Dramatic distress
Some people display,
When they are trying
To have things their way

Dramatic impress
Is their method and plan,
Get everyone's attention
Like an earthquake in Japan.

Dramatic finesse
Self-trained, she's a master,
Oh, what would I give for
My Stokes-Adams blaster,
Holstered on my hip
For situations such as this,
A dramatic departure
With flame and a hiss.

I wonder sometimes
What stories I'll tell,
On my way to Heaven
Not heading for Hell,
Some might think I'm crazy
The things that I'm saying,
But if you are religious
I know that you're praying.

At work the other night
I performed some good feat,
The nurse that I helped said
God bless you, Pete,
And it caused me to wonder
If she somehow had the power,
Bestowed on her by God
To bless me that hour.

I didn't notice any difference
That a blessing could have made,
Perhaps the blessing is in storage
To be sometime later played,
To my better advantage
In a time of greater need,
Like when I stick myself with a needle
Causing me to bleed.

What makes people think
They can randomly send a blessing,
As personal agents of God
It's almost depressing,
Because that's what the whackos say
Before they poison their flock,
It fills me with trepidation
As I prepare for the blessing shock.

Who knows what it means
When you're blessed for a sneeze,
Though I've always preferred
"Gesundheit", if you please,
That kind German wish
To offer me good health,
But I'd really prefer ten dollars
And wish me good wealth.

I have never trusted
The testing of IQ,
Who is smarter
Me or you?
Yesterday, I scored one-forty
Last week an eighty,
After a night of boozing
'Twas my birthday, matey.

When I was a kid
I thought it meant, I’m cute testing,
I got really good scores
My destiny was manifesting,
But then I became awkward
When I hit thirteen,
My popularity plummeted
If you know what I mean.

IQ, I’m cute
Don’t go hand in hand,
Some of the smartest folks
Are dorky and bland,
And your **** stud boyfriend
Might be dumber than a post,
That’s why I don’t trust the testing
Nor do I ever boast.

feeling good
i count the ways,
the little things
that bless my days,
a beautiful sunrise
lights the sky,
each one is special
i don't ask why,
i stand in awe
a vision treat,
such little blessings
can't be beat.

If Mika is like her Mother
The world is a better place,
If Mika looks like her Mother
Then surely, she has a a beautiful face;
And if Mika learns from her Mother
She will live in a state of grace.

At the river
I fantasized,
If you fell in
Your boat capsized,
As you swept away
I would leap or dive,
Doing what I could
To keep you alive.

But what if I pushed you
To create the disaster,
I would swim to your side
Swifter and faster,
Than the turbulent waters
To save you from harms,
Just a devious way
To get you into my arms.

I could say you weren't breathing
And place my mouth to your lips,
I could listen over your heart
And palpate your hips,
I could do all those things
With an innocent guile,
But would you knock me out cold
Or let me see your sweet smile?

At the river I dreamed
As the water streamed by,
No need for me to explain
Why I awoke with a sigh.

What started as something
Resulted in naught,
Like making a purchase
Then regretting what was bought.

Preemptive expectations
Often overly excite,
What started as a kiss
Turned into a bite.

Days go by and I'm not inspired
To do much of anything
Because I'm retired,
Still, I won't waste my time
Worrying about stuff like that,
There is always tomorrow
To ponder where I'm at.

Months go by
And little has changed,
The furniture
Was rearranged,
Giving me a sense of
Something new,
It was the easiest
Thing to do.

Years go by
I don't look in the mirror,
Inside I feel young
And my loved ones are dearer,
They encourage me to
Plan and travel,
But I think I'm afraid
That my life will unravel.

This beautiful daughter
Now five and 30,
She hates to sweat
And doesn't like *****,
Her collection of clothing
Fills closets in our house,
And she will definitely scold me
If there is a rat or a mouse.

She’s got a leash on her boy
And she’s carrying her dog,
She has her face in her phone
And her brain is in a fog.

That’s what we call consciousness
In the world today,
Social media drives everything
Around work and play,
Well, my standard statement is
I just can't figure out this phone,
It’s so much smarter than me
I’d rather leave it alone.

Don’t hand me any device
With a name that begins with an I,
For twenty years now
I’ve given them a try,
But none of those i-devices
Make any sense to me,
I have an Android brain
That’s how it was meant to be.

Sure, money is a factor
I don’t like to spend it very much,
But I’m instantly frustrated
With any iPhone or iTouch,
Even if I win the lottery
I won’t be buying Apple devices,
Heck, I’m a millionaire now
And I still fixate on prices.

I only use about five applications
And I rarely take pictures,
All those pixels and adjustments
Just give me strictures,
I don’t use Facebook
Twitter, Instagram or TikTok,
I bought a smartphone
To process credit cards
Down on the auction block.

Her boy is off the leash now
And he’s chasing a ball,
While Momma and her Pomeranian
Are on a Whatsapp conference call.

People read my poetry
But I rarely see a 'Like",
Would it be better
If I had a Harley Davison bike?
If I talked the language
Of "Born To Be Wild",
And I wrote some poems
About a love child.

Well honestly
My life was a little bit like that,
One marriage after
I hooked up with
An overseas bobcat,
Younger by ten years
She looked like she was eighteen,
My oh my, she was cute
Better than anything I had ever seen.

We met and talked
Three days later we were married,
It grooved with my profile
Crazy desires partially buried,
I didn’t know her
She didn’t know me,
Heck, we didn’t speak the same language
But it was fine with what I did see.

Fast-forward
Now it’s twenty-three years later,
You might ask if I had been twenty-eight
Would I have considered a date with her?
Oh my god, she was just as cute
Back when she was a teenager,
But I couldn’t know her then
Nor was it time to make a wager.

Flavors and odors of themselves
Can prompt a recall of events long passed,
I'm tasting a Port wine tonight
And a memory of you came up fast,
Was it the excitement of the moment
Or the smooth taste of the wine?
Or was it the memory of much more
Sending tingles down my spine.

A little bit of both working together
A technicolor recollection, I can say,
The combination of good times
Were enough to cause the memory to stay,
Lodged in my brain fibers
Inspired by a simple twist of the cap,
Remembrance of the sweet kiss of Port
And you were sitting on my lap.

Yes, memories can tell stories
That might never have been,
In the hands of a writer of fiction
At the behest of my imaginary twin.

You try it sometime
Cream Sherry or sweet Port,
A best friend at your side
Keep your secrets and never report,
What transpired that day
Those few months in that year,
And when you're three decades older
You will hold those memories dear.

Hers was a life
Of which legends are made,
She was born in the sun
And retired in the shade,
But somewhere in between
There was a fabulous rendition,
An exemplary existence
Beyond common tradition.

Her family was conservative
She always did her best,
Just follow Mom and Daddy’s ways
It’s safe within the nest,
But it didn’t fill her up inside
It left her feeling hollow,
And though they knew she loved them
She had a different star to follow.

Although I used the word conservative
Her parents had great knowledge,
They encouraged all their children
To attend some kind of college,
Knowing that the value comes
In exploring brand new themes,
Then taking the experience
To carry out their dreams.

Her dreams were like a ball of yarn
Just waiting to unravel,
With just a little push, she rolled
Into the world of travel,
Returning now and then
Bearing gifts of life and beauty,
And then that girl would dream again
As though it was her duty.

A legend in her own time
Within the family tree,
When pressed for explanations
She’d say, “Because, it’s me”.

We are so close,
As close as two lovers can be
Who no longer meet each other
On the terms that their affair demanded
And yet they separated without animosity,
Without hatred.

We are so close,
We think alike in many ways
We have a mutual respect
We care about each other
We are friends,
In Love.

Most people declare
Some New Year's resolution,
But after just about five weeks
They experience New Year's dissolution,
Their resolve fizzles out
Their intentions migrate to another nation,
Let's rewind the narrative
I propose a New Year's recommendation.

Taking into account
The party excitement of January one,
You will promise yourself almost anything
To have a couple more hours of fun,
But with the hangover that comes next day
You may feel a sense of degradation,
So far your resolutions are in the trash can
What you need is a New Year's recommendation.

Recommendations allow for some wiggle room
Instead of being ****** for what you do or what you don't,
When choosing the lesser of two evils
You can opt for the lesser instead of the one that you won't,
In the world of N-Y resolutions
You may feel cursed when you blow it the first time,
Whereas with New Year's recommendations
You realize you haven't committed a crime,

I hope to start a new trend
Where we stop beating ourselves up,
When we make a couple of egregious mistakes
But that is just the half-filled cup,
Leaving room for the better intentions
That are bound to return sometime next week,
When your New Year’s Recommendations
Are discovered at that hot new boutique.

What is the thing
What bothers me the most?
Relentless streams of visitors
Or the ever-present ghost,
He rattles in the closet
And hides behind the curtain,
At times, I prefer the ghost
Over visitors, that's for certain.

I can talk to the ghost
He doesn't talk back,
He tries to throw ectoplasm
But his aim is out of whack,
Although he manages to frighten
The ones who see him not,
I guess I'm some kind of emissary
The only friend he's got.

Everywhere I've worked
There has always been a ghost,
I think he's a greeter for death
Like your friendly Walmart host,
Essentially, non-threatening
Offering his invisible, twisted smile,
A member of the welcome wagon
With his own peculiar style.

There have been she-ghosts
But they bear a different role,
As experts of duplicity
They come to recognize the soul,
Do an assessment of lifetime value
The good and bad and the duration,
Flip a coin and do the numbers
For the ultimate destination.

All in all, I count my blessings
For the role I chose to play,
There are wonderful people I work with
Each and every day,
And when unending streams of visitors
Fray my nerves like overcooked toast,
I can stick my head in the housekeeping closet
And talk to my friend the ghost.

Loss and recovery
A process lined with pain,
It may be quite depressing
As emotions wax and wane.

If you don't resolve the issues
You'll suffer endless grief,
If allowed to pass the course
The results produce relief.

Retrospective, looking back
At prior times of heart attack:

Raging passions
Now have cooled,
Was it real
Was your heart fooled?

Don't listen to
The logic mind,
It doubts the thing
It can not find,
Embrace the feeling
And the touch,
Hold precious, love
And Love too much.

Catherine, my darling
I must tell you what I dreamed,
We were kissing at the doorway
When my Kundalini screamed,
The next thing I remember
We were lying on the floor,
With memories of experience
Of everything and more.

I have always allowed
Distractions to rule,
I'll blame it on teachers
In finishing school,
Apparently, they didn't bother
To finish me right,
So I'm easily distracted
Every day and all night.

My mind jumps around
Like a hare on the savanna,
Imagine monkey's in the jungle
Chasing a banana,
No better description
Comes to mind (because it's hopping),
If I was my daughter
I would solve this by shopping.

Maybe that's why
She has a closet full of clothes,
Her bank account is empty
After paying through her nose,
For her overpriced trinkets
And fashionable frillies,
Because her mind skips around
Like a lab-rat eating chillies.

Once again proving
How distractions are my actions,
My mind is an amusement park
With a zillion new attractions,
Like a traveling circus
With its rodeo clowns,
Entertaining all the rubes
In the sleepy border towns.

Having an answer
Is half the way there,
Finding a question
Can make it a pair.

The answer however
Must be fitting and right,
So the question in question
Has an answer in sight.

A-ttractive, alluring
D-iverse in your scope,
V-ivacious woman
E-xciting I hope,
N-ew age contender of a
T-raditional gauge,
U-nderneath, very feminine
R-egardless your age,
O-pen and honest
U-nbelievable, but true,
S-uch are the ways of the adventurous you.

When I was single at forty
I was only eighteen,
If you knew what I implied
You would know what I mean.

I have always held the theory
Our age is frozen when we meet,
The one that we love
That one we hold so sweet;

And we move forward from that day
But chronologically, we don't change,
So really, I'm just forty-six now
Come now, this isn't so strange;

Because when I was forty-six
That sweet lady, she was ten years younger,
And just one look at her
Well, I was filled with a hunger

I didn't know that I was quite so famished
I guess my best friend, could have told me,
But at the time I was distracted
It didn't matter what she sold me.
Reality wasn't working for me
Too much makeup and perfume,
Enough scent in their detergent
To clear cockroaches from the room.

I was searching for a love
And the candidates were few,
I took so long to declare my interest
All they could say was, "who are you?",
So, why should I blame them
I needed something spontaneous,
Just seek an imaginary woman
And call it extemporaneous.

So now and forever
I'm only forty-six,
And the woman that I'm with?
She's prettier than pixy-sticks.

Ad-venturous lover
Of quality living,
Ad-ministers humor
Gentle, forgiving,
Ad-ult on the surface
Ad-olescent at heart,
Ad-ditional statistics
Ad-vanced at the start.

Ad-monish me not
Ad lib, ad hoc,
Add hours if possible
To my daily clock,
Add time to experience
Ad-orable gal,
Ad-junct to good fun, this
Ad-hesive pal.

Hello, Lady
You invited me, I think,
We crossed paths in the ether
And you made my eyes blink,
I turned around after passing
To get a second look,
Could I be the liner notes
If you were the book?

Could this be the preface
Of a classic compilation?
Chapter one, they meet
In some exotic nation,
A couple random souls
Bumping shoulders on a train,
First impressions so important
Etched a memory in his brain.

A dark-haired brunette
Fit and healthy, there's a start,
He noticed a sudden change
In the beating of his heart,
Single parent, that's OK
It means she knows selfless love;
As if predestination existed
He felt a little shove.

Chapter two, they meet again
He saw her at the diner,
That little lurch inside his heart
Noticing she was finer,
Than the nebulous memory
Etched inside his brain,
But understanding, he'd been in love
Since that night upon the train.

Chapter three, for now
Is essentially unwritten,
The protagonist in question
Undoubtedly is smitten,
Not sure where the dialogue
Will guide the future pages,
But he knows that life, love and laughter
Progress through careful stages.

“Portland Police Draw Weapons”
It must be an artistic police station,
They need something to do with their hands
So they don’t suffer stagnation,
Maybe they draw weapons
When confronted with unarmed men,
To de-escalate the situation
They grab charcoal, paper and pen.

A stash of ten thousand rounds
Was found in a square house,
Luckily the rounds had no bullets
They couldn’t harm a mouse,
Armed perpetrators
Brandished pistols and guns,
But their rounds were effectively neutered
Like ten thousand nuns.

Corner the market
Corner the rat,
Corner the corner
If that’s where it’s at,
That’s how it is
And that’s how it stays,
Corner your lover
Till the end of all days

I know I must be someone
But I don't remember who,
I have a job somewhere
But I don't know what I do,
I have some friends and family
But I don't know who they are,
I would find them if I could, you know
But I can not find my car.

Dream Kiss girl
Showed up on my vacation,
A lovely dream as usual
With customary excitation,
The details are secret
But her presence was refined,
My dream-self stated
I'm glad I haven't dined.

Sure, she was illusory
Flickering in and out,
In a dream world that is expected
It is nothing to be mad about,
And like any good fantasy
One must appreciate the incremental,
Dreams of this nature
Are way beyond incidental.

Considering my location
This may have been,
That Venezuelan Barista
Visiting again,
But this time in spirit
Ephemeral and pure,
And whatever is ailing me
I think she is the cure.

We had a romp of sorts
That I may not reveal,
And for a dream girl babe
She is the real deal,
No photographs exist
She has no telephone,
Her appearances are unpredictable
Her whereabouts unknown.

Just waiting and waiting
For my doctor to come,
The clock ticking quietly
Like a perpetual drum,
Louder and louder
It seems to me,
Death sits in the corner
Inconspicuously.

I just want acknowledgment
Though I know the replies,
There's no rhyme or reason
When somebody dies,
Yet even the dying
Deserve some respect,
Death sits in the corner
He's here to collect.

Before my doctor arrived
To say good day,
Death stretched out its hand
And took me away;
I know why my physician
Wouldn't come near;
Death sat in my corner
And challenged his fear.

I have to tell you truthfully
That I enjoyed our meeting,
It was more than just the coffee
And the cookie I was eating,
Your friendly personality
And forthright point of view,
Left a pleasant sort of aftertaste
When I said goodbye to you.

All in all, I left our meeting
Knowing somehow this event,
Wasn't such that in the future
Its occurrence, I'd repent,
Instead, I felt a smile
Commanding my attention,
Imagining a rendezvous
With adventurous intention.

One step ahead of me
Climbing the stairs,
Deep in the caverns
We travel in pairs,
When you can't quite reach
I push from behind,
Together we seek
And jointly we find.

Thought I'd call you tonight
But realized it was late,
I'll try again
At a later date.

I remember the good and bad
Times that we spent,
Those moments went quickly
The many places we went.

I think of the future
And the years in between,
Since I saw you last, friend
So much has been seen.

I think of old friends
And the one known as me,
Then I wonder if ever
I can share it with thee.

You know my heart toes out searching
For friends such as you,
Because the value I'm seeking
Is owned by so few.

1982

The glue that binds us together
Is commonly found in the worst of weather,
In small remote enclaves of hardy souls
Who band together to fill in the holes.

Dream Kiss Babe
That was exquisite,
It ranks among
The most delicious visit,
Dribbling wine in my mouth
With a delicate flute,
Followed by a simple kiss
To boot.

There may have been chocolate
Involved in this endeavor,
Whatever it was
You were so delicately clever,
Such a simple fine wine
And the taste of your kiss,
No dream before
Has ever been quite like this.

Dream kiss babe
This sweet dream doth linger,
I barely did touch you
At all with my finger,
Bur when wine and chocolate are included
With a delicate kiss,
That is a dream
I will sorely miss.

She seemed forlorn
Staring off into space,
She wanted to be alone
I could see it in her face.

I left her alone
But kept myself near,
Providing security
I felt her deep fear;
It set her apart
And restricted her travel,
I felt all the tension
About to unravel.

Should I go sit beside her
And offer my hand,
Help lift off the weight
And allow her to stand?

It seems the best thing
She has so much sorrow,
If I help her today
She'll feel better tomorrow.

She's a girl with good taste
And a woman that tastes good,
I'd take her home for a night
Or a year if I could.

She has impeccable passion
For the best things in life,
She might make a good girlfriend
Or even a wife.

She always speaks her mind
And she rarely holds back,
But don't put her on the defensive
Or she will attack,
She's as smart as a whip
Don't tell her a lie,
She knows 35 ways
To make you suffer and cry.

Be attentive to her needs
Give her love and respect,
Don't harbor complacency
And you'll always connect.