Product Placement

Humans share an odd reality
Watching the same things,
But differently, on T.V.,
Colors, pixels making gods
Worshiped incidentally,
As part of their video
Culture, humans seem free,
As they gaze, open-mouthed,
At reruns, yet unable to see,
It was produced to sell
Products for you, and me...

Somewhere South Of Camp Leatherneck

We go outside the wire, step by step,
Head on a swivel, we carry out a plan,
In the gray-brown mountains, we will
Search, discover, and kill the Taliban,
Before they kill us, young dudes, in
Way over our heads in Afghanistan,
Veterans of suburban Malls, we play
This killing game, the best we can...

Divine, And All Is Fine

The gods decide to play, have some fun,
And below on Earth, thereafter things
Complicate, and become a bit undone,
The gods' intent sort of misconstrued
By those who couldn't know anyway,
They pray, as things become unglued...

Pilgrim's Progress

Growing up, does not happen
In a straight and narrow line,
Life is curves, and despite the
Time & detours, all is fine...

  
  

Atmospherics

Bedazzled, on a beach,
Where I stand and view,
A good day's end, in
Orange, pink, and blue...

The Edge Of Deep Sleep, Number 7

So tired, that I find myself
On the edge of the known,
Under the star dust which
Cosmic winds have blown
I wait for sleep to arrive
In the dark blue twilight,
But it's so hard to surrender
To slumber, try as I might...

To Nurture

Women fix and remake
The myriad things that
Men bruise and break

Adrenaline Cowboys

Each new generation
Must have its war,
Never mind the pain
Which happened before,
Each new generation
Of bored young men,
Will seek the thrill of
Combat hunting again,
Killing for religion,
Revenge, or victory,
They relearn old lessons,
The heartbreak and PTSD...

Freedom

Grown up and out through
The ornamental hedge,
From some random seed,
Sprouts a lush and leafy
Magnificent weed,
Standing tall, unnamed,
Green quiet evidence
Of Nature untamed...

Omaha, 1971, Mowing The Lawn

Push, push, cut the blades that stick-up,
Sticking-up being some sort of violation
Of an unwritten suburban expectation
That all will be blue-green and flat,
So, I'm out, under a hot Nebraska sun,
Mowing grass, there's no guarantee that
This act of gas-fed cutting, once begun,
Will ever deliver the result desired,
An end-state of green lawn perfection,
Which only leaves me burnt and tired.

OMG TMI LOL

Millennial attention spans,
Always changing, never dwell,

That's just as well.

Always There, Your Choice

One way to be totally free,
Is to go straight, at speed.
When you come a "T"

What follows, will follow,
Momentarily...

First Love At Summer Camp

Half awake, I lay by a dying camp fire,
Trying to remember her face, her name,
Her touch, fading into illusion as I tire,
The taste of her kiss all gone too soon,
Quietly, under the light of the moon...

Quick, Before It's Lost...

My thoughts outrace
My fingers' tapping
Man-machine interface
Inspiration lapping
Letters in a dream race

Drifters ドリフト族

It's amazing how busily
We strive to get from
Point A to Point B

How hard we fight
Racing each other just
To stop at the red light

And at the intersection
Ignoring where we've been
We avoid eye contact
Then start speeding again...

Sunflower Sunset

A little simple happiness and peace,
Is sometimes the best you can get,
All good, lying back on the grass,
Looking out on a sunflower sunset...

(By Mark Harm Niemeyer)

 

Busy At The Monastery

Belgian monks brew a strong beer,
Alcohol content about 9 percent,
Drink its smooth bitter gift, soon
You don't know were you went...

Be This The Verse

They fuck you up, your mum and dad.  
They may not mean to, but they do.  
They fill you with the faults they had
And add some extra, just for you.

But they were fucked up in their turn
By fools in old-style hats and coats,  
Who half the time were soppy-stern
And half at one another’s throats.

Man hands on misery to man.
It deepens like a coastal shelf.
Get out as early as you can,
And don’t have any kids yourself.

(By Philip Larkin, April 1971)

.... My muse ....

Convection Rejection

The storm approaches, rumbling,
And she, and I, are on the porch,
Tension rising, as I'm fumbling
With her bra-strap, not aware
Of the thunder clap, sudden boom!
Then pow! She's no longer there...

 
 

Woods, Would...

I had a dream, walking through
A forest, all silence and peace,
Spreading about, afoot, all blue...

1962 Nelson's Kanji Dictionary

I keep my father's book, like a secret prize,
On the shelf, sometimes under my pillow,
Fingered pages known only to my eyes
The book, one the few physical things
Linking me to Papa, now so long gone,
Taken away to soon on angels' wings...

A Hippie's Advice

Tomorrow's wind will blow,
Whichever way it will,
Gone by before you know,
So make sure to enjoy it
All, and go with the flow...  

Spring's Deception

Spring puts on a cool masquerade,
A green show of a new beginning,
But a deal's already been made
'Tween winter and summer, soon
We'll be sweating in the shade...

Morning Message

Still dark, just before dawn,
A bird sings, another answers,
Assuring each other upon
The new day's arrival, they
Survived the night now gone...    

The Final Toast

He, and the three others, still alive,
Heroes and survivors, 70 years
After the famous raid on Tokyo...
With courage bigger than their fears,
They flew toward death, most
Surviving, returning to the cheers
Of a wounded nation, all of it
Now history, the last four have
Come to together to open and split,
In a final toast, a 117-year-old
Cognac, to drink and to remit
A portion of the debt to their
Buddies who died, but did not quit.