Makeover

When people make my patience flee
I look at them and I see... me
no mirror ever could display
such glaring flaws (oh what dismay!)

I’ve got to try to look beyond
my lack of vision, and respond
to revelations of this kind
as chances to remake my mind.

Cliffhanger

A honeysuckle scuttles down
cascading towards the rocks
that stay submerged but never drown,
a bed of jagged blocks

the water tries to wear away
with fingers frothy white,
as pale as blooms that taste the spray
when rain falls through the night,

for lately storms have gotten worse
than ever seen before,
so much that certain plants may curse
their purchase on the shore.

en route

On some days all the lights are red
and it seems we’ll never get ahead
on others all we see is green
and go so fast not much is seen
but on most days we find instead
we’re somewhere in between.

Turnaround

For everyone to glower hardened glares
from eyes ablaze with paranoid mistrust
there's someone with a loving heart that cares,

compassion reigning all of their affairs,
forgiving of the misanthropic lust
from those that choose to glower hardened glares

while lurking, lonely in their leery lairs,
adverse to the position that there must
be someone with a loving heart that cares

for anyone whose hatefulness impairs
their chance to live, before they turn to dust,
like those that choose to glower hardened glares.

There's nothing more rewarding that compares
with altering an outcome that's unjust
as someone with a loving heart who cares,

who openly embraces all and shares
exuberance so wonderfully robust
that those who choose to glower hardened glares
will soon display a loving heart that cares.

Body Language

She gives me gaff
which makes me laugh
and laughter is a tonic
that keeps us sane
and helps abstain
from languishing laconic
we all have those
that soothe our woes
with their own zany antics
a crazy style
that makes us smile
regardless of semantics.

Spark

Attempting the poetic
while feeling quite pathetic
requires an affinity
for anything esthetic

I yield to the attraction
in search of satisfaction
deferring to divinity
ignites intense reaction.

honorat mors

Dedicated to the memory of Phillip Andrew Ackerman, the grandfather I never knew, his ship went down in WWII.

Would we have called him Pop
while bouncing on his knee
and begged him not to stop
through giggles filled with glee?

Might his mane have turned
the most majestic white
suggesting he had earned
a respite from the fight?

Was he filled with fear
when his ship began to sink
and slowly disappear
beneath the briny drink?

How many have to grow
without the guiding hand
of a parent they will never know
how could they understand—

it makes me wonder why
we face the fields of gore
and let good people die
in someone else’s war.

Looking Up

I’m such a cynical sort
and yes, sarcastic too
you risk a wry retort
when asking for my view

my grandson mimics me
which prompts me now to pause
I don’t want him to be
corrupted by my flaws.

Collapse

A house that it took years to build
and subsequently become filled
was razed this morning in a flash,
the memories within, a pile of trash
that sentiments no longer gild;
if only the past was so easily killed
perhaps we wouldn’t have to gnash
our teeth, anticipating every crash
when someone else more iron-willed
decides our progress should be stilled.

Partial

We’re all just fragments looking for
the piece that makes us whole
a place where our irregularities fit,
in search of that intense rapport
that saturates our soul
with fuel that always keeps the fire lit;

the offspring of what might have been
and what was meant to be
the ground beneath us seems to ever shift
until that shining moment when
we’re loved enough to see—
it’s either integrate, or simply drift.

Woebegone

On a windy spring day
the willows will sway
their droopy green branches
all slanted one way
and a long wistful cruise
does not help me lose
ambivalent blues
beneath skies of gray.

Qualification

Once you have flame
there's no need to keep flicking
but some look at blame
as a reason for ticking

and once you've drawn blood
don't ever desire
to foster a flood
of darkest red ire--

The flawless may feel that to judge is their role
but I've yet to engage such a sparkling soul.

Final Meal

Death can be delicious
to those whose lives are vicious
but to the more ambitious
it isn't that nutritious.

Cleanup

What makes a river bend?
Surely nothing Man has made
for when they choose they rend
these structured things to tatters laid

about like they were never built
no settlement in sight
a soggy scene assailed by silt
as nature blots our blight.

Tenacious

He’s isolated, feeling odd
the semblance of a fallen god
whose temple tumbled to the sod,

for no one living is exempt
from time and its accrued contempt
despite the rare near miss attempt—

if chaos is indeed our lot
we must get by with what we’ve got
he reasons, indisposed to rot.