Life On A B-I7

_ Poetry Challenge Day 113 (Tue Jan 25)_

Pain and fear
Are at the heart of discontent.
Pain and fear shared
Is at the heart of political discontent.

Poetry Challenge Day 112 (Mon Jan 24)

I dreamed you said something
That made me feel bad.
When I woke up,
I realized it was a dream and I
Immediately let it go.
If you ever do that when
I am awake,
I will simply pretend I’m dreaming.

_ Poetry Challenge Day 111 (Sun Jan 23)_

Be Inspired.
Be Filled with Energy.
Stay Open.
Stay Excited.

_ Poetry Challenge Day 110 (Sat Jan 22)_

I’ve decided my poetry
Isn’t poetry.
It’s more like musings.
I’m too old to learn
To write real poems.
I only have time for
Having fun,
Accompanied by
A few thoughts here-and-there.

_ Poetry Challenge Day 109 (Fri Jan 21)_

I’m parked next to a
Winnebago Conversion.
He’s from Steamboat.
He has a Tuxedo Cat.
If I were gay,
I would make a pass at him.
I gave him my card.
Perhaps I’ll make a run with him
At Steamboat some day,
You never know…

_ Poetry Challenge Day 108 (Thu Jan 20)_

The viral video
“Loose Change”
Started it all,
How can we go back?
I just want to ride
My bike across the country (again)
And heal it.

_ Poetry Challenge Day 107 (Wed Jan 19)_

They say it’s my birthday.
What does that mean?
There is a connection to time,
But what is it exactly?

Counting the passage of time
Is largely a distraction.
Better we count the
Changes in our perception.

Do I look at the world differently,
Or am I trying to make the world fit
Into some preconceived notion
into some form that soothes me.

If my understanding of the world
Is not growing,
Than neither am I,
And birthdays mean nothing.

_ Poetry Challenge Day 106 (Tue Jan 18)_

I would be
A lonely boy
On the road
Without my
Trusty companion,
Mr. Tux.
He is as loyal
As loyal can be.
(For a cat.)

_ Poetry Challenge Day 105 (Mon Jan 17)_

George W Bush redeemed himself today
By calling out the Jan 6 insurrectionists
as no better than
9/11 terrorists.
(Something he pretends to know about.)
I finally have a modicum of respect for GWB.
Better late than never,
But the argument could be made
It is too little too late.

_ Poetry Challenge Day 104 (Sun Jan 16)_

There’s a category
For everything.
I could probably
Win an award,
If I just knew how or where to apply…
I might even win
A Golden Globe,
If I had enough money…

_ Poetry Challenge Day 103 (Sat Jan 15)_

I’m growing a beard!
I left my razor in Salt Lake City.
The good news is,
It’s waiting for me there.
I will get to use it before I see you next,
and hold you next,
which by-the-way
I think about every day.

_ Poetry Challenge Day 102 (Fri Jan 14)_

Just hearing your voice
Makes my day.
Connects me
To you.
Centers me.
Makes me
Feel like the world is
Okay.

_ Poetry Challenge Day 101 (Thu Jan 13)_

I picked up a book
It’s called
“A Book Of Delights”
The author (Ross Gay)
Challenged himself
To write an essay a day
For a year.
Of course,
He’s a real author
But now he is also
My inspiration.
The important thing here
Is the idea that you really
Don’t have to write a poem
Or an essay every day,
It’s about being in
The moment every day
Paying attention,
Listening, thinking.
While I would like to have
Something to say every day
It’s okay if that
Doesn’t happen.
Strictly speaking
The important thing is
The ‘thought’ never leaves my mind
And it makes me
More aware of the world around me
Even if you’re not there to observe it with me.

_ Poetry Challenge Day 100 (Wed Jan 12)_

What can be written
That hasn’t been written?
Nothing.
Nevertheless,
The compulsion to write persists.
Perhaps,
With luck,
I might stumble upon
An original thought…
Don’t take that bet.

_ Poetry Challenge Day 99 (Tue Jan 11)_

Hanging out
at North Mountain Brewery.

My favorite place in Phoenix.
Listening to “Midnight Special.” (The CCR version.)

Wondering what tomorrow
will bring…

I was skiing at 11,150ft
earlier today.

Tomorrow will be a surprise.

_ Poetry Challenge Day 98 (Mon Jan 10)_

It seems as though
I spend my life
Reading words
And wondering what they mean.

It seems I was
Blessed with a mind
I don’t know how
To use or understand

Not because
The answers are simple
Quite the opposite
The answers are hard.

Those whole fail us
Most dramatically
Are those who present
Us with the simple answers.

_ Poetry Challenge Day 97 (Sun Jan 9)_

Lies are powerful things.
They are often used as tools to manipulate reality.
What is it about people that makes them so susceptible to lies?
I don’t understand.

_ Poetry Challenge Day 96 (Sat Jan 8)_

Bitcoin, Ethereum, many more.
There’s a difference,
I’m just not sure I can explain exactly.
They say,
“scared money doesn’t make money.”
I’ll never own any of these,
risk is not my thing.

_ Poetry Challenge Day 95 (Fri Jan 7)_

When I see a sign that says
“Watch for Stock.”
Should I also keep my eyes open
For Bonds?

_ Poetry Challenge Day 94 (Thu Jan 6)_

My sadness today
is palpable.

I’m embarrassed
to have witnessed
the most shameful
public event in my lifetime,
perhaps in our country’s history.

I am still
looking for closure.

_ Poetry Challenge Day 93 (Wed Jan 5)_

Never before in the history
of our country
has a political party
disseminated lies
that actually killed it’s followers…
all in the name of returning to
and staying in power.
America has turned a corner.
we have always been a thinly
masked amoral country…
The mask has been removed.

_ Poetry Challenge Day 92 (Tue Jan 4)_

Gun laws and self defense laws
have collided.
The challenge before us
is to reconcile this difference.

There is no excuse for openly
killing two unarmed people.

Either open carry laws need to be rewritten
or self-defense laws need to be rewritten.

Why, in the 21st century,
is there a need to carry a lethal weapon
into a public space?

_ Poetry Challenge Day 91 (Mon Jan 3)_

“Obey the laws
and wear the gauze.
Protect your jaws
from septic paws.”

Oh how I would like to be
the author of those lines.

“Wear a mask and save your life! A mask is 99% proof against influenza.” (An advertising campaign in California, circa 1918). Although I’m not aware of any data supporting the 99% number, certainly over 100 years ago the knowledge about how to protect yourself from airborne contagion was readily available and acknowledged.

_ Poetry Challenge Day 90 (Sun Jan 2)_

The Cult of Ignorance
Is driving a new definition
Of personal liberty.

“There is a cult of ignorance in the US, & there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism is a constant thread winding through political & cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means ‘my ignorance is as good as your knowledge’.” - I. Asimov
Or…
as Carl Sagan once wrote: “Science is a candle in the dark.”

_ Poetry Challenge Day 89 (Sat Jan 1)_

My daughter gave me a book
By Haruki Murakami.
It is a marvelous collection of stories.
Haruki is an accomplished author
(Even though this was my first
encounter with him.)

One of the stories mentions a book
He self-published early in his career.
It was a book of poetry about the
Yakult Swallows baseball team.

This accomplished author admits that
His book of poetry may not actually be poetry
But he s ays he will call them poems anyway.

I suppose if an accomplished author
Can self-publish a book of dubious poems
Then so can I.