(a corny little poem)
A happy moon smiled at me
If you just look you will see
The happiest skies are filled with love
The moon, the sun, the stars above
So, with this poem I send a hug
And let all above give your heart a tug

Come, grieve with me
The bitter knowledge
Our beloved family tribes
Slaughtered by invaders,
Thieves of greedy intent.

I have put my seed
In this basket woven
By my ancestor's hand
Placed in those outside
Of our Nation to carry

Safely forward.  It had to be
Or we would cease to be.
Take this vessel of blood.
Spread it throughout
What becomes our Nation.

Good morning moon
You Saturday moon
In the sky hanging low
Waiting for sunrise
Above ribbons of color
We'll wait together

We are revived
We are made new
We have become
Part of the young
Standing on shoulders
Who stood on the old
Solid foundations
Of so many others
Past and present
We become one
And tower above
Until we can all see

People the world over are naturally benevolent.
Yet, we are all, at times, foolish beings.

To be damaged is part of the human condition.

One is rarely ruined beyond redemption.
One is only soiled.  No wings required.

Like petals of flowers
Unfurl, expose hidden
Secrets within beauty
Fresh and newly born
Free from harm
Inclusive hearts
Are blooming
Opening world views
Reaching out to know
And to hold
Hand upon hand
Upon all lands
In a brave world
Love will grow
You are my family
It is all that I know

This poem can be read 2-3 ways.  Read the whole poem.  Next read only the ones.  Finally, read only the twos.

1 You are beautiful
       2 inside and out
1 And you were gifted
       2 bone and sinew
1 Muscle and brain
       2 within your mind
1 You can find all
       2 the strength

Yellow scents the page
With many decades of age.
When gingerly pried open
The dry binding creaks.

Inside grows a faint mold
And it spreads in streaks
Across the brittle folds
Within the pages crease.

Cloudy wafts of odor, light
Hang buoyant in the air,
Like so much lost knowledge
Folded within its pages there.

Even amidst a hard-scrabble unfair life
Joy finds its way into hearts, onto faces
Within the laughter of families, and children.

They are the loved.  

Joy embraces love of others,
It is rocked and cradled and nurtured.  And,
It is reflected in the love of the loved,

And resides with those loved.

Here I am standing within this moment.
I feel the echoes of time's tide
Lapping at my feet, washing over me
Reaching the top of my head.
My brain suddenly comprehending
What time actually means to each of us.

Mother comes to where she is most needed
Her gibbering womb speaks healing words
She tells of times when she was barren
She recalls the times when she gave birth
She speaks of pain in the blood of children
Written in red on black hearts of evil men
She gathers children birthed by others to her
Covers them with the volume of her skirt
Though she had not born them she nurtures
Calls them hers and continue to give them life
She cries "Sisters, I will grow them in your behalf"
Her womb speaks of each one as equaled in love
She is eternally Mother and the world is her child

Mother comes to where she is most needed
Her gibbering womb speaks healing words
She tells of times when she was barren
She recalls the times when she gave birth
She speaks of pain in the blood of children
Written in red on black hearts of evil men
She gathers children birthed by others to her
Covers them with the volume of her skirt
Though she had not born them she nurtures
Calls them hers and continue to give them life
Her womb speaks of each one as equaled in love
She is eternally Mother and the world is her child

She blew her brains out
Out by the dumpster
The note she left said
She had no one who cared
And she went out that way
Because she didn't want to
Leave a mess for the cleaning lady
I found a bucket, a good bucket
(I think it may have been hers)
Castoff and tossed afterwards
I needed a bucket like she
Needed to have a friend to care
So, now when I use it, I keep her
In my mind and alive,
Although I never knew her

There's a little frog
In the garden beds
Beneath my balcony.
Each morning, he greets
With his peep, peep, peep.
A spoonbill crane,
In its rose-colored cloak,
Swoops down to steal
A tasty meal.
But my little frog
Will sing its morning song,
On and on, still.

With tiny feet
Stuck on dead meat
You proboscis-probe
******* juice;
And yet, you are
Beautiful.

Words mean what they mean, I ask?
But, ah, they can be nuanced or veiled.
They can be soft as cotton, feather-light,
Or hit like the proverbial ton of bricks
Dead on the nail head hammering
Their impact home.  That's the power
Of the weight of words.  Weigh them carefully.

You dope
To push the envelope.
I'll throw no rope.
You need to learn to cope
Or stop acting foolish.

Dear Bigot,
Best check what DNA
Has to say.

Many of us have
A little wink-wink
In our background.

Besides being horrid
You might condemn
Yourself!

What's it like to be so free?
To fly so high, high, high in the sky?

But even you have limits
That I don't have.

The homeless man
Across the way
Is going to wake up
Dead one of these days.

Then like a worm in my brain
It will begin to eat away.
And I will tell everyone
I saw him day by day lay

And rarely move.

I'm not a cat, you will see, you wussy!
And I'd not be trapped anyway,
With that ball of string, I already played.
It is a tired old game for stupid *******.

You woke me up
Tugging on my mind,
Swimming around.
I saw your eddies,
Before I fell asleep,
But you refused to bite.
So, now here we are,
Hook line and sinker,
You, 'idea fish' circling.
If I dangle the bait
Will I catch you,
You stinker?

Straight ahead and out of my bed,
Every morning between 5 am - 7 am
I go out onto my balcony and photograph

From the dawning until the sunrise's completion.
It feels me with joy and admiration
And gets me out into the morning's pollution.

At times the
Abscess of my mind
Must be drained.
For, yes, at times
I feel quite insane.

Pin to paper,
I must lay down
A lot of stinkers
Before I can write
A masterpiece,

And let the ooze out.

There are broken minds
In the world
Some that can be healed
We hope and feel.

But among these are still
The unfixable.
Humanity cries for better care.

I believe doctors should
Put the severely addicted
Into medical comas.

They do it for the traumatized.
What could be trauma
More than the soul-deep injury
Of addiction?

If I had a bicycle with a tiny wagon,
I'd give it to the homeless man.

The one that sleeps under the overpass
Then moves to a spot at a building near me.

He could use it to haul his bag and lawn chair
To that place where he spends the day sleeping

In the open air on a cement ledge of that building;
And does his ***** business in the corner where 2 meet.

It was so nice to see that honeyed-sky
Back from days of the cloudy tides
To watch the cherry, apricot, marmalade
Flowing now wide for many sunny days
I could if I were a mighty celestial hand
Dip and spread it on toast in every land.

With this look
I give myself away.

With these words
It is much the same.

What I hide, I hid
Within a poem,

Without giving much away.

When anger, rivalry & jealousy
Fade away we are left
With only deep-seated love
And with the DNA that binds us.

Go now,
I set you on your wobbly way
On rubber-legs that sway,
On tiny feet on which you play.

"Go now, little one" I say,
"One day, it will not be for mere play.
You will go and be on your way,
My darling."

I should have been listening to the news
Instead, I am reading poetry on the internet
Forever looking to eke out the essence of you

Had I been older
And you younger
I would have fallen
For you like bricks
Tumbling into the heart

I dialed your number
Let it ring

Once, twice
Quickly hung up

Why would fear seize me
Dear old friend

Perhaps it is because
We occupied a place
Best forgotten

Hazy thoughts
Like smoke dissipating

Clung to
Yet too soon fleeting

Like one of your cigarettes
Snubbed out

Whiskey breath
The scents are all I have left

Let my eyes drink in
The color of your eyes
Let them encase in amber
Your sweet smile
Come, sit with me, awhile

Let me dip into the well
Of your full love
As I thank the stars above
For the depth and breath
Of what you are

What lovely sound
The thunder-drums
Which beat across
My horizons

And the gentle sounds
Of pattering rains
Echo through all seasons
And I'm grateful for the reasons

As the gutters overflow
And rushing fill up holes
With nowhere else to go
Spill into ditches and drains

Onward to the sea it slows
So that all can drink and so
On and on the cycle goes
And all earth should know

The reason for love shown

The celestial saltshaker sprinkles
The night sky spreading its contents
Across the cosmos with brilliant specks.

And, if the timing is right, you can see
The hazy belt stretching across the sky
That starry, dusty core of our Milky Way.

Look for me in our children's smiles
Look for me wherever you linger awhile

See me in the colors of the sunrise
And ******* a kiss at the sunset

Look me for in the ebbing tides
Look for me when you are at rest

Look for me across the vast cornfields
For all these places contain my memory still.

Like a nomad and the desert
A bird and its feathers
Like rain in stormy weather
You and I go together

If the nomad leaves the desert
Or the bird drops its feathers
Or no rain comes in stormy weather
You and I will still be together

And on the winds of weather
We fly as if with feathers
To hide within the desert
Forgotten but together

In eternal love

To change an opinion
it is not disingenuous.
Life and opinions
are situational.

As we grow as a person,
hopefully, our opinions
grow and become
more nuanced.

It is a sign of maturity.

Embrace the fact that we

Are all the same
Are not the same

Feel the same
Don't feel the same

Act the same
Act strange

Because we are
We are from the same

Dysfunctional family

I will come that day to you
When you do call me out
And I leave my father’s house.

When you to me do call
I will give to you my all,
For a house you build I long.

And I will sing a special song
Which only you will hear
When no one else is near.

Sprouts will grow in our fields
And 'round our table, here,
Where all feel safe from fear.

As our children spring up like buds.

What made
  us beautiful
Since we were never
  likely to happen
Yet here we are

There is never an end without a start

In the moments
  we are meant to share
We are carelessly
  forced apart
Until we all can share one heart

Alabama “Sweet Home Alabama” by Lynyrd Skynyrd
Alaska “Feel It Still” by Portugal. The Man
American Samoa “Edge of Glory” by Lady Gaga
Arizona “Edge of Seventeen” by Stevie Nicks
Arkansas “Don’t Stop” by Fleetwood Mac
California “California Love” by Tupac and “They Not Like Us” by Kendrick Lamar
Colorado “September” by Earth, Wind Fire
Connecticut “Signed Sealed, Delivered” by Stevie Wonder
Delaware “Higher Love” by Whitney Houston and Kygo
Democrats Abroad “Love Train” by The O’Jays
District of Columbia “Let Me Clear My Throat” by DJ Kool
Florida “Won’t Back Down” by Tom Petty
Georgia “Turn Down for What” by Lil’ Jon
Guam “Espresso” by Sabrina Carpenter
Hawaii “24K Magic” by Bruno Mars
Idaho “Private Idaho” by The B-52s
Illinois “Sirius” by The Alan Parsons Project
Indiana “Don’t Stop Til You Get Enough” by Michael Jackson
Iowa “Celebrate” by Kool & the Gang
Kansas “Carry on Wayward Son” by Kansas
Kentucky “First Class” by Jack Harlow
Louisiana “All I Do Is Win” by DJ Khaled
Maine “Shut Up and Dance” by Walk the Moon
Maryland “Respect” by Aretha Franklin
Massachusetts “I’m Shipping up to Boston” by Dropkick Murphys
Michigan “Lose Yourself” by Eminem
Minnesota “Kiss” and “1999” by Prince
Mississippi “Twisting the Night Away” by Sam Cooke
Missouri “Good Luck, Babe” by Chappell Roan
Montana “American Woman” by Lenny Kravitz
Nebraska “Firework” by Katy Perry
Nevada “Mr. Brightside” by The Killers
New Hampshire “Don’t Stop Believin’” by Journey
New Jersey “Born in the USA” by Bruce Springsteen
New Mexico “Confident” by Demi Lovato
New York “Empire State of Mind” by Jay Z and Alicia Keys
North Carolina “Raise Up” by Petey Pablo
North Dakota “******* Fire” by Alicia Keys
Ohio “Green Light” by John Legend
Oklahoma “Ain’t Goin Down” by Garth Brooks
Oregon “Float On” by Modest Mouse
Pennsylvania “Black and Yellow” by Wiz Khalifa and “Motownphilly” by Boyz II Men
Puerto Rico “Despacito” by Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee
Rhode Island “Shake it Off” by Taylor Swift
South Carolina “Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) *** Machine” by James Brown
South Dakota “What I Like About You” by The Romantics
Tennessee “9 To 5” by Dolly Parton
Texas “Texas Hold ‘Em” by Beyonce
Utah “Animal” by Neon Trees
Vermont “Stick Season” by Noah Kahan
Virginia “The Way I Are” by Timbaland
Washington “Can’t Hold Us” by Macklemore
West Virginia “Take Me Home, Country Roads” by John Denver
Wisconsin “Jump Around” by House of Pain
Wyoming “I Gotta Feeling” by Black Eyed Peas
****** Islands “VI to the Bone” by Mic Love

Sitting on the steps
Downtown Lyric building
Near my bus stop

Artsy sculpture
Behind where I sit
Fabulous place

Exciting to watch people
Passing by in business attire
Fresh air sweeping through

My Metro life now past
Wanting to re-capture
The excitement of the time

I let myself drift back
Get the feel of nostalgia, then
Resurface into the present life

I pitched myself into a sea of memories.
The stormy waters washed over me.

I was adrift in a raging storm,
Strange as it was, I did not feel alarmed.

As the swirling waters rocked me
In the agitation I began to feel free,

Free to hear, free to speak, to be still,
Free to feel, or to just to be real.

That in which I had been trapped so long
Suddenly became my enduring song,

Of life and love, of anger and happiness
Even when it all seemed like a huge mess.

I only had to embrace all memory as joy,
In that, the slice of each makes the whole.

We are highly connected and interdependent.
More than many people understand.

We are experiencing precisely as predicted
that would happen in today's social media
and the political environment.

Severe symptoms spread much more quickly.
Negative emotions spread like a contingent,
much more than positive ones do.

Delusions spread more quickly than
ordinary thoughts or reality.

Points recently made a leading psychiatrist

Among the shadows
Of the darkened room
In a reflecting glance
I see an assemblance
Of me
But it is no longer
A youthful me
That I see
I suspend a sense
Of this reality
In order to see me
The inner me
The real me
The encapsulated self

Take one moment for your anger
And one more for your sadness,
And another for your regrets.
Then two more move past these,
Then strive to let it go.
Only then will you regain your joy,
Your love, your life, your true purpose.

A little ditty

From sun-up to sunset
I love you the very best!
You're more special than the rest
Because you love me, too