Let us not wait!
For all this to be over
To return to normal (circa 2019)
When it’s not so difficult

Let us not wait!
To enjoy each other’s company
Phone calls used to last hours
And long form letters were an art form

Let us not wait!
To invent and create new
To live out old dreams in new forms
To grasp and create beauty

Let us not wait!
For life to be easier
For fears to subside
For tragedy to dissipate

There is a time to mourn
And the loss of life and livelihood
Has crushed with dense Fog
Of enormity, confusion, fear and loneliness

And in the Fog we must find our brothers
Pull them and ourselves to newly formed graces
Life requires living
And life finds a way (circa 1993-Jeff Goldblum)

don't call me unworthy that I'm not something else
my strengths are my flaws, you see that
let's list them, shall we?
too generous in negotiation
overly trusting, overtly gullible
giving the benefit of the doubt, freely
but you must see, a minuscule biological THING bumped the pendulum
and it swung wildly, early on
opening visibility into human potential
that souls are blind to themselves
you see their flaws so clearly
peering through a horse bridle
or night vision goggles
dampening all but bright-red heated flaws in 2D shallow depths
I understand your frustration
You have a job to do
And I am weeping through my beard
and belly-laughing for something they did twenty years before they died

Friday is an ocean wave
Its break, escapeful way
Of losing ego's footing
To a fragile bracelet weave

Week's aspirations - crash! on rocks
Return to the cadence
With anxiety of the grave
Lost, to the immensity!

how confidently a retired businessman told me I was wrong
how my political views were uneducated, naive and off-base
strongly, then loudly, then in my face
I’m not one to spend my evenings this way, arguing-arguing
I don’t even argue with my wife or teenage sons
life is so short, energies must be spent elsewhere
but the businessman continued building his 95 theses against me
how he knew!
my skewed foundational beliefs, an ignoramus!
ever stronger and ever louder
and I did not respond, as I was not given an opportunity
and I stopped listening, as his face flushed with emotion
thinking how the businessman was lost
at some point, he may have
stopped setting his naked eye to the dark craters of the morning moon
forgotten the more humbling vantage points
that guide away from certainty’s comforts
sifting here and now and us and paint-smeared cloudscapes
un-comprehend
    unlearn
        and gain gratitude’s heart
wake with a smile from a secret source
embedded in predisposition
he has lost his kindness and wisdom
not because he is right or wrong
but because he has blinded himself, as many have
to the quickly found shallow world
so he put me in a category of folks he has encountered before
and I did the same to him
neither of us the wiser
until I stood up in front of him and walked away as he was still ranting
bending over to pet a very friendly dog

Will that friend of mine come to my memorial?
Will my ashes fit in that cigar box?
Will my literature translate through pages to my great great great grandchildren?
Will anyone be as painfully aware of my persona?
Is there an unembarrassing solution to my questions?
Poor Walt, editing away at 1855 pure brilliance for the rest of his years
Decency derives from intense dimensions
And its such a mess
Such love and detest

cage match between
excitement
    and sense of place
clothed in atmosphere
wrapped in the ***** I feel, I feel
sensation - wonderfully dizzying
in the gentle rocking of mother universe
the evening waves
the off-color tall grasses leaning back and forth
sipping a drink-drink
lined with the salt of the earth
permeating cells
toxins in body and mind start to leave
shoulders relax to softer tones
posture realigns to beauty