Life On A B-I7

Poetry Challenge Day 296 (Wed Jul 27)

Whoever or whatever commands your attention
shows the world what you believe.

Poetry Challenge Day 295 (Tue Jul 26)

This has been a good day so far.
It’s sunny.
I discovered brioche donuts.
I found a pen that makes me smile.
The author signed his book for me.
I took a stroll through the Pike Place Market
to watch the flying fish.

They’re dead, but they fly nonetheless.

Poetry Challenge Day 294 (Mon Jul 25)

When I get a new book
the first thing I like to do
is turn each page,
stretching the binding
to give the book a broken in feel.
This is an oddly satisfying experience.
If I were a poet,
this is where I would
astound you with a metaphor
which relates that to something
truly profound.
I’m not going to do that.
I break new books in this way
because I enjoy doing it…
Sometimes I read them.

Poetry Challenge Day 293 (Sun Jul 24)

I don’t want you to see
what I’m writing here,
should you happen to oversee.

It doesn’t matter
that I think of you are
someone I can trust.

How much of ourselves
can we expose without
loosing ourselves?

Perhaps I shouldn’t be worried,
since I’m not sure myself
who I really am.

Poetry Challenge Day 292 (Sat Jul 23)

My doctor wrote this in my after visit patient notes:
“Congratulations on your mastery of French Sign Language.”

_ An attentive doctor reads the patient profile prior to the patient’s visit…_

Poetry Challenge Day 291 (Fri Jul 22)

What will become of us when we die?
There is no evidence based answer,
so I hope for the following:
I hope all our anger will be revealed to us
so we can see how harmful it has been.
I hope all our stupidity will be revealed to us
so we can see how harmful it has been.
I hope all our love will be revealed to us
so we can see if on balance,
we have been part of the solution
or part of the problem.
As long as we keep love on our minds
we have a chance to be
part of the solution.

It would probably be a good idea to read this before starting each day…

Poetry Challenge Day 290 (Thu Jul 21)

Happy Birthday daughter.
Of all the things that could be said.
Of all the things that bring me pride.
You are at the very top of my list.

Not a day goes by
that I don’t think of you.
Perhaps you find that hard to believe,
I understand… still it’s true.

If I could give you anything in the world
I surley would (besides my love of course).
But for now, this simple poem
will have to do.

I have been gifted three times, and grateful for all three.

Poetry Challenge Day 289 (Wed Jul 20)

An open letter to Clarence Thomas @law.gwu.edu regarding Roe.

I cannot begin to tell you how wrong you are.
While we live under the constitution
and it is the framework for the law of our land,
no document can survive for 250 years
without respecting the legitimate will of those governed by it.
I’m not referring to the will of the minority,
I am referring to the will of the majority.
Overturning the law of the land that has been extant for 50 years,
and is currently the will of the majority,
is not only turning a blind eye and a closed mind to your judicial responsibility,
it is also fundamentally misunderstanding it.

Poetry Challenge Day 288 (Tue Jul 19)

Something is wrong
when you hear the phrase
“I’d rather cry in a BMW
than smile on a bike.”
I was riding my bike
from Seattle to Portland.
A fellow stoped me and
told me I had a nice smile.

Poetry Challenge Day 287 (Mon Jul 18)

An idea delivered in a terse manner
is sometimes referred to as an aphorism.
My poetry is more aphorism than anything else.
(That may be overly self-complementary, I admit.)
Your mileage may vary when it comes to
any possible benefit derived
from the ideas presented here.

Poetry Challenge Day 286 (Sun Jul 17)

This is the 11th year for me.
I love the memories as much as the experience.
“Free”
“Homemade”
“Banana Bread”
“Just Ahead”
This year I blow past them,
but I give them a big wave.

Poetry Challenge Day 285 (Sat Jul 16)

I have forgotten how hard this is,
at the same time how much enjoyment it brings,
riding a bicycle for 8 hours.
Who would do such a thing?
I don’t have an answer for that one.
I think it’s about the challenge.
It’s part of my make-up.
Being sickly as a kid does something
to you, warps you in a way.
But I’m not the only one,
there were 6,000 others,
all with their own
private reasons.

Poetry Challenge Day 284 (Fri Jul 15)

Ooooh, what a lucky man I am
to have three children
all of them wonderful persons.
Can there be anything better than that?

Title courtesy of Greg Lake. Inspiration from his song “Lucky Man.”

Poetry Challenge Day 283 (Thu Jul 14)

We go through life wondering
about a lot of things:
Are we a good parent?
Are we a good partner?
Do we treat others with respect?
These are possibly the three most important
questions we can ask ourselves.
It is especially nice
when someone tells us we are
one of those things.
Affirmation helps us keep going,
it is also a gift.
A gift that we can take with us
whatever we do.

I often “wonder” if this poetry project is a good exercise. I think it is, and I think Billy Collins would agree. Billy is not just a Poet Laureate, he is the most popular poet in America. He writes poetry that people can actually understand. I suppose it’s fine that there are poets writing words that are both beautiful and hard to grasp. I suppose we have to read that sort of poetry from time-to-time, but it is rare to find a Billy Collins poem that does not speak directly to your head and soul at the same time. It’s probably too much to say that I try to write like Billy Collins, but he has been a huge influence on me and one of the very reasons for this project. I don’t profess to have anything like talent, but I do think that admiration and emulation are no disgrace and can lead to marvelous self-discoveries.

Poetry Challenge Day 282 (Wed Jul 13)

Dear Diary:
I’ve been telling myself all week:
“Hang Fauci.”
So I went ahead
and put up his portrait.

Poetry Challenge Day 281 (Tue Jul 12)

T. S. Eliot said:
“Only those who will risk going too far
can possibly find out
how far one can go.”

I heartily agree.
This has been one
of the driving forces
in my life.

Poetry Challenge Day 280 (Mon Jul 11)

The motto
“Keep Portland Weird”
is not one the city
will need to worry about
giving up anytime soon…
Portland is the only city in America
with an annual bicycle porn festival.

Poetry Challenge Day 279 (Sun Jul 10)

Ya, so…
Trump used the
“stolen election” trope
to raise funds.
So what.
Dems are using the
“Trump is the spawn of Satan” trope
to raise funds.
The distinction is largely rhetorical.
All I will say in regard to all this is
Trump might the spawn Satan,
but Dems (for the most part)
are just dumb humans.

Poetry Challenge Day 278 (Sat Jul 9)

Walk into a new venue
looking for the tap list
and all you see is the expresso menu,
so you order a quad iced Americano,
as the barista is pulling your coffee
you spot the tap list.

Poetry Challenge Day 277 (Fri Jul 8)

Life is a contradiction.
We want freedom.
Freedom to do as we please.
We also want someone
to share the adventure with,
to be there with us and for us.
Of course the reality is
these positions require compromise.

Poetry Challenge Day 276 (Thu Jul 7)

I told my neighbor
I needed to be smarter
about how I drink…

He told me to mix
my bourbon with
Smart Water…

Poetry Challenge Day 275 (Wed Jul 6)

I’m very skeptical
about the Ohio solution
to school shootings,
allowing teachers to carry guns
is sort of like
saying I’m going to loose weight
by eating pizza three times a day.

I can’t think of anything more ridiculous than allowing teachers to carry guns in the classroom. I’m disgusted.

Poetry Challenge Day 274 (Tue Jul 5)

If I could remember
everything I have read
I would be tempted
to call myself a genius.

I’m not talking about
last year
I’m talking about
five minutes ago.

Every day counts
so read every day
learn something from it
the trick is remembering.

Poetry Challenge Day 273 (Mon Jul 4)

Happy Birthday America.
You made it another year.
The question is
will you make it one more.

I can’t even begin to express
the damage that one
Voldemort has done to you
over the last five years.

It may be obvious
but it bears repeating
I don’t know where all the
hatred and anger comes from.

But I know that we can’t
survive living this way.

Poetry Challenge Day 272 (Sun Jul 3)

Love is pain.
That is to say
the wrong kind of love
is pain.
If you find love
that isn’t pain
you have found
another
of the secrets to life.