Life On A B-I7

_ Poetry Challenge Day 63 (Mon 12/6/21)_

In Golang,
the only True value is true
the only False value is false.

That kind of attention to unambuguity
is refreshing.

_ Poetry Challenge Day 62 (Sun 12/5/21)_

e. e. cummings,
a.k.a. Edward Estlin Cummings
wrote a poem a day
from age 8 to age 22.

He makes my efforts
to do the same
for just 365 days
look ridiculous.

I’m quite sure that is
what made him great.
Single minded pursuit
of a single goal.

I probably will not live long enough
to experience that sort of
dedication and passion
to a single desire.

If it takes 14 years of practice
to write a good poem,
my efforts here are not likely to succeed,
but I think I’ll try anyway.

I have extended my admiration for Billie Collins to include a deep respect for e. e. cummings.

Poetry Challenge Day 61 (Sat 12/4/21)

My favorite saying simply says…
“Do Epic Shit.”

_ Poetry Challenge Day 60 (Fri 12/3/21)_

I saw a sign the other day,
it said “The Constitution is the law.”
I guess you can’t disagree with that,
since it is the law, by definition.

What strikes me as interesting about this
is what the sign really means.
Roughly translated, I believe it means
“my” view of the Constitution is the law.

This ignores the fact that our founders
created a living document, subject to interpretation.
A document cast in the light of a single purpose or view
will fail in its’ attempt to govern justly.

Originalism is a joke.

Now that we are facing a critical time in our Nation’s legal history, the removal of rights previously granted by our Constitution, this little bit (written a month ago) seems all the more important.

_ Poetry Challenge Day 59 (Thu 12/2/21)_

I’m reading a book
that is profoundly disturbing.
The history of race in America.
It’s something we have been conditioned to ignore.

I don’t know what Critical Race Theory is.
I haven’t seen a good definition,
but I know that if this book were taught in our schools,
within a generation or two our attitudes would be changed.

My eyes have been opened.
So what am I going to do?
For starters, I challenge you
to read this book as soon as you can.

”Caste,” by Isabel Wilkerson, Random House. 2020.

Poetry Challenge Day 58 (Wed 12/1/21)

Oh,
What a lucky man
I am.

I’ve never worn white lace.
I’ve never slept in linen.
I’ve never fought a war.

Oh,
I’m still a lucky man
I am.

I have found love.
It doesn’t get much
luckier than that.

Naturally my apologies to ELP. One of the best anti-war songs of the ’60’s along with “For What It’s Worth,” by Buffalo Springfield.

_ Poetry Challenge Day 57 (Tue 11/30/21)_

All things considered,
I couldn’t be happier.

Sure, I could be sitting in a tree house
in the Cascade Mountains right now,
or sitting in a front row seat
at the World Series.

But I did sit in the third row in right field
at Red Sox stadium,
and I’ve watched my share of
“Tree House Masters.”

So…

All things considered,
I couldn’t be happier.

_ Poetry Challenge Day 56 (Mon 11/29/21)_

He knocks on the door.
They let him in.
She hides in her bedroom.
He talks to them.
She doesn’t come out.

I’m not really sure
when she came out
but she finally did.
If she hadn’t,
I wouldn’t be here.

_ Poetry Challenge Day 55 (Sun 11/28/21)_

Lynching postcards.
Horror unimaginable.

Even the Nazis did not sell
souvenirs of Auschwitz.

You can avoid the Post Office ban
by putting your postcards in an envelope.

That’s what people did.

As a 14 year old boy, Henry Fonda witnessed a brutal lynching of a Black Man in Omaha. “It was the most horrendous sight I’ve ever seen.” In the movie The Ox-Bow Incident, his character warns a crowd: “Man just naturally can’t take the law into his own hands, and hang people, without hurting everybody in the world. Think about that the next time you feel like taking your AK-47 to a parade to help provide “security”…

_ Poetry Challenge Day 54 (Sat 11/27/21)_

Billie Collins is my hero.
I love the way he writes.
The connections he makes are so
marvelous and unexpected.

I would love to write like he does,
but then people would say
you sound just like Billie Collins.
I could probably live with that.

My daughter told me that after a year
of this nonsense, I would find my voice.
I doubt that her prediction
has the chance of becoming reality.

I’m going to give her the
benefit of the doubt,
largely because I would love to hear someone say,
“you sound a lot like Billie Collins…”

_ Poetry Challenge Day 53 (Fri 11/26/21)_

I’ve written some poems sitting in a bar,
it may seem like I use beer as inspiration…
perhaps,
but living in a treehouse
would be the ultimate
inspiration.

_ Poetry Challenge Day 52 (Thu 11/25/21)_

Thanksgiving.
I love you.
Yes, all of you…
the current…
the past…
the future…

_ Poetry Challenge Day 51 (Wed 11/24/21)_

I’ve noticed
Oregon has the corner
On the beard market.

The men here
put my little goatee
to shame.

Beards here are
age independent.
the fuller and longer the better.

I’ll put Oregon men
up against any
bearded state in the country.

_ Poetry Challenge Day 50 (Tue 11/23/21)_

Occasionally you need to hang out
in your local bar.

It’s distracting and noisy.
I’m surprised I can think.

The place is hopping,
Bruce is whaling on the juke.

I sit alone at the bar,
Just how I like it…

Writing this, what, poem?
Listening to the chatter.

I’m not above this,
More like below it really.

When I choose to leave,
No one will notice, or care.

That’s…
Just how I like it today…

_ Poetry Challenge Day 49 (Mon 11/22/21)_

I paid,
it forward.

_ Poetry Challenge Day 48 (Sun 11/21/21)_

Adkins…
…Caregiver, State of Oregon
…Director of Field Marketing and Operations
…Inmate Number 1544785, State of Illinois
…American Country Singer

I can’t find myself.
Perhaps I should be looking in
Kentucky coal country,
instead of online…

Kentucky is where the Welsh ‘Adkins’ (with a ‘d’) settled. They were coal miners.

_ Poetry Challenge Day 47 (Sat 11/20/21)_

I know this isn’t a poem.
This is my life.
As simple, and as meaningless as it may be…
It is mine.
For the most part, I adore it.

_ Poetry Challenge Day 46 (11/19/21)_

Read Day 45 first…

Out of nowhere,
the answer presents itself.

The couple sitting next to me
picks up my dinner check.

All they ask is that
I pay it forward

To which I heartily agree,
without hesitation.

They have shown me what I need to do,
love, care, help.

I will pay it forward, and my thoughts
will be with them as I do.

_ Poetry Challenge Day 45 (11/18/21)_

I can say, unequivocally
I have never lived through
a worse era.

It seems all pretense
of propriety has been
lost and voices are raging.

I’m afraid.
I don’t want to join the din.
How do we see our way out of this?

_ Poetry Challenge Day 44 (11/17/21)_

The actual challenge here
is to write poetry.

Someone told me, after a year
I should find my poetic voice.

I find myself…
skeptical.

_ Poetry Challenge Day 43 (11/16/21)_

We can not see the value of our institutions
because the walled garden of social media
has cut off our connection to them.

_ Poetry Challenge Day 42 (11/15/21)_

Think about this for a moment,
There are no black people in Africa.

Being black, being seen as black,
is a distinctly American invention.

Immigrants to this country had to learn
to think in terms of “black” and “white.”

This was demanded of them
in order to be fully assimilated.

They had to shed their nationality
and become “white.”

It is ironic that in the modern world we look at people
through the lens of color..

rather than for who they are.

Much worse than ironic, really.

Poetry Challenge Day 41 (11/14/21)

Make no mistake
the caste system is alive
and well in America.

But don’t teach my children
about the history of
race in America…

We wouldn’t want to open any eyes.

I view this as my most important poem to-date. I think the caste system in America is at the heart of our current political dilemma. Certain people have decided to move on from our racist/caste past, and certain other people are feeling threatened by the realization that caste is no longer working like they intend it to… and then there are those that recognize this phenomenon, and are using it to exert control over the latter…

_ Poetry Challenge Day 40, Saturday November 13_

Worst drivers on the road…
those driving a Toyota Prius.

Best drivers on the road…
those driving a Toyota Tacoma.
(Especially those heavily modified for overland travel…)

My Tacoma is heavily modified for overland travel…

_ Poetry Challenge Day 39, Friday November 12_

What is this curse:
to have the desire of gods
but the ability of a mortal.