rancid milk of human kindness

rancid milk of human kindness

when one decides for many

the right path, the only way

to believe and live

even a child needs choice

and mild consequences to grow

into knowledge of self

and tolerance if not respect

for others who are, of physical

and mental and emotional necessity, as

different as each individual was created

turning livid

 burnished, bruised orange and gold

oozing between layered purple clouds

resting for breath on the eastern horizon

over minutes, climbing, seeping mauves

capturing bluing sky and gray clouds

infuriating them with scarlet

reach to the heavens, livid for needing

to bleed the sunrise into day

imagine that

sensitive to who kids are

witty in the spirit of their games

kathi brings out laughter

and gives safe haven to imagination

my october birdseed tray

 haiku

black-capped chickadee

chest red orange as though joyous

basks in dawn-warmed seed

hunter’s moon

hunter’s moon

hunter’s moon whitewashed

the field in the night

highlighting evergreen boughs

as though laden with snow

leaving little place for a deer

to hide

yet this morning an antlered  buck

pranced through my yard

alive and well

to my relief

putting us in our place

for every human on earth

there are a billion or more insects

so if we think we are the success

we are mistaken by at least

ten to the power of one followed

by nine zeroes

that’s a lot of hubris

halloween haiku

 wrestle with evening

fear-welcome the dark’s coming

respite or terror

permission granted

haiku

whiskered dawn stretches

languid on east’s horizon

allowing day’s start

lie still and wait

so long at bay, i’d begun to hope

the vertigo would never visit me again

but several times in the last few days

i’ve felt myself teetering

and twice now as i’ve turned

onto my left side, the world

has slithered by again and again

in rapid, sickening rotation

disheartened, i lie still and wait

what a day

beautiful, heartfelt wedding

early afternoon yesterday

and in the evening, symphony

with added circus acts

by lithe performers doing things

my human body could never do.

slapstick

abbott and costello meet the mummy

movie old with glitches and odd

with ancient jokes and slapstick

i was glad to be watching at home

rather than in a theatre as the whole

farce struck me as laugh-out-loud funny

this is the kind of horror i can enjoy.

obscure reality

 night sky, even miles from the city

more gray than black

brilliant stars still insist on being seen

but many of their apparent companions

are faded by our neon and LED and arc lights while we try to keep dark reality,

as we try with old age, at bay

poeming pigeon

ahhh -- i received my copy of the new Poetry Box anthology and read and re-read the poetry and look deeply into the color art. I am moved to be part of such a fine book. Whew

indoor-outdoor

images of grazing deer reflected on inane mystery

playing on my television screen remind me

there is more to learn and love in my yard

than on my idiot box

.

sparkles of excitement

tiny sparkles of excitement

enter the room with the parents

of the groom

sparkles intensify as they are joined

by the young couple for lunch

with loving friends

Eleanor’s Song

support a friend

in her prolong effort

contribute to her celebration

of well-earned accomplishments

and accolades

enjoy the honor of being with her

as admirers gather to hear her read

from her beautiful new novel

rejoice in creativity and appreciation

looking away

looking away

 even when i am aware

i miss looking up or out or down

or over at the right time

baseball is so boring for me

because i look away just as something

exciting happens—and there are long

spells between moments of excitement

but worse are the spectaculars

of the night sky i never see as i sleep

or try to peer through fog or rain

as the meteor showers of august

the world is part of something

so much larger that we might know

if we could view beyond ourselves

empty tray

california quail took months

to learn to lift to the elevated seed tray

but now muscle up beside one another

crowding to feed and clear hulls

backwards with their feet

emptying the tray, leaving nothing

for smaller wrens and chickadees

i wait until the quail have fed before

setting out each morning’s seed

acceptable losses

unable to fend off drones

bombs, missiles sent to destroy

an ‘enemy’ whose major offense

is swearing under his breath

or snapping at his wife when tired

from long daily labor

yet he belongs to a group deemed

hostile by policies of other men

declaring war while crowded safe

in luxury bomb shelters

who is held accountable for decisions

made in the name of others

that bring them to their deaths

as though they had say in the terror

that plunges their families

and themselves into pain.

anthropomorphizing

sun scurrying south for the winter

inches per morning

along my eastern horizon

cold season is milder here

on the Pacific coast than i remember

growing up in America’s Midwest

when at times the snowdrifts

were far taller than i was

so i question Sol’s need to bask

in the tropics

but Science exhorts that i am

anthropomorphizing

that the sun is not a ‘he’ making

choices but a physical mass following

laws of physics resulting from its limp

or wobble left over from collision

with sister planet Theia

i guess even planet siblings

do not always play nice