Diary of a Poet
Dear Reader
This book seems so life-appropriate, having a birthday poem to Little Linda Mae, and ending with how I could have lived
with her for a thousand years...
With a couple dedicated to a friend, Clint Bales, who was at a neighboring table at dinner on a cruise. I decided to fire up
the lasor printer and make a "real" copy for his wife, Susan. Since i cannot really tell you how good my poetry is and be taken seriously,
I asked her if she could write an introduction. The return text was more than I could have hoped for:
"Tom
Your poetry about Clint really touched me. I wish we had it at his memorial!
I think you are getting better with your poetry and you have a way with words that gets a message across so beautifully.
Thank you for sending me the book.
I am not such a creative writer but I will try to compose something.
You have a great gift!
Susan (Bales)"
I do hope you find some lines that touch your heart, or sing to your soul, as you read this!
#1147 , #1148 , #1149 , #1150 , #1151 , #1152
#1153 , #1154 , #1155 , #1156 , #1157 , #1158
#1159 , #1160 , #1161 , #1162 , #1163 , #1164
#1165 , #1166 , #1167 , #1168 , #1169 , #1170
#1171 , #1172 , #1173 , #1174 , #1175 , #1176
#1177 , #1178 , #1179 , #1180 , #1181 , #1182
#1183 , #1184 , #1185 , #1186
#1147
With his head in an aquarium of bees
and that robotic "Shit! Shit! Shit!"
Stephen showed us just where on life's humor chart
a man of great genius should sit
Being fed like a baby at M. I. T.
defying what doctors had said
He proved what courage extraordinarily can
by footsteps of theory he led
He showed us that boxes are for beggars and thieves
that real men stay true to their course
He chose to fly despite cages that life built
as he showed us will is a force
Showed us the unparalleled brilliance of love
how far it could carry a dream
He even defined the character of strength
the loss ambition can redeem
Seldom does a teacher take us from survive
to Hubble's scope and beyond
From that hopeless infant born before the bomb
new measures of spirit have dawned
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#1148
It's been a year since i met that smile
and today i get to see it again
I was changed by its infectious style
seeing more than i was able to then
A voice demands above and beyond
and giving no explanation of how
A man before whom eras have dawned
yet a man seemingly settled in now
Living the definition of drive
apparently expecting nothing less
He helps me celebrate their alive
with all his insights and joys to express
This perspective is tainted i know
by the limited seconds we have shared
But thank you for helping me to grow
simply by showing me how much you cared
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#1149
I tried to write the other day
nothing but false starts
I guess sometimes that's just the way
when it comes to hearts
Another birthday coming quick
not sure what to do
But write a poem that's downright sick
word flowers for you
I'm still not sure just how this works
how to build a poem
Blank is only one of mind's quirks
while heart holds a tome
There was no love lost when we met
but I kept your eye
Something somewhere made you forget
lose your sense of shy
There I came when you stood alone
you did not foresee
When you needed attention shown
surprise again it's me
Was straight from there to overdrive
roads we had not seen
Celebration of our alive
and all we could glean
Five months later we got our rings
we were meant to be
We have yet to share many things
only time can see
I dared to think my ship came in
suggested a cruise
And that turned into quite a win
we just could not lose
Had camping adventures in Maine
fast ride on the track
Now so many trips it's insane
we keep going back
Then our summertime rides to Brown's
that never gets old
Family always has happy sounds
oh such love they hold
There are six grandchildren to see
and how is that so
Weren't the oldest just one and three
oh how fast they grow
So now your sons with girls and boys
bigger family still
Furniture just to hold the toys
memories to fill
You must be proud of what you've done
watching them do well
Watching grandchildren is such fun
come out of their shell
So then we put them side by side
your daughter and mine
And took them for an ocean ride
play dress up and dine
What a delightful time we had
floating on the sea
So once again i can play dad
bigger family
The single link to this big chain
one which made it all
Is the love you show at the rein
how you never fail
You made the world a better place
simply being you
Now you are aging with such grace
the way ladies do
Happy Birthday
Little Linda Mae
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#1150
So it has been a decade or longer
that my pen has had so little to write
Had life gifted the flair of dramatic
i just might call it my dark soul of night
Yet there was the nothing in the nineties
then the revival of Veracious Verse
The frantic of a new millennia
the interest and its poets diverse
More failures in the rhyming of commerce
landed me harshly right back at square one
I set it aside in search of money
and quite honestly i thought i was done
I thought one day i will just hand it out
but that dusted with all on someday's shelf
In the end it would not leave me alone
alas i have kept that promise to self
I went and bought me a laser printer
taking scores of copies with me to the sea
Not quite the dream i had of world-famous
although that gifting set this poet free
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#1151
At one hundred and eighty jobs later
give or take because i am not quite sure
Possibly due to Poetry Palace
those totally naive pipe-dreams of yore
Celebrated thirteen years in July
a milestone i did not expect to see
Was mostly the boss and letting me grow
never know what an angel he would be
Again dreams threaten to put me in put me in pipe
as i now Kindle the verse of the past
Yet this time with years of career in place
there is actually funding at last
There remains the naked before the world
oh digital billions within my reach
How does one advertise poetic lode
should i make light of the thirty year breach
At least i know it's the effort that counts
and detachment is the name of the game
Finally it's eyes that i just want to see
dead the desire of riches and fame
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#1152
Eleven years in this dump truck
twenty-three thousand hours of joy
Is not quite how i imagined
when playing on that rock as a boy
Days i did not know the blessing
did not know they were part of the dream
Autos and homes and the cruises
realizing now the bitter was cream
I saw the sweat of summer
along with the frigid of late fall
All the ires of angry workers
even the harmony of it all
In a third of a million miles
I've seen country and city and shore
The winters i do as i please
have all ended with just wanting more
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#1153
Potentially explosive devices
infiltrated post offices this week
Is the government trying distraction
for the underhanded tactics they seek
There is a mob approaching the border
horrified folk risking death to find free
While do unto others is distorted
two thousand years of the blind cannot see
So much for enlightened society
and technological wonders we build
I think that the annuls of history
will just be a list of those we have killed
Or maybe the dire of appearances
is just the wake-up call that mankind needs
And the best that we can even hope for
is awareness of our thoughts and our deeds
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#1154
One hundred and eighty-nine people
go down in a plane into the sea
How is it i did not feel a thing
how do we process catastrophe
And this at the end of pipe-bomb week
the shopping center and elder two
The love lost with those challenged brothers
who died in the temple of the Jew
Then the woman who blew herself up
and that caravan pushing for free
Will mid-term elections change a thing
what is it we are supposed to see
Mortal is fatal and shall remain
in what ways have we prolonged the fail
What truths have been hidden that we need
and what are the lies we must curtail
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#1155
The bull was a young man with PTSD
the China Shop was the unfortunate world
The tortured heart, mind, and soul of the poor bull
saw only its reflection as hate unfurled
As the bull smashed its beautiful surroundings
those who would help had to get out of its way
The bull became enraged at this desertion
but could not see it caused all its disarray
Lying alone at last in its shards of past
truth found an opening into which it crept
Showing the bull all that its anger had done
so in defeat the bull began to accept
Of course remaining a bull onward it charged
deluded and raw it endeavored in pain
Unaware that each lesson was just one step
the bull thought its efforts were totally vain
Time however tended its persistent toll
and by slowing the charge and letting wounds heal
It was able to show that the bull had soul
that the beauty and love in this life are real
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#1156
Perception seems to be the name of the game
perspective then must be our matter of choice
Attention is how we distribute power
our aim is the echo of our own inner voice
Our elders of course wanted to help us grow
but they were limited by isolation
Their desire for change made a smaller world
though failed attempts left us with desolation
We now are connected by wireless thought
most likely because the few knew we were one
Now with the great wealth of knowledge we have
there is no limit to what we can get done
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#1157
Sitting by a hole left by the rock we took
to build roads and pave them again and again
Not because we cannot make a road that lasts
but because the money flow would lessen then
And not that i am anti-corporation
once companies were proud that products would last
Back before the American god of greed
bared its teeth and revealed its horrors so vast
I do not think our situation hopeless
we simply have not begun to feel the pain
As always before the beautiful flowers
there is that season where we must stand in the rain
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#1158
Leaves have colored and browned and mostly fallen down
what a wondrous time of the year to be
Oh not to say that another is any less
fall reminds me of Wolfe and wonders of free
The frosty of mornings and heated afternoons
past Halloween masks and haunted houses
We await turkey and trimmings and festive times
bring out the scarves, mittens, and ruffly blouses
Hear grandfather's stories eat grandma's sweet cookies
see aunts and uncles and cousins all jolly
The shoppers gone crazy for sales on Black Friday
then it's time for the lights, and trees, and holly
We dream in the kitchen to coffee of camping
those endless sea beaches and days at the lake
Then shiver to the thought of winter approaching
and wonder what house warming things we can bake
Such are the delights of the holiday season
and pictured like something Rockwell might paint
'Least here in New England with stoic abandon
where most of us aim at the jolly but quaint
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#1159
3 A. M. sitting in the Mack on a bridge
going to a job right near Fenway Park
Though i have never been there to see a game
I will soon know what it looks like in the dark
Over three hundred thousand miles in this seat
and i have had close to two hundred jobs
Guess i had to learn the lessons of routine
so i could see the way that routine robs
It so easily becomes a mindless game
creating a planet of people asleep
As i sit with the strobes trying to awake
to the bounties awaiting me to reap
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#1160
Got surprised with a couple of days off
in the paving industry that happens never
I went to work on the Kindle project
spent those two days feeling as inept as ever
I have failed at this in so many ways
yet something inside calls for me to try again
Once more these words have turned into my curse
my life's theme is this unsatiated yen
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#1161
The snow and rain of November New England
a day of thanksgiving then Black Friday shopping
The crazy of this commercial existence
all through a month of the Christmas party hopping
It can dampen the Holly and Mistletoe
if one loses their grip on the jolly and cheer
But if we can cut loose all the expectations
we still feel the warmth of the family far and near
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#1162
An hour and forty-two minutes
to drive twenty-three miles in rain and snow
To perform a job i cannot stand
but that's the way a career path can go
Learning to see the education
and how avoidance just makes it all worse
So hard lessons learned along the way
were of my own doing and not some curse
I try to see it as a mirror
but the world looks like it has karmic flu
I see such horrors on the newsfeed
and wonder what i am supposed to do
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#1163
Trying not to think of the shopping i must do
still trying to eat leftovers from the bird
Trying not to wait for the season to be through
for ninety days off when the boss says the word
But then it's karaoke with the brothers Beal
catching up with friends i have not seen since snow
The list of chores created when i signed the deal
all those projects that my wife accepts in throe
These horribly long twenty-nine days of waiting
while wrapping up my first Kindle book for sale
The knot in my stomach from anticipating
could this umpteenth effort finally prevail
For now i move the Mack forward a few more feet
and watch the berm machine as it slowly crawls
Bathing in the grateful that my life seems complete
even after all those self-inflicted falls
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#1164
I saw the circle of the moon
with just a sliver of it white
it sits a quarter million miles away
but hooks and reels the tide
Does it pull the water mass of me
to the left and to the right
is it some heaven sent celestial angel
sent to be my guide?
I am by no means a spirit guru
so I just cannot say
but having overlooked opportunities
that life had to give
I know when a vision strikes a chord
it is music i must play
so does that sliver represent
all the changes that i now live?
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#1165
So i asked for layoff and the boss said yes
it was the seventh of December before i dared
Too much planned for this hiatus i confess
but i know how the lack of planning in past fared
It is under the double wide with a spade
to dig out five large Gorilla wagon loads of dirt
Maybe in forty tons a slab can be made
if not the clearance to do work certainly can't hurt
Then catching up from none months of overtime
because we know friendship flowers need fellowship's rain
And this winter i hit Amazon with rhyme
hopefully not adding to my efforts spent in vain
Karaoke singing with the Brothers Beal
the Cadillac really needs a fender and a door
The rust of New England winters make the struggle real
and i have lost this battle so many times before
The book about the dichotomy of me
to explain the difference of live compared to verse
Because i can't explain what i cannot see
or even this poet blessing disguised as a curse
Maybe start "How to Become a Strong Old Man"
documenting my evolution of working out
How i replaced all my woulds and coulds with can
because sharing the journey is what it is about
Then our anniversary gift of a cruise
this year trying not to gain back all the weight i lost
Completely immersing in the faux summer ruse
before returning to these chores in the snow and frost
Then as mid-days warm i work fast on the yard
racing toward that day in April where the fools have struck
If I cannot make this living as a bard
then it's nine more months of overtime driving a truck
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#1166
I tried to think my life better for years
all it got me was what's left of hair gray
That thinking was quite often cause of tears
but not once did it take problems away
Then i was told action changed everything
not by magic but that process was key
Like karaoke's three decades of sing
i just had to decide my kind of free
Step one was to regain strength i once had
the universe had some lessons to teach
Pushing too hard led to injury bad
but taught me a more realistic reach
Step two was the care of this rented lot
with the flower gardens made for the wife
Making do with the resources I've got
choosing improvements that make better life
Learning that a little bit here and there
topples the lie of "i can't get it done"
That the effort it takes to apply care
often turns the hard labor into fun
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#1167
I have almost ten thousand pounds of dirt
I dug from underneath this double wide
Crawling with my wagon until I hurt
water flow blocking the dam's other side
I dump it on tarps to move in the spring
though it seems futile I work when I can
I know progress is the important thing
but did not know it was a six year plan
Digging on fast day was worse than I thought
but proved again that I can keep a goal
Suppose in the end it may be for naught
but I think it is just part of my dole
Like all the flower gardens for the Queen
the walk for the delivery of fuel
The production of visions I have seen
I am just my imagination's tool
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#1168
Was twenty when I got into a truck
some swearing, drinking men took me under their wing
The low rate of pay did not seem like luck
but steps toward an unforeseen future was the thing
Three-fifty an hour was hardly pay
so I rented a closet up on a third floor
I guess the boss's lunch got in beer's way
of course when it was finished I just wanted more
They told me to get a license upgrade
that it would cost me only half of one paycheck
Even my ignorance saw their point made
and a friend offered a truck that was up to speck
Wired in drive shafts and drove with no tread
learning how to complain with the boys over beer
Then losing my brakes and thinking "I'm dead!"
I saw the origins of the stories I'd hear
A bad throw out bearing they would not fix
and the threat of some days with the truck being down
Threw double-clutch training into the mix
which did keep me working when I thought I would drown
Then down to New Hampshire for a flatbed
it was job after job without making headway
Life was minimum wage just to keep fed
PTSD from youth always kept me in fray
Just over eight years after Getting Real
because life is measured in increments of poem
Horror still took everything it could steal
and anger ruined every chance I had for home
I went for a job working on a site
I think that there were more than forty others there
Truck and trailer drivers made my chances look slight
something told me to stay and see how I would fare
Thirty tons from a crusher was the load
drive it up around to the appropriate pile
This eighteen speed I had never been showed
in fear double-clutching with a throat full of bile
They said I shifted better than the rest
on Monday I could come down and start my new job
Ninety loads a day put me to the test
turned Oodles of Noodles into corn on the cob
I was not done with my bouncing around
the next stop was entering the construction world
After that it was roll-off that I found
I just kind of witnessed as my daymare unfurled
There was a rock truck and pizza by car
then somehow it was over three years in a Mack
But men will be boys and that's how things are
and how it seemed I was a magnet for lack
I tried rebuilding pallets for a bit
hurting my shoulder while I was hardly earning rent
Found another truck seat in which to sit
the paving industry seemed to be heaven sent
My state's unemployment was rather lean
while this new field only offered nine months of work
Although the commuting cost was obscene
the three months of being laid off was quite the perk
Sixteen winters I have been retired
of course they started with me forty grand in debt
Only once in that time was I fired
not sure if it was four or five minutes I forget
Thirteen and a half years was at Allied
almost half of them with me about to flip out
I guess the boss saw at least that I tried
but to me my future there was always in doubt
I know for sure this man's love saved my life
and that that is not a word we use in this field
But he kept me through all my self-made strife
which is exactly what I needed to be healed
Thanx, Mr. Joyce!
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#1169
Down under digging with my Gorilla wagon
this is the seventh year and full access is within view
Year one I thought I could slay this toil dragon
but spring found me defeated with the little I could do
Then it was dig just to get under the bathroom
which gobbled up the hallway and three feet south of one wall
One year I may have skipped this lovely winter tomb
I am pretty sure I could hear the grain of gravel call
Then there was the plumbing emergency and trench
that year I finally asked for help from a friend
Somehow I replaced all of those pipes without stench
and even got closer to the final goal in the end
Another year the patio needed the fill
I made a clothesline plateau because I could dump so close
So five wagon loads a day this year is the drill
at the end of the week one I can see that is quite the dose
Hindsight has now shown me that it could have been done
or that I've gotten better at the diligence of do
Surprised by my finding that the labor is fun
although the lazy part of me just wishes it was through
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#1170
Five more wagon loads of dirt
more progress than any other year
So much that my muscles hurt
at this rate at least the end is near
Six winters back I began
this seemingly impossible dream
Worked in leisure with no plan
there were wrenches thrown into the scheme
All new plumbing was a plus
a frantic surge for cable wire
The patio caused no fuss
but any sawdust it is dire
A day from the footings' start
so I can level this place at last
All improvements are my part
quite surprising how quick they've amassed
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#1171
Because of my doctor's maternity leave
doctor Thomas Byrne took over my care
A gift from the Universe I must believe
or why would I so enjoy being there
Medical visits made my blood pressure high
usually accompanied by dread
But the time with this man in laughter slides by
makes it easier to hear what is said
Just like other doctors he runs through the list
so casually getting all of it done
Affirming the good while pointing out the missed
explaining reasons but making it fun
A three month follow up frosted the cake
a medical visit being delight?
It is one of life's perks I gladly will take
a doctor who inspires me to do right
thanx
Dr. Thomas Byrne
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#1172
Years ago I thought this season was too long
I imagined the perfect Christmas to be
Just the last twelve days we celebrate in song
together the day before we find our tree
The Eve is spent with joyous decoration
wrapping gifts we bought or made throughout the year
Sharing hot coco along with adoration
with freshest excitement as the day draws near
We gather together on Christmas morning
hoping thoughtfulness brings delighted surprise
As we bask in the warmth of love's adorning
just awaiting the twinkle in someone's eyes
The stories of hiding all those precious gifts
or of adventures we find the time now to share
Or contemplating how this fellowship lifts
showing us how much more deeply we can care
Of course the crown of a traditional feast
the passing of platters and filling of plates
that glorious silence when talking has ceased
then the who is doing the dishes debates
Boxing it all up as daylight steals away
with one last rereading of each Christmas card
Then bundling up to stand out in the snow
around the burning tree out in the back yard
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#1173
I appreciate being in your family
you have been nothing but kind from the very start
Getting to witness the way you raise your children
has certainly helped to heal my once broken heart
You amaze me with the many things that you do
inspiring me to give much more with my time
Especially at this festive part of the year
all your loving touches seem to keep it sublime
Mother's idea to bring you and Morgan with us
on one of the largest ships that were ever made
Feeling I had to ask Jennifer to go
the highest returns any investment has paid
I had never thought of giving her a sister
but I could have spent years thinking what she should be
And never come close with my imagination
to this blooming relationship I get to see
I know that for this I can never repay you
I think that maybe that is the way it should be
To someday die with these wonderful memories
grateful for the gift of love you have let me know
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#1174
I am "supposed" to exercise
and go on a supply run
but i just want to sit and write
drink some more coffee with cream
I know Medeocrates lies
and it can't always be fun
If I keep my vision in sight
it sometimes exceeds the dream
I now know pipes aren't for dreaming
left my fantasies with Lent
Action is easier than thought
that's why idle bears insane
What of this inner child screaming?
Do squats allow it to vent?
Do the results of labor bought
outweigh that little boy's bane?
Studying procrastination
quite often gets nothing done
Yet dropping blood pressure a bit
could give the project more time
Enough of this meditation!
it has groaned into a pun
Tomorrow again I can sit
and play some more with my rhyme
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#1175
On the calendar it is a new year
on the path of living it is today
In the dream of future there is no fear
the past terrified in every way
Got my wagon and my shovel to dig
got the bio for the Kindle to change
And build a walk-in closet to dream big
there isn't much that I would rearrange
Three weeks and three days has accomplished much
the answer is quite simple of the how
I get up pray read exercise and such
try to work toward my goals when it is now
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#1176
I cannot remember not trying to fit in
as I cannot remember a time when I did
Yet today that desire is growing quite thin
it is the same with the skeletons that i hid
Although I see the difference of tact or mask
it is much more frequent that silence is the choice
Odd to witness action move from answer to ask
or see how few opinions I have left to voice
Can this be a gift of the straight and the narrow
was never really good at interpreting dreams
Through the bones of resistance is this sweet marrow
I will wait on this as nothing is what it seems
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#1177
Today I try to play the carpenter
mostly because I pretend to be poor
The reason that I buy used vehicles
vacations are what the money's for
Well that view is what I got from my wife
maybe the first woman I did not choose
The best gift I've gotten so far in life
my history was decisions of lose
I spend time and money trying to please
and not always in ways that she agrees
Trying to improve this kingdom we have
and in the end the Queen likes what she sees
Here on the water God Dam in the yard
with flower gardens and walkways galore
Every year I get this blessing to spend
I try my best to do a little more
Often learning things that I do not know
finding out at last what I am made of
Following the best lesson she has taught
action is always the first step for love
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#1178
Too many things going at once
preferred scheduling I must guess
Though sometimes it works out quite well
more often than not there's a mess
Combined with my lack of know how
I think luck must be on my side
Does not seem to bother the Queen
she is just along for the ride
No saw dust can be in the house
and that antique bureau must stay
Must finish by her agreed time
but shy of all that I can play
This year it's footings "down under"
I have already mined sixty tons of dirt
And shimming with twenty ton jacks
it's a wonder I've not been hurt
A little bloodshed here and there
but that is how lessons are learned
Memories of handyman ventures
with me often through pain are earned
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#1179
I am one of over seven billion people here
but ego says I am the center of the universe
Most of my choices have been guided by lust or fear
and I have saved my highest reaches for display in verse
Like the Kool-Aid man in a standoff at the border
I have come crashing into the latter days of my life
Now meditating like some spiritual hoarder
seeing if I can iron out the wrinkles of my strife
Pink Floyd sermons echo in corridors of my mindless
while I prove that it is never too late to start over
I have found that love releases all the ties that bind
that diligent action trumps the luck of any clover
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#1180
I do my exercises to greet the day
then inventory what I need to get chores done
I used to just watch as the time slipped away
so having a plan seems like I have already won
We're coming up on seven years in this place
I've accomplished more than the first half century
Possibly the mix of confidence and grace
is exactly what I needed to be set free
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#1181
The first step is always the only one
it has something to do with ever being now
Those other steps are something we have done
we are at the eternal starting line somehow
And Ground Hog Day keeps making better sense
almost the same as "no one told you when to run"
But none of the calls are nearly as tense
and it is the Reaper holding the starting gun
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#1182
It is funny how my lay off has changed
from years past with a bathrobe and T. V.
That once that "much needed rest" was exchanged
it turns out working is my way to be
Tending all that which I have been gifted
working to make it better as I go
It is as if some curse has been lifted
some secret revealed that I did not know
Maybe the combination of the cures
the kaleidoscope of actions taken
Build immunity to distraction's lures
make bitter those traits we have forsaken
Maybe the inner child just would not die
that little bastard kept fucking things up
Maybe it just needed this long to cry
that beginning was quite a bitter cup
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#1183
In four days we leave for our annual cruise
we should consider beginning to pack
Out on the ocean with my vacation muse
she does well at keeping my life on track
It is not that we always see eye to eye
or have to fight every step of the way
More like our methods blind us to the outcome
and language distorts what hearts have to say
Over all we are agreeably happy
I think in percentages we have won
We always lie down in peace when the night falls
and far more often than not we had fun
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#1184
I have this beautiful purple pen
that my daughter gave to me
Not sure I will write with it better
but I will more happily
Am watching the 90s on Netflix
the Clintons stole the limelight
Just like the 70s and 80s
it's different in hindsight
Dumping phone photos in the office
trying to save gigabytes
Remembering pagers and payphones
memory's fading highlights
Fifty thousand pounds of dirt out back
the start of my winter chores
Guess I am trying to put to shame
the effort of my befores
Fell for the lies of my excuses
the immense of thinking's 'whelm
So this year it was time for a change
putting action at the helm
Today I started pouring footings
harder work in a small place
Sixty feet under my double wide
with a dream of keeping pace
Year seven sitting with my shovel
understanding diligence
Often haunted by memories of
my lack of intelligence
Fortunately my recent mistakes
have only been labor lost
The live and learn they talk about
often is heavy in cost
Three thousand eight hundred thirty eight
pix downloaded from the phone
Probably half of them on Facebook
it seems I am not alone
My daughter also makes me Google
cuz I am so 90s still
Her guidance into this century
is an unexpected thrill
Forty years dragging my poetry
many ill attempts to sell
Yet this quitter kept getting back up
every time that I fell
Went from a spirit duplicator
to refilling Lexmark ink
Now it's a Brother laser printer
yet still old fashion I thinking
A couple of vacations ago
I had service on my mind
I suppose it was taught as a child
but I had fallen behind
Loyal to Royal Caribbean
Oasis was quite a ship
And I wondered what else I could do
besides leaving all with a tip
So I started fist-pumping workers
thanking them for what they do
Patting the Central Park gardener's back
most every time I passed through
It was the first of our back to backs
made lots of friends with the crew
We even rearranged our seating
keeping waiters for week two
I greeted our new dining neighbor
a jolly elderly man
Not knowing the gift of his friendship
was to be part of life's plan
He had invented "Magic Mother"
and he served in World War Two
Was busy with learning and business
seems since nineteen-twenty-two
We got to spend some time together
his ambition touched my heart
He owned a large travel agency
I assumed that was my part
Now I think it was the reasoning
that was meant to catch my eye
He said that the no stock or warehouse
drew him to give it a try
He thought I would be a great agent
and I so wanted to be
I just could not afford the process
which left me feeling guilty
This possibly was not a failure
but the way that I could learn
That sometimes the point of direction
is to see around the turn
There would never have been the phone calls
or the weekend this past year
His smiles and his fatherly input
are memories I hold dear
I got busy at work and he passed
too busy to say goodbye
Reminded again of shortcomings
in silence my heart will cry
While putting to use his shared knowledge
with a Kindle for my verse
I can honor him with this venture
he can free me from my curse
I suppose I should call it a gift
at times it is such a weight
Failing so often to find readers
seemed unfulfilled was my fate
With the shrapnel of youth still bleeding
I must suppose it was best
To avoid the lures of succeeding
to take the time to invest
In the therapy of self-loving
ironic it takes so long
That a stranger out on the ocean
can help you hear your heart's song
Without the burdens of production
and some loot to advertise
Seems the simple of his instruction
saves a lot of compromise
I guess the greatest gift he left me
is not the things that he said
But the way he put faith in action
in all they ways he was led
Not sure I ever had a hero
I guess no one tipped the scales
But that was the life I had before
I met Tipton Clinton Bales
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#1185
Sitting by a barrel outside Brass and Boch Pub
and I could not help but notice Tommy Green
From Halifax Nova Scotia Canada
Oh forgot Junior was no where to be seen
Sadly this may be the end of an era
of love songs on the daily and getting weird
But the cheese burger whistle and mini van
as sand between my cheeks in mem'ry are seared
That mid-puberty Steele was hard to swallow
though that Ginger from Ireland played quite well
The fun watching Tommy get lost in solos
was exactly the stuff folk lures try to sell
There were a slew of accents from Great Britain
and I saw some people from the Jersey shore
DSB represented California
there was New England, Pennsylvania and more
But it boiled down to people on the ocean
kind of trying to get lost in suds and song
Led by this mystical magician of tune
who made every one of them feel they belong
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#1186
So sweet the surprise that fell through
so touching again to my heart
Seeing again the love you do
wondering how I got this part
It's so sad that this life is short
one can see the end as it nears
For your care is like a resort
where I could spend a thousand years
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