Truth
The non surgical
treatment
to rumor

I will love everyone
Who is just like me
In the name of The Father

I will be tolerant of others
As long as they believe what I do
In the name of The Father

I will not be bigotted towards others
As long as they follow the same lifestyle and make the same choices as I do
In the name of The Father

I will not **** or harm others
Unless they behave in ways contrary to my beliefs
In the name of The Father

I will be open of mind
Unless that causes me to question my beliefs
In the name of The Father

I will fight ignorance
Unless that ignorance serves my purpose and advances my beliefs
In the name of The Father

But
I am a father
I can not believe that any father
Would accept ignorance, bigotry, intolerance, violence and hate
As apt tribute for the life of his loving, tolerant and caring son

So then, in the name of whose father?

I'd
like
to see a
good talk
be

***** was discovered in Poland
or so I am told
They were trying to distill kerosene
from potatoes

If that's true then
Who was the first Pole
To say
I wonder if you can drink it?

He or she should be a saint.

Unmotivated
to go out
so...
It's curried fried eggs
tonight!

There is a spider in my bathroom

She picked an awful spot
at the corner
where the shower meets the floor
and the wall

Location location location

There really is nothing
prey-wise
that goes near there
now that the ant traps are set

still, she has located herself there

built a web
and hangs
waiting for the tremor in the line
that will never come

or will it?

This morning I caught a fly
which is really quite easy
once you realize that they leap up
straight away from whatever they are perched on

just grab the air above their head

Once the fly was in my hand
I looked at the spider
she looked hungry
and since the fly was doomed anyway

I bounced it off the floor into her web

Then, watching the care
and finesse she had
preparing her meal,
I named her Julia

The human mind is an interesting thing
Mine is very
As it tends to wander
I mean
Explore

I have been told by an authority
My wife
That she's never seen one like it
Although how she can see a mind
I don't know

She has seen a lot in her life
Both with and before me
She was a Travel Agent
She's been to Turkey
I like turkey

I made an interesting stuffing for turkey once
It was during my time in the seafood retail business
In a fish market
It, the stuffing I mean, had shrimp, scallops and crayfish in it
My wife didn't like it much, she's of Irish heritage

She's been to Ireland too
Twice
Once in college and once with her family
Ireland is where Delorian made his cars in the 1980s
Before he was arrested for trafficking in *******

I have not been to Ireland
I have been to France, Belgium and England
I stayed in Waterloo Belgium for two weeks
In the 80's
When I was 25

Waterloo is where Napoleon was finally vanquished
Beaten by an Englishman
They have a monument, the lion, on top of a big hill there
I had to climb it twice
The first time I forgot my camera

I got a new camera recently
A Pentax
I have had several since Waterloo
The camera hasn't been anywhere interesting
Just my back yard

I use it to take pictures of birds
At our feeder
In the big maple tree
On the ground
There is even a turkey that comes in our yard

My wife's been to Turkey
She was a Travel Agent

Los Alamitos
is where I learned
where kittens come from
babies too
I also learned that ivy
when used as a groundcover
is an excellent place to hide
when playing army
Until the old lady
whose ivy you are hiding in
comes out and chases you off

Los Alamitos
is where I found I could play
The Professor
from Gilligan's Island
with just my dad's white shirt
sleeves rolled up
tucked in to my khakis
my friend
a boy
always wanted
to play Ginger

Los Alamitos
gave me a picture
of my brother on his new bike
free and happy
and gave me a sister
a love of enchiladas
the word Smorgasbord
and two cats
Smokey and Signal
Those where the cats
My sister we named Wendy

Mayonnaise is not an instrument
it
is gorgeous
is better
is nothing but oil
is on sale right now for $1
is so easy to prepare that one often wonders why
is made with lemon juice instead of vinegar
is on Facebook, sign up for Facebook to connect with I hate mayonaise
is in your extended network
is just fat
and yet
is my favorite Smashing Pumpkins song

Not shaving could tell people, beware!
It could say
I am grumpy
From a late night argument with the baby
She's seventeen
Or with the misses, she's not
It could say
I suffered some terrible loss
Or got a bit of terrible news
It could say
I am tired
From working late into the early morning
On something important
Or just ******* around with poetry
More likely it could also say
I am just lazy this morning and didn't feel like shaving.

Sleepless
Tossing
Turning
Exhausted

Last night's softshells
send vaporic reminders
To take trash out

As August matures
My patio grows green
and is a new lawn

A bud's life
Is short, yet wonder comes
As flower unfolds

Dark around my house sounds
Scratch of little claws on tiny feet across my front porch
Rough slide and tumble of a dry leaf on the patio
Faint hoofsteps pointing noses to where my green Hosta grows
Flap of Catalpa leaves in an unexpected but welcome summer breeze
Neighbor's door and then the cover on her garbage can
   Then her door again
Dead branch falling through the maple tree to the ground
The call of an owl
  furious perhaps
  hungry
  having missed the tiny claws on my porch

Rain
Roof
Hole
Mop

The trouble with poetry is
that sometimes, often
it likes to hear itself talk too much
with words no one understands
with metaphors about beaches and rockets
and how they relate to love and loss
just to make the poet
feel superior
to the reader
and the reader
to hate poetry

By a thread
Twisting
vacant shell
oh spider
gone

My daughter has gone
Left yesterday
I won't see her for awhile
I miss her already
Her smile
Her wicked sense of humor
her songs

her songs

all day long her songs

about everything

walking down the stairs
making a sandwich
using a napkin
sitting on the couch
going to the store

songs
about everything

still
there is the quiet
and she'll be back in a month

yep
the quiet
oh, and Indian food
a must have
while she's away