

Trust your dog
Respect your cat

Chickens?
Et-hem

I’ve packed it up before
Appointments not earned
Arrangements undeserved

I went off map for months
Leaving one closet for another
Life defined, boxed, shelved

Tossing the flotsam
Flowing the jetsam
Purging the past

Scripts, notes, lesson plans
Decades of detritus
The past as trash

One story ends;
We hope the sequel
Is better yet

Today, I am naked
Unburied
Sleuth

Ask me anything
What’s that?
Why, yes; yes I am

Naked is freedom
Uncovered
Truth

Life is full of tedium
And disappointment
And sometimes failure

And rejection
And depression
And retrograde intercessions

A constant brings me joy
A time/space place of hope:
Strange new worlds; new episodes

I love to love it; it is
A privilege to praise
When they go beyond,
It’s a gift to say it

When the work is mediocre
Less they know they can
I rue my job; psychic indigestion
Tired, I herby retire

The maw of grief opens
Slowly, reeking
Of onions

Wet eyes blink
From the lost cost
Bereaved, we weep

Still, not yet asleep,
We sojourn here
Bereft

Pick the wrong apple
Displayed carefully and
All comes tumbling down

Just one impulse
Conceived in love
Turns horribly wrong

Pebbles to meteors
Craters deep
Sleep on it

I want something
But I don’t know what; an
Unscratchable itch

Urges deep percolate
That I can’t articulate
Fait acompli? Or No?

Wait? Or tempt fate?
Do, and invite regret?
Heads or tails?

Crap shoot, poker game
**** the zit or not
Spin the wheel…

“So close,” said Icarus
Wielding webbed wings
Better than those waxed ones

Like Sisyphus before him
He spirals down once more
Destined to try again

“I am right here,”
He said, in a Spock-like voice,
Trying to defuse the situation

“Even as you endeavor
To agitate me
By being unpleasant;

I am sorry that you are feeling unwell—
If you need me to assist you in any way,
Please, use your Comm."

Sensing them
From only here

Honest empathy;
But knowing, no.

Raise the sails
Cross the gulf

We have three or four cats
Two or three of them are black
Fred, the ginger, remains Fred

Without Boss Dog they seem lost
Alliances shift hour by hour
Minute by minute

Who gets the lap?
Right now, surprisingly,
Ms. Black is back

Miss Prissy Hissy
Lady Lucky herself
Prowls her kibble kingdom

Fred the Red with a "Rouwll!”
And a “Rouw!” and a “Prrrrrt…”
Makes his feelings known

Black in the box
Remains subtle queen
With a Lucky detente

Game is not over
Black blur in periphery
Three cats or four?

I’m oscillating differently
The frequency has changed
The thrum feels different

We hum along as fish schools or
A flock of birds murmurating
Shimmering, scintillating

The live wire vibrates
Temperatures rise
Time to leave the flock

Archived sounds of
Modem’s tortured yodeling
Dot Matrix‘s Zzzzzzzzzzzkt; Thwick!
Zzzzzzzzzzzkt; Thwick!

The boop-boop-hoop-boop…
Of another’s busy phone. Or:
"35 cents for the next three minutes”
Chik-fwwwwrick-ka-ching-ing, kik-frwwwwrick-ka-ching

Back further: the
Thwick-bop-bob-bop
Thwick-bop-bob-bop-bop
Of a rotary dial

Further back:
The piercing
Berrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!
Of the 3am TV test signal

Why stop there?
Cha-clump; Cha-clump, Cha-clump; Cha-clump
Milk bottles rattle
Cream at the top
Milk truck’s come and gone

Everything living
Requires things dying
Nature is beautiful cruelty

It’s thermodynamics
An energy gradient
A food cascade

Staggering connectedness
Exquisite fragile quilt
Sadly, loose strings pulled

Acknowledgment first
Atonement follows after
Actions matter next

Archived sounds
Modems yodeling
The boop-boop-hoop
Of someone’s phone busy

Back further: the
Thwick-bop-bob-bop
Thwick-bop-bob-bop-bop
Of a rotary dial

Further back:
The piercing
Berrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!
Of the 3am TV test signal

Why stop there?
Cha-clump; Cha-clump, Cha-clump; Cha-clump
Milk bottles rattle
Cream at the top
Milk truck’s come and gone

Alack!
Taken aback!
It’s a fact, Jack.

Think you’re on track
Then: smack!
It’s a backtrack.

So you go back, Mac
Give yourself some slack
Have a flapjack stack

Carry what you lack
Remove it from the black
And take it back, Zach!

Uncomfortably
Thinking about
What may be

Uptight or onsite
Downside or
In between

See it
Be it
Is it?

When I was thirteen,
I would ride my bike
to the library and
beeline to Sci-Fi

I’d fish out fat books;
a trilogy at least and
have a blast in space
released of all gravity

I’d float in a different place
considering time, consciousness
and race—and human humility.
Rocket-man landed expanded

Lorraine Hansberry
Was a woman out of time

Borges paddled around
Some circular Ruins

The kin of atta are waiting
For you and me

Think it, dream it, be it
The left hand of darkness

A lathe of heaven
Forging something better

Rat-a-tat-tat
Human blood splat
Worshipers now whispers

Christchurch
Pittsburgh
Minneapolis

Students, educators
Learning hate kills
What have we learned?

Parkland, Florida
Sandy Hook, Connecticut
Columbine, Colorado

And many many more
The NRA is complicit
Guns, (GUNS!) **** people

"Bye, ******“
Said the 60+
Year-old guy

Might have been
Different if not
So diffident

But the same old guy
Here safe at home
With his sweetheart

Says, “My, my; while
It should have been different,
Glad what is is”