madness has been my burden
madness perhaps (at times)
my gift

anomalous cognition
thank you kindly for the lift

he thinks that myths are real
she says she almost can confirm one

if it's turtles all the way done
science might one day turn one

myths may come from dreams
and dreams may hold our wishes

tell my wife I'm trawling Atlantis
I keep looking for those fishes!

The fellow sufferer
The One who understands.

Camus believed life is meaningless
And yet we must have meaning

His mother was a Berber
Algeria he's leaning

Went to France on my honeymoon
Saw Chartres and Notre Dame

Hey Lady! Pretty Lady.
Please look kindly on

Our struggles here below
Absurd the life of l'homme.

    We seek, We seek for home.

Yes, I do like Georgetown
Grey stone on grey sky
Grey catholikos
Mother Mary My

I remember Uncle Marty
My mother's last breath
3772
Long past death

African American students
Give me a gentle smile
The Amazing Spider-Man
I wander for a while

Chapel closed for cleaning
Divergent are my books
Father Greeley Ben Vereening
Quinlin Jai - he cooks!

                   Fettuccini!

I'm an alienated American
I need another country
One that's not so racist
One that knows some peace

I majored in philosophy
Young at JMU
The Absurd, Albert Camus
The pull of ancient Greece

                  Pythagoras!

Lying in my bed
Contemplating aliens
But how would we know?

Cell phone like the Monolith
           Space Odyssey
                 evidence?

She said she would keep it private
But she didn't
Which is actually good

The sky is a neighborhood.

A little hope from the students
So young. So full of promise.

My favorite teacher is now dead
His name was Dr. Thomas

Vanity, says the Preacher.
All is Vanity and chasing after wind

Fox News has the idiocy of Sean Hannity
I have memories of Mork and Mind

                       Nanoo Nanoo!

American Cosmic ahead
        coincidences, as I’ve said
                      synchronicity is led?



                         Unidentified  
                       inside my head

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

the aliens are here
are they studying us?

she's a college professor
so study then they must

evidence is hazy
unclear, ambiguous

but I am quite attentive
In God we truly trust?

Cliff Pickover tweets
   young sons sung
         Trappist-1!

Trappist 1
Searching for atmosphere

Trappist 1
In my ears I hear

Trappist 1
Belgian monks brew true beer

Trappist 1
Aliens appear?

analogical imagination
within without within

Dr. Thomas was my teacher
Thomas means the twin

Rabbi Nahman, Rabbi Nahman
Always to begin

Cardinal Newman is quite right
You have to lose to win

analogical imagination
within without within

Dr. Thomas was my teacher
Thomas means the twin

Rabbi Nahman, Rabbi Nahman
Always to begin

Cardinal Newman is quite right
You have to lose to win

roommate in Hong Kong
America gone all wrong

Leonard Cohen long song
audience thrill throng

                      London Calling!

wondering with the water
      Galway girl, Denver daughter
               Destiny - a puzzling plotter..


         She’s like the wind
                    The students like Harry Potter.

I'd rather be with the people of this town
Than with the greatest people in the world!

                              😀

All who use words
Use a little force.

    - Simone Weil

Got off work a little early
See my sleeping son
Un pequito Espanyol
Un pequito fun

Grey and cloudy day
Sometimes a little rain
Fatherhood is gratitude
In this life of pain

             Can't explain

A little lunch
A little nap
A little drive
Tally **!

A little rain
A little pain
A little dream
Tokyo

            Yo!

Mysteries of life remained unresolved
Hints and guesses not problem solved

Western stars, Eastern monks
Irish bars, elephant trunks

My friend Mark in Sacramento
Taiwan photograph as memento

Up again in the wee small hours
Tea leaves, lotus flowers

                  Gratitude.

I like cooking my family and my pets.
Use commas. They save lives.

😄

I went a little crazy
Went a little mad
Susan Darlene Meek
Sweet Sir Galahad

Slowly growing older
Thankful for my dad
Tired. Exoplanets!
Tired. Lonely. Sad.

                  Ole!

tide pools in coastal California
               sunlit Stockholm cycling
                        Thai tuk-tuks in traffic...

                    Yes, indeed.

The sun again will shine
Maybe even Purple Rain

Those who seek will find
The Shinkansen speeding train

Lovers will be inclined
To kiss in Cordoba, Spain

Teachers will teach young minds
Amidst the threatening pain

Healing will again come
To the troubled human brain


                        Someday!

My life: Filled with much illness and terrible anxiety. Maybe meaningless to others. But I hope not!

If you want to learn
How the human mind works
At its deepest, most profound level
Study mythology, philosophy, religion
                      Theology

If you want to learn
How the Divine Mind works

                        Give up.

              Study something else.

Like mythology, religion, philosophy
                        Theology.

Just a little influence
Maybe other worlds
Jesuit education
Colorado girls

Grateful for the work
New shoes blister my feet
All my relations
Forward but not delete

Green Arrow in Star City
Green Arrow in Seattle
San Patricios. Kells.
I still prepare to battle

Uncle Jack is back
Gracias, Senyor
Dylan in Orlando
Paul McCartney in Baltimore

                      3744

no grand purpose
a little daily life
a little chana masala
to sleep perchance to dream

                 home team

Khan academy, little lectures
          Doin' it for free
               gratefully

late night motel quiet
  no future, no past
     words, words
           words

If you don't read the news
You'll be uninformed
If you do read it
You'll be misinformed
Better to read books
Play some basketball

I read Road to Heaven
Ancient Daoist hermits
A little mountain mist
1 man he resist
Jeremy in Hong Kong
Me in Wetheral

Solitude is quiet
Thank you for my dad
I like empty hotel rooms
Please protect Susan
1985
White Nights. Fall.

               See y'all.

the passage of time as illusion
passage a metaphor of confusion

no beginning, nowhere to go
no ending, no harbor to show

the eternal returning right now
all is one, one is all somehow

each moment a spark in the Flame
I too the Hunter of Invisible Game

eternal silence brings thoughts of awe
and, yes, at times I fear it

but the Buddha taught and truly saw
and he lived long quite near it

nothingness is just a word
meant to spark unsettle

emptiness if it is heard
some say sounds like a petal

I fear to die, I treasure life
but when I go, I go down grateful

My moment formed, I know not why
Perhaps the cosmic is the Fateful

Love is joy, so too my boys
In time’s ocean we are swimmin’

Tonight I rest, heart in my chest,
I dream of loving women!

"Hermits in China are a part of society.  A very important part.  They help people.
Hermits in America are misanthropes."

- Bill Porter, aka Red Pine

Except, I would add, for Thomas Merton.
        He knew despairs and hopes.

- Todd Witherell aka me :)

The religiosity is me
But i can let it go

I have atheist friends
Sometimes i worship snow

Ordinary life
Mostly work and money

But not right now for me
Basketball so sunny

I do often think
The world abandoned by God

Students call me Mr. W
My parents called me Todd

              a little odd

Not sure what I am
But I know I'm a little odd

Obsessed with poetry
Also obsessed with God

Grateful for good sleep
Like my mind is humming

Dylan all alone
Singing. Flinging. Strumming.

I hope I go down grateful
Can smile at the end

Prayers for Mark and Alex
Mis amigos y my friends

                  Thank you.

A little basketball
A little rock 'n roll

A little loving life
Midnight's broken toll

The Buddha shows compassion
Even near the grassy knoll

Peaceful sleep forever
Peace the hidden goal