A Night Like Never Before
The moon shone brighter than usual,
casting silver light across the mountains.
The men gathered around a blazing fire,
its dancing sparks making the night even merrier.
A beer tap made its rounds,
each man filling his tumbler with ease.
Little moments of silence crept in,
only to be swept away by loud conversations
and hysterical laughter
that cut through the quiet night air.
Deep within the mountain forest,
where the cruisers stood parked upon the great rocks,
the scene felt almost unreal.
Firelight flickered against faces,
shadows danced among the trees,
and the wilderness seemed to pause
to witness the gathering.
It was a sight to behold,
a night that would linger in memory
long after the fire had faded
and the moon had crossed the sky.
We roll beneath the cypress shade,
With radar humming through the glade—
A silent beam, it marks your speed,
Before you even see the deed.
The dash cam blinks, an unblinking eye,
Recording truth you can’t deny.
The body cam hums a steady tune,
Every whisper caught by noon.
A license plate reader scans the air,
Numbers flash—a silent snare.
If you’re wanted, or your tag expired,
It chirps—a hunter newly wired.
Computer mounts glow in the night,
Dispatch sending left and right.
GPS maps where each soul roams,
Drawing paths back to their homes.
Thermal sight through swampy dark,
Can spot a heartbeat—leave its mark.
The mic in my collar hears your plea,
And streams it straight to the deputy.
Don’t think the backseat’s just for rest—
It’s steel and shield, a lawful nest.
Your rights are read, your hands confined,
While satellites keep you in line.
So when you see that bar of blue,
Know tech and training ride there too.
We don’t just follow—we foresee,
By lens, by code, by law, by key.
The moon shone on the water
Dyed ochre by the iron mines.
Centuries of men have toiled
In trenches and in chines.
Carving through the sheer rock face
To tunnel under hills
Canals to link the land of wealth
To the cities of the mills.
Airless channels deep below
While all above is calm
And death could be a breath away
Placed in the way of harm.
Pick and shovel toiled away
Through millstone grit and stone
Canals for coal to fuel the kilns
Firing plates for every home.
And now two hundred years or more
Have passed and times have altered
For Instead of barges lain with coke
Are cruisers strewn with boaters.
The working boats have been replaced
By holidaymakers vessels
And the tunnel stands as testament
To the stone masons true mettle.
I Drove my Bugatti,
to my Buddy's "G's party.
I didn't know many there,
at my Buddy "G's party.
Poet's day Trader's,
The Movers and Shakers.
Some Star Movie Makers,
The Cruisers and fakers,
Dancer's and Sailor's.
Rock Music Player's,
With "G's" Party favors.
Classic Hip and Arty
One Crazy Party.
I dozed off in My Bugatti.
I drove My Roll's Canardly,
To "Ole" Fuzy's party,
I knew everybody,
at "Ole Fuzy's" party.
Boones Farm in glass,
And some smoking Grass.
Foaming Miller's Frothy.
With Pocket Rocket Poly.
Led Zeppelin to Hollie's,
A classic Hippy Party.
So, Party Hardy.
And follow Your Dreams
to Your New Bugatti.
Yeah.
A Rolls Canardly.
is a Vehicle that Rolls Down
One Hill, and Can Hardly
Roll up the Next.
Slick, quick, lickety split
Opportunity arrives on spot
The gilded glide, slides
To take possession of her lot
Chunks of honey drips, drops
Off lips of galvanized gold
Sounds of flowering rounds
To soften the hardened blow
Click, tick, lock and load
Up the ladder she goes
Floor after floor, opening doors
Til her glory radiates constant glow
Raising daisies gather gorges
For loser cruisers to fall
Altitude attitude flicks the ticks
Without a thought of remorse for the small
...as her schmuser cruiser zooms by
Written by Trudy Schrader on 06-14-2022
I will wander like a gypsy seeking wisdom,
I will find it in each little knowledge system;
Each hair of beauty I'll split like a small atom,
And find in them the secrets hidden like stratum...
The world has wondrous places resembling heaven,
Like Bocas, Ha’apais, Tonga, Ya’mon or Devon;
Sailing by luxury cruisers boats and love yachts,
I'll make - waves and whales - stern companions of my sports...
Lying on roses, lilies, and hyacinths grand,
I'll sip the sacred nectar secretes like thin strand;
Like a butterfly or dragonfly, I’ll hover,
Savoring the sharp shrill subtle season-shower...
My movements are like swimming within clouds shallow,
And bathing within seas of heavenly hallow;
May sun and moon, like angels, guard my flimsy way,
May each ray that gleams like thousand lights, idyll-sway...
Milky Way, like grand seas, waters of blessings bring,
May Jays, Buntings, puffins, and pheasants, for me, sing;
Cosmos, like a wind instrument, mingle my voice,
May new heaven and earth in my great joys rejoice...
14 September 2021
IDYLL THOUGHTS Poetry Contest
Sponsored by: John lawless
Slips marked and mapped across the intercoastal waterways
a scanning breached out of high low tidal waves,
silent, still, obscure, and not well hidden
liveaboards hold steady isolated sheltered misgivings;
embedded and anchored in place
buoys secure contested living space,
Matanzas Pass, Sarasota fields, Titusville and Sunset Bay
the Gulf Stream Key Largo flow a mainstay;
honker down between the wind, the rain, and sun
vessels sturdy and rickety, short and long - all come,
house and home hum interludes for a sing-along,
push aways and pull in tights
safeaways and derelicts amidst stormy plights
resident and transient, occupied and abandoned
faceless vacancies, sequestered and random,
marinas and harbors within hurricane holds in tandem,
dockmasters and dock slips. environmental folds alluring
beleaguered and bewildered landlocked sailors touring
in their trawlers, boats, cruisers and yachts adoring
September shelters in the Florida moorings.
A thunderstorm passed over,
gun turrets flash.
gray hulls rumble and roll
above tumultuous clouds.
Evening commences to weep -
an aftermath,
a damp emotive capsizing
that barely touches upturned faces
yet it splashes fright onto brows.
As seafaring battles go
it was a skirmish,
flotillas of cruisers awash from
near misses.
They sailed away
leaving this whittling rain,
a backwash of electric jism,
the distant sound
of sailors shouting for rum.
Behind our eyes
deaf fish mouth deaf bubbles.
Ozone spumes against inner ears.
The wake of the storm
sponges, damps down,
slowly drips
into a salty bucket
of silence.
‘Four us’ had ‘all mine’ calculating mischief
Undermining + faulting > (It’s u, u, and u)
So u-cubed / ’we’ three equaled the minus
(9/22/20: ’05 Cruisers Yachts 280 CXI)
A thunderstorm passed over,
gun turrets flash.
gray hulls rumble and roll
above tumultuous clouds.
Evening commences to weep -
an aftermath,
a damp emotive capsizing
that barely touches upturned faces
yet it washes fright from brows.
As seafaring battles go
it was a skirmish,
flotillas of cruisers awash from
near misses;
they sailed away
leaving this whittling rain,
a backwash of electric jism,
the distant sound
of sailors shouting for rum.
Behind our eyes
deaf fish mouth deaf bubbles.
Sea legs are braced against
peripheral nerves.
Ozone spumes against inner ears.
The wake of the storm
mutes and tingles, damps down
as it slowly drips
into a salty bucket
of silence.
The cruisers bought all the
canned food that was for the locals,
The small island stores stocked in three week
segments of time,
The Marquesans waved when the sailors pulled up anchor,
smiling big with their gifts from the brief, fast moving visitors,
new t shirts that said USA
Public Speaking
Public speaking made me nervous when I was in school
Getting up in front of class, I always lost my cool
I memorized my speeches and really knew them well
But between my brain and lips, things just didn’t jell
Here are a few examples with embarrassing details
“Saving whales,” I meant to say instead of “waving sails”
And when one wants to talk about “battle ships and cruisers”
His audience will likely laugh at “cattle ships and bruisers”
It shouldn’t be as hard as jumping a high hurdle
To say “hypodermic needle” not “hypodemic nurdle”
And certainly one understands that a “well-oiled bicycle”
Will last a whole lot longer than a “well-boiled icicle”
During school it seemed likely I’d been “wasting two terms”
Still, a whole lot better that “tasting two worms”
So compared to public speaking, writing is the “fun part”
More dignified that expounding on the latest “pun fart”
I am outside the circle of sex. Just as well. Population control,
the biome's survival instinct. Or I'm old. Look
in mirror, skin over bones. Young girls
on bicycles, running, have that granddaughterly smile for me,
all is safe, well. Much is well.
The neighborhood safe,
the nation a non-violent helpmate among nations. Until
food shortages, weather crises, nuclear mischief apply.
Police patrols. I was proud of Massachusetts
voting to decriminalize reefer. Let's go all the way:
free all non-violent offenders from their cells! Force police
out of cruisers to walk the streets and say hello.
What else can we try:
Open the border with Mexico. Let labor
flow like capital.
What has this to do with the self,
the temperamental, fragile self. The one that leaves no footprint
in eternity. No smell.
Happiness
By Franklin Price
4/7/2015
inspired by June Baker
Happiness how to define
Is your happiness the same as mine
Having things for which hell bent
Or is it just to be content
Keeping up with Alias Jones
Expensive cars and camera phones
Yachts and mansions first class cruisers
If you don't have them are you losers
Do you eat and have your fill
Not be in doubt of your next meal
When it rains be dry inside
Make enough to stem the tide
Wealth is not about the cash
To have it all a frantic dash
To strive for things that mean so little
Above contentment all's a piddle
What does it take to be content
Find happiness at least a glint
Dwell on the basics and you will find
Happiness and peace of mind
Self is first of all the most
To love yourself but not to boast
Then treat all others as if were you
Contentment comes as if on cue
Someday Soon I Hope
Seems like so often I am in doubt
Where should story start and be about
After having been in a state of depression
I honestly want to hear your suggestion.
Should a trip to Guernsey to try to take
Where a Potato Peel Pie they often back
Have done it for everyone and society
And are known for all of their notoriety.
Permission to write this I now ask
So someday soon can complete the task
To Guernsey will go on a sailing ship
Arriving there requires a long trip.
From America is where we will first start
Later on Princess Lines from port will part
Every British Isle by us, we will visit
Guernsey's the one that is very exquisite.
On Cruise Critic many people we will contact
To draw from them their opinion and each fact
Where best places will be to take a tour
Being they're great cruisers and know for sure.
How happy my wife and me will be
As soon as we set sail out to sea
In each day a delight we are sure to find
And so look forward to all the peace of mind.
James Thomas Horn
Retired Veteran
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