Our eristic world, can we make
it irenic again? Can blue skies
make our blue feelings dissipate,
our intemperate feelings sanguine?
When shall we realize that you and
I are one, that all rivulets become
one stream, that all streams become
one river, that all rivers flow into one
ocean? The air that you breathe is
the air I breathe. John Donne was
prescient:  When one dies, all are
diminished. The bombs we build
now traduce us;  weapons make us
weak. Blood in our bodies is meant
for our hearts and tributaries, not
to sodden ground into gore. No
more, I say! Our hands are meant
for helping and for healing;  our
eyes for seeing inequities, iniquities
that still abound. All around are
injustices that penetrate, that per-
meate our souls. Was Earth meant
to perpetrate these wicked ways?
Is Earth dearth of goodness? Surely
not. It has been turned inside out.
We must ameliorate. This is our fate.
So Adam ate an apple…. Earth was
once Eden. Is God so vindictive as
to keep us thus enslaved? We need
not pray forever to make this change.
All rivulets fall into one ocean. You and
all others are one. Our hands and hearts
are joined. God gave us this Earth.
Let us all be good gardeners and
give Him back his Eden. Amen.

Copyright 2019 Tod Howard Hawks

Ready to die, or am I?
When I go and whenever, I
I shall take with me myself,
my flowers and my kisses,
my misses in the outfield,
my portraits and my poems.
My home will be both here
and there, and wherever you
may be is where I shall lie
beside you, for the universe
is endless, as is my love for
you. We live so many lives,
I shall never be without you.
My poetry and flowers will
always shower you.

Copyright 2019 Tod Howard Hawks

Auschwitz-Birkenau, Belzec, Bergen-Belsen,
Buchenwald, Chelmno, Dachau, Dora-Mittebau,
Flossenburg, Gross-Rosen, Janowska, Kaiserwald,
Majdanek, Mauthausen, Natzweller-Struthof,
Neuengamme, Oranienburg, Plaszow, Ravensbruck,
Sachenhausen, Sobibor, Terezin, Treblinka, Westerbork.

There were more than 15,000 of these death camps
spread over ****-occupied Europe. In addition to Jews,
other groups murdered were homosexuals, the physically
and mentally infirm, political and religious dissidents,
Gypsies, communists, socialists, Afro-Germans, Soviet
POWS, intelligentsia, beggars, alchoholics, prostitutes,
freemasons, and trade unionists.

It is estimated that between 15,000,000 to 20,000,000
human beings were murdered by Nazis during the
Holocaust. ****** assumed power in 1933, **** Trump
in 2017.

Copyright 2019 Tod Howard Hawks

We worry about the price of a gallon
of gas. We feel angst about whether
our car is newer than our neighbor's.
Is our grass greener than their's? They're
vacationing in Santa Fe, but we're
flying to Antigua. There are no Blacks
or Hispanics in our lovely part of
suburbia, thank god. And speaking of
God, we both pray Sunday mornings,
albeit at different churches (ours is
bigger, though). Climate Change?
Why should we worry about that?
Most of the smog is still in L.A, right?
Nuclear Winter--what the hell is that?
We fly to Aspen in the winter to ski.
My brothers and sisters don't live
all around the world. They mostly
live in Peoria. Pour me another scotch
and soda.

Copyright 2019 Tod Howard Hawks

It snows and keeps on snowing.
It is late October, not mid-March.
Ice ages of the moment, you left
me frozen and in chunks. My
home is the gulags of your
leaving, no longer your
embrace that was my warmth.
Sixty below is beyond
bitter, but nothing is as cold
as winter of the heart.

I am crazy with clarity.

Copyright 2019 Tod Howard Hawks

The problem with some is that they write with their mind, not their spirit.

Copyright 2019 Tod Howard Hawks