Long Diner Poems

Sixty some odd years ago, when I was just a kid, our home was on the very edge of town.
The man that lived next door to us - a Mr. - O. M. Crabb -...

Read More

Reveren’ Carlton Whitney was the pastor of our church, and someone I looked up to as a child. 
Six foot six, with piercing eyes, a booming voice, and yet…his disposition, thankfully - was mild.

The very...

Read More

The biggest funeral I've ever attended...


Thelma was a waitress at the diner on the corner of 4th and Oak, across from Ron’s DX, in Abilene.
They had an old brass register that rang when it was...

Read More

We have something in common, a fellow I talk to now and then. We’re about the same age and perhaps the only ones in the diner who think our past lives are interesting. So when...

Read More

Justin Case - the weirdest guy in the all of Buxton county - did a lot o’ crazy things that most would never try,
And even weirder - just before he’d do the things he did...

Read More

It was the weekend, and I was sleeping late that day,
Alone with the morning, while savoring marvels of May.

As I drowsed luxuriantly, at the outskirts of dreams,
I heard a strange sound, while soaking in gay...

Read More

"What sort of world
be home to those
who goes about
judging all souls
of what they do
be right or wrong
and how'd they know
of this-and-that
be bad or good
be alsoooo, true
lest they were told
from the same lot
who walked the walk
and...

Read More

While returning home from my job, in bustling New York City,
The blaring horns of traffic, and the noise were getting to me.

With loud yelling on the sidewalks, and cawing crows up above,
And my poor aching...

Read More

Spouse cannot forget mine suppressed flatulence upon our first date

While yours truly sat here 
at the desk housing MacBook Pro,
pondering his next idée fixe apropos
for gamut of anonymous readers,
he unexpectedly, noisily and effectually
exploded out rear...

Read More

Out in that sky, no one sleeps, not even the stars.

We are at the 24-hour late-nite diner

and they’re serving up fruit

from the plants growing out of the floor.

We watch bodies fall to the ground outside

like...

Read More

I have heard many moms repeat
"You never stop being a parent."

Sadly, I don't see or hear that quite so much from the dads,
although I know of remarkably nurturing exceptions.

I thought of this as my impossibly...

Read More

Reverend Ralston Pews had no idea what he was going to see at 
the Honkland Shonkastada Diner, but he knew it would be entertaining.
It always was.  A tiny confistacate was happening, he could hear...

Read More

Freddie and Fern were an old couple, a very old couple if truth be told, but on the matter of age, the truth seldom surfaced. Their kids were grown and gone and had families of...

Read More

In a far off place in a cold cold land there lived a man called Mr. Mack. The place he lived in was called Kirkland Lake. Kirkland Lake was small as cities go, but it...

Read More

We came walking blind bends at dusk, 
An overhanging fig picked fresh.
No pavements, just a nervous trust 
that drivers would skirt our single line.

Hugging the roadside with torches lit, 
Phones swung glowing to the ground...

Read More

Because they’re typically such delightful places to live, as well as being far safer to raise a family in, it breaks my heart to see what’s happening to so many small struggling communities all over...

Read More

Old Jambu tree
Still bearing fruits;
Generous delights

~~~~~~~~~


NDP crowd
Massive tapestry;
Community celebration

~~~~~~~~~


Each passing year
Affirms our country;
Diversity in oneness

~~~~~~~~~


We celebrate
Our little red dot;
Gratitude remembers

~~~~~~~~~


So much to see
So little time;
Familiar complaint

~~~~~~~~~


Fireworks display
After The Pledge;
Poignant philosophy

~~~~~~~~~


Politics means action
Mere words concede;
Happy results...

Read More

In my travels late one night 
upon a country road
Across the fields and in the distance 
something surely glowed
Perhaps a fire over there? 
Though I could smell no smoke
'Go and take a closer look' 
a...

Read More

You say we’re all one thought away
from seeing a woman and having a rape,
then proclaim we’re patriarchal monsters
if we act like gentlemen on a date.
You say that you have no need of us,
that it’s a...

Read More

I saw a young man shouting in the street,
he couldn’t have been much more than twenty,
and for some reason felt ever so mad
about his country, this land of plenty.

He seemed to be so very passionate,
so...

Read More

...He left here there, and she had a stunned look,
so did the first responders standing by,
no one had ever heard Dan talk that much,
much less express the feelings deep inside.

Needless to say, Tanya caught lots...

Read More

...She did not see him at the reunion,
the big night came and he was a no-show,
Janet felt sad, but figured he might need time,
so back to their hometown the two did go.

But Chet went on...

Read More

Pallets, Jacks, and the Soft Sounds of the 70's
OR
My Summer Summed Up Summarily for a Small Sum
A constant beeping chirp echoes through the warehouse, strangely comforting the workers who walk these aisles and habitually straighten...

Read More

Why I keep a low profile i.e. namely remain invisible

Alternately titled -
dear readers ye each saddled as exegete
to make sense little known excerpt
referencing obscure passage printed
calligraphy style groovy and neat

found scrawled in book of Matthew
which...

Read More

It stands on the edge of civilization,
fed by a ghost town road
A starving artery leading into the desert
Only desperadoes and Death Valley aficionados
pass through this lonely stretch of land
But there's a diner sitting at this...

Read More