American Story

Routine traffic stop,
Young man and cop...
A failure to relate
Or communicate,
Effectively seals
The young man's fate,
Shots fired in panic,
Blood thereafter spilled,
Over misread signals,
Needlessly killed...

Opinions Are Like Assholes

Some folks develop political views,
Base on the partisan bullshit
They ingest from the TV news,
All unaware of being victims
Of the con the media spews.

Kanagawa August お盆の直前

Japanese hold hand towels and fans
In the humid eighth-month heat
Stringing up lanterns for when
Those alive and dead will meet

Raptor's Repast

A misplaced sandwich
Of luncheon meat,
Becomes a dive-bombing
Seahawk's breakfast treat,

Always scanning below,
The Seahawk swoops
Down before the crow,
Food snatched away
Before you know...

Wild Pitch

Life throws curve balls at you,
Your peace, what you believe,
Then the inning changes and
You suddenly get a reprieve,
Rolled dice duly determine
The fortune you shall receive.

Superstition

So far, so good,
So good, so far,
Led by the light
Of a lucky star,
Or so we're told,
And there you are,
Place your bets
And sell the farm,
Put your trust
In the lucky charm.

End Of July

Cicada's vibrant
Desperate cry
Under a sultry
White-gray sky

Memory

Yes, I suppose if an apology is
Offered, I shall be able to forgive,
But I will continue to remember
It for all the days I will live,
Memory is stubborn, and time
Can sometimes erode and erase
The hurt which currents deep,
Adding lines to my face...

Disappointment

Hopes and dreams
Abandoned, unpossessed,
Leave him looking back,
Empty and depressed,
Alternative plans and
Proposals left unexpressed...

Eruption Beauty

The mountain exploded,
The ash cloud's flow,
Kissing a rain shower,
To make a rainbow...

On The Cusp Of 60

So, I ask you, do my words get
Better, more poignant, with age?
Well, I'm here to tell you it's
Camouflage for irony and rage.

When you finally get to be
Old enough to know better,
It's all right there for you to see...

Post-EURO Hellenica

Big debts, owed by Greece,
Leave little prospect
Of pay back, or peace...

In The End, A Stranger

Who are you?
You, who we
Thought we knew,
Yet, we now know
We didn't have a clue.

What seemed so warm,
Was found to be cold,
And heartless, if the
Truth be told...

Avian Wisdom

Swallows always know best,
But how, I do not know,
To cleverly build their nest,
Under eaves, away from the crow.

Dogma's Fiscal Reality

Priest, Iman, Rabbi, Minister,
All consider unbelievers
As lost, even sinister,
Places of worship cost
Money, there's bills to pay,
Religions go broke if
Their customers stay way...

Holy men and shamans,
In dark ancient days,
Learned to apply the
Magic of nature's ways,
Now their descendants
Have learned how to sell
Subservience through
Fear of "others" and Hell...

What's So Funny?

The thing which made them laugh out loud
Was "funny" -- fear and relief melded into
Hilarity, safe in the snickering crowd,
Hoots and giggles born from the part of
The brain where thought is not allowed...

Listen carefully, if you please,
Humans laughing sounds
Like monkeys in the trees...

Spinning Wheels

It became apparent to me,
Sometime between the ages
Of 52 and 53,
That return on investment
Decreases steadily,
And I will fade into a
Tired type of liminality,
Until the pension kicks
In and I'm finally free.

Prophesy

Humans, who are are in the process of
Killing Earth, will, instead be destroyed,
Before the atmosphere turns toxic
By a random, plummeting, asteroid,
Consumer life, as we know it, disappears,
Due to a rock, falling out of the void...

Gay Marriage? Welcome To The War

You say this,
And I say that,
Husband and wife,
Tit-for-tat...

You say no,
And I say why?
Friction, no matter
How hard we try,

The combat rules
Of marriage apply...