Watch Your Back

 

Oh, the plans that swirl about in one’s mind!

Projects, parties and undertakings aplenty.

Time off is coming and ideas start forming,

but then the outside world stomps on the optimism.

External reality foils best-laid plans and high hopes

with efficient coldness, even in the best of times.

One gets a big project done and feels good inside,

thinking surely a bit of pride at this point is justified...

Cutting under-the-breath comments put the lie to that truth;

The world is not going to let you feel good for one minute!

Budget plans get laid in, then prices go up over night,

don’t forget gas in the car, oh yes, and the price of that jumps too.

Peace is preached from the pulpit, but ignored by politicians

who must punish other nations and fan the flames of war.

Hatreds large and small blossom from nearly every corner.

What god will they invoke while they practice sadistic cruelty

on those they deem “them” or “the other side”, even citizens

of the same country, state or city, or even the same block?

Then there is this Covid plague that never seems to go away,

just takes new, more insidious forms daily.

It will be around forever, apparently.

So how is your scratchy throat doing today?

Hope it is better than mine.

Different Summits

 

The Alpinist makes his way up a steep rock face;

If he encounters ice, he grabs ice tools to maintain progress.

Despite loose rock, crumbling ice, and jagged outcrops he persists.

Eventually he gets to stand up and walk at the very summit.

Then looks down at all the lower peaks, clouds, landscapes

shrouded in mist, and undulating lowlands – says “Made it!”

A young life lived to the ultimate degree, time well spent!

He summit-ed one more, before succumbing to an avalanche.

In my pedestrian meanderings, I marvel at such a person.

What a wonderful way to expend a life on this earth…

even if he did only live until age 26.

Most folks’ mountains more resemble mine...

Getting the groceries and gas, making it to work.

Keeping track of numerous websites, all who succeeded in

cajoling or bamboozling me into signing up at

one time or another, preying on some need or desire or wish;

Snaring more and more personal details of my totality.

I wonder, in idle moments, how people raising kids

are able to manage all of the pitfalls or threats.

If you are a young person and have thought about climbing a

mountain, go do it while you can. Life is short,

opportunities flicker in the wind and then are gone.

Carpe diem – seize the moment -

you will have surpassed most of us before you know it.

Happy Holidays!

Meta-Thoughts

 

    So I’m not sure what to think of this whole Metaverse thing. The WWW and Internet is already very meta-verse like. I can get lost in social media sites like Youtube and Facebook – it is easy to while away hours on those sites alone. Real Life is something I put aside when I go online (or look at my smartphone) and browse websites. I’m assuming the difference with the Metaverse is that you take the shape of an avatar and wander around in some unreal world. That seems suspiciously like that Second Life thingy that was going strong a while back. More like just another game, although a bit more realistic. To make it even more real, they would have to have haptic attachments for not only your hands, but feet too – perhaps another extremity as well?

    I read a group of science fiction novels called “Otherland” by Tad Williams. In this, characters would actually put themselves into a coffin-like tank, and attach their body to sensors, a nutritive IV of some kind, and the like. Then they would enter Otherland, a VR setup that they could navigate as themselves, modified. Their world would change according to the author of that world, or master-programmer of sorts. But for those characters, time would pass the same – their bodies suspended, their minds off on some journey elsewhere. Their mind would be living somewhere else, but their bofdies would still presumably age at the same rate, there in the tank, being artificially sustained.

    So what is to be gained by a trip into the Metaverse? An exotic form of entertainment, perhaps. One achieved at the cost of enormous expense in infrastructure, power generation, processing power build-up and build-out, etc, etc. I personally think it would be more cost-effective to take our real bodies and go out into space, and explore the real universe. There are many challenges and wonders to be seen. Real wonders, not ones inside a set of chips. (Of course some thing that we are living in some kind of grand simulation – but that is a different discussion for me). I’m sure the manufacturers of all that power and computing equipment will beg to differ with me. But hey, they can sell that hardware to NASA for deep space missions, you know, to go out into the real universe!

    There may well be some good niches for Metaverse type products. Like keeping astronauts on long-duration missions to Mars entertained during the trip. Or for aging baby-boomer sci-fi fans in retirement homes. Like other forms of gaming and entertainment, the Meta-stuff may be great for a few, not necessarily for the masses. Pick your pleasures however you please. The 2020’s should be real interesting in any case. Hope to see you on the other side ;-)

Another one dies and we all utter honor cries

 

Another stalwart politician passes away,

then he is showered with honors and praises.

When he was alive and running for something,

the partisan flames were firing at him ferocious!

Reminds one of John McCain, another conservative

vilified by the opposition (and some in his own party)

for being an independent thinker, a “loose cannon.”

But in death his many contributions were recognized.

Democrat Neal Smith passed away recently,

the long-serving congressman from Iowa.

He was showered with honors from people

in both parties, Republican and Democrat alike.

It is sad how many who serve only get recognition

of their genuine contributions to government in death.

Partisan politics’ masochistic flagellation of our republic

is unending and unyielding, letting up only in the death

of someone who has served in office a long time.

Truthfully not many of us would want to shoulder the

myriad responsibilities of a congress-person. But

for some reason it is sure easy to dislike them anyway,

especially those from the opposing party who stand in our way.

Here is hoping for a bit of unity and commonality in our country.

Despite some baser emotions and frustrations, I really hope we

Americans can find enough common ground to not tear ourselves apart,

but to be able to rise to meet the challenges that face us all in this still-new

(but looking awfully tired already) 21^st century.

May we all enjoy a peaceful holiday season.

Outlier Spaces

 

People have remade and re-formatted so many places on this earth. Especially in cities, most every square inch of real estate has been bought and purposed to one effect or another. But in our striving for efficient resource utilization, I hope that planners and leaders won’t lose sight of the importance of informal spaces. Those forgotten or half-hidden stretches of woods, or old buildings awaiting demolition. Because in those places much meaning and yes, creativity is birthed.

We go about our lives following the rules, performing our work, pleasing our families, checking off all the boxes of modern-day living. So things become a humdrum repetitive pattern. But the furtive activities in out-of-the-way spots, off the beaten track areas can provide a counterbalance to sterile normality. Sparks of creative happiness can occur, and perhaps give some of us a reason to throw ourselves back into the milieu of modernism with renewed energy and solution-making.

Save some of those decrepit or ugly spots. They just might be part of the Earth’s immune system, a rough vine of creative survival for human intellect, purpose, and hope as well. Human tissue can look ugly under a microscope too, but it is still vital to our survival. Peace and out.

Frightful Atmospherics

 

Tick tick boom boom the temps are dropping,

north winds howl, windows rattle,

cold crawls across the floor in search of

feet or paws to chill, winters bitter pill.

January telegraphs its arrival via the holiday season.

Might not be so bad if that is all we had to worry us...

Military buildups continue around the world,

the USA alone spending record amounts every year,

Russia pushing for supremacy in Central Europe,

the red, white, and blue tricolor a new hammer and sickle.

India trumpets their burgeoning power on land, sea and in outer space;

NATO nations make worried consultations and increase their budgets.

I thought this same “movie” played out in the 1960s, 70s, and 80’s.

A new generation has to realize that it is not a good idea to destroy the world,

not by Climactic means, and not by Nuclear Annihilation either.

One wishes for a milder winter,

as one wishes for world powers to lower the ‘temperature of conflict.’

We may not be able to control the weather,

bu we can decide whether we want to

be around to endure or enjoy weather at all.

Time for civilized nations to sit down and work things out,

whether it is palatable to anyone's belief system or not.

Give the entire Earth the best Christmas present of all:

World Peace.

One can only hope.

Future Momentum

 

Do you think present-day tech is amazing,

smart-phone internet always-on connectivity?

PCs were like that 25 years ago, all the craze

promised games, video fun and new productivity.

Then a little handheld device rendered them obsolete;

Paradigms shifted, programs procreated, parents panicked

when their teenagers could not text a sentence complete.

Now our finances are managed, calls video, steps get tracked.

New wonders keep appearing in the form of the latest Apps.

But another paradigm shift is gathering momentum…

Biological interfaces, memories, and implants loom ahead.

Another couple decades and the smartphones will look dumb.

When our AI servants send back sensory experiences from

the Solar System’s edge and beyond, superhuman feats

become more routine every day, our species will evolve.

Into exactly what it is hard to specify – something that

will make us look like backward apes by comparison.

 

Late Autumn

 

Straggled branches claw the air,

hope for purchase on warm fur.

But the animals have vacated,

dug into burrows or fled hunters.

Old year’s Sun sinks lower on the horizon,

Southern breezes warm lit-up riverbanks

for the time being…

We all know what is coming soon,

so people take their last walks on the beach,

one last enjoyment of rural river scenery.

Time to snap a few last pictures.

A sand whorl here, a branch with berries there,

light and shadow playing across the forest floor.

Some views of that flowing water, changing color

from gray to blue to green and back again;

always in motion, bloodstream of the planet.

It always feels good to escape our artificial constructs,

and subsume the self back into a natural scene.

Tonic for one’s consciousness,

hope for the future,

to propel us through three months of snow and ice hell,

to the spring we so rightly deserve and will certainly have earned.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Screwball ideas - take em or leave em

 

If someone hasn’t already, set up a time-bet exchange:

Paralleling the regular stock exchange.

Buyers and sellers bet on How Long it Takes a particular stock to go up and down.

Say if F takes 1 second to go up 1/8, your bet increments by .01 cent. Bet on times taken to move up or down a certain amount – eaither way. ¼ then your bet increments .02 and so on. People will place a bet on whether it will take 1, 2, 5 or 10 seconds to go up a point in increments of 8, or 10. If you bet 1.00 that F will go up 1 point in 10 seconds, you get 10 cents added to your stake. If it takes half that, you get half payment, or maybe lose .01 or some-such. It may be difficult to work out amounts and time-slices bet, but some exchange could match bettors predicting less or more time for a stock to move, either way. A time exchange. Just another derivative to give regulators headaches.

Here’s another one: There is a company trying to launch objects up into space using a centrifugal device, that spins something around and around, then releases it, “flings” it upwards. Well, why not use a magnetized object, with the positive or negative poles facing outward (a grouping of ring magnets in a circle or somesuch). Perhaps, just perhaps, the Earth’s magnetic field might push against an opposing pole, and help the thing get up into orbit. Farfetched perhaps. So is the idea of using centrifugal force to begin with, but someone is doing it.  (Why not use a rail-gun perched high up on a mountain somewhere instead?)

My last screwball idea of the day: Take a scramjet-type missile, and insert vents near the tip. When the missile is launched, and reaches very high speeds, the air around the tip will be superheated by friction. Vent some of that air to help vaporize a secondary fuel source, like a super-hard metal. This could add thrust out the back of the missile and speed it up even more.

OK, enough silly ideas. Way past time to go to bed – LOL.

A thousand small bites can move a mountain

 

The backlog at US ports almost seems like a huge mountain,

impossible to dislodge, dispel or whittle down.

Giant ships full of cargo wait out in the ocean,

and even more are on the way.

But you don’t wave your hand at a mountain,

and make it disappear by supernatural means.

Ants know the possible answer to this problem.

You move a mountain by thousands of small bites,

hundreds of thousands even,

a river of workers all carrying one small parcel.

Likewise, the shipping container backlog could be

ameliorated at least by thousands of small bites.

Try some self-driving trucks, just in one location -

desperate times require desperate measures.

They might just help, and the tech could be perfected.

Build a few smaller-scale emergency ports.

In a war, ports might have to be constructed,

to move supplies and materiel inland.

Build a few onesies and two-sies one or two-crane ports, near existing ones.

Construct more holding areas for containers.

Manufacture more trailers.

Zero in on each port and demand more production.

Federalize some ports, not all, but some.

The use the national guard to help clear out the mess.

A lot of little steps,

a lot of smaller bites.

Could containers be emptied into smaller sized box trucks,

and cleared out that way?

More time consuming on the front end,

but clearing out the backlog on the back end,

ultimately helping the situation.

This is the USA,

we put people on the Moon.

Surely we can come up with some unconventional,

creative solutions to this backlog,

even if it takes more hands-on hard work to do it.

Just in case, I’m buying gift cards this Christmas ;-)

Creative Process Continuance

 

Scientist have stated that our universe is still expanding.

So on a personal level, that means space is being created.

Since “nature abhors a vacuum” things rush in to fill it.

So the creative artists and workers out there can just keep

on producing their works and putting them out there -

no need to fret about over-saturation.

After all, galaxies are flying apart,

new stars are forming up in gaseous clouds,

even black holes can’t seem to spoil the party.

Why should we not all just keep creating away?

Something has to fill those trillions of miles of

nearly-empty space.

Even all of the old TV shows and corny commercials

won’t make a dent in the ever-expanding universe.

So why should we inhibit real, original works of art?

Keep on cranking, baby -

there is plenty of room out there.

Bye Bye October

 

First of November, hello colder weather,

we know that snow is around the corner;

even though we dread that day!

But we’ll get used to it straightaway...

The crud is moving in,

we’ll take it on the chin,

food and feasts will warm the indoors,

Convivial surroundings following chores.

One is amazed at how time flies,

yesterday summer heat made us cry.

Soon white flurries will populate the air,

slicken up the ground, and decorate our hair.

The bag of salt is nearby,

a steel shovel stands ready.

The car oil is all changed,

spare battery in close range.

Just another winter in the Midwest,

putting hardy souls again to the test;

We will get through it and do our best,

spring’s green warmth reward us like all the rest.

I’ll see people soon that have been obscured all year,

with shovels and snowblowers to dispel the winter fears.

We’ll push each others’ cars out, send them on their way,

cheer another February snowstorm’s failure to ruin our day.

Brace yourselves – here it comes….

Winter 2021.

Light Shines Through my Amber Prison

 

“We are stuck in the tree-sap of time, and it is hardening around us.”

I am driving on a highway,

rain is pouring down in buckets,

hail clatters against my windshield.

I think of time and timing,

how yesterday or tomorrow it will be clear,

smooth driving, the sun will be out;

It is all just a matter of when you are where!

How long will it take humans to get to Mars?

How bored will we all get after the feat is done?

All that money and exertion and risk and sweat,

and once the gap is bridged, the span is covered,

we’ll all go back to our lesser entertainments,

and be offended by minutia once again.

The world gets so noisy and chaotic at times,

then at others goes strangely quiet,

taking a breath and tensing before the

next leap forward, in clash and crash.

The hair turns white but cheeks still

glow red, as long as life resides within.

What temporal buttons can one push to

experience those apex points of life again?

I would settle for a good strong echo most times --

Precise small changes to effect the larger results.

While breath still puffs in and out,

blood still courses through the veins,

muscles still flex and exert,

then hope still burns within,

and perhaps tomorrow will be a better day.

Dodge the Paranoia

 

The pandemic is receding?

Things getting better,

more jobs are around?

Don’t celebrate just yet.

Now for some reason,

all of a sudden,

there is a shortage of truck drivers,

gas prices are spiking upward,

things are running out all over,

scarcities are popping up

like so many leftover

Covid Demons.

What is to become of us?

We just lurch through one crisis

only to get dumped headlong into

the next quagmire – stagflation.

The media respond “Be afraid, be very afraid”

the usual refrain.

But here is a cute puppy picture,

so you will feel a little better,

never mind that gut-pit of anxiety,

the one that will follow you the rest

of the day, week or month.

Time to stop paying attention,

enjoy the good graces and gifts received,

And move on down the lane of life,

try to ignore the ogres of paranoia

that lurk around every corner.

Bring on the Next Decade

 

So glad I made it here,

Fun and whimsy clear.

Once upon a country...

Nixon was impeached,

then the press threw peaches,

Ford stumbled through the pardon.

“Whip inflation now!”,

and pet rocks became the rage.

Ten-four good buddy, silver antennae

sprouted like weeds, “Breaker Breaker!”

what fun we had on the CB radios.

Star Wars TV specials floated by,

Love Boat and Charlies Angles,

Dallas and Dynasty ruled the three-channel airwaves.

"Heeeeereees Johnny!" was never far behind,

Jimmy Carter got in, peanut farmer took over.

Billy Beer and “Stop having fun!” and we were

all “Hell no, we’re just getting started!”

Gas crunches caused some tiny car crazes.

Hostage crises and Papal visits,

Old movie star took the White House from

that peanut farmer, then it was “morning in America,”

(but mourning for unions and the working class?)

Fun still occurred, keeping pace – New Wave,

Punk and the MTV generation. Prince rained purple

on our Walkmans – designer drugs, and Raves galore.

We moved on to post-punk, grunge, hip-hop, more grunge,

garage bands and EDM and DJ ‘everybody’ waving their hands.

Somewhere along popular culture’s way,

Personal computers joined the consumer fray

The Internet followed close behind,

with a steep learning curve – at first,

but then, Mega-Free Everything!

Feeding frenzies broke out in Wall Street and

Usenet Newsgroups alike.

It was a lot of fun, and rarely dull –

One had to brush off a vicious flame at times,

but the freebie photos and music were worth it.

Now hanging out in the 2020’s.

With all the fusion country-pop-hick-hop,

hard to make any sense of categories.

(Thanks a lot, Lil Nas X)

But it does not matter -

just enjoy the music and the ride.

We are still alive, and that is what counts the most.

Half-price off at the (printed) word sale

 

Perfidious hordes scatter across Europe,

bearing the dominant religious standards.

Business 101, dusting off your shelves,

arranging your products, hanging out the sign.

Snaps – commentary on modern culture!

Hobbies large and small, cheap or expensive.

You can find it all here, and more,

at the local printed word sale -

just over there at the Fairgrounds.

But be ready to dodge and weave through

a lot of traffic, vehicular and human too.

It is so worth it.

Treatises from the early 1900's intermingle

with Lee Iococca autobiographies,

fantasy epics and scientific war volumes,

cookbooks your mother would have loved,

stitching and weaving and collecting,

every human endeavor, dream, fantasy or wish

is probably sitting somewhere on a table –

or more likely, in someone's tote bag.

One can go vowing to “just look around”

“Maybe pick up one or two”

Yep, they have heard that one before.

And before one knows it, there is a stack of books

between the arms, with the eyes scanning

around for an empty shopping bin or cart.

Then, after enduring the line to pay up,

you get to lug your treasures out to

a distant pasture to load up the car.

When you get home, it is time to dig in,

see what goodies you can't wait to skim.

Another fun year at the local Printed

Word Sale.      Life is complete,

until they all get read.   

then it is

time to re-donate them!

Automatic War - Version Now

Drones kill silently from the air,

robots slug it out on the ground.

National strategies pursued from afar,

Collateral damage scattered all around.

Us human beings will never learn,

instead impart war ability to cyborgs.

A peaceful time is what many yearn

for, but then give in to baser hormones.

What values are either good or evil?

Which side is ever always right?

It is always our religious and civil

philosophy vs their reason to fight?

Yet in our abodes surrounded by loved ones,

we set aside conflict, a brief peace hard-won.

(Reprint - Originally published in Lyrical Iowa 2021)

For the Mechanics

 

Some operating rooms take up more space than others,

they may even need dedicated buildings all their own.

Those huge city trucks, lumbering apparatuses,

Go out in the hidden places and take care of us,

all manner of vehicles to sweep our streets,

pick up our recyclables and trash,

maintain light poles and manholes and traffic lights.

But sometimes our caretakers break down;

then they need some delicate doctoring

and loving care themselves.

So they lumber into a huge garage,

open giant maws up to the mech techs.

Tilted-over cabs, or raised fronts,

side accesses, or raised up on lifts.

Missing tires as axles are massaged,

reconstructed gearboxes, transmissions

opened up like any given heart surgery.

Could an operating room show as many

bared innards, exposed gear guts?

Fluid pans all over, oil dispensers

hover in thickets on cables and pulleys,

ready to dispense some life-giving elixir,

just the liquid to give a tired motor a lift.

Surgery finished, they are piloted out of

the operating theater and parked nearby.

Now repaired, refreshed, and ready to roll.

With an engine roar, a squeal of brakes,

some assorted rumblings (of gratitude?),

they all head out to do their duty,

our dirty work – and we are glad.

Stake out your Regolith

 

In olden times they had the trading posts,

where furs were exchanged for food and drink;

the settlers followed, working for their hosts,

new lands and vistas to make dreamers think.

The military led the way with their log forts,

settlers and pony express, then towns were born.

In a span of time that now seems fairly short,

territories got settled, then states were formed.

In modern times we chafe in crowded metropolises;

some look skyward  --  new worlds beckon with light.

Time to establish a human presence away from this

tired old Earth, declare outer space life a human right.

Though it will take us much effort and struggle to do,

history shows that humans always find “a better view.”

Conflicting Things

 

Morning coffees, brunch meetings,

church services and poetry clatches…

So many things going on all over,

and I just can’t seem to attend a one...

Because I have many other things to do,

chores and tasks and projects galore.

Tend the lawn and paint the house,

pull the weeds and clean up the backyard.

Clean indoors as well, bathroom, kitchen,

living room and then vacuum everything.

Off-kilter work hours don’t help the situation,

evening shift overlaps many weekday events.

Sleeping in is enjoyable during the week,

but missing so many things leaves my knees weak,

and my friends have to “turn the other cheek.”

Someday I’ll be retired, I think,

someday I’ll be able to do so much more!

But retirement is supposed to be restful,

not mad rushing around everywhere.

Temperance and moderation will be

more important than ever before.

Enough musing, enough writing,

correcting typos, cussing the computer.

Time to go out and run errands -

because no matter how well I plan,

I always seem to need one thing more…

make way, cat, I’m headed out that door!

Everything but the, and that too

 

The ever-present excrement

of old government scandals

is finally overshadowed

by an inspirational space mission.

Football rivalries play out again,

some made happy while others made sad.

Seasons change and weather finally cools down,

for a while at least.

Fall has dropped on us,

still hotter than hell too often;

But there is some consolation:

that next snowstorm is only a few months away!

Thoughts drift and spin like snowflakes...

Almost every person will at some point

“stab a friend in the back” or

talk about them behind their back,

not always in a complimentary way.

Yet we still keep on, because what else can we do.

Retirement promises a life of leisure,

beckons, tempts, lures with longing...

A gamble involving hopes, health, and luck.

It will be here before we know it,

and then we will mourn the passing of

our career life and youth.

Some things never seem to change.

With a mind as devious as mine,

the fingers will never be innocent.

And yet, even at an older age,

amazing, incredible things still happen.

Outdoor nudity, hiking by moonlight,

sex under the stars. Sensual gifts still lurk,

with much gratitude felt by older folks.

Still, you never know when sometime you

could be riding along on your motorcycle,

and a car comes out of nowhere and flattens you.

Anything can happen, and often does.

Gender identities can not hold back

our environmental obscenities.

But anything that makes us feel better

during our short ride on the Earth

is highly welcome nevertheless.

Humanity will drift out into space,

more complete spores carrying lore.

Scandals, drama and upheavals are

carried along – pity the poor cosmos,

exposed to dirty detritus of its offspring.

How long will it take a kitchen sink to

orbit the Sun?

Should old acquaintance be forgot

 

Another steamy summer has passed,

good riddance to the miserable heat.

Hurricane season is off to a big start,

the Eastern US takes another pummeling!

The seasons flow past, time and sand

coruscate along in winds of uncertainty.

Youth and school days dwindle in memory

to pinpoints, as that uglier end looms larger.

One has to grab good memories before they

rush past us, like they tend to do so fast.

A wedding here, a graduation there,

holiday celebrations and shared moments.

A definite focus on positive times that flicker

in the wind, to will oneself to feel good -

and it can happen, one can still feel that glow.

Age can be a Waterloo or a Hiroshima,

but it can also be triumphant, top of Everest,

raising the flag at Iwo Jima, dancing on the Moon.

I made it so far, when others did not,

fortunate enough to have this long view now.

Oh please let me have more decades, I think,

but I’m grateful for whatever I receive.

Each morning a celebration of good fortune,

grateful for launching out of bed upright,

walking under my own power, appetite

and will and hormones still functional.

Hope to see my dear family

at the end of this decade too;

Good luck, best wishes, and long life to all.