_ 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.
_ Poetry Challenge Day 88 (Fri Dec 31)_
This is an attempt at
writing a poem when I have no idea
what is about to come out…
Satisfaction with my work is a
commodity that is hard for me to come by.
I tend to be a perfectionist,
also my biggest critic.
I sometimes feel that with infinite time available to me
I could reach a goal worthy of my desire,
of course, we aren’t given that luxury.
Perhaps this is what you naturally feel
when you look back on your year
and try to make sense out of it.
That’s what I’m going to tell myself.
I don’t see perception in this regard changing
a great deal when I look forward
to the coming year…
I thought when I started my poetry project
that it might be life changing.
At this point (after 88 days)
there is no clear answer to that question.
_ Poetry Challenge Day 87 (Thu Dec 30)_
The voice inside my head is talking to me.
No, I’m not crazy, it does that all the time.
My constant dialogue is usually suppressed
At the moment, I’m trying to listen to it.
What it’s saying when I actually listen is revealing.
I’m not going to tell you,
That’s not what this is about.
All I know is it’s important to listen.
All the secrets you need to know are contained in that dialogue.
Embrace it, listen, ponder, and keep listening.
_ Poetry Challenge Day 86 (Wed Dec 29)_
Your ignorance
Is as good as
my knowledge.
What’s wrong with that?
Could it be
That this is how we now
Think of personal liberty and freedom.
“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
_ Poetry Challenge Day 85 (Tue Dec 28)_
I want to cycle across the country
one more time.
I want to feel once again
the feeling of independence.
I want to feel once again
the pain,
but also the accomplishment.
Why don’t you come with me.
_ Poetry Challenge Day 84 (Mon Dec 27)_
Today we broke 800,000.
In the best tradition
of all things American,
that is a world record,
literally.
Even when it comes
to dubious distinctions,
we can’t help but be “better”
than everyone else.
The many thousands of deaths that have occurred since COVID vaccines became available could have been avoided, were it not for the tragic and misguided information campaign spearheaded by a handful power hungry “influencers”.
_ Poetry Challenge Day 83 (Sun Dec 26)_
Life is a poem.
It weaves itself into strange patterns.
Not always what you expect from it.
Yet, if you look closely
there are constants.
Like a true friend.
A true friend is always there for you.
You don’t need a lot more than that.
_ Poetry Challenge Day 82 (Sat Dec 25)_
Speak truth to power.
What does that mean.
I’ve seen truth spoken that way,
It seems it is usually ignored.
The one attribute all power shares,
Is the ability to distort truth.
Yet, if enough people hold the same truth.
Power cannot stand.
So…
The first task of power
Is to destroy truth.
The first task of truth
is to fearlessly speak to power.
I’m not satisfied with this poem. It seems there should be a better answer, but I don’t know what it is.
_ Poetry Challenge Day 81 (Fri Dec 24)_
We are living in an age
Where people just
Make shit up.
_ Poetry Challenge Day 80 (Thu Dec 23)_
Speaking truth to autrocracy
Is no longer sufficient to
Counter conspiracy theories.
_ Poetry Challenge Day 79 (Wed Dec 22)_
I’m gaining weight.
It’s my cat’s fault.
All he does is eat
and sleep.
I am subconsciously
channeling his lifestyle.
He knows something
I don’t.
I can’t stop myself from wondering
what that might be.
It could be the fact that
he doesn’t watch the nightly news.
Watching the nightly news
is bad for you physically and emotional health.
Oh, he’s there with me alright,
but I don’t think he’s really paying attention.