Category Archives: POETRY

HAIKU FUNDAMENTALLY TRUE

Photo by Magda Ehlers on Pexels.com

No confessional

can hold the sins of men done

in God’s Holy Name.

Right-wing Pharisees

roam the halls of governments

exercising hate.

They lie to themselves

stealing freedom’s greatest truths

to lie to us, too.

Money flows and fills

pockets-to-let to control

greed’s supremacy.

Unregulated

democracy fails to be

free for you and me.

Fascism now reigns

in God’s name, on lips profane

from pulpits and schools.

Separation fails

to protect laws, or faiths,

when religion rules.

Time to drive out the

money-changers from temples

of government, now.

We cannot allow

such hate and such harm to be

offered in our name.

Such Offertory 

should be left at the altar,

not legislatures.

Leave a comment

Filed under POETRY, POLITICS

THE SQUIRRELS AND I

Photo by Good Free Photos.com on Pexels.com

Squirrels multiply fast around here,

as fast as they run about the yard.

Three new nests in the Linden tree 

have appeared,

Hidden by dense leaves

out of view.

The sun hides too.

Her light is now hidden by clouds.

She has stopped dancing amid shadows.

Like the squirrels I am too proud

to simply sit and wait for sun 

to show her face.

Without sun 

we barely know our place

in this darkened, cooling space.

We no longer dig and play

in garden beds anchored in clay.

The squirrels have stopped their foray

for bulbs planted a month ago,

ceased moving them to a new place

or worse, chewing or eating them first.

The squirrels, and I are nearly as dormant

as the perennials, and as scattered.

My body yearns to find its way,

to dig and plant, to weed and hoe.

It no longer drops onto the garden bench

to rest and watch the birds and bees.

I drop onto my nested couch instead.

The squirrels and I have grown

too cold, too weary

amid days as dark as night.

The squirrels and I have become too quiet.

Sun’s warming disposition

no longer lightens nor warms us.

Birds no longer join us in chorus

as we hummed alongside the busy bees.

Neither of us are ready

for the coming deep-freeze.

We squirrel away.

I on my Netflix couch;

the squirrels find their own 

entertainment and playful connection

I remain ignorant of those; 

and, so, I and cannot mention

what keeps them tight inside.

My own tightness will not subside

no matter how hard I try.

I cannot blame the sun.

She still hangs overhead.

Like the squirrels and I

she has decided to hide.

Leave a comment

Filed under POETRY

DARKER DAYS

Photo by David Bartus on Pexels.com

I no longer wait through the night for sun to rise.

Darkness diverts stray thoughts and lets my mind play.

Flowers have taught me to wave away sunny days

whose glare overcomes the true color of all it covers.

Flowers’ colors are brighter on cloudy days

when sun’s harshest, boldest gaze 

is tempered by drifting clouds and shade.

The sun arouses, but not always in positive ways.

Passion and love arouse in darkness, under cover,

preparing us to live together on sun-filled days

which can overheat our passion with a challenging gaze,

and guns drawn out in furious blaze.

Night brings safety after those last shots are fired

into the night to hold it at bay, for those who tire

of being alone, hopeless and afraid; whose souls require

less sun to stimulate their hate and more cool nights

to bed down and draw covers over their endless fright.

I welcome the night which offers respite and insight.

I welcome dreams which bring truth and understanding alight.

If only we could recall our dreams in daylight,

perhaps we could create world where justice and mercy prevails

and all are treated right.

On the the hotter, brighter days ahead I fear we may fail,

holding on to what we cannot truly see in such bright daylight.

In such over-heated light true color is lost to our sight

distorting our view of all that is true.

Shoving microphones and spotlights on our frailty

too often distorts our reality

until we no longer can recall the truths learned on darkest days.

I no longer wish the darkness of night away.

I see all more clearly in the muted light of night

than ever I can see in brightest daylight.

I no longer wait through the night for sun to rise.

Darker days are here to no one’s surprise.

They may bring the only way we can survive.

Leave a comment

Filed under POETRY

KEEP BREATHING

KEEP BREATHING, acrylic on canvass, Louise Annarino

The world is wider than I recall

and emptier than it should be.

Where have so many millions gone?

Covid took too many from me.

Now, As I venture forth again

I note the changes new to me:

Fewer check out lines open

where I can chat with clerks

who may offer the only conversation

I shall have that day.

Longer waits in self-check-out lines,

for coffee, burgers, groceries, medications,

buses and airlines.

Play dates carefully screened and often up-ended

by bouts of surprise illness, unintended.

Careful scrutiny of each gathering attended

by risk-takers and isolaters frustrated

and ready to accept the fate

breathing without masks indicates.

The pace of life becomes a distraction.

Forward process toward goals proceeds

in fits and starts reducing our momentum.

It amazes me how well we all cope

with uncertain patterns not before seen,

futures unknown yet still filled with hope.

The one thing which has not changed

is our determination to remain the same,

to keep on the path to parts unknown,

to find an adventure far from home,

to explore new people, places and things.

We are still alive. We bravely take wing.

There is life to live and love to give.

There is love to receive and life to accept.

We constantly find faith deep within

that joy is still ours, if we only give in

to the need to connect with others

and breathe life in.

1 Comment

Filed under art work, POETRY

ODE TO AUNT MILLIE

Carmela “Millie” Guinta 11-15-28 – 11-22-23

The world seems empty now,

solemn and still as a sacred vow.

The light which glanced from face to face

whenever her bright presence graced

gatherings of family and friends

joined like prayer beads end-to-end,

with voices raised in unbroken rhythm

which began like prayer and ended in hymn.

Such music we made as she led the chorus.

All she did, she willingly did for us.

How blessed we have been to have her near

for so many days of her ninety-five years.

The world now seems a colder place.

Yet, she still surrounds us with her warm grace.

1 Comment

Filed under FAMILY STORIES, POETRY

THE NARCISSIST

photo by History in HD on Unsplash

IN LOVE

what goes around 

comes around

in never-ending

ripples of affection

and deep attention 

one to the other.

Love is communion,

the gasping union

of recognizing self 

in one another.

Love is only love

when it is both

given and accepted.

Love that goes one way

is not love at all;

but  manipulation

and destruction

of any chance for union.

Love that goes one way

inevitably rings false,

a masterful deception

which destroys communion.

Narcissism gives nothing,

but takes all it can get

and more, of those who 

cannot accept love

in all its forms and favor.

Accepting love is too hard

for those who are its stranger.

Accepting love warns them

of the past disappointments

when their hearts were in danger.

The narcissist breeds more fear,

and warns them to resist

the call for love both given and received.

In this way, he deceives.

He alone is worthy of love and safe,

so in his arms they place

every dream of being loved.

Love must go both ways.

Always.

One-way love is not love at all.

It only brings destruction and our fall.

Alone, and unloved, we remain after all.

Leave a comment

Filed under POETRY

NATIONALISM HAIKU

Photo by Xabi Oregi on Pexels.com

Nationalism

sees no boundary to man’s

inhumanity.

Leave a comment

Filed under POETRY

WAR HAIKU

Photo by Ahmed akacha on Pexels.com

They have already lost

who fight over land no one owns.

Earth is hers alone.

3 Comments

Filed under POETRY

LIES

Photo by Carlos Herrero on Pexels.com

The universal lie is

that I never lie.

Always untrue.

We all lie.

We all do.

There are but two reasons why.

Knowing that is seeing true.

Knowing that may save you.

The first lie

may save your injury,

comfort your suffering,

grant you your freedom,

shelter and protect,

uplift and encourage,

open you to love.

The first lie is the oil over 

troubled waters,

is the hidden key 

to new discovery,

is the extra note to more harmony.

The first lie brings peace.

The first lie helps us see

we are part of loving community.

The second lie

causes injury,

increases suffering,

denies our freedom,

makes us feel unsafe.

Discourages our history 

Berates new ideas,

closes us to love with hate.

The second lie is not 

so noble as the first.

The first lie is for us.

The second lie is for the liar.

The first lie sets boundaries

to expand our sense

of love and creativity.

Its purpose is to protect.

The second lie has no “red lines”

it refuses to cross; but, only seeks

to sate the need of the second liar.

The second lie is for him, not us.

The second lie denies our right

to create connections and see the light

that fills all persons whose lives intersect.

It restricts any chance for us to connect.

The biggest liar of them all

is not the first, nor will be the last.

He is simply the liars’ poster boy.

And poster boys never last.

But the lies they tell persist

no matter how many resist

the pull of hate to the surface.

The greatest lie of all

is the one we tell ourselves

that we are somehow better,

somehow best.

We are liars, all.

If not we would have let him fall.

He would join other liars in jail.

Let up hope that soon

truth will finally prevail.

Leave a comment

Filed under POETRY

TOO LATE TO FALL

Photo by Oguz Karatas on Pexels.com

The days are too short and I am too late to Fall.

Already squirreled away are days of memories.

Flights of fancy replace flights of geese as I stray

along paths emptied of those I loved and knew.

No masks can hide the loss of smiles

stolen by chronic illness and despair

that movie theaters, museums and restaurants

will ever be safe for those who struggle to stay well.

Longer nights are a blessing in disguise,

where one can hide the lack of company

and loneliness subsides.

Too late to Fall. Too ill to conceive a winter

depleted of all company. 

With the sun hope rises, only to set too soon.

In the midst of all this, it is too late to Fall.

Only so many years are left to share

with friends and family, if I dare, at all.

I am too old, too sick,

too late to Fall.

Leave a comment

Filed under POETRY