By the time we entered the halls of
High School, something had changed.
We saw each other at a distance, in the
Hall, across the campus. If we were still
friends, we certainly were no longer close
And buddies as we once had been, such a short
While ago. We were Yates, Yank, Fonzy, Bobbie,
Jordan, and me, Cj.
We cared for each other, but time and space,
new place and new faces changed all that.
How amazing to think that after elementary
school, we dispersed and went our separate ways.
I heard that Fonzy died some 50 years ago. I spoke to Bobbie once by phone some 25 years ago, but have not seen any of them for nearly 60 years.
Oh how refreshing it would be just to see
Any of my long lost buddies just one more time.
Marshall Dillon in Gunsmoke
Clint Eastwood as Rowdy Yates in Rawhide
Paladin Have Gun will Travel
John Wayne in bunches of westerns
the pattern was easy....
The cowboys always win
Hero wears a light hat
Villain is stuck with black hat
Indians never win
TV in the 60’s gave me new terms
Dance hall girl, sage brush, wagon train
I reminisce about the wild west I know
It was a day that classic Doctor Who fans would certainly hate.
We said goodbye to the man who starred as Captain Mike Yates.
His death was even more sad because he died on Christmas Day.
Millions of his fans have missed him ever since he passed away.
People loved his performances and Richard Franklin was his name.
Now that he's deceased, fans of Doctor Who will never be the same.
He starred in one episode of "Harry" and nine episodes of "Crossroads".
When he starred in "Emmerdale Farm", he starred in over thirty episodes.
He was a British actor with talent and that's something people can't deny.
It was sad and heartbreaking when his fans were forced to say goodbye.
[Dedicated to Richard Franklin (1936-2023) who died on December 25, 2023]
Darwin's animal is writing poetry,
Nietzsche's Ubermensch is learning idolatry.
Cockroach won't leave early,
He will wait for the bread crumbs dearly.
The embezzler is talking riches,
His nightmares are all about witches.
"THE GRADIENT" decides, "THE GRADIENT" presides,
"THE GRADIENT" is the tradeoff which can suffice.
Come as you may, come as you will,
Come to the wrongdoer and make him pay the bill.
Yates , Elliot & Ezra Pound are in talks with the devil,
Crawly has arranged rendezvous up the hill.
Poems have started rhyming,
But there is still no silver lining.
I want to go up the hill,
But the master won't agree to my will.
Mr. Frost is talking to me, he is asking me to tie the net,
And not to play tennis without a bet.
Grandpa elephant needs his nap really bad
The party was excellent! Isn’t that right, Dad?
He realizes they are speaking to him and he smiles.
His attention is far far away, down many country miles.
His wife has been in heaven for at least ten years now.
Sticking around with a worn out body is not quite a wow.
He wants to join her, he dreams of heaven’s pearly gates.
“Maybe you can get to 110,” says his ignorant nephew Yates.
I wonder how a poet thinks?
Bound by circumstance or random occurrences,
as they rise and fall like changes in weather,
lost in the turmoil of cloud cover and threatening wind storms?
If I were a poet perhaps I would know of it,
and better understand and recognize
the idiosyncrasies of time and space, word and phrase
when feelings and emotions. love and hate rise and fall.
I am neither Shakespeare, Browning, Frost nor Bly
not even Whitman, Plath, Bishop, Yates or Hughes
but surely their thought and imagery portrayed
could tantalize and tweak my interest into some form of expression.
A new generation rises, hopefully, I am one
who often lacks conformity to form and meter, which might be best
for each of us who must write the words most meanigful to us,
cannot help but ring true to who we are within ourselves.
Middle of the crossroads, I’ve found myself in
To my left stand the poets, holding their pens
On my right are religions, kneeling behind a cross
In front sit the atheists, debating who’s boss
Behind me an army of agnostics, look totally lost.
Let the dual begin, they all fight for my soul
Bards throw the first salvo, a stanza to behold
But god’s people retaliate, Bibles are held high
Non believers point to a rocket, above in the sky
Ones behind me, sit on fences doing nothing at all,
Meanwhile the debate rages, almost to a brawl.
Poets bring out big guns, Poe, Yates, winning me over
Religious read their gospel, drawing me in closer
Atheists go all out, with Darwin and natural selection,
Agnostics still looking blank, without any direction
I’m been torn asunder, on life’s meridian intersection.
Bards say without poetry, I’ll never be truly free
God’s people counter, embrace Christ and find eternity
Non believers tell me look at facts, in human technology
I go join the ranks, of recused zombies behind me.
By
David Kavanagh
An old black and white movie
took me back to my childhood
when cowboys rode the range
Major Adams and Flint McCullough leading the Wagon Train,
and Hopalong's ten-gallon white hat
rode the brim of John Wayne's stagecoach in back;
with Roy and Dale saving every day
as Tonto and the Lone Ranger hi-ho silvered away;
Gil Favor and Rowdy Yates blazed the Rawhide trails
as Ben, Adam, Hoss, and Joe laid the Ponderosa tails;
The Mavericks never bet against The Rifleman and Gunsmoke truths
while Wyatt Earp, Matt Dillon, and Bat Masterson made the law fool-proof,
the Rebel and The Restless Gun kept horses ever on the run
and Cheyenne, Davy Crocket, and Daniel Boone
fought both Indians and Trappers without showdowns at noon
those western stars of early radio and television shows after school.
These were the stories of so many heroes, villains and more jewels
the cowboys and cowgirls, and their horses too
revived the west for the fifties youth,
a blast from the past
of the fading western stars.
Greeting Angels
Caylee, are you listening?
I just wanted you to know
that we prayed that you’d get justice
but I guess it won’t be so.
And I wondered if you met Tesslynn
when you reached that heavenly shore
and was little Lattie waiting?
Lord there are so many more.
Noah, John, Luke and Paul
and little sister Mary Yates,
Adam, Amy, Nixmary and Amber;
only God could know their fates.
JonBenet’ and Riley Ann,
way too soon these children died.
Polly, Kelsey and Jessica;
oh Lord the tears I’ve cried.
Samantha, Austin and Justin,
Terrance, Erica and Lily too,
Liam, Cyrus and Javan,
Michael and Alex to name a few.
Caylee were they waiting
with the angels by their side?
And did Jesus hold you close
when you realized that you had died?
So many innocent children
abused and beaten and all alone.
Lord why didn’t anyone stop them,
hadn’t anybody known?
Lord help us to help the children,
help us to hear their cries,
before one more child is tortured,
before one more angel dies…
Man with cufflinks
Woman with fine jewels
Rubies resting on booby's,
Sick stories and inverted crosses
Orgies and they all yell more fish!
Secret Societies taking over nations,
Yates conspiracy and religions fantasy
Crossed bones those dark tales,
Corpses: 33rd degrees beneath the earth
I can feel earth's core;
The belly of the beast as it groans
And she roars with might,
Mortals building tombs fir the next wars.
Winds blowing in; destroying ceilings
And they all still yell more fish,
More oysters: those sea creatures
Waves opening revealing sea's treasures,
Diamonds and pearls:
Be mindful of the site of Atlantis view,
Contours outlining seashores
Hitting harbors as Poseidon swims to far-
from the submarines radar resulting in undetected gods
And fire torpedoes,
Lost islands and extinct species...
Scientists going deeper to discover the mysteries:
Deep tales and blue seasons.
Silencing the voices of discontent
You're fired message sent
Yates was the first to go
Evidence of Collusion she did show
The great investigation of collusion
Now they beg for its conclusion
The leader Comey of the FBI
Damaging statements Russia did spy
Special agent McCabe of the FBI
Fired because he may have told a lie
Agent Strzok text we'll stop trump
Fired next on the burning dump
The war dance against the CIA and FBI
Justice department should let the investigation die
The threat to fire special council Mueller
Just beware of those cellar dwellers
Did you ever want to ride on the range
wear a tin star
be a cowboy?
no?
strange
I did.
I wanted to rustle some beef
take them across the Rio..
shoot it out with
Lee Van Cleef.
I wanted Rowdy Yates
to wait for me
wanted to drink sour mash rotgut
in Tennessee,
see the Mississippi and
cry yippee ki yay,
not to be
except
on the TV.
Autumn Rhyme by Sabrina Oliver
I woke up this morning like amber,
Feeling the depths of my fire burn.
Exalting cold, dark shadows that linger,
Waiting for the clock, tic-toc, let it turn,
And rising crimson under flame yearns.
Under the Urn found truth and beauty Yates.
Waiting for my pumpkin savior, sit tight.
Cinderella's sweet as cinnamon gaze.
Touch of ginger hasten me umber-like.
Bitterness falls like leaves at his warm graze.
Rich like saffron, I feel full in his ways.
From great chaos and destruction, we see,
The truth and beauty in the light of me.
Prayers with Confusion
After the sixth day god had created the heavens, earth and man.
The seventh day, god lay. He looks up as he rest his head and
what did he see? Nothing just darkness and open space.
He just wondered and stared at a blank canvas with nothing there.
With continued interruption from the voices of words
with indiscretions. God's head was filling with desperate pleas
of man in need. These prayers were people's thoughts of
worship and repent. The holiest and brights words, god holds
closest to his beating heart in his holy chest.
God commands, with the words of amen at the end of a confusion.
A star will glow and appear for they will know I have forgiven
there sin and their soul will be cleansed.
By
Rowdy
Yates
Elderly Ed Yates had trouble seeing
but he kept on driving unperceiving.
Alas one day he slipped
and he and his car flipped.
The mess he left was beyond conceiving.
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