You dope
To push the envelope.
I'll throw no rope.
You need to learn to cope
Or stop acting foolish.

Dear Bigot,
Best check what DNA
Has to say.

Many of us have
A little wink-wink
In our background.

Besides being horrid
You might condemn
Yourself!

What's it like to be so free?
To fly so high, high, high in the sky?

But even you have limits
That I don't have.

The homeless man
Across the way
Is going to wake up
Dead one of these days.

Then like a worm in my brain
It will begin to eat away.
And I will tell everyone
I saw him day by day lay

And rarely move.

I'm not a cat, you will see, you wussy!
And I'd not be trapped anyway,
With that ball of string, I already played.
It is a tired old game for stupid *******.

You woke me up
Tugging on my mind,
Swimming around.
I saw your eddies,
Before I fell asleep,
But you refused to bite.
So, now here we are,
Hook line and sinker,
You, 'idea fish' circling.
If I dangle the bait
Will I catch you,
You stinker?

Straight ahead and out of my bed,
Every morning between 5 am - 7 am
I go out onto my balcony and photograph

From the dawning until the sunrise's completion.
It feels me with joy and admiration
And gets me out into the morning's pollution.

At times the
Abscess of my mind
Must be drained.
For, yes, at times
I feel quite insane.

Pin to paper,
I must lay down
A lot of stinkers
Before I can write
A masterpiece,

And let the ooze out.

There are broken minds
In the world
Some that can be healed
We hope and feel.

But among these are still
The unfixable.
Humanity cries for better care.

I believe doctors should
Put the severely addicted
Into medical comas.

They do it for the traumatized.
What could be trauma
More than the soul-deep injury
Of addiction?

If I had a bicycle with a tiny wagon,
I'd give it to the homeless man.

The one that sleeps under the overpass
Then moves to a spot at a building near me.

He could use it to haul his bag and lawn chair
To that place where he spends the day sleeping

In the open air on a cement ledge of that building;
And does his ***** business in the corner where 2 meet.

It was so nice to see that honeyed-sky
Back from days of the cloudy tides
To watch the cherry, apricot, marmalade
Flowing now wide for many sunny days
I could if I were a mighty celestial hand
Dip and spread it on toast in every land.

With this look
I give myself away.

With these words
It is much the same.

What I hide, I hid
Within a poem,

Without giving much away.

When anger, rivalry & jealousy
Fade away we are left
With only deep-seated love
And with the DNA that binds us.

Go now,
I set you on your wobbly way
On rubber-legs that sway,
On tiny feet on which you play.

"Go now, little one" I say,
"One day, it will not be for mere play.
You will go and be on your way,
My darling."

I should have been listening to the news
Instead, I am reading poetry on the internet
Forever looking to eke out the essence of you

Had I been older
And you younger
I would have fallen
For you like bricks
Tumbling into the heart

I dialed your number
Let it ring

Once, twice
Quickly hung up

Why would fear seize me
Dear old friend

Perhaps it is because
We occupied a place
Best forgotten

Hazy thoughts
Like smoke dissipating

Clung to
Yet too soon fleeting

Like one of your cigarettes
Snubbed out

Whiskey breath
The scents are all I have left

Let my eyes drink in
The color of your eyes
Let them encase in amber
Your sweet smile
Come, sit with me, awhile

Let me dip into the well
Of your full love
As I thank the stars above
For the depth and breath
Of what you are

What lovely sound
The thunder-drums
Which beat across
My horizons

And the gentle sounds
Of pattering rains
Echo through all seasons
And I'm grateful for the reasons

As the gutters overflow
And rushing fill up holes
With nowhere else to go
Spill into ditches and drains

Onward to the sea it slows
So that all can drink and so
On and on the cycle goes
And all earth should know

The reason for love shown

The celestial saltshaker sprinkles
The night sky spreading its contents
Across the cosmos with brilliant specks.

And, if the timing is right, you can see
The hazy belt stretching across the sky
That starry, dusty core of our Milky Way.

Look for me in our children's smiles
Look for me wherever you linger awhile

See me in the colors of the sunrise
And ******* a kiss at the sunset

Look me for in the ebbing tides
Look for me when you are at rest

Look for me across the vast cornfields
For all these places contain my memory still.

Like a nomad and the desert
A bird and its feathers
Like rain in stormy weather
You and I go together

If the nomad leaves the desert
Or the bird drops its feathers
Or no rain comes in stormy weather
You and I will still be together

And on the winds of weather
We fly as if with feathers
To hide within the desert
Forgotten but together

In eternal love

To change an opinion
it is not disingenuous.
Life and opinions
are situational.

As we grow as a person,
hopefully, our opinions
grow and become
more nuanced.

It is a sign of maturity.

Embrace the fact that we

Are all the same
Are not the same

Feel the same
Don't feel the same

Act the same
Act strange

Because we are
We are from the same

Dysfunctional family

I will come that day to you
When you do call me out
And I leave my father’s house.

When you to me do call
I will give to you my all,
For a house you build I long.

And I will sing a special song
Which only you will hear
When no one else is near.

Sprouts will grow in our fields
And 'round our table, here,
Where all feel safe from fear.

As our children spring up like buds.

What made
  us beautiful
Since we were never
  likely to happen
Yet here we are

There is never an end without a start

In the moments
  we are meant to share
We are carelessly
  forced apart
Until we all can share one heart

Alabama “Sweet Home Alabama” by Lynyrd Skynyrd
Alaska “Feel It Still” by Portugal. The Man
American Samoa “Edge of Glory” by Lady Gaga
Arizona “Edge of Seventeen” by Stevie Nicks
Arkansas “Don’t Stop” by Fleetwood Mac
California “California Love” by Tupac and “They Not Like Us” by Kendrick Lamar
Colorado “September” by Earth, Wind Fire
Connecticut “Signed Sealed, Delivered” by Stevie Wonder
Delaware “Higher Love” by Whitney Houston and Kygo
Democrats Abroad “Love Train” by The O’Jays
District of Columbia “Let Me Clear My Throat” by DJ Kool
Florida “Won’t Back Down” by Tom Petty
Georgia “Turn Down for What” by Lil’ Jon
Guam “Espresso” by Sabrina Carpenter
Hawaii “24K Magic” by Bruno Mars
Idaho “Private Idaho” by The B-52s
Illinois “Sirius” by The Alan Parsons Project
Indiana “Don’t Stop Til You Get Enough” by Michael Jackson
Iowa “Celebrate” by Kool & the Gang
Kansas “Carry on Wayward Son” by Kansas
Kentucky “First Class” by Jack Harlow
Louisiana “All I Do Is Win” by DJ Khaled
Maine “Shut Up and Dance” by Walk the Moon
Maryland “Respect” by Aretha Franklin
Massachusetts “I’m Shipping up to Boston” by Dropkick Murphys
Michigan “Lose Yourself” by Eminem
Minnesota “Kiss” and “1999” by Prince
Mississippi “Twisting the Night Away” by Sam Cooke
Missouri “Good Luck, Babe” by Chappell Roan
Montana “American Woman” by Lenny Kravitz
Nebraska “Firework” by Katy Perry
Nevada “Mr. Brightside” by The Killers
New Hampshire “Don’t Stop Believin’” by Journey
New Jersey “Born in the USA” by Bruce Springsteen
New Mexico “Confident” by Demi Lovato
New York “Empire State of Mind” by Jay Z and Alicia Keys
North Carolina “Raise Up” by Petey Pablo
North Dakota “******* Fire” by Alicia Keys
Ohio “Green Light” by John Legend
Oklahoma “Ain’t Goin Down” by Garth Brooks
Oregon “Float On” by Modest Mouse
Pennsylvania “Black and Yellow” by Wiz Khalifa and “Motownphilly” by Boyz II Men
Puerto Rico “Despacito” by Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee
Rhode Island “Shake it Off” by Taylor Swift
South Carolina “Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) *** Machine” by James Brown
South Dakota “What I Like About You” by The Romantics
Tennessee “9 To 5” by Dolly Parton
Texas “Texas Hold ‘Em” by Beyonce
Utah “Animal” by Neon Trees
Vermont “Stick Season” by Noah Kahan
Virginia “The Way I Are” by Timbaland
Washington “Can’t Hold Us” by Macklemore
West Virginia “Take Me Home, Country Roads” by John Denver
Wisconsin “Jump Around” by House of Pain
Wyoming “I Gotta Feeling” by Black Eyed Peas
****** Islands “VI to the Bone” by Mic Love

Sitting on the steps
Downtown Lyric building
Near my bus stop

Artsy sculpture
Behind where I sit
Fabulous place

Exciting to watch people
Passing by in business attire
Fresh air sweeping through

My Metro life now past
Wanting to re-capture
The excitement of the time

I let myself drift back
Get the feel of nostalgia, then
Resurface into the present life

I pitched myself into a sea of memories.
The stormy waters washed over me.

I was adrift in a raging storm,
Strange as it was, I did not feel alarmed.

As the swirling waters rocked me
In the agitation I began to feel free,

Free to hear, free to speak, to be still,
Free to feel, or to just to be real.

That in which I had been trapped so long
Suddenly became my enduring song,

Of life and love, of anger and happiness
Even when it all seemed like a huge mess.

I only had to embrace all memory as joy,
In that, the slice of each makes the whole.

We are highly connected and interdependent.
More than many people understand.

We are experiencing precisely as predicted
that would happen in today's social media
and the political environment.

Severe symptoms spread much more quickly.
Negative emotions spread like a contingent,
much more than positive ones do.

Delusions spread more quickly than
ordinary thoughts or reality.

Points recently made a leading psychiatrist

Among the shadows
Of the darkened room
In a reflecting glance
I see an assemblance
Of me
But it is no longer
A youthful me
That I see
I suspend a sense
Of this reality
In order to see me
The inner me
The real me
The encapsulated self

Take one moment for your anger
And one more for your sadness,
And another for your regrets.
Then two more move past these,
Then strive to let it go.
Only then will you regain your joy,
Your love, your life, your true purpose.

A little ditty

From sun-up to sunset
I love you the very best!
You're more special than the rest
Because you love me, too

A fragrant memory among those left behind,
Memories of you are like a walk in a blooming garden.

One stops to take in the perfume of each flower,
And says, "Yes, I remember this one."

I am fresh out of love for you,
You who have crushed it from me.
You pecked a hole in my heart
Until my soul all drained away.
I am fresh out of love.

In my ancient history,
A mother stands over her daughter
Twisting her hair into Bantu knots.

The young men gather,
Who built the Great Enclosure
With the strength of mighty warriors.

I am 'umuntu,' a person, I embrace
The ancient beauty in their face,
Their shape, the color of race,

My ancient heritage.

My history stretches
For miles and miles before me
Across time and memory.
The young man drove
His souped-up blue Nova
With the blue tinted windows.
Racing up and down my street,
More of a country lane, really.

A black-topped shortcut
Leading into our small town.
My daddy would rush out
Wave fists, then call the sheriff.
A couple years went by,
The Vietnam war raged,
The souped-up Nova
Ceased to drive my street.

Daddy was relieved.
Mom and Dad grew to love
That young speed demon,
Though they didn't know
He'd been racing through time,
Racing towards me
And our life together.
Love, a home, children.

All while carrying his war-burdens.

In human relationships we start out on the teeter-totter of a fulcrum.  When one side of the relationship does something painful that affects the person at the opposite end of this balancing act the tetter-totter can become a slide.  At which point you must choose either to jump off or work harder to keep your balance so as to not go down the slide into anger and bitterness.  You may need to remove a harmful person from your life, jumping off the slide, as it were.  However, in life few things, if any, are worth punishing yourself with bitterness.  Yes, I said punishing yourself, because when a person spirals into anger and bitterness it is self-harm.

Life can be so very pleasant, as we putter along.
At times we must stop to remind ourselves
That it too soon could all be gone.
So, grab the gusto of each experience and reflect
Because this life is far too short, by heck!

The joy of spring
Our summer games

After a dream
Our oeuvre starts anew

A slumber which held
An image of you

You, so true
I become spellbound
For it is raining flowers

My knight rides out seeking me to greet
I run to him as though on winged feet

The bright morning mist gathers
As we in each other's arms shelter

Though day begins to burn away
Let time weld us together, pray

And our love eternal will stay
That never should it fade

To remain embraced forever
From this very day, and stay this way

To remain embraced forever
And stay this way from this very day

Isn't ironic how some become enraged at you
When you stop drinking their poison, begin to choose?

You purge and wipe your lips, then walk away,
Escaping the drama of the day-after-day-after-day.

And that is when the thought of your escape
Suddenly chokes in their throat.

Then the tricks and threats start piling high.
You have taken their drug, cutoff their supply,

Now they must find another dealer.

A song and melody
With its words
Exquisitely heartbreaking

Rips into the chest
Picks at the core
Yet, giving caress

Steadies the vessel
Causing it to rest
With a stillness

That becomes the Devine

5-3-5
Watching it go in
Basketball
Arc of perfection

7-5-7 Haiku
My favorite team plays off
Enter the finals
Being champions of the West

7-5-7
Watching the ball reaching home
The basketball is flying
It is an arc of perfection

As I age my imperfections no longer
slap me in the face,
Now they only pat my bottom.

Life is kinder, gentler.
Why is that so?
Because I don't have to care

Unless I really want to.

(I lost a dear friend, yesterday.)

It is cloudy and
It is dreary on this day.

And why should it not be?

Although temporary,
You have gone away.

So, hide Sun, behind dark clouds
Until the sky and those left behind

Finish shedding our tears.

You have made mistakes, and
You've let me down in the past.
At times I have been
Disappointed in you deeply.

But you have made heroic efforts
To change and to grow,
To become a better person.
In time I have come to know

That I can finally trust myself.

Because
I can take a piece of paper
And write our story
To be whatever we want
And then dream together

As evening falls a cricket creaks
On the crisp crest of night alone
And waiting in the moonlight.
His heart listens.

My heart listens.
I hear a frog singing on the bank,
See the sunlight filtering down,

There are miracles all around.
Who needs mysticism in life?
For life is miraculous enough,
And therein lies the mystery.