Long Catskills Poems

Watching upcoming toilet bowl lvii highlight of February 12th, 2023

Above title attests 
how mine mundane mein kampf
insync as a veritable clogged drain oh:
flush with adventure overflowing excrement
er... rather excitement.

Apt aforementioned accurate personal description
believe me not,...

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Watching upcoming toilet bowl lvi highlight of February 13th, 2022

Above title attests how mine mundane mein kampf
insync as a veritable clogged drain oh:
flush with adventure overflowing excrement
er... rather excitement.

Apt aforementioned accurate personal description
believe me not,...

Read More

LETTER TO A SOLDIER
A Trilogy


I.  SONGS OF LOVE

Love walked with me
In the crisp fall air
In a shower of gold and red.
Love showed me the print
Of a doe’s foot
And where she made her bed.

Love sat...

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I stand inside a ballroom that stretches long before me,
it is a sitting room right now, formal chairs and setees,
tall windows stretch ceiling to floor, twice as tall as a man,
with velvet drapes sent from...

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Majestically they've stood since time had its start
rising on a cartographer's global elevational chart
Mountain ranges, wondrous works of God's creation
that eyes have beheld for centuries with fasination

Come along with me on this adventure as my...

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When I was a kid on the bus,
I looked at all that surrounded us,
out the window I always gazed
seeing old fields, half-trees, half-hay,
beyond them rose a forest wall,
maples and pines, stately and tall,
past that rose...

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"Lake Tear in the Clouds" was an indescribably pretty scene
Lewis Pugh hiked in the rain; clouds lifted, he felt serene.
He dove in, swam through hemlock, maple, ash and birch
An adventure starting in nature's wooden church.

Vanderwhacker...

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Hear this recitation
the Lenape nation
bore a child of extreme size,
in the Onteoras,
the Catskills of yore now,
this man would live out his whole life.

Winisook was his name,
and he gained local fame
from standing at seven feet tall,,
to...

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On my way down to New Jersey
to take care of business there,
I pulled off and up to this place,
where I got out to stand and stare.

This was the Kutchingkord Hotel,
the heart of the old Borst...

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I squeeze in on the horse’s side,
spurring the mustang to a trot,
he makes his way on this trail ride,
up a hill to a sunny spot.

Three others are along with me,
two strangers and guide, the owner,
there...

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It can be kind of depressing,
living in upstate New York,
because of that damn city,
that grand ol’ attention whore,
I cannot go anywhere
without having to explain
that I don’t live in a borough,
I live three hours away!

Can’t go...

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It’s now a bird sanctuary,
and has been for some decades now,
the trail wanders through the forest,
past the rock walls of an old house.

The trail itself was once a road,
I can tell by the two rock...

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The sign he reads out loud, “There’s holes ahead.”
The Rip Van Winkle Bridge quite disturbs me.
A story book that’s come to life — with head
To lose. My dad inches along bravely.

The chickens must brood o’er...

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Behind the magnolia curtain, childhood ne’er knew.
Drawn to Sleepy Hollow - over the river, really
mountains; and the thruway, to Grandma’s we go.

Magnificent magnolias, bountiful with perfume,
born when I was steeped in maturity. Now I know
the...

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Up in the mountains
Out in the woods
Things look better
Air feels good

Meet in the kitchen,
Whenever we can
Eggs in a cast-iron frying pan

Yes, and sometimes life goes faster 
than we’d like it
And the wheels will spin, no...

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Shimmering in a chilly mist,
skyscrapers overlooking NYC.
August left into September's cooler mornings,
schoolchildren dressed in plaid and Hush Puppies.

In Central Park the leaves are a green-yellow,
squirrels scurry to store acorns.
Pretzel vendors appear as joggers feel
relieved from...

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Rumpel Still's kin are a strange lot
With names not easily forgot
But he was kept asleep
By his cousin, the creep
Moonshine Still was the guilty sot

Rumpel had walked deep in the wood
Where Moon was with bros in...

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My family did not visit New York City
but instead played in the Catskills.


I SCREAM AT THE BEAR

I scream, at the bear
signage, for ice cream.
The tea cups are flying -
fun in the dying,
with laughter and cones.
The...

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When I was a kid
My summers were spent
In the Catskills where
My parents went.

It was country bliss
And a life of ease
But with lots of spiders,
Wasps and bees.

There was one mean boy
And he got his kicks
Playing pranks...

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I’ll agree to a virtual visit
With the people I can’t see for real.
The hugs and the closeness are missing
But it does have a certain appeal.

I’ll accept taking virtual classes.
There’s a lot the instructor can teach.
Though...

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MURDER MOST MEDDLESOME

streaking into the dark of night
he received news of his demise
when he was out for a car ride
he received a marked gift
slipped from a friend to his side
beside himself with terror
disappeared into the...

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