Mom led the troops in Pocono mountains
earning badges, making sit upons by
the campfire even with her foot in a cast.
She also wore a pink pinafore volunteering
at our local hospital pushing a cart laden
with magazines and candy down the corridors
for the patients.

Dad ran for office and won PTA President
using his argumentive skills. Losing an eye
in the Navy made him an advocate for eye
care in the Lion’s Club.

I learned by their example and volunteered
as homeroom mother for Heather’s second
grade class. She whispered in the phone to
change the date of the Valentine Party. At first,
I almost hung up thinking it was an obscene
call but her voice grew telling me they told
her not to breathe on the sick phone!

Became a Brownie leader taking them to
Nursing homes with their homemade Easter
egg tree and hugs for the folks.
Tutored kids at Carnegie after school
earning a big hug one day.

Greatest joy was leading the leash for
Clancy, a certified therapy dog to
hospitals, schools, libraries, nursing homes
and Carnegie as he did his splendid thing.

(The font I typed this in wouldn’t paste in. I have it in a font
that emulates and old typewriter. 8-D  )

In America, things are not as they seem

Spare tires don’t have to hold air

Insanely popular and endearing Teddy Bears have hollow metal innards

Binoculars no longer bring distance closer…and they slosh

Methyl alcohol replaces the old store-bought whiskey

Don’t buy moonshine run through an auto radiator
                    Be sure a copper worm was used

“Speakeasies” require secret passwords – easy?

Medical necessity creates loopholes

Boots aren’t big enough to carry bottles of booze — especially with legs in them

Crime wave makes fortunes; suppliers gain notoriety     
                     Some become notorious

A “blind pig” doesn’t snort, though you can buy a snort from a “blind pig”      

Color just fades away. Who knew the apocalypse would be slow and expensive? If I am so numb, where does this coldness come from? My memory obeys my mood, conjuring states of apathy and madness. The sun then sets at angles which require a different shade of love.

I’m just a hummingbird, drinking sweet tea. 

                                    Flights of fancy. 

                                        The relaxing sound of wind chimes. 

Engaged in delight despite being spiritless tonight. I love not knowing what will happen next. The moment just simply passes by me.

You can’t quench anyone’s thirst with the word water….water, the giver of life.

 Always being available is to abandon yourself. Complaining is the cheapest form of expression. 

There’s no innovation without disobedience. You’ll never get anywhere following the rules. They’re designed to keep you in place. The safest place to be is out in front. Prepare for all eventualities. Single point failures.

You’re a consequence of observation. You struggle with all of your might to be unseen, but a star died to make you, and you don’t find romance in that. 

                    Atoms and void. 

                                                        Circumstances are like clouds. 

The key to happiness is lowered expectations. The pursuit is meaningful even though you fail.

I need my senses heightened. Enjoy the little moments and embrace the stress that they bring.

The average of the unusual. All sorrows divided are made lighter.

I had no destiny. I didn’t know where I was going, where I was when I arrived, or where I had been when I returned. But all the same, I found myself.

In the dream I am painting the outside walls of my old high school.
I choose brown and yellow, the school’s colors, to transform a cen-
tury’s worth of brick and stone . The old priest-principle is there,
blessing my selections. I begin to brush, and find filigrees and
curlicues blooming in sandstone; now figures and scenes, now
marble plaques and names of long-dead teachers; now intricate
memorials and a whole museum-front of treasures; now old coin-
phones, dust-covered. The complexity grows, seems natural, pre-
sents dilemmas: I must decide what gets brown and what stays
white (yellow forgotten). As can after can empties, and a storm
brews around me, I keep up, adorning entrances and planning on
rollers and sprays—aware that each labored stroke is a new choice,
a decision for the ages.

WHAT I MISS THIS VERY MINUTE

Marijuana plants growing in my garden
which is now my husband’s garden,
but at one time it was mine.

The plants, two wee shoots
were started by a very intelligent, funny
and troubled comedian and contortionist.

The “Human Noodle” came at harvest time
and again, to strip and split the goodies
because those happy stalks of cannabis were co-owned.

The musky smell that wafted after spring rains
and summer’s humid days, sensual.
Pinching and massaging stems, erotic.

This is what I miss this very minute.

Waltzing through life, I’ve
been shocked by mean people, and
(oh so) glad for the kind ones…

’cause healing the wounds
we cannot see, is tougher
than the ones we can.
 
So, blessings to all
who are kind, even if we
don’t yet know your name.

I hear a noise
What could it be, oh
Someone’s calling
It’s my name
Along with questioning faces
“Intervention” they say
“But he wants his freedom”
“Or is it his privacy?”
They say something about “compassion,? companion?”
My eyes retract, I dream
All the little snares roll away
The burden of feeling lifts
I dream of prepping for a job
Setting up
Things are breaking bad
Going awry
Not enough help
You fly I’ll buy
The money’s good
Energy and chaos abound
I smile
Someon’s calling
It’s my name

Three little boys
perched in the stairway
selling “sandwiches” 
made from imagination
and habit 

Two grown up girls
pretending to eat 
the wares of children who
were made from adoration
and stardust

Two grand parents
watching from the couch
matching smiles for girls
who grew up out of
soil nearly 40 years deep

One husband, just a boy
taking a nap until his shift
at the sandwich shop

Limns of Liaisons: 

Please, rest just a little longer.
What happens outside this temporary paradise
is none of our concern.
Lay your burdens down, just for this moment.

Join your heartbeat with mine.

Fall deeper.

Into me.