Long Straggler Poems

Geese, Goslings and the Bridge

Sometimes, when you least expect it, Mother Nature makes a u-turn and draws you into the ridiculous.  Such was the time recently as I was returning from a friend’s home...

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GOOD OLE NUMBER 659 UNION MEMBERSHIP DRIVE
HELD IT'S ANNAUL " LOVERS COUPLING SOCAIL EVENT"
IT'S MEMBERSHIP BRAGGS OF HAVING 620 MALE MEMBERS
AND 666 FEMALE MEMBERS. DURING THE "PLEDGE DRIVE":
46 FEMALE MEMBERS, WITHDREW FROM THE UNION, SITING...

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Vae victis! Her quick eyes spy out the field.
Reconnoitred, the foe's dispositions have been noted, 
quantified, assessed. The forces of order
and tidiness, in neat array, 
perfect their alignment, await onslaught.
The sentinels stand guard:
A pot of...

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Inclined on the divan with a book,  in my room, I was all alone,
Wrapped in a quilt tucked around my feet, the wind’s moan….
In  the cold gusty afternoon sun – casting its timid...

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I stand and watch the exodus of ants
Through sig sag tracks, they wind their way
They march like disciplined soldiers
Never deterred by hurdles on their way

Are they fleeing from an imminent danger?
Or are they on their...

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It was close to Christmas time and late afternoon when our plane arrived in Nashville. My father-in-law, who had been waiting, greeted us with hugs, then shepherded us all out to his van. Usually we’d...

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It’s time for concealing in hides and in nooks,
with a a ledger; glasses; camera, and books, 
spend hours with patience in salt bush or long grass,
in hope there’s a moment, one cannot let pass.
 
Creeping...

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Born in Oklahoma back woods
Three children , each a year apart
Jill, Jim, and Joe were their names
Raised by Mary, bless her heart

Life wasn't easy for Mary
Living in a one room shack
Using an old well for...

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i.

The day he lost her to a fallen world
He promised to be satisfied with life
His love came from above abundantly
Commissioned to give back put others first

One day the Sturm und Drang hit city streets
He viewed...

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Tongue twister line: 
From the rustic rover to Samuel Sanders,  they try to tickle the tongue with tricky tongue twisters. 

1. A rustic rover round the ricks ran restlessly,  and restive, he rushed...

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They march together down the road,
one straggler at the back.
It seems to me her pace has slowed;
at least she has her pack.

The others walk around the mud;
she goes through each pot hole.
She’s down on all...

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The Gargoyle Yawns

The Fogwalker searches for clues  in the  moist darkness of early morning. The mist feels it's way through empty alleys and vacant lots. 
Cautious footsteps crackle from the gravel pathway lined...

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"For those who love with heart and soul, there is no such thing as separation" 
      ~By Rumi
Decked in floral wreaths and crown
as I lay in state among family and...

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Pensive they sit, and roll their languid eyes,
Nibble their toast, and cool their tea with sighs,
Or else forget the purpose of the night,
Forget their tea -- forget their appetite.
See with cross'd arms they sit --...

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Growing up in my household
was better than any sit-com episode
Dinner time was always a riot
My parents were strict,
any excuses you gave, they didn't buy it

Me and my siblings,
we were thirteen
Dinner was always between 6 and...

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Nestled deep in the tawny, drab woodland
Sedate cottage neither haughty nor grand
Sparse hovel of unassuming, itinerant brigand
Martial decor of detached highwayman starkly bland
The etched path sculpted by intemperate hand
No manicured garden on the scrubby strand
Briers...

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How can I stop these feelings …
How can I stop this pain…
I’m looking at the ceiling but my shadow doesn’t appear to be fomenting quite the same …
My thoughts are all at drift …
My body...

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Like a pack of howling wolves in need of prey,
A wounded urban psyche strains its gnarled voice,
Motherless, fatherless, ice cold pavement waif,
Wee small hours plight 

The rocks of his facade dispatched in ghost trains
for those...

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 She said some words and blackbirds cawed
 As she stirred her cauldron to a goblin's applaud
 Her nose was crooked, her skin was green
 As her cackles echoed on Halloween

 The Halloween night was...

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O' Lord, leave us not alone, 
For if thou leave us on our own
We shall wander like a cow in the green field
This world is a labyrinth and a maze
And without Your guidance we may...

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I'm walking now
Shoes chew up the path
Leaving stragglers
Arriving shortly
Two day old food carried in stomach
Churn, churn, churn
Feet run, chewing fast
City someones coming my way
They're walking now
Shoes chew up my path
I'm the straggler
Stampede, stop, cross, stampede
Delay...

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This is as philosophical
As keeping the count, 
Binoculars trained
For a whale 
That will never spout,
This is not the season,
Hamlet knew.

The Pilgrim knew,
As did the Wife of Bath,
This is discovery,
A poem on the Underground
By Sylvia Plath.

This...

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SANDS      OF      TIME
 
My child the struggler-
Half-buried, sand-holer
From fractious family.
Each christmas hollowly
 
Joyless in the cold
Tracks  in the snow,
A pointless journey
A useless straggler
 
My...

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