the full Moon winks , gives the thumbs up ,
the stars cross their fingers and wish good luck ..
the kind Oaks sway , hoping for the best ,
a katydid plays a diddy about the day we met ..
a steady pulse of rhythm courtesy of a musical Bullfrog
a fastidious , tuxedo wearing cricket pulls out his violin ,
plays a beautiful Italian love song ...

Cicadas pizzicato their magical violins
in sweet , whirling summer serenade
Field Crickets staccato their beautiful cellos
from the pink Dogwood Trees , Killdeer
swoon to the music of June , Mayflies tango
by the light of the Moon

Hysterical Robins coerce the midday sunshine ,
What bedevilment and gaiety fosters in Springtime
Teeming kingdoms under leaf cover , mistletoe , Angel hair ,
powder filled breaths of mystical warm air ..
Mischievous Pucks running amuck , locking eyes with
a Centaur 'neath the tall Pine , a shy Sprite up high , blowing good wishes unto you and I ... A whimsical Raccoon giving a good belly laugh , a tickled turtle cat-napping in the sawgrass ..Old Mister Maple telling tall tales of Lemonade oceans , powdered sugar beaches and Gingerbread whales  .

November Sun , refusing to reveal her loneliness , a cloudy piece of the world in tears this morning ..
A red tailed Hawk , grounded by rain just outside my window , a blue dragonfly sailing aimlessly across the meadow ..
The vigor and warmth of Summer , the candle of hope lighting the night has abated .. Tall Oaks , Magnolias and Crape Myrtles like lovers , stand naked , unashamed ..
My eyes have lost peripheral vision , anxiety taken command of my consciousness , rumors of intrigue whisper softly on warm southern winds .. The physical forces in mechanical motion , condemnation of my spirit at the hour of the eruption ..
My demon narcolepsy , a marionette of ploy and trickery for a student of hope standing dead on both feet ..
With a red heart on your sleeve , she wears a smile well , like many a familiar door , slipping quietly from within my grasp ...

Marigolds twinkle in July's ******* ,
Turquoise butterflies , picture postcard weather ...
Morning dew cools latent heat , hitchhikers
gather on wet blue jeans ...

Agrarian summertime dreams , days of Strawberry
wine , brilliant stars that whispered cool nights ...
Muscadine harvest , fireworks at horizons edge , Roman candles and rocket lights whistled low piedmont refrains ...

If keeping up with the elections by reading the daily fish-wrapper qualifies you as a self proclaimed , well versed politician then ******* in your own lightbulb apparently makes you a certified electrician

December , tripping on mushrooms , locked on a dragonfly after my easy heart . Songbird fantasia , on stage against the background of suburbia , singing melancholy ballads , each chorus more beautiful than the last ..
Lady Killdeer , I'm in touch with your spin on the world , Mother Ocean , I'm your witness at the edge of the Earth ..
Winter in anguish with the Gulf breeze , two lovers doomed to repeat the same offense .. Reprieve from wicked mornings by oneself , for Pisces , she's inconsolable again in the house of Sagittarius ..

One day soon I'd like to look up , tear a hole in the blue cover and just slip out for awhile ....

Fiery Sun virga o'er flaxen cover
The wishful phoneme of rain-
has come over without a sound
Crusted , fragmented farm shares ,
storm ditches turned to stone
The choking dust of August collects ,
covering homesteads in barren misery-
and stunted harvest
Hopes for the chilled rain of November
in the Dog Days of Summer have long
since gone

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

Detach the mournful profile from youthful embittered emotions ..
Sad , dark hours preceding death are merely curtain calls , rivers that peek inquiry from birth to ocean swept , delta epilogue ..
Reborn of Spring storms , the memoires of blackberry Winter ,
gray day maritime gales , thundershowers of September , yellow daffodils of March foretell the onset of today , gleam in the abiding sunlight of their anticipated hereafter ..
Behold the cliffs whom covet the turquoise exposure of the sea , imperiled flowers that belay their certain capitulation amongst the sharpened bottom .. Gulls shriek in suspend animation , black shorelines echo their resignation , carried across thick ocean breezes ...
Our physical days quite aware of the future at each subtle turn , the payment of debit with every expensive hour ...

An elderly , regional dame in a pretty lavender and white flannel coat checks her mailbox with the help of a metallic walker ... Her yard remains meticulously coifed and maintained just like the persnickety , perfect hairstyle she's worn for the last fifteen years ...
A stunning , curled cotton mane with impeccable , multi -colored dresses for church on Wednesday and Sunday , the Queen of a small town in middle , rural Georgia ..
Her castle is a sixties period brick ranch with beautiful Hostas and Tulips on all four corners ... Cherokee roses and Azaleas , Honey Locust and well kept Concord Grape arbors ..
A gas light stands guard by the front door , her prized chihuahua patrols the front of the estate from a kitchen window ..
On Spring days she waves from her white rocker on the front porch ..
Early Summer mornings she can be found tending her flowers , giving the grass a brief shower , reading her Bible beneath the carport and chatting with family and friends on the telephone ....

Reflect on the flowers that highlight the Earth , the fire in a lovers heart ...
Bread upon the altar for poet and poetess that passed before my time ...
Pray for peace , hope eternal and love for all mankind ....
Place my remains upon a pyre fueled with yellow Pine .....
I pray that my ash and smoke , will ride upon the Eastern Wind .....
Over cotton field and pecan grove enroute to tranquil sea...To be carried over Blue Ridge Mountain , sorghum field and meandering creek ......
Over man made impoundments of West Point , Allatoona and Lanier .....
To Columbus and Albany , over peanut estate and cornfield , farmhouse , silo and pond......Through Apple orchard in Ellijay and peach orchard in Locust Grove ... Through grape , muscadine and scuppernong arbor in McDonough , Monroe and Braselton ....Over Panola , Kennesaw , Blood and Stone Mountain....Across Chattahoochee , Flint , Savannah , Alcovy and Ocmulgee Rivers ....To be born , grow , flourish and love.. To mourn and to pass ..Over Georgia ..  Forever !....

I'm in a small living room with beige , sheet rocked
walls and wood floors , contemporary artwork and a Vox
amplifier
A MacBook Air for keeping my diary , a ceiling fan forming
a tune with a busy wall clock
Dust is collecting on white painted baseboards , occasionally
tumbling across the floor
A front door secured twice plus two windows with venetian
blinds , trinkets on shelves , the faint odor of pine , paper flowers ,
fragments of glass glued into containers
Peripheral shadows are moving to and fro , images are stair stepping
before me , heart racing , hands cannot find their home , memory
racing mach one , telephone is nothing but noise , windows are for
guarding against potential predators , flipping in synchronized repetition from Facebook to Outlook , from Hello Poetry to Musicians Friend
Flying with one eye closed and hoping to eventually land* ...

A spellbound audience of one ! Improvisation , effortlessly playing across the surface tension ,  the most beautiful dance a figure skater every performed pales in comparison! Her choreography , calculated movements and sheer determination ! A brief performance , off again to another location , with brilliant locomotion , intricate zig zags , figure eights , interpretive whorls ! Nature created firefly to light night skies , dragonflies to mesmerize !  She was born of creative , splendid imagination and love of all things beautiful , like a musicians perfect score or creative thought penned , scribed upon tranquil water ! A diary
without a conclusion , continuous chapter in a familiar book over quiet stream , eddy and babbling brook !

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

I witnessed a previously unknown apostle ministering to the self imposed deaf at Daytona Beach , shouting out the gospel to vacationers that moseyed down Capitalism Avenue , a souvenir committed to memory  just like the pelicans , white sand , salt water taffy , dining at Joe's Crab Shack on fish and chips , the ships returning home far off in the distance , trinket shops lining the streets ..
Two guitar players performed on the pier , hopelessly out of tune and a bit tone deaf in my humble opinion ... Shady characters roamed the shore selling condo's by the score , seagulls knew I had tangerines and wouldn't leave me alone ..
The waves crashing into shore caught us off guard and ruined a two hundred dollar camera , a fifty five mile drive back to Orlando took us two **** hours !
Mickey Land was turning money hand over foot with eighty degree temperatures at the end of December , the boats on her canals were the high point of my vacation , cranberry juice on the veranda overlooking a par three provided a treasure trove of entertainment , men and women penning their frustrations over that little white ball with a mind of it's own , looking right and left before cheating like anyone really cared ..
People watching on Boardwalk , a cup of tea at Old Key West , a riverboat jaunt across Lake Buena Vista , a fried seafood feast at a local restaurant ..Such is the life of the temporary Floridian .. Sun screen , ruffled road maps , cool shades and Palm tree dreams ...

Twilight has arrived , driving South into Clayton , Georgia from a day in the mountains of North Carolina . Driving through Cherokee , Soco Falls and Maggie Valley , rolling hills , peaks and valleys , like time itself , but just as beautiful as ever , and as I glance over at you , I treasure our days together for the Sun is setting fast indeed ,  for you and I .............

A blue opening in the world as the rain was ending , gregarious Pigeons scramble atop store front perches in the drying western wind
Tired pedestrians labor wetted city sidewalks , late morning
silhouettes appear against post World War II row settlements
Saturday clerks prepare street displays , elderly couples window
shop for bargains with disdain , people and Freight trains trudge along , in route to unknown places* ....

Take a country pond , transform it into the raging North Atlantic
Make a curled leaf riding its surface the doomed Titanic
A Reed is a Sorcerers wand in the right hand
A rock becomes a shooting star hurtling into the ocean
Walk home through cotton fields filled with surprise
The house , a Castle waiting for the King or Queen to arrive

A May Evening ...

Quell every source of artificial light , smother every candle , hide inside your favorite music tonight ..
Find a pleasant thought off the beaten path , kneel down , be thankful , meditate and relax ..
Drink copiously from the well of your soul , offer this sustenance freely for those parched by uncertainty and sorrow ..
Be mindful of your speech , choose each letter of every word with caution , in tune with every blade of grass and twig that lies on the trail home .. Beware of rash and irrational offerings , servants of darkness that offer easy roads around life's mountains .
You will find precious works of art at each tree , thought inspiring color with forever changing landscapes , awe inspiring parcels of Earth that replicate your sweetest dreams , fields of green clover that lead into deep blue seas ..

Do you recall the Sunday girls of years past , soft lavender linens
with a colorful floret in their braided hair , just to one side , right above a pretty ear .. Gorgeous pastels , daisy petal smiles and sun dresses as pretty as a rainbow , the lovely magnolias of my hometown ...

Wisteria and gardenia , honeysuckle and rose ...Beautiful influences ,
proper damsels gracing mahogany pews , cherry lips and blushing
rosy cheeks , lifting the congregation with pitch perfect song ....
Young belles escorted home by infatuated farm boys astonished by
their beloved charms ...

Lantern flies descending from Water Oak canopies , hopeful Thrushes cry for Heavens hidden stellary
A seemingly placid pond becomes Molasses , quivers and grows eerie in wavering moonshine , Whippoorwills relay songs of the Creek Indian nighttime
Katydids , Field Crickets and Barn Owls fill Magnolia , Wilkerson Mill promenades , Shellcracker disquiet the countryside with topwater
explosions of hunger and predation* ...

I consider myself indebted to incalculable probability , allotted a brief stint upon this miracle dubbed Earth..
Blessed with eyes that perceive far beyond abstract form and color , pupils that recognize each human emotion , casual glance or smile aimed in my direction .. Ears that detect the intricacy of classical compositions , miraculously discern laughter from tattered speech , a cry of joy from a call for help ..
The aroma of raging conflagrations distinguished from chimney smoke , hot meals or Pine forest from honeysuckle and rose petal .
A plethora of gustatory charms committed to memory .. Wisteria within the tempestuous breeze , a kiss on the cheek , butterscotch ***** to a spot of tea ..
Arms that have cradled grandchildren , plowed Spring fields till sundown , crossed cool Piedmont streams , cut firewood and all manner of farm labors . Laden with Summer harvest , performing guitar melodies on late Summer evenings ..
Recording my observations with the eye of a poet , from the invocation of mankind's document , a penned treatise of my beloved Georgia ..

Less than one percent have dehumanized the plight of the entire terrified migration by resorting to terroristic action against the Western world
Twenty percent are escaping the political upheaval and certain death by remaining steadfast , vigilant , praying for asylum ..
Fifty percent want to love and be loved , tend to their families , raise their children in peace ...
Ten percent will die in abject poverty if we don't step in with food , shelter and a helping hand , addressing their basic needs
Another ten percent have the unmistakable thousand yard stare , eyes conditioned to mass ****** , wholesale destruction , memories that time will never erase ..
Five percent of the young people will develop psychiatric disorders in relation to their current maltreatment , herded like livestock , kept in makeshift prisons , captors oblivious to their supplications
In desperation the remaining four percent will join the one percent in an attempt to save their people by whatever means necessary , ensuring their survival ..

Welcome to the snow globe world where happy faces are bundled up with heavy Winter coats and red scarves , Snowmen with pinecone buttons wave to passersby touring the town in Model-T cars ! Country air filled with magical , old world chapter scenery , frosted gingerbread homes and gum drop bridges ...
You and I are most certainly one of a kind , individual snowflakes , our sails filled with welcoming air , gliding through picture perfect settings without a care , excited with the promise of each gleeful morning , sipping on hot chocolate , eating sugar biscuits and raspberry tarts ...
Counting our blessings and learning our lessons , climbing tall trees ,
buzzing like honeybees , playing with friends , praying for sweet days to never end ...

In the name of remarkable stories revealed with each precious leaf , brush stroked layered , hallowed Marigold evenings ..  Every ambient , salutatory stand of communicative , native tree ...   To the toasty breeze spurring the music of Mother Earth within the guarded canopy
The preordained navigation of Warbler , Grasshopper and Bumblebee
For every cloud seeking finality guised in plummeting rain
The call of Pheasant across the chilled late October plain* ....

Shake the globe of awe inspiring Spring
You'll find me beside the Apple orchards ,
feeding the Wrens , welcoming every young
seedling , walking the morning rails , tolling
the bluebell valley floor with bare feet , offering
courtesy and a smile to all I meet ..

When the whispering demons of the morning come calling
When silly , robotic thespians deliver their scripted theatrics with slow motion , foggy angles of the world as rivers of window condensation and sorrow are falling                                                          ­                                                                 ­    Be watchful for songbirds are connected with the mill pond , see the dove at peace with bobwhite songs
Be assured that the wind , the rain and the hardwoods
share pain while celebrating the whim of a cold , methodical yet temporary Earth

Wake me when the Elephant Ears grow tall , when the first red rose comes to call , as the mesmerizing scent of Gardenia fills the air , when the Butterfly bushes receive their host in Spring ...
Come to my door when the Crape Myrtles stand glorious , as the Peach trees blossom , when songbirds of every shape and brilliant song prepare their nurseries , as the Pink Begonias undertake their beautiful Summer journey ....

Cherry , huckleberry , and peach Indian summer bouquets
glide across honey- brown sugar loam
They rattle , crackle and dance at the cue of fragrant ambergris winds , gather in splendid sheltered havens , attending by cackling red-winged mavens
Sing to me airborne madrigals , Cooper angels , Pileated conductors of the oakwood , choreographed lapping lakesides , the scrub of White Pines
Land of the pumpernickel shadows , of cinnamon needle carpet
cast adrift in the very breath of artist , lover and songster* ..

Granite and marble talismans , sugar white sandbars and felled Oak
bridges .. Smallmouth bass explode with hunger at the surface , soft shelled turtles in meditative bliss , fill driftwood and sun drenched rock islands , dancing waters and bank head flora lend a thousand different colors to the afternoon palette of a Kelleytown Summer ...
Water striders communicate with dance to the ballad of a bold Bluejay .. Young anglers test their skills with creek minnows in search of Yellow Perch and Black Crappie as the last hour of daylight swiftly begins to pass ..

Have you ever heard the morning bell calling cattle from the dale
Seen the Dawn dance of foraging laying Hens
Been within earshot of the song of Mourning Dove on the November wind
Watch steam pouring from turned Earth in early Spring
Hot tea 'neath the fragrant Magnolias , witnessed
the March Dogwoods or the June Begonias
The frolicking new Calves of April or
sat beside a Georgia stream to listen for a spell* .....

I witnessed a crimson star , hurtling southbound to Florida ,
it lit up the Eastern sky , quickly faded , a brief yet momentous
occasion to all fortunate spectators addressing the uncomplicated night ...
I answered with a tale of the Big Dipper watering the chariot horses of Orion , Sagittarius shot his arrow just for me at twilight , Venus gently covers sleepy Earth in her silken black shroud , crystal dreams quietly
settle over timid countryside , sleep for now precious dreamer , let sleep abound ...

When the day is a flickering bulb .. Doldrum afternoons , uninvited hindsight
The enemy continuously cruises by in different vehicles
Telephones are coiled serpents , televisions-
attempt to monitor my every move
My dark , hidden existence ..Tenth power magnification
Eating raisins , hoping for rain to justify-
my lack of worldly participation
Reading Melville and Grotius with waning passion
Secretly bored with silly public games

May a hex befall this yard grubbing , bedeviling varmint called Armadillo . Your nothing but a Virginia opossum in tankers armor , and I've rock salt in my shotgun this evening to tan your tin-can , little bottom !!

Barefoot and blue
Waiting for a waterbirds solemn return
Silently guided by a stiff windward call
to closure , my melancholy day in sunlit
exposure , from behind the clouds lie such
explosions , red eyes placed center stage ,
as would be thespians hide elephant red rage
Caramel colored , landlocked baptistry
Soak these tired feet , wash the salt from open
wounds , diluting memory and public affairs
Carry them to the bottom* ...

A bridal crown of gardenias , wild coneflower and daisy speckle
her grassy domain as dairy cattle silently graze white washed boundaries of wood , rusted nail and hog wire .. Branch laden silver gray Water Oaks dusted with Spanish moss , cerulean Valdosta ceilings with pink , periwinkle horizons .. Bradford pears grace country lanes to the West , bound for raspberry Dusk , in settled rural scenery .. Shore bird silhouettes led home by a golden Moon across the marsh ...

Make the transition from burdensome flesh
to inanimate light , not life in the physical sense
but as proud orbs that brighten our very skies ...
Traveling waves of collective understanding ,
a peaceful unbiased advanced order , relayed through
the miracle of time and space , revealed in a
civilization unlike our own through an alien prism
reflecting brilliant as yet unknown colors ....

And on this day when our afterlife is solved ,
When all fear of death is absolved ...
The persistent needs of flesh arrested ,
Our true purpose within the Universe shall
become quite evident ...

Foam builds at the edge of land , the sea is clockwork with each waves contraction , reviving dreams of yesteryear  ..
Pelicans soar the blue and green confusion , the air is infused with warmth and salt , wind driven memories of childhood on playful shores ..

My early mornings are akin to warm Carrot Cake
I consume them wolfishly then lick the plate* ..

Recall the training days of April with
juvenile curiosity , myriad painted butterflies
sailing golden-green opportunity
Wisteria , honeysuckle fencerow borders ,
Young Cottontails darting to an fro over
flowered , broom sage cover
Honey and nectar filled the air , Quarter
Horses worked the stair step valleys on
dew covered morns , Longhorn cattle
called home by the tolling farm bell ,
Rhode Island Reds foraged the fresh turned
farrows , sunbeams emblazoned woodland narrows

I thought of May briefly with her clay vases of portulaca ever spreading
Cut grass lending fair fragrance to
daydreams , bare feet treading cold , hidden
streams
The call and answer of whippoorwills
Evening Whitetails gracing green clover hills
To lie mure in evergreens
Swaddled in piedmont fantasy*..

Family is a lovely , familiar pastel tablecloth 'cover' with a silver candelabra , red wooden apples in a talented craftsman's checkerboard basket , heirloom oak chairs guarding the surface of a dining room table with scratches , deep cuts and numerous depressions , unremovable stains , weathered and never revealed , painful and forever speechless haunting reminders* ....

High heels clicking down the avenue-, women check their reflection in shop windows ....Men comb their hair in the rear view mirror ....Traffic lights reflect off wet city streets ..Traffic cop directing cars with whistle chirps . Occasional car horn , big rigs releasing air brakes ...Orderly metronomic movement .. The quiet morning migration of human beings moving with a precision .. Suburbia emptied into the big city like clockwork , by subway and bus , truck , automobile ...Shop owners tidy up their piece of America this cool October morning , sweeping sidewalks , yawning , coffee in one hand , feather duster in the other , looking over swollen streets , engine exhaust , steam from manhole covers rising into a partly cloudy morning sky...Autumn in the big city , replays itself throughout Mother Columbia this a.m. !

Gulf winds , carve thy signature across the open plains ...
Unto granite exposures , across the mighty Water Oaks of antiquity ..
Carry thy burden across Appalachian hills , over sandstone shore
and cotton field ...
Hold rare flocks of Starling in thy sured grasp and nurturing ways , usher the cool winds of Autumn on brilliant October days ...
Bring forth the scented air of Gardenia and Magnolia , the pollen of Chestnut Tree and Peach blossom ...
Calm the farm fires of November with captaincy and vigor , return Mother Georgia in May to her lush ,  Summer splendor ....

I rule the Principality of Randolph and no other
I stand unshackled by political thought and the misdirection of my fathers
I've no tolerance for the panicked Gen X , Y nor Z enlightened , for I
glow vividly in the darkened apparatus of my own tinkering mind as well
I hold a book of Sandburg poetry with my right hand ,
a mattock in the left , the hefty chain of truth around
my neck , a Cherokee rose in a left pocket , a revolver in the right
I am a firm believer in the barbed wire cattle fence , bone chilling
November front porch mornings with black coffee and biscuit
The call of an Iron Bell , the clear ringing notes of mournful Dove , watchful Crow and story filled Whippoorwill* ...

Hill Country's trilling Sparrows warble every note on cue , recall every verse and chorus , render every improvisational tune within my melancholy mind with ease and by heart ..

Plight of domestic animal on city streets ....Volunteer nightshades that germinate in Fall , wild rose bushes , strawberry plants growing in Summer on mountaintops ...Ice clinging to Pear trees after a Winter storm in late March ...Diseased Willow tree racked by howling ocean winds on the seashore...Man and woman both young and old , succumbing to the gentle allure , raging fire and finality of Relationship , Life and Love .....