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 ...

Sticks and stones may break my bones but --
words will cause the Third World War ...

My Jesus would be seated on a baby grand with his -
arms folded listening to Radiohead
I can see him peeking over Vedder's shoulder with -
a big grin as he scribbled lyrics on a napkin
Quietly moving backstage as Jerry Cantrell's guitar-
screamed sweet pain
Standing in the rain while McCartney plays Blackbird
Sitting in the cheap seats with Scott Weiland
Amused , enlightened & reserved ...

Malodorous , agrarian & blue **** cold ...

Someday we'll look up and find ourselves -
occupying the same park bench.
It'll spark a chit -chat about the weather and-
the government ..
The rainy north & the parched south
The winners & the losers
The crazy blue world
Love forever seeking the right words ...

The guitar will make you feel clairvoyant , cocksure &
holy one day then reduce you to conniving , dumbfounded-
& thieving the next ...

Bluejays conduct the morning opera-
in 'Hill Country Winter'
Shivering wrens on rooftop tin
Tattletale robins , chortling pekins &
fluffy hens tap a do-se-do dance in the-
southern wind ...
Bell cows & coonhounds , cackling murders
atop quaking oaks..
Hickory smoke following the red dirt road ..
A chugging , clanging tractor with a heavy load ...

Because he was filled with light
May his star help the beleaguered on-
dark , unsure nights ...

A gullible gumdrop of a fella -
fooled like the daffodils of winter
Standing proud in the morning light
'Let the sunshine shine with all its might
Under the ice loiters the miracle of Spring
May the birds sing sing sing '
Hooray for meandering brooks
Let the fly , the dancer & the toad play
Let my persona be drenched in sylvan -
steam , covered in the aroma of evergreens
I should choose a name for every steppingstone
A devotional for new corn , a prayer for her newborn
April chicks , goslings & fawns
Pungent loam , red clay medians & pine thickets
The spooked , buzzing locust & the evening crickets ..

Winter lanes painted with sunlit gems-
swaying to some unseen whim
Evergreen bastions defending January-
greenery , rail-tie soldiers stand stalwart in brown scenery ..
Songbirds coaxed from their cold weather-
quarters , the sparrow , the cardinal & the -
warbler
Smoke bound for the heavens
China blue dancers tend before the mountain & the marsh
Sprinkle the steaming earth with sage , mint ,wild onion--                      
& coriander..

Tradespeople are the crickets that choose to swim the perilous water -as opposed to circumnavigating the pond ..

Thanks to everyone for another amazing year of incredible poetry !

Maybe death is tantamount to your-
first colonoscopy
It takes precedent over every available -
minute until your cutoff mid-conversation-
by a busy 'Doc" with patients filling the hallway
You blink and it's over ...
Next !

I swear I seen Jesus cutting a check to-
'you know who' for services rendered ..
For creating chaos & folly amongst the flock
A surly ship of fools in dry-dock
Waiting for the Holy Ghost to knock knock knock ..
Michael will chock the wheel of benevolence
The unsure will jump the fence
All the crowing , confident , malingering &
bitter envious publicans will proselytize the-
downtrodden in the end..
John The Baptist will be on the air at midnight-
hawking a path to righteousness with all his might ..
The Commander-in-Chief will hold a presser from Zion-
on the Red Nation , the Bear & the Eagle ..
His Vicar hawking 'magic blood' to the yearning &
the feeble ..

When I pass who will take delight -
in every blade of grass ..
Who will catch their reflection on a quiet-
pond with grace & wonder ..
How will alms be allotted in lieu of-
riparian angels ..
Where will avian brethren perform -
the 'scores of creation'..

Have you heard a bobwhite calling-
bob-bob -white in the morning
Perched on a cedar stump crying bobwhite-
with all his bob-bob -white might & glory ..
Stair-stepping from fieldstone to bob-white-
broomsage , gliding neath the bob-bob-white-
pines for fun , a dusty bath in the noonday sun ..
A bobwhite in the felled corn
A bob-bobwhite in the rabbit tobacco
Bobwhite-bobwhite on top of the cow lick -
Bob -bob -white from the 'maters
Bobwhite from some-bob- bob place along the bob-bob 'crick' ...

Blue egg , big blue egg
Someday I'll crack your shell
I'll set a course for the Dream Machine -
to drop a nickel in the Wishing Well
To hopscotch the asteroid belt in the
starry sky ..
To circle Venus where love will never die ..
Back home in the colorful evening
A piece of golden tape to cover a hole --
in the ceiling ...

The Proposal :                                                                ­                          
Make a list to stay relevant or-
make a list for the hell of it
Make a list for the gardener-
Jot a note to invoke ones dharma
Scribble a list for the trip to Florida
Pencil in a note to whitewash your karma
Take a feathered quill & record the days drama ...

A cobra without fangs makes a wonderful pet ,
Traverse the melancholy world in a silver jet
Scoop the hope of the crystal sea in a trawlers net
Whip Beelzebub into an obedient admirer
Order the hardwoods for your funeral pyre ..

Epilogue:
Transit the lay of the wicked world
Explore the thicket deeper as your destiny-
is unfurled ..
Collecting memories in a croaker-sack
The weight of the unforgiving earth on a weakening back ...

So many awed eyes engaged with the stars ,
unaware of the miracles at their feet ...

You made a callous man revisit 70's love songs -
& thumb through books on flowers
I keep a play in my head where we ride off-
as one into the ochre horizon ..
I tender every breeze the gulf may bring
I commit to loving memory each melody the-
gulls will sing ...

When trolling Veteran Lake for answers always-
remember that government catfish feed off the bottom ...

Scramble out of bed
Scrambled thoughts &
scrambled eggs
Coffee fueled with tired legs

Running through appointment logs
Running through the morning news
Running in place
Running for your life in the corporate race

Morning chatter in a rickety bus -
kicking up specks of earthly dust
You're a thirty second note -
in search of a score
A corner office wannabe chained to --                                                  
your chores ...

Whitetails lay tracks on frozen carpets
Chimney smoke lays low across the-
tree dotted , ' picture postcard vista '
My makers blue eyes lay watch o'er -
altruistic leaf-fall , songbirds & Sister dove ..
The crackle of winter fields
Curt , evening , whispering wind revelations ....

A tiny tear from a troubled eye in Atlanta tirelessly -
fought the Chattahoochee shoals , washed up in view of the emerald coast , found itself 'captured " in a plastic tote ...
It mingled with crystal sugar sand that built a Magic Castle  ...
The marriage of great imagination & engineering stood -
stalwart in the face of high tide ...
Sometime during the night a jealous ocean commanded its demise ..
Later that morning a saltwater pool along the oceanside caught the wandering gaze of a curious youngster
A smiling reflection under deep blue skies , a lonely teardrop-
met its maker that sunrise ..
                                                              ­                                                           A very healthy acorn stood out amongst the trees ..
His view of the autumn valley lit the imagination-
of vivid dreams ...
Cool , opulent morns ..
Leafy neighbors of every size , shape & glorious hue
Evenings with the harvest moon & Lady Venus ..
The call of coyotes , barn owls , gnomes & sprites
The tickle of pie pans & roof tins by harlequin winds ...
The shiver & fright of forest night ...
Pulled to mossy ground by a trickster whorl
A newfound view of the callous world ...

A Rhode Island Red patrolled his farm
A pretty , young hen under his arm
He tallied his flock from morning till night
Announced the dawn in the morning light
Alas one midnight hour a storm did pass
It blew the commander into the 'unknown grass'
He fought for hours to return to his station ,
then heroically chose freedom over his fenced-in former nation ..

Today has to be a lady
Blue eyes
Brown cinnamon locks caressing -
a floor length dress of forest green-
& umber ..
Soft moss beneath bare feet
Shadow black admirers traipse ,-
watch & gently mimic every move-
beside her ...

Today must be a lady
Warm undertones
Whispers that tickle the ear
Wood-line mannequins guard-
our periphery
Mirrored waters craving her reflection
Jays portend loves arrival
The blessed harbinger of the
new day revival ...

If the uncalled-for retort of a politician involves any portion of
their resume you can be assured that their soliloquy is a lie ...

Bright blue mornings                                                         ­                   
Songs on the wind ,                                                                ­                
Days of pralines , brittle & toffee...
Quilts and blankets
Autumn spice , leaves returning -
to Mother Earth
Persimmons & split oak
Cinnamon , hot coffee
Cast iron stokers & old photographs ..

Some nights my bed is cool grass
The stippled ceiling is a thousand palm-
trees , the ceiling fan is a seaside windmill busy-
with an island breeze ...

The chatter of wrens , bluejays & warblers
The statuesque heron beside the still waters
Dragonflies make a loud living in the cattail brush
A red & white bobber is 'tickled' before dancing-
across a cattle pond in the noon hush ...
A 'shellcracker' in the bucket
A spinner in my pocket
An angler with a hunch
A bream away from lunch ...

Wind racked homemade kites -
seek the Light of God in the Rites of March
In the dancing shadow of bulging Live oak trees
Farm boys preening blue jeans smattered with -
cocklebur and hitchhiker , wild onion & skunk greens
Balsa wood gliders know not where they-
come to lie nor the first mayfly with the conclusion of its time to wither and die...
Just like old vanes that succumb to vernal breath no matter-
how hard they may try..
This's the cold , calculated , precision of morning -
searching for her last night ...
Old men garnished in wisp of gray , like spanish -
moss clinging to hardwoods
Plundered on the high seas ,
a badgered admiral's arms flail in sight-
of the lighthouse , his cry muted by the otherworldly-
breeze ..

This fir is an old friend
She lends a punctual ear to no end
First shielding my body from the -
unforgiving Georgia sun then we
quietly face the beautiful ambiguity -
between dusk & dawn ...

The pang of nighttime hunger
The loving draw of the evening kitchen
Needle point napkins and lace
Accouterments methodically placed
Clean hands & red Winter faces
Laughter , reflection & grace ....

There's always something fascinating on the other side of the street ..

If the Earth was the eye of a foal ,
a black ,wondrous , glass sphere filled with -
mystery & soul
She'd mimic a footpath of white gold beside the blue banks in chilly -tempestuous Fall
The call of iridescent matriarchs along the mire
The pall of bonfires , snow capped rabbit rocks , snapfingers -
& sorghum wheels
Mallow traipsing grass oceans
Silver Maple , red & gold leaf devotion ...