We are highly connected and interdependent.
More than many people understand.

We are experiencing precisely as predicted
that would happen in today's social media
and the political environment.

Severe symptoms spread much more quickly.
Negative emotions spread like a contingent,
much more than positive ones do.

Delusions spread more quickly than
ordinary thoughts or reality.

Points recently made a leading psychiatrist

The echo of the lie
Carries on through time

Lie upon lie in time
- Stain

The filthy froth
The couplet wrought
- staining

Froth the filthy foam

Grief on grief
It is heaped
- stained

Grief, O, grief carried on

I dream my poem as if a sketch
The stroke of my pen is the first step
From which it can become painted reality

There's a hard wind blowing from the north;
And the wintertime has become so harsh.
Yet, I'll not worry, not for long, because
Long before the summertime comes again
I'll be gone.

For there's silver in my wings so strong.
If I spread them wide they’ll turn to iron;
And I will fly up to the sky and across the sea.
For there's alchemy for this silver in my wings.
Yes, I'll soon be gone.

It is Love that has to be believed to be seen.

Deep within the heart, My World, the illusive passage

Tremulous feelings emerge into a light, which becomes You.

The sun is out and birds begin to sing;
"Lovely" is written on the clouds that remain.
A battle of sorts breaks out between 2 mockingbirds;
You'd think that it wasn't dead of winter
But had turned to spring.

In my mind
I follow the line of beauty
In every fiber of your being.

It stretches from the 1st time
I saw your face to the last.
Its continuum tethers me, still.

You were a wild, tortured soul
It would take a warrior to tame
The beast that lodged within you

And so I fought in full-battle gear
Until I could not go on and lay down the sword
My armor had dropped off year after year

Until I was naked before all, defeated
Now you are dead my love,
But not by my hand.

Let my eyes drink in
The color of your eyes
Let them encase in amber
Your sweet smile
Come, sit with me, awhile

Let me dip into the well
Of your full love
As I thank the stars above
For the depth and breath
Of what you are

There are three known states in which substance is to exist:

A solid, which has a definite shape and volume.
Liquids, although having a definite volume, can only take the shape
       of that which contains them.
Gases; death and beauty in our conundrum; have no definitive shape,
      nor volume.

Ice
Water
Air

The ethereal nature that does exist,
An un-defining ethos,
This trinity of you.

Her fears rise-up like a great angry bird suddenly
Flapping black wings. Flitting here, then there.
Glimpses of what had been, what was, what might be.
But these are only the shadows of clouded eyes
Dulled with age and thickened in time.
Held within a brain dulled and thickened the same.
Shadows had darkened her life before,
Throughout her almost 90 years.  Now once more
They were back like an unwanted friend,
Yet these had never really been real
Only in that they now grip her life.

Criticize me if you will
For the brevity of my succinct verse.
I try to say what is needed in few words.
For I am a lazy poet not wanting to labor
Unending, nor burden you, dear reader.

Have any of you ever heard of or purchased a Poet's Market?  It's a wonderful resource for serious poets.  Search for Poet's Market, the 34th edition, which is the 2021 version.  I'm not sure what the latest version is.  However, an older copy will give you much valuable information and many of the same markets out there for poetry.

Deep pains leave the best scars
Like braille on your skin

Follow the story as you feel your way
Through a history written on thin sheets

Winter leaves in its wake its own form of beauty,
But eventually it gives way to the greening of spring.
And birds will sing, and flowers will bloom.
What of our love?

What's it like to be so free?
To fly so high, high, high in the sky?

But even you have limits
That I don't have.

I took your DNA in;
It lay around my place.
I wondered, "Will I breathe it in?"
Will part of you become part of me?
I longed for that permanence.

In "a home", on hospice care at 85, I peek in on Mom:

Perhaps my mother was having a good dream.
Maybe she was on a horse or playing her piano
or running through her childhood pastures.

We have our dreams, which sustain us through life,
Even to the end. I couldn’t bring myself to **** her from them,
So I left her sleeping.

31,025 days of life come to a close.

Evil is a light sleeper
Hate is a light sleeper
Prejudice is a light sleeper

Bedfellows who keep one eye open
Rouse at the slightest vibration
Of their wicked spiderweb

The thrill as some flighty creature glides past
Then soon the heart stills, discernment at last.

It was only a brief flutter on shaded-out wings
Quickly glimmered in the evening breeze.

It was only a shadow so why truly care?
This time of day aren't shadows everywhere?

They begin to sing before the light of day
When night has just begun to fade away
And it is a new day.

With dawn's light they take to wing
And begin the day with many things,
Morning song, bugs and seeds.

You are looking at me
With adoring eyes
Imagining that you see
Perfection

So, it would seem, yes it would seem,
My fellow, you have been caught
Between the wings.
Between the wings, my lover,
Like some flitting thing.
A buzz and a hum
Between fingers and thumb
You are such an amazing specimen.

I watch you play
Small and mighty
Yet you are flighty
Swift as an arrow
A funny fellow
Beauty shimmers
Light glimmers
As beat tiny wings
Inebriation
On occasion
Or so it seems
You sip then zip
Away

Floated in pools of honeyed-colored light
Autumn leaves caught the morning bright
Thus bringing summer's end with each new night.

Summer's foliage had built a garden so full of green delight
And played upon cheeks quite fair and eyes of childish spite;
While winter becomes a garment wrapped
   around our throats too tight.

My Sun,
You were my perihelion
But I got badly burned.
In the rarified air I fell.
My crash to earth, dramatic.
In time scars thickened,  
Desires weakened.  Yet,
The damage was done.

Stand near the cotton candy maker;
What a carnival atmosphere!
Sugar permeates the air,
    
We breathe; moisture glistens on our skin,

The taste briefly lingers on the tongue. Yet,
The thing sweetly desired obtained
Becomes a sticky mess.

Rain-scented perfume, this
Aromatic smell of rain-soaked earth
Monsoon-infused, centuries-old.

A man turns his head towards the laughter
As he crushes a batch of ancient clay.
Knowingly his attention returns to his family.

It is the smell of the baked, parched soil
When the first rains arrive after the drought
Which concerns the artisan of scented oils.

The enticing fragrance fills the air
With each precious drop of heavy syrup
Eked from the ages, eked from eternity.

Captured in the tiny bottle, power-filled.
The process has survived the fall of civilizations
And empires and conquerors.

It is said to have healing powers.
Aged like the land and its ancient people,
Deep and rich, the liquor of the essence of time.

It must come from this land, this people.

(a corny little poem)
A happy moon smiled at me
If you just look you will see
The happiest skies are filled with love
The moon, the sun, the stars above
So, with this poem I send a hug
And let all above give your heart a tug

Man made his brow
Furrowed like a garden row.
Indeed,

He held his own perfectly
Like eyes looking heavenward
In night skies

Searching for hope.

Du coeur je demande:
Of the heart, I ask
"Qu'est-ce qui ne va pas chez toi:
What is wrong with you?

Du als Objekt:
I asked you a question.
Du als Reflexivpronomen:
"Why aren’t you looking
at yourselves in the mirror?"
Pourquoi ne vous
regardez-vous pas dans le miroir?

"Vous n'avez pas l'air bien!"
You do not look well!
Du mit einem Nomen: "You idiot!"
"Les malades du cœur"
The sick heart,

"Ce cœur, notre cœur"
This heart, our heart,
de la regarder:
Look at it,
mon Coeur: my love.

I love the sky, sunrise and sunset, so much
That at times I can hardly breathe.

Only when we’re brave enough to explore
Do we find the breathless moments.

I love you so much that I am forever breathless.

Like a nomad and the desert
A bird and its feathers
Like rain in stormy weather
You and I go together

If the nomad leaves the desert
Or the bird drops its feathers
Or no rain comes in stormy weather
You and I will still be together

And on the winds of weather
We fly as if with feathers
To hide within the desert
Forgotten but together

In eternal love

there is wonder of all kinds
never boring
beating my wings
moon over life

I am half-sick of shadows.
There, up there is my light
Where meteors shoot,
Where clouds form,
Where lightnings strike,
And stars come and go.

Crawl into my branches
Let me cradle you
How can we go
From one to two
If you remain
On the ground

Mortal beings like caulk
Flaking with time and use;
Like artists blowing away dust,
Dusting away brief accumulations -
These moral beings. Transactional movements.

5-3-5
Watching it go in
Basketball
Arc of perfection

7-5-7 Haiku
My favorite team plays off
Enter the finals
Being champions of the West

7-5-7
Watching the ball reaching home
The basketball is flying
It is an arc of perfection

One thing alone could end my love,
When Time has stopped my Heart,

Though you have left me, here alone
To stumble in the dark.

Then, I heard the Raven say,
"Nevermore!" today.

Black as night
Coal for eyes
Glee at shiny objects
Gathering bits of light
You bring gifts

Ever dancing, keeping time;
We are born with rhythm,

We were born to rhyme.
We come from the womb

Already much equipped
To just get to it 'n let 'er rip!

At times the
Abscess of my mind
Must be drained.
For, yes, at times
I feel quite insane.

Pin to paper,
I must lay down
A lot of stinkers
Before I can write
A masterpiece,

And let the ooze out.

Grape kisses
On eyelids
Purple shimmers
Across the cheeks
Button nose aglow
Eyes that sparkle
Mine and yours
We walkthrough
An exquisite tunnel  
Cascading with flowers
Of wisteria tunnels
I lead you out
You want to stay
Forever, you say

The warning was clear
If you leave
You can never come back
And with that
They killed off the character

When I see you again

I'll choke back the years . . .

of fears
of tears
of needing
of wanting
of not having
of not knowing

And you will explain
What actually happened.

Ducks and geese and floating feathers
Falling amidst the shimmering sparkles on the bay;
All to the tune of children’s laughter
As they spin and twirl and play.

Just sit and bathe in wonder.
And as you breathe,
I mean really breathe
Let wonder bathe over you
Washing your dusty soul,
Cleansing the murkiness
From your eyes, then just smile.
That will be gift enough.

Two lives fusing
      as one
Intertwined
“Ieo vos tien foi tenes le moy,”-
“I hold your faith, hold mine.”

Once found,
This tensile strength,

Not much can
Ever get me down.

I look to You with
Steel-rod spine,

But gentleness inside all
Will find as I walk with You.

For You hold the stars
Within Your hands

And with an upward toss
Direct them where to go.

The universe sparkles
With Your truth and power

And through Your spirit glows.

Some of us do not function well in chaos
Some of us can function quite well
And some maintain the status quo

Some of us will rise above
Even as some will sink below
There will be hands to slap away

Even as there will be hands to hold
And as time will undoubtedly go
What, in the end, will be your story told