Surely Good to Simply Sit & Listen

The lovely songs of birds just chatting

—such delight in being. The various leaf

each tree sports, a lovely lace lifted

skyward in today’s gentle breezes

 

Off in the distance, acres away

the machine noises of man

(human ex machina)

 

The throated throttle of

single-engine aero plane

a piper cub perhaps

Its novice pilot

clocking hours

 

The soft cry of something well hid

The near-explosive silence of sunshine

Such pangs of joy

Another time-less moment

caught in blue & green

& all the other colors of so many things

in this world: tree trunk, roof, flowers

& red plastic cup

 

A melody of insects – just before

the show begins again

 

Let not the ache in my foot

or the favoring of my right hip

(injured so foolishly a few years ago)

curtail any of this move from mind to heart

 

You Got to Watch Out For

Who is telling you what, and should you believe them

or not (in terms of fact not opinion)

 

Who attempts to control the language

and therefore one’s freedom of expression

 

Who said they’d always be yours

but left a long time ago with no good-byes

 

What the opposition does to secure seats in Congress

and to buy up all the local elections

 

What the polls say, and what the rest of the Europeans

are doing to deal with the Brexit

 

What goes on globally

as well as locally

 

Where the wild animals might be pushing their limits

Where one’s child is…even if one is in paradise

Where the heart actually leads you in this tough life

 

When the calendar indicates it’s time to pay the rent

or get the healthcare payments in by the first

 

When to wake, when to eat, when to brush your teeth

When to “drop the dime” and make the call

 

When it is your turn to scrub the floor

and take out the garbage – yes, your turn!

 

How to keep loving – even those who hate

How to keep at it despite all else failing

How to keep on staying free

Meditation on Good Friday

Politicians ask why is everyone so angry

I’m not angry. I’m fed up – a big difference

 

If y’all been doing y’alls job all along

Rather then getting all doctrinal

People’d be fed, sheltered and happy

 

So if y’all would just shut the hell up

And put your shoulder to the wheel

 

We might get back to some important stuff

Taking care of all and each other blissfully

I Used to Pray Now I Write

 

May all gods turn out to be strong and mindful

Merciful and understanding of the ways of humankind

 

The things I did that hobble me still, the killings

around the world according to today’s news

the lovers betrayed, the followers misled

the carelessness of doing what you got to do

 

To live free of hate is not easy. To keep at it

is difficult – dare to struggle, dare to win!

 

Trouble keeps occurring. We get better at see-

ing it coming, limiting the damage, and

quickening the clean up. Getting back

to normal is the new norm now

 

But that is not enough – we have to get

at the dark heart of humanity and love it

Disappearing Act

Of all the thoughts racing through my mind in the last five minutes drying myself off after an afternoon shower, I held on to nothing. I’ve no idea what certifications I’ve acquired. We move on and take other peoples’ places. There will come the time when I walk through this door and cannot walk right in as if I live here.

Most of us are just visiting this planet but still some belong here, and don’t go much beyond the earth and air, fire and rain when it’s their turn to die. I remain unsure of my destiny.

The only rush I’m in is to move to Earlysville Forest. My focus is on unpacking all the moved boxes. And once settled, figuring out how to configure the gardens. There is no golden beauty at the top of these steps I trudge in dreams of ancient castle towers, yet I continue.

Where I live on this planet turns away from the sun, rotating me and my fellow citizens into darkness, another night filled with wonder, a little attempt at capturing some worthy meaning. The last angle of light blinds me, so I turn away too, but just for a minute or two.

Soon I’ll be leaving this bit of earth and moving a few hundred miles south. I’ll see what powers I lose, what new ones I might gain.

Meanwhile I sit on the back deck among the gold leaved trees and the bright oranges and red ones among them. In this moment of forever, the neighbor’s dog comes out and barks. It’s looking right at me. I point skyward at the prop-plane passing overhead, my intrusion sucked up by its wing glint of sunlight. The dog goes back around the corner.

Even if I tell you to

Don’t ever leave me alone

Please don’t ignore my words

 

I won’t leave you

Even if you tell me to

 

This pact made honorably, foolishly, and habitually

between so many people in all of the tribes

Such love, such confusion

 

All is wet. The trees splashed in autumn

The sky a milky background adrift

in thirty-five mile an hour wind gusts

 

Not everywhere – yet certainly around a big area

But the point is that by now even that moment

that singular view is gone. All vows as well

 

Perhaps. Ah, the great perhaps!

Trees swirl, and colder winds blow in

 

Blather of Sorts

This is, by all accounts, a magical story. Great riches and greater horrors occur and reoccur. The teller is privy to the games the mind plays. A favorite song of the teller’s, “You Are My Sunshine,” could be hummed at any point in this story, so hold on: C/C7/G/F!

Also. Don’t forget that whole cultures are in the process of change; it could be difficult to hang on to never mind even find what is useful. The teller tells the warriors “Titan up.” To the Quartermasters the teller reminds, “Don’t ignore the Trojans. Be safe!”

What might have happened beyond the obvious to Malcolm Brighton, Pamela Brown, and Rodney Anderson aboard the “Free Life” on that blue-skied September day in 1970 remains a mystery. Their flight to freedom could be part of this magical story.

Hungry brains like Ginkgo bilboa, Bacopa monnieri, huperzine A, and Phosphatidylserine according to a site on the Internet. As for cholesterol, it is the size and number of the particles that is now seen as important to a proper diagnosis.

Like most magical stories can, this one makes things disappear.

Crazy Thoughts on a Lazy Day

Who are we to think we’re so special among all else?

Neither the largest nor the smallest avow such status

We are an interesting species, especially to ourselves

Safe neighborhoods are getting rare – look around

Stand there and make a list of the things that scare you

If you dare

Who goes to sleep within immediate danger?

The tired, the beaten, the child! Evil is a human thing

Yet a lot of what humans do remains amazing

We enjoy electricity, yet worry about good water

Time to tell our stories to the trees, play birds

like violins, enjoy visits to other places, worlds

away we may be the ones being watched like art

hung in galleries and intergalactic museums

Oh the things we had to do to get free

Walk in shackles, shuffling obedient

We took part in the degrading of us

Some got upset having to sit still & listen

Others sure they’d remain innocent

Fear roadblocks, barbed & concertina wire

Be a refugee with no papers, no documents

that would convince the border guards

Called foreigner, persona non grata, animal

Kept in the same massive herd we arrived in

Played their game of catch the food, spill the water

Live in a world where only the basic needs

are deemed worthy of being met, as if

there really were a lack of funds. No one

wanted to die. Not at first, anyway

7.2 Billion Universes

Needing rain we get it all today. The limbs filled with leaves

droop, then sway in a gust raining wet drops as the boughs lift

looking perhaps for the sunshine staring dull behind a cloud

cover stretching from the Ohio Valley to the North Atlantic

No thunder and lightning yet – it’s forecast this afternoon

I hope there is no damaging wind like last week where

so many trees got twisted and uprooted, Downed power lines

and debris blocked side streets…just now getting cleared

Torrential downpours lull a steady light rain. A few birds

dare the feeder. Lanky saplings take an occasional bow

All goes quiet in between storms. The sun gets brighter

and the roads begin drying, In another hour or so more rain

is set to fall into the night. Our dreams, invaded by the density

of over population, have witnessed this tranquil moment

None of us will be the same from here on