A dusty museum with broken windows
Cobwebs hang from open doorways , unread
books lie shadowed , wood floors echo timid
footsteps down musty hallways
Bureaus retain their final occupations , curtains -
flap in wind directed obligation
Structures audibly strain and wince
Period light fixtures swing in defiance
A Bible bookmarked at Revelations
Chimney fires are frozen in time , memory becomes a brief walk through the ancient sublime* ...

Have you worked a crowder pea field in July
As the Georgia sun fries
When humidity sits you down every half hour ,
where the weather deals great power
Showers are few and far between
Dirt fills every pocket of your blue jeans
Sweat blinds
The day seems to grind
Humor and inspiration are hard to find
Picking peas by moonlight
Mosquitoes feasting by lamplight
Filling bushel baskets by day
If the good Lord be willing , please call the paper wasp away* ..

White stars light the way home
Along familiar trails through spring scented
dark pine forest
Beside yellow moonlit fields ,
Entertained by nighttime
musicians in spirited twilight appeal
Along golden stair
step hideaways , barbed wire fence lines ,
into whippoorwill harmonies and curt cattle calls ,
to the sound of the nine o'clock town bell , through misty dales into
the cool creek valley* ...

Although my reflection holds me physically accountable , 'tis with graduating , certain unstoppable effect of age that every striation upon this weary face would recall a bittersweet poetic page , life's prose under the tutelage of a senescent , life schooled man at peace with his looking glass ..

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 ...

I followed these clarissa ladies -
for awhile , prancing the undergrowth , the tallest greenery ,
leaving new frost indentations in misty bottomland scenery
Displaying tall shadows in ****** sunlight ,
parallel to a fieldroad , gently moving
through conifer saplings , ever so slowly out of
sight* ....

A nostalgic grandfather headed to Macon
Newlyweds off to a Pensacola vacation
Paying his bills in Palmetto
A trash can on its side in Chattahoochee-
Hills , the remnants of a still on Bear -
Creek , the crackle of naked trees , the
smell of collards and pinto beans , the
plea of beagles , the chatter of the elderly
and the feeble , the music of falling acorns and peppermills ,
the water wheel , the articulation , trill -
and forte of blackbirds circling a newfound
millet meal ..
Wind racked clapboard
Thundering tin
The dread of 'bama thunderheads ,
a coyote sentry in a river bottom bed ..

Chitter , chatter chirrup
Three birds of a feather
A friendly chummy posy -
in perfect morning tide pleasure
Trilling , thrilling , touring Thrush's in the noon palmettos
Chiming sweet refrains in the -
broomcorn meadow
Musky , dusky weary
Gold songsters in a bush
A huckleberry trio in the-
nighttime hush

Albrecht Durer didn't paint houses
Rosa Parks wasn't content with her seat on the bus
And Randolph ain't playing covers for a bar full o' drunks* ...

Setting sun upon golden stage
Blessed enabler
Bury random thoughts in
milky twilight
Open the doorway to peace
this star-filled night
Songs of the forest ,
mourners of the canopy atop
moonlit chandeliers
Set the stage for a thousand years
Every nocturnal beast -
and nightfall songster
Sing to waning sunshine
To springtime constellations
Of hope before universal nations
Of the quest for dawn , rivers of pure light and salvation*...

a dogwood to rest my weary head
a blue sky to ease my troubled mind ...

Rain has taken over my little world ..
Filled the void left for love within my fragile heart ..
Washed away many a good memory , left for naught ...
Belittled tall , hopeful Spring grass in a sea of doubt ..
Marred all thoughts of freedom from depressions grasp ..
Drawn a pallor of anguish and loathing across my dark day ..
Rendered my spirited trees to puppets fighting the stiff , stormy breeze .
Haunted my Van Gogh vision of day with voids of pitch , visions of pity..
Removed the silhouette of Oak tree and Moonlit nights , seized the brilliant starlight that I need in my life ..

A touch of morning sun painting the clouds , searching for dolphins , marveling aloud
Turquoise views sprinkled with gold , busy sandpipers , wind driven gulls
The perfume of the ocean , a masterwork in vivid motion* ....

Ten minutes into my fifth shot
I'm beginning to give meter and -
rhyme all I've got
A half hour after I've had my fill
I'm a man on a mission with a golden quill* ..
Beef jerky and Wild Turkey
An inebriated mind on yesteryears -
journey
Pain riddled in poetic schemes
Purgatories insider inking bellicose themes..

To tarnished golden escapements ,
lonely eves dividing the days -
in hubris moonlight
For the taut brushstrokes of Dusk
Orange , blue upon red
Gray home fires on icy morns
To the carillon of October wind
Sunlight across brown grass ,
now estranged* ....

Sitting in the henhouse to relieve pepper burnt eyes with the sound of Miss Trellie whipping the okra, willow switch in hand ,  harvesting eggs , adding fresh hay to each nest  box , ankle deep in pig dung , snapping crowder peas , Fordhook butter beans , pulling black eyed peas , resting on a five gallon bucket , mother nervously on the lookout for " Giant Serpents " more commonly known as King snakes and taking breaks with a mouthful of figs, plus all the cherry tomatoes that my overalls would hold ! A daily event in the Summer ..... Children thrive on routine , dirt , a mothers love and a long list of chores each and every day !

Found yaw marks on the blacktop
Someone had a bit of trouble trying to stop
Maybe got distracted by something unknown
He struggled to get it together and carried on
Maybe he was showing how much he could handle and lost control
I understand his situation for I've been guilty myself at times of all four* ..

So* ....

Precious young ladies with broken hearts , crying in pain , in thirty years you'll have forgotten their names , deciphering each detail of a love gone astray , click your heels and run away ! Prose and poem detailing carnal desires , repetitive babbling's , flesh afire ? Be diligent indeed with your quest for a mate , for many fools and wolves do lie in wait ! Remain pleasant yet aware , happy and focused , if he's vain at twenty he'll be hell at forty !

My morning chaw of Levi Garrett was thirty minutes of superb pleasure ..
At peace in God's chosen country of Dove , Killdeer , morning dew and rolling hayfields , the smell of turned earth and afternoon Summer showers , the taste of green grass and blackberry in one precious plug , a working mans companion the whole year through .. A pack on the tractor , one at the barn door and one at the nightstand where my weary bones took ease at sundown ..

to partake of the nectar along every-
flowering vine
to bathe in pools of August wine after sweet-
summer showers
to bask in sunlights midday power
to charm lovers neath oak canopies
to dine amongst the sassafras root , the
honeysuckle and the blackberry ...

When 'How Great Thou Art ' isn't working anymore
as your making a run for the liquor store
When a business **** has lost its thrill
When the tiny blue pills begin to approve all the days shady deals* ...

She's the width of an average driveway , about a five mile walk
Lined with sugar white sand and slick creek rock
Girdled in Water Oak roots and red clay embankments , a summer quick retreat , swift running with occasional pools no deeper than
a few feet
She's teeming with small fish , tadpoles , crayfish and
mud puppies , ruddy bank boulders and thick grassy shoulders
Lined in cattail , brown eyed susie's and monkey grass
Home to cottonmouths , alligator snappers , raccoons and
opossums , king racers , swamp rabbits and cottontails ,
whitetail deer , wild hogs and bobcats and a million childhood tall tales
A sister to the South River flowing into Lake Jackson , a mother
to abundant wildlife , a brother to an inquisitive youngster* ...

Barren trees in early springtide mourning
Their occupants announce the ******
morning , tall shadows portend the
rise of golden sunshine with cedars in
aromatic armor , bluebirds crisscrossing
spirited valleys , crows yearning before
stained glass painted epiphanies
Blessed be the concerts of the new day* ..

Wild onion giving the wind away , a rebellious occidental gust ever so
slightly ringing the farm bell today ...Pie pans throwing sun lit reflections over untilled plats of earth , pine tree music with every ****** of air , every tantalizing breath .. The blue eye with contrails , the scraggily hair of a stray dog in every direction , walking coarse skin , high stepping all manner of human corruption and dander , feeling a bit parasitic about the whole encounter . Mans tug on the world , his greedy self proclaimed domineering attitude , the forest of March will prove to be a glimpse of July in a world of unchecked destruction and denial ..A Red Hawk passionately concurred with my write as I left the pine grove for home this night ..

My bold peridot grassland jewel ...Wrapped in a golden band of Allegheny sunlight , covered in Montana blue dreams .....
I see her bold outlines , the face of Obsidian mingled within White Pine , suspended in lavender horizons , sailing eastward to sea ..

Thespians and publicans have something in common with me ..
I trust both of them about as far as I could throw 'em !

In the cold northeastern flow , silvery gusty moments persuade brown waters , Pines stand tall in her reflection .. Cirrus whips and windsongs
filter through earnest thicket , delivering free voices ... March's airborne delivery divides morning tidings , in question of the young day ..
She hides from something yet unknown , her topwater lying tepid and unsure , shorebirds fly low across the waters tension and temptation , red songbirds answer from each shoreline , belated zephyrs swirl in temporary confusion ..
I vision the writer , feel the cool struggle of verse upon the empty page ,
where solutions lie to many an inquiry , thought turns to Oak leaves
sailing the ever evolving lake , to the brief intense sun showers that garble the poets stage ....
Chortling , avian neighbors delivering previously unheard melody , turtles vying for the crest of exposed Oak branches , godspeed the call of warm weather nestlings , the playful fawn , the taste of May ..Greens , clusters of dead Pine cloaked in tall broom sage , life slowly returning to zero ..
Sparrow , Finch and Wren escort me home as I view rolling hillsides amid the cracking of elder giants along the sandy field road...
A witness to change , to eroding wind and the cataclysm of time , to mud puddles brimming with life .. Sing for the day sweet Cardinal , for blue ceiling influences among amber hues and gray scenes , color my beautiful vision with vibrant , native grasses and natural serenity ...

Blackberry wine and pecan biscuits ,
Crackling fires , knee high stockings , electric blankets ..
Communion with my evening star , storybooks luminesce
in a cold black venue , a hickory fire pops , vibrations travel the wood floors ..
Our reflections grace Pine paneling , elder hearts aglow on brisk , frosty , quiet nights .. Together ..

The Heavenly Choir put a call in for a 'rebellious baritone' ...

A wren at the window was telling me the news
He's waving to every songster along -
the way
Whistling a song and a rhyme on a perfect day
Scribbling a write in his new hideaway
Inviting his friends and elders to come out--
and play ....

I crave divinity fudge during the holiday
period with roasted pecans and butterscotch
pudding
Crisp morning walks with smoked hickory
wisp , wool mittens and horehound whips
Picture perfect pinecones that crackle with
the sweep of the breeze , Ethiopian coffee
with brie and cherry danish 'neath mistletoe
topped hardwood trees* ...

Dip your nib then make heads turn
Corral the truth as the page begins to burn
Hold the pen like a dart
Send it flying center mark

Gather your decorations , little lady with blue Easter bonnet and holiday dress
Filling your colorful , trimmed basket with jelly beans , rainbow colored eggs , chocolate bunnies and marshmallow chicks ...
Eyes wide open over period stories , fairy tales , 'Sunrise dedications'
and Sunday dinner extravaganzas ...
"Tis a season of joy and remembrance , of communion and forgiveness ..
Warm wishes little one .. Happy Easter ,  Miss Carolynn !

You will find me by your side when friends become emotionally expensive and stray ..
Forever recall my eyes cast in your direction from the moment you awake till the close of day ..
You will receive the warmth of the hearth on a cool Winters morn ..
The courtesy befitting a Queen , the respect duly accorded the Gods ..
Everlasting encouragement for all your hopes and dreams , a palette for your endearing artistic soul , the promise of infinite care and love , safe harbor from capricious storm .
A determined , audacious lantern to benefit the midnight hour ...
An island surrounded by churning waters , cradled by endearing receptive arms ..

Stupid questions require curt answers .. Engage truth , commit thy rage upon rice paper , delicate unlike publican , thespian , braying *** like
painfully obvious , politically charged shadow puppets against a lighted stage !
Unable to fly high enough alongside a chosen group of your peers ?
Perfectly reasonable to light upon placid waters , disappear ..
A pack of coyotes , seeking fifteen minutes in the sun ?
Remain fastidious and occupied with your own backyard !
A wayward mouth that fosters hate and destruction ?
Remove thy tongue , let it locate a new owner !
Adorned with all manner of material wealth , sneering at the plight of others ? Step in the cold , dark woods with howl of bobcat , naked and afraid , relearn thy place amongst your brothers !!

Wonders of creation , observable in the brushstrokes of Athena .
Eventide hues embellish the colors of nightfall , a songbirds taciturn refusal within the advent of darkness , land becoming indiscernible from the Heavens when Boreas and Thor collide ..
Northern winds reveal the paradigm call to battle in wintertide , Hill country is no stranger to warring servants ..
I'm coming home tonight forever , removing the thin guise of a confused world to bask in starlight , the language of immortality now perceptible to weary eyes .
Forever is the coupling of past and present , a long journey across the black diamond sea comes to fruition ..

Night of copious moonlight ,
of star shine , of clapping
pines , of Perseus shooting
arrows over Alabama , of a thousand
jet planes approaching Atlanta
Silver highways and moonlit tracks ,
big cities and rural shacks , cattle ponds
and flickering streams , front porches
with checkerboards , maple rockers and
jiggers of good Jim Beam* ....

A stunning blue illusion with India yellow , crescent Moon , most assuredly the view from the Pyrenees in Spain , or possibly the beaches of Cancun  
The 'Evening star' reflects her glory from snow covered Alps back
to enchanted celestial friends , but tonight it's back to factory boots , safety glasses and ear plugs , eyeing the clock for fifteen minute breaks , moving plate
steel down the line on concrete 'killing floors' for that Friday paycheck

I'm listening to ' Jackie Blue ' by the Ozark Mountain
Daredevils and gazing into the stormy night
Smiling , enthralled with every note
Creativity on high ....

You would find me occupied with tomorrows weather , flat pickin' guitar , a recipe for minced meat pie , the color of the moon and the stars in the sky ..
A grandson changing everyday , granddaughter posing for a picture , turnips in the garden , the chickens in the yard , junk mail in the box , a Persimmon tree up the road ..
Horehound candy , pitch black coffee , toasted rye bread with blueberry jelly...
Dirt roads , antique barns and tractors , cattle on the move and a plug of tobacco .

**** 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 ...

Parliamentary procedure and decorum will not work in modifying -
the government , war mongers understand nothing
save for the rifle , the pistol and the shotgun
Authority is a virulent poison dispensed
in small dosages throughout the life of the State , meant to inebriate the peasants , control freewill , to educate the young with propaganda ... 'Politicians' rule by fear and intimidation , amassing large militaries to carryout their doctrine in the name of 'peace'
Government will resort to wholesale death and destruction to secure their nationalist schemes* ..

If no ones endangered then
**** legality ..
To hell with paying for government meant for
the people denied ..
If you destroying the environment you've
destroyed your paycheck as well ..
If you need to **** children to attain your lofty means then
**** your money owed ...
I want to smoke marijuana in my home , you want
to rule the world , I want to smoke a cigarette , you want to build
a bigger , better carrier deck , I want to get high  , you want to blow cities
into the sky* ...

Blessed are hopes keepers , the diligent and the seekers  
The light in the child's eye , the everyday miracles , the mothers intuition
A ray of sunlight aspiring for a patch of earth , inspiring
fractured hearts with the glow of the hearth , sadness replaced with abundant
mirth , a firm abutment at the bridge of despair and concern
Blessed be the touched , the tearful , the inspired and the cheerful
The declarations of Kings reborn , the gifts of charity awarded the suffering and the unsung

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 yet
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 ..

Green velvety moss blankets sharp edged stones ,
your feminine fancy awaits on the opposite shore with silken legs
befitting a supermodel in Paris .. A Van Gogh brushed smile ,
the eyes of a fawn , waterfall locks of hair baiting your deadly advance
across the crocodile ridden waters , like a wildebeest you splash and trounce the neck high , raging gauntlet , fighting for every breath of air
as you nervously reach the shore , graciously pulled from the river rapids by 'her lover' , the biggest man you've ever laid two eyes on ...

Crimson , vigorous mornings , in disguise , portraying a well to do clear
headed man , off to tackle the corporate jungles of Atlanta ,
cure a debilitating disease in a bustling world renown medical center ..
But it's just me again , soul shot full of buckshot at times , graying around the side burns , combing four years of red beard , chugging coffee till my head begins to clear ..
Checking my hens at the first rays of Dawn , gathering eggs and feeding the hogs .. Greasing my tractor and securing her implements , marking off rows , smiling from ear to ear , relishing my quiet , treasured insignificance ..

Sometimes I'm the flood light drawing flies
Sometimes I'm the shadow fending off the night
Polished , debonair and inquiring
Repugnant , standoffish and dying
Counting the stars on a flag
The panels on a wood floor
One day a publican
One day a mannish *****
I feel like one day the gun will be loaded-
when I decide to test immortality
I long to leave this pile of corrupted flesh
Follow the sun west then disappearing over someone's
picturesque horizon* ..

Wear your pen in a holster ,
keep it unbuckled* ..