laissez-faire

When you see another’s freedom
Does it make you want your own?
A king without a kingdom
Is a fool upon the throne.

The jester finds his humor
In the folly of the rich
Until they start a rumor
And flick that cancel switch

Sir knight was seen defending
Many damsels on the web
Till felled by a fiend pretending
To be a single mom named Deb

The queen’s been known to dally
With as many as she can
And no one cares to tally
They just bet on her next man

Again I ask this question
Don’t roll your eyes and groan
When you see another’s freedom
Does it make you want your own?

Curmudgeon

Attempt to read me
You’ll find no light book
Don’t like what you see?
Then try not to look

You leave people flat
I’m no fiddle my friend
Any nonsense like that
You’ll never play again.

Process

Introspection – Inception
Calculation – Creation
Perfection – Perception
Action – Satisfaction.

Double Down

When fantasies crumble
Spirits can tumble
And you fall faster than most
You knew your status
Was surely not gratis
And your conscience is no silent ghost.

Beyond your assumption
Would you have the gumption
To make such an upheaval true?
Just drop it and ramble
It’s not worth the gamble
Don’t let one mistake become two.

Surprise!

I’ve never cared less about money
But worried more about worth
Like most things in life, it’s funny
We have been warned since His birth
But no one thought they’d live to see
That holy judgment come to be.

Poking Fun

It’s the most wonderful time of the year
They’re really pushing the fear
And trying to make the light of hope
Completely disappear

The struggle that most can’t perceive
Is fiercely waged, they deceive
The common people beyond the scope
That many could ever believe.

But ask yourself one little thing:
Why are the rules differing?
The only ones I see sick (don’t mope)
Have felt the needle sting.

Temporality

I see the circles my grandson made in the snow
Just yesterday, or was it a year ago?
Time – so fleeting yet so dense,
It’s Christmas, let’s enjoy the present tense.

Remake

A bygone era on the screen
Reminds me of a different scene
The roles were clear, content clean

The latest flick is way too woke
Where every boundary is broke
And the storyline is just a joke

Perhaps we’ll reach a point someday
That such distractions go away
As we embrace our interplay.

Endings are Overrated

In pursuit of poetic designs
It’s a problem to procrastinate
You end up with just a few lines
That really aren’t

Bedecked

A misty winter morning
And crystals are adorning
Every limb as far as one can see

This flashy year end fashion
Inspires my compassion
That they may soon wear emerald finery.

Identity Crisis

We cling to generalities
Ignoring the details
And other vital qualities
That might prevent some fails

The broader that we can make
A label we apply
The less time we will take
To truly wonder why.

Renewal

The solstice ensued
Beneath a full moon
And everyone’s mood
Was lighter for soon
A brief interlude
To honor the birth
That rescued our brood
The King of the earth
Who came from above
Our faith is renewed
As we learn to love
The solstice ensued.

Drama

At least to some degree
It’s plausible to say
We all must pay a fee
To watch the latest play

And if we aren’t a fan
That means we play a role
I try to stay deadpan
Or neutral (as a whole)

But critics do abound
(the cruel craven creed)
Don’t try to astound
Just act as you need.

Floodgates

A river of living water flows
Cascading from a humble heart
That’s fueled by faith which love bestows
Because it makes all doubt depart
Relinquish control
Let it cleanse your soul.

Trashed

FLEDGLING SPECIES UNPREPARED
FOR CONTACT—THEY WOULD BE TOO SCARED.
THEY ARE SURLY AND AGGRESSIVE
THOUGH THEY CAN BE QUITE IMPRESSIVE.
RECOMMEND OBSERVING THEM FOR NOW.
The yeoman reading rubbed his brow
ADVISE ON OUR FUTURE COURSE
IF NO RESPONSE WE WILL USE FORCE.
The tired soldier misplaced it in the bin
And thus the end of humankind was set to begin.

Good Cheer

The festive flickers glow
And you can too you know
Once you’re blasted by the beam
That’s back where patients go

The tinsel sparkles bright
And you will too at night
More radiant than you could dream
We’ll get you feeling right

The most fragile gift
Is life, so gladly lift
Your voice into a joyous scream
Before you cross the rift.

Boosted

They created this world of consumer lust
Insisting that copulation’s a must
But now they see too many of us
When robots can serve without all the fuss

The problem with pushing perpetual greed?
There are just too many mouths to feed.
And how do you fix an unfeasible fate?
You simply increase the mortality rate.

Sick of It

Outside the heroes’ hideaway
I mull my current state
And realize how far away I am
From caring what the cretins say
When they pontificate
Regarding their most recent health scare scam.

Ad Infinitum

In the spring
Beside a budding tree
We sow the seeds of love
I hope will be
Forevermore

In the summer
By the raging sea
I feel the waves of passion
Washing over me
Forevermore

In autumn
When cooling begins
I watch the climate change
Undone by sins
Forevermore

In winter
I wish a thaw
Would eliminate the ice
That leaves me raw
Forevermore
Forevermore

Beguilers

Credence is strictly reserved
For those who make certain the lie
Is propped up and proudly preserved
Successful psyops don’t die

Content conformists consume
Is crafted by crooks to coerce
The easily fooled to presume
That freedom of thought Is a curse

Be thankful if you aren’t convinced
And never forsake what is right
As truth is atrociously minced
By fiends dressed as angels of light.

3000 Posts

I

How many posts, how many boards,
how many rough-hewn beams
to insulate me from the hordes
in the fortress of my dreams?

The flimsy forms that I construct
don’t make me feel secure
and, I fear, will self-destruct,
foundations so unsure.

I should have picked a better hill
on which to make my stand
for this one’s kind of flat, but still
my mind insists it’s grand,

a massive site that I maintain
while laboring each day
to coax more output from my brain
so I can build away.

II

Timber! And another post
Is resolutely felled
And now I’ve got to get it where I want,
I have no mind or time to boast,
My noggin isn’t swelled
But should I use a plainer type of font?

III

Each day I build anew
With naught but raw sinew
I’ve labored sixteen years
And busted through veneers

For timber strong and true.
Each day I build anew
Like a beaver with his dam
Seeking shelter from the scam,

My posts, though sometimes short
Are handy for support,
Each day I build anew
And marvel how it grew

But I can’t ever stop
There will never be a top,
It’s what I was born to do
Each day I build anew.

IV

I figured I would never amount to much
Intensely reluctant to endlessly compete,
Existing but still, forever out of touch.

Ambition is anathema to me (as such)
Survival in itself is quite a feat,
I figured I would never amount to much

But refused to use my failure as a crutch
I never was a fan of self deceit,
Existing, but still forever out of touch.

Each night in my quiet little hutch
I find something suitable to eat,
I figured I would never amount to much

While striving to be worthy in the clutch
And determined to always be discreet,
Existing but, still forever out of touch.

In search of solitude but finding nonesuch
My fortress is glaringly incomplete,
I figured I would never amount to much—
Existing, but still, forever out of touch.

V

My back is much less achy than my head
For all this labor happens in my mind,
It’s fortunate when I was young I fed
A fierce imagination fare designed
To foster flights of fancy far removed
From everyday concerns we all must face,
As less than ideal posts can be improved
Unlike some churlish people without grace.
Despite the strain, I cannot quell the urge
To keep on building at this site I chose,
Within, my stubborn juices fairly seethe—
Where faith and determination converge
There brims a soul that will always compose
Until the day that I no longer breathe.

VI

This is it apparently
I’ve reached the final line
Terseness is inherently
My style, and that’s just fine.

Sole Suspect

In another dimension I win
On some distant plane I achieve
While here I keep rubbing my shin
From the kicks that I always receive
And sympathy? That’s moot
They come from my own boot.

Mourning

Without a light
Voracious night
Consumes your every thought
You cannot sleep
As shadows creep
On frazzled nerves so taut

The moon is new
And stars are few
The darkness feels so cold
You curl up tight
But tell your fright
That you refuse to fold

You pass the time
Creating rhyme
That no one cares to read
Until at last
Morosely past
The curtains rays will bleed.

Hubbub

You can hear them down by the bank
Of the river, their caws like a reverb tank
Until a silver bullet clatters through
Then half of them say toodaloo
And crisscross the late evening sky
A clamorous murder on the fly.

Assassins

Those that over compensate
For their innate
Lack of ability

Will cut you deep
So always keep
Away from their futility

For they are weak
And yes, will seek
To snipe at your tranquility.

Disposition

What do you consume
The sunlight or gloom?
The answer decides
If you struggle or bloom.

Gloaming

We watched the sun go down together
And I said, “When I’m gone, I’ll send letters.”
She said, “Don’t bother, for I’ll be gone too
The only thing keeping me here is you.”

I met her when the sun was big and bright
Her beauty made it dim by compare
I knew that it was love at first sight
When she smiled as she twirled her auburn hair

And now it seems to be a lifetime ago
When that dying star started getting low
Yet we denied the signs of worsening weather
And watched the sun go down together.

Survey

Digging for gold
A nugget or two
Sifting through old
Claims left to stew
A fortune untold
Once scoured anew

It’s hard to cash in
When pounding sand
My payload is thin
But this dream is grand
Though I risk chagrin
If I wind up panned.

Placable

The lines are now so blurred
All boundaries are gone
And chaos has begun to darkly bloom
A quantum shift occurred
As the hell begotten spawn
Of evil seek to bring about our doom.

But love (though sometimes scant)
Can counteract the curse
Of self-imposed destruction that has been
The reason people rant
And rave and make things worse
It’s time to be forgiving once again.

Ritual

Just single digits away
That goal line is in sight
The countdown has begun

I made it here despite
My tendency to shun
The need for repartee

And these yarns I’ve spun
Are far from macramé
But they are my sacred rite.

Partial

Will anybody ever see
How much these words mean to me
I’ve always tried my best to be
Creative to the nth degree

I thought by now someone of note
Would notice something that I wrote
But chances are so remote
That I am left inchoate.