A New Year

Wrinkles have replaced tinsel,

trees not as decorated as flesh.

We are slowing down this year,

even in snow not nearly as fresh.

Fewer people make the pilgrimage

to the fine home we share for festivities.

But the ones who are left enjoy it no less,

The meaning is shared in all its profundity.

Our sore muscles, aching joints, diminished looks

will not spoil good memories, good food and fun.

Once we are together the room takes on a glow,

skin features soften, pulse quickens...

For a brief moment in time we go back.

Presents under the bright tree,

excitement at what is found there.

Santa came last night and left us

new sleds and toys – time to play!

So we go out in the snow and run,

sled and play and enjoy our youth...

in memory perhaps more than we really did.

Another merry trip back in time soon spent,

meals and wine and sleep came and went.

Time to load the car and say our goodbyes,

Hugs and thanks, and try not to cry.

For it is now a happy new year,

full of possibilities all over again.

We are still alive and moving,

present in this world for we hope

many, many years to come...

That would be the best gift of all.

- end

Reminiscing about Roosevelt

Digging through piles of paper,

frustration comes to the fore.

Special offers and credit come-ons

hide a few truly important items.

Segue...

When I watched that program

about the depression days,

the “Roosevelt Recovery,”

that War when we produced

300,000 airplanes and so forth,

It reminded me of how good

we have it in the present day.

In the 1940's

Blacks fought for a segregated society, as

Reactionaries fought to roll back progress;

tar-paper cardboard hovels were fine with them,

as long as it was someone else starving to death.

One man (from a privileged background) dared

to take them all on and transform society.

The royalists and insider manipulators who

thought our financial system was their private party.

He stood up to them, mostly succeeded,

and was properly revered.

That black-and-white world colors itself in the present.

Now human rights extend not only to blacks but to

gays, lesbians and transgender people. Human Rights

is becoming universal, as envisioned in that U.N

declaration made in 1945. I am so happy it is,

that the piles of papers seem less threatening now.

Even the Internet, something not even imagined

back then, seems less of a hassle when I consider

the good it has brought me.

And to think a Liberal Democrat made it all possible.

Wow.

Questions

Who should we fear?

Extremists at home, or extremists abroad?

Those of the accepted near-state religion,

or that exotic one that makes

women cover their faces?

Politicians who advocate radical measures,

or harmless-seeming ones who become

anything but once in office?

The bad guys with guns and bombs,

or the good guys with guns and bombs,

protecting us from the bad guys.

They both seem so much alike,

once they deploy their lethal devices.

We are at war with radicals who seek to

destroy us, that is plain.

But the radicals have always been around.
(They used to call them Anarchists)

What makes them so dangerous now?

We have had radicals since the beginning of time.

Perhaps it is the flavor of government,

the mood or temper of the times,

the fright of the people.

Humanity seems like a petulant child,

storming around,

throwing tantrums,

hitting itself repeatedly in frustration,

screaming at the impossibility

of making a larger sense of things.

Like in “Childhood's End” by A.C. Clarke,

we may someday find out what things

really are and who is running the show.

Here is hoping we survive long enough.

Stay safe everyone,

and lock your doors.

- end

Let's Renew Progress

In the 21^st century we are not

wearing spandex jackets or flying

cars to and fro across gleaming skies.

Our life expectancy rests below 100.

The count of settled planets remains at 1.

That is fine with me;  however...

Once upon a time much of our society stood

as a shining example of progress.

We marched hopefully towards a better future.

Immigrants eagerly changed their names,

because they wanted to be Americans,

sharing in the vision of a greater society.

We were unashamedly expansionist,

so proud and patriotic, and could do no wrong.

We built the Panama Canal, many huge dams,

re-engineered our vast landscape after dominating

any native peoples that stayed around.

(rightly  or wrongly)

At some point in the 20^th century, we “made it.”

King of the hill, top of the heap. Best of all nations.

Maybe it was the end of WWII,

or perhaps the Moon landings.

But there was so much strife along the way,

civil rights, Vietnam, counter-culture,

rise of new conservatism, religious fundamentalism.

Unhappiness and infighting seem to always be

close at hand, never far away in the USA.

If there ever was any good snapshot of an

ascendant, dominating America,

it would still be clouded with conflicts.

Fifteen years into the new century, we are

as ornery and angry as ever!

But progress seems to have taken a back seat,

to terrorism.

Terrorism – the new buzzword.

But in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries,

we had “Anarchists” who set off bombs and attacked

the public.  In 1920 they even bombed Wall Street.

The new demon seems a lot like the old,

but now it is clothed in religious fanaticism

and suicide vests.

We really should not let the

anarchists-terrorists-violence perpetrators

derail our national progress.

Rather, we should progress despite the vile efforts of

these little serpents, and show them just how

insignificant they are in the scheme of things.

Long live the United States of America,

and Long Live every kind of progress!

Let's all march together towards a brighter future,

and trample anyone who tries to 'scare us otherwise.'

Thanks for reading.

Holiday Shopping

Buy books - the gift that keeps on giving!

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The Osmotics www.createspace.com/4661301

Mirror Worlds www.createspace.com/3633147

A Strange Enterprise www.createspace.com/4281639

Future Property www.createspace.com/3859469

Shadow Intersection www.createspace.com/4113022

thx for taking a look  :-)

Rake and Mow

Oh the weather outside is delightful,

any fire would smell most frightful.

Fifty degrees feels so sublime,

Let it shine, let it shine let it shine!

Oh the leaves continue to blow about,

do I really have to get the rake back out?

Green grasses encourage some to mow,

My stubborn self says “No No No!”

Perhaps it's time for another car wash,

to rid of the road salt from the last

and first snow of the late fall season.

End of TV football game is a good reason...

Look all around the disorganized house,

more chores to do inside and out;

sweep droppings from some hidden mouse,

bait and set those spring traps throughout.

So I'll put aside any thoughts of snow,

as I set aside the shovel and salt;

Admire the mole hills in their neat rows,

admit yard's sorry state is my own fault.

This December is a jolly time to

Rake and mow, rake and mow, rake and mow!

Happy Holidays everyone!

(With apologies to the song  "Let it Snow")

-end