Bad Call

It wasn’t close

Golden State Forward number 18 pushed

It was deliberate

With no push back

The referee who was two feet away

Pointed at Huston Guard number 27

TV replay showed…

Bad call

The head referee did not ask for a replay

Probably 10 million viewers would say “bad call”

The ref might be very blind, hate that guard,

Or the fix was in…

Or all of the above.

I think the fix was in.

A Letter To A Son

I suppose being your father and the more likely to predecease, I should have some reflections that might be of interest to you. I chose “interest” over “value” because I’ve found that the things I’ve learned may not transfer well, nor am I convinced I have really understood life.

So here is what I want to share:

1. If you have a mate who shares your most important values and one that you love, support her as an equal and treat her trials and accomplishments as your highest priority. I have often failed at this, and I hope you will be more consistent and conscious of her needs and desires.

2. You seem to have friends, some of whom go back many years. Stay in touch with them and don’t concern yourself with being the taller head when/if you compare to see who has done 51% of the lifting.

3. Try to keep money from controlling your life. I still believe there are lots of things that are more important.

4. Find a task that you can treat as a cause. For me it has been as simple as delivering meals or as complex as working on a Board of Directors.  What matters is that you care. You’ll know you care when you can look back & notice the trail you have left, or lack thereof. If you are really lucky you might find your work such a cause, but I’ve not been that lucky.

5. You seem to be able to judge your efforts rationally. That’s a big plus, but check with your mate for a somewhat more objective view.

6. My biggest business mistakes have come from not paying attention. Just being lazy or egotistical has gotten me into really dumb situations; try to hold them to a minimum.

7. Look for help whether from a friend, a website, or a knowledgeable stranger. You don’t have to make every mistake & recognize that even a not so clever person may have a good idea.

8. You can start over. A friend went through a really ugly bankruptcy, coupled with a divorce. He more than survived the situation, and rebuilt a very good life.  Remember my friend Al? He is a recovering alcoholic who has built a good life.

It’s not that I wish failures on you, but good people make mistakes and many do more than survive.

9. Patience. Not a trait that our family is noted for. Work on it.

10.  Remember that I love you and think you are a good Man.

Leo

Leo is not well loved by his three daughters.

They don’t have religion.

Leo has enough for the whole family.

 He invokes his faith when Libby,

his gay daughter, mentions her live-in partner.

Thanks to his son-in-law,

who is up for sainthood,

Leo is recently settled in a memory loss facility.

I hope the young man gets Leo’s money.

Leo’s church has gifted him a smug black and white cat.

His half sister speaks to him every week

But now it doesn’t turn into a religious diatribe.

Leo is 85 and finally happy.

Diplomacy

In growth lives vitality,

But it cannot survive without belief,

Nor will the enemies of tomorrow rest.

They endure to see yesterday become tomorrow.

Who stands with those searching in both yesterday’s cinders

And the emerging wisdom gleaned

From today’s expanded comprehension

Of what may be possible?

Will philosophy awake to the new paradigm

And add reason and sanity to the cause of tomorrow?

Or will those able thinkers persist

In holding yesterdays truth sacrosanct?

If we are to reach a place where understanding triumphs,

And trust becomes a risk well worth consideration,

Then will we not have arrived at the joining

Of diplomacy, in its many forms, with mutual respect?

I find the possibility wondrous, if improbable.

For the alternatives are tantamount to a sustained war

In which few survive and none prosper.

Had we not better unite with those searching for the improbable?

Tom and Jerry

We come from different backgrounds,

Raised with distinctly opposing political realities.

He is tall, I am below average in stature.

He was led to believe in the code of the fortunate.

I was imbued with a belief in community survival.

He is more self-assured of his position.

I need proof of my existence.

There are few certainties in my world.

He understands limits and exceptions.

I know the end of the story- …

He no longer owes me a coffee and a gelato.

Witches

If I was a witch I’d work in the east.

West witches have a bad rep, to say the least.

They probably aren’t really so bad,

But they’re reputed to be stark raving mad.

Whether good or bad, east or west,

I wonder if they take a test

To see if they can fly their broom

All around the living room.

Do all good witches dress in white?

With matching pajamas for sleeping at night?

I’m sad for those that always wear black,

They live,we’re told, in a dingy old shack.

If I were a witch I’d travel so far,

And watch all the people from the rim of a star.

I’d help all the good ones raise money for  rent

As long as they fork over my 10 per cent.

Pizza To Go

I tried to cook, like nice and slow

Man, it was torture, you know,

Gave it up; called Tony’s

“Pizza To Go “.

Problems getting there in the miserable snow,

When would they, like, start to mow?

Took me an hour to reach

“Pizza To Go”.

Their oven was hot, like aglow.

Man, could have been from, you know, down below,

Sent by the devil to “Pizza To Go”

There was this chick, her hair in a bow.

Movin’ round the place with a real nice flow,

She worked the register at “Pizza To Go”.

I thought “She’s got a body. Could be a ho?”

Not likely though,

Sweating near the oven at “Pizza To Go.”

The baker started by kneading the dough,

Tossed the pie, made a real show,

Said “5 minutes, you’ll have your Pizza to Go”

I used a coupon, made the cost really low.

Could not get a date with the chick,

So, I went home to eat my  Pizza To Go”.

Chocolate and Strawberries

Its not those impressions,
Seemingly so singular at the time,
That I thought I would never forget
Where I was , and what I was doing.

One rainbow over the Koolau Mountains
I’d never forget, long forgotten.
But my first taste of Chocolate and Strawberries
Always returns to bring a renewed sense of delight.

Not merely the taste,
I recall the improbable image;
“What a great idea!
How clever the author.”

Chocolate and strawberries was a forbidden treat,
When I could still be surprised.

2008

2008 you’ve been a real blast.
But now that you are part of the past
I thought I’d offer a word or two
By way of showing how I feel about you.

Our presidential choices demanded attention.
Media followed each and every contention.
Hillary said this and Romney said that
And Rudy Gulliani was leading one pack

Barack Obama was coming on strong
John Edwards sang a populist song.
John McCain decided he needed Falwell’s religion,
While democrats bemoaned each Bush decision.

After millions of dollars we settled on two
McCain and Obama would fight the race through.
Sarah Palin one VP selection,
Her mind an example of candied confection.

Meanwhile our economy was sinking fast,
But George said the slide would not last.
McCain said the fundamentals were sound,
Still most thought the country recession bound.

Banks wanted cash, without a need to repay.
700 billion should cover the play.
Wise men were asked what we should do.
Phil Gramm told the public it’s too bad for you.

Houses being lost at a pace seldom seen.
Jobs disappearing, as in a terrible dream.
Stock markets plunging, charities begging,
Christmas failed for want of big spending.

2008, no,not the best of years.
Filled with loses and so many tears.
In 2009 with Obama leading
Maybe we can staunch the terrible bleeding.

No longer starting unnecessary wars,
Returning sanity to America’s shores.
So we’ll hope for Obama, the new skinny guy
To bring us to peace and a much bluer sky

Masks

Was there something I wished to say?
Something that might move the conversation in a gentle way,
to less safe subjects that might engage our table of six
and animate beyond the masks we had affixed
to ward off penetration beyond our skin,
so none could see the person therein.

Why was I here listening to this bore
who assumed her audience held secure
to the truth she had fitted as a garment tied in place
by repetition of a mantra at a mind-numbing pace?

Neither “flight” nor “fight” tore me free.
I failed to do more then let it be,
acting the coward by not “making waves”
reducing myself to the part of a slave.
As if I could not rise, ball my hand
and still the fool who had taken command,
letting chaos reach passion’s level
allowing decorum to go to the devil.

Blink

Dean Rusk said “Russia Blinked”.
But I’m not sure what to think.
Blinking, we are told
Shows we’re not being bold.

Russia , when it sees us blink,
Assumes the U.S.will slink
Away from the big bad bear,
Look to hide, show our fear.

Moscow will attack with Nuclear teeth,
Rip us apart, make us their feast.

But what if the blink
Were merely a wink
And war could be averted?
If only they knew we had merely flirted.

We must guard against a blink and a wink,
Since either could wash us down the sink.
We’ll wait for them to make the mistake
Just one blink may be all it will take.

Our Turn

Challenges without number
Rise as an ocean swell,
Force children from their slumber
Into a world they don’t know well.

Strangers in a strange land
Where moderation holds no sway,
Wanting for a knowing hand,
Find life’s journey a hapless way.

My generation, and those now past,
Succumbed to Mammon’s notion:
All will be well if we just hold fast,
Praying the Earth devoid of motion.

But the Earth has moved,
In obeisance to the Sun,
Its path a reprove,
To the belief that nothing ‘ere be done.

Do we assume too much
When we grieve for the next generation?
We are the ones fate will touch,
With naught to offer in exculpation.

Does it not seem right
That we should pay ?
For choking the sun, hiding the light,
Making night the owner of day?

Making the Bed

Making the bed shouldn’t be hard,
Unless, like me you’re a mechanical retard.
How many directions can a cover sheet go?
If I study the problem, and go real slow
I’m bound to find the answer, I know.

Still it defeats me finding bottom or top,
I begin to anger, I probably should stop,
But admitting defeat at the hands of a sheet,
Speaks of a spirit far from complete
Not ready for challenges, unable to compete.

Aha! I think I’ve got it right.
Top and bottom, fit real tight.
Oh NO! It’s time to curse and shout
The f#@&ing thing is inside out.

That does it! Oh yes I see
This miserable sheet laughing at me.
It goes too far, I wont take any more.
Its fate is sealed, I’ll even the score.

I could cut it to shreds, hack it in pieces
Or foul it with my puppy’s feces.
No, that’s too easy a fate.
How would Satan retaliate?

Make it into hand-towels for a colony of lepers?
Use it to portage chinese mustard and red hot peppers?
I could of course burn it in hell.
Covered with skunk spray, not a heavenly smell.

But I go to far, I lose my direction
There’s a better way, a different selection
To get the sheet to cover the bed.
I’ll have my wife do it, instead.

Forensic Accountant

Tired of police, detectives, lawyers,
Secret agents protecting our borders?
Talking to ghosts, reading minds,
Heroes all, stopping dastardly crimes.

There remains only one crime sleuth                        
Who doesn’t change clothes in a telephone booth.
He carries no gun,
But when he approaches evil doers run.

No TV shows promote his work,
They think of him as merely a clerk.
But when on the case
The Forensic accountant shows a determined face.

Going through records, spotting the error,
On the job the man’s a terror.
Yes he is the man
Tracing bills like nobody can.

Finding the voucher or telltale check,
Building a case that’s certain to stick,
Risking his life and pen,
Catching the fox close to the den.

Surly, with the right cast,
A melodrama would last
Year after year, that’s certain,
As each new episode raises the curtain.

With computers and software
Designed to put victims, unaware,
At disasters door, while thugs in wait
Are set to suffer a terrible fate.

Not knowing our man’s on the job.
Let’s all hail this most precious of slobs,
Toiling away with keen suspicion,
Our Forensic accountant, with no recognition.

Habeas Corpus

She’s gone. They’ve taken her away
Where once in her safety we did stay,
Through her, believing we would have our say.
She held a torch proclaiming, “We would have our day”

Dear Habeas, such a sturdy soul!
Driven from her fortress, leaving a hole
So large it may do irreparable harm
To those who might sound an alarm.

A man who would otherwise question
Conclusions drawn from a secret session
Of those who ignore facts
So they might perform harmful acts.

A man cannot speak, lest he disappear
Into a building where Kafka could’ve steered
A course to pain & loss,
Where the unnamed may be tossed.

Who will comfort, bring a following sea,
That allows Truth to rise free,
Sans fear of Munich’s nightmare
Risen from the dark as Satan, the slayer.

All hail, habeas corpus
Civilizations measure,
Our abandoned responsibility.