Category Archives: POETRY

SIGHT UNSEEN

Meaning hides behind the curtain of words

strung on steel spines laid across windows

open to the view of curiosity seekers

walking the borders of meadows

where secrets are held in shallow graves.

I watch their progress across the land

mined with traps of grammar and rhyme,

their trampling feet raising dust to obscure

whatever truths they might find

should their path be more certain, more sure.

Discoveries are few and far between.

They wander and look everywhere but 

where the treasures lie sight unseen.

Makes me wonder why poets write,

what they expect others to glean

from meaning hidden in plain site.

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POETS

A spirit guards this space

placing a soft touch on the hand

which holds the pen

disclosing its presence

where ink marks the page

in a language known

if not understood

except by poets.

The poet is the reader of

Spirit’s words, not the writer.

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GAWKING UKRAINE

Gawkers run to scenes 

which stir the blood.

Existential fear draws them on 

and eases their souls.

For a moment they

forget they are always 

alone.

Always, in all ways.

Finding companionship

wherever they may,

they push loneliness away

and hide their fear

in jeers and cheers.

Sincerity is often lost

in their witnessed strife, 

so much a part of life.

Watching without charity 

while claiming solidarity

with those who suffer

is never enough to unite us,

to overcome our aloneness.

Those who suffer await more

than witnessing and words.

Action speaks louder than words.

Weapons speak louder during war.

Zelensky clearly explains 

“I need ammunition, not a ride.”

He humbly sets aside pride

to admit what we all know. 

He is alone,

like all Ukrainians,

like each of us.

Opening boundaries 

among nations and hearts

is a good start.

We will remain alone

no matter how much we gawk

unless we do more to atone,

more to end suffering and war

we will always stand alone.

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ONLY A MOMENT

Children count the years in minutes.

Teenagers live in the moment.

Middle-agers count the years in decades.

and the aging count the minutes in a year.

Time is of no real moment until the final one.

Counting time bears momentum

only if we overthrow its end.

Like plants dormant in winter soil

we push against the darkest hours

not counting time but striving upward

into the light where we can grow.

Never say you are getting old.

Say, instead you are growing older.

Then stop the watch. Stop the calendar.

This is the only moment that counts.

Live this moment until its end.

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BRAVE ACTS

Brave acts brave histories make

of men and women, and nations

united untidily, unrepentantly

but bravely.

Too seldom we see such as this

in nations guided by bliss

following trade’s path

toward profit and math.

Adding up cash into power is not bad.

What one does with such power can be

if labor and neighbor are pushed into slavery

because leaders lack bravery.

Ukraine is but a symptom of harm

long passed on to the poor and powerless

in whatever nation they reside.

We need more bravery and fairness 

and less cowardice

before we move on

to tomorrow’s news.

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HAIKU

Micro-aggressions

destroy the soul achilles

cutting equal stride.

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HOTHEADS AND HOT PLANETS

Temperature dropped fifty degrees.

It snowed last night, to pansy’s surprise.

Such cold stills connections

among the creatures of this earth.

How much colder is space beyond

this planet we are on.

Billions of suns, most yet unknown,

leave dark space frozen,

dark matter hidden from our view.

What connections are possible

between planets, when those on earth

are few and far between?

How do we reach each other

beyond the coolness and disdain

for others we see as not the same?

How do we warm up the atmosphere

to allow friendships to form and hold

us safe from violence and war?

How do we share warmth

without setting fires to enflame

nations, planets, universes?

Time to figure it out.

The clock is ticking.

Hotheads are rising

despite the falling snow

trying to cool tempers

and temperatures.

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WORLD WAR AGAINST DEMOCRACY

Putin is winning his war against America

even as he loses in Ukraine.

Tucker Carlson, FOX News

and the Freedom Caucus

of The US Congress

plight their troth to Putin’s cause

while their citizen supporters

cheer Putin on to defeat

not only Democrats and the Democratic Party

but democracy itself.

Americans focus on the war abroad

where Ukrainians who refuse to be conned

by Trump and his MAGA cons

fight for their freedom.

The war here at home rages on.

Putin wins without a shot, 

funding the NRA and lobbyists instead,

for guns to wage war on our children

gunned down in city streets.

Drugs fund his efforts and continue

the blight of Putin’s fight

in every city in every neighborhood.

The World War is hidden behind

institutions meant to guard freedom.

But when they do, Putin’s army

of the American right takes flight 

and drops word bombs

to destroy the weapons reason wields.

Americans must take to the fields 

to defend SCOTUS appointments,

election officials and elections themselves.

the Republican Freedom Congress raises funds

and pledges support to candidates

who will tunnel inside the only defenses we still have 

to defeat the enemies of our democracy.

The Russian War in Ukraine is one of many fronts.

The war is worldwide. It has already begun.

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SEND IN THE PLANES

It is uncomfortable.

It causes pain.

Is it insane?

or, is there a good reason

to refrain 

from sending in the planes?

Watching a fight

from the sidelines

is no way to win the bout. 

Democracy must win.

Never doubt.

Planes sit on tarmacs

as children die

in the arms of the wounded.

It is uncomfortable

to watch their pain.

Send in the planes!

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SPREAD THE WORD

Be bold. Be brave.

Small efforts

small victories make.

Be curious, not furious.

Distill solutions

from confusion.

No regrets is a sign

you left your life behind.

Be bold. Be brave.

Small efforts

small victories make

until you add yours to mine.

Spread the word.

Be bold. Be brave.

Together, 

larger victories await.

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