My grandpa could do it
from across the room
He also skipped rope
with the small intestines of a cadaver
when he was a medical student
Both stories make him interesting
to me, and worth remembering
I killed a fly tonight
with Ben’s Halloween sword
from last year
resting on the top
of the fridge,
where the fly swatter
should have been
My mom later shares
tidbits with me
while I prune dead leaves
off acorn squash and cucumber plants
from my son’s spring garden
He will not eat the vegetables,
but he nurtures them
like bald babies
I tell him what my mom told me:
how my great uncle
covered tables
with thousands piece puzzles
until you couldn’t see
the color of wood underneath
My great uncle Bill’s
great love died
so he took up puzzles,
trains, and golf
I loved the smell of his house
and picking raspberries
in his backyard
on the Fourth of July
when I was way too young
to understand
the complexity of
of living
To kill a fly
takes a steady hand
To live a life full-lived
takes something more
I won't shrink. I'll take a stand,
and stretch out like a rubber band.
I won't give up. I'll right this ship,
and keep it together like a paper clip.
A poem is easy for a heart that's stout -
I just need some Bic Wite-Out.
baby ostrich queen of the land
stretches her wings like a rubber band
snaps back together and gives a squawk
we like to see this one wobble walk
baby ostrich queen with voice a squeak
to your life we would ask one tiny peek
she waddles away waving her feather tail
post office maybe? To get the mail?
plaiting my hair
tantamount to braiding three plastic slides
it is thick and unruly
with several minds of its own
determined to lash out in all directions
to prevent this catastrophe
when it gets long enough to ponytail
I put a rubber band around the ends
and use garden shears to lop off the length
sometimes breaking the shears
I’m still dreaming, so I’m not shy.
Give me a corn cob for an eye.
I was born on a shipwreck, and myself too.
There’s shimmering under that-true.
I’m still dreaming, like a piece of flannel.
Turning over like a TV panel.
Feeling ice as if there is more.
I left my fingernails in the store.
Feeling rough and jagged too.
I’m still dreaming that it is true.
Dreaming like a piano does at night.
No noise, just piano-feelings and blight.
I’m still dreaming, that isn’t a loss.
I’m still dreaming, like swallowing floss.
I’m still dreaming, with a ball of yarn in my hand.
I’m still dreaming, without any rubber band.
There’s no noise, temperature delights itself.
Like the kitchen shelf.
Sugar, grasping, empty sauce bottles.
The hinge that throttles.
I was over in the corner, and myself was too.
Eating kitchen dust, that's true.
Turning over and nothing happens.
I’m still dreaming of vines within.
I’m still Dreaming, and myself as well.
I’m still Dreaming, starting to swell.
I used to wear hats all the time.
Maybe a baseball cap that looks like a slice of lime.
Or a teal beanie that feels slightly warm-ish.
Maybe one that has embroidery of a fish!
Where did these hats go?
I don’t think they get lost in the snow.
Just in my bedroom all over the place.
Orbiting my mind like outer space.
My favorite hat of all.
Got lost in a bathroom stall.
Was covered in stripes and mostly pink.
Could it have been set down by the sink?
I liked to wear hats when I was younger.
I had so many, it was a hunger.
But when I lost her.
I lost all interest right after.
When she was gone like a flung rubber band.
It felt like howling sand.
So I stopped wearing hats and felt bare.
She wasn’t there to notice or care…
It wasn’t just my style that was thrown away.
It was us who hung out all day.
And she was gone as fast as that pink hat in the bathroom.
As if down the drain but we can’t assume.
The accident happened and tore me apart.
She was like a straw hat, flying away from my heart.
Howdy friend, I'm new in town.
I think I'll jot a few things down,
which, I hope, might take a frown
and turn it upside down.
OK, now let's play a game,
to see how much we are the same.
These are things that make me smile:
a new bride walks down the aisle
the radio plays my favorite song
a child has a place to belong
fish in a clear mountain stream
being part of a team
I'm weird, I like insects and bugs
but I also like kisses and hugs
a funny, animated cartoon
a cute face on a red balloon
a caring nod, a holding hand
the twanging of a rubber band
a sunny day on the beach
biting a juicy, dripping peach
riding the crest of a wave
climbing into a secret cave
I like to scratch my dog's fur
and the voice of Karen Carpenter
In the morning it is fun
to see a flower meet the sun
a kid on a hot day with a hose
a fly when it lands on his nose
I like to watch a top when it spins
and when the underdog wins
the smell of fresh baked bread
a good story to read in bed
to see the shining happy glow
of a child's face in a talent show
I like munching raisin scones
and wild animals that no one owns
please note, I am also smitten
by a week-old big eared kitten
As a kid my hair was a very easy fix,
just pull it back with a rubber band into a ponytail.
As a teen a ponytail was not going to work,
off to the hair shop with picture in hand.
I sat in the chair and said,
I want to look like this picture.
I sat dreaming about my great new hair style,
as I looked in their mirror I was horrified.
I did not look like the picture I showed them,
what had happened to my head of hair.
I will fix the professionals,
next hair cut was on me.
That is when I started to cut my hair,
I still laugh when I get asked -
can they have my hairdresser's information.
I have found some great new friends,
hats in all sizes - styles and colors.
Stretch the rubber band a little further
The human cannonball
- short-haul flight
Some stunts work better than others
EPISODIC POLITICAL MOCKERY
Legislative trials are roaming;
Congressional criminals
Gaining more freedom to re-chain
Our growing liberty:-
Today’s bombed and pre-bombed
Societies and us are becoming
So similar in judicial acts of inequality:-
For us, the Constitution has become
As a stretched rubber band
Of negative jurisprudence—
And in today’s apathetic joyous modernity,
We too, seem to approach a modern-day
Diabolical bombing Civil War situation:-
Remember, all choices have their
Accompanying consequences;
Be they sweet Moonlake-like
Or geyser waterfall-like:-
After today’s extended Breaking News episodes,
I am praying this Just Different poetic prose flow,
Will be of an awareness thought-provoking
Brain-shore frothing consequence:-
I don't understand,
This reflection I command.
Nothing goes as planned,
I watch my hopes disband.
Disappointed again and again,
Doing the best I can.
I don't understand,
Unconditional demands,
The grand scheme at hand.
I'm a Tired rubber band,
Ready to snap if I expand,
I couldn't be a better man.
I don't understand,
This plan of a Promise land.
It cost so much I can't stand,
Money feels bad in my hands,
Keeping me trapped to demands,
Testing what I can withstand.
I don't understand,
A way to create it on demand,
Spread it through the mainland.
Ending hungers command,
Letting Love become,
The Promise Land.
Skinny in youth thick in later days
Champion for truth despite delays
As a late bloomer in thought process
Born to a baby boomer and so blessed
Believed in God but didn’t get much church
Felt so odd how the church clicks work
Rather open to explore other fuchsia faiths
Went to the mosque just couldn’t be great
And with Buddhism she felt all a glow
But she still identified as a Christian so
Perhaps it’s true train up a child
But her training was unique and mild
For she recalled Bootsy’s Rubber Band
And Stevie Nicks, Stevie Wonder on hand
Music was the church in her life
She was a cool nerd never a wife
A poet who sucked at math in her head
But like a mom stretched a penny till it’s dead
Had many jobs, but a mom and proud to be
Not afraid of death for it is purple peace
You know how a cat is? The way it awakes,
how its eyes open, for a moment
not seeing anything,
how it blinks slowly
eyelids washing a mind
of anything but satisfaction.
Legs stiffen, stretching out,
paws opening and closing
as it arches its back.
Lithe sinews ripple under a velvet pelt,
its whole body a rubber band of pleasure.
I used to wake like that - almost.
This sleek, self-absorbed feline
who owes me at least
some cursory acknowledgment,
just slinks away without a glance
as I struggle to disentangle
my creaking form from jumbled bed covers.
It has prowled through the cat flap
probably stalking garden sparrows by now.
I make coffee
once more vowing to get myself a dog -
an old one.
As a carefree youth, I did roam,
'til I took this thing home.
'Twas in a puddle by a log -
the devil's polliwog.
To you, I will gladly confess,
it made my life a mess.
It never turned into a frog -
the devil's polliwog.
I'd snap like an old rubber band,
but, on the other hand,
my sink, it will always unclog,
the devil's polliwog.
I don't understand,
This reflection I command.
Nothing goes as planned,
I watch my hopes disband.
Disappointed again and again,
Doing the best I can.
I don't understand,
Unconditional demands,
The grand scheme at hand.
I'm a Tired rubber band,
Ready to snap if I expand,
I couldn't be a better man.
I don't understand,
This plan of a Promise land.
It cost so much I can't stand,
Money feels bad in my hands,
Keeping me trapped to demands,
Testing what I can withstand.
I don't understand,
A way to create it on demand,
Spread it through the mainland.
Ending hungers command,
Letting Love become,
The Promise Land.
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