20211031.0430

As children gather in their joy
And youths as well
I remember a story that
The Good Doctor would tell
And recall that today is
Precisely equal to
Another holiday that
Seems to escape me
As the war about it looms again

20211030.0430

A day remains

I take no pains

To celebrate

Or to berate
For though all glee

Does tend to flee

Away from me

I do not see

Why I should say

To others "nay"

That they find ease

While I cannot

20211029.0430

One last push should take me through
As I have seen what I can do
And I make ready to renew
Myself for work to come

20211028.0430

Scrambling to get slightly ahead and
Doing so on occasion
Taking a breath and
In the moment of indrawn air
Falling behind again
Somehow

20211027.0430

Much as I may want to sleep
I have a schedule to keep
And if I hope good grain to reap
To the days' tasks I must yet leap.

20211026.0430

Again, the test presents itself
Again, the students fear
Again, I have outdone myself
Again, the grades are clear

20211025.0430

A scant two months remain
And some will try to explain
That they must yet sustain
A war, an old refrain
The lie of which is plain
Yet they cling to a pain
Unreal, and still they feign
To feel oppression's stain

20211024.0430

A week remains
I take no pains
To celebrate the day
Though others will
I find I still
Have little heart to play

20211023.0430

Plodding along with heavy legs
Feet more sore with every step
Unable to halt for long or sleep
The distance must be crossed somehow

20211022.0430

The day fast approaches again
When a grading period reaches an end
And the students will sit for a test that they chose
And as to results--who knows?
How many students will puzzle it out
Figure out what the text is about
That confronts them in days, I cannot yet say
But soon enough will; it's soon exam day

20211021.0430

The little thing scampers and scrambles about
Pawing at anything left laying out
Around the house by chance or design
The kitten's the girl's; it's damned well not mine
I don't have to clean where the kitten relieves
Itself or to feed it--at least I believe
It's true for the moment; I don't know how long
It'll be until to me that task will belong
But I'm the girl's father, and I know my role
And I will fulfill it; it's no heavy toll
Though if that fool kitten goes after my feet
Again, then that kitten's got something to meet!

20211020.0430

Strangely quiet in the moonlight
There are no clouds across the stars
And no winds blow
But still I wait for something to come
Uncertain whose hand strokes what

20211019.0430

Already
I am on the run again
Barely caught my breath from the last spring
And another stretches before me
But I have to run the race
I chose
So my sciatica will have to wait
And my arches collapse just that much more

20211018.0430

The dreams are coming again
The voices speaking of their problems
Seeking help as they are bidden and
Complaining of the same
And of the costs for seeking it
I had thought so much was done and gone
But I have too often been wrong

20211017.0847

It would seem to have happened that I have run out of the buffer I'd built up on this blog. I have no excuse for it, really; I've had time to write that I've not spent well. Even now, I sit, trying to write, not knowing what words I should put down and leave where others can find them, and it bothers me.

It bothers me a great deal.

I may be able to get back on track in the next few days. Maybe. I'll try. For now, though, I can only apologize--and, again, try to do better.

20211016.0430

Strike up the band once again
Lead them marching into the field
Roaring and thundering
Waving their banners and blowing their horns
Beating their drums all in time together
Striving each to stand first in the eyes of their peers
And of those looking on
Down from on high at those
Who have followed after them
The cadence unending as new feet move forward
Still do my own long to walk that path
Though never again will I tread it
Nor should

20211015.0430

The weights get stacked higher and higher
And I have grown stronger
Yes
The challenge giving me reason to improve
But
My arms are still all too slim and
My belly still too flabby for
Me to keep pushing as it seems
I have to do

20211014.0430

The saying is
When a door closes, a window opens
But I have already jumped out of that window and
Fallen into the cactus growing beneath it
Getting poked in the ass quite abundantly
And not in the way I enjoy
I am wary of the window for a reason
And I've already bloodied my knuckles on the door

20211013.0430

Bubbling up to help themselves rise
They will poke at things with pencils while
I look on and remember that I
Was told I could never have the chance
I still feel the effects after
More than twenty years
Forty thousand times and more that
Might have been far fewer had I
Filled the bubbles as they will today

20211012.0430

She stood there
Socks rising out from boots on hairy-legged feet
Baggy clothing not well washed or often
Messy hair cleaned not much more and
Spoke of her artistic dreams
She could make them work
Perhaps
And I hope she does
And I told her as much
But
I also told her to have a backup plan
I almost didn't, and
It did not help
Perhaps she'll not repeat the lesson

20211011.0430

The day is not
So much to be celebrated as
Mourned because of what it
Notes beginning
And while I and many
Would not be here without it
Many others would be
Who are not
And never could be
And it's all because of one misguided jackass
Who does not need praise

20211010.0430

Working to make sure that
Things are taken care of and I
Struggle onward despite doing
All too little
It is good that I
Face no harder tasks
Being barely equal to
What faces me now

20211009.0430

Wearing black
Both suit and tie
For cargo carried and never delivered
The other father uncertain
My own promiscuity known
Because I've taken in so many splatters from
So many sources
And if I haven't always enjoyed myself
I was always willing
But it would be nice for my own such splatter
Once in a while
To take another as I've been taken
I ever hope for such
But I continue to wear black

20211008.0430

Timorous and
Quiscaline and
Gelid and
Lugubrious
Words with little use outside
That to which I put them
Small toys I play with in
My own little games
Rules opaque to many
The league we few form does not merit betting
The wagers are already lost

20211007.0430

Well before the morning sunlight, I
Rise and shower and do the other things to
Put the prior day behind me and
Ready myself to face the new
And so much of what is new frightens me
But what has gone before is no source of peace
Afflicting me in other ways than fear as
I go about the business of the day
Each day
Timorously

20211006.0430

The clothes hang loosely anymore
Ragged and threadbare
Moth-eaten from years put away
But I have nothing else to wear
So I must put them on anyway
And go about the business of the day

20211005.0430

Once again
I make it plain
What I retain
From days gone by
And I still try
Not much to sigh
At what I don't

20211004.0430

Again
I get it
I hear what you say
I know what you mean
I see your point
I understand

20211003.0430

Strike up the band and send them forth
The blaring horns and beating drums
High-stepping marchers and twirling flags
And rifles and sabers thrown high
Lock-stepped procession following after
Where I and others have already gone
Looking back every so often and
Seeing ourselves coming again

20211002.0725

So it seems I'm late
On this late date
And I do hate
To be delayed
Apologize
To looking eyes
And so reprise
My verse parade

20211001.0430

There is never a shortage of things that need doing
There is always a shortage of workers to do them
Even when the bodies number enough
The tasks exceed what any one ought to be asked to do
But which they are always bidden do
By those who seldom bestir themselves to do