Royal sigh of prettiness; a dreamy flame
Sunbeam stars - cream house its frame
Purples rappel down the stucco siding
Creeping phlox, magnanimous tiding
Ruby-throated hummingbirds near it
Wise flowers attend to one’s spirit
no wind is stronger than a Kansas wind
today she is in her glory
blowing lawn chairs upside down
there goes a plastic bag
it might travel three towns over
my apron is not staying tied
the porch swing is clanging against the siding
this wind may not be a twister
but we know she is here
blowing clothes on the line stiff as boards
ground animals are burrowing into nests
sometimes Kansas wind is a predecessor to hail and thunderstorms
today seems like one of these times
If you love someone
Keep your words
Your words is you
Keep true to your vow
Your vow is your offering
To someone you promise
If you deviate from your words
Your life is all betrayal
All corruption, all evil
What would be left from you
Are emptiness, hatred and not loved
Unless you repent, reevaluate yourself
To change for good, for the better
God will cleanse us from within
He will give us a new slate
Life is like a new morning
Full of sunshine, warmth and energy
To be given to yourself and to others
When your soul is required of you
You will not regret in judgment
Heaven will be siding with you
Definitely, heaven welcomes you.
I wear my suit while my house burns
I wear my suit while my wife dies
I wear my suit when my son’s body arrives
And I wear my suit for you Donald Trump
I wear my suit while Russians torture
I wear my suit as bombs explode
I wear my suit for my lost future
I don’t wear my suit because I am told
I wear my suit to greet the reaper
I wear my suit through the genocide
I wear my suit cos yours is cheaper
I wear my suit with my dead bride
I see your suit, it hides your crimes
I see your suits disguising your hate
I see your suits siding with murderers
I see your suits by Putin’s side.
David Cox 03/03/25
I’ve been here before
Before the cruel reality reappeared
Shattering your warm embrace
War rages between us
Bloody secrets strewn through the night sky
“It’ll be okay”
But a white lie is still a lie
You shine
Bright as ever the center
Of my universe
My northern star,
I always find my way back to you.
Stars burn.
I ignite
Burn away into the starry night
A mortal and a star
Meant to be? We’re not
Fated like the stories
Yet I’m chained
The fate of a phoenix explained
An ever living cycle
Still I desire
Immersed in your fire
Like a moth to a flame
Siding back into place
Giving in to your deadly embrace
Your heart had many faces, some you hid very well,
You taught me how not to divulge, to save me from judgements hell,
Instead you put on a mask, silently siding with them,
To hide your hearts intentions, but that was then,
I never got offended, because I understood the confusion,
The pressures you had to endure in the face of this illusion,
You did what you thought was right considering where you were at,
What you didn't realize is who you were really protecting! What do you think about that?,
Your ego back then ran the show, and that was not the friendship I wanted,
So I walked away because I knew it would break my heart before it even started...
A woodpecker pecked on our siding
And likely, won’t listen to chiding.
He left a few holes
Beyond our controls
In a place where we’re partly residing.
An expert came by for assessing
The damage where Woody’d been messing.
He spritzed with a spray
But could not really say
Why he’d pecked there, without simply guessing.
Our house by huge trees is surrounded,
So I am completely confounded
As to why all that wood
Wouldn’t seem just as good
As the siding on which he had pounded.
And make you locks of effort,
and give you some of my peanut butter after?
Three dimensional you saw me and him,
one siding loving and caring,
wasting gifts and money,
and mostly time.
Because you knew my eyes never have gotten such a shine,
but also then overlapped overdosis in suprise,
leaving me in making crimes.
You didn't touch my shoulder with your finger,
asking me if feelings towards him linger.
You chose to leave me unsure,
madly but still I hoped seeing signs for more.
Because he started loving you, sure
You were getting along with him more.
Never knew what your motive was,
but now you are sitting at the side of my bed and sometimes making a fuss,
but I still make you coffee of my lovely coffeine lust.
I thought: ,,They'll be together, won't they?"
You should've have seen his eyes,
You should've have seen his smile,
You should've seen his movement,
You should've seen his talk,
But you knew
And still said to him you don't love him.
Because you saw,
what I did to him,
and he to me.
Afar off as Luna disturbs the briny sea air, its pallid
lips farewell kiss of former throne fairs to absence.
Heir apparent solace a crown restored as its Hymn
privilege rejuvenates Sol's nurtured Hawaiian Isles.
As guests, while a tad, in Hawaii's wild, there they'll
see groundbreakers of Plumeria painted plumes don
guest guessing tree colors that rival Picasso's rarity,
Rose Period of benevolent hues missing silent blues.
On yonder rise further untamed, yielding in strength,
the Bird of Paradise, queues surround a mound. Find
true value in their weight of numbers enabled on top
of the tabled bouquet than solo left alone--so lonely.
Siding with soloists that orchestrate scents, like that
of the Gardenia, Puakenikeni, Kahili Yellow Ginger or
Pikake/Jasmine and Tuberose many more aromatics
redolent a symphonic scores, an orchid won, adored.
I'm, that old man third house from the corner,
the house that needs new siding.
Whose dog barks at you when you walk by.
Sits out on the porch same time each day,
rain or shine, winter or summer, on a
ripped beach chair waiting, for the mail to come,
then.
Disappears back in the house, until the next day,
to do it all over again.
I hear him knocking.
No matter. I will not let him in.
The tree exploding with sound -
better that it’s not my siding.
The cluckity…clucking,
I don’t mind, as long as
the woodpecker stays off the periphery.
His sound inviting, but he’s not invited in.
His sharp beak, hacking away.
His bright, red head endlessly bobbing.
This is no bobbing for apples.
Chisel…chisel…chop…chop.
I can take the noise as long as he doesn’t exploit his choice.
For he confers with the squirrels
to burrow into my Winter walls.
They’ve been fixed.
Don’t be up to your nasty tricks,
your antics or you’ll be in a fix.
Thank you, for now….wait! What!?
Suddenly and expectantly,
with sudden urgency, like the drilling for oil, the cruel
headbanger searching for gold…fool’s gold.
The shining objects, with owl shapes, can only deter to a point.
Smart critter listens for the creak of the front door. He’ll fly away,
then circle back and drill some more. I love the fall,
but not the fowl feathers…
("Eye of God", 2018, original encaustic mixed media - wax, pigments and mirror)
Clearly God Grades On a Curve
After several hours of working hard
finishing up siding a small sheep shed,
before winter comes and the cold winds blow,
I lay in the warm bath, seduced
to the edge of sleep by two sips of beer.
I’m roused by a rousing motivational speech
delivered apparently to all the minions
within my body-mind.
And like Whitman, it seems the multitudes
I contain are vast.
Workers, common laborers and skilled,
designers, engineers, and inspectors,
critics, loafers, the assorted homeless bums
and burnt out hippies fried by one too many trips
to who knows where, seeking who knows what…
Anyway, the speech I remember,
the part that woke me,
was the simple affirmation
that they’d all earned,
“An A for effort!”
And laying there half submerged
nursing my sore joints and tired limbs,
I realized with the calm assurance
of the mystic, that clearly
God grades on a curve.
(9/9/23)
Got to fix the car’s flat tire
the grass needs to be cut
All the gutters need to be cleaned
and fix the gate that won’t stay shut
Winterize the doors and windows
wash the grime from the car
Clean off the garage shelves
just to find where all the tools are
Pull the weeds out of the garden
test the water in the pool
Change out the furnace filters
make sure the condenser is running cool
Repair that leaky faucet
find out where the dog is getting out
Go across the road to the neighbors
to see what his digging is all about
Run down to the hardware store
buy tools for a project I’ll never start
Cut down that vine out back
before it tears the siding apart
The roof needs some new shingles
I have to watch some football with the friends
Nascar, basketball, fishing, and hunting
it seems that a husband’s work never ends
Count all them chores a husband does
adds up to be about one thousand and two
It’s no wonder I’m so blamed tuckered out
by the time the weekend is through
Crazy rabbits chomping on my lettuce
Deer eating the flowers right down to their nubs
Woodpeckers drilling right through the siding
Armadillos rooting in search of grubs
Squirrels trying to climb down the chimney
Possums and racoon dumping out the trash
Coyotes yip yapping all through the evening
Groundhogs under the shed hoarding their stash
Most times the back yard smells just like a skunk
The cat keeps bringing dead birds to my door
The neighborhood dogs bark when the wind blows
That’s country life in all of its splendor.
rough lumber
and 32 inches of
concrete stabilized cobb
with interior and siding
and rough lumber ends
to make the interior
look like a log cabin
a overlapping roof
with windows centered
16 inches inside
the
rough lumbered walls
a rustic modern
living area
to sheild the
persons from the
ruffs of winter
and the harsh heat
of sumer.
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