Life On A B-I7

Poetry Challenge Day 193 (Fri Apr 15)

I was thinking…
Maybe I should get one
of those fancy
plastic fishing rod cases
for the top of my truck.
That way the folks on Oregon
will think I’m one of them.

Poetry Challenge Day 192 (Thu Apr 14)

Who are the U.S. supporters of
Vladimir Putin?

One might also ask
who are the enablers?

This is not a hypothetical question,
it’s one we all need to ask ourselves.

I’m writing this today to express, in no uncertain terms, just how I feel about war, killing, greed, and power hungry immoral people that want to control your every thought. I can’t help but think about the person in my town that drives up and down the main street every weekend with a big flag on the back of his truck that says “Fuck Biden.” The question is not how did we arrive in this place. The question is, how do we insure that our children do not repeat our mistakes.

Poetry Challenge Day 191 (Wed Apr 13)

Thank you
for letting me
share the last two days
with you and your family.
It means a lot to me
that share your time.
It makes me happy
to see all of you.
You are my brother
(from a different mother…)
Until I meet you
in Flagstaff,
stay well my friend.

Poetry Challenge Day 190 (Tue Apr 12)

She has told me not to write about Her.
How can I not?
She is the love of my life.
I’m fortunate to have met Her.
Even more fortunate
to have known Her this long.
I hope I continue to know Her
for a very long time to come.
Who is this Her?
She is a part of me.

Poetry Challenge Day 189 (Mon Apr 11)

We all hike
the trail of life
with two backpacks,
one in front
and one in the back.

The one in front
holds the faults of
everyone we know,
the one in back
holds our own faults.

There is little difference
in weight between the two,
the only difference
is which one we
tend to look at the most.

Of course, credit for this goes to Aesop.

Poetry Challenge Day 188 (Sun Apr 10)

Life rushes through us
and past us
like a stream.
Nothing is lost,
it only returns to nature.

Poetry Challenge Day 187 (Sat Apr 9)

Cognition 1

Engage, Engage, Engage…
Engage the foot with the boot
Engage the boot with the ski
Engage the ski with the snow.

Cognition 2

Transition, Transition, Transition…
Transition weight to new ski before the turn
Transition ski rotation in unison
Transition eyes to new turn location.

Cognition 3

Do it without thinking
you are now a master
or as a good instructor might say
you are now executing “cogautomously.”

Cognition 4

There is no such thing as a master.

This poem is dedicated to Eric. Eric is a ski instructor at Alta. His knowledge of skiing will change your life (or at least your skiing). A day spent with Eric is the first step towards becoming “cogautomous” with your skis.

Poetry Challenge Day 186 (Fri Apr 8)

Forty nine years ago
I went into a dive bar
wearing a stupid hat.
The man sitting next to me
told me I was a hippie son-of-a-bitch.

Yesterday
I went into a dive bar
wearing a stupid hat.
The man sitting next to me
struck up a conversation
like I was his best friend.

Old men are allowed to wear stupid hats?

Poetry Challenge Day 185 (Thu Apr 7)

If you believe
the 2020 election
was rigged…

Send me $20.

Poetry Challenge Day 184 (Wed Apr 6)

I like my coffee
the same way
Mormons like their women.

Poetry Challenge Day 183 (Tue Apr 5)

This is the half-way point of my Poetry Challenge.

Time to celebrate.
I’ve never been one to hold
my celebration until the end.
I prefer to celebrate early and often.

Poetry Challenge Day 181 (Sun Apr 3)

The secret to life,
is being content with what you have!

I now have W, X, and Y,
as of today!

Going forward,
I can be content!

…As long as I get Z soon.

Poetry Challenge Day 180 (Sat Apr 2)

What is a democracy?
I’m pretty sure
It’s something we don’t live in.
Yes, I understand
we have the right to vote.
But that’s not true for everyone.
Do I always know what is it I’m voting for?
It seems to me the people that govern
are oligarchs by a different name.
And by the way,
how can the same person
hold the same office
for almost a lifetime?
That makes no sense.
And how come the party
that is the minority
can block any legislation
they choose?
How does any of this
describe a democracy?

Poetry Challenge Day 179 (Fri Apr 1)

I remember the Beach Boys singing
“Wouldn’t it be nice.”

Yes…

Wouldn’t it be nice
If there were no war,
If there were no inflation,
If they were no censorship,
If political parties could work together.

I guess I’m having a bad day.

Poetry Challenge Day 178 (Thu Mar 31)

There are employers
paying outsourced employees
in Russia
while that country
wages an unjust war.

Profit over moral obligation.

I can hear your voice Mr. CEO.
“But I have no obligation to
base the success of my business
on the whims of a foreign power.”

I say, in a responsible world, you do.

History will reveal all those indebted to Russian Oligarchs.

Poetry Challenge Day 177 (Wed Mar 30)

Joy comes from figuring out
how something works.
That’s why I’m teaching myself
Go, Rust, and Hugo.
It also (the figuring out part)
keeps your mind fluid and open.

Poetry Challenge Day 176 (Tue Mar 29)

10 REM 	DEFINITION OF INSANITY
20 		VOTE REPUBLICAN
30 		OBSERVE UNDERFUNDED SERVICES
40 		ASSUME GOVT IS BAD
50 		GOTO 20

Thanks to Curtis Ovid Poe for inspiring this little bit of computing poetry.

Poetry Challenge Day 175 (Mon Mar 28)

There is a Hindu teaching that states:
“Still your mind to find the treasure within.”
I’m trying, but it’s not easy.
Sometimes I can almost reach in there
when I’m cycling.

Poetry Challenge Day 174 (Sun Mar 27)

Years ago,
my friend taught me about
friends of convenience.
It took me eighteen years
to realize he was quoting Aristotle.
I didn’t realize it at the time,
but he was not telling me this
simply for the sake of convenience.

According to Aristotle, there is friendship of convenience, friendship of pleasure, and perfect friendship. I have since come to understand that my friend was suggesting I was more than a convenience to him. And yes, I would say the same about him.

Poetry Challenge Day 173 (Sat Mar 26)

Self is an illusion.
We are all connected,
like the root system of trees
in the forest.
Love is the human root system,
it connects us
to family,
to friends,
to communities,
to nations,
to the world.

Poetry Challenge Day 172 (Fri Mar 25)

A good day
is any day
you are able
to write a poem.

Poetry Challenge Day 171 (Thu Mar 24)

What is my why?
What do I look like
inside this block of stone
not yet carved away?

I don’t know.
I suspect on some level
it is to have fun
after a lifetime of serious work.

That does not completely
explain my why
or its relation to
the things that I do.

Part of the answer
is love and sharing.
Sharing love of life and allowing
love to be shared with me.

But that doesn’t
answer the question
what the stone will look like
when it is finished.

If you know the answer
to that question
before the work is finished,
you are a smart one indeed.

My answer most likely is,
I have the chisel
in my hand and I am
applying it diligently to the work.

Poetry Challenge Day 170 (Wed Mar 23)

People dying in Afganistan
didn’t bother me
nearly as much
as people dying in Ukraine.

There probably is something
wrong with me.
I shouldn’t be making
any distinction.

I’m not only angry that we are
still living in a world wracked by violence,
I’m angry with myself for not caring enough
to do something about it.

Poetry Challenge Day 169 (Tue Mar 22)

There are two types of people in the world:
Those that can write,
Those that can paint,
And those that can play music…

Poetry Challenge Day 168 (Mon Mar 21)

It just dawned on me
what my poetry is…
It’s prose in short lines.

One hundred and sixty-eight days,
I’m coming to the realization,
none of this is poetry.

Perhaps I should end this project
before I subject you
to any more self-delusions.

There’s another self-delusion,
I have to stop telling myself
there are readers.

I looked it up, the correct spelling of dammit is indeed “dammit.” I don’t actually think that putting this project on the Internet should, by definition, lead to a readership. So there is no confusion, the purpose here is personal, one designed to help me grow as a human, not to help anyone else grow. If that makes sense.