Simply (for Jeanie)

I have scars on my knees
and pain in my hips
but words of endearment
still fall from my lips.

The skin’s a bit wrinkled,
the hair turns to gray,
yet naught touches heart
that the voice will not say.

Its easier said now
and easier done;
a stream will flow smoother
the longer the run.

Simplicity matters
when push comes to shove…
I'm older and wiser...

and simply in love.


...

I Dream

I Dream

I dream in iambic
I mumble in verse
for Will was my teacher
and Em was my nurse.

My quill dips in fountains
of eloquent ink
and beautiful etchings
for Poe was my shrink.

I farmed with my Tennyson
planting the seed,
I studied my Cummings
(old e.e.), indeed…

“anyone lived” is a
poetry force…
and as for my Kipling,
I’ve kipled, of course.

I’ve mingled and mangled
with many a bard,
I will be a poet
it can’t be that hard.

Etchings

What was it took the babies off to war…
the adolescent wonder-fools, at best,
who’d yet to learn the fo'c'sle from the floor;
who couldn’t tell the study from the test?

They nursed upon the warrior code of Duke;
a hero of the legendary screens;
but never saw him scared enough to puke,
and never heard a grunt behind the scenes.

The military called them to a man
except the golden children in reserve
whose Daddies knew the secrets of the plan
and all the students grading on the curve.

Opposed were led directly to the blame,
the yeas were on the news before us all.
Survivors had to live or die with shame
for not becoming etchings on the wall.

Running

I do all my running in circles
when screaming and throwing a fit
and mostly I huff without puffing
whilst stomping away in a snit

Cause I do my exercise nightly
I’m walking at lunch without fail.
I cut iceberg lettuce in pieces
to carry to work in a pail.

I may lose my temper routinely
and screech like a Barbary ape...
but though I may shout quite obscenely
at least I am staying in shape.

Chocolate Fudge and China Tea

Silent friend sets to her tasks,
strives and works but never asks
what the end result may be...
lost in work or lost at sea?

Life is many things in all
bittersweet in large and small;
work unending building dreams
joy and sadness bursting seams.

Silent friend sets to her tasks
strives and works but never asks
any thing or thought from me...
chocolate fudge and China tea.


...