Long Gaff Poems

It is so hard to let go of love,
lovingly.

It sharks, 
unpeels more gut more quickly
than reel or reeler ever lost
in all those years of lazy inches
in and out:
casting,
winding in and playing out,
hardly fishing, rarely catching
anything
from...

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Spider’s Rigging
“I had resolved on a voyage around the world, and as the wind
on the morning of April 24, 1895 was fair, at noon I weighed
anchor, set sail, and filled away from Boston, where the...

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There isn't much difference in being a ROMANTIC,
Than there is is watching the CUBS latest antics.

You have to love life on some level, you see,
To believe that the CUBS will not continue to go Pennant...

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my buddy John's Bertram a wood antique
I fixed the engines while he varnish teak
so there we were Joe, John, and Kelly
with a cooler packed with bait so smelly

early in the morning waz headin out the...

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Young man, that is not good enough, just not good enough;
Seek the Lord; fulfill purpose, don’t just huff and puff.
You looking all big and bad; but, inside you are very sad;
Jesus’ joy will make you...

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Spartan Riches
                by Odin Roark

Creation asks not for center stage

How plentiful these quiet treasures
Demanding not a price
Void of glitter 
Gaff
And...

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Me, my brother Tom and Uncle Pat were on a fishing holiday
three men in a rowing boat way out in Dublin Bay
we anchored up and cast six rods over a sunken wreck
hoping for the catch...

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Walking along from the public house late that night 
My lantern giving just a little light
My thoughts as I walked, was I very late?
The time unimportant the year eighteen thirty-eight.

A scream I heard, from a...

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Tree Top Dancers
and Circus Clowns

The neighbors moved away. 
They said nothing to anyone, 
they just left. 
New people took the home. 
There was a big truck. 
It was full of boxes, 
and a TV. 

It...

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The concerned politician was running for re-election
   But a very cool, steamy sex scandal he struggled to hide
He used his thick, bald head to provide some harmful protection
   By taking a...

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The Keystone Cops were funny,
Chaplain, Keaton, Lloyd, and Fields too.
Laurel and Hardy, and Will Rodgers,
Were just some of the names we knew.


Who can forget the Stooges, 
Or all the pies we saw them throw?
Who didn't...

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We have a very wierd pet whose name is Nicki
He is, at the least, very tricky.

Nicki can actually speak you see
Although he must do it thru my wife or me.

His high pitched tone is quite...

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Coping up with life in COVID times

Shake off all your fears,
have no doubts in His might;
You have come so far,
you can still go farther; 

Like a river 
that traverses through rough paths;
Like a mountain
that no...

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About these ditsy moments - I’m blonde, I have a few,
but there is one real cringer I think I’ll share with you.
Before I do, please promise me though, that you will not laugh
as the tale...

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Trump Tumultious Turmoil

If you could live for long time in Carolina
Would you find clothes that are designer?
And on each corner did build diner for you
Food served by waitress wearing a tattoo.

Under each eye she was...

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A Wilderness of Mirrors.  I am unfamiliar with Iron Maiden's music, even though I worked a handful of times at their concert. I was curious about their mascot guy...Eddie.  At one of their...

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David Cameron, Barack Obama
Them 2 gadgies love a drama
Stay away from Russia and Ukraine
Our forces families don't need more pain

For the last decade we've sent our boys
To fight the war against terrorist ploys

Lads are killed,scarred...

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Let me pen you with forever rhyme and warm your heart PAST end of time!
Let me press your flesh in boundless tome of endless leaves that choose a doom
Earth’s frail seasons bless (like butterfly embracing...

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The Keystone Cops were funny
Chaplin, Keaton, and Fields too.
Laurel & Hardy and Will Rogers
were some of the names we knew.

Who can forget the Stooges
or all the pies we saw them throw.
Who didn't laugh at the...

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Scales hardened over her skin
a condition called ichthyosis vulgaris

ik-thee-O-sis vul-Ga-ris

fish disease

(the ‘vulgar’ means ordinary
but at its worst
it is far from common).

She bled where the plaques chipped and cracked,
she leaked oils, but could not sweat enough.

She...

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Lasagna, linguine, spaghetti, ravioli, macaroni too
Is there any pappardelle for me and for you?
Here is marinara sauce lavished on angel hair
Sure try to take a bite of my pasta if you dare.

Shrimp scampi, chicken, blackened...

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Words are no more than thoughts,
Which we choose to transfer by our voices.
Often, leaving them left unsaid,
Would be the wiser of our two choices.

At times, when our rage or anger,
We intentionally set out to offend.
Inflicting...

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The Day After Christmas

It’s the day after Christmas and all round the gaff
Lay the wrappings from presents, both splendid and naff.
Bottles upended and glasses on stairs,
Stains on the carpet, the curtains, the chairs.

Christmas tree fallen...

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The teleprompter tumbles
in the clamorous migration
of doting interns and
banner-waving believers,
as the majority rallies
yet again toward fervor
behind pitch-black sound bites
guaranteed to stir frothing
complacency of thought.

As the seconds stretch in the
arc of gravity, the press core
readies their...

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‘What’s going on please? Tell me right now’
said the dog to the flea, who had jumped from the cow.
‘You cannot live here and that is a fact,
else more of your kind you will likely attract’.

‘But...

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