If I had the money
I would travel again
Istanbul, Venice
Heidelberg, Berlin

Gonna see my son
My beautiful boy
In a world gone wrong
He brings me joy

I miss my mom
Woe is me
Exoplanets spin
Cosmic sea?

            Maybe.

55 and falling
2025
Not in good health
Grateful to be alive

See my son today
Maybe a little Thai
Keep him write on track
Lai la Lai! Lai la Lai!

I'm ambiguous
And I can't break free
Slowly guacamole
Slowly xie xie ni

Life is suffering
Please protect my 3
When death does come
Courage please for me

                  Si.

I keep on posting The Batman
Gotham needs a little hope
Maybe, maybe one day
An Asian female Pope

Tomorrow I see my son
A little dinner together
Time tick tocks
One day less than forever

My back still hurts
My soul sits in sorrow
Give my love to Susan
Today and tomorrow

Rick Steves in southern Spain
Me in Baltimore
2037
4044

               forgotten lore

It's cold tonight, cold
I wear my heavy coat
I think it's Michael
But my son says Lebron is the GOAT

My youngest is studying
Ancient India for a test
I keep on, keep on writing
Trying to do my best

In my solitude
I remember her pretty face
Whales in the ocean
Aliens in space?

                   Chase.

Impossible burger for dinner
Baby, it's cold outside
The sacred is elusive
Tends to run and hide

Born too late for God
Hold her to my chest
My hands in her hair
My mouth upon her breast

                  Yes

My back hurts, I'm tired
Fajitas for lunch today
Viva Mexico!
Hey hey ole!

I'm no one important
Dawn goes down to day
Mist in the mountainside
Silent is the Way

Might sleep again
Can't find words to pray
Tired. Exoplanets.
Gracias xie xie

       No nay never nay

Not really vegetarian anymore
Fajitas, fried chicken, kabobs
Take the allopurinol
Try to control my gout

Boredinary living
Sleep late and long
Call my darling sons
Secular - not devout

Politics Portends
Craptocracy
Rule of the *****
Is there any way out?

I'm conflicted about everything:
Vegetarianism, God, ****
I'd like to begin again
Would like to be reborn

Marriage is misery
My schizophrenic wife
Chaos, paranoia
Bitterness and strife

Fatherhood is joy
Call my wonderful sons
O ye Americans!
Please give up your guns

Time is the Cross
Just tick tocks on
Beauty Baltic Sea
Scifi Gamla Stan

He's gonna be an astronaut
Maybe take us higher
Father Greeley freely
George W. Liar

I tweaked my back yesterday
Hurts when I reach down
In Dublin meant to be
When Love Comes to Town

Notre Dame Cathedral
Paris, City of Light
Disability
Courage in the fright

55 and falling
Moroccan mint tea
Talk with my sons
Xie xie. Xie xie ni.

               We

The poetry of place
Cities on the page
The beauty of her face
Haunts me as I age

Aliens above?
Exoplanets spin
Aliens in love
Discoveries within

Reading of Notre Dame
The cathedral is restored
Paris on my honeymoon
Walking the City of Light

Maryland is boring
Ordinary days
Vegetarian tacos
Waking in the night

Chinese food yesterday
A little won ton soup
Encounters with Daoist Hermits
A little Dragonflight

Christmas gifts for my sons
Taipei 101
Springsteen's She's the One
3000? Outta Sight.

European history
Trains across the night
Mexican fajitas
Sor Juana's mystic flight

Tucson, Arizona
Give Alex my best
Some good thing to do
Before I take my rest

       Something blessed

Life is isolation
I reach out but do not reach
Long, long ago
Dear Satellite Beach

In my solitude
I no longer teach
A little sugar free tea
The flavor, indeed, is peach

If I could
I'd write a saving poem
Comfort her panicked mind

But life goes on until it doesn't
I hope you treat me kind

I'm tired, solitary
In Bangkok Buddha signs

Desperate desperation
The cruelty of time!

Fr. Greeley was really unique
Novelist, sociologist, columnist
Never seen another priest like him
Chicago. Tough Chicago.

I can't believe in life after death
But I remember Fr. Greeley
Beggar Girl of St. Germain
Juliet not Iago

                      hope!

Desafortunadamente
My favorite Spanish word
Coastal California
Just a bit Absurd

Tidal pools in Monterrey
My boys still so young!
Steinbeck. Aquarium.
Young sons sung

              Sung!

I'm grateful I got to live in Ireland
Rode the Dublin bus
My son and I and basketball
Just the two of us

I'm afraid I'll die alone
Abandoned and forsaken
Please courage at the end
For the road not taken

Wish I was a rebel
But I'm just a geek
Wish for just one kiss
With lovely Susan Meek

                     Ah!

I declare my love for my sons today
Gratitude xie xie
Please protection in the Night
Y un pequito play

                 Yea, verily. Yea.

Taught Robert Frost to the tweens
Nothing Gold Can Stay
Red Pine's Chinese Hermits
Silent is the Way

Crying spells, Anxiety attacks
Wanna read 'em and weep
Endurance. Persistence.
Promises to keep

Camus at JMU
19 years old
       Absurd

Grateful when peace comes
           Quiet dailiness
                   Slow

O those French Cathedrals!
Our Lady in the air
Rick Steves in Burgundy
Travel can be prayer

Camus at JMU
The Rebel and the Plague
More to admire than despise
Doomed like those who beg

Paris on my honeymoon
Walked the beach in Nice
I still like Amelie
Pink Panther police

Reno to San Francisco
Snow along the way
The beauty of Lake Tahoe
Basketball to play

San Francisco Zen
Silent is the Way
3710
Gracias xie xie

Tens of thousands of poems
Does one break through?
Yes, Life is Absurd
Camus at JMU

Un Escritor
The best that I can do
1 for Susan Meek
Horton Hears a Who

                Do you?

I barely scrape on by
I am a troubled soul
1 foot in philosophy
1 in Rock n' Roll

I like Michael Clayton
Star Trek and True Grit
American Decline
Trump is full of ****

A lot of little poems
Does she love me? No.
Kamakura Buddha
Kamakura snow

                   So...

I'm kinda ridiculous
I'm aware I play the fool
William Shakespeare in Staunton
And at Sage Ridge School

Fondly, fondly Reno
Open big blue sky
Rodeo, O rodeo!
Paul Simon: Lai la Lai!

Dr. Thomas was quite funny
I miss him decades later
Snowfall shunyata
Lonely in the night

Embers
City of Ember
All the King's Men
Gatsby's sweet green light

                     Alright!

Not a leader, Not a follower
Do my best. A little sleep.

             fatherhood!

Rick Steves in Berlin
And in Munich too
Me in little Reno
Susan Meek not Sue

Chinese food tonight
Weather going cold
Star Trek and Joan of Arc
Both of them go bold

True Grit on Facebook
I like Mattie Ross
Aging. Relentlessly aging.
Decay, decline, and loss

              Endurance.

France on my honeymoon
Notre Dame reborn
In my solitude
Lonely and forlorn

French cheese and bread
A little creme brulee
The Grand Chartreuse in snow
Walk the silent Way

               I want you to Stay!

So I know a little Spanish
But I've never been to Spain
I know two pretty women
Give them Purple Rain

The hope is in the living
Please protect my sons
Fondly little Reno
Please give up your guns

                    Ole!

the immense violence of the world
                         luck
                         hope

Women are more interesting
Dangerous as well
Smoke on the water
Call me Ishmael

Who knows where we're headed?
Ain't no tongue can tell
The Highway of Regret
I travel with Adele

I reach out
But I can't reach
55 and falling


London Calling!

Academic theology
Pretty removed from life
Hope springs eternal
Wisdom in the strife

Silent meditation
San Francisco mist
Susan Darlene Meek
Ah! Just one kiss

Won ton soup tonight
Snow falls in Seattle
Tecumseh the Shawnee
Prepares himself for battle

3 prayers for Chicago
Dinner in Irish bars
Maybe Trappist 1
Exoplanet stars

     this love that we call ours ...

DC for basketball
Take the Metro train
My son and I together
Maybe Purple Rain

A little won ton soup
Barcelona, Spain
1 prayer for my mother
Her name was Sally Jane

                   Quietly

I wrote a few poems
Traveled the world a bit
Fell repeatedly
But I didn't quit

Try again tomorrow
Sleep perchance to dream
In my solitude
I play for my team

            Silent Scream

Discovering David Markson
Truly one of a kind
Bangkok in the rain
And the Buddhamind

I've been to New York City
Wicked with my sons
Scarlett Johansson is pretty
Please give up your guns

A little won ton soup
A little Asian rice
A little Susan Meek
Don't have to ask me twice

I might die alone
I might die at night
Protection for my boys
Courage in the fright

         Gatsby's green light

I majored in philosophy
Religious studies minor
Carolina Inn
Nothing would be finer

I've got an atheist in me
Albert Camus at JMU
Also got a monk
Also Pondicherry Zoo

Grey day blues today
Kiss her once for me
Once Toledo, Ohio
3333

                    Si

Maryland is ordinary
Eating, driving, sleep
Snowfall shunyata
Promises to keep

Do the best I can
Ready for the snow
Life goes on until it doesn't
Hidey hidey hidey **!

The country is in trouble
Christmas arrives again
Dr. Banks, Col. Weber
Arrival be my friend

                     Amen.

Thankful for my sons
Slowly through the day
More than a little driving
Basketball to play

My youngest is a wonder
Protection please xie xie
Quiet in the night
Silent is the Way

The Episcopal churches are quaint
Grey stone in the rain
Never get to Heaven
Never been to Spain

Florida has the beaches
The thunderstorms, The pain
Music on the radio
Jane! Jane! Jane!

Once I was an English teacher
Read books to the tweens
Now it's disability
But I still like Things Not Seen

Dr. Thomas was quite caring
Billy Graham was mean
I'm Carolina blue
But my Irish eyes are green

                Bruce Springsteen!

Dylan in Orlando
        Twilight
             Yo

Troubled. Anxious. Worried.
Take it easy, Take it slow
Sleeping in the Night
Kamakura snow

Just to do my best
Hidey hidey hidey **!
Then to take my rest
Nevermore to know

         pero yo espero

Susan really is that wonderful
I really am a geek
Wish her well, Ishmael
Sonnet 130 seek

              Ms. Meek

No one important
I get too tired
Talk to my sons
Sleep. Sleep.

Promises to keep.

I like to read of history
But I'm not nostalgic
European mystery
Ride a bus through town

So much of America is ugliness
I'll die and be forgotten
High School. Sweetly high school.
Off like a prom gown.

Weaknesses. Proclivities.
Trouble in my mind
55 and falling
I hope you treat me kind

No life after death
The years flow swiftly by
In gratitude for fatherhood
She makes me wanna cry

A little miso soup
A little pecan pie
A little poetry
The hummingbird does fly

                         Aye.