Always thinking ahead,
as opportunity seldom knocks,
I'm still and always will be
pushing the envelope outside the box.
As what goes up must come down,
if I may have my way and say today,
airlines should sell seats by the pound,
the more you weigh, the more you pay.
History has shown (we've always known),
when American Indians he's among,
all the better to speak out of both sides of mouth,
white man speak with forked tongue.
As stress brings on distress,
employ mind over matter,
and dispense with the former,
to prevent the latter.
If God created mankind in his own image,
as some are straight and others gay,
was God therefore bisexual
or merely dabbling in shades of grey?
A well-balanced world would be bereft,
it can't be all right as nothing would be left,
and almost lost in obscurity,
its axial tilt of 23.44°,
is also known as 'obliquity'.
Hard knocks, a child runs fall on the porch into the door
A Hard knock on the door, it's the police
A Hard knock on the I've been lock out
A healthy play outside, seek a d hide
A playing hard child, running wild full of fun, play and water
A hard knock on the door, cause he's got to potty
4/20/26
Written words by James Edward Lee Sr 2026
No It Doesn't
It Asks, Like A Lever,
With A 'Tribute';
And A Shovel.
-Gray Squirrel
01-18-2026
Take it, we all must.
How do you mend a broken heart?
Believe in better days ahead.
Wordku: 5-7-5 words
AP: 1st place 2026, 1st place 2026, Honorable Mention 2026
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
three knocks at midnight—
ghosts drift, mummies rise, zombies groan…
Run. The moon hides fast.
cold breath on your neck—
just the draft? You turn slowly.
empty coat hook sways
ancient wrappings fray,
a pharaoh's curse in dry dust~
sand fills empty eyes
rotting fingers clutch—
crow pecks at an empty skull...
hunger never sleeps—
Bad experience leaves bitter taste
Divorcée left bruised bitten and chewed out
Never again so she vows
Wordku: 5-7-5 words
AP: Honorable Mention 2025
Who Knocks
"Who knocks so quietly on the cloister's
port a poor girl from a land afar."
We sang that song at school and always
made me emotional, I could picture this
poor waif seeking shelter
Now we know what happens to the poor
and pregnant women seeking shelter at
at a convent run by brainwashed nuns
The woman from Donegal told us when
She came here at 17 and was pregnant
How was she to know this nunnery of
sexually frustrated who had taken a vow
who, in hatred, had turned this a sin worse
than death
When the time comes for our girl from Donegal,
to give birth, she was ill, and they gave her a sedative
Then, as a child was born, she heard a scream
of one drawing of air for the first time
They told her the baby had died; had she
dreamt, no, but there was nothing she could
Christianity is a good religion, but why is it
When it becomes an institution, evil enters
through the front door, while saintliness is
out of the back door like a shroud
Who could find the sheer temerity?
To wallow in such ( sin-serity )
My Diploma Reads
“School Of Hard Knocks”
Miracle Man
1/6/2025
Your time and your talent I once heard said,
was all a young person needed to get ahead.
So I’d rise up early and lace up my shoes,
I spent a few years just paying my dues.
The life goal I had was to retire some past fifty,
but this wouldn’t happen without being thrifty.
I posted my goals where I’d review every day,
along came promotions and raises in pay.
I invested in the market and had a 401-K,
investing paved the road that I travel today.
In the “school of hard knocks” I learned tricks,
and I was able to retire at the age of fifty-six.
Twas thirty years ago, since ending my quest,
I have no regrets, because God has truly blessed.
it is four- thirty-eight a.m..
I was not aware until I heard the loud knock.
Bam.
at the front door
next to my recliner
I glanced at the clock.
Four-thirty-eight a.m.
BAM
BAM
two more loud angry-sounding knocks.
I froze for a couple of minutes.
who would be out there?
If I answered the door, would I be sealing my fate?
Would I be annihilated?
I had to walk in front of the picture window to get out of my chair
the curtains were wide open.
I expected to see a face; I knew it would frighten me.
I peeked out the small glass window in my front door.
A small raccoon was staring at me.
He was drinking the dog’s water
I saw no person whatsoever.
My husband was awake by now.
He wanted to know who had knocked so hard on the front door.
I looked up “ghost knocks”.
There are many stories about them.
I truly do not think it was a person.
My husband thinks it was the raccoon.
I do not.
this was the knock of an angry grown man.
we may never know.
Winter knocked
but no one answered.
Since Summer went on holiday
and Spring is still in bed.
Autumn hears but is sunk so deeply,
so comfortably
into the pumpkin colored easy chair
that it cannot be bothered
to get up and relinquish
the leaves off the trees
or the puffs of dandelion seeds
or the ghost of a warm breeze
which haunts the days.
So, Winter knocks in vain.
Some parents insist,
And some parents resist,
In sending their children to the school of hard Knocks.
Before they start throwing rocks.
There is no doubt that both sets of parents Love their children,
And want to save them from ruin,
But reality is a hard pill to swallow,
When in the virtual it is easy to wallow,
And only a love that is tough,
Can prepare us for when our ball lands in the rough.
There is also no doubt that both sets of parents,
Wish for a better turn of events,
And spending time in tents,
With children,
Where all talk is even,
And tent flaps open to heaven,
We might just have less reason,
To think about throwing rocks,
And live to see the day, the school of hard knocks,
Is no longer advertising for more children,
To save them from ruin.
it's a starting point
life struggles are life lessons
we learn as we go
9-25-23
"the equinox knocks"
Summer leaves
exiting green
Autumn leaves
entering
color
fully
Taught
Fall down
Get up
Setbacks
Life learning
Discerning
Discipline
Fulfilling
Prospective
Hard Knocks guideline
Understanding
Putting one in the know
Process being slow
Tears
Advice
No coincidence
Day by Day
Week by Week
Year by Year
Month by Month
Buy and Buy
Functional into able
Being stable
Accepting with complex
Effort with every try
Ready to enter
Concept in effect
Sometimes a reject
Hard education
Life’s presentation
Stature
Negativity and Positivity
Full blown
Hard knocks
Over and out
Sub Categories
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