Monthly Archives September 7, 2024

. Empty Words There was a time not long agoWhen insults led to deadly duels.Today, on streaming videoI saw men call each other fools. And women did the same, and worse,Forsaking wit and eloquenceWith every...

. Cicada Serenade Boys hang their beat on the heat of the summer. Sticky days twang with their thick, tinny ring. Banshee crescendos and thrums from each drummer Shiver mesquites where the mockingbirds...

. Supply and Demand Infinite happiness isn’t available. Something so precious just isn’t that scalable. Boundless dismay, though, is much more attainable. Being uncoveted, pain is quite gainable. . . Off...

. Where Virtue Dies In the city of Washington, where virtue dies in the immoral sewage as it putrefies, those who tell the most brazen, despicable lies, and accumulate sound bites that self-aggrandize, trade...

. Dante in Modern Times If I were Dante, and the quest were mine To reprise chapters of his Comedie For modern times, perhaps no less Divine For being steeped in modern tragedie, I’d start with Hell, where...

. Recipe for a Poem Scraped clean of glib and warty observation, On pristine paper place one piercing thought. Add in the fragrant oil of concentration, Simmer in meaning. When the blend you sought Requires...

. Coupled in Rhyme She sees me better than I do, so in her sight I strive to be worthy to lie with, never to lie to. She knows me better than my best, brings comfort to my days, makes manifest the loving balm...

. The High Priest's Homily Once Man, in thrall to ignorance, believed the world was round, But now we know that everything is one vast sea of sound, __And what seemed solid ground Is but an anxious emptiness,...

. Clouds Over Skye Vast mounting clouds rise over peak and vale; Their shifting billows filter noonday´s beams, Which pierce the spectral haze, so wispy pale, And flood the hollow, where a wee tarn...

. Circling In It’s time (I tell myself) we circled in;Gave up at last the overwrought concernThat pulls us this-way-that till we begin To lose the human power to discernWhat truly holds and what has little...

. For All Who Labor by Christine de Pisan (1364-c. 1430) Lady, fair branch where God’s grace blooms,Our labors, Saint Bernard assumes,Are benefited by your taskTo help those who ply hoes or broomsWhen night...

. Garden Party The sparrows near the feeder flit and preen While predators politely quit the scene. A mockingbird is chirping up a storm, And soft drinks on the cart are getting warm. The worms beneath the...

. Married to the Mob He’s going out again today. What for? His hundredth chance to settle some old score? “Damn this! Screw that! Free cash! Free hash! More war!” It seems some things just never change,...