Long Sparky Poems

The excitement mounted as we rummaged around in the attic looking through old steamer trunks for discarded clothes and props to make Halloween costumes. With an old suit and hat of Granddads, I became a...

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Oh, what a crisp, beautiful morning,
Surely this will be a wonderful day,
For every cloud that we will see
On our way, I’ll wish for a silver lining,
Designed just for you and me.

Adventure was nearing, I felt...

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Now the public library in our town contains the knowledge for mankind, 
and there’s not much happening ‘round the world, that I cannot find.
I can think of any subject that I like and tell Jenny...

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Has your grandma told you how 
she queued to collect a cup of rice
at the campaign ground?
Has your father narrated to you how he was paid to steal the ballot papers? 
Has you been told...

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Happy 5th birthday have you accepted rape into your life,
It's a patriarchal practice built from sadism and male strife,
A hedonistic ritual to keep us all under control,
The birthright of masculinity bestowed upon all men young...

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Ozzie Smith, Yazstremski,

Dave Stieb and Robin Yount

these men were of a special group

It's one I'm proud to count

There's players who achieve a goal

While others just achieve

They set a standard for the rest

In their heart they...

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I’m following the country road I learned to drive on 
the old green ford truck, black rusty stick shift, 
hand carved wooden blocks on my feet.
I glimpse a cane pole pulling a trophy from a...

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Hell breaks loose through the trusting door
Whining its splintering, wooden hinges
Claws wrapping onto the arches beyond
Gnarled feet pressed on the threshold
Lower limbs jingling with sparky anklets
Ready to catapult and kick with spitting mouth
To shove its...

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Our local Church is falling down; it’s in total disrepair,
Father Murphy is beside himself for no one seems to care.
The coffers are near empty so there’s need of volunteers
to refurbish what neglect has caused over...

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You know, I thought changing one’s job would be easy,
To start a new vocation would be breezy.
I got me local newspaper, looking for a job as a sparky, (electrician)
But I said “what the F-ck, these...

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'Tis purty easy to size up a feller by the cap he wears,
By glancin' at the message that on his cap he shares.
Boldy emblazoned is a logo bright and clear,
Revealin' his dubious tastes and facts...

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When apocryphal bedlam spreads its crazy pinions

	Fake news holds court in the newspaper's dominion

		Incessant lies convert to self-righteous 'truth' in print

			I light a fire with a fact check stone cold sparky flint

Surely I respect pluralism...

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Nobody believes me!

We are killing ourselves and each
other everyday.
And no, we don't need a gun.
But, come on, they tell me,
Stop being a party pooper!

No, I won't get on the train of yours.
Anymore than "Old  Sparky."
The...

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Sparky Oh, Sparky!

My daughter me called on Thanksgiving Day,
As Sparky, their Cocker Spaniel was passing away. 
Sparky was riddled with cancer, no drugs could save him.
This had to be one of the saddest days of our...

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I sit at the end of your final stroll
Setting you free is my only goal

At the end of your life so tired and beat
I quietly offer, “Please take a seat”

I suddenly notice as you’re strapped...

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Skating in the Clouds


She ice skates, now in the clouds.
Her figure eights wow, all the heavenly crowds.

She is amazed as the crowd continues to grow.
New, to heaven, God pleases them all  with additional, 
sparkling...

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SEBASTIAN BECK 

The trapeze artist Sebastian Beck
His safety harness he forgot to check 
Didn't notice it had snapped 
Below all the crowd clapped 
But in mid-flight he fell breaking his neck... 

SIR NICHOLAS 

The trophy...

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(for Jim Ducker)


The growth plundered your voice,
robbing it of tone; you spoke
in well-articulated whispers, inhaling
through that tube thing in your throat.

You shone, in spite of it all.
No self-pity, even near the end,
after years of speaking...

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The Ravens call to each other’s brotherhood,
while lofty redwoods reach upward.
Their branches stir and squeak
blowing and flowing with benign breezes.
Under their dusky shade, weary deer find their occasional peace
resting upon the vintage needles to sleep.
Landing...

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I Give You My Word on this P D
I could find myself falling in love with you easily,
and everyone knows that you're hopelessly in love with me already,
but alas, such a passionate love affair shall...

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Mother bartered me to an Englishman.
His tribe made televisions.
In those days
televisions were wooden vehicles
crafted out of electric fans
and the spare parts of flying saucers.
Later he became an overseer
of sparky factory hands.
Once while waiting outside for...

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I don't know whether to consider it considerate or prideful
But I'd rather roll in coals and coil my soul with a barbed wire one-eyed cobra
Just to show you that
My emotion for you is
Nothing more than...

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Brother Joseph 

Brother Joseph loved whiskey to drink
Never washed and oh boy did he stink
Monks  stuck him in a tub
All took turns him to rub
He's no longer called the missing link.

Old Sparky

A cruel robber...

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Alluring and glamorous a flower you were,
You opened your spirit whole heartedly,
And the butterfly in me found the nectar,
Sipping from it brewed a love medley.

Time changes a lot of things,
Who knew that the nectar would...

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I recognize you in your entrancing diversity.
Float through the scent when the sun is sparky.
To plunge while hanging in the air on your head.
Each magnificent blossoming plant in the glade.
A fresh term starts as the...

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