A city will swallow you whole
the suburbs will chew on you for a bit
our world's gone off its bloody blue axis.
We were born to thrive and not just exists
given mustard seed souls to nurture into bloom...
there are those that live to poke and twist
silk from the soul of the cherry wood loom.
Head for the evergreens for just a bit
take in a teaspoon of sapphire breaths.
sashay up a mountain- nanny by your side
thinning air sweetened by a robin's egg sky.
Blessed guardian in the shadow of the tree line...
Take a crystal dip in a cool blue orchid shaped Jewell
sleeping between the whisper of the alpine.
Return, with earthen spirits woven into the chest
to face the fiery darts of man's greasy restlessness
Hold onto the many, cherry wood blessings
hold tight for as long as you possibly can.
The road trips are for snacks.
That fire playlist to chew on,
a bag of Smartfood to munch on,
some Sparkling Ice to sip on,
then baby we’re gone!
Chunky sub sandwich for lunch,
you probably had a hunch.
I eat them toasted a bunch,
I’m addicted to that crunch!
This bag of almonds I chose,
tasty enough to inspire prose.
So delicious I’d never overdose,
always grazing that’s how it goes.
The snacks are for road trips.
Before I ruin the view, I see…I see
as a child - the colors meld
in the sky, in the lake, at tree level.
Before I ruin the view, I chew on it,
revel in it, see God in it. I see…
Before I ruin the view, alone with myself,
alone with sights and sounds; infinity.
Before I ruin the view, by adding people,
I grip each petal, each blade, each
coniferous and fanned leaf, each bird,
each squirrel, each…each….
Before I ruin the view…before we ruined
Eden by setting our sights on low-
hanging fruit, perhaps red and delicious,
sweet, juicy like gossip and AI…don’t look -
it’s a sham. there’s a snake under the rock.
Before you and I, ruin anything, everything,
let us be awestruck, illuminated, engulfed
in the allowance of so many good things.
Not everyone sees. Some fish for pictorials.
From the outside it might look like my life has improved,
But in spite of how I like to be viewed,
I’ve never had to bite my tongue as often as I have in these last few months.
Just gotta chew on my words like food.
On the Southside of the city view,
The lights on the water shifted reflecting off the choppy grooves,
The night stopped by and gave me an eye.
Like my mother,
Tonight disapproved.
Tomorrow too,
Or at least I’ll assume.
For all the loud fights with myself,
I still feel awfully removed,
Almost asleep behind the lights because living lively is living like a ruse.
Take me as a bite,
Chew on my words for a while,
Spit out the waste as your cheeks grow full.
Taste the bile,
Brew on the thoughts for a while,
Hints of a sorry guile pace meekly on your tongue.
The push,
And the pull.
My mouth loves ice, it's all so nice,
I'd hunt it down at any price.
I'd suck it until my gums go numb,
Chew on it, even if it breaks a tooth or two.
He is my little blue parakeet
and he loves to play with his jungle gym
Sharp beaked he loves to chew on wood
and so I call him, my little wood chuck !
He rings his bells and crawls all over
sitting atop the cage he is the King
When I sing songs of old to him
he watches me with his beady eyes
Charlie was bought during Covid
when he saw my face between bars
he knew I had come to take him home
he sits in the corner of my kitchen
He is a little happy bird that means the world to me
he is a little joyful bird, that keeps me company...
I used to sing, "My country tis of thee..."
Now, a 'Once upon a time' use to be
My allegiance was pledged
But to Trump never fledged
'Not my president,' with those, I agree
Where life was once so simple, no fires fanned
There were no worries for a future planned
Now it's gone to the dogs
Those power hungry hogs
Are in need of the nation's reprimand
Other countries have problems of their own
But I don't chew on them like a dog bone
So why excoriate
Berate and objurgate?
As Americans, WE have the right to groan
Heard my dad mutter, a hundred greenbacks,
you trying to give me a heart attack.
For that much money, truth be told,
that dog of yours had better crap gold.
Then dad hemmed and hawed,
grumbled and guffawed,
Wiped his lips and said with a smile,
“Just let me chew on it for a while.”
Pretty soon dad stood and said,
how about I trade you Stumpy instead.
Sonny grinned but said, don’t quite seem fair,
but if’n you throw in Sue, that’d make a good pair.
Then they hiked up their pants leg to sit.
leaned forward over the ash can and spit,
They took another drink of white port wine,
after a while dad said,”Reckon that’ll be fine.”
With a handshake the deal was done,
each one sure they just got the best one.
Then they threw away the bottle’s plug,
and sat there til they finished off that jug
Can old thoughts of hurt that we shun
Cancel life’s gifts wonder and fun?
If anger must stay
Within brain’s array
Do we run with pain in the sun?
To digest bad memory’s lunch
Chop stick therapies help us munch
And chew on old pain
So our bad chow mein
Will taste sweet like a Nestle’s crunch
Although it seems weird and so strange
If current behavior we change
Old things we found bad
No longer seem sad
As memories do rearrange
Thought patterns that left our mood scarred
That colored the present as marred
Yield to a changed script
Where wounds from the crypt
Appear like a kind greeting card
Forgiveness is really for us
It adds onto life like a plus
Anger’s not treasure
But cancels pleasure
And deports good times on a bus
Truth be told I don’t have many
Truths…that is
My beliefs have changed
Over the years
Not always for the better
According to some
Who hold their “truths” paramount.
I tell those people
“I am what you made me”
It’s been said that
I have no filters
Will say whatever runs
Screaming through my mind
My parry and thrust
Usually involves subtle
Quixotically imbued ideas
As I bear scars from battling windmills.
I have learned to
Question the question
Question the questioner
Question why they asked
That question
In that way
At that time
I also learned from my dogs
“sniff it, if it stinks
Don’t bother to chew on it”
I haven’t mastered the licking thing
But I do clean up after myself.
I found an old squeaker Buddy chewed out of a toy
About three years ago
I was always going to put it into a new toy
But today I am out of time
And baby Beau, my new puppy needs something to chew on
I handed him the squeaker
He is going to town on it,
making Buddy nuts
But at least it gives me a reprieve
from paying with the new puppy
The woman has no place to be put,
the man is restless; his feet are slipshod,
The child won't eat greens,
he prefers beetroot slices from a sickly can,
The family may once have been human,
now they have been reduced to cartoons,
caricatures tossed into a cardboard box
and left out on the curb in the rain.
Soon enough, but not right away,
a teenager discovers the disintegrating box,
he puts the woman in a safe warm place,
and waits until the night finds him alone.
The restless man and beetroot boy
float away along the gutter,
until they both fall into a drain.
Paper-thin alligators
chew on wet talk-bubbles.
In the woods behind the school,
soft **** magazines
are buried in shallow graves,
so that the priest will not find them.
The upper crust
folks do not trust
they bite into the lower
Beer and pretzels just five bucks
chew on life much slower
I think I'll die by suffocating
That's what I tell you in the conversation
We'll never have
Because you don't exist
Sorry
It's one of the worse ways to go
Pleading with the universe for any air
My brain would be screaming
And all I can do is listen as it yells
And all I can say is
Sorry
I didn't want this to happen
But sometimes I chew on cotton
And I run out of water
And sometimes I swallow wrong
And there's an air bubble in my throat
And I think I'm going to die
So to my brain
Sorry
If my taste starts to fade, stick around I'm in style
Evergreen, Peppermint, did I just see you smile?
Chew my wad, blow a bubble
Be minty fresh on the double
I am gum, chew on that for a while
I please and abide like your loyal chum
Then you spit me out like a skid row bum
But chew me at your pleasure
I'm a tried-and-true treasure
I am comfort, I am delight, I am gum!
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