Ready the ofrenda
Remembrance membrane
Twixt here and there

Loved ones lost
Closer now
Summoned

They come
We pause in
Their presence

A sad laugh as
Wet grief tracks
Down cheeks

We say hello
Then we say
Goodbye; again

You over-do
I under-do
Friction ensues

One always right
Other ever left
Hard to undo

Flight or fight
Choice always wrong
An old, sad song

William Jefferson Clinton
did not come for our guns.
Barack Hussein Obama
did not come for our guns.
No one is coming for our guns.
They come now for our TRUE weapons:

Our words.

The FIRST (not the 2nd) amendment
is now officially under attack.
PED (President-elect Drumph)
tweeted to the cast of HAMILTON:
"Mike Pence was harassed last night at the theater by the cast of Hamilton"

Freedom of speech is harassment?
A gentle message by a gentleman playing a gentleman
founding-father said to Mr. Michael Pense:
“There’s nothing to boo here, ladies and gentlemen,
there’s nothing to boo here.
We’re all here sharing a story of love.
We are the diverse America who are alarmed and anxious
that your new administration will not protect us,
We truly hope this show has inspired you to uphold
our American values and work on behalf of all of us.”

Harassment or free speech?
Bullet points, people. Bullet points.
I am NOT throwing away my—SHOT!
I am NOT throwing away my—SHOT!

X: Mr. Floss, do you believe in god?

J: No, no I do not.

X: Mr Floss, do you believe in sin?

J: No, I do not.

X: Mr Floss, are you saying…

J: Please, let me explain. I believe in goodness. If you know what being good is then you know what being bad is…

X: Isn’t that simplistic solipsism?

J: Yes—but it is not that simple…

X: Explain.  

J: We want the world to be simple but it isn’t. We desire absolutes. We want the news to assure us that what we think in the moment is right. But it may not be.

X: Go on.

J: You could be right at the same time that I am right. We needn’t rely on a two-valued logic.

X: So, what are you saying?

J: Let’s both get off our high horse?

X: What?

J: We both just might be right. Relax. Sleep well tonight. Do something good tomorrow. Treat a fellow human being well. Goodness is its own reward.

MC Escher drew it
Unshure the best way through it
Down is up
Around is down
Gravity hilarity loops
Infinity turns and hoops
Puzzling faces, birds and places
Morphing yin to yang
Ending is beginning to
Circle around again.


I wear my collar of color but
Lately I’ve been a confessor
They trust me unknowingly
To facilitate their stories

Humbled and awed
I press record
Their lives flow courageously
They want you to know

https://www.dropbox.com/s/n3z0gn6nsogzqei/Marisol.wav?dl=0

If I had a cape
I’d have escapades

My spiffy metal suit
Would be in pursuit

I’d write wrongs in bulk
With the build of the hulk

I’d echo-locate
Every reprobate

A transgendered Wonder
I’d end their plunder

Return the cash
In a flash

End the pain
We sustain

Save the world
As it whorled

Super-Duper
Super trouper

****-Man!

Out of time
No rhyme

Slushing the universe
Nibbling the edges

Moving fast and slow
Steady as she goes

It’s inevitable
The inevitable

Until you find slow
Shift: reverse

It’s begun

Relationship to insured:
Son. Son. Son.
Date of Birth:
Date of death:
Certification:
SSN:

Life insurance
Annuities
Beneficiaries

Sign and date:

His life’s work done

Cat-n-dog.
Lovers?
Snugglers?

What you'd expect?
Mutt 'n Jeff?
Jeff loves Mutt.

L'll baby
Crashes into
Gunther's nose;

He knows—
Old dog about to
Bark his last "BWARK!"

(She loves me…
And I like her—
No, love her, but…)

(Actually, she bugs me;
Her nose hugs claw me!
But, she needs me…)

Cat loves dog.
Dog…loves cat.
And is better for it.

Old dog Gunther
Is feeling lil' Lucky
Canoodling his pock-marked cheek.

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!

Fruitless friends
Who let you down

A pillow gone lumpy
Sour milk on cereal

Fruitless friends
Who let you down:

Disappointing pens

Old keys for forgotten locks

Pants that don't fit

A lonely left shoe

A two-cent non-forever stamp

Fruitless friends:

The bowl of bran
Sans raisins

Sad.

“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

It could have been much different
With you and me in love

We should’ve been more careful
With the caring and sharing stuff

If we would’ve been better friends
Through more considerate listening

We‘d have been better lovers—
We promised such in vows

And here we are now:

*** of magic soup
mother toiling
leftovers boiling

a kitchen *****
making food for a dozen
with leftover magic

chicken soup first
a ratatouille iteration
mixo mysterioso: gumbo?

a shape-shifting soup

amazing Grayce fed us
dressed us, taught us:
love.

I sometimes let the credits roll
Dénouement with music beautiful
As the artist tribe parades

We seem to be roommates for life
With love and but more often strife

This is the vex:
Life with no ***

Our time here as husband and wife

What I don’t know and
What I want to know:

I know what is important
And suspect the rest

Time tells us which friends
And those not in the end

Safety is illusion
Reality as allusion

Now is not knowable
Instantly fast then gone

Glimpse it askance
And do your best

Apologize for faux pas
And skate the rest

Past is immutable
Unless you can forget

All futures possible so
Imagine the impossible

What I know is this:
“.......................”

I am proud to say
I speak three languages:
Human, cat and dog

There a big difference between
“mmmmm-rrrrrrRRRRR-Ouww!”
And “mmrouwt!”

The occasional
"Mmmrt.”
That’s one contented cat!

Where to start with dog?
“thnff-sniff-sniff-snichff-iff”
Your **** as judge and jury

If they judge you worthy
With a **** of their head
Or clear-eyed happy panting

Or happy claws
Kneading your nethers
Throbbing, purring

Or the “schlourp, schlourp, schlourp”
Of their tongue where they dare
You have made it as a human

Enjoy their approval as
Human held in esteem
Strive to come back as one of them

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

Who came?
Who spoke?

Da Bomb Obama
Worth two in the Bush

Who was *******?
Who’s fake news now?

(RIP JSM III)

A super 8 film
Flickers on the screen;
Sprocketing film sounds
Comforting in black and white.

One clip:

A boy in chef hat
Dances gleefully with spatula
At a barbecue with family.
Memories made visible with
Backyard in background.

Another:

He looks like a chemist in the wading pool
Water sploshed from bottle to bottle.
There he is, happily pulling tails of kittens.
Perhaps a future biologist?

There he is:

In line with nine siblings
And matching striped pajamas
Running to rip presents open
From happy boxes under the tree.

Year to year,
The siblings age;
Black and white turns technicolor.
Pops shoots more movies.

A baby falling over;
A sly smile to the camera;
Chocolate covered lips at Easter.
And always a shot of mother smiling.

Who will chef-hatted spatula dancer
Chocolate lipped-
Proto-scientist
Future clown grow to be?

Me.

This poem:
Fingerprint on the
Face of the world.
I live here—
For a little while.

A kitten sits
Between his paws
Mewling; little thing

He, stoic, sniffs
Gazing left and right
Guard dog on duty

Interspecies romance? No.
Cat and dog detente? No.
Beings caring? Yes.

https://www.facebook.com/SimplyBeautifulPage/videos/691408344341610/

I am a racist
Anti-racist.

I growl as Schrodinger's cat
And meow as me.

I was raised racist and
Try, every day, to erase it.



Adverbs, 4:18

I once had a love affair
With Shakespeare
From Nick Bottom's fuzzy ***
To Launce Gobbo in the know
And feisty Feste crooning a Jewess

Then a new direction
R&J breaking rules
Pants on a Shrewess
Two Gents Rockin' 'bout Sylvia
Bleachers, lights and stage
A comedy, no Error, then
Tempest, the Next Generation
Prospero in 2314AD.

Yep. All of them:
Complete works! (abridged)
Before I left the park.

A gap in time before
Darkly pierced prince
Mourning loss of mother
Ends the affair.

I take a pledge
To support Buttigieg
In all his future pursuits

It’s a thrillah
To support Kamila
And her justice crusades

Elizabeth Ann can
It’s guaranteed
and warranted

He’s a looker,
That Booker
Way to fly high, guy!

Hit or hold?
Time to fold and
Lose the Beto

I don’t feel
The Bern, sir; not
Not throwing away my shot

You as placeholder?
Take it slow, Joe
Steal the show

****** Spock!

Jim?

Why, why, why!?

Jim?

*** was that, Spock?!

What, Jim?

Delving deep;
Spilling the beans?!
Letting your guard down!?
Schrödinger's cat out of the box!?
Revealing the secrets?!
Violating protocol?!


…It is the truth, Jim.

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

My hero paid me
Compliments
Last night

Wait!
That was what
I wanted to do!

My friend,
What a gift!
Our confluence

Last first day teaching
Carrying a grief backpack
The show did go on

I lost a day today
Pickled in anger and
Stewed in ennui

I lost a day today
All my to-dos not done
Opportunities gone

I lost a day today
Left with stress and strife
It’s WWD all over again

Oh say can you see
Through the rocket's red glare
And the canon's loud roar
How we glorify war
Glory, gory hallelujah!

This land was their land
And now it's our land
But it's not your land
Though made by your hands

That pick our grapes and
Hang our drapes and
Landscape lawns and
Harvest prawns and
Caretake children
Carpenter homes
Clean motels
Cook and serve…

Et cetera.
¿Tu hablas español?

Be kind to our
Illegal friends
For mujer may be
somebody's mother.

I’ve invented gravity wave goggles
I slip them on and see back-and-forth
Click click click click click backward:
Big brother John shows me how to tie my shoe.

Click click click forward
Sock war with brother Wally.
Click click; seizure of brother Joe’s room;
See sock war. Click; I’m here.

Cluck. Cluck.
Cluck cluck cluck…
“Preserve your memories
They’re all that’s left you.”

I am my own goalie
Sometimes I swat the puck out

Eventually it camels back to me
Because I made that call

Every second base stolen
Every accolade bestowed

I’ve run the games and won or lost
The benefits exceed the cost

Eye are us on IRS
Simplify that tax plan, man,
Widdle ole corporations
Need a break, for Christ’s sake!

Millionaires need more money, honey.
On our backs, poor middle class
Trillionize deficit spending
Always has a happy ending

For the few by the many
Conservative fiscally; riskally
Trickle down, IRS
Golden rain on all of us

I love this life,
Right here
Right now.

My deck.
My lawn.
Summer sunshine.

Peaceable kingdom:
Buddy boy is smiling
Ms. Black is sprawling
Lucky is strolling.

Fred…
Is just being Fred.

Relaxed Annie is
Asleep there
In her chair.

It’s 5pm
In July
In Freshwater and
Still 80 degrees.

I’ll take it.

I really can't hear your words
As you walk away

I CAN BE LOUD
When I can't hear you

I can be an *******
As an excitable boy

When did we skid off the tracks?
Did you hear that coming?

I miss being touched
That doesn’t happen anymore

You are full partner
To all the the button pushing

I’m tired of this twisted tango
I just want to be felt and heard

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 want to get into the indices, please
Tunnel my way through history
Around town not surround sound

Dive into the here and where
Strive for thenceforth not hitherto
Being around and abound

Some legacy is mere trickery
But I want it legitimately
While dissolving to ground

Friction
Isn’t fiction
It’s great
Things grate
I surmise
To hydrolyze,
A basic strife,
Gives us life.
What seems mystical
Is really chemical.
To life!

Hail, Nero,
Friend of Piso;
Welcome to the villa

Agrippina at Mar-a-Lago
Ivanka in her tower
A Melania apologia.

Left we are all stumped
Under water and in ruins;
Unfortunately *******.

I believe what I see and
Dread what is left to dream
Fearing the fog between

I am in fact a dinosaur
Clearly what has come before
An optimism fossil

Someday what is actually known
If better than the either other
Will confuse these old bones

I scratch till blood
An itch that persists
Unresolved issues
Buried below

I try to know;
It whorls, churns
Secrets purple red
Break skin

Red burst bloom
Embarrassing truths
Concealed quickly
Don’t show your cards

I am going to make mistakes
And probably break things

In my attempt to speak the truth
You will like or unlike me

You might even un-Friend me
REPLY: "Oh! No! Dear me! No!”

It won’t stop my postings
In this pre-apocalyptic world

Peeling the opinion onion
Seems the right thing to do

A whorl is not a swirl
Although it may seem so.
Allusions as illusions.
A reflection deception?
Yes or know?
Can we ever Noh?

“Rise up!”
Said Cpt. Janeway Mulgrew to
Every woman everywhere

“Rise up!”
Said Lin-Manual Miranda
You have to take a stand!

“Rise up!”
Every woman every man, all
The freaky people in the band

“Rise up!”
Wise up!
Wake up!

“Rise up!”
Get involved
Be evolved!

“Rise up!”
With 20/20 vision as
We take back our land

Driving
Long way to go
Life is involved

Driving
Responsibly
Life is involved

Driving
Slow the **** down
Life is involved

Driving
Don’t cut in front
Life is involved

Driving  
Cut and then pass
Life is involved

Really?
Three seconds less?
Life should evolve

crushing through it
here comes Pruitt

promoting coal
he has no soul

what was protection
is now destruction

a man named Scott
the best we got?

the EPA; now EDA
our Earth, sadly, DOA.

Garaj Mahal installed. Check.
Appointed panels point to sun. Fun!
1880s shack gets a gingerbread attack.

Our accidental shack now a home;
Roof, gutters, **** and tube
Kicking and screaming into 21st century.

Hopefully our last crusade
From shack to home—
Retirement refinements.

Still, discomfort continues:
Pulling on my jeans
Solar installers wave across roof lines.

Breakfast with traveling guests
Suddenly includes Trevor
Smiling, painting trim the through the window frame.  

Soon, our own summer home again
(Home two-point-three-point-four!)
As we reconnoiter our nest for the rest.