wind is my friend
blows my thoughts
into lines
like fish jumping for dragonflies
on a hot summer afternoon

rain is my lover
falls into me
in steady gentle drops
fills me till I am
about to burst

sun is my brother
warms my body
with orioles of ancient light
among dark shadows
struggling to maintain
their shapes

moon is my other
casts a spell
over the cricket’s song
the smell of honeysuckle
the silhouettes
of a silver world

wind goes on
to blow on other ones
rain gathers its clouds
and soaks someone else
sun goes down
into darkness
moon turns so wan
it hardly shows
between the stars

I do not take it personally

nature is
like that

* *

death floats through the cities
casts its shadow across the deserts
sneaks into villages and huts

sometimes quietly
sometimes with a deafening blast
leaving corpses and rubble in its wake

no time a safe time
no zone without its horrors
no end of suffering for humankind

religion once more a deadly weapon
harnessed to serve power and greed
all saviors sacrificed in vain

I rarely go out
do not talk to many
cook my own meals
don a mask on planes and buses
and crowded supermarkets

hoping to survive Covid
uninfected

every now and then
I receive emails from former students
with pictures of their newborns

each time
I am deeply touched
that they feel
I would like to know
about their lives’ great events

I reply with loving mails
congratulating them
wishing them much joy
    and patience
with their adorable offsprings

it is just nice to know
that the people
whose lives you shared for a few years
are doing well

"At the end of the day, only kindness matters."

imagine a world
with no humans left

without
    man-made sounds
    street noise  airplanes
    laughter shouting fussing babies
    cars  radios TVs machines
    pop songs string orchestras
    
instead
     birdsongs  leaves blowing in the breeze
     sounds of rain  of springs and rivers
     deer splashing through a creek
     wild pigs snorting through the forest
     the sharp cry of an eagle
     owls hooting under the moon
     anmals rustling in the underbrush
     ivy decorating empty window frames

imagine
    all those poems
    nobody can read

the charm of French Colonial style
   with Cajun cooking promised -"genuine!" -
   at every second door
jazz bands at every other

the flair of well-groomed wealth and savoir vivre
   exuding from St. Charles´ porticos,
   the restaurants on Calle du Roi,
the campuses of Tulane, UNO, and Loyola

the grandeur of the superdome
the open space of Audubon and City Park
   oakes draped with Spanish Moss
alive with jogging, skating, biking, walking health
   between the nights -

all this makes you almost forget
the city project housings
slumming beneath the highrise business shadows
   crime ridden,
floating on neverending waves of dime-a-dozen tunes
from hi-fi stereos of cruising cars

the grand lake spoiled for generations
with the big city's waste,
the 'father of rivers' dwarfed beyond repair
by wharfs and cranes and fortified embankments
that line his banks as far as you can see
   and far beyond

a shotgun wedding of the rich and poor,
   the black and white,
   torn by the struggle to ascend
   from shotgun to colonial
to the soft sound of dixie

              * *

when watching the news
many things sound abstruse

politicians speak out
but then they cast doubt
on what they actually said
and claim that they had
been sorely misunderstood
so for everyone‘s good
what they said should
     indeed
be deleted

with information thus defeated
we sigh deeply
     and though
we feel we‘ve been cheated
come home, take off shoes
and turn on the next news ...

listening to the news
that brings disasters of all kind
with reliable regularity
     thanks to our sensationalist media

you may be tempted to believe
the world is going straight to hell
apocalypse is near & unavoidable

     whether by asteroids or comets
     the Russians or Americans or Chinese
    
fact is that rising ocean levels
are much more dangerous than changing presidents
flooding the fields and homes of millions
     in the lower lying islands of the South Pacific

the cold oblivion of the powerful
about the real people’s tragedies
is what I find most missing
in the so-called news

when I hear the godawful daily news
I really get the serious daily blues
dictators abound
democracy rarely found
and this also applies to the US

making love
suspends gravity
   and time
seconds expand
   into eternity
we are
   on top of the universe

floating
   in the fourth dimension
feeling  
   the birth of a new solar system
      amidst convulsive explosions
   whose brilliance
      light years into the future
   may be observed
   by keen astronomers

we do not mind

our system
radiates and shines
in its time

nothing else matters

lost in alien space
Italians
posted their home culture
and worked for it

today

the Americas
     (and the whole western world)

would starve to death
   without pasta  pizza
  
and Michelangelo

lost in alien space
Italians
posted their home culture
and worked for it

today
America

and the whole western world

would starve to death
without pasta pizza
and Michelangelo

the year is new
most wishes old
and have been told before

yet hope dies last

and so  
    my HP friends
let‘s have a blast
    offer a toast    
    to all times past
and a hearty cheer
    to the incoming year!

the year is new
the problems stay the same

the one or other
   may have gotten a new name
yet the proverbial hope
    that they would simply disappear
   with time passing
remains just that

still  every year begins
    with quickening hearts
    and firm decisions
    the best intentions
    and new hope
that we will finally do
those things which to achieve
we’ve had on our mind
all these 12 months
that now belong inevitably to the past

so   in the early hours
of the latest new beginning
we promise to be strong
always prepare to meet the unexpected
and get things done at last

but first   dear friends
first   we shall celebrate
our chance to see the new year’s sun arise

LET’S HAVE A BLAST

to friends and members on this site
I wish a joyful starry night
great company, good food, champagne,
no resolutions that are vain,
to welcome yet another year
and celebrate that we're still here

* * * * * * *  ;-)  :-)  ;-) * * * * * *

ride the night
   on fiery wings
   beyond the moon
   to the one you love

lie open-eyed
    clothed only
    in you nervous skin

feel the whisperings
   of the forest
   under a star-speckled
   summer sky

hear deer
   rustle through dry leaves
   on ingrained paths
    
breathe in the night air
    in deep drunken draughts

let your mind wander
    across oceans

be alive

you know you have reached advanced maturity
when the most exciting nightly event
is falling down the stairs in the dark  and
surviving with only minor cuts and bruises

nights are wonderful
softening all shapes
taking off daylight’s sharp glare
we walk into
   a fuzzy unknown
   full of possible suprises

nights are terrible
turning familiar shapes
into threatening demons

nights are sensuous
in beloved arms
never to end
cozy and warm
times to remember

nights are strange
we spend them
doing things
for which the day
has left
no space

reading
   a trivial book
establishing the illusion
   of control
   over our daily lives

   nights are
   the dream world
   where we act out
   what we not dare to live

   nights
   are the backstage
   of our souls

where we rehearse
the visions of our life

the cast changes
the plot
   or what we take for it
remains the same

   we muddle on
   in darkness

taking for granted that
daylight
will come again
and show us
that the dark is
just
the flip side of the coin

forever waiting
until
one bright sunny day
you embrace it and say
“Come with me!”

when I look up
   into a clear night sky
and feel
   the vastness of the universe
   touching me
it calls up
all the words
humankind has constructed
throughout millennia
so as to face the skies
   with dignity
and not go insane
   instantly
with this vague
   but almost overpowering
sense of helpless awe

neither
the most sophisticated machines
   we send to the edges
   of our solar system
nor the most complex theories
can calm me
when I look up
into a clear night sky

when the tide is high
fish are splashing on main street
the ground water begins to taste
like the Atlantic ocean
soon Florida Margaritas will not need
salt on the rim of their cocktail glasses
their lemons will have enough

to protects its citizens
from the dire consequences of rising sea levels
the state government acted
fast and furious
and has bann(on)ed terms like
“climate change” and “global warming”
from its official vocabulary

after four years
of a wannabe dictator as president
let's give a big sigh of relief
     at his demise
roll up our sleeves
and start repairing the damage
done to people and institutions

hard work
but the only way to save
(U. S.) democracy

any fool can wreak destruction

building functioning democracies
takes time  
needs dedication  
love for your country
and all of its people

good luck

impervious to experts
untouched by suffering immigrants and workers
heaping vile insults onto all opponents
remarkably ruthless in praising himself
at every inappropriate occasion

a man only in love with his own self
of whom many hope
he'd soon follow
the story of Narcissus
to its classical end

this poem
is not about you

even though
your spirit is in every word
your voice sounds strong
in the halls of my mind
telling me things
I am now sure
I want to know

this poem is
about me

trying to understand
you

I slept too long
do not know why
had my coffee at 9am
doomscrolling the news
on assorted media
(inter)national
        same difference

did not brighten my mood

the same idiots
spew the same phrases
they voiced one month ago
nothing has changed

and they call it progress

how hard
   under earphones
   oozing Viennese waltzes
to accept
   your absence

suspended
   in blinding sunlight
some 37,000 feet
above the Atlantic

          * *

in times
when wars create
terrible chaos unexpectedly
obsessive heads of state
allow their armies also
to  attack civilian targets
killing thousands of innocents
in theaters  churches  hospitals
just to show
they can

in times like these
what can a poet do
   in addition to feeding some NGOs
except find words
to tell the wannabe dictators of the world
that they are really tiny souls
desperately trying to gain global recognition
with their bombs and their artillery  
just to show

apparently they all are unaware
that they will be remembered
not as the saviors but the butchers
of their devastated nations

it may well be that I no longer am good company
     or that I never have been anyway

it’s not that people make me feel like that

it is myself that questions me
and I am spending more time with myself
     than anybody else

I have noticed lately
a touch of crankiness
looking at me out of the bathroom mirror

I wonder why

is it just age encroaching on my life
with its assorted ailments
or disillusionment of archived teenage dreams

I look again at the reflection of myself
and see what I did miss before

there is a spark of youthful mischief in these eyes
even the serious bearded lips seem ready for ironic smiles

maybe no everything is lost

maybe I can myself keep company
for some more years with little strife

even, perhaps, until the end of my sweet life

have I ever imagined
I would enter a bank
masked
asking for money

as Boris' wild rule begins ending
he enjoys his last days, and depending
on who will succeed
and might be in need
he hopes he could still be upending

the day
when even the not so faithful
were tempted to pray
for the health of the nation

my father’s younger brother
was quite an interesting fellow
worked over time in different jobs
and on the sided wrote poems
stories  novels  texted songs

we lived about 150 miles apart
exchanged occasional mails and comments
on each other’s writings

then I received an email rather strange
stating that he had underestimated
his sickness but wished to have no visits
at the time

it seriously felt
    like something was not right

and two days later
    I was just about to call
a weeping aunt was on the phone
and told me of his death

from what she said
it was not nice

he died of  cancer of the pancreas
could hardly move in his last weeks
and only weighed one hundred pounds
down from 200   when he died
guess his demise was a relief for him
    as well as her

how sad that he  a man of letters
     who wrote thick novels and articulate verse
could not find words for his own pain

maybe  like many of his generation
he felt his sickness was  a shame
or he was furious at his body   or his fate
or did not want to burden others
or did not like them to be witness
to his waning health

I do not know

what I shall remember
is the loud silence
in his last mail

          * *

space&time;
narrow
to the moment
IT
may happen

nothing
proceeds
beyond that point

the whole universe
folds
into one compact dot

a cosmic black hole
whose invisible energy
holds promise
to burst forth
in brilliant stars of

salvation
elation
liberation

another big bang

this time

maybe

with a whimper

the problems of mice and men
were supposedly cared for by THEM
except that THEY never
were sufficiently clever
and things ended up all the same

there once was a beer named Corona
preferred by the youth with ‘persona’
they drank it with pride
but today they would hide
delight  has turned into a moaner

Diapers and politicians
need to be changed frequently
and for the same reasons

********

los panales y los politicos
hay que cambiarles a menudo
y por los mismos motivos

shall we worry
about the future of the USA
when rich sponsors throw their money
not at the next generation candidates
     for the presidency
but to the septuagenarian male contenders
of whatever party?

one day in May
it felt like April
    cold in the morning
    raining at lunch time
    hot in mid-afternoon
    cool in the evening
    frosty at night

nature sure has its peculiar ways
and our weather services struggle
to predict and understand

it happened once
upon a time

a place with a piano
   much wine
  & cozy talk
they left late
   tied in an amiable hug
heading for their separate quarters
   each knew
   the other shared
   with someone else

passing through the old library
she gently pulled him down
    upon a persian rug
    and lifted her skirts
    quite irresistibly

they melted in bliss

knowing it would happen
   only once
in their time

         * *

comfortably relaxed
in front of a warming fireplace
somewhat in contemplation of the world
I recapitulate the day

but not too seriously

because the news over the internet
needs some deciphering and filtering
to figure out what’s really going on around the world
same for traditional media

reading through all the news
     the good and the bad
takes up most of my morning
      which I resent
I don't have so many mornings any more
       at my stage of advanced maturity …

I guess I am nostalgically
wishing for older days' simplicities
when one could understand
why certain people did say certain things
you knew the proper filters
to apply to sundry media and people

today it seems to me
that many politicians
say one thing now
      and just the opposite
      one minute later
or they ignore the questions
     and spout off on topics
      they prefer to sell

        and nobody complains
        about that ****** rhetoric

what kills democracy is just exactly
this erasure of trust and factuality
the relativization of all truths
reiterating lies and contradictions
until they sound like the new normal

this tends to make us think
that EVERYTHING in politics is ******
      not worth our vote

yet uncast votes are missed most bitterly

they make it possible
that radical minorities
can steal elections and then claim
they are the rightful leaders of the nation
with votes of less than 25 percent of the electorate
       and some gerrymandering

difficult times we live in

do you seriously think
you can determine your life

plan all your moves
avoid poisonous strife

reach all your goals
without devious grooves

by the time you have reached
those goals you have preached

you may be quite old
remembering how  bold
you were

and how coldly determined
on what you‘ve been sold

the loving way
   you take me in

and send me out
into an orbit
lit by a million suns
moving in spiraling commotion
toward their brilliant center

the way
   you loving
take me in

a tender fog
hides our view
of what might be
a face most beautiful

but we don’t know

as local laws are such
     that beauty only shows itself
to spouses predetermined
by the wisdom of the elders

who demonstrate to have
     no  understanding
of human wishes and desires

around the turn of the year
  Orion looks at me
   head on
on my little loggia

the brilliance of the sky
in a clear winter night
is awesome
and even if I did not
   know the names of the stars
   that give Orion shape
Rigel, Betelgeuse

I would start wondering
about design and meaning
and how I figure in it
    if at all

   whether my astronomer friends
   have terms and explanations
   does not really matter

   it is I
   who has to come to terms
   with what I see    

with the endlessness
   of the universe
the brilliance of its appearance
and the feeling that
   in all of this
my own insignificance
might be
just that

at times we tend to think
our democracy is safely founded and secure
only eventually we recognize
the need to constantly defend its fundamental rights
work steadily against their stealthy abolition
watch carefully the words of politicians
       lest they betray what they pretend to say
think twice for whom we cast our votes
avoid contenders who too often bray
     that these were not their quotes  
listen to those who have good arguments
     do not unleash too easy sentiments
and in the end cast our votes when called

in short  
democracy turns out to be hard work

     in case we shirk this
     we soon pay the price

unfree societies have known
     dictatorship  corruption  vice
have often needed centuries
to remedy injuries done
to find their four freedoms

and to recognize
democracy remains a living promise
a brilliant idea with many faces
always a work in progress

in our daily haste to not miss
sales, appointments, buses, flights,
we tend to overlook the world
that gives us all these options

the awe-inspiring heights of our mountains
frightening majesty of our seas
powerful forests breathing life
the elegance of animals
a pleasant view of cultivated land
even the buzzing habitat of cities

we may be only a small part of seven human billions
yet it behooves us well to be aware
     and celebrate
the fragile beauty of our world

as the biblical saying goes
we should love our neighbors
     like we love ourselves

looking at many people’s relations
with their neighbors
there sure is room for improvement

maybe we should love ourselves more

waking slowly to the singing of birds
after a hard day
      and a late night
finally granted deep sleep
     dreamless in memory
my lazy soul is quite happy
with being
   nowhere in particular
for a while

white walls enhance
   bright spots of sunlight
finding their way
   through time-worn blinds
from the radio alarm
   human voices send sounds
   as comforting and meaningless
   as the song of birds

it takes some time to re-establish
   a basic sense of time and place
moving through by now familiar spaces
my eyes record the necessary data
my hands prepare breakfast
my feet take me to the table
my senses register the sight and taste
   of coffee and ham and bread
and the luscious
   deep red
   strawberries I bought yesterday

when I kiss you good morning
   on the telephone
hear your voice
and wish you all the best for a day
   of enervating committee meetings
I cannot tell you of my joy
of waking to our world
that holds
    the sun    
    the birdsong
    the luscious ripe fruit

    us

            * *

something can hit you
upset your life
destroy you daily routine
make you aware
of the fragility of life

and of the statistically proven fact
     rarely ackkowledged
that bad things may also happen to you
not only to others

the media endlessly repeat
a video with a white police officer
kneeling on a handcuffed black guy
who keeps saying “I can’t breathe”
until he dies

******* of violence
of the worst kind
makes you feel guilty
     like a ******
both repelled and fascinated

racist ****** perpetrated
     blatant
     in full sight
by one whose badge claims
he protect you from harm

outrageous