BLOWN OFF COURSE

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BLOWN OFF COURSE

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What do you do when you see they are drifting away?

When they become less and less until they are mere dots

On the distant horizon

You hope they will change course, head back to you

They are too far out to hear you

Too far away to see you waving

You must build a lighthouse with a beacon

That shines day and night like a candle of hope

You can send them wishes for calm seas, safe adventures, fair weather

They might turn back around to the sheltering harbor you have prepared

A clean well supplied harbor named Welcome Home Wanderer

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WASH RINSE REPEAT

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WASH, RINSE, REPEAT

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I made some mistakes yesterday

Back when I was younger and less informed

Today I am older and wiser

I will not make yesterday's mistakes

I will come up with new ones today

And continue my education in how to spend

My day profitably and prophetably, I predict

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DECLARATION OF PEACEFUL INTENT

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DECLARATION OF PEACEFUL INTENT

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We will not be provoked by the provokers

The angry words of people angry beyond all reason

We will not be insulted by the rude and insensitive

Nor outraged by outrageous lies and slander

All these tactics are meant to prove that everyone

Is an insensitive bully just like them

That we are no better than they are

That we live in a world where the biggest meanest dog

With the loudest bark is somehow the leader

A dog eat dog world of unpleasantness

And vicious squabbles

But many of us are not snarling curs

We are intelligent people of reason and goodwill

We will walk past furious nasty purple faced noisemakers

The grapes of wrath 

As we would walk past an enclosure that contains a rabid dog

Because we are off to have a nice day as their barking fades in the distance

With like-minded others of good hearts and courage

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V IS FOR VOICE

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V IS FOR VOICE

Some Americans are very outspoken

They are all up in your face

Many Americans are more laid back

They think of riots as a disgrace

Whichever kind of American you might be

I think it is important to note

Americans care how America goes

Quiet or riot, they will vote

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A SINGLE STEP

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A SINGLE STEP

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Today is not the day to give up

Because today you will learn something amazing about yourself

If you keep going, keep chipping away at it

Shoo away discouraging words

Breathe in determination, exhale doubts and worry

Because just for today

You simply refuse to give up

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NO TRESPASSING

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NO TRESPASSING

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Where there are boundaries there will be trespassers

Some blunder in by mistake and leave apologetically when they realize their error

But some are clever people who live by their own morals

And think they are the exception to your rules

The main thing they need to understand is that

They can't be here where you are

If they won't leave you alone then you must leave them alone

Utterly

Do not engage with thought, word or deed

They are gone baby gone

With not a snowball's chance in hell of being welcomed back

We can't wear "No Trespassing" signs around our necks

So we must have an inner bouncer, a guard

Patrolling the perimeters, on that wall day and night

Keeping the dignity and peace of your kingdom

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THESE DAYS

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THESE DAYS

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These days I don't wake up and launch myself into my day

As I did when I was a child

These days I must mentally prepare myself

To face the day ahead

First, I sort out the exterior stuff from the interior stuff

Once you have studied history, the warlike ways of the world

Nothing comes as a surprise

Every manner of wickedness and folly

Written about in ancient times is just as vibrant today

Humans are quirky contentious creatures

No use shaking your fist at the entire population of the planet

The same problems have been roiling around unsolved for thousands of years

Therefore, my mental preparations in the morning

Is, essentially, me giving myself a pep talk

Plus planning nutritious meals and necessary exercise

Grabbing my attitude of fierce determination

I plot my goals, like a general planning a campaign

To bolster this, I read something edifying

To add to the swirling thoughts in my head

An ill wind can blow me many miles off course

If I don't plan out my day, goals and touchstones

I devise a spiritual GPS to get me to my destination

Which is a day well lived, time productively spent, a peaceful heart

As I say my prayers and close my eyes in sleep

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MENU

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MENU

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Sprinkle your sustenance with star dust

Wash the past away with tears

Heat up your tea with passion

Make a thick sandwich of years

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We all eat at the Infinity Diner

Breakfast any time so you aren't late

Could you ask for anything finer

Than immortality on a blue plate?

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Chew your minutes up carefully and slowly

You don't want choke on a week

At the Infinity Diner on One Source Road

You will always find what you seek

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HUNTING BLIND

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HUNTING BLIND

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I don't know what I'm looking for

What I want to complete my life

I have used a process of elimination

To cross off the things I definitely do NOT want

But aside from my immediate needs today

I will just have to see what the Universe has to offer

I will keep an open mind because, historically

Chance has played as big a role

As white-knuckle determination

In getting what will aid and sustain me

On my long and winding path

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BARREN DESOLATION

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BARREN DESOLATION

If ICE agents come to call

Don't engage with them at all

Find out exactly where they are

And stay away

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Sidewalks and streets all bare

Not a soul in sight anywhere

Just the landscape and thin air

What can they say?

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It is not illegal to keep out

Close stores, no one about

How can they use their clout

If no one is there?

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Activism must be smart

A bad ending needs a start

By staying away, you take part

ICE can intimidate the air

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ME-NAGERIE

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ME-NAGERIE

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Bat toes and aardvarks and dragonfly wings

These are a few of my favorite things

When too much human world starts rushing in

I stop to admire the armored pangolin

When the world's prospects start to look dark

I pretend to be a Great White Shark

I patrol the waters without a care

Indifference in my doll's eye stare

Or a hawk making infinity signs in the skies

Diving down like feathered death with focused eyes

I embrace all of Nature's creatures

All have talents, all are teachers

The next time you need to feel wild and free

Hop like a kangaroo and you will see

There are so many ways to get the day

We can turn our work into play

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SHRUG OF INDIFFERENCE

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THE SHRUG OF INDIFFERENCE

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If you ever visit Washington

The city of ambition and dreams

Be sure to visit the Great Hall of Mirrors

Where nothing is quite as it seems

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You think you see something before you

But when you reach out your hand

You grab a whole lot of nothing

There is nothing to understand

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Just illusion after illusion

Always more to sift through

There is no end to flimflam

Under the sun nothing is new

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When you leave the Great Hall of Mirrors

To stand in the sun and the air

You see it was a merry go round going nowhere

Only real things are reasons to care

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ENEMIES - YOURS AND MINE

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ENEMIES - YOURS AND MINE

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I try to kill off my enemies before they kill me

Go get a microscope if you want to see

A yeast, a virus, a fungus, a mold

These are the enemies so sickeningly bold

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I wash my hands thoroughly with lots of soap

I gargle with saltwater for a scratchy throat

Eat healthy foods with vitamin C

To keep my foes from getting to me

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Let us defeat our enemies with lethal measures

And a heightened immune system that guards our treasures

Day and night they patrol the rampart walls

We rejoice the day another enemy falls

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CLOSED FOR THE SEASON

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CLOSED FOR THE SEASON

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Because life can be tragical

I keep my inner life magical

When it is crazy chaos out there

It is pleasantly calm in here

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I do the best I can

When dealing with my fellow man

When my transactions are complete

I retire to my inner retreat

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SOUL PROFIT

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SOUL PROFIT

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Nobody wants to remain a Fool

We all want and need Wisdom

Wisdom is the most valuable thing we can have

It lets you know if something is a good idea

Or just that nutjob Self Will Run Riot

We judge character, evaluate opportunities, make choices

Based on our inner reference material, our accumulated wisdom

But how do we get wisdom?

No one is born wise

We gather wisdom from our life experiences

Everyone has life experiences yet not everyone is wise

Experience is the raw material, the ore

That must be refined in the crucible of suffering

To render the gold of wisdom

Awareness and philosophy are the reagents

We want the best philosophy and the highest level of awareness

To get the purest gold of Wisdom

We will live our lives then shovel these raw experiences

Into the Sturm und Drang furnace

Where the magic takes place and out pops a nugget of Wisdom

Which we save up for a similar situation, a rainy day

We fill our little knapsacks while continuing our journey

A little richer, a little wiser, and much better prepared

For the dawn of a new day

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I PITY THE FOOL

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I PITY THE FOOL

If they didn't hate somebody

They might have to look at their own behavior

If they didn't blame somebody

They might begin to suspect they are really the problem 

If they didn't rage, swear and attack

They might have to own their anger and reveal the source

If they didn't plant their stupid flag in the moral high ground

They might see that in reality they stand on the wrong side of history

Hate, blame, anger, contempt, superiority

This is what they have instead of a desire to grow, meaningful insight

And inner peace - a bad bargain if you ask me

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FIRE WORKS

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FIRE WORKS

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We don't know what the future will bring

What events might come along

One thing I know, we can meet here

To encourage our need to stay strong

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We are not a herd, but we have heard

The Wisdom of the Ages

We share our knowledge with good humor

We are becoming Sages

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