Hot box a cigarette , sawmill gravy and country ham ,
Entrenched in the morning paper , dishes scrubbed , drumming of pots and pans ! Blue collar people with somewhere to be , buoy's chained to the bottom of the sea ! Sweet black ribbon covered in fire ants , May honeybees , wildebeest crossing the wild African plains..
White smokestack dens of endless toil , black tar factories , dead fish waterway , boiling star infrastructures !
Biscuit , tobacco , hot coffee welder , plumber and electrician
Caviar , flounder , after dinner mint doctor and lawyer ..
Goody powders ,  soda pop cures , work induced migraines for
societies  'riff raff' , high atop steel skeletons , life hanging in balance .
Xanax , blue cheese , marriage counselor soccer moms , yoga , wine party ..Young people lie in their own blood , candle light vigils are like all others . Repetitive anguish falling on deaf ears , billion dollar football stadiums , homeless freeze to death , Good Morning America focused on the Grammy Awards or someones *** , Miley's tongue , Scientology or Donny and Marie !
Bath salt possession , teenagers are shot full of bullets , Kelley and Michael promote Hollywood garbage , their so ******* cute !

When the recusants stand before the porcine boor in fetters ...
As the Fifth Estate is flat lining around us , the Constitution
twisted till it finally shatters ..
The Military in pursuit of its own , bestowal of civil liberties shot
full of machine gun rounds ...
Bloodhounds bay with the scent of dissidents , storm sewers turn into
raging red rivers ...
When martial law pulls the rug from beneath our feet ....
When broken glass covers every downtown street ....
I will pray for something to take you down !
I will long for someone to take you out !

Elder gentlemen crave the past like
nicotine infused black cherry smoke ,
riding puffs of chilly October morning
park scenes in my hometown etched
in gray day period couples struggling through
leaf covered sidewalks , followed by beggar
birds , those canopy filled blackbirds commanding
the audible forefront of greeting , courtesy
and old folk innocent chatter
Smiles and laughter as automobiles circle the
city center of Willow , Water Oak , granite monumental
reminders , window shoppers , price hawkers huddled
in a little brick town no one ever hears about , lost
on the tip of the newsroom tongue , in conversation , this 'black and white village' where townsfolk forever scurry about

Unfeeling , beautiful things -
deserve our understanding
Paralyzed , disproportional-
traits of character beg basic courtesy
Satin gardenias bring peace followed-
by pain ..
Colors are bleeding through marble tablets-
of retrospection ..
Eroded hands engaged in the fall
Becoming resolute , deserving-
of my permanent agitation

Take flight yellow Moon from west to east
Tint this sleepy town as you please
Turn ramshackle eyesores into haunted houses
Blight avenues into golden hallways
Rusted train tracks become shining silver trails
Dank , foggy horizons turn to mighty Windjammer sails* ...

Biding my time
As the midnight mockingbird
With wrought songs of anguish heard throughout the night
Twas he who declined audience to partake of his sorrows
With singularity disguised as melody
Passion pure* ...

Over the terra umbra belt of the western plowlands
Fog intense esplanades separate-
vital pasture from albedo creekside
Diesel motors varnish the misty sunlight-
divide
Hereford cattle demand the cucumber green
lowlands
Morgan hillsides carry eastbound into
the coming day

Bluebirds under the farm bell
Rejoicing in morning rain , relaxing
for a spell , patiently awaiting their
turn to sing a tale , sailing from house
to cover on the minute without fail

Gray squirrels working the oak leaves
Busy , busy bees , up and down
the hardwood , jumping from tree
to tree , filling their tummy's with
acorns in the sun drenched canopy

Mr. Roseberry's smithing a plow
Greasing his tractor , counting his cows
Milling corn to feed his chicks
Thrashing creek cane and filling the
molasses licks* ...

Dazed , slumber mode
Late hour aggravation
Defective diode , electrical -
brain imbalance , television overload
Book weary , legal philosophy -
theory , fly swatter Republican
county prosecutors
Night cars bound for work
Greasing the soul eating machines -
of our Corporate government
Press conference Lead Monster wannabe
students of Plato
Cookie cutter American PlayDoh

The punctual , eleven forty southbound train whistle's through our hometown of Palmetto ! Please tell the good folks of Montgomery , Mobile and New Orleans that I said hello !

A proud , dandy lad stepping up to the podium , directing his subjects at five in the morning ... Every feather flawless , each spur just so , singing
acapella for his fan club down below .. Come hither hens ! On your feet precious chicks ...Daylight is numbered , awake from your slumber ,
Turn the fleeting , final hour of Moonlight handy for the earth is your candy , fresh well water in our faunts , cracked corn in the pans , blackberries on the ground , tall green grass all around ..
Let the cattle , hogs and sheep moan and sloth .. We've chores to finish ,
hours to mark , grain waiting to fill our empty gullets and fence lines to explore and walk ..

My thoughts travel at great speed .. A troubled mind in relentless conspiracy designed to repress my religion , sickness that incarcerates a cherished morning without hope of charity ! I am a thief if need be , committed to unlocking the many sacraments that lie in wait before me !

A cageling lurking in darkness , printing
impressions upon cobblestone and
wetted grass
Accused by sunlight
Its forfeiture of anonymity gracing
my brow , fragmenting scrubland in
vivacious color

Day dreaming , eye on a songbird , hand in a laying box , maybe an egg or two ?  Grab a king snake , run away spooked , flogged by a Rooster , pinched by a Goose ! Stopped at the pole barn to get myself together ! The Bluebird tried to warn me but I just wouldn't listen !

Farmland dressed in crystal garment ,
freed by morning sun
Tall grass 'Wind dancers' promenade  
along the terraced field road hillside
Bluebirds working the wood line witness
the collision of foggy river bottom -
and sunshine
Golden hues , the cry of Mourning Dove ,
seeking the bower of home* ....

In- transit housekeeper with a-
beautiful name
Suspicious College Park subway-
people , waking replays
Telltale inhabitants , blustery November-
commuter stations , screaming trains
Lawyers carpool south , caretakers charge-
north in ***** rain
Kinetic Georgia peonage channeled-
through a "City too busy to Hate" ..

I forfeit my troubled mind -
before brown pelicans skimming the -
sea
In the name of sand pipers that toil along a white sugar
beach
To ships on the horizon
To miraculous tranquil blue ocean surrounding -
thoughts bitter island* .....

Driving down the mountain I see the breath of townspeople in the distance , a traffic deputy working the lanes , short chirps on a silver whistle ...
Cars scurrying for work and play , shop owners studiously clean their piece of the streets , working their ads on the windows just so , feather dusting their wares nice and neat ...
The morning paper delivered via bicycle , the ice on winter Dogwoods
that line the main avenue ..
Birds of every size and color work the evergreens in town , eastern gray squirrels noisily frolic among the Oaks in city park , calm , golden streetlights on every block rest till evening now that morning has come to call ...

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 ...

A nervous finger drawing pictures in the syrup left on a plate , a long drag off a Marlboro , a cold stare for traffic , heavy exhaust , frosted glass . Polite chat with my waitress , chef nods in my direction with a quick smile , she tops off my coffee . On foot again . Southbound down Hwy. 42  , morning paper under my arm , brand new gloves , scarf , sock cap , cigarette dangling from my mouth . No cell phone or place to be .. Returning to my sanctuary , a two room bed and bath by the railroad tracks . A bit of clarity and civility directed toward anyone I should pass , prior to arriving home and morning meds !

Hats off to the purveyors of midnight hash browns and the -
morning waffle
Anoint this hamburger with mustard and ketchup
Three cheers to cackling waitresses , loud jukeboxes -
and busy chefs weaving magic with silver spatulas
A place where coffee cups ne'er run dry
Where her patrons are greeted with Sugar  , Darlin or -
Cutie pie
Wipe thy feet before entering this culinary church
For thou hast entered the tabernacle of the patty melt
Flowing with sweet tea , hot sauce and southern belles ...

Stirring the lemon balm and spearmint
carpet with naked feet , traipsing the nine a..m.
red-tipped grass to the Pileated beat
Drenched , rolled pant legs covered in
seeds and hitchhikers , emboldened morning
rabbits and Apricot skies , Alabama tell tale
breezes tilt broom sage on rustic homestead
drives* ...

Good morning little Robin , leave her be , she's singing a song about her family !  A song passed down from Mother to Child , while perched atop a Live Oak , high above the ground !  Lovely little sparrow , your not fooling me ,  singing to the Angels in a Sweet gum tree . Studious , on cue , each note highlighting the other , sweet forest song with your avian brothers ! ******* crow your my favorite of all time , sitting at the top of a tall Georgia pine , listening , quite amused at the chorus below , cackle a reply then off you go !!!

To be privy to the language of
the trees , akin to the honey laced
backcountry , awash in the curative
morning dew
Knowledge of every young drop of rain ,
every newborn seedling ..
Master of the woodland trigonometry ,
songbird musicology
Raptor shadow figures circling 'neath
nimbus billowing blankets , technicolor
grasses , earthen molasses

The jays sing lah -lee -dah
The crows sing oh-lee-oh
The sparrows cry spree-spittle-****** -
to the morning hawks flying low*

*Red birds yak-yak-fickle
Thrashers wig-wig-a-wiggle
The old hound steps with a jiggle
And the Woodpeckers tap-tap-a-trickle

Waters wrinkle at their destination
Lakes are born , the slate of yesterday
cleaned where the baitfish teem
Gulf Lady perfumed in salt , ocean myrrh and
sugar within her tropical breath
Hysterical gulls forage the breadth of her
shoulders , where picturesque blues rise and fall ,
where pelicans answer a silent call , where magenta
cirrus wisp disappear when the sun calls the day
to order , purple long casting hues and sugar sand
borders* ...

Waiting for coffee's medicinal effect
Storm clouds are brewing to the southwest
Warm winds have grown calm , the rumbling begins
Sipping this warm , thought provoking concoction , praying for
the squall to quickly end

Hearts in camouflage , her lover in disguise as a birch at the lakeside , as a piedmont blue morning vision picturing two monogamous songbirds of a loving feather , holding on forever , in warm Springtide weather
At sunnyside , crossing fields of April lavender and May green* ...

Red-bud November window lover adorned with passionate , calling , colorful exhibitions
Walking hand in hand with a captive son to the song of Fall* ...

Warriors long for -
an enemy
Innocence swept away in churning -
confusion , ideologies halved by rivers of blood
The corrupted air of the dead mingles with morning mist as vermin dot the festering shoreline
A ****** gathers atop the naked -
hardwoods
The Indian Creek resumes her biological necessities

Thick fog breaks across West Point Lake ...
Bass boats and crappie fishermen , tour boats and skiers
skim across her blue looking glass , Wood Ducks test the skies
northbound up the Chattahoochee River , bank anglers anchor poles
along her fortified edges .. White granite boulders visible from the mid-line .. Indigo hope and dreams as starlings silhouette her morning miracle , shad minnows skim the blue mirror , visiting gulls feast along quiet shoreline . A tall Georgia Pine mirage forms in tranquil coves , early day crows call hysterically from the hardwood thickets .. Turtles occupy muddy banks , Whitetails quietly graze worked fields , dragonflies and monarchs  incessantly toil beneath the strengthening heat of Summer , baldfaced hornets fortify their paper rampart high atop a lone River Birch ...

Lend me these hillsides where I might find solace amongst her fauna
To abate my scorching thirst from the ample cistern of knowledge and direction .. A reservoir whereto chalice the unknown , purging the acrid , barren desolation of opinions imprisonment , to drink freely thereof .. O'er the Live Oak promenade , privy to 'Mother Natures' exacting architecture and abundant goodwill , along the rustling banks of the Flint Basin .. My flourishing , cascading 'Educator '..

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 ...

if the peaches hold their blooms
if the figs survive the chickens
if the berries are tickled with rain
if the plums are so entertained
if the crabapples taste a shower in November
if the pears make it through winter
if the jalapeños get hot weather
if the grape vines hold together

Give me the hewn , striped grassland of an -
Appalachian 'Holler'
A simple log home with laying hens -
and vegetable gardens
Spiral roadways to rustic hamlets
Foggy mornings and painted sunsets
Wooden bridges crossing crystal streams
Colored Autumn hardwoods , vivacious evergreens
Period rustic barns and pumpkin patches
Rolling hillside , dulcimers and Winter mountain thatch
Store front rockers and homemade Sweet Potato pies
Gingerbread cookies , black coffee and starry nights*....

I would go to Blood Mountain in the Fall during October , in the eighth sign of the zodiac with fruitful , spellbinding harvest Moons , tales of fierce battles among Cherokee and Creek , where blood and history hath fed towering oak , fir and imagination of visitor and resident alike* ...

She opines a parable of the heart of Appalachia , wooden instrument , with goose quill adding song to the immense beauty of this great land , familiar as the cry of whippoorwills at dusk is the dulcimer ,
captivating , raw emotional purveyor of mountain folklore ........

Trusted , clear-coated , cured cane pole
Can o' corn 'neath a Maple umbrella
Brown Trout skimmers popping the top of a runaway
river
Red , gold leaf boats sail the eddies
Painted hardbacks , soft shelled sinkers
Lolly-gagging Mudcats , sunlight in her
turbulent mirror
Cold water shivers , warm flannel shirts with
wet rolled up Levi's , Peanut butter -apple jelly
sandwiches with a peach Nehi
Cattle trails homeward
Honeysuckle boundaries , Red plum , Mimosa ,
Honey Locust companions
Brown sugar tended earth , June corn , young hideaways
Purple wire-grass terraces , wild Dove lining
barbed wire fencing with late hour songbirds escorts* ..

The 'living' consume the 'living'
Ergo , the mountains are the truest compassionate entities

Thrasher in the plum tree
Who ya hidin' from
Chirpin' in the canopy
Bold as the sun
A chirp to the Old Crow
A whistle for Bobwhite Quail
A bow and a wink for a Yellow
Swallowtail* ...

Serenity in disguise .. A gaggle of geese gently slice the surface as thick fog plays into mornings hand .  Cattails , Reeds and fallen timber deflect each waves crescendo .. Childhood memories of cane poles and tin cans , river rocks skipped across mirrored waters ...

The truck was light blue , camper shell with knobby tires
His leathered arm would hang down the side , cigarette ,baseball cap ,
patrolling his prized possessions at dusk , remembering quite well the timing of each pass as I laid low with my late afternoon snack , clutching a watermelon with both arms !...

I dislodge the remnants of stars
The remains of brilliant men before me
The as yet unrecognized cure for cancer
Riddles only the deceased can answer* ...

Mid-morning aphrodisiacs
Captured in a paper sack
Prickly , briarwood coffers-
crackle in a sea of purple dreams ..
A curious maze of pure amazement
Dove in sweet refrains ..
Sing to laborious hours ...
Yodel the praises of God Almighty
The choirs of Heaven tremble-
tall canopies ..
Pine straw carpets
Tingling sunrays ..
Noontide relief and absolution ..
Fluent songbirds with tasteful elocution ..

Striated red brick home with a
red tip hedgerow
Songs from the hardwoods
Twinkling grass from burgeoning
dawn , a crown of stippled gray and white
pillows billowing in the morning sun
Bluebirds atop the black farm bell
Stained glass tree trunks and branches against blue
windows , misty clouds in shady dales
Noonday news of Muscogee tales , of thick , brown
rivers , painted turtles , shellcracker , wooden bridges ,
scenic rails , cottonmouth and cottontail , whitetails
and cottondales*...

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

Let's sit in the yard and watch the heat lightning off to our West ...
Why don't we sip on Margaritas and look for constellations in the night
like two young newlyweds once did
Watch the fireflies from the front stoop , listen out for whippoorwills and tree frogs , watch the airplanes fly by and try to figure out where their going to or coming from
Shoot caution to the wind as they say and just stare at the Moon for awhile , ride the crest of June , pick a few songs on the guitar ...
Grab two blankets and that old portable radio , hunt for shooting stars
and do something fun , relive 1979 and for God's sake be young once more* ..

Within the Crescent City the confluence of architect , engineer , master carpenter  and laborer combined , precision  , create a cascading sea of individual notes and three bold harmonious divisions ,wind chest , regulator and tremolo breathe life into reed , flaute ,vox humana and diapason pipe of all sizes , large and small ...
Her towering facade , en chamade with a voice of the Almighty, so stands this mechanical wonder of wood  , metal , cloth , leather.. For this tonal masterpiece will stand the test of time not for song , but as a testament to the imagination , wisdom  and determination of her creators !.....

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 ..

A deluge rendering fuel unpalatable , depressions carved in stone that trap much needed rainwater on the mountaintop . Men deploy natures gift of mimicry indeed ! Disguised as wolves amongst brethren , a dwindling pasture filled with sheep . Beholden to Shepard , encircled by a code of conduct , contained , commanded ...Inquisitive livestock possessed with the other side of the fence ! Dependent upon their leaders during the short , cold days of Winter , seeking liberty from self described oppression in the latter days of Spring . Gather shoulder to shoulder at Natures urn ! Continually imbibe despite their thirst having been quenched .. Intent to cull the mountainside of every blade of grass before weighing heavy against their boundaries , seeking new pasture ! Relentless yet defenseless , capricious , forbade of reason !