Questions asked—
Answers evaded

Questions asked—
Churlish responses

Questions asked—
Reality revised

Questions asked—
Dangerous denials

Questions asked—
Squeaky clean!

Questions asked—
RED HERRING!!!

Questions asked—
Deny FBI

Questions asked—
AD HOMINEM!!!

Questions asked—
Boast, repost

Questions asked—
Uncivil snivel

Questions asked—
Snide asides

A question asked:
Where are we?

Scary judiciary?
End times?
Revolution?
Not in this Kansas.

I sleep next to
The time traveller’s wife
I’m there with her
In the then when where again

She sleeps next to
The time traveller’s life
She’s there with him
Bending being here and then

We sleep until
The moment is right
We wake being
Me, you, us and them

Nox, nox…
Who’s there?
Fooled.
Fooled who?
Fooled you, sucker;
It’s Fall!

A kitten sits
Between his paws
Mewling; little thing

He, stoic, sniffs
Gazing left and right
Guard dog on duty

Interspecies romance? No.
Cat and dog detente? No.
Beings caring? Yes.

https://www.facebook.com/SimplyBeautifulPage/videos/691408344341610/

Day and night being equal
At autumnal equinox
Tipping the balance
Of our planet’s wobble

It’s dark when I get up
Soon then when home again
Mercury retrograde
As temperatures drop

The reason for
The holiday season
Is taking us through the dark
Anticipating spring

A small step
A giant leap with
Chirps and tweeps
Tween Houston and there

Playing on the RCA
Console color TV
In the living room
When I was eleven

Something stirring
In my pre-adolescent soul
An ache; a yearning
Still with me now

Every launch since
Plumes of vapor and smoke
Lifting humans that
Challenge mortality

Every view of this blue mote
Seen from afar dazzles me
Earth rise from the moon
Dancing auroras from ISS

I could see the Milky Way there
Lucky rural boy I was
I can see the Milky Way here
Lucky rural man I am

I want us to go
I want us to know
I want us to yearn
To learn “Are we alone?”

A kid then, adult now
I want to remove my glasses
As Cronkite did then
When we set foot on Mars

Every night
Keep it tight
Get it right

Surf alliteration
Say what?
Synthesize

Take the turn
Don’t fear churn
Dare to learn

Some songs transport me
Sometimes going deep
So deeply I weep

“Sounds of Silence”
"Puff the Magic Dragon”
“Cat’s Cradle”

Yusuf wrote
Father to son:
“It’s not time…”

I made that change
Pilgrim’s progress
Wending Westward

In my ‘67 Mustang fastback
Weaving 7 Cleveland lanes
“I know, I have to go away…”

The color is pearl
With an undercoat of dread
Of what was really said

There is lead in the subtext
Mercury in the water
Novichok? Check.

I wasn’t there
I don’t remember
It didn’t happen

Supreme denial
With poison pen
Here then is


INCANDESCENT

My pulse prayer is simple
With every inhale and exhale

Every red thrum-a-drum
Heartstrings from then and there

Move through the world with care
Be good to each other; then some

A muscle in my metacarpal twitches
A metallic smell pervades the air
I think I hear a high-pitched whining
Hairs rise on my arms and neck

Heart rate slows
Thrumming in my ears
Pores perspiring
Pupils dilating

Something’s coming…
Or someone…
(Or something wrong?)
What!

Flight or fight has me
A finger twitches and
Eyes flicker
Stay or go?

STAY!
STAND!
BALANCE STANCE!
PREVAIL!

I am in fact a dinosaur
****** into the late 50s

Child of the 60s
Emancipated: late 70s

Came of age through the 80s
Became a man in the 90s

Time travelled in 2000 but
The naughts were frought

Better when in the 2010s
Seeing liberation by the 20s

Extant not yet extinct
This dinosaur still roars.

I believe what I see and
Dread what is left to dream
Fearing the fog between

I am in fact a dinosaur
Clearly what has come before
An optimism fossil

Someday what is actually known
If better than the either other
Will confuse these old bones

I sometimes let the credits roll
Dénouement with music beautiful
As the artist tribe parades

Fiddle faddle
Twitter twadle
Use some CAPS!

Call out SNAPS!
Sez rez Prez
Fake! Huge! Fakely huge!

I remember sentences
I remember sense
Nothing rhymes with orange

American
Armenian
Canadian
And Mexican

French
English
Portuguese
And then again

Latvian
Bulgarian
Czechoslovakian
From somewhereelseian

Earthlings crawling
On this speck of dust
Gravity flung around a flame
Trying to make sense of it all

I am tired of mendacity
Tweeting mansplainingly
Daily weekly repeatedly

True is fake while
Making it Great
Only to the base

Stop fake news
Choose
Vote

Who came?
Who spoke?

Da Bomb Obama
Worth two in the Bush

Who was *******?
Who’s fake news now?

(RIP JSM III)

Let’s do it again!

Frank N. Furter
McFly in DeLorean
Futureman Futterman
Tomorrow’s Legends (thanks DC)
Of course, Mr. T— (thanks H. G.)

Travellers all
From now to not now
From then to when
Barreling back or fro
Future being past

Don’t regret regression
As shaping forward begins
Be present in the present
Bend time’s arrow;
It’s not really written yet

Do it: 24-7-365 wise

[Class already in session]

T: And why not “History”?

[Mean emoji response:
ironic disbelief and amusement]

T: Sharon?

[snick] Well, it’s always been our story

T: Tahjik?

[snick] Never OUR story

T: Well, we study differently now
What do you see?

[snick] she’s helping him
[snick] he’s letting her
[snick] he’s hurt
[snick] and she’s still afraid
[snick] he’s still bigoted
[snick] and angry
[snick] this is incredible

T: Let’s now shift to 2067 and
Watch their co-authored bill pass…

Rim shoot
Overshot on the
Carousel of time

802,702 A.B.C.
Time Safari Inc.
Jumping multiverses

Check. And check.
Could’t happen here…
President Deutscher?

We've stepped off the path
Time to jump back on and
Reclaim our future

Picking head lice
From the head of my wife
Familiar fun behavior of
All hominids since then
I revel in the connectedness of all
Even with fear for the future

I know what’s right and
I know what’s wrong
And ponder the in-between

You can answer yes
You can answer no
Or you can say “I don’t know”

Left turn ahead?
Take the next right?
Or steer straight through?

“For me or against me” is
Always false dichotomy
Be true to both me and you

The west coast is ablaze
A conflagration reconfiguration
Efforts heroic as forests fall
And cost of lives lost

Homes no more
Neighborhoods gone
**** and dust
Terrains reframed

The new world:
Fire cyclone zones
Hotter, drier, bigger
The culprit: us

Have you ever met the snark?
Teeth and claws of slease?
His breath smells of
Odious innuendo
Cutting comments
Mean bon mots

The snark is short
Only three foot two
On a good day. Always
With a grimace visage
As he tap-shnicks, taps-shnicks
Ambling his way toward you

Hit the button for the
Crosswalk cross light
Red seconds count down as
Weird whooping sounds
White man walking! Get
Safe on the other side!

I have a low variable rate. I
Know enough through the cuff
When it is too high
And then when lower—
It’s variable

So, detox on the decaf
Binge Flix clips on elliptical
Keep to no salt diet result
Take the lesser stressors
Before anything else begins

I know some folks
Some new most old
Keeping logs swirling

It’s a balancing act
Lots of plates spinning
Whoops! Stretch right!

***** fall
Plates crash
Notes fall flat

Oh! Look over there!
Thank you, magicians!
TAH-DAH!

Take a bow,
Sis, bro, boom!
You got the room!

Take care of TCB; find out
What that means to me
Just a little bit

Day to day business
With care and
Respect

We dither we differ
We disagree
But with a just little bit…

Endless possibilities!

I didn’t acknowledge the moment
Some of my assumptions went wrong
Not that’s what it all means

Action interaction
Minus abstraction
Breeds reaction

Potent possibilities explode
Reductive responsibilities implode
Churning time into rhyme

Yes, officer, I did it.
Now done,
I won.

One
It’s begun

Two
Involves you

Three
I guess me

Four
Through the door

Five
Stay alive

Six
*******! I’m not picking up sticks!

Seven
Mana from heaven?

Eight
Let me get this straight;

Nine
Rhyme? Thyme? Valentine!

Ten
Relax; breathe; it’s all zen

There’s a rumble
in the continuum
Step aside Q
Jon Luc Picard is back

I wait for Godot
He won’t show
This I know

The scene is between
A meme and me
What does that mean?

Do it now or don’t
Doesn’t matter if you won’t
It’s not known in the unknownt

I wanna be bigger than the Hulk
Louder than Shatner yelling "Kaaaaahn!”
Gorshin cackling as the Riddler
With Meredith waddling behind

Faster than the Flash
Stronger than Superman
Richer than Bruce Wayne
More wonderful than lasso woman

I need an origin story
Radioactive tick bite
Radiodactive side kick
Radio waves from fingertips

I need drama that’s not mellow
***** show in a shitstorm
Facing the hounds of hell
In my Deus ex Machina

You reduce me
To speaking pleasantries
The eggshell walk
Careful talk leaves only
Quiet desperation

EEEEEEK! She shrieked as
Lucky black cat spat
A mouse into the house

SKEEEEEEK! Squeaked said mouse
Paddling skedaddling hither thither
Seeking sites secure

Said mouse booked it to bedroom
Cornered itself into a corner
SQUEEEEEAKING!

Himself (and black cat) tried to help
Poking prodding mouse to come out
Critter capered up my trouser

And lept!
Disappeared!
We slept.

From boudoir to bath
I find next morning mousy
Tentatively treading toilet water

What a fright!
All night!
All his might!

Suavely saving mousey
Glad I put gloves on as its
Teeth deployed deeply

Outside with him.
Run away!
Cat’s watching.

Heart beating
Lungs working
Stay alive, little guy!

Later, Fred keeping watch
The little grey fluff is gone
I mean: really gone

Expected bad news
Did not receive it
Relief enormous
After fear ginormous

What a tangled web we weave
Seeing a future we cannot see
Fear is the monster under the bed
The unimaginable imagined

Yield sign versus stop sign:
RR Crossing down and flashing;
Striped bars slowly rise and we
Proceed preciously…

Who to talk too? You?
Should be able too;
Wow. We took vows.

As I fear mortality
You call out morality.
Yow. Wrong somehow.

We need to weather
Somehow stay together
How, me and thou?

It’s not easy being white
As we are so often right

Taking responsibility
To the best of our ability

Helping those less fortunate
Unfortunate subordinates

Separating mother and son
Her to Mexico, he to Tucson

Half-breed aborigines
Removed with exigencies

Native American children
Re-homed by the millions

It’s a service that we happily provide
Duly doing our duty to divide

We humbly accept your appreciation
Of our outrageous Caucasian contagion

The clickety-click
of pedaling paused
The sound of ease
of exhale breeze

following gravity’s grade
Sliding flying on asphalt  
I’ll pick up the pace soon
but now, just flow

How do you map
The human heart?
Are lines between countries
Imaged? Real?

How do we meet
In the center?
The Tower of Babel
Looms large

But we look into eyes
See pursed lips
Lines around eyes
And we see:

Ourselves

It plays to pay it forward
Good deeds sung

It takes little to complement
Dividends that multiply

Causal or catalyst?
Only results matter

We came from north
Some went east
We knew ones south

Then we went west
Life beckoned
We reckoned

We meet again
Friends to the end
And all the rest

I try to see the world for what it is
Not what it seems to be
Or what someone says it should

A baptism of realism,
Faithful leaping from me to
Voyages though our our

I wanna a be
A wallaby or a

Kangaroo with
Rocket in my pocket

I wanna be
A rock star

Geode geologist
With rocks in my pocket

I wanna be a
Rocket scientist

Collecting rocks
In my solar socket

Satellite delight
Asteroid evidence

Not alone; not unique
God’s sock puppet

This is the new now
Every moment
Every relationship

When is done and gone
What was that?
Forever unknown

Parallax perplexity
We see what we see
Keep both eyes open

“I’m out of here”
I scratched scrawled
In the warehouse of a
Fantasy Pool factory

Pre-med dropout
No-dread ***-head
Sure my third decade
Would be elsewhere

Bondo *******:
VW van finally sold
Mustang cross country trek
Then, californicated

Going back there
At the end of my career
Just a visit; I’m still here in
Land of fruits and nuts

Cold-slap reality:
I’m still home right here
From the summer of ’89
More than half to the rest of my life


https://www.dropbox.com/s/zjk4hp2amu1l7mc/MAINTENANCE.docx?dl=0

I’m in the
Legion region where
Nothing seems
As the same sane
As a clozapine
Fevered dream
Madness mayhem with
Nightmare screams

If there are no heroes
Or naught villains
Who do we blame?
Who owns the shame?

(Disclaimer: watch LEGION to decipher this poem. Wow! I’ve never seen anything like it before. Take your meds before watching.)

We draw water from the same well
We celebrate and despair together
Our fates are tapestried
In our shared community

To the right: supreme justice
A handmade tale by
Current resident

Steering country to wrong
Constitutional crisis
A future bleak

Woman’s body choices
Soon severely limited
Roe v. Wade betrayed

Rule by mob minority
Supremacy of white
Is simply not right