Good Morning, Happy Birthday!!! ~ Wednesday, June 28, 2023

Uneven sidewalk,
looking through my bag, I fall
tumble to my side

now, I'm fifty-four
good morning, happy birthday
on my way to work

even the Metra
feels strange now from Evanston,
my first ride southbound

vengeance is zero
my palms scuffed, whom to complain
to, who must I chide

enjoy the train ride
sights and sounds, Cathy beside
me chats on her phone

nobody else cares
earbuds to block out all noise
I feel like a jerk

slip, fall, what a day
which way am I going, to see
not to see, I found

ignorance, a curse
crosses my lips, expletive
my voice speaks, not mute

deaf, dumb, and blind, truth
hides in knowledge, in neglect
attention, I own

eventually, mice
eat away to cut the thread,
when will I grow up

when will I become
the truth hidden in knowledge
faces show they know

as I grow older
honestly, I remain young
but unlike a pup

life throws obstacles
my way to avoid, deflect
if I take a blow

kindness falls like grace
manna from heaven, I live
I tumble and fall, cute

River Flow ~ Tuesday, June 20, 2023

Here, there is this place,
that is not here, not a place
somewhere you go

every day, nowhere
you know but once you arrive
you know you were here

recently, if time
were not but an illusion
for you never left

each person resides
here, altogether as one
in the river flow

take a moment, sit
and breathe, for the illusion
is real yet not real

here, no illusion
exists, nor does not exist,
all within the sphere

even if you know,
you know you could never know
you are left bereft

remain with this lack
fully aware to deprive
a person denies

each affirmation
for a negation to grasp
the hands you may deal

imagine this space
that is without dimension
within all space-time

suddenly, you wake
to this life within a dream
but is not a dream

take a moment, breathe,
sit down, focus on nothing
this is not a crime

hit the button hard
to stop the express, the train
that comes to a scream

if you want off now
off the train that never stops
for truth beyond lies

suffer for your art
the joke, everyone suffers
reflect on your need

pleasure seeks out pain
to balance the perspective
outside all context

leave your mind alone
how does all this concern you
sense this is a game

ask yourself why me
reason with your emotions
find out what comes next

cease to give a damn
nothing and no one matters
blood red, all the same

even in this light
everyone appears alike
contradictions bleed

Ripple ~ Sunday, June 11, 2023

I see a picture
of me on the milk carton
with another boy

so is everyone
looking for me, I'm right here
way out in left field

even if John Smith,
the grounds keeper, said little
to nought to no one

even if his wife,
the naive, lonesome Dawn Smith
appeared not so coy

as a devious,
diabolical angel,
fallen with singed wings

pretending to be
good, honest and true, a lie,
I now know they wield

insight into death
as a plaything of children
who stare at the sun

causing the image
of that vast sphere to turn blue,
what machinations

to place little boys
deep beneath a baseball field,
where everyone sings

unsung praise for God
and country, viewing the flag
ripple on the pole

rip me a new hole,
where I may rest in peace, know
there is a tunnel

even as John Smith
drives a lawn mower above
me, dark as a mole

objects I can see
with a flashlight, my dad called
a torch, to funnel

fortune to this room,
where I can hear the crowds cheer,
under foundations

What if...? ~ Friday, June 9, 2023

Maybe I am wrong

to seek truth to understand
what remains hidden

of course, the whole truth
is simply a convention,
not the absolute

shudder to think, no
that I know the mind of God
when I swear an oath

each time in the courts
with my hand on the Bible,
what is forbidden

socially to speak
must be said as if I knew
synchronicity

in view of all time
occurring in one moment,
house of ill repute

no one seeks pleasure
more than I who seeks the law,
I who am not loath

concerning such facts,
to demonstrate my duty
as to speak my mind

how must I appeal
in word and deed, to convince
of cyclicity

inane conceptions
as if from analogy
when appearance feeds

cows grazing on grass,
the emptiness of ideas,
Plato and the forms

ages ago, time
burst without any witness
seeing a pipe bleeds

green or blue, a grue
of insidious beliefs,
a bleen, thunderstorms

orders of lightning
appeal to a creator,
Moses was not blind

Congé: A Ceremonious Bow ~ Sunday, June 4, 2023

I was once a child,
allegedly innocent,
sweet, gentle, carefree

What happened to me,
how did I become so lost,
a moth to the flame

As a young man, art
music, culture soaked my bones
I became a sponge

Slippery the slope
to becoming an adult
some never can see

Obstacles define
their existence until they
decide to climb out

Nimbly on two feet
or for some, two prosthetics
the real is no game

Call it blockages
or whatever you so choose
you must take the plunge

Expunge all the guilt
the shame, lunge past past mistakes
congé, to depart

Ask no permission
you and I are both adults
flow out the tea spout

Children never know
until they become adults
some may grow up fast

How lost I became
without care, guidance, support
these be the three keys

Insight becomes me
after fifty years of pain
at fifty-four, cast

Light into darkness
past the event horizon
move past this disease

Dysfunction destroyed
the soul, the spirit, the child
I was from the start