It started with Covid-19
The likes of which we'd never seen.
We thought we'd be good
but we should have touched wood
as it's turned into something obscene.

So then ****** Hornets arrived
(we thought it was something contrived,
excuse me for thinking)
They told us unblinking
From a horror flick this was derived

He was hoping to win the election
and he just couldn't stand the rejection.
His effort to thwart
was to ***** us in court
but he couldn't maintain an *******.
                                               rc

When brothers and sisters display their ambition,
Disquiet begins with an overlapped mission.
Not likely are they to conceive coalition,
As free competition's the price of admission.

With hindsight perspective, the point of ignition,
Was broken commitment and lies of omission;
That turbulent fireball, conscious volition,
Set flame to the nexus of love and tradition.

The holidays come with attached contradiction,
And multitudes gather like rats in a kitchen.
Their greetings exchanged in colloquial diction;
The better to manage their vasoconstriction.

Relations, though sweetened, still lack in nutrition,
Society weakened, you'll rise through attrition.
                                                       rc

In every population there are fools,
and those who can't accept a fair defeat.
The weaker minded souls become the mules,
incited by repeated lies and tweets.

Psychology en mass is quite the art;
you influence the least incisive first.
(Would anyone call Chicken Little smart?)
Exhorting to the base invokes the worst.

We shouldn't be surprised, yet here we are.
In shock we watched democracy catch fire.
A wound this deep will surely leave a scar,
all caused by one capricious despot's ire.

Can those who would all verity efface,
return from so profound a loss of grace?
                                                  rc

Northern California, early morning rain
Nestled in the grand sequoia,
Supine and bed-bound calm
Idyllic solitude for an
Avowed pluviophile
The petrichor caress the sense,
Creates a kind euphoria
To banish clinomania.
Arise, await the night and clear
Eyes star-cast, aurora dreaming
Serendipity is life
                                      rc

Where creeps the backdoor maestro,
in your selectively disinterested brain,
lessons issued freely leave more questions,
made grander by solicitude and grace.
What of existence and eternal presence?
Posed like mannequins, your questions are

intoned in tones of childhood melodies.

Designs on your attention,
all claim the moral higher ground.
It seems that the naive attempts
to disambiguate the ancient texts,
serve only to cement a modern bias,
parting not the reeds of lemongrass's fakery,
parsing not the deeds of the felonious among us,
no quiet comprehension in the noise and messy chaos;

intoned in tones of childhood melodies.

Suppose a gift of kindness to yourself.
Embrace the finitude delusion.
Pretend that one day this will terminate;
in absence and in darkness will be peace.
Surrender to your ardent vernal mantra,
to gently row and row and row your boat,

intoned in tones of childhood melodies.
                                                   rc

When darkness speaks,
It says, the night is ever long;
But comes the dawn.
When speak the seas,
They say the storm is evermore;
But comes the calm.
                                 rc

A country, in turmoil, a long time ago
Sent all of its tyrants away.
The citizens suddenly freed from their woe
Were left in a state of dismay.

“Freedom”, the concept, was new to these folk
After all the abuse they'd been through
Oh yes, they were glad to be free of the yoke
But they didn't know quite what to do.

Then somebody said, “We need someone in charge
To make sure the trash is collected.
He needn't be more than a p'liceman at large;
Someone we all feel is respected.”

“But how do we choose” was replied in return
“In a way that is fair to us all?”
If only there could be a way to discern -
The answer was somewhat banal.

“We could all cast a vote for the one we like best -
But just how do we narrow the field?”
“We'll pick one from the east and pick one from the west”
Their destiny there-on was sealed.

Both of the candidates chosen were men
(This was long before folks were enlightened)
And both of the fellows knew how to pretend
And thereby the contest was tightened.

One of the guys felt that he should appeal
For a kinder and gentler state.
So he helped the downtrodden, and greased the loud wheel
In the hope that the folk take the bait.

The other guy saw that the hillbilly caucus
Outnumbered the saint wanna-be's.
His cunning campaign became vastly more raucous
As he worked on their fears and unease.

Now, it's not up to me to reveal who succeeded
As that would be cocky and rash.
Suffice it to say that they got what they needed -
But nobody picked up the trash.
                                                            rc

As all of human living
Is the brilliant, blinding flash
Of welder's arc,
One meagre life a single spark
In arching grace
Precise in structure
Art in form
And yet we are compelled to parse
And parse
And parse the parsing
To hours, days and years
To successes and to failure
So.
Much.
Failure.

Most will fall
To concrete floor
To glow and fade and die
And some by chance to quenching pail
To sound a raucous last goodbye
But one may find a life anew
Vicarious in having found
The recklessly discarded
Oily rag
                              rc

Transcendental meditation
Redefines imagination
Scarcely an attentive slumber
From the world you disencumber

Portentous is the cold daydream
Constraining not the mindful stream
It just accentuates the strife
This paradox of conscious life
                                      rc

Privileged pilgrims preaching pious
Cherry-picking epitomes
Poisoned wells are leaching bias
Piped into the servants' homes

Faith is disingenuous
Extracting rented paradigms
Platitudes most tenuous
The death knell of the era chimes
                                       rc

I haven't always lived in grace
No dignified aplomb
I might have cheated in the race
To medicated calm

I feel I've had more love than woe
(There might have been a miscount)
I hope it's uttered when I go
"At least he nailed the dismount"
                                   rc

The deeds are done and done again.
That canter ride on jaggy lane;
It shook his bones to powdered meal.
Too dumb to say too numb to feel,
The flesh is but a salty stew.
His stagnant blood a toxic brew.

More weary than a morning drunk;
His shadow pale, reflection shrunk.
Words are strung in lame concession,
Frozen in that same expression.
His epitaph, in part will read,
"He took the blows but didn't bleed"
                                       rc

You're given just enough to know
It isn't really apropos.
Your questions, verbalized aloud,
Unwelcome; put without a shroud.
You think you're getting closer but -
That door to paradise is shut.

You live your life in compromise
And wear a  pretty good disguise.
Your shadow's longer than the rest.
They pin a medal on your chest.
Success is almost granted but -
That door to paradise is shut.

So now you're old and trying hard.
To some you're held in high regard.
And now you feel the time to ask
Your ancient questions soon might pass.
They rise up to your gullet but -
That door to paradise is shut.
                                           rc

Moments past are gone
but for memories
arranged in treasure boxes.
Such tempting plunder
for the unkindest thief.
                             rc

A fiddle fern will hide
from strongest light
to blend the deepest greens
and play the highest notes
of nature's sonatina.
                            rc

The narrow path,
the straighter course,
would save us grief
but roadway turns
permit the journey's climb.
                          rc

Spontaneous crystals form
in bitter cold.
Stunning fractal shapes are seen
in microscopic lens.
The landscape is so modest.
                                 rc

An overgrowth will suffocate existence
Emergence only comes with brutal slashes
An overgrowth will suffocate existence

In order that we rise above the ashes
A spark must then be set to light the fire
Emergence only comes with brutal slashes

A river choked with weeds becomes a mire
When blood is still, the spirit's soon departed
A spark must then be set to light the fire

Facilitate the broken, bleeding-hearted
The greatest gift in desperate circumstances
When blood is still, the spirit's soon departed

Like croupiers we hedge against the chances
And foul whatever hope could be aspired
The greatest gift in desperate circumstances

The lesson taken yesterday's expired
An overgrowth will suffocate existence
And foul whatever hope could be aspired
An overgrowth will suffocate existence
                                              rc

When the night has fallen fast
Trim your dream-ship, scale the mast
Queries answered, questions asked
Trust the magic will outlast
                                rc

Drown your garbage in the sea
Hideous obscenity
Burn your plastic effigy
Give me some serenity
                                 rc

In the upper echelon
Conversations do drag on
From the ev'ning til the dawn
Don't await as I'll be gone
                           rc

Flying like a bumblebee
absent from reality
victim to this malady
giving all to some degree
                      rc

Icy crystals form
in absolute precision.
Warms your frozen heart
                                rc

I think about the little stuff,
The things you cannot see;
Invisible, but sure enough
A drop contains a sea.

Motes are distant galaxies,
Impossibly beyond,
Through interstice a strategy
To span the gap is spawned.

Perhaps a better microscope
Could help us see within,
A kingdom for a misanthrope
The tenets underpin.

Many of us think that there
Is life in outer space
And maybe they are well aware
Of human kind's disgrace.

It's infinitely likely that
Humanity's demise,
Will come from unknown places at
The nearest reach of size.
                              rc

Is stupid as subjective
as the stupid say it is?
Perhaps we could examine
with an interactive quiz.

Do you feel that your opinion
on what constitutes a sin
has higher valuation
with the lightness of your skin?

Yes (  )  No (  )

Do you feel that war is justified
when governments have willed,
so long as it is other people's
children being killed?

Yes (  )  No (  )

Do you feel that your religion
is the only line to God
but tolerate the other ones
although you think they're odd?

Yes (  )  No (  )

I'm told that it is not correct
to tell someone they're stupid.
It's something I'm compelled to do
as long as I stay lucid.
                                          rc

Just in case you hadn't noticed
Existence is a paradox
Don't mean this as a metaphor
But I am really in a box

I haven't been around that much
Just in case you hadn't noticed
Been buried under all this weight
I've been somewhat less than focused

I don't mean to be a bother
But my skelebones are showing
Just in case you hadn't noticed
Frigid winds of time are blowing

I'm breaking up but that's a break
From this sameness and psychosis
I'm right here if you look for me
Just in case you hadn't noticed
                            rc

When darkness speaks,
It says, the night is ever long;
But comes the dawn.
When speak the seas,
They say the storm is evermore;
But comes the calm.
                                 rc

With silver pins and silken down
Down to bracken take the lead
Lead grey sky to bind the wound
Wound this place no longer treed

Nature now extracts a fine
Fine the dust in bitter wind
Wind a veil to stave a tear
Tear the heart of those who've sinned
                                            rc

As you get close to “the day”
Your tensions are holding at bay
But some might allege
That you're right on the edge
You're just one figgy pudding away
                                       rc

Inside on a wintery day
Sky heavy as granite is grey
The window tells lies without shame
Grey Jay alights on the post cap
The Chick-a-dees vie in a scrap
Pretending their life is a game
A bitter and guileless fact
In nature a price will exact
Mortality seen through my pane
                               rc

The dairy was sold to his brothers
It's not like he had any druthers
The neighbours opined
"He was ever so kind
He was always thinking of udders"
                                   rc

Sing-song deal-making stoners in a tower
Ping-pong favourable circumstances sour
Hip-hop, rabble-rousing beatniks gettin' wealthy
Big, fat, silk-suited hippies lookin' healthy

Not gettin' rich if you're pullin' 'round a rickshaw
Clip-clop marching through this crazy mental jigsaw
Never ending placement on a silver teeter totter
If you're gonna swim, you gotta move to deeper water

Pitter-patter, rapid, measured footfalls on the pavement
Shadow slipping always kept in boundless, rapt amazement
Chest a-flutter from the garish, neon ticky-tacky
Don't be sayin' what you saw; they'll think that you are wacky

Tick tock times a-wastin'- better get a move on
Dodging 'round the traffic to avoid the lot that you've drawn
Crazy little, topsy-turvy microcosm fantasy
Live the modern moral life that comes without a guarantee
                                                       ­                     rc

Darkness falls in black and whittled
starkness, formed in day belittled.
Come the creatures, stalk and stealthy;
sum the riches, bleed the wealthy.

Alleys green with stench and living;
valleys pillaged, unforgiving.
Push the hidden, sick agenda
cushioned in your hacienda.

Where the first-born child's abandoned,
(Spare the second caught red-handed;
graceful in his staunch dissent)
faithful souls tithe ten percent.

Sown into an hourglass,
bones and blood and sin amass.
Who's to say we're so impious -
choose whatever suits your bias.
                                         rc

One summer day I had a dream
Of cloudless skies and clotted cream
With flowing fields of ripened grain
And you were there, bereft of pain
Your soul not ready to redeem.

Within your eyes a distant gleam
Was speaking more than voice beseem
This fleeting contact 'cross the plain
One summer day

A slip of joy has stitched the seam
That split our lives eternal stream.
Would ever sleeping be insane
Not suffer life's unending bane
To hold the mem'ry of this dream
One summer day
                              rc

Once upon a melody
In syncopated time
Words in stunning murmuration
Blithely strained to rhyme

Swirling whirling curling
Over manuscript terrain
One by one alighting for to
Circumscribe the plane

We dance along to rhythm'd beat
With colour shape and flavor
As form occurs we realize
We are each other's Savior
                                    rc

Going down a rabbit's hollow
Past a stinking burning bush
Such a sour pill to swallow
Moral living lacks a push

Poison's going to **** us all
Not our body – just our mind
Maintain your brain in alcohol
Alas your Savior now is blind

Follow, fail and fall or finish
Hold your favour stay your path
If you sink, your soul diminish
Your own spirit finds your wrath

Failing at communication
Builds up your immunity
Holding faith to show causation
Spouting with impunity
                            rc

Spark
fleeting
little shock
makes you feel so
light
                                           rc

Your spirit is felt like a zephyr in spring,
Seen in a swirl, disappearing like smoke,
Comity given on unfolded wing,
A kindness as shown to the owl by the oak.

Your strength, as the tide in the pull of the moon,
Shapes the foreshore churning rock into sand,
The wind spinning grit into massive sand dune,
Delicate balance is held by a strand.

Your beauty is seen as a billowing cloud,
Defined and beheld in evolving awe.
If words could express I would shout them aloud,
To give solid form to this heart made of straw.

How lucky my soul to be given respite,
Spending my days in your shimmering light.
                                                   rc