Courtesy of one or more tradesmen,
first Monday in September set aside
for employees able, eager, ready
and willing to acquire money
to marry groom or bride
climb the corporate ladder or
become an artisan, entrepreneur, technician
to side step getting rung, drafted
like an oxen plow, commandeered and chide
by management as insubordinate
till retirement or join kiln fields once died

from over exertion, yet nonetheless
sweat of brow efforts praised I espied
searching me noggin brief history re:
aforesaid day, where barbecues fried
dispersed aromas recognizing efforts
of workers with quality control as guide
grievances against danger challenged
sense and sensibility stalwart did not hide
the shenanigans that took place inside

boardrooms in tandem with glories of
American made products from those
who put figurative nose to grindstone –
just common everyday Jane's and Joe’s
who weathered extreme temperatures,
whereby bodies froze
but thanks to those who battled elements
at large and snatched doze

birth of brute efforts eventually
earned reserved renowned
borne couple shy of
nineteenth century, whence sound
of industrial silence replaced with
parades where hoof beats did pound
burgeoning and bustling city streets
echoed along hardened ground
fealty to country soldered
with faith, federation union freedom
and job security did thence abound,

which holiday underwent
transformations as bustle
and hustle proved myth regarding
land of milk and honey –
from straining of muscle
whereby life, liberty and pursuit
of happiness less of physical tussle

set (thank you Masons and Dixons)
cornerstone to an invisible
complex edifice originally from New York
forgotten builders, farmers, machinists,
et cetera who laid groundwork
wrought by destruction
from Civil War largesse and pork
loosed from the bottle in
Antebellum South, when off flew cork
freeing a genie, which became rendered
supremely courtly poet, i.e. this former dork.

I turn off **** ringer,
nonetheless...
telephone still buzzes
twenty four seven
eight days a week
automated telephone calls

digitally recorded message
perfectly spoken English
differentiation to distinguish
"FAKE" simulation
all bot impossible
totally immune to escape

gagging hospitable invective
electronic jawboning immunized
against antipathy, cruelty, enemy,
hostility, insecurity, pleasantry
Yukon run to tallest mountain
dive into Mariana Trench
get catapulted into

outer limits of twilight zone,
yet NEVER be free and clear
getting wirelessly zapped
with visual ad audiological
offal dregs and spam
oh... , yes even after life,

while weightlessly
pinwheeling in limbo,
particularly during eternal sleep,
when dead souls repose
six feet deep
or corpse undergoes cremation...

yepper, infiltration into atomic core
blithely battered, jimmied,
cherry lee pitted, tweaked,
worse fate than return of Zombies
electrical essential existential
incorporeal surreal auditory ordeal

spurs indiscriminate human
to relish golden silence
spawning best selling novel
to flesh out fiction
Utopian treasured island story
winning unknown author

instant acclaim and glory
describing village people
livingsocial, free and clear
without annoyingly,
egregiously, infuriatingly,
maddeningly, quaveringly

vexing, nauseating, disrupting
blitzkrieg courtesy aggravating
trumpeting autonomous programs
hijacking brainstorming concentration
thwarting aim tug get back on target
(even when carrying on camping)

sundering coalescence
regarding colonizing black screen
aborted doomed genesis
of brilliant fleeting idea,

thus one smart
generic garden variety
longfellow forced to
grovel along boulevard
of broken dreams.

Any resemblance between above
hyperbole and living persons
purely coincidental!

Upon exiting side door nearest
to our single bedroom
(a few dozen strides to access said way
out apartment - complex edifice),
I unexpectedly encountered
(on August 30th, 2021
~10:15 post meridian -
née namely heard but did not see),
a small screeching creature
whose anatomical features it did splay

yours truly raced (fast as greased lightning)
back to our unit (b44)
breathlessly describing
frightful scenario to spouse
her skeptical response equivalent to naysay
ying, nevertheless found me burrowing
under blankets temporarily, silently,
and roughly exalted hooray
to release pent up fear and allay
uneasiness that encompassed mine psyche.

Hence... all plans to travel exotic lands
across the seven seas
versus going to zoo
(to befriend endangered animals)
went out the window made of
carefully decorated, engraved
and finished (polished) yew,
which wooden frame father made (who
taught himself carpentry - his real job
mechanical engineer at General Electric,
but he much preferred to build true

lee awesome contraptions, I
(his prodigal son) can attest
when yours truly happily did passthrough
childhood whereby papa built us
(three progeny - two girls and one boy)
a playhouse with chimney and flue
(accoutered with modern conveniences)
actually futuristic trappings, thus
other neighborhood kids knew
where to head and eschew
conventional trendy artificially intelligent
toys – batteries not required.

Hyperbole ye may suspect at thee above
and consider absolute zero
believability, yet exaggeration
contains more'n kernel of truth - hello...
honest to dog complex edifice arrayed with stove
and similar appliances
(all General Electric brands) forsooth

plus attractions luring garden variety bugaboo
such as the critter
which crossed paths me yesterday
finding yours truly helpless regarding what to do
unfortunately creature not soft and cuddly,
nor the least bit similar to bunny foo foo,
thence (as notated in the first stanza) hitherto
fast as these spindle shanks of mine
could carry very liberal minded Jew,
(albeit non practicing)
made immediate headway to loo
derived from the French phrase
'guardez l'eau', which means

'watch out for the water,'
a much less severe dictate
versus potentially rabid little beast new
lee entranced with human beings,
who mostly think themselves superior
to other living entities even
abhorrent toward one
generic nonestablishmentarian parvenu
namely me, who ofttimes doth rue
foregone opportunities,
which ***** and pierce consciousness
namely getting a dragon tattoo.

Ah... already the summer
approaches closing time,
but yours truly can squeeze
one more rhyme
before September first,
thus the following lines after...

Brainstorming, concentrating
panning... for poem
idea shattered brew
tilly by deafening seasonal
greensward cutting crew
contracted throughout summer to mow
leaves of grass
every Tuesday, which drew
attention toward fragrant aroma
seeping into nostrils
of me - match hew,
heavily negated true

quiescence courtesy ear splitting
soundcloud of driving
mowers even moo
ving bovines would
clap cloven hooves
over soft as lambs wool

sensitive hearing micro corkscrew
innards, viz their *****
shaped audiological
anatomical accouterments -
cow word lee lowing Jew
pitter Io sliver by jove whew
once silence returns
(after cessation rip snorting bedlam)
savoring the hum of nature anew,
and moost likely relish
fresh cut leaves of grass
as I inhale analogous

delectable waft of homebrew
albeit molecules borne aloft
after sharp heavy duty blades
of industrial riding mowers bestrew
higglety pigglety, helter skelter
juicy fruit chlorophyll rich
plants releasing nectar
sweet as honeydew
olfactory imbibing nostalgic view
of yesterday, when agrarian farmsteads
populated landscape picturesquely
anointing, exuding, messaging...

perfuming faint clue
intimating rural lifestyle forebears
hapt tubby privy too,
where deer and antelope played
unaccosted by impending urbanization,
hence such idyllic serene rue
man nation - visage you

would probably concur
as most divine comity
worth more than any buckeroo
could purchase - vestiges vanishing
without a trace adieu
mother nature nowhere found
except caged up within human zoo.

A poet (quite familiar with yours truly)
sat at his computer
trying his darnedest to craft a rhyme
imagining when both parents
of mine lived during their prime,
when me creative father acted out mime
though an amateur
his visible talent throwback
when Vaudevillian actors/actresses
(during silent film era),
whereby the spectators
(filling up an entire auditorium)
could hear kerplunk of a dime
versus the bajillion dollar contracts
showcasing stories about
punishment and crime.

Comeuppance eventually served
as just desserts
for those who
cunningly, knowingly, willingly...
commit a knowing wrong
criminal minded on the loose
hustling thru throng
courtesy butterfly effect
rifling back thru time
amid dynastic rule
during reign re: Qianlong.

Millennia ago - indigenous roam ming
contra bands that barely left their so called
"foot print," although live back thousand
of years ago rather brutish, nasty and short
(according to Thomas Hobbes - a British
political philosopher during enlightenment),
they cobbled flint stones in tandem with
crude implements to fell animals, which
fauna felled with purposefulness.

Now or ever since dawn of modern civilization,
we as collective human race appear to be on
war path of extinction, yet weapons of mass
destruction (seeping into popular culture)
pitch future of life on the brink of self-
annihilation, a reassuring thought to help
this bloke retire his weary bones and attempt
to become comfortably numb while dreaming
his forebears (no lion), tigers in the woods and
other creatures lumbering across terra
firmae without threat of extinction.

Progression of intellectual powers gave rise to
greater disparity between means to perform
beneficial versus destructive acts subsequently
fostering my morbid fascination with military
warfare from advent when simians stood *****
and could peer into distant horizon as like they
looked ahead when major lurches forward
allowed means to wipe out greater masses
of people with more precision.

Thus, a homage to those whose blood, sweat
and tears unwittingly delivered hair e beastie
boys into Daytona 500 speed demons (while
Barenaked ladies such as Madonna, Katy Perry,
and Taylor Swift showed indigo girl lush *******)
raced across finish line, while somewhere else
in time, the genesis of beatle browed kink e
dumpster diving dudes in dreadlocks for Snoop
Doggy Dog, Iced T, and Alice in Chains never
surpassing classical Greek drama longevity.

An Autumn like day (August 28th, 2021)
found me and the missus venturing
along unfamiliar roads.

Said spouse manned wheel of automobile
courting entering land of the lost,
nevertheless experiencing zest
she drove as I determined,
whether we went north, south, east or west

her purposefulness deliberately linkedin
delving off course to test
comfort level, interestingly enough
not experiencing feeling over stressed
possibly because place names
(an abridged version follows)
Green Lane, Perkiomenville,
Sumneytown, Upper Salford,
and Zieglerville somewhat familiar,
thus any uneasiness
(straying off the beaten path)

got put to rest
regarding moseying along
our spontaneous quest,
cuz I trend toward anxiety
(and most likely
would suddenly turn gray)
at prospect of trekking into
hinterlands not many miles
away from the place
the two of us call home.

Joyriding not something we
(meaning said married couple in question)
indulge since cost of fuel thee
cannot deny nearly cost an arm and leg
as one who drives regularly can see
the folly spewing gasoline exhaust
tooling around within 2009 Hyundai Sonata
for no rhyme nor reason unnecessarily re:
leasing gasoline exhaust pollutants

into the atmosphere whereby eco police
unlikely accept me to cop a plea
one garden variety ******
a bloke who strives to exalt glee
crafting poems, and reading as well
ranking his significance no higher than flea
common name for the order Siphonaptera,
dear unknown aforementioned comparison
ye might not agree.

Said geographical area composed of counties
located in Southeastern Pennsylvania,
South Jersey, Delaware, and
Eastern Shore of Maryland.

Sweltering temperatures
figuratively grip human zoo
bipedal hominids (yours truly,
an olive - garden variety simian)
seek much sought after shade
under whirled wide webbed yew
encompass vantage point to view
how flora and fauna cook née stew.

Weather records
(one for the books) chart mercury
rising hot enough to melt tar,
which indicates global warming
quite evident I fear,
what with mean temperatures
from January – August 2021 (thus far)
noticeably above norm for this time of year
prognosticators foretell forecasts
per this third planet from the star,
which inhabitants upon Mother Earth
burden of responsibility must bear
billions of people wanton pollutants
ratchet up barometric millibar
dialing up greenhouse effect,
which serious scenario scientists fear
correlation from profligate offal ways
traced from freed genie in the jar,
no longer stretch of imagination
affects mankind did sear
since day of reckoning,
whence Prometheus set stage for war
pitting mankind against Gaia
urgent messages we fail to hear.

Dystopian forecast impossible mission to avoid
since doomsday thoughts pervade consciousness
after perusing newsworthy information
globe trotting correspondents riskily employed
imperiling their life and limb to acquire
truthful natural and/or human interest stories
occurring across
all four corners of oblate spheroid,
i.e. world wide web,
whereby Earth situated within nebulous void.

I try mine darnedest to maintain optimistic aire
all the while gleaning apocalyptic intimations
courtesy human engineered phenomenon
all the more rhyme and reason to beware
**** sapiens on brink of armageddon,
especially when trustworthy cognoscere
painstakingly document their research
and without lacking hesitation declare

drastic paradigm shift away
from dependence on nuclear
energy and fossil fuels everywhere
else climate change could bitta bing
bitta bang hasten global warming,
where wicked watery wasteland
wreaks bleak soggy frontier
backed by popular demand
majority trumpets grandpoobear
for president, he who donned hair
actually he got bewigged courtesy fake
orange toupee, which got blown away
while he hoisted himself
with his own petard.

Imagine if ye will - one immense
ferociously diametrically,
and cosmologically phenomena
opposite that of Polar Vortex
(perhaps an apropos
nom de plume
would be Hades Furnace)
asphyxiating, clapping,
and encapsulating thee
entire oblate spheroid planet.

Judgement day could be similarly
blazing hot on the saddle, or cold
as a witch’s ***, which constant reminders
during Spartan, slated singe shearing,
stoic upbringing inured us Lutherans
to bite the figurative bullet
(which melted like caramel)
during those scorching, sea-sickening,
and sunstroke unbearable vaporizing winds.

No matter the temperature considerably cooler
holed deep within man cave
(especially with a box and desk fan
blowing pleasant air), nonetheless
I still lose out viz zit head by exertion
as a zero sum game.