Supporting bridges over ravines
or gap-toothed kings and queens
abutments may be improperly named
BUT they’re effective all the same
Prospecting for gold
in a mosquito-infested ravine
The junior explorers all mighty keen
to prove their skeptics curmudgeony scolds
And sure enough, they return all gap-toothed smiles
pans overflowing with rare and precious gems
The kind prospectors turn up in sequestered mountain glens
at the bottom of creeks that twist and turn for miles
Old-timers gawk at the kids in wonder
their colored stones, all shapes and sizes
containing abundant suspicious surprises
~ Whose rock garden did these little ones plunder
Picture day a day that I from self consciousness detested
add to my gap toothed grin wild eyed and unrested
In first grade sitting next to a handsome young man in a suit
Bouncing along on the bus ride motion sick to boot
The stress of the day tipping the scales on me
and his closest pant leg
Humiliated my sister rushed up his pardon to please
Kindly beg
He put his arm around my heaving shoulders
And said
You couldn't help it honey,and against him lay my head
Home permed ,disgruntled ,with stain
on my dress
This young man's kindness I can attest
Went well above and beyond as did my breakfast
A heavenly vision
came walking my way
I tried to stay calm
but my face gave me away
My eyes nearly bulged
right out of my head
sweat dripped from my chin
'neath a gap-toothed grin
My jaw dropped beside me
as I lowered my head...
Had she blown me a kiss
~ or vanished instead
Hey Daddy!
I got a gap toothed grin and that's a sin.
Hey Daddy!
I really need some dentistry.
Ohhhh Daddy!
I got a double chin and jowls like Gentle Ben.
Hey Daddy!
I need plastic surgery.
Ummmm Daddy!
I need a fanny lift, nose bob and a boob job.
Ohhh Daddy!
I sure could use some surgery.
Ohhh Daddy!
I've had my tummy tucked and been lipo-sucked.
Oooo Daddy!
Now I look just like Barbie.
Hey Daddy!
I want a diamond ring and things with lots of bling.
Oh Daddy!
You gotta buy it all for me.
Ohhh Daddy!
He's got a brand new car, a yacht and caviar.
Bye Daddy!
You sure have been a friend to me.
The checkered skirts my hell.
The checkered skirts that would make girls sweat in the heat with modest button-downs.
The checkered skirts that would sometimes rise up
To expose messy knees.
The checkered skirts that sometimes
Rose up to a forbidden thigh when sitting down.
I savored this.
The rare knee,
Evasive crook of the leg,
The elusive top of the thigh,
In between scripture
She would give me her eyes,
Laughing with a joke.
She would give me her hair,
Soft and easy to braid.
She would give me her smile,
Gap toothed and all.
They think checkered skirts and modest button-downs will stop us.
We instead give each other our elbows,
Our noses,
Our eyebrows,
All of the places that anyone could see
But were plainly ours.
'Round here it's winter, cold as hell
Down there the chosen, a few lucky boys
answer the call of the Opening Bell
~ Spring Training in Arizona
They jog out to the field for the first time
That feeling of renewal, mighty fine
limber up with stretches and beer
~ Spring Training in Arizona
Back in the Heartland, north winds blow
frozen fingers, shoveling snow
as They job along and toss the pea
~ Those Lucky Boys of Summer
One by one they step to the plate
their first few swings like rusty gates
Then the base hits, line drives, begin
banged out by boys -- now men, with
gap-toothed smiles and devilish grins
~ Those Lucky Boys of Summer
February 15, 2019
Pitchers and Catchers
reported to Spring Training this week!
gap-toothed, gray suit
lacy socks, haircut by mom
— parochial pics
6/3/2018
a scant mere
seconds to late, when with a crash, which near
concussion smacked noggin
hard against blocky chunk hove ice
informing gap toothed email
(actually, that incident
me quite traumatized),
i.e. unpreparedly tasting solid rock hard material -
with ugly reflection that didst stare
from a looking glass re: mirror,
which aye avoided at all possible costs where
to cast and fit mouth
with a provisional crown entailed maybe a year.
necessitating cupped gloved hands
to punctuate every muffled word
to be but barely heard
akin to talking with mouth full of custard
above the quiet riotous mirth
analogous to twittering bird
winning sympathy from parents,
who did level best to tend distraught son
who ushered playback of events
with less disastrous rerun
praying for a high lee angel
to grant reverse outcome brought none
gut wrenching grief
immediately terminated former fun
damage irreversible
and perfect smile of pearly white
forever broke
NOT the least itty bitty funny, comical,
nor countenanced devastation done.
Brilliant young girl
Old in character
Lovely and fun to be with
Unarguably, a rare jewel
Wearing on her face,
A gap- toothed grin
That sparkles like rainbow
In that smile, there's vigour
Fidelity, her watchword
Enthralling all, her virtues
Hey Daddy!
I got a gap toothed grin and that's a sin.
Hey Daddy!
I really need some dentistry.
Ohh Daddy!
I got a double chin and jowls like Gentle Ben.
Hey Daddy!
I need plastic surgery.
Hey Daddy!
I need a fanny lift, nose bob and a boob job.
Ohh Daddy!
I sure could use some surgery.
Oh Daddy!
I've had my tummy tucked and been lipo-sucked.
Oooo Daddy!
Now I look just like Barbie.
Hey Daddy!
I want a diamond ring and things with lots of bling.
Oh Daddy!
You gotta buy it all for me.
Ohh Daddy!
He's got a brand new car, a yacht and caviar.
Bye Daddy!
You sure have been a friend to me.
Away with work
Up Kaitaia way
I’d driven for miles
I’d driven all day.
In a beautiful place
I was feeling alone
So great was the distance
Between me and my home.
I came round a corner
To see works on the road
What gave me the grin
Was a sight to behold.
A stop go lady
She was dancing and moving
Jiggling the booty
Twirling and grooving
Funky and crazy
Not a care in the world
As I unwound the window
A smile she unfurled.
A gap toothed grin
From a proud Maori face
I told her she’d struck me
By her style and her grace.
“Bro it’s OK,
It’s easy to me
When I’m out in the open
Feeling so free
Some think I’m crazy
But I don’t really care
They don’t know my story
The music, only I hear.”
Then she boogied me through
As I beamed and I waved
A new rule for my future
On that day she paved.
4th October 2015
* Based on a true story
Turned down the alley that led to my street
walked in the door tired and beat
On my desk were a stack of bills piled high
was overwhelmed so I shuffled right on by
Felt dead, went to bed with a pounding head
When I woke, my apartment was a rickety shed
I looked down and observed a purple dirt floor
The sky was bright yellow when I opened up the door
Black stars overhead in the middle of the day
In the water of a pond I saw leopards at play
A hippo sleeping high, top a coconut tree
He opened one eye to take a look at me
Tried to keep my cool as I walked on through
At this point that was really all I could do
There were clouds made of bees floating over my head
Dripping honey on the grass that was crimson red
I awoke once again with a heavy hangover
You would think that by then my dream would be over
But when I went out the door, what did I see?
The hippo sitting high in the coconut tree
He winked and he nodded with a gap toothed smile
I decided to go back to bed for a while...
Spreading like wildfire
through a kerosene soaked forest,
infecting the mind with
its inky black threads.
She’s too fat,
he’s too skinny,
her hair isn’t perfect,
his face is full of pimples.
No matter how they try
no one is able to reach perfection,
society’s picture of beautiful.
Perfection is not beauty,
it is cold, lifeless, unreal.
Beauty is the freckles
on the little redheaded boy.
Beauty is the curves
on the girl’s body.
Beauty is the gap toothed smile
of the boy next door.
It is the face
of the girl determined
to overcome her troubles,
the glasses on the shy
girl in class.
It is the hands of the worker,
the mind of a poet,
the creativity of the artist.
It is the voice of the boy
singing off key to his favorite song,
the eyes of the girl
who see’s truth.
Beauty is everywhere,
it is life itself.
Each person holding
different aspects of it
within them.
I've passed this way many a day
and wondered as I strayed;
Who had opened, what had filled
the gap within the crib's dark bay.
The opening small in the wall
at once so spare yet alluring
with tilted sides and gap toothed maw
which now held field mice burrowing.
The boards of red once formed a bed
for stored feed of golden maze,
these cedar shingles had sheltered
the abundance of by gone days.
The farm's gone now, no fields, no cow
long past its youth, its heyday
housing only bitter sweet and
memories of corn cobs and play.
Yet, here it stands, as I go by,
and so quietly it brings to me;
the lingering joy of laughter
the faint echoes of jubilee.
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