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1
In a snug little nook at the top of the globe,
Where the snowflakes all shimmer and whirl as they strobe,
Old Santa was humming his jolliest tune,
But something felt off that cold afternoon.


---

2
The letters came in by the sackful, as ever,
But something had changed—something strange and quite clever.
No teddies, no jump ropes, no sleds made of pine,
Just gadgets and gizmos and tech by design.


---

3
“I’d like the new PhoneZilla X with AI!”
“I want a drone suit that lets me just fly!”
“A gaming chair throneship with ten turbo jets!”
“Ten thousand new skins for my streaming presets!”


---

4
He frowned as he flipped through the list after list.
Where once there was magic, now circuits exist.
“No puzzles? No marbles? No tea sets or blocks?
No trains that go chug-chug, no musical clocks?”


---

5
He walked to the shelf where the old toys were kept,
All dusty and quiet, like they hadn’t slept.
The wooden giraffes and the tin wind-up bears,
The ragdolls still waiting to dance down the stairs.


---

6
“In my younger days,” Santa said with a sigh,
“Kids dreamed up whole kingdoms with pie in the sky!
They’d turn sticks into swords, and a box to a ship—
Now everything’s screens and a battery clip!”


---

7
The elves looked around and just shrugged with a pout,
“It’s progress,” they mumbled. “You can't toss it out.
Kids follow the trends—it’s what they all do!”
But Santa just grumbled, “It’s lost something true…”


---

8
He missed when the holidays glowed in their hearts,
When joy wasn’t powered by microchip parts.
He missed little voices all squealing with glee
As they played with a slinky, or climbed a fake tree.


---

9
So he wrote a new note to be sent far and wide:
“Just mix in some magic with your techy ride.
Imagination's a gift that won’t ever expire—
It runs without chargers and never needs wire!”
If you listen, you will hear
The sounds of discontent
As the people join together to
Defy the president.

We meet to send a message to
The one who would be king,
Who only pays attention to
The sounds that go ker-ching.

You'll see us on the sidewalks
And in parks and city squares,
As we say we are tired of being
Controlled by billionaires.

The president thinks it's okay
To do whatever he wants.
He knows that Republicans
Will fear his jeers and taunts.

Every effort is being made
For people to be erased
From history. The government
Is doing it in great haste.

We watch as many people now
Are forced to live in fear.
They try to live their daily lives;
Then BAM! they disappear.

They're sent off to prison that
Is in a far-off land.
How people can put up with this
Is hard to understand.

The DOJ's being weaponized.
Trump says it's required
That anyone not loyal to him
Be canned, be ousted, be fired!

Needless tariffs are raising prices;
People are losing employment.
The pain we suffer seems to add
To Musk's and Trump's enjoyment.

Our health's in greater jeopardy;
Our safety's less secure.
If we don't fight, however will
Democracy endure?

If you love America,
Speak up! Make a fuss!
No for tyranny! Yes for freedom!
March along with us!

-by Bob B (4-8-25)
"Why" before "Die"
Trying to understand,
the great plan,
Ultimate quest, of
Woman, and Man.

Yet, do we ever truly know,
Or only trace what shadows show?

"One and Done"
I'm sure my little poems,
have no chance of getting
anything "Done".
In a World of "Seven"
thousand languages
I know "One".

But words, like whispers, shape the sky,
A single voice still learns to fly.

"Connection.?!"
We can only write,
what's in "our" Mind.
Yet, still take pleasure,
in what "others", Find.

And so, within each line we weave,
A stranger’s heart may still believe.

"We Knew, So Few"
Earth's history of humans,
spans ages,
Yet individually, we get,
so few pages.
In this time, so few, we
get to know.
The rest, just flakes,
in our blizzard, snow.

But every snowflake shapes the storm,
And words like these still keep us warm.

Denny, your ink flows like an old, wise river—
A current of time, of questions, of truth.
Each verse a footprint, fleeting yet firm,
In the endless dance of age and youth.

You write of past, of now, of fate,
Of fleeting moments, vast yet small—
Yet in your lines, we contemplate,
How one man’s words can touch us all.

Gratitude for the thoughts you share,
For echoes deep and questions rare.
Poetry may not fix the world,
But it lingers, a banner unfurled.

Thank you for the verses you gift,
A bridge of thought, a gentle lift.
I felt no shame I did not cry
When I shouted: "Let him be crucified!"
And you forgave me
It was I who turned away and denied
Who swore to all I did not know you
Only later did I realize all along you knew
And you forgave me
It was I who betrayed you with a kiss
After all this time it has to end like this
And still you forgave me
I could not watch so I ran away and hid
I was a coward a scared little kid
And you forgave me
It was I who slept when you needed me most
It was I who foolishly abandoned my post
And you forgave me
It was I who mocked you and I who jeered
I who rent your clothes and plucked your beard
And you forgave me
It was I who condemned you out loud
To appease the maddened mobbing crowd
And you forgave me
It was I on your left that told you to prove
If you are the Christ, then stop this and move
And you look at me with love
It was I on your right who asked "Remember Me"
And in spite of everything, all of my history
In that moment I was free

It was I who shared the burden on the road
Helping you to shoulder that heavy load
It was I who stayed close to the very end
Why you would suffer though I could not comprehend
It was I who tenderly wiped your face
A small act of love, and mercy and grace
It was I who anointed and dried your feet with my hair
Sparing no cost to show you how much I care
It was I whom you saved from a life of sin
You would die to make new life begin
It was I whom you called from the sleep of death
And I watch as you now give your last breath
I who gave you life now mourn and weep
My heart is pierced with sorrow so deep

It is you who took our sin and shame
It is you who took on all the blame
It is you who died so I might live
It is you who said to me: "I Forgive"
It is you who looked with loving eyes
It is you who saw past all disguise
It is you who make me reconciled
It is you who call me beloved child
It is you the pure spotless sacrificial lamb
It is you my Lord my Savior, the Great I Am
I slit my wrist a million times with pieces
of the broken heart's razor sharp deflections
in my attic room Penthouse desire increases
illusion of an endless tunnel of reflections.
mirrors on walls showed me every angle
my naked drunken midnight freedom dance
with my Irish too small little dangle
always chasing the mirage of desert romance.
Something wicked, this Way comes
When sadness surrounds the Doldrums

Melancholy’s bit is Bitter, Sweet
Looking for mom’s face on the street

Praying as a child to find her and care
Streets of LA, sea of empty faces , cold stare

It’s strange, What we hold onto, cherish
Reminisce, of a loved one who perished

Unfinished business, Hardens the heart
Moments before, we were pulled apart

We find Silent comforts to cradle our mind
Where’d we come from what did we find?

Dealing with death’s passages of times
Needing help with our imaginary crimes

The first person I ever knew who died
She was 46 years young, my soul cried

My beloved mother Throat Cancer
Disenchanted asked God for the answer

Each second Every breath More Shallow
Then the one before, her face Hollow

Questioning The last time for this or that
Lapse memory, The Last time I fed her cat

Yet I never really paid attention
The uneasy emotions we never mention

Now, I pay attention to the smallest details
beauty in rain in hail that clean wet smell

The last thing  I’ll ever mention
Having your full undivided attention

Mom needed all her children near
Leaving earth the biggest unknown fear

Feckless children weren’t around
Couldn’t be bothered wouldn’t be found

What to expect on the other side
Her guardian angel her ethereal Guide

Three days before mom died (her and I)
We were sitting on corner curb outside

Her words were soft, gentle and kind
I don’t worry about you in my mind

You’re like a cat You’ll have many lives
You’ll land on your feet not on the street

Her voice grew intense serious and brave
Listen to me Don’t go to my grave

You need to realize I won’t be there
Find comfort with others Grieve elsewhere

She knew in the crevices of her head
Funerals are for the living not the dead

Pretentious, pompous circumstance
Don’t cry a pity party, Sing and Dance

A gentle smile graced her face
Her wisdom a tear stain trace

Find something Spectacularly brilliant
That will remind you of me resilient

A remembrance you’ll see
put it in your house, There I’ll Be

I found a clear quartz crystal cat with claws
Amethyst heart Dangled between its paws

Daily Family walks Nonchalantly By
A dust collector they see with a naked eye

I see life’s memories in vivid detail
Mother’s Grim Reaper rang her bell


Inspired songs;
1) fire and rain by James Taylor
2) He stopped loving her today,
sang by George Jones
Written by Braddock and Puttman
3) go rest on the Mountain by Vince Gill
4) tears in Heaven by Eric Clapton
5) Live like you were dying
by Tim McGraw
Songs of morning and say goodbye. These are sacred so you don’t need to be religious to have a song universally touch your heart and touch your soul. Each one of these songs has a backstory of death and dealing with that pain. If you listen to the backstory on each of those songs, you’ll hear this song differently. This is why, when I read poetry, I always want to hear the backstory I get a wealth of information, and a deeper understanding of the poem and poet.

Sorry for the lengthy footnote, but I guarantee it’s worth the read

My mother had terminal cancer she did not want the children to see her dwindle away. She left us five children with my father. I was so young I thought she died any time I would mention her I would get a kick in the shin or a elbow in my stomach, learn later, my older siblings in life are now the truth. My younger brother and I did not until I was 10 years old. She tried to see his children. Mother said no I asked my sister who is that person and a small boy she said mom. I prayed every day to God. When I’m a grown-up, let me find her and let her know I care and she made a good person . Grandma (her mother) wanted me to take up with a private investigators left off after seven years of searching for her. (grandma was dying )They had some leads I was 20 years old. I found my mother when I was 21. I had been to every Alley in Skid Row and places young women should not go alone. I had a friend at know downtown LA the roughnecks. The last place of all the places we had been for months with a thrift store women shelter For personal necessities. I showed the photo went through this story to my surprise. The lady clerk pointed to the back of the room.
I took my mother home. I thought she’d be living with me now not on the street but on the third day, she said, I have to go home or they will give my room away she actually was living in a Victorian hospice with Catholic nuns. The headmistress came and asked me if I knew what was going on. Of course I did not because mom didn’t tell me. She told my mom was dying . she only had three months  to live. I prayed just let her be alive. I didn’t pray for more. God gave her to me, and then he took her away. I was angry for a long time. And then I realized God gave me three month to love and be a peace complete unfinished business. It Took me a long time to find my way back to Jesus . so when you see a homeless person , that’s a mother or father, uncle a grandma or grandpa those are people. Some of my family could not make peace with things until they knew she was dying. It was sickening toward my mom didn’t care about going to rodeo drive. They wanted to put a huge angel statue over her grave $25,000 a time ago I said no give the money to the nuns.
BLT Websters word of the day Challenge
Feckless 9-29-24
A person who is weak for ineffective
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