A lone troubadour in some forgotten bar ,                                            
Paints the silence with a weathered guitar
Maracas made of ice cubes in tall drink glasses
The clatter of billiards , the call for waiters
Neon lights shower chipped tabletops
Chatter , laughter & poetic lies
Salty margarita tops , old world steins
A young writer recording his thoughts -
in between sets  
Tales of stale beer
A love grown dour
The plight of the wordsmith
The powers that be & the killing rent ..
The perfect gig & the strangling government ...

These Brogans have walked many trails ,
carved the red clay , tracked through the summer-
hay , laid impressions on many a shore ,
climbed barbed wire , kicked tractor tires
stomped out backyard fires , walked the property
line , ten years service with ne'er a shine .

These blessed overalls have staved the cold on frosty
morns
Many a pocket filled to the brim , Goody powders ,
nails and screws , guitar picks & Red Man chew ,
fence pliers , shotgun shells , a #2 hook and a catfish bell ....

I loved you on a Monday ..
With florid first impressions , wicked pheromones &
Long Island Teas ..

I declared your hand on a Tuesday with
flowered arches , summer moons &
Champagne ..

I stood onguard in your defense ..
Toiled in the name of our firstborn ..
Hands that bore the shape of the shovel ..
August dog days , November chill-bain ...

Tedious miscalculations
Unprepared peeps fighting-
the Winter rath of February & March ..

A fool loved you a long time ago
Bereft of honesty , destruction that lies-
beneath the surface , cold water & bitter-
herbs ...

clairvoyant beings in the cattails
lake dancers , gray morn jackets
the breath of God
new day fog
sylvan tinsel &
surface rhythms ....

We're downy feathers thrown into a turbulent wind
We land where we land , good or bad by -
the laws of chance and happenstance ....

Twould be incumbent upon you to frequently test whether your 'friendships' are true or if you're merely a rung on their ladder to success  ....

Lake Tuesday ..
The hour of the painted shore , wind lashed olive waters
, brother to earth , wind and rain .. What songbird call shall answer the question of the March breeze , which spring buck shall amuse the meandering broom sage .. How the fearful turtle skims just below the sight of my wandering eyes .. The graceful sigh of Loblolly Pines , red tipped lake lovers , for what has day brought the coming night .. Red Shouldered hawk , the hillsides exquisite ****** crying with intricate dance , wary to every changing movement above nutmeg hued trunks that long for their crowning expectations .. The Suns command , showered in benevolent virtues akin to red , blue and gold passageways , lead boldly westbound for the river as churned lake spaces settle into placid afternoon ..
Ghost of the piedmont forest walk these woodland byways , the breath of the Creek Nation give life to such sacred parcels of heaven ..

A voodoo doll and a cup full of pins ...

I would gladly record my emotions onto granite with -
my fingernails if paper was nowhere to be found ..

Turn your demons & lifes unrelenting ******-
into Reeses cups & peppermint sticks
Seize the day licking lips & fingers with-
a 'chocolate face' , a lovely horehound day it is ,
Ride the Pepsi river with a Butterfinger paddle
Dabble in culinary witchcraft , cotton candy fields , a sugar cookie-
shield in the Land of Frosted Flakes & Fiddle Faddle ..
All Hail ! The Three Musketeers & the power they wield !

I want to be in a town renowned for its evening-
crickets , front porch laughter & lightning bugs
For fish fries and shade tree mechanics
For kids playing games beneath streetlights
Friendly constables , helpful neighbors & church-
bells , iron kettle flower pots , walking the rails ,
I need to separate the dirt from the chaff ,
to draw the cool aromatic smoke of dried-
tobacco , the kernel from the cob , earth from-
share , cold babbling water from slippery-
rock , soaked shanter from brow , molasses from-
the wheel , wheat from the stone , the honey forfeiting-
the comb , Spring from Winter , crust from lakeside ,
- kudzu from sweetgum , Scripture from torrid-
novel , music from razorback squeal , **** from shovel -
, decay from iron , turpentine from the tall pine ,
cracked leather from calloused feet

My house is beginning to smell like my grandmother's-
old house ...

Give me brown sugar grass
Sunny afternoon dispositions
Soprano bluejays & country byways
Grandkids , daughters & warm inspirations
River-rock chimneys , hot coffee & loving memories ....

An excuse is failure dressed in a tuxedo ...

I defy any musician to write a score more beautiful-
than the laughter of a child ....

When Earth shuts her pretty blue eyes-
When a flock of geese are heard in the twilight sky
Listen for the night owl , the meadowlark & the-
early morning wren ...
The katydid , the fiddling cricket & the mother hen ..
The clang of the cowbell , pirouetting aromatic field smoke
The foggy holler , a ****** in the tall oaks
The song of her residents , hilltops bedecked in shimmering sunny gold ...
Servile beast of burden master the tug of the yoke ..
The February wind , the three tones of a winters dirge howling like -the faithful in a Pentecostal church ..

If you ever want to teach a young buck discipline-
have him hold a nail with one hand against a maple block while -hammering it with the other ....

a ) Enhance the timbre of one's voice
b ) Report the taste of food to the brain
c )  Ignite unquenchable conflagrations ..

Watching the driveway like all the other days
All clear , nobody on the way ...
A big yard with no kids , no laughter ,-
No how do you do's , no warm friendly chatter
No Christmas turkey , tinsel , hot wine nor -
candy platters ..
Perusing an empty lot as if the Holidays really-
matter ...

A political statement will promptly decay from the moment of its -inception to the hour of its reincarnation ...

A true musicians cause of death should be his instrument ...

The hardened performers tapped time with hammer & rod
They felled trees , greased tremendous machines ,
hand dug ditches , turned wrenches ,
Diesel-fired , rumbling leviathans in alliance with -
pipe laden silver work stallions
The dance of man and his creations
Iron , steel , copper and concrete machinations
Repetitive , coordinated , chisel driven gruff melodies ..
The whine of the hitch , the howl of the winch ,
Rubber crushing gravel as the dance slowly traveled ...

I see that God has serious five o'clock shadow brewing
His evening hair is illogical
A piece of corn between aged , yellowing teeth ..
Hairy ears , wrinkled forehead , ***** neck
Work shirt , t-shirt , sock cap , glasses ,
Goody powders & Marlboros ...

telltale music neath a familiar bridge , hardwoods and evergreens line the river ridge ...
a confidants mystical steps , dancing rocks & steamy breath..
cottontail dancers & trepid , leary does...
bluebird , wren , titmouse & cardinal country guides ..
my sky resembles the bendable , sugary cocoanut-
candy I cherished when I was a boy ...
a coy child can turn twenty acres into the-
home of the wild on this sacred voyage ..
adults pop dreams like tight balloons
they topple homemade scenes & green -
daytime schemes ..
extend your arms ...
let the filling wind take control of your physicality
glide from tree to tree
command the sky with great longing and glee
find yourself sitting on a telephone pole ...
cackle like a morning crow ..
circle the noonday Sun
navigate the meadow , converse with the sprites ,
the fairies and the goodwill ghost below ...

When I try to watch the news my sadness sets in ..When I look across
the yard sometimes in the evening the same thing happens .. I've cried myself to sleep several times over the last two weeks .. When I put a plate of food in front of me I start thinking about dead animals ..
I'm still getting the sensation of falling or being electrocuted .. I'm beginning to see objects at the window once again .. When I listen to music sometimes the sadness is unbearable .. Music is all I have so this is quite painful .. I've 'caught myself ' staring into nothing in whatever room I'm in ... Mary Ellen and I have gone out to eat several times over the last few weeks .. She's caught me ' zoned out' ..
She stared into my eyes an brought me back into the moment ..
I'm beginning to feel like no medicine in the world is going to help me ... I had some pain meds from my gall bladder surgery four weeks ago .. I contemplated taking all of them at once just to see if I could stop the 'machine' ..

The choice of an angry 'Smokey' or a Honey Locust tree would create a vexed farmer at the crossroads indeed .....

When you're in love the weight of the-
world becomes imperceptible ..

If we continue picking the scab of the Earth-
she'll release a defense that will make COVID-19 feel -
like a case of the sniffles ...

A bluebird atop a farm bell patrolled-
his sunnydale ..
Discerning butterfly from cricket-
in the broomsage thicket ..
A chirpy melodious song of love ..
Greetings from Jonah , the thrasher -
& the turtle dove ...
Cardinals advance through the barren-
trees ..
Along the winterberry & the lapping stream ..
Good day from Pi , from the pink sky ..
From the bounty neath hundred year old oaks ..
From February greens to Aprils sunny scenes ..

Gold/Money
Religion                                                   ­                                           
Political aspirations ..
The ****** ..

I profess that we're really hanging upside down
Yearning for the **** of the midnight crystals but -
drawn to the familiar lure ,stability & romance of the Moon
Humanity is a simple , poignant song unheard
A poem already read
We could be blissfully aware of our finality instead we walk -              
this earthly miracle consumed by the lost argument of religious totality ...
Yet , we still defend the road of denial -
as the signals keep repeating ..
Popping every cell on the bubble wrap                                              
Eating stale ginger snaps
Tripped traps snap & clap in despair ,
Unstable tables and rickety rocking chairs
A quick smoke in the midnight air
M&M's and cannabis gummies
Tuning 'the six' , rummaging through-
the minds attic , hopefully discerning knowledge from-
static ..

The dissonant rebuttal of Republicans and the lengthy braying-
of a felled ******* strikes a dry , dangerous tune indeed ..

May the deity that paints your sunsets -
improve your outlook towards your fellow-
man ...

People are throwing around 'great' & 'sorry' like empty gum wrappers ..

Shooting the mistletoe ...
The rhythm of boots trampling-
frozen sod & early morning snow ..
The song of braying hounds & clacking shells
Frost laden brown grass & town bells ...
Smoke filled dales
Familiar trails
Split oak , collard rows & burn barrels ..
Barbed wire fences lined with Winter sparrows ...

Please announce my passing in passing -                                        
twenty years from the day I've passed ....

I would gladly forsake the hypocrisy of my human peers to sup with my coyote brothers ...

Wood floors make a parlor guitar come alive ..
Songs of contrition & lost love ..
Scotch , saltines , cigarettes & oil ..
A slow train to some southerly destination mimics-
an elder musicians pain & toil ..
Harlequins , false prophets & shamans -
troll my midnight thoughts ..
Drown them in music
Hold them under the water till the bubbles-
cease ..
Eliminate them by any means ..
Cleanse the hallways of my brain-
with a blues progression in the 'Key of E '...

**** the fire-starters
The shady & the deceivers
The pilferers of the gospel &
the fentanyl dealers ..
Good riddance to white collar thieves &
the killers of a dream ..
Abolish the lure of gold & the politicians-
greed ..
Scorn the demons who stifle imagination
Incarcerate the ******* that foster the fires of humiliation
Brand the tongue of the war monger , the zealot -
and those who stoke conflagration ..

Amen ...

A 'dream of dreams' to 'kick it' along the ocean ..
To travel familiar shores at daybreak
To explore blue mysteries in-
free fall symmetry
To glide the Summer winds
Set sail into a lovers twilight moon -
where seaside imaginations swoon
Bound for Neptune's lair -
with the sound of seagulls -
in thick , salty air
To rest atop sandbars , buoys and-
rooftops
A photographers muse
The musicians newfound melody
The painters inspiration
A poetess's play on words
O , to partake in the pelicans world ..

The punctual ******* refuses to go away
He appears every morning at the break of day ..
Grits & red hots & things that could have been
Time clocks & rude people & dreams into the wind
The hourly brain drain
Cubicle hell
Aspirations at the bottom of a well
Swilling coffee
Head hung low
My timely morning encounter-
is growing old ....

Walking 'Simplicity Lanes'
Like a Creek maiden with a shining mane
Her elders are shapes and songs of the forest
Bluebirds announce her forthcoming presence -
along the still waters ....
Every minnow , stoneroller & shiner circles the surface
Umber , greens & blues
Entangled vine & summer pine
White sand marries red clay shoulders
Wet feet , tickling grasses
Dandelion , wild onion & briar
Morning glory & honeysuckle
Sunbeams & field smoke
Honey & brine .....

Dew drops fell from leaf to leaf
In hopes of finding the storied sea
Falling with a dream of something better ...
Together , forever , wherever & whatever ...
Bigger , constant , urgent & quite clever ...
To grow old with tales of churning seas
Boggling young , maritime minds with --
thoughts of oak , pine & evergreen ...

Rainy day soldiers in groups of ten-
have overflowed the pond again
Hastily seeking the culvert to freedom ..
Bravely forsaking their watery kingdom..
Boarding rickety rafts of vegetable , tinsel , fescue , monkey-
grass & thistle ..
Leary , weary , fearless & fickle
They drill , patrol & preen ..
On a collard green leaf they chase-
the dream
Rafting uncertain , storm churned brooks-
& streams for a chance to mingle in-
nautical schemes ..

A talented blue star borrowed a cup of the magical moon
She sprinkled the pastureland as evening songsters-
performed their tunes
Dara led Earths Opera like a hand to the loom
The northern breeze tamed the Fire of June
She crocheted the constellations
Cross stitched the horizon
Wove the Belt of Orion
Offered blessings to Hill Country & her lake environs ...
Dara O Dara , Mother of Wisteria & Gardenia Blooms ,
traipse the forest of night and return soon...

Ladies and gentlemen , I give you the government
The Royal Chemists with the formula for turning hard-
earned taxpayer wages into ****
Their bedfellows would be health care ...
Fleecing the sheep bare
The Pretty boys & The Breasty Dames
Perfect smiles & ga-ga legs , spewing , stewing , *******-
'Big Moneys' political leanings without shame ..
The daily struggle for every nickel owed ..
Voraciously fleecing the unfortunate sheep ..
Forever turning the earth in the quest for gold ..

I am blue , black , red , violet & colors yet to be discovered ...
Waiting for the Ghost of Mothers , of soldier & tribe to brush-
my body o'er Hill Country scenery ...

Formal education is like eating soup with a fork ...
You might get a taste but you'll never be nourished ...

1 cup - Animosity
2 cups - Anxiety ( grated )
1/2 cup- Indifference
6-Oligarchs ( peeled )
10 -World Leaders (softened)
1 - Body politic ( crumbled )

Boil Animosity for 6 years .. Sprinkle Anxiety-
while stirring ...Add Indifference -stirring vigorously
Pour mixture over Oligarchs then add World Leaders ..
Heat mixture for 1 year --Remove from constant heat then
sprinkle Body politic over the top .. Chill till needed ..

They lay shadows across downtown escarpments
They offer secure perches for timid birds
Their footings are photo -ops for passersby
Plaques tinged in green,
Flags flapping in the breeze ...
Period oaks that rattle & mourn
Marble avenues , granite stairways ,
Brick fences & wrought iron railings
Holly, rose , gardenia & daffodil
The patter of acorn , sweetgum cone ,
brown leaf , winter grass & pebblestone ....

If we were all tinted morning gold & sky blue ,-
what a clever way to retort the truth
Our light from within exposed in the cold
unsure night , the reflection of our gods -
curbing the thoughts of war & strife ...
Love nestled in the looking glass
Mans curiosity centered on the life-giving shore &
the mountain pass ..
Becalmed in the company of cardinal , jay &
wren , in stalwart faith of the evening wind ...
The morning musician , the noontide thespian ,
the evening surveyor & loves genteel purveyor ...