Long Footholds Poems

I never cared to do the dangerous things, and liked to play it safe,
But the strict bonds of ordinariness, can oftentimes start to chafe.

I always preferred to cover my bets, for I hated the idea...

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Endangered Trailblazing
                                 ...

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across the Doggerland dogged people trudge
  Neanderthals, Heidelbergers...Sapiens, the last ones standing
  hairy mammoths, heavy life bearing down
  the mighty maw of an ice wall crunches, enforcing southward retreat
  remoulding the...

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Trailblazing Then and Now

Astride his father’s shoulders
Like a double decker bus
There was always what his father saw
And the child’s gaze beyond
They learned together
What their senses taught them of reality

There were so many hills his father...

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And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. Opponents must be gently instructed, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them...

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The stones slipped through the great fingertips of God
Each ligure staked its existence on the four corners of the universe
The quadrivial region began to spin and pull into a sphere
And pathways revealed their footholds 

The...

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Barreling down the mountain of forgetfulness, 
I raced to Wal-Mart for that last minute gift.  
We’ve not seen his children since Christmas.
Despite their quicksand of un-thankfulness, 
I want him to have something for this...

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Childhood Dreams

(The Golden Period)

The golden period of my life has just begun
The burden on my shoulders has slowly shrunk
Younger shoulders have I found to carry on 
My passion with desirous achievements. 

Turning back I look...

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it's clouded
obscured
        just enough variety 
    to throw you off
 there's no such thing 
          ...

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*Image of Original Gerber baby, Ann Turner Cook by KTVU.


R.I.P. Ann Leslie Cook, nee Turner


Ann Cook
Her look

Not name
Became

Households
Footholds

Aspects
Effects

Neighbor's
Favors

Charcoaled
Turned gold

Adored
Reward

Threshold
Behold

Quest and
Destined

Become
A mom

Four kids
Amids

Teacher
Writer

Thank you
Trueblue

My face
By grace

Glass jars
All-stars

Trademarks
Remarks

Sublime
Lifetime

Apprise
Demise

Gerbers
Furthers

Bless you
Adieu

Godsend
Ascend


*R.I.P. Ann Leslie Cook, nee Turner*

At five months old,...

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One eye opens quicker than the other, so cute,
but who'll spearhead you home, me or the Neanderthal
host? Party goers head for the exit.
I seem to have sat down on a preset remote;
your laugh echoes the...

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The rock that to the climber reaches out with
jagged arms
And to the sore foot of a traveler turns a tough
rough back
Holds within its harshness
The promise of swift marches
To they who aspire towards its summit.
And to...

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When Socretes, Plato and Aristotle teamed,
the line between the will to learn married the will to teach.
When Raphael, Leonardo, and Michael lived at Belvedere,
Art would see her form take shape and pave the way for...

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Before I first crawled from a mythical ocean
light years before history began to take itself seriously
I was told to spin new myths.

The dead-not-so-dead gave me buckets of myths.
“This is your mission,” they said, “carry these...

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Heavy laden this mix of rain and early March snow
  listing in the wind down to the un-expecting earth below.
At first, a barely visible mix, cold and chilling throws
  where once peeking daffodils...

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When was there ever a moral line drawn
where have all of our heroes gone

From the beginning ,
we've had war and strife
no real peace in our life
our mortal self , 
our fatal self....
we are our own...

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Listen here!
I am hurting up all over
Lying here undiscovered

Papparazzi cumulus are jostling in my street
God is taking photos of the remnants of His sheep
Climbing footholds and gripping on the rungs
Heaving and panting I'm a-aching in...

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I Hereby Salute!


Those were the days........
Uncle loomed in many ways............
More joy at home ..........
With the cards well played...........
Life has become lonely.........
Yet he takes it very cooly.............
Sits tall in his chair............
Undying spirit is his flair.........
In a...

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I try to establish strong mental footholds
In resemblance to fort knox physical strongholds
Through repentance I lost the spiritual blindfold
So every sentence I mock material billfolds

I seek an understanding of answers beyond the proven
Discreet but demanding...

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There's nothing to hold on to
When you begin to slide,
And the walls begin to crumble
And you have nowhere to hide.
I look to find the child in me,
That stranger to anxiety,
But the footholds of my history
Are...

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The year began with my dad's fall
Being bedridden and passing away
Followed by his death anniversary today

Seeing my aged mother suffering
From pangs of loneliness
Choking in pain and declining health

Properties forsaken to next patriarch
Daughters divested of paternal...

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Straddling is safe with grips each side secure,
    but progress requires the flip flop position, 
    secured on one side or the other, not looking down or back.
It’s iffy...

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I fight often with forces of my own mental creation
So daily I practice social isolation
 
Get away from the action

Sharpen my reactions with personal meditation
These footholds build traction for the next generation

Build from family gratification

Unwillingly...

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Could you watch my dreams as 
deconstruction jaws them savagely
to torn rags
before your eyes?

Would you understand, intervene,
gather them whole
with tenacity, with love,
with tender care?

For I cannot dance alone in wooded
glades beneath sheltering
crushed black velvet
skies.

Nor can...

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Could you watch my dreams as 
deconstruction jaws them savagely
to torn rags
before your eyes?

Would you understand, intervene,
gather them whole
with tenacity, with love,
with tender care?

For I cannot dance alone in wooded
glades beneath sheltering
crushed black velvet
skies.

Nor can...

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