Tuesday, January 26, 2016

One thin dime


One Thin Dime

And "they" say there's 
No inflation 

WHY then 
Am I sitting here 
With just a few 
     Small grocery bags 
Filled with 
Nothing frivolous -
For so much money ?!!

This much money 
Used to 
PAY THE RENT !!
the whole rent !
With utilities 
     Included !
One block from the 
Beach 
In 
Long Beach -

But there's no 
     Inflation 
So,
"LET EM EAT CAKE" !!

I bought some flour -
I'm Going to make 
Some bread -
That will teach 'em !

But the oven's broken -
Has been these 
     Many years 
If I buy a new stove 
That's a $500 loaf 
     Of bread 🙁 !!

"Can't win for Losin'"
As my daddy used to say -

He also said 
"A day late and a dollar short" 
And 
"Once in a blue moon" 
And 
"A month of Sunday's" 

But then, 
He lived through the
Great Depression 
And WW2
So 
He must have known 
Something 

He said he started workin' 
When he was twelve

And an afternoon 
At the silent pictures cost
Ten cents
But that dime was made of 
Silver -

What was up 
     With that?

Purple Flame


Saturday, January 23, 2016

The Writing Truck

The writing truck -
It may not be much
Parked beside the roadside 
     Such-

But I have my 
Coffee and 
My cookie and 
A notebook and a phone
     Such -
Writing tools are
     These 

Someday I dream 
To have a modern 
Motor home
Or at least some kind of 
Van 
In which to stand 
And move about
     And even 
Stretch out -
For a little nap 
Here 
     By the sea

But for now it
Will have to do -
At least the view 
Is something 
To write
About

The ocean gives us 
     Pause
          Wild and deep
If it had a tsunami here
     And now
I would be gone 
This life-song 
     Done
In a cataclysm of 
     Fishes

The writing truck


Monday, January 18, 2016

Conspiracies and Ghostly Lights

Watching utube 
Late at night 
Conspiracies and ghostly 
      Lights
Things on the moon 
That just aren't right 
And why are they not leaving us alone 
And letting us 
     Get on with it 
Did they cause all the major 
Wars 
And are they 
Still 
Do they educate us 
To believe 
That  
Everything they say 
Is true 
Did they kill them 
One by one 
The ones who sought 
To set us free 
Beginning with the one 
They hung up 
On the tree 
The one who came 
To set us free 

Yes 
It makes my head spin 
To wonder 
And that's the fun of it 
Beats the heck out of regular 
TV 
Where nothing is a 
Mystery 
Except, of course, 
The Mysteries

Thursday, January 7, 2016

Savoir Faire

Oh thou fighters and
Angry young men 
And those who wish to 
CONQUER THE WORLD !!!

Would you please learn to dance !
And have a glass of wine 
And hold your partner close 
And listen to the music 

It seems that the Tango takes 
Away the aggression -
Like grounding your electricity -
Your attention could then be given

To steps and hugs and 
Finesse
To moves and turns 
And interplay with 
Another 

War 
Would then seem 
Foolish -
As it is 

There are more important things 
To do 
With your precious time 
With your fleeting youth 

- Hold one another 
Move
Have politeness
And savoir faire

Much better than 
Bombs 
And tragedy