Raindrops plunk upon aluminum
siding and window sill
Outside, such turmoil,
yet I can only sit still
Swishing winds  interrogate trees,
causing them to drop their leaves
and pretenses
Confessions of bareness
propagate an awareness
of little mismanaged defenses
This sullen Fall charms places between suburban track homes
Places where cornstalk bunching
settles for quaint decor
When in Rome...
how it never feels like here

While reading an article last night about fathers and sons, memories came flooding back to

the time I took me son out for his first pint.

Off we went to our local pub only two blocks from the cottage.

I got him a Guinness.  He didn't like it, so I drank it.

Then I got him a Kilkenny's, he didn't like that either, so I drank it.

Finally, I thought he might like some Harp Lager?   He didn't.   I drank it.

I thought maybe he'd like whiskey better than beer so we tried a Jameson's, nope!

In desperation, I had him try that rare Redbreast,Ireland's finest.   He wouldn't even smell it.

What could I do but drink it!

By the time I realized he just didn't like to drink, I was so feckin ****-faced I could hardly

push his pram back Home.

"In peace our nations unite"
...to do exactly what?

Wring our hands in horror?
Write to the Gazette?
Retreat to the safety of our invisibility?
The sanctuary of our silence?
Quiver, hidden in the doubtful safety of the masses?

Most people will do this,
lament the tragedy and let it slide with a shake of the head and a frightened, pious silence...

When in actual fact.....
what we all should do is take up the drum and beat it deafeningly, furiously...and together, roar our fury to the powers that be....

That they take up the sickle and pursue these creatures to the end of the earth and deal to them once and for all!

Amen
M.

I saw a turtle
slow walking on the road
a child kept it
He  laid it in a field

I saw a fish
abandoned on the rocks by the sea
a child saved it
he left it in the waves

I saw a child
barefoot running in a field
a man  mutilated him
he hidden a mine underground

I saw a child
on the sidewalk with his bicycle
a man killed him
drunk driving

I saw a child
I saw his purity
I saw him become a man
I saw his disillusionment

is the age that changes everything ?
is the self-awareness that changes everything ?

it would be better a pure heart
compared with a mischievous mind?

maturity
is companion for strength selfishness ?
success
is it the natural evolution of opportunism ?

we grow up learning
but what is the lesson?

is it perhaps that the adults
have to learn the greatness from children ?

which  is
the true utopia ?
dreaming of becoming big
or dreaming to go small ?

It is 1:20 am
And I am at 7%
And I have only one bar of signal
And my screen tells me
"Reconnecting..."
                                
                              I'm 93% done with 'us;'
                              You have drained each per cent of my patience.
                              I'm getting mixed signals
                              From the language of your body,
                              And very few at that.
                              But I take a chance on us,
                              Another chance,
                              At this hour of lateness,
                              Maybe we can rebound and re-bond
                              And not just reminisce.
                              I reckon we could
                              Reconnect.

I cannot say I'm proud
Of everything I've done,
Or that I'd let word go 'round.
At least, not to every one.

I cannot say I'm perfect
Just as I am today,
But I'll say that it's all worth it
That things have gone this way.

I could ask for better,
But I could ask for worse.
So I will not change a letter
In any prior verse.

I want to keep track
Of everywhere I've been,
Each time I've fallen back,
Every charity and sin.

Each moment leads me forward,
Embarrassing though it may be.
So although I may feel cornered,
I try not to forget Me.

I cannot say that I am proud
Of everything I became
But I will not allow
Myself to fall to shame.

I missed you then and I miss you still;
I miss you now as I always will;
It's my fault, and it will always be,
That I'm missing you eternally.

Crush me between your fingers-
I will smell like fallen leaves.
Soft on autumn mornings I was caught between your teeth.
And I wove myself into your sweaters that you wore to stop the breeze.
Your cold set in my bones and I think I’ve lost all heat.