Long Soldiering Poems

“He fought often and once bled in the cause of freedom, but his habits of War did not lessen in him the peaceful virtues which adorn his private life.”  Doctor Benjamin Rush, signer of...

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Ours was daily mysterious,
sometimes near mystical, 
rapture;
a sensual yet platonic
dorm-mate love affair,
within the only male grad student corridor
at SFSU.

He was the presumably straight Vietnam veteran
southern white good ol' boy,
athletically studying Japanese,
with a gentle passion for...

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competing cousins, interbreeding homo-sapiens
  hominins humming mostly human song
  altruistic generalisers, ever close to dying ways
  opportunistic, never staying long

  self-aware, inquisitive, enlarging brains, empathising
  real representative intelligence
  modelling...

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I wanna trade in my stubby spindleshanks...,

(a poor excuse for legs),
and get me the latest
sophisticated prosthetics advancements,
whereat integration of cultured stem cells
into custom made appendages
allows, enables, and provides
unfortunate recipients of amputations
to experience sensations.

No more will...

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Booby trapped within apartment unit b44

Circa August 18th, 2021
three bajillion years ago to date,
nevertheless I count blessings, 
so please do not hashtag me 
as worse than an ingrate 
or one whose dire financial straits 
attributed...

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Trump started it,
with his arguments against transgender people
in the military violence business
of nationalism.

He seems to think trans-thinking
could not be sufficiently focused,
disciplined,
willing to accept ego-sacrifices
as necessary for successful long-term peaceful outcomes.

While this does seem to be...

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Asked an NPR journalist
of U.S. soldiers
damaged in Afghanistan
direct fire
for one hundred everydays,

"Was it worth it?"

"I can't answer that question."

She asks more hesitantly again
of another veteran,

"Was it worth it to you?"

A good soldier,
"I can answer that...

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Lemme titillate thee
regarding myself daily soldiering thru breastworks
read out loud to experience where dangerfield lurks
twenty five years a husband unknown marital perks
bachelorhood to die for, cuz warp and weft
courtesy webbed and wedded bliss
incorporates life threatening...

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...Duncan pulled free and sprinted, half-mad,
tears streaming as he made his retreat,
he’d never imagined hell this bad,
and didn’t much care if they were beat.
All he desired was to get clear,
to run himself far away from...

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Sassy sobriquets schooled sissy spindleshanks...
studious sexagenarian skinny scruffy scribe

My utmost humblest apology
for inducing the following
cerebral calisthenics upon your cranium,
but the cost of friendship
with yours truly 
(me – a foo fighting,
eagle eyed, beatle browed, beastie boy...

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Only when yours truly busies himself...

Feigning to emulate NON GMO
garden variety English major oh just so
ho-hum, this ousted son and cingular bro
biological byproduct of papa's yoyo

after mama taut Peppy how to grow
big and become vein,...

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Know (Chain Haiku)

One would think we'd know
Knowing, God, intimately
Gives understanding

Gains Loves true beauty
Life's expectant pregnancy
Carrying duty

Expectant, truly
Across the void's Great Divide
On the Greatest Horse

That Joseph could find
That Mary could whisper to
Ruach, be in thee

Give wings...

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Blank Page
Clean Slate

Untouched
Somewhat

Once Great
Tho Not So Great Enough

Back Again
Here I Am

Here Again
Unfinished

Tinkered
Tailored

Soldiered Too Fit
Sailors Despise

Redundance
Repitition

Without Point
Without Goal

Without Role
Without Cause

Without Baseline
Without Ship

We All Crash
We All Drown

Why Am I Here
Why Do I Seek Ground

What Is Rich
What Is...

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when the war was finally over they placed flowers

          into the heated barrel of his battered cannon

         ...

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Scribe Under Fire

The wall had been there for an eternity
	
	closing gaps of time and sacred places

		field stones memories and gentle caress


Hans could not write any longer any 

	shorter it was too loud and far too...

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Sassy sobriquets schooled sissy spindleshanks...
studious skinny scruffy scribe

Scathing, scolding, screaming,
scorning, searing, sing,
sociopathic sarin soaked skewed
squirt, sputtering, squawking, sleepily
staggering, stabbing, swaggering
sweltering sadistic, sarcastic,

savage, systemically systematically
stigmatized, supersized saber sharp
schick shaving, shunned, sabotaged,
scarred, scorched, smote, sanguine,
stippled, speckled schizophrenic
sensibility,...

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Like a prisoner caught in a cage, wires and strangers
People quietly watching from windows at people on the grasses
Silence in the golden skies while people walk their dogs
My dogs getting pushy, demanding nipping at my...

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The tip of the fur tree sticks out like a sore candle

Barely visible an angel drowns in a pileup of presents 

Fortunately wrappers and cards are bio-degradable

Each allocated their circumspect place for recycling

Ribbons find rest...

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The rich 
Are resentful
Of the poor
Feel 
They have to 
Pay more
Taxes 
Then the poor
Hence hide
Their
Money 
Yet still 
Salute their 
Nations 
Flag
And show 
Hunger for wars
It is profitable 
And 
The poor
Can do 
The soldiering 





Mortal Man...

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Lost one
Tossed one
Tossed to and fro
and here and there
Lost one
Desperate tears 
Burdened,
By a world of cares
So much fear, it tears
Down to the last fiber of being
With no one
or no thing,
To give some kind of remedy
So...

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I have felt the sun come burning,
O'er the sands of Africa,
I have climbed the steps,
Marked by the hand of time.

I have sailed along the river,
The ancient river Nile,
And have walked the route of soldiers
Mile by...

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It's always the little things 
                 That mean the most to people
       ...

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A Tear for Don

I still shed a tear over you, Don,
I wish you were still here, alive.
Remember the day we first met, Don,
A pair of young schoolboys aged five?

Remember how we were like brothers, Don?
The...

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Amazon mist  and rainy mornings green as the day God made them 
dropping from a moist sky full of even grays and sheltering light 
peaceful music playing from the spheres of a dense forest...

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I say, 
After stumbling and a fall; 
‘I fell to rise up ‘
So I rise up
As if nothing happened, 
Limping as I go
I refuse to be grounded.

I say, 
After having a bad day; 
‘I survived...

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