The Big Cold

January sunshine fails
To warm, or unfreeze,
The recipients
Of an arctic breeze,
Only the daffodils
Seem at ease....

八咫烏

In ancient times, an Emperor fought
To establish the country of Yamato,
-- Which eons later became Japan --
Using the power of a 3-legged crow...

介護施設

Old Japanese man,
In a home for the decayed,
Muses about green mountains,
Sunshine in a verdant glade,
As he has his bedding changed
By a Southeast Asian maid,
He strives so hard to go away
To where dreams might convey...

Breitbart?

Tune in to the daily news
Can't seem to do otherwise
The battle of opposing views
Alternative facts and lies
Which, together, truth abscise...

Carpe Diem

A brand new day to seize,
Quest for fame and cash,
I am ready for adventure,
But first, take out the trash...

The Show Must Go On

In a foreign land, separated by
Time and space, from home,
But it plays out under the same sky,
Language, costumes, different
But the same rules of theatre apply...

Roll Of The Dice

Expect the unexpected,
And if nothing special happens,
Best to leave it undetected...

Nebraska

The American Desert, not sand, but grass,
Stretches out to the horizon, before me,
The progeny of North Europe refugees,
Fishermen at that, who sailed to be free
From the chains of indentured tyranny,
They traveled to this flat fertile land,
A place, with no fish, in a prairie sea,
And those who could survive the winter
And a lethal boredom, live successfully...

(Photo by Geoffrey M. Hamilton, 1955-2011)

3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment

Sometime the watch is hard,
But regardless, it is always
Stood, by the Old Guard...

Mirror Image

After the nighttime rains and storm,
Stars gleam, like reflected jewels, on
The surface of the puddles they form...

27 JAN x 61

Out the door I go, propelled by a less than
Enthusiastic send-off from my wife,
Into a January twenty-seventh, and the
Reality of what has come to be my life:
Sixteen hours until my next sleep,
Full of banal errands, and micro-risks,
And I pray the gods my soul to keep...

Arboreal Passing

Was it the January wind,
Which made the old friend
Fall, or roots giving in to
Wet rottenness, in the end,
All gone now, the branches
In which nests were made,
And, come the warmer times
Same thing for the shade,
An old friend of a tree,
Quietly provided for me...

WW-I Soldiers Were Screwed

We bought a bunch of red wine,
In the French village, and then
Went back to the trench line,
Where we guzzled rum, and went
Over the top, all feeling fine,
And sedated, to dull the fear of
The death, the bullets assign...

Millennial Revolutionary

He wanted to make a statement about
His angst towards the new president
So he pushed over a trash can, and
Then away from the scene he went,
But not before making sure
Cameras recorded the heroic event...

Fishing Explained

The lure is tied to the line,
And dropped into the drink,
To fool fish, who take a look,
As if the fish could think,
Before swallowing the hook...

Figure It Out

How many brain cells can I offer,
To be consumed, serially, per
The dictates of those who would
Suck up all my DNA, vice err,
About what we consume, and shit,
More than I can ever defer
To another time, another place,
Brain cells, and warm wondrous
Memories, abandoned in space...

- - - - - - - - - -

Revised version:

https://commonpoemsandrhymes.wordpress.com/2017/01/17/figure-it-out/

2017 -- Happy New Year!

Politics, red or blue,
Wash all over me
Through and through,
Electronic yells and lies
All delivered, via
I-Phone, to my eyes,
And I am sucked into
The BS before I realize...

Chimay

Belgian monks brewed
A wonderful beer,
Drink it, and believe
In what's not here...

The sweet bitter
Taste, the subtle fizz,
Forget where, what,
The monastery is...

Do You Matter

It is a form of common sense
To know that your life's meaning
Is different than its relevance...

Reflection

All the days of my life,
Spent through time and space
And chaos, have brought
Me to this moment and place,
Where I pause as memories
Unravel and discase...

To Be A Warrior

The aging warrior strikes a pose,
Clad in his burnished bloodied bronze,
His face both fierce and comatose...

He holds in his hand a lethal sword,
The blade which cut and killed so long,
Back in the fabled days with the Horde...

The warrior's body is scarred and lean,
His smile, though, disappeared years ago,
Only a grimace remains to be seen...

In battle he grips the heavy sword,
His gritty muscles straining,
He raises the blade for a killing stroke,
To cleave the foes remaining...

He brings the steel edge crashing down,
In a moment of visceral splendor,
And sanity, like the crushed skull bleeds,
By the bloody boots of death's vendor...

In a much different place, a pale youth waits,
Reading, in the silo's control room,
Armed and waiting for the order to push,
The red bottom marked "Big Boom",
In the dim light the warrior officer sits,
She wears no armor, carries no sword,
And tries not to cry when the missile hits...

A Verse From Back In The 1970s

Look out for the hawk perched up on the door,
Try to ignore that talons might tear
The flesh from the back of your naked neck,
Walk on for a while, Hey, what the heck...

Watch out for the beggar who asks for more,
Try not to look at the scum in his hair,
He already knows how his alms will be spent,
His eyes are sharp, but his spirit bent...

Beware pf the blue-painted sailors' whore,
Watch her hips sway, but try not to stare,
She'll lick and kiss you, and boil your blood,
Then drag your soul through the city mud...

Keep track of the worms that feed in the sore
That rots the dark neighborhoods everywhere,
Keep hold of your wallet, your ass, and your heart,
Don't fool with your fate, you're not that smart...