A Regrouping

These moments are not fair,
Some choose not to see them,
For fear it pulls them into depression,
As slow as teeth ease in,

Others embrace them like that's all there is,
Which is impossible,
They paint all good times like feeling the wind,
Like an insurmountable obstacle,

Not to say that life's a bowl of cherries,
Y'can't be a thing you make,
It's a dichotomy of good and bad,
Both of them claim a stake,

Not ev'rywhere,
There's e'er ambivalence,
The place from which you see them coexisting,
Despite a wholly lack of evidence.

Dashed Dreams

Live in expectation,
P'haps you'll get what you want,
Many a mogul first visualized,
What most of us cannot,

The accumulation of untold wealth,
Why would you want to say?
Buy cars worth more than a house when you could,
Feed thousands of poor for pennies a day.

Or forget possessions, what about love?
Some say they are the same,
A lucky few will get just what they want,
Without heartbreak or pain,

Then there is you,
Ever disappointed,
Wanting but going by it the wrong way,
You refuse to go where you are pointed.

Ascending Down

It's not so much the heat,
It's the humidity,
It's not so much that I'm a hated man,
As how it affects me,

Live and let live is the rich man's motto,
It's simple to afford,
Altruism's inversely related,
To how much life's horrid,

You must scrape together what you can,
For the necessities,
Talcom powder, shorts and very thick skin,
For the hatred one sees,

By those hated,
That is the irony,
Of course, spread the wealth evenly to all,
There will still be reason for jealousy.

Jorge Lime Seed

Ever get a tree seed,
Bestowed by a poet,
On tarmac midst an heavenly garden?
If you haven't, do it,

No need to wonder what you'll do with them,
They will find their way home,
Like us all, they are drawn down to the ground,
Unlike us, they've naught for which to atone,

You will find your way back from whence you came,
Not from whence you were born,
Alone in a bed, where else should you be,
When you're feeling forlorn?

You take the seeds,
Wish they'd grow in your palm,
Branches to take you high up to the sky,
With naught but A Hawke's limes for consumption.

Miami Beach Conventions

The least of our problems,
Were wet patches of mud,
If you looked down to try to avoid them,
You'd be squashed with a thud,

We stayed close, following the ones who knew,
Vests bright so to be seen,
If I hadn't passed the dinner tables,
I would have assumed they couldn't have been,

Each step uncovered a new obstacle,
Ne'er mind the acrid dust,
The only way out was to just accept,
Accept we knew we must,

So must you all,
Or, you know, I guess don't,
There are diff'rent ways to navigate life,
But if you expect it to bend, it won't.

On Stage

These words spoken to you,
In weak, quavering voice,
Do not quite understand their existence,
Don't know they have a choice,

As do the eardrums they manipulate,
To be there completely,
If ev'rbody simply lived this way,
All the world would be filled with poetry,

But more is the case we speak for ourselves,
Then that is all we hear,
A habit not born of solipsism,
But debil'tating fear,

Of what we know,
That there's no difference,
Between what any of us are saying,
We're trying to describe the same presence.

Finding Your Self

The day is so sunny,
The earth's awash with light,
Light is the nourisher of honesty,
Precursor of delight,

Delight may also be born of revenge,
Begot of broken heart,
Sister of unfulfilled expectations,
Whose spouse meticulously tore apart,

Casting darkness across the whole affair,
Alas, there goes the sun,
Blocked by clouds of distrustful, darkened thoughts,
In need of rev'lution,

Which is coming,
This fascism can't last,
Feel in your bones the sun deficiency,
You will fight for your own truth pretty fast.

As I Wait

'Tsnot as cold as could be,
The chill's just in my skin,
Besides, my home is cosy and toasty,
When I'm let in again,

But this beaded seat cover's a boon, too,
The coffee's strong and warm,
There's little risk of vi'lence on this street,
No last night's syringes scattered this morn,

The odd car drowns out the chirping of birds,
Both with places to go,
I flit 'tween varied messaging forums,
Alas, there's naught to show,

Though, I've a phone,
Reaching out's in my pow'r,
'Til the batt'ry dies, and I fall asleep,
Entering dreams e'en more lonely and dour.

In Case We Care

Is this where we're heading,
In line at Tim Horton's,
A conduit for the money we 'make',
For further consumption,

But not the kind that gives you sustenance,
It spawns anemia,
Until your heart's used to blood, thin and weak,
Waiting for the intelligentsia,

As the keepers of our morality,
Left stale and forgotten?
If it was my responsibility,
It wouldn't be rotten,

Not that we're bad,
We've just no direction,
It is time to reclaim independence,
If just to remember we are human.

Three Day Road

Let's forget he's a fake,
Co-opted a culture,
Won awards meant for a cheated people,
That his spirit animal's a vulture,

He may have reasons that are not selfish,
He might just be insane,
Whatever it is we've ere cleared our minds,
Because there is nothing we have to gain,

So then we focus only on his words,
Boy, what a tale he weaves,
Makes me wish there were even more awards,
To counteract the thieves,

To wit, us all,
Though we make no pretense,
It's bad enough we ignore the problem,
We punish those who come to their defense.

Daddy?

It was her voice, for sure,
As clear as the real thing,
Calling me, my vaudevillian daughter,
Rousing me from sleeping,

By the time I realized it was a dream,
It already woke me,
But in the dark I did not check the time,
It was a matter of self-perfidy,

For my body already knew the hour,
Too late to not be up,
Did I choose to ignore my dear girl's call,
So's not to interrupt,

My precious time?
I hope she understands,
I reserve my strength and spend no effort,
Except to bequeath her the upper hand.

Passed It

Mmm, it will all happen,
You can't stop it at all,
You have time, mass and karma against you,
Trust me, greater will fall,

You will die, too, that is an absolute,
Can't chalk that to theory,
Absorb all these facts, sit and meditate,
Only then will you no longer fear me,

You will wander the earth, but not be lost,
You'll e'er e'er arrive,
Not be distracted by the petty few,
Who are barely alive,

They don't matter,
Only those you love do,
The ones who don't need to hear what you say,
To once and completely understand you.

Little Brother

As a little brother,
I do appreciate,
The treasured joy reserved for just our ilk,
Almost considered fate,

Or p'haps a calling, futilely ignored,
Resting deep in our hearts,
Male or female, outside of race bound'ries,
Religion aside, something close to art,

The hidden hand hovering o'er a thigh,
Met with a harried cry,
"If you don't stop that I'm telling mother!"
"But dear mom, 'tis not I."

So innocent,
Yet devious, as well,
A childhood of practicing joy in pain,
A wonder more of us aren't in jail.

The Black Stallion

They had been through so much,
Each saved the other's life,
The one carried him to a distant shore,
A dark and stormy night,

The other, before, as the ship went down,
Untied him from his binds,
One a young boy now without a father,
Th'other a horse leaving freedom behind,

Neither of them will ever find the joy,
Shared alone on the beach,
Fin'lly steed and rider almost flying,
But for it they'll e'er reach,

Living moments,
That's what it's all about,
You can spend your time recapturing them,
Or forever trying to find them out.

Kids' Poetry Judge

How to judge poetry!
Oh, let me count the ways,
But before that, let it be understood,
It’s a treacherous maze,

First I took Beauty, Power, Thought and Fun,
Those, I weighed equally,
Then Message, Technique, Meter, Impact, Form,
Lastly, not least, Originality,

Scoring all these, I achieved some order,
But poems ain’t numbers,
So I wrapped my heart softly with your words,
Verse must rouse one’s slumber.

But they all did!
See the difficulty?
Keep on expressing yourself to the world,
Those that won represent you all to me.

To Date

Try to leave this shadow,
The movement into light,
If you think it may open horizons,
Well, you know, it just might,

May, too, expose you to all sorts of harm,
It's not safe to be seen,
It means your obscene opinion of things,
Can then be judged by all human beings,

You're not a silverback destined to rule,
To defend to the death,
When you die it will be on a soft bed,
With regret on your breath,

For what wasn't,
Also, for what there was,
Close your eyes, imagine you face it now,
That is what every fearless one does.

Public Speaking Fundamentals

The key to public speech,
Has been cast by science,
A recipe of various techniques,
On it we've reliance,

Just follow the steps and you've first built trust,
Then wowed with confidence,
Soon they will be like putty in your hand,
You'll even sway those who were on the fence,

Anyone can be taught how to do this,
Everybody should,
Then, maybe, we wouldn't always be duped,
By evil playing good,

We'd think for us,
And think of others, too,
Sure, charisma would be in short supply,
But p'haps the world won't be run by the few.

Be Safe

Let's talk about safety,
And what it means to you,
The thought that living long is important,
Sticks with all but a few,

But even Alfalfa was shot dead young,
With so much to live for,
What was he thinking in those final breaths,
That would have been wiser with ten years more?

Or is it that his encounter with death,
Shot in the groin o'er scratch,
Might have led to some change in perspective,
What plans might he have hatched?

Like living well,
The last of all regrets,
When there's nothing to risk, we play our cards,
Which is much too late to make any bets.

The Painting

After hours of painting,
Meticulous detail,
Stepping into and out of the picture,
Just your mind to avail,

It's not reality you're creating,
It's perception at best,
So, as eternal as all our minds are,
How do you judge if you need more or less?

I mean, you have to walk away sometime,
Decide you are all done,
Say, "not one more brush stroke will be needed,
To cap this expression."

Where is that line?
How to recognize.
To pinpoint where imagination ends,
is to understand the point where it dies.

Tiding

I do not mind waiting,
That's the thing about me,
Leave me sitting someplace for days on end,
I'll have made lemon tea,

Then while I drank it I'd think how lucky,
It was I had lemons,
Plus, apparently, a water kettle,
Talk about making peace from battlements,

I've never been one to just sit around,
Have I told you 'bout me?
You can step all over my heart and soul,
I'd repair them tout suite,

I'm not heartless,
Or there'd be naught to fix,
Nor is my soul stronger than the next guy's,
It's just any challenge gives me kicks.

Animals Are Beautiful People

Who is the animal,
Us humans or the beasts?
There appears to be less complication,
In the latter, at least,

Which is what all humans strive for, I think,
Some peace, simplicity,
We get complicated striving for it,
Then Stevie sings Living in the City,

Truth is, we are all cut from the same cloth,
Circumstances rule us,
Evolution is about adjusting,
Sometimes one's just callous,

Or else she dies,
No one wants to do that,
The key is acknowledging your actions,
As the best response to all the known facts.

Hold On To It

This is just amazing,
Really, what could beat it?
The last time I felt this good about things,
I was then defeated,

Staying on top is riding a fine line,
It's easy to fall down,
For you have to maintain what got you there,
Because success is a series of rounds,

To stay strong, in shape, you need to focus,
When you just want to play,
But the only thing you can act'lly enjoy,
Is how you feel today,

Still amazing,
Which could change in a beat,
Whether a meteor falls on your house,
Or she you trust turns out to be a cheat.

The Bombs

Bombs flying in the air,
It happens ev'ryday,
So much, we don't even hear about it,
Unless they choose to say,

Which they do for a specific reason,
Fill the news with one thing,
That way you can either do another,
Without the population noticing,

Or so they can control the perspective,
Guide the people's thinking,
Then before you know it they've done something,
'Fwhich you have no inkling,

For, say, money,
Or to spark a world war,
Though those are not mutu'lly exclusive,
What do you think the one was e'en made for?

The Day Before

Trying to get it right,
Like everybody else,
But my god, aren't we all just human,
Who can love just one self?

We all do our best to love everyone,
Because we want it, too,
Miscommunication of our desires,
Can put the wrong people in front of you,

Like, say you're a salesman dying to sell,
Just for the commission,
You don't believe in the product, s'of course,
You're dealing in fiction,

Then are found out,
For the fraud that you are,
When the reason you took the job at all,
Was the interiour of the new car.

The Step Back

Jeeze, I almost forgot,
'Mongst the self-absorption,
Flinging shit with the hope that it will stick,
Chip another portion,

Of the armor around Custer's last stand,
Bent to fare the same fate,
If the abuse has anything to say.
Its goal is to turn all hope into hate,

But its intentions are ill-directed,
There's no victory there,
It may succeed in wreaking its revenge,
But will leave itself bare,

Naked and chill,
Alone and left to rot,
My god the power of a once scarred heart,
Blind to the damage it also has fraught

The Invisible Enemy

This man had lived his life,
Like most understand it,
Got an education then worked for years,
Like soci'ty planned it,

But then something inside him begged for more,
He lived once more again,
Doing something different at sixty,
Like there're no rules about being human,

Everyone close to him told him stop,
That's not how things are done,
Not the most supportive community,
But lots of affection.

You're prob'ly like,
"I don't have those problems",
So if there're no obstacles in your life,
Why do you lack any motivation?

U.S. Senate Votes To Repeal Obama-Era Internet Privacy Rules

The internet was once free,
I will tell my children,
You could navigate it like a tourist,
Confident that your movements were hidden,

I think the government let it mature,
To see what it became,
Knowing it only took legislation,
To step in and change the rules of the game,

Then we were all caught in the tangled web,
No living without it,
Ev'ry one of our movements could be tracked,
That's when we were outed,

Our lives stolen,
Freedom, only in name,
Knowing we could be reined in any time,
If the system felt we need to be tamed.

Linchpin

This gift I give to you,
Made from what's in my heart,
As unique as the lines on my fingers,
Technology turned art,

Existing because it just won't stay in,
Hold on, that is not right,
It would not exist if it stayed inside,
If it is not shared, it is out of sight,

If it is out of sight, then so am I,
Hidden in the machine,
We are evolved only when we're conscious,
Otherwise, we're unseen,

Nay, not e'en there,
Alive, but not living,
Our purpose is to express who we are.
That can only be achieved by giving.

While You're Reading This

There's not much more to do,
Than what you've been doing,
Because what you've been doing's what you do,
'Less there's more ensuing,

In which case, when will that be coming out?
You have a date in mind?
Will the time be ripe at a certain age?
D'you know what it is and are you behind?

Maybe you shouldn't be reading this now,
You've got too much to do,
To catch up to the person you should be,
And finally be you,

But who is that?
Yes, another question,
Asked by me, while I'm sitting writing this,
P'haps my own block to self-realization.