Pretend your day is happy
Pretend your life is good
Pretend it’s come together
The way a good life should

Pretend your heart’s not aching
Pretend your soul’s not tired
Pretend you’ll find a new job
Now you’ve been wrongly fired

Pretend the kind suggestions
Pretending to give hope
Pretend to be so grateful
Pretend they’ll help you cope

Pretend you’ll find the answer
Pretend you’ll find your way
Pretend your life’s not over
You’ll live another day

Pretend the gun’s not loaded
Pretend that’s not your head
Pretend that sound is thunder
Pretend that you’re not dead
          ljm

All that effort
With no real gain
Nothing to show for it
But tears and pain.

All that struggle
Against fearsome odds
Earned from the world
The briefest of nods.

All that caring-
Reaching out
No one cares
What I’m about.

Bloodying fists
Against brick walls-
I’m ready to answer
But no one calls.
          ljm

With every nuance
A shade of a meaning
We see the perspectives
While others are speaking
We listen attentively
We enhance our visions
We collect our thoughts
In order to carry out our mission

crunch

where we slid last week

hard where once there was mud



gasp in cold air

touch the silver

spears



we are sorting wood

into piles

twigs into kindling

worry into calm



we are noting the vortex

the sensibilty from friends



the end of january feel

the stove is still warm this morning



1

Quite a lot of snow this week
dressing the trees
in lovely fashion
like an old Christmas card
Birds seem to be struggling a bit
in the harsh weather
The winter life of a bird
is hard