“You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today,” a quote attributed to Abraham Lincoln, is a timeless statement emphasizing accountability and the necessity of confronting challenges head-on rather than deferring them. It underscores the principle that inaction today merely postpones problems, often making them more complex or difficult to address in the future. As procrastination is a suppressant of time, the resolve is left for the morrow, where time is none to spare. Of such is the case of the unresolved, being tethered on a leash, when it bites untamingly.
by midday the capital is lost in deferring of appointment, illegal assembly and illegal protest of speech, past speech of the governance and the executive, insurmountable halls of congress have no cause for speech in between coordinated attack points.
the cowardice grows in the hands of the general's might.
deprived of voice the eldest child is thrilled and in traitors steakhouse
A fierce and angry snow storm swarms around me.
I trudge to the house, my feet pink in my cold wet socks.
There are frosty icicles on my scarf, it is cold out here.
January has shown us her strength in blue whiteness.
The wind whips into my eyes, so I bow my head.
Deferring to the snow storm that pushes me toward the door.
Inside hot cocoa warms me up, and I pick up my seed catalog.
Dreaming of spring as I select the perennials I will be planting.
Happy yellow tulips and cheerful purple wisteria remind me…
January has her own unique prettiness, but without her,
How would we have the ground water we need to nurture spring?
April is around the bend. My feet warm up as I scour the catalog.
Therapeutic political systems,
like unpolluted oceans
filled with healthy sea creatures,
slowly evolve
from cooperative thrival
of polyculturally healthy
nonviolent communication,
anticipating co-passionate intent,
for co-invested planning
and co-operative green design
Bicamerally balanced
enlightened Either/Or Left
yang dominant
empowering Both/And Right
yintegrally co-prominent
four fractally dynamic seasons
Sacred flow of wu-wei reasons
indigenous
nondualistic
inter-religious seasoned wisdom
Informed by EarthMother,
profusely ecological,
politically co-empowering
liberating Trust and conservational Beauty
Nonviolent relationships
polyculturing
depolarizing
dipolar co-arising
green enlightened nutrition
from and for
co-invested global communion
A new page
turning our compassion narrative
deferring to a more inclusive
democratic health and safety energy
for a repurposing EarthJustice
AnthroHealth-EarthWealth -
LeftEgo-RightEcoSystemic
BiNomial Either/Or
Both/And BiCameral
Not(Not) BiLateral NonZero
Open Whole Systemic
political power-withing
win/win strategic worldview
health and safety
Organic AnthropoScene.
Sometimes he tries
To slim his size
But mostly sighs:
Weight on the rise.
Deferring fries,
And apple pies,
He never cries,
Nor does despise.
It’s no surprise
There’s no demise
In what he spies;
The arrow flies
To greater highs.
He does surmise
That it’s unwise
To demonize
Or criticize;
His will just dies.
A compromise!
And so he buys
A gallon size
Of ice cream: one
Instead of two.
He lured easy prey into darkest night
Innocent, this had been no risk.
Groomed her until she had squelched her light.
Their romancing was a round pattern disc.
She responds to his disapproving looks.
Innocent, this had been no risk.
She no longer retrieves to her books.
Deferring to his every whim.
Hidden away in his castle nooks.
Her whole world now belongs to him.
She does not gasp, whisper or sigh.
I feel her fate is rather grim.
I give her hug and a reluctant bye.
Her response is stiff and straight.
I hear my chest heave a heartfelt sigh.
She traveled with him compliantly
He lured easy prey into darkest night
Outmaneuvering her reliantly.
Groomed her until she had squelched her light
Written 5-02-22
Contest: An Original Terzanelle
Host L Milton Hanks
Echo
A web waves in the warm breeze,
caught between ancient wooden struts,
indefensible, beneath an empty seat.
It splays to breaking point;
fine-knit, like a fibre-glass veil;
delicate strength resisting air.
Behind, purple bell-shaped blooms bow their heads in unison,
deferring to the weight
of a sprinkler’s misty jet,
that fans out in the shape of victory.
But it is not these shimmering droplets
that crystallise quietness;
nor the opaque haze,
as heat warps the scene into film;
it is not even the web, hanging on, precarious,
like angel-hair, suspended,
where even one breath might fracture the whole.
My quiet distils
to single drips
echoing inside a hollow barrel,
like an insistent broken tap
in a sleeping house at midnight,
incessantly filling night’s spaces
until dawn arrives again.
She urges me forward
Time a concept dreamed by man
Experience expects something
Familiar feelings, the smell of success,
I recognize this place
A familiar stop gap
She laughs and turns me North
Stunned I stare at mountains
Is this my epiphany?
Where is my dream?
Destiny urges me forward
I fall on my idealism
Clairsentience spins me twice
Claircognizance takes me by the hand
I listen intently
Deferring to my soul’s knowing
The doc says I need a vacation
My energy just can't be rationed
Seems there's been some depletion
leading to get-up-and-go secretion
He told me to take a few weeks
Get rid of those brain-draining leaks
Stop pushing myself so darn hard
to become a real-life bard
So, as I bid you all adieu for a while
I hope to do up my time off in style
Ask the Missus what needs to be done
deferring to her whip and her gun
~ I'll miss you, Soupers! ~
See you in a while*
*Will be checking Soup mail, however
She came in storming, stomping and she shook us.
Some did not feel her tremors or terror
until their houses burned to the ground.
She fed diseased bats, and she started a pandemic.
We did not understand it until March or so.
We thought if she was forcing us to shut down, we would.
We sheltered in place gladly the first week or so.
By the end of the month, we were storming and stomping ourselves.
She laughed at the power she had over us. She reveled in it.
In the US we were settling down a bit when she decided to become a dragon.
She blew fire making half the states red, and half blue.
There was no purple; it was sisters against sisters, brothers against brothers.
By now her pandemic has murdered millions of people worldwide.
She is dressed in purple and orange, dancing her way across the sky.
Burning, slashing, crucifying. We are bowing down at her power.
Deferring to her, not gladly, but because she is all-powerful.
We are praying her successor will be a bit more kind with us.
Humility
M'Vatel, "Yield to People",
Concealing, Not Ignorance,
But Adequacy, In not Doing 'Nuff,
To Be a Friend, Husband, Servant,
As I Observe Great Figures,
I Hope to Be in their Mold,
Models Wise, Considerate & Kind,
Intelligent, In as much as They are Hidden,
Not Frail, Afraid, Weak or Meek,
Moreover, They Perceive a Need & Share,
What's in Short Supply: Space, Beauty & Dignity,
With Ones Caught in Ego Nets, Traffic Jams.
It's False Modesty to Feed a Bare Rib Stray,
Or Give Feigned Respect to a "Poster Child",
Untrue Sympathy Tastes Like Cardboard,
May My Expressions to Help, Never That,
Honestly Ask, "Am I Acting to Genuinely Unload?",
"What Needs, No Matter How Hard, To Be Done?",
"Is it my Best?", "Am I Deferring, Waiting for Others?",
Dare to Care, Give a Damn, For There are Few,
Who Know Humility is the Answer,
With That We'll Discover a Cure for Cancer!
The loveliest bird in my forest is she
The beautiful cardinal in the oak tree.
The blue jay is deferring to her, as his queen.
He is her subject, loud cackles, but not a bit mean.
She brings in some subjects, all colors of red.
Blue jay waits patiently, until all are fed.
Cardinal comes back for a tiny bit more seed.
Blue jay flies off, doing a rather good deed.
Robins come in, twirling and tweeting with glee.
Sweet blue jay stays back, high in an elm tree.
When they have eaten, and given a bird song,
Blue jay flies back, to the feeder, but does not stay long.
Contest: Songbirds
Sponsor: Tania Kitchin
Written: Feb 10, 2019
Lank shimmery hair flows off her shoulders
Cascading aloft sweet midnight zephyr
Alone she sits perched on seaside boulders
Under somber moonlight where he'd left her
Night after night she's at the rendezvous
Serene silhouette against the skyline
Amorously bidding her love adieu
Should by design the stars divine align
The twilight shadows hide the tears that flow
Deferring to cosmic powers that be
Prayers released beneath a live tableau
Akin lost mermaid lingering at sea
Love lost in surf leaving a soul in strife
Fate to reunite love in the next life
AP: 2nd place 2025
Submitted on May 13, 2019 for contest CHOICES (PHOTO #3) sponsored by SARA KENDRICK - HONORABLE MENTION
and January 8, 2019 for contest BEAUTIFUL SADNESS sponsored by JOHN HAMILTON - RANKED 10TH
Twisting, turning,
Always yearning,
Feel the love
And passion burning,
I want to hear you
As you're purring,
Thought of holding back
You are deferring,
To enjoy this moment
To bask in the glow,
Of effervescent love
The kind that you can never
Quite get enough of,
The satisfying need
As well as the unbelievable glee,
That I bring to you
That drives you to your knees
And everything that you desire
I will supply and I'll set your soul on fire
And everything thing
That your heart bleeds for,
I shall deliver and more
As I thrust you to the floor
And light you up in exaltation
Feel the frequency and vibration,
Of a love that knows no bounds
I will turn you upside down,
Leave you feeling fulfilled
And feeling so profound,
As within your passion we both drown.
In the 80’s I first learned of Assertive Training
My husband thought it would do me some good.
I laughed myself silly
As the teacher explained things.
If someone tries to put you down, you say this.
If a person tries to hurt you, you do that.
Tears were coming out of my eyes now;
I was shaking with stupid laughter.
Clearly uncomfortable.
This room was full of diffident, hesitant, deferring humans.
When they came up front to act out a scenario given by teacher,
You could barely hear them.
Whispery voices
Fervent glances.
Shy, quiet, skittish.
Win-win was our goal.
We were to say and do what we needed
No one received any praise, lots of criticism though.
Teacher clearly did not understand win-win.
I do not work well under these conditions.
We took turns acting out scenarios given by the teacher.
“You’re being aggressive!” the teacher would say to me sternly.
“You are both supposed to win,” she would caution me.
Being a warrior woman, I had trouble disengaging
My foot from her neck.
Before I left.
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