Blog

Cannot stop and fingers fly,
Mind is spinning round,
Heart is racing, hands are shaking,
Novel thoughts abound.

Looking 'round my cubicle,
The reason seems quite clear,
Soda cans and coffee cups,
Are piled to my ears.

But tomorrow looking back,
I'm sure that I will find,
Caffeine had confused my thoughts,
And distorted my mind.

In Santa Fe the only way 
Is everything with green
In San Anton' my one-time home
Mesquite smoke takes the throne

Ketchup mixed with mayo
Is a Utah kind of thing
Sausage made of Caribou
The Fairbanks waiter brings
 
Cincinnati chili
Is Ohio's favorite dish
Po-boys stuffed with crawfish
Make Louisiana rich

Food defines the taste of life
'Bout everywhere we go
Adding different flavors
To the path on which we go.

The well refills at a trickling flow,
Though steady and sure it's painfully slow.
When allowed to recharge and refill complete,
It's waters are cold and clear and sweet.
It refreshes and wets the dustiest thirst,
To hydrate and quench from last to first.

But draw out too often in quantities great,
The recharging waters will flow in too late.
And grasping for more sirs up silt and mud,
Which makes the dark water thicker than blood.
Losing its power to refresh and cool,
Nothing remains but a fetid dark pool.

High off the ground at the end of my rope,
Swaying in wind and clinging to hope
Questioning whether to hold till the last,
Or just let it go and come down with a crash.

Cloaked in spines just under skin
Ready to break out at the slightest touch
Itching to break free from below.
Frigid with hard bony edges
Other's touch highlights the cold
Recoil at feeling the warmth.
Knowing that touch is important
That others need to feel me
Suppress the urge to withdraw.
Know too that I need to be touched
To be human, to be happy
To keep the spines under the skin.

The clank and clatter of steel on steel,
The squeak and squeal of heavy wheels,
The muttered curses of tired young men,
The rumbling engines fill silence and then,

The thud of explosions just up ahead,
The unspoken fear that friends are now dead,
The cackle of rifles so very close by,
Men screaming for corpsmen in agony cry,

With no real idea what it's all for,
Beyond a vague notion we've done this before,
Results that profoundly were painful back then,
Resurface and teach the same lessons again,

We came here to liberate and to make free,
Naivest of hopes that will never be,
Sent here by those who don't understand,
The traditions and culture of this foreign land,

Or compounding costs in broken down souls,
Once brightest futures snuffed in dark holes,
Ideals and potential by profligates spent,
Even though none of them ever went,

Millions and billions of dollars are gone,
Turned into mayhem, destruction, and bombs,
Cities are leveled and homes ground to dust,
Bridges are tumbled and left there to rust,

Why did we do this? I can't understand,
Leave our blessed home for some foreign land,
How is this worth it? I really can't say,
I just want to leave it and go on my way.

I forget my keys and people's names, 
Just every kind of thing.
Schedules, dates and meeting times,
To the forefront I can't bring.

Why is it then that there are things
That would be best forgot,
That never will be deep repressed,
Ere I will or not?

Second fiddle, second rate
Left to swallow bitter fate
Wanting more, wanting praise
To have at least some glory days
Even friends seem not to see
The deeper longing inside me
And sorrow when I'm pushed aside
My disappointment I just hide.

Half a sentence uttered when
They interrupt me, cutting in
Didn't notice I was there
And moved along without a care
Thoughts of mine are questioned quick
As if my logic wouldn't stick
Wrong by default, why ask me
Never mind, just ignore me.

Drip, drip, drip, drop,
To the bottom from the top,
Through the night I hear plip plop,
While in bed I flip and flop,
Should jiggle handle on the pot,
To cut the noise and make it stop,
But I never leave my spot.