A Week To Remember

It was the best of times. 

Joy was rampant, overwhelming

The prophets of disaster.

Being Gay was OK,

Visiting a dying lover,

To whom you are betrothed,

Is no longer Mississippi’s decision,

It is now your right.

Family and dear friends of nine murdered

Congregants of the AME church

Who forgave the terrorist killer

Reached a place I will never enter.

Yes, there are many who still view

The Confederate Flag as a tribute to past glory.

Their attribution of the Civil War to state rights

Ignores slavery as the primary right that rebellion defended.

This week you and I celebrated the emphatic

Supreme Court decision upholding government

Assistance to otherwise deprived

Recipients of health care insurance.

Here again the forces of darkness

Screamed foul, indifferent to the millions

Who would surely suffer more, and die sooner,

Without the Affordable Care Act

If next weeks news refocuses us in other directions

We will have this week’s resounding triumphs,

And the possibilities they project a future

That now includes wiser and more humane counsel.

Man With Yarmulke

It was too early for Chabad

To begin Saturday prayer service.

Father, slightly bent, and his preteen son

Turned into the Starbuck located

Immediately below the rented

Space that is now a house of worship.

  

The rabbi, a bearded young man with a growing family,

Greets people warmly, and in his temple

He does not ask if they drove to this Sabbath service.

(Many of his congregation would find the walk exhausting.)

Except for immediate family members,

He is not permitted to make physical contact with women,

And therein lies my problem.

Any claim of equality for women who can’t be touched

Speaks to me of hypocrisy and wanton discrimination.

Does the man with the Yarmulke

Tell his son that mother is subject to this treatment

And what the ramifications might be?

Less Hair More Smiles

I have been “pompadourless” forty years

And while “pompadourless” may not be a word

The results are long established and visible.

An endless list of such grievances might lead to

Bouts of depression and severe halitosis.

In my case the most recent years have been kinder.

Yes, I have lost memories and foot-speed.

Friends have passed, moved in different directions.

But new friends and adventures have enriched me

And my life partner has shared the journey.

Now if I could only remember her name…

Rose Knew

It haunts me still.

Rose knew and was fascinated.

What strange behavior I did observe.

There was this thing about Andy,

Neither good nor bad, just different.

Rose would hang close,

As if checking for an explanation.

We had conversations, decided it was too silly

And concluded Diana would walk Rose separately.

Months later came Andy’s diagnoses:

He was home to a killer.

Too late for medical intervention.

I Interrupt This Life With A Message

We are not under attack from Mars.

We cannot expect to live 259 years or more.

We might experience love and a tooth cavity.

Most of your decisions will be wrong,

But some of the wrong ones will work out well.

There will always be someone to hate… resist,

You will be surrendering a pleasure for a good nights sleep.

Try meditation though it probably won’t work.

Play music it can be an excellent distraction.

Smile when you say “good morning”.

Winning

Harry makes a declarative statement.

He speaks in declaratives.

His argument is flawed.

Best to pounce or suggest?

Now would be the time to risk something.

Not for Harry’s sake but for mine.

If I can work toward a crevice,

A small opening that Harry may ponder,

He might fall short of an epiphany

Yet find a path that allows him to reconstruct,

Discovering a way that offers an acceptable exit

That might reconcile with my conclusion.

This gambit might fail, “so what?”

Isn’t it time I rise above perpetual sophomore?

If I fail my ego might suffer.

If I succeed I will be insufferable for years.

Point Missions2

Sometime Army Air Force Bomber missions were 2 Point.

2 points missions had an upside,                 

Provided you returned to base.

Frank needed fifty combat mission points

Before he could return stateside.

Army Air Force Bomber missions were

Elevated from 1 to 2 if the time

Required to target and return

Increased the risk, substantial,

Or if Messserschmitt  BF 109’s,

In numbers, were waiting.

Frank described the German fighter BF109

As both beautiful and very efficient.

He thought German pilots were excellent.

Frank’s B-24 bomber was one of two

In a nine-bomber formation, that returned safely,

After a 2-point mission.

The Man Believes

After ministering in a “new age” Protestant church,

He studied Buddhism, and is now attending Kabala lectures.

Bob believes in something close to “the force”.

But is not entirely comfortable with the ”God” concept,

Which he thinks it is not nearly broad enough;

That we have assigned roles for “Him”,

For our comfort and convenience,

But this offers, at best,

Tolerance of a different conviction.

In The Long Run

In the Long Run                

who am I kidding

where the hell do you stand

to get beyond whatever

we think of as NOW

how could we override

the nonsense that pursues

our every waking moment

far better we consider advanced

meditation for if it resolves

nothing else you are likely

to have a pleasant snooze 

The Great Sacrifice

Whether we reflect on the boy who saved Amsterdam,

By putting his finger in a small whole in the dike,

Or the soldier who fell on the grenade

And gave his life for his buddies, we recognize heroism.

What of the woman who refused to delay her vacation trip

Because her fool of a hairdresser did not have an opening

The day prior to our heroine’s flight?

The mind crashes attempting to grasp the whole gestalt.

She will be weeks without a “new do”.

Will her hair color hold or fade to blah?

How will her fans respond to this unprecedented breach?

New books, plays and operas will honor her deed.

Children will carry her name with head erect.

She has crashed through the slightly rose tinted social barrier.

Her great sacrifice will know no equal.