Monday No Relief

Run to the bathroom 1 2 3,

as if to music, A B C.

Fighting this cold and ejecting germs,

run to the bathroom, glad it's not worms.

Hurry to the restroom but it is piss,

not hard or runny stuff oh what bliss.

Second nap of the day is concluded,

a quick toilet stop must be included.

Perhaps another cup of coffee for me,

twenty minutes later, yup, gotta pee.

Being sick on a late winter day

is certainly not all happy and gay.

Even though I find myself getting well,

these runs to the bathroom seem like hell.

Surely there is a light at the end of this tunnel,

and not thinking about a spacecraft piss funnel.

Okay, maybe I am, for the family car.

Can there be a restroom not too far?

Surely this grim Monday will soon pass,

these restroom visits are a pain in the ass!

  - end

School shootings etc

What has happened to us?

High school used to be such

an innocent adventure.

Dramas were not deadly,

just embarrassing.

Acne, being turned down for a date,

school dance gyrations,

Fun parties after school or on weekends.

Never saw any kind of gun at my school.

Now it seems they should issue Freshmen

Kevlar vests along with school lockers.

Perhaps issue a pistol to each student,

so they will have some means of defense?

Not so far-fetched anymore,

when mass carnage takes place often.

Will Level 1 trauma centers replace the

school infirmary?

We exist in a state of hyper-vigilance.

The new normal

is amped-up and always looking over our shoulders.

Something has got to change.

Mental Health for troubled teenagers is number one.

More and better mental health can impact these events.

Early warning of threatening posts can help too.

Stay safe out there.

- end 

The Mall - Memories

The heady taste of whipped orange,

air-scented with cinnamon rolls.

Sparkling electronics with sale signs eyed,

a salesperson scoots over to offer assistance.

Walking along, eying storefronts,

dodging other shoppers. A mall experience

was a Saturday delight, made all the better by

the Montgomery Wards charge card in wallet.

The possibilities seemed endless.

Who cared about the snarky, sarcastic girls

in packs roaming near the batches of boys,

who were trying to look tough and nonchalant?

The only thing that mattered was that

brand-new vacuum, complete with

extra bags and a maintenance agreement.

That and the miniature television on layaway.

The things that kept a young man enthralled

back in 1978 would hardly elicit a sneer now.

But it was all we had, all we knew. When

Personal Computers showed up, it was an

earthquake of modernity.

blanketed again

Here we are blanketed again,

set inside, next to you, my friend.

Temps are going down to single digits,

A warm house, hot food a good blend..

Let's see what is on the cable channels,

cheer our favorite teams on to victory,

 or at least console each other in defeat.

There will always be another outcome

tomorrow, and the day after, and next season....

Winter seems to drag on forever,

but is made tolerable by a lover,

sharing the pleasurable and the dire.

We will make it through this February,

just like all the miserable ones before.

Only six more weeks until spring!

- end

The Elan of Elon

Twenty-seven motors fired in unison,

a mighty triple stack lifted to space.

Myriad systems orchestrated perfectly,

three booster rockets fired, then landed.

On top of it all sat a Tesla Roadster,

an electric car complete with a dummy.

“Starman” sat in the driver's seat,

while a certain David Bowie song played.

The Roadster is headed to a heliocentric

orbit around the sun, whizzing past Mars.

It will end up in the Asteroid Belt –

a human hubris artifact for the ages.

A monumental feat for the consummate

twenty-first century industrialist baron.

He sent one of his products into outer space.,

atop another of his products.

Who else can come close to such a feat?

Will they erect a statue of him on the first

established city on Mars? Sorry, Ray B.

First metropolis may be named Musk City.

Someday bored students may ponder

mystifying math problems in some

classroom at Elon Musk High School,

perhaps erected in Valles Marinaris.

They may wish they were famous like him,

and so could get out of doing homework;

Overlooking the fact that because he did his,

his name is on many institutions of higher learning.

My thanks go out to this uber-industrialist,

who has given our journey to the future a

vigorous kick in the backside.

We may yet be able to live and work

permanently in outer space.

A six-inch shocker

The weather was clear this morning,

roads smooth and debris-free all the way.

But roads were snow-packed this evening,

stuck cars and semis littered area highways.

Massive pileups showed how little we recall

from larger snows of several years ago;

Angry traffic maneuvers left others appalled,

Some people just will not take it slow!

Just making it home from work is a relief

when there are accidents and traffic jams

all over the city – downtown snarls beyond belief.

Loudest impact I heard was my car door slam.

We will recover and get the roads cleared off,

then next time we get 3” everyone will scoff.

An Alien Sestina

A sestina is a poetry form that uses six common words at the end of sentences, and moves them around in a shifting pattern.    The subject matter was inspired by the film  "Patient Seventeen."


A Non-Cosmetic Implant

The tingling pain in a certain man's leg felt alien,

different, the cause not normal, extraterrestrial?

At “first glance” one wouldn't think of an unearthly implant.

But it would be a stealthy way for Them to gain control.

Some advanced super-race managing their human harvest,

in a bid to perhaps perform future exobiology experiments.

Who can say what kind of bizarre science experiments

the creatures might perform – hard to fathom an alien.

Is it thoughts, feelings, hormones they want to harvest?

How do you predict the actions of some distant extraterrestrial?

Some seek out a surgeon to remove the offending implant.

One could always use a high-powered telescope on the implant,

An electron microscope and some carefully devised experiments.

The objects show an attachment to living tissues for control;

the objective and operation of said devices is completely alien.

Seems like humans may be connected by something extraterrestrial.

Perhaps to manipulate the organs that they will ultimately harvest.

Willing subjects influenced remotely will submit to harvest,

Nanotechnology tissue-interface exerts influence from implant.

We could study this technology, and learn from those extraterrestrials,

since we too understand science and could devise useful experiments.

Someday we may have to deploy forces to face the mighty aliens.

How dare they subject our once-free race to this form of control!

It is time for the human race to reassert our local control

over our own destiny – deny these interlopers their harvest.

Imagine what kind of taxes would be imposed by aliens!

How would they like it if we assaulted their bodies with an implant?

How would they like it if we drugged them and did experiments?

But I don't suppose human logic would make sense to an extraterrestrial.

Media documentaries reminds one of many things extraterrestrial,

lodges uncertainty in one's head, makes one fear other-worldy control.

Why who knows, during your sleep They could perform experiments!

Your gonads could have been pierced for a seedy harvest!

And you would forget it all, aided by their implant....

Humanity must awaken and unite against these malicious aliens.

No bold extraterrestrial had better attempt any kind of harvest.

No way they are gonna control me with an implant.

This corpus will use a 9MM to refuse experiments by aliens!

- end

Chill February - Darn Groundhog anyway

Brrr – just when we get used to balmy breezes,

wear thick over-shirts, and no heavy coats,

Chill temps rush back, bring coughs and wheezes,

Old man winter hovers over us and gloats.

Snow once again glitters over the landscape,

Drivers will have to remember how to maneuver.

Chilly air and poor conditions will grate;

Welcome to February, close those window louvers.

Even Wall Street caught a chill and dropped deep,

as an overdue dose of reality finally sets in;

Consequences of economic manipulations are steep,

experts will witness the coming disaster with chagrin!

Only seven more weeks until the arrival of spring,

We have made it before – just think of sunshiny things.

- end