I waited awhile for your smile,
perhaps too long.
It never came until too late.
I shall never know
why you made me wait
until I said, “I’ll
be going now.”
Your face lit up in joyful prose
and told me all I needed to know.
Tag Archives: youth
LOOK TO THE YOUNG
To see the future look to the young people.
They are not yet bound by convention,
nor blinded by the past,
as we old people are,
weighed down and eyes downcast
because we must watch the path
we no longer walk easily.
Such history serves a purpose.
It offers cautionary tales
learned from days gone by.
But, it predicts nothing,
moves too slowly to catch up
with the speed of a future
unfolding before our eyes.
We can hardly understand
what we see in broken spans
as we catch pieces of the changes
meant to help us survive.
Look to the young people
racing on by, sharing nods of heads
while busily taking it all in stride,
smiling all the while,
letting us hold fast to our past
knowing we think them fools;
but they know they are simply cool.
And they are so, so, so cool.
They carry our hopes with their own,
and the hopes of ages past grown old
into a world we cannot conceive.
They never break a sweat;
learning more than we can forget.
I want to live long enough to see
this new world they create, strong and free.
I lift my eyes up to them respectfully,
gladly, lovingly and hopefully.
PERFECT TIMING
Only the young believe they have time
to wait for the perfect time
to make a difference over time.
Older persons have too little time
to wait for perfection lost over time.
Neither can afford the time
it takes to find the perfect time.
Neither must let the perfect
get in the way of the possible
None of us has that much time.
LONG TIME SHORT
Time was
when we
wondered
if we
would be
together
tomorrow.
Now is
when we
wonder
that we
are still
together
today.
fifty-six years
is a long time
and no time
at all.
Not enough time
for those who fall
in love.
Filed under POETRY
KEEP LAUGHING
Earth is laughing so hard
she is holding her sides.
Her laughter has not died.
She holds it inside.
Too often, there is not a smile to be seen.
Comedians and laughter are under attack;
sad attempt to kill laughter, it is true.
But, let me tell you
I awake every day with a smile on my face
and my mind full of plans and laughter as I cope;
planning strategies to keep us all woke
enough to strategize and energize
enough to keep Earth and our freedom alive.
I smile when I find new ways
to resist, persist and overcome
those who strive so hard to make us glum.
Where they see threat, I see possibility.
Where they feel fear, I feel connected community.
When they shout their pain, I shout my glee.
Earth trembles to keep her laughter inside
at the foolish ego-maniacal MAGA leaders’ pride.
Earth continues to teach us her lessons
with a smile on her face from sunrise to sunset.
Giving us the means to keep us alive, and all our needs met.
Balance and connection are what we need
to continue on the path to wealth without greed.
Intersected boundaries are what we need
to continue on the path to true peace.
This is Earth’s greatest gift: her instinctive ability
to make us laugh as we grow in humility,
knowing we cannot berate nor control
Earth’s power to grow, to heal and renew
the damage men and women unintentionally do.
I laugh aloud with Earth today.
Our guffaws and chuckles thrown out wide.
Come laugh with us, then; and hold your heaving sides.
Try to unbend and dry your eyes so you can see.
That laughter has not died, nor ever must.
Constant negativity has nowhere to go
except “dust to dust” buried below,
in the space laughter has made deep within Earth.
And once this doom and gloom comes to an end
the entire world united in mirth
shall laugh once again.
FUTURE WAITS
Future refuses to talk.
She holds her cards close.
No expression crosses her face.
Her fierce calm holds us in place.
We gamble our fortunes, our lives,
within her unfathomable space.
Withholding breath we wait
to discover our curious fate.
“Play the cards you have,”
she says,“before it is too late.”
The game here now will last until
each card has been played.
Holding onto cards
means new presents are delayed.
The young know this better
than their elders do.
The young play with greater abandon,
unconscious of the heavy stakes
that keep my eyes open all night through,
awake, until light from a new day
through the closed blinds seeps through.
A new day.
A new game.
Time to play.
Future cuts the cards.
No time to waste.
Vote!
Filed under POETRY
WAKE UP THE YOUNG
The older I get
the harder it becomes to
carry heavy hearts.
Young hearts are heavy
these days of heatwaves, flooding
and fires of war.
My own heart has slowed,
unable to speed or race,
beating a steady pace.
The young run shouting,
fueled by alcohol and fun,
circling around me.
I try to tell them,
straighten your path toward the goal,
a race to be won.
I shout from the sidelines
loss of freedom is gaining
on you, as you play.
Age carries no weight.
My words tossed away as trash,
as victory fades fast.
Woke becomes useless
for the young who sleep too late.
Please, now, come awake!
AGING SPACES
Somewhere along the way
the package I carried has been mislaid.
Since I did not notice it missing until today
its importance has made little impact, I’d say.
The years rolled by day-after-day.
space where the package once stayed
grew dusty with age.
Until the day, where nothing could stop the rage
of loneliness filling page-after-page;
searching for communion with those not my age.
Old connections are no longer stable and sure
as death knocks at too many old friends’ doors.
That space covered in dust reminds me anew
of those friends I mislaid as loneliness grew.
Seeking youth and more life is nothing new.
But, I know this to be true.
Old friends can never be replaced.
Their faces remain. They occupy my space.
Their love for me is my only pride.
Dead or alive they fill every space inside
where memory and love will always abide.
Filed under POETRY
NOVEMBER 8, 2022
Fear is funny that way.
Sometimes it runs hot.
Sometimes it runs cold.
Sometimes it sits and cries.
Sometimes it runs and hides
inside the mouth
under the tongue
where it is held hostage,
until it bursts forth in words
which ride on unleashed breath
in gasps and gulps
but flying free across the breach
to land on other tongues
younger, stronger, more free
to speak the truth
from mouths opened wide
whose words turn into votes
that set aside liars and their lies.
Then fear, finally, subsides.
Then words can move forward
to cool the earth,
to warm the hearth,
to fill us once again
with pride.
Filed under COMMENTARY, POETRY, POLITICS
DECONSTRUCTION
The streets were lined for blocks on end.
Signs reminded all who rejoiced to attend
Why they walked and talked and smiled and waved
At passing cars who braved delays
While drivers honked horns and shouted out
“Vote him out and make it a rout!”
Costumed critters danced to our delight
Knowing their freedom would give him a fright.
Deconstruct the lies we have been told.
Deconstruct the narrative being sold.
Deconstruct the bullie’s hold.
Deconstruct institutional mold.
Gather in peace the young and the old.
Stronger are you, more wise, more bold.
Deconstruct so we can rebuild
What he has destroyed with his minions’ lack of skill.
We know how to do this, and more.
We have done it many times before.
My thanks to my friends in Clintonville area of Columbus who helped me attend this moment of patriots’ challenge to the con men robbing the USA of its power, wealth, ideals and humanity. The lack of media coverage was appalling. The misrepresentation of attendance numbers cannot be challenged when media fails to provide images of the gatherings. A local station covered it AFTER it was over and crowds had dispersed. Another stated hundreds attended when it was actually thousands. We are here. We are resisting. We are going nowhere until the despotism and kidnapping of people and the Supreme Court, universities, news organizations, social media outlets, medical and public health Institutions… even our very language and the meaning of words and phrases has been brought to an end and freedom restored.
We shall not be silenced.
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Filed under COMMENTARY, POETRY, POLITICS
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