business decision

business decision based on numbers

how many people

due to our flawed design

will be in accidents?

how many will be maimed?

killed?

how many will sue for damages?

for suffering? for loss of family?

how much will it cost to change

design and production apparatus?

which is cheaper?

we’ll go with that

and eat the lawsuits then

i got rhythm

walking creates rhythm taken in

by mind as well as body

creating a repeated beat in poetry

composed while on a stroll

ah, the tricks poets learn

or fall into to further the art

that nourishes their soul

just before sunrise

haiku

frost-tipped dew whitens

marks grass, twig and leaf edges

clouds dull heavy gray

laughter without humiliation

laughter with family and friends

telling embarrassing interludes

we wouldn’t want just everyone to hear

but can share with those who will see

the humor without thinking less of us

that somehow eases the pain

of knowing again we are not perfect                                           

odorless killer

yellow flame

where always it had been blue

furnace running

with soot at its front

but the house not warmed

moist condensation

on the inside surface of windows

all noticed as we stand dizzy,

confused and short of breath

signs of carbon monoxide

varied dawns

my panorama view across the valley

to the west hills affords me dawns

so varied, dull gray and vivid gold

and each gives me pause to be grateful

late January sunrise

the colors of dawn were even more vivid than i captured

pentacle indeed

the little theatre in the woods

played neil simon’s emoting boy

remembering his 1937 extended

family stretched to breaking and then

stretching to include yet more

to an applauding, delighted audience

not much gained

tom sawyer as conceived by twain

with assumptions and superstitions

of so long ago that still ring true

that we no longer say aloud our belief

in racial superiority does not alter

our conviction or our actions

choice games

so many young people i’ve loved

so many little ones i’ve included

in games to lead, in loving laughter,

them to figure out for themselves

the hows and whys that yield

them independence of thought

and self-confidence of action

i watch them grown now into young adults worthy of respect in their own and others’ eyes

how much did my games help?

very little, probably, but i like to think

they helped in choosing direction

a mother’s pride

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fear not dreams

 dreams so vivid

i all but believe i am awake

but somewhere deep, i know

these people have died

and i fear not being with them

white sky

white sky

limited vista

but the chickadees and wrens

find the bird seed tray

and intrepid workmen

find the downed lines

to restore electricity

my stars

so pretty, the brilliance hovering

above the town in the valley

so sad, the light pollution hovering

over the town in the valley

neo-philosophies beyond ‘greed is good’

to blow your own horn sells more and

     selling is the point of life

to humiliate the disabled is amusing

to disparage other’s accomplishments

     proves I am superior

to turn might onto those weaker is not

     bullying but self-defense

to declare vengeance negates

     responsibility to seek solution

to whine and bitch are manly behaviors

weight of time and ice

 weight of time and ice

grinding pebbles into granite

creating geo-scape artistry

on greater-than-human scale

response

your call is important to us

text to us that you fear going to school

not for bullying or humiliation

but for the close sound of gunfire

whimper that you and small siblings

huddle to sleep in your car and have no

access to running water, let alone

shower or clean clothes

cry out in the night that the adults

around you are stoned, drunk

or threatening to desire you

our next available representative

will be with you shortly

your call is important to us

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 light snow at 32 degrees

at 34, snow-rain that then freezes

to ice what has already fallen onto

our hill, a paved logging road

with impossible slopes even 4-wheel

drive and chains find challenging

so i’ve been writing and reading

wrapped up in fluffed blankets

huddled in my home living on

canned goods and fruit stocked

up a week ago at meteorologists’

warnings of severe winter storms

a new, limited lifestyle that calls

from within me a rare perspective

of proper humility in the grip

of Nature as she wills

orange

haiku

burnished copper gleams

embers of dying fire

warming spiced cider

crusty old vets

 crusty old vets may have their reasons

as we send their youth off to war

not behind their fearless leaders, but shielding those who bid them wallow

in mud and trudge to shoot, sling fire, set off bombs, step on an IED which fragments and mutilates their buddy for all it’s being improvised

human flesh being vulnerable to explosive devices, friend or enemy

and when they return maimed in body

or soul their care is not commensurate

with promised glory, the system

devised, being expensive, is subject to

budget cuts by those same leaders

who stayed behind to devise more

policy of war

auditory irritation

flute playing what would be

an alto line of repeated note

breaks through my concentration

and bids me turn off the radio – now!