We can build an orrery
Yet turn the sky into a junkyard
We're abecedarian, quirky contrarian
Stare decisis from cosmic ovarian
Subaltern, suborbital
Small steps on the heavenly stairway
Pedestrian stardust walking around
Tariffing penguins to tear up the ground
But the stairway is spiral
And it's spiraling down
No escape from the gravity
Found all around
Eyes searching the cosmos
For myopic bliss
In a fallacy galaxy
Far from star-kissed
We're worst when we're first
At least in our mind
Quoting chapter and verse
From each tract that we find
On the ground underneath us
That shifts with each step
Tract's gotten infected
Yet onward we schlep
Each bearing the burden
Of truth stumbled across
When we can patch the thatch
On the roof that we've lost
In that storm of ideas
That threatened the shelter
We've built for ourselves
Unstable ideas full on the shelves
We've forgotten to look
For the beauty inside
While we're gathering dust
From under our feet
Instead of uncovering
What's come from above
While planting our hopes
In the promise of love
For Brian Strand's 1393 Poetry Contest
26 June 2025
Contest Judged: 7/1/2025 9:06:00 PM
1st Place
____
/ \
l STOP l
\_____/
l _____________
l /===========\ white lines guide the way,
/ // // // ll \\ \\ \\ \
/ // // // ll \\ \\ \\ \ footsteps soft on sun-warmed path,
/ // // // ll \\ \\ \\ \
/ =====================\
/_______safe passage for all._______\
A faded white shirt
accents his rumpled brown suit
He takes his place unobtrusively
sits content, quietly
His preferences pedestrian
narrowly bourgeoisie
Guests sample exotic liquors
His pleasure is tea
He cares not for flaming duck, nor for pheasant-under-glass
His pudgy fingers put a chokehold on a peanut butter sandwich
For dessert, the raspberry tort was recommended
~ Buffett pockets two mints, peppermint-scented
____________________________________________________
Of course, it's 'The Oracle of Omaha!' Is there any other Buffet
on the world's radar?!
One day I thought I'd take a walk,
So on that day I walked and thought.
I thought about the times we'd talk,
We talked about the life we sought.
A thoughtful life where we'd be proud,
And proudly go throughout the days.
Those days we thought to sing out loud,
About our thoughtful loving ways.
We'd sing a song and dance together,
And we danced and sang in every town.
I thought that it would last forever,
Until that day I let her down.
It happened in a gorgeous city,
When a gorgeous woman caught my eye.
It happened though and though a pity,
I thought I'd never make her cry.
But cry she did, it broke her heart;
And turned my lover's heart to stone.
That fateful day our love would part,
That's how I wound up all alone...
Then on a stone, I stubbed my toe.
It hurt so bad, I thought I'd cuss.
This walk I thought would help me grow,
I think next time I'll take the bus.
When MCO is off
The pedestrian flow
Streaming out of the stations
Maybe
A sign of prosperity
A sign of active politics
I can see the backs
And the silhouettes of the crowd
Moving
No doubt
They are God's creations
But they have different dreams and expectations
But they are within the dirty tricks of politicians
And anything can happen
Now we are facing
A poor economy
A controversial politic
But the flow before my eyes
Goes on and on
And sadness gathered in my heart
Only God can bless you, my friends
Taoists recognize
all outside exposed inside egos
feel watched
when walking through
a new or, some stressed times,
even a long familiar
housed human eco-habitat
But some of us feel marginal,
suspected,
anxious about being judged
and shamed
and blamed
for assumed insufficiencies
at aggressively playing monoculturing win/lose
Straight
WesternWhite
Patriarchal
eco-political games
And sometimes we feel anticipation,
privileged multicultural excitement
and active hope
That the multigenerational family
moving in next door
will have kids our win/win needy age
Still health/wealth co-empathic
feeling ego/ecosystemic healing memories
Of past
RedYang/GreenYintegrity walking
waking small revolutionary
repurposing
transportive
transcendent communion experiences
ReStorying Earth's polyculturing just Ways,
PolyPathic Means,
CoMediations of health-felt cooperative experience
In Ego/Eco-Pedestrian NonZero Zones
of active co-mediation,
win/win strategic and healing game designers
bilaterally co-passioned,
walking along 1/0 binomial
double-binary
boundaries
Anticipating ego/eco-systemic
compassionately progressing
communions.
Saw a road sign, “HEAVY PEDESTRIAN TRAFFIC”
Showed an overweight senior with large geographics
Kinda rude I'd say
But to me, it did slay
A dude with a sense of humor was surely the culprit
Saw a road sign, “HEAVY PEDESTRIAN TRAFFIC”
Showed an overweight senior with large geographics
Kinda rude I'd say
But me, it did slay
A dude with a sense of humor was surely the culprit
Saw a road sign, “HEAVY PEDESTRIAN TRAFFIC”
Showed an overweight senior with large geographics
Kinda rude I'd say
But me, it did slay
A dude with a sense of humor was surely the culprit
Saw a road sign, “HEAVY PEDESTRIAN TRAFFIC”
Showed an overweight senior with large geographics
Kinda rude I'd say
But me, it did slay
A dude with a sense of humor was surely the culprit
A Pedestrian Bridge Fell
On people and cars pedestrian bridge fell;
Killing those who we loved and are swell;
Crumble and crack,
And won't be back;
For them this Sunday we will ring a bell.
Jim Horn
I can't seem to get it right he said,
he crushed the cigarette beneath his heel
I want to tell you why .
the sun was in my eyes
I couldn't see what he was saying.
I had hated him all my life
because my mother told me to.
He held out his hand
The diamond ring flashed
a rainbow in the sun.
I had to take this off her
dead hand.
I't 's yours now.
I wanted it...........
so I let him drop it in my open palm
trying not to let his skin touch mine.
We had a fight,
I didn't want to hit her
but you know how she was
when she was drinking..........
she just kept on and on.
you know that.
She took off walking down the road,
our car's broke down you know.
I got the call an hour later,
I'm so sorry.
he turned and walked away I think,
I was blinded ,
by the sun,,,,,
or my tears.
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