yesterday’s new verse

oh, dear God, please, not again,
is this another poem?
i wish they could get help for him,
or put him in a home;

half his lines, they don’t make sense,
the other half don’t rhyme,
i simply can’t decipher them,
i haven’t got the time;

and what am i supposed to say
to yesterday’s new verse?
getting on this list of his
has since become a curse;

all i did was help a friend,
encourage him to write,
now i’m getting life defined
at nine o’clock at night;

listen to me, carefully,
and spare yourself my pain,
tell your would-be poet friends
that Shakespeare hurts your brain.

snuggles

they’re purple, and pink, and lavender blue,
and puffy, and fluffy, and fuzzy-tailed too,
that’s what a snuggle is when it’s new;

it waddles, it wiggles, and winks when it walks,
and tells the most thoughtful of tales as it talks,
it’s rarely annoyed, so it rarely much squawks;

you can’t really get one, they’re quite hard to find,
and awfully selective, if you’re so inclined,
they’re looking for one with the right state of mind;

one who believes with true faith, but asks why,
who still sees the magic in each starry sky,
and imagines what most would simply deny.

so much

so much of what used to be
matters so much less to me,
i see so much anew;

so much of it seems so strange,
still, so much, it hasn’t changed
so much as point of view;

so much, now, if once unsure,
feels so much like times before,
it makes so much so clear;

makes it clear, and so much so,
so much that a fool would know
he’d find too little here.

instant replay

i kind of have a problem
with certain referees
whose use of instant replay
is lacking expertise;

yes, i want to get it right,
to stop and take a look,
but at the twenty-minute mark,
a ref should get the hook;

if something’s indisputable,
it doesn’t take that long,
these hostage situations
are very simply wrong;

pursuit of such perfection
just isn’t worth its cost,
the goal is unachievable,
and too much else is lost.

us

it was different in our youth,
when we sought to find ourselves,
find the strength, and will, and goals
we aspired to define us;

though, at times, we were unsure,
we were rarely ever fearful,
and if pushed, if you should threaten,
we stood up, and we pushed back;

never fearless, but courageous,
we had faith, a true belief,
in ourselves, in who we could be,
and in all we might achieve;

you could see it in our triumphs,
dreaming big, then building bigger,
how we’d celebrate our finest,
honor talent, heart, and skill;

and the pride we took in learning,
in discovery, advancement,
and the sacrifice, and lifetimes,
of those most devoted few;

we had leaders, we had voices,
who spoke deeply and with passion,
of a purpose, of a vision,
that inspired us to heights;

they saw equal as a base camp,
and encouraged us in climbing,
asking those who neared the summit
to reach down and lend a hand;

but now older, somewhat wiser,
having lost our way quite often,
we seem satisfied with standing
as opposed to stepping wrong;

and, too often, stagnant speakers,
they divide us, and what’s left here,
with their promise to the faithful
of a growing share in less;

and i wonder how much longer
we will argue our direction,
before leaders, before voices,
have us moving once again.

i love u

i need u, i want u,
you’re part of understanding,
and i can’t get by without u;

but there are always issues,
and u constantly show up
in unfortunate situations;

in the unresolved, unfinished,
and in every foul-mouthed swear
i’ve ever uttered;

it’s unbelievable,
your touch, your influence,
as if u were ubiquitous;

but if i could erase u,
if u were gone tomorrow,
i couldn’t bear to speak;

for of all there is to say,
the single most important
will forever require u.

hey, stupid

hey, stupid, pay attention,
put down the god-damned phone,
in case you haven’t noticed,
the world is not your own;

there’s other people present,
there’s lives you can affect,
lives you’re making harder
or even briefly wrecked;

you make the drive a nightmare,
you make the wait too long,
even when you’re making change,
you somehow get it wrong;

but seeing you so often
in strangers’ careless acts,
makes me question character
without a lot of facts;

if all it takes is one mistake,
it’s very plain to see,
the moniker ‘hey, stupid’
applies as well to me.

the dinosaur’s reply

dinosaurs don’t speak in code,
we don’t decipher text,
and we don’t use emojis,
especially for sex;

so, i most likely missed it
if that was what you meant,
which helps explain, at least in part,
the strange reply i sent;

i barely know your sister,
i never met her friend,
and that was not an offer
i ever would extend;

i think i must have copied
your images of food,
and sent them, out of order,
never meaning to be rude;

i know you say the lingo
is commonplace today,
but those abbreviations
can be read another way;

there’s no need for nastiness,
i don’t belong in hell,
i intended ‘lots of love’
when i wrote ‘LOL’.

musing seussically

come on in and have a seat,
our show’s about to start,
the Cat, the Hat, and all the cast
invite you to take part;

to feel the magic once again,
to think outside the Box,
to try Green Eggs, to meet new Things,
and play with Fox in Socks;

to find, in each adventure,
that little something more,
that grin, that laugh, that smile,
it always has in store;

a getaway, a great escape,
from what’s become routine,
reminding you, through fantasy,
so much of life’s unseen;

its mystery, its wonder,
but whispered by a sage
who beckons, through our Feline,
it’s time to turn the page.

falling snow

how apropos
of falling snow
to settle on my grave

and consecrate
what, as of late,
is neither found nor saved…

as seasons come,
and seasons go,
in lives forever blessed

to recognize
where beauty lies
before they’re laid to rest.