By the grace of all goodness
we live lives of gifts unnoticed
like pebbles in a whirlpool
we get lost in our lives and quotas

miracles of such proportions
considered just for the fun they give
With all lost sincerity miracles exist
that should be...
...celebrated through the times we live

notice the lack of integrity ?
the dismissal of all the world's condition ?don't allow the beauty or bounty of..
... these gifts be lost
by means of sad attrition

polar caps melting and people die
temperature soaring to an all-time high
yet the indisputable truth is lost
in the constant push forward

saving the world can only save ourselves
By saving our own Nation...
....becoming a house undivided
We show that
no future is or will ever be....
already decided!

I passed by some memories
Along the trail of my life today
I didn't say a word
or even ask them to stay
I just kept moving on
It's not that I have any sad regrets
That make me feel I owe some long past debts
The past is exactly what it will always be
Like a flower encased inside solid glass
you can't smell it or touch it
But it can always be seen

So call me sentimental
call me hard as steel
call me non-committal
Or what ever you will

Nothing said outside of my mind
can ever reach so deep as to find
what I dredged up a long long time ago
  So go ahead  say what you will
Or what ever you  feel you must
You might even find the very thing
me and myself never found to discuss

It could even turn out to be
What could be the exact key
Allowing me to stop dredging up
some sad past regret pretending to be
Just another memory
So maybe this time while I'm down
I can scratch fresh earth
Dredge just enough to plant a seed
For a long overdue rebirth
Then even if I find that it never did exist
I can at least cross it off
That sad , tired and timeworn list!!

I saw the guys quick darting eyes
That slight jaw drop and look of surprise
I've seen It often as we walk along the park trails
And come to accept It for the truths that it details
I was 25 and she was 21 when we first met
A friends wife set me up on a blind date
That I did my best to politely refuse and...
Well you know friends wives and that debate

I rang the bell  and said Hello I'm... Here to...
The door buzzed loud and the intercom replied
Come on up left out the elevator the doors open
Here we go I muttered as I stepped inside the lift
3rd floor tile , wall hangings , plant urns and blind dates
Actually I really liked the decor that was on display
Not bright and glaring and not subdued shades of grey
I knocked on number 7 my lucky number " or was once.."
Open an inch so I started to push when it opened wide..And a beautiful smile on a beautiful face said Hi to a lucky dunce

That was almost 10 years ago now and we've been...
Let's see Married in June so in 2 months it will be 8
Sometimes life just rolls out the red carpet for those
Lucky enough to have friends with wives that
Intimidate
And funny thing is the looks she gets have increased
As the years go by she has just gotten more stunning
You know that saying..idk..oh.. something about fine wine
Anyway todays  Saturday walk through the park..was...is
Now different from all those hundreds we've taken before
Where I've walked so proud and watched guys from 10 to......aint dead yet
Try not to show too much reaction as we pass on by , but I see
I understand the reaction , and I've known how stunning she is...and yet...
As we walked beside the duck pond where we would always stop
So she could  feed the breadcrumbs that we always bring along
When I turned to hand them to her I saw that something was wrong
She turned from me and cautiously approached an old woman
Sitting alone on a bench and staring into some far away place upon closer look I could see the tears silently running down her face
So I sat down about 10  feet away   as I watched her take  a seat
Are you okay I heard her say then I felt the sun and could smell spring
To take it all in , the sounds and smells and everything I closed my eyes
It was then , without the distractions to draw my eyes , my attention
I could hear them talking as the woman sputtered a bit, but then got started  
I don't know what to do , my granddaughter lives with us and she just ten she said
This morning after I watced her off to school I accidently let her dog out
He saw a squirrel as I was entering and...and was hit by a car! He's dead
She will never forgive me she sobbed And I'll never forgive myself Never never
She will forgive you , and you will both cry together , and she will hurt
But if she lives with you she probably had other pains to deal with..yes?
Couldn't make out what the woman said but I heard Elise say that's what I wondered
So I promise you she won't hate you and she will forgive you
But for her sake and her future forgiving yourself is an absolute must
With all she's been through it wasn't her dog that she left in your care ...allowed you to share
It was her ability to breath again , her dreams instead of nightmares her love and her trust

Dogs live to chase squirrels and I'm sure she knows that
But you need to realize that she didn't give you her love and trust lightly and she won't take it back that way either
We ,my husband and I are going to brunch
and if you want to accompany us....
.afterwards -if you wish ,we will help you home
And my strong man can dig you a spot,
Then together we will bury him so..she doesn't  have to see
By leaving some cups of earth she doesn't have to
And the earth you each scatter will be...
In the days to come
A good memory to share  in the face of such a tragedy

I opened my eyes to see this woman staring at Elise and I had no idea what was to come
  Where are you going for brunch..if you don't me asking
Elise let out a subtle laugh, if you join us the choice is yours our treat
Do you know Denellies Deli on...yes we do I spoke up and it's one of our favorites
  Mine too she said with the smile like sunshine breaking through grey skies
But I was wondering about that quaint little nick- nack place next door
Do you think we could find a suitable market of some kind there
Of course we will said my lovely wife as she helped the lady rise
And that man following us is my husband David and you are  ?
Elise turned back to look at me as I fell a few paces further behind
Giving me that knowing smile and subtle nod that said
she knew that  giving them space...
....Was what was on my mind!

So yes today is the day that turned out different
Because for the very first time I realize
To really see how beautiful my wife truly is
I had to see her by closing my eyes!

Someone recently told me your name
But I already knew...who you were
I've known you for almost......
      ....my entire life!
You are the one who inhabits my dreams
   when life is calm and the good time occur.
  So I do hope to see you again...and soon!

Hello, Poetry?  Keith W Fletcher   Poems     Dec 2016 Back from the edge

It will soon mark 7 long silent filled years since the pain and depression that ended up inspiring this poem. During the band days of yesteryear we always had a chance to get together on this type of summer/ autumn holidays and  raise hell and make noise and it was like a big family, so I repost this one here for whatever I can get out of it this time and for all that are ln need, for then (by all means) especially for you as well!

As if from out of nowhere  Gnarled Twisted fingers  With jagged rusting fingernails  Reached out ... Grabbing me  Dragging me... Back  From going over the precipice   Stopping the headlong tumble  Into that deep dark echoless Abyss  At that critical moment  of complete systems failure ...When the call of the Void  Seems impossible to deny   Convinced  That falling through the darkness  Would seem as if I could fly    Ive sensed  that the siren song was calling to me  As it had been all along   So ,Just as I let Go ... Leaning in  Relinquishing control  Those wrinkled withered hands With the Twisted gnarled fingers And those rusted over fingernails Pulled me back... With  Strength incomprehensible   Freeing a Sinister scream of agony  Pure pain and despair  Ripping out and splitting the air  As it rose up from the depths  Of that deep Darkness... that  Echoless void   Someone had reached out...  ... To save me  So I turned to see who... it was  That had pulled me back Wondering how it is...  ... That they knew   There was no one there  Just the last fading remnants  Of a shadow on the wall  So I smile to the Fates  As I gather paper and pen  Making a note for my future Lest I ever forget and Tumble back in   Then with withered and wrinkled hands  I Hold Steady to the notepad  With rusting fingernail adorned  Twisted and gnarled fingers  I begin A whole different flight  As I begin to write Keith W Fletcher Written by Keith W Fletcher  Oklahoma                490        naǧí, Ryn, Ami Shae, Keith Wilson, J Robert Fallon III, and 1 other Ami Shae  Ami Shae  Wow!!! This is one of the best writes I've ever read! Gives me hope! Thank you!!!   0      1 reply   Dec 2016

I took the exit ramp
from the highway
  I was not traveling down
And then..
I was sitting there...
...beside myself
on the shoulder
all this time

Doing naught for that mission
I had been on for a long long time
somehow I had become the middleman
between me and yeah... Who else?

Who else could it be
that keeps getting in my way?
the only living soul that I
could ever truly trust
to make sure that it really was
what we both thought
we were seeing!
so if becomes necessary to verify
then we both have each other's back
then that would mean... no truth
or even lies
could ever come between
So then... any flaws for they obviously do exist
will manifest because
each is looking
In opposing directions
although I would insist that I'm looking straight ahead
you would so do as well
then would that-not mean... that everything
is being seen
for the truth that it really is? Yes?

Still there are those... I suppose
who will try to intervene
attempting to fix what isn't broke
like a hammer being beaten in by a 6 penny nail
No way!
No way!!
So shall I drop my guard
where any friend is concerned?
even though they probably said
I'm filling my head
with unnecessary dread
I may get frozen out
or I might...
.. find I'm being burned.

I know this guy and I do not know why
he sometimes thinks the way he does
becoming angry at what might yet come to be
And forgetting what was really was as you're to see
In this   I. E.
Were we each tasked to walk
from point A to point B
through the Woodlands
in a straight a line as can possibly be... he...
would spend his energy cussing out
... every single tree for being... And for being in his way.
Whereas for me
The problem does not arise..
Simply because..
I took into account the trees do exist
and that's the part he missed
he knows..... but he doesn't care
for him it's the conquest
simply a to b
whereas for me
it's to be a journey
along  life's road..that same one
that brought me to here.... so enjoy the walk!

You were not a profit
A margin set wide
Applied in sleight of hand
Applications , as all implications
Imply that we have begun
Ripping apart at the seems
While dispatches twine
Like a run away vine
In, around and down the middle
of all those dead end truths
and cobble stones
Wherein lies
those alternate routes
The endless drone of what
I...DK - is the disquieting noise
Made....when...the rubber does not
Meet the road!
All success in a business sense
Requires a bit of hustle , some muscle
Applied by the leverage gained
Maintained by liberal false promises
Cloaked and contained
in the conmanservatude
by blind faith idolatry
False pride and emonumental
Brigandage and deminionization  
Demonization and Condamnization
That spread like some rare disease
Across not only our own nation
But around the whole misbegotten world
So no profit upon us obliques
Any more than will be
visited upon those resolute parallels
Who seem so blind, walking along
All of one mind,  and inclined to
Absorb the blows, sing the praise
I do not know how they cannot see
The ship would sink , the markets close
Without them as his orphan
His common stock slowly slipping away
Diminishing returns are not his concerns
That lays more to the valuable blue chips
Because it's easy to see facts are facts
Took you and me and our hard earned common cash
To pay for those inherently smarter  2% ers income tax.
Someone has to and its not just us snowflakes paying..
   Oh forget it! they still can't hear a word they themselves are saying
  They can't hear us
Donald the DeDuck tion  
Spent extra for sound proof glass on the clown bus.