The Other Side

Tomorrow, elsewhere,
Twilight dreamland,
Things are better there...

Neolithic

Some guy in a cave
Charcoaled a bear,
Drew it on the wall
To show, and share,
A story about
A hunt, and a kill,
Beast defeated by
Humans’ skill...

(un)Assisted Living

Yawn, stretch, prepare
To rise and ambulate,
Greet the new morning
But don’t know day or date,
Having now reached a
Point where I drift,
Minutes a flowing river,
Each day an unearned gift...

January Seaside Park

Storm blows cold across the bay,
Harried waves grow green and gray,
Crash, break, in the fading light,
Seahawk lofting, like a kite...

Yokosuka Real Estate

Back before we became old and ill,
We built this house up on a hill,
Above the shipyard where he would go,
Down steep stairways, nice and slow,
To make a living in his workshop below,
But those were good days, way before,
Now we’re weakened, bent and sore,
Can barely climb the stairs anymore,
To our hilltop home with its gorgeous view
And cracks where winter winds blow through...

Each And Every Day

Move, stay still,
Do, or don’t,
Sometimes you’ll see it coming
Sometimes you won’t...

Hesitation

Unaware that the river
Wasn’t deep, just wide,
He did not attempt to
Swim to the other side,
Where things were happier,
He watched, never tried,
Hoping a bridge would
Be built, waited till he died...

海上の嵐

Passenger ship pitches and yaws
In a north Pacific winter gale
And he’s petrified, ugly sick,
Gripping a vomit pail...

What were the gods thinking
Casting a nightmare into the sea
Hoping it would drown, but,
Things turned out differently,
The evil dream learning
To churn and to breathe,
Birthing these monster waves
Which batter and seethe...

All this going through his head,
Trapped in a tortured cruise liner,
On a nauseous rolling bed...

Flux

Life, happiness, fate,
Are liquid, gaseous,
Not solid state...

Pensacola, June 1979

Stressed and shaking, drill instructor
Screaming into my ear,
Commence transition into warrior,
Through regimentation, fear...
Stand stiff, sweating, silent,
Making sure my civilian feet,
Align with yellow footprints
Painted on the grim concrete...

John Ford’s Gift

Bucket seats in a mobile box
From which we hear, see, feel,
Powered by fossil fuel, and
Man’s invention of the wheel,
Privacy, romance, and music,
Mobility and isolation,
The car is who we are,
In our automotive nation...

Ones And Zeros

A computer is a helper,
Or regarded as such,
But it can overwhelm,
Offer too much...

Appalled At The Mall

The ultimate fail,
Best years of my youth
Wasted in retail...

Something From Nothing

Time to be god-like
Learn to create
You’re not too old
It’s not too late...

Neurons Unleashed

Exterior quiet and calm,
Inside a tempest rages,
Ideas, memories, worries,
A storm for the ages,
Constant morphing,
Swirl, give and take,
Can it be slowed...
Is there a brake?

From Olympus

No point in wondering,
Asking why or how,
What the gods take away,
Or the gifts they endow...

YOLO

Do it, don’t worry
The if, why, or when,
Because you’re never
Going to be twenty again...

Pre-Conflict

Evidently, someone has
Started World War III,
Or so say the talking
Heads on phones & TV,
And we can’t avoid what
Will come, eventually...

In The Park

Sometimes get lost
In thinking
While walking around
Drinking...

Skyward

Behind the clouds
There must be stars,
Looking up from a
Prison with no bars,
Knowing they are
There gives hope,
That knowledge a
Small way to cope...

初詣

Japanese going out into
The cold January air,
Thronging shrines
And temples everywhere,
Lined up to offer
Coins and a prayer...

Last Night, 12th Month

Might be hard for
Young ones to believe,
But I tend to sleep
Through New Year's Eve...

No more drunk in
The cold, instead,
Spend the occasion
Warm, in bed...

Some Advice

Precise is nice
But for most stuff
Better is the enemy
Of good enough

Karen

Long lost, her voice,
Contralto, silky smooth,
As if purposely
Designed to sooth,
Sweetly sung out
From a tortured soul,
With a flaw she could
Not fix, make whole,
Her songs, dear and warm,
Masking the pain, the cold,
And she was taken away
Before growing old...

   

Flexible Approach

If front-on
Won't do it,
Try sideways
For a better fit,

Head first,
Sometimes can
Be the worst...