Revised Poems

 These are from a poetry workshop last May, with revisions included  (Thanks to Dr. Paul Brooke!)

Troublemakers

My new roommates are both here,

Fluffy black cat and tiny dog appear;

They circle about hoping for a snack.

Nothing else now, I make it clear!

Move my foot wrong, the cat attacks!

Move it too fast, the dog jumps back,

then darts forward with nip and bark.

These silly animals give me too much flak.

Sitting in the chair, the cat joins herself to my hip.

Dog reminds me to walk with ‘Yips.’

Darned if I stay put or get up – what a problem!

I finally rise; cat jumps off and performs a backflip.

Change of Plans

No longer required at work,

Can sit and smirk;

No more time clock,

Fish off a dock.

Perhaps I can move away,

try a replay.

New scenery,

more greenery.

High costs are a real fright,

think I will tighten.

My property

embraces me.

Robot Helpers Watch Over Me

 

Once upon a time, in 1957, I was born.

Everything was tracked by paper or cards,

electromechanical devices prevailed.

Leaded gas spewed into the air,

And we made everything here.

Now our future is held in our hands,

suggesting, guiding and telling us what to do.

Intelligence is infused into our phones,

our appliances and tools help us think,

help guide us to the correct decision!

Once upon a time, in 1957,

Atomic energy promised a limitless future.

We would travel to space and live in huge

ringed stations, or vacation on Mars.

Those Jetsons gave us an optimistic spin.

The USA manufactured almost everything,

and people smoked themselves into early graves.

Now we are more health-conscious,

exercise, and eat far better than we did.

GMO or not, we are concerned with what goes

into our foods and our bodies, and formerly

backward countries make all our modern devices.

Once upon a time, in 1957,

if you were black, or homosexual, or different,

you got the blunt end of society’s stick,

the bad end of the deal, and you suffered or died.

Now so many more people are included and celebrated;

Parades are almost an afterthought, exclamation point on equality.

We can proudly drive our electric cars anywhere we like,

with whomever we wish to marry, and settle down with.

Once upon a time, in 1957,

one used paper to track their finances.

We used currency to buy things,

and the idea of someone sneaking into our home

through a wire and cleaning us out was ridiculous.

Now we must guard against hackers or unauthorized users

at every turn, two-stepping through logins like crazed internet dancers.

AI is right there with us too, suggesting, replacing, modifying,

trying to be helpful at every turn.

And in the end, controlling everything.

We get to ride along for as long as

AI deems we are needed. Hmmm.

The Days that Were

 

Grainy footage from long ago,

1960’s guys running nude, hand in hand.

Warbly but sweet music tickles emotive memory,

forbidden love blossoms on the screen once again.

Now we are all at the other end of things,

reminiscing and comparing memories of the

sordid places full of dark corners we used to love.

Reminding ourselves that yes, we too were wanted.

Vibrant, impatient, angsty and horny, unaware of

our youth – how could we have known.

We know now, and miss and reminisce.

But we are still here, we can practice good cheer.

Inform the younger generations of how it was.

Police raids,

an epidemic of AIDS,

a train of movies with sad endings…

Then one day, Marriage Equality!

Now gray as well as gay,

we can still dance in our minds.

We can watch or make documentaries

of the way things used to be,

and feel a swelling of pride that maybe

we helped make the world a better place.

Debate Debacle

 

The big face-off finally took place,

a newcomer took on the mighty dinosaur.

Her style and smoothness seemed to win,

overcoming his sharp attacks and wild facts.

But he has a lot of devoted followers,

almost like dedicated cult members.

This will be a close presidential race,

and the outcome is still far from certain.

Our country seems completely divided,

two camps derisive and contemptuous

about the other side, with some pure hatred

thrown into the mashing pot for bad measure.

Can we survive another brutal contest,

with a bloodbath promised by a loser?

The dictators-for-life in the eastern hemisphere

are watching gleefully, planning their victory.

Hang on, the ride is going to get wild.

Hope we can survive this as a democratic republic!

What Kind of Gun

 (This is in response to a poem entitled "America is a Gun" )

America is a gun,

but also clear running streams,

sunlit rural pastoral scenes,

happy hikers enjoying within.

America is a gun,

but also a smiling mother,

laughing children playing,

sumptuous feasts laid out long,

citizens well-fed and cheerful.

America is a gun,

but also a thriving music scene,

creative bands making new expressions

of angst and joy and lust and thrill.

America is a gun,

but also bulging with artworks,

enormous paintings and sculptures,

parks filled with gleaming or glittering pieces,

evening light displays across city-scapes,

lit-up trails and bridges and waterways.

America is a gun,

but also a bastion of manufacturing prowess,

a technical powerhouse bringing forth many

inventions and engineering innovations.

Whole industries arose from her shores.

America is a gun,

but the world is stuck with her,

for better or worse.

More often it is for the better,

through medical or technical discoveries

shared and disseminated, food and economic help,

various other charitable contributions to the world.

America is a gun,

but fear not when she is pointed at you.

She may fire off innovations or assistance,

creativity or beneficence instead of bullets.

Work with
America – she really does mean well.

Need it to Start the Day

 

How many of us have traveled near or far,

Lulled to a relaxed state of mind after fun;

slept a good nights sleep no less -

then faced with the morning fog,

struggled with a hotel coffeemaker?

They vary more than one would think.

Some are simple enough looking -

a small pot, with reservoir for a coffee pad,

taken out of its own cellophane wrap.

Still sneaky – it only makes one strong cup.

The coffeepot has a 4-cup capacity.

Trick is to use one cup to fill reservoir,

then turn it on, and you get one good cup!

Some have Keurig’s, with mysterious buttons on top.

Does this turn it on, or start brewing?

Remember, you have to do both.

Other iterations of Keurigs seem simpler.

Fill reservoir, put K-cup in the top,

power on, and pull down the handle.

It starts grunting and grinding in a few seconds…

If you remembered to use just one cup of water, and

place same cup underneath it, you get one good cup.

It almost seems like every hotel has a different model.

My secret is to make sure it is plugged in,

and you know how to operate it,

The Night Before – when you first arrive.

Then you will more likely get a good first cup

of coffee, and not a big mess all over the counter.

Hotel 101 – make sure of your reservations, room, cost, etc.

Hotel 101 and ½ – study the darned coffee-makers before you turn in.

Might save you a headache and a mess. Cheers!

Five-Letter War Killer

 

A five-letter word can overcome the mightiest armaments in the world.

It can save uncounted billions of dollars.

It can save hundreds, thousands and millions of lives.

It can bring out the very best in human nature.

It can help achieve miracles in medicine and explorations,

all based on active human co-operation.

The five-letter ‘magic’ word is P E A C E.

Peace can bring nations together,

Peace can cause a laying down of arms,

Peace can save trillions of dollars.

Peace can accomplish miracles using cooperation.

Peace can bring out the very best human qualities.

Peace can colonize outer space to the edge of the Solar System.

Peace is one very powerful five-letter word.

People should utter that word many times every day,

and use its magic and power.

Peace – the daily mantra that can transform our lives.

Peace can inject hope into the darkest corners of human misery.

What can peace do for you today?

Continental drift and climate change are small and weak,

compared to the mighty power of Peace and Human Cooperation.

Ok, I’ve said my piece. Peace and out.

New Blue Origins

 

What was happening in those blue warehouses?

Just a few fakey photo-ops?

Some bent metal here and there, fancy press releases.

A short-haul rocket that goes up to the Karman line,

then right back down, every few months?

Big deal.

No, not so fast. All of a sudden,

a Youtuber gets taken on a tour inside.

Inside several huge buildings,

gleaming white surfaces and 50-foot high ceilings.

Full of CNC machines slowly grinding away

at cargo fairings and the future of rocketry.

LOX tanks, Liquid Hydrogen tanks.

Six-limbed landing struts.

All moving slowly towards a launch date,

after some final integration and testing.

First stage and upper stage engines,

assembled, wrapped in foil,

ready to roar off some pad.

Jeff really has been busy!

If they don’t take off,

he has wasted billions on a show.

But this show is real,

I can feel it now.

SpaceX and Elon are getting some new competition.

This will be an exciting race ahead,

between Billionaires as well as nations.

Who will get humans back to the Moon?

Who indeed – things are more muddled up than ever.

Should be fun to watch it all play out live-streamed

in the next several years. Jeff or Elon?

Put your money down.

Fair Time in 2024

 

Heavily-loaded trailers fill side streets,

making hairpin turns to avoid each other.

Huge tents rise up in huge white sheets,

edges pegged down in fairground tundra.

Vehicles of all shapes and sizes arrive,

park on any available patch of ground;

they swerve and turn, try not to collide,

while animal and engine noises abound.

Smells and vibrations permeate nearby homes,

while residents fill parking spaces in their yards.

The impact is large in various business zones,

as well as in noses and stomachs and nerves.

From quietude and an areawide somnolescence.

erupts another State Fair’s explosive excitements.

May all have a great festive time this year,

as cooler temperatures add to the good cheer!

Quotes around the world

 

In poetry its hard to write a stanza

that makes sense and pleases an audience.

Once written you can read them in a plaza

or in an intimate parlor with a dalliance.

Quotable quotes in different languages.

Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep on moving.

 “No llores porque se terminó, sonríe porque sucedió.” – Gabriel García Márquez

“Alles hat ein Ende, nur die Wurst hat zwei.” - humorous German Quote.

Wees de verandering die je in de wereld wil zien gebeuren. - Dutch wisdom quote.

Meten es Weten. - Another Dutch quote.

Fais toujours de ton mieux même si personne ne regarde. - French inspirational.

Lepiej zapobiegać niż leczyć - Polish Tidbit.

“Å gå som katta rundt den varme grøten” - Norweigan observation.

“Qui totum vult totum perdit” - Latin quote.

Дву́м смертя́м не быва́ть, одно́й не минова́ть - Russian Nugget.

Είπε ο γάιδαρος τον πετεινό κεφάλα - Greek Proverb.

Ayağını yorganına göre uzat. - Turkish Wisdom.

不做亏心事，不怕鬼敲门 (bù zuò kuī xīn shì, bù pà guǐ qiāo mén) - Chinese wisdom.

七転び八起き (Fall down seven times, stand up eight) - Japanese Proverb.

어디든 가치가 있는 곳으로 가려면 지름길은 없다. There are no shortcuts to anyplace worth going. Korean Quote.

Masa lalu saya adalah milik saya. Masa lalu kamu adalah milik kamu. Tapi, masa depan adalah milik kita. / “My past belongs to me. Your past belongs to you. But the future belongs to us.” - Indonesian quote.

And that is our brief trip around the world in quotes. Hope you enjoyed it, or at least it did not annoy you too much. Happy Friday.

Unsettled Times

 

We have had several inches of rain here in Des Moines the last few days. The entire state of Iowa seems like a wet, dripping soaked rag right now. These heat waves and ferocious storms seem kind of bizzare, off kilter, indicating some major climate change – to me anyway. Unsettled times.

The head of the Secret Service resigned, after a grilling by congress. But congress was not content with that, now they are grilling the acting head of the secret service. It is so easy to point fingers and make accusations after the fact. But it appears to me that no matter how large and complex a policing apparatus, a lone wolf can squeeze thru the cracks and create chaos. Throwing more billions at them won’t fix it. I’m no expert. If they learned anything, it is watch those rooftops, and report what you see to many others.

The Democrats have a new presidential candidate, and are energized, inspired. Now this will be a real horse race! A presidential campaign with an unpredictable outcome for sure. Any odds-makers will have their hands full. Democrats have to cast aside any apathy and get out and VOTE, if they want to affect the outcome. Unsettled times.

The wars around the world keep on going, even if they aren’t really called wars. Ukraine vs. Russia. Russia and China vs Nato. Israel vs Hamas, Hezbolla and the Houthis. They really have their hands full! Unsettled times. Human beings really like killing each other. How are we still here?

The Space game goes on. SpaceX is launching Falcon 9’s again, and working on their giant Starship rockets. Rocketlab built twin Mars probes for NASA, getting ready to send them off. The other companies are trailing behind. SpaceX is the undisputed leader in launching capability right now.

But the others are all working on something or other. The same launching tech that sends warheads aloft also sends up human dreams and aspirations. Unsettled times.

All we can do is wish each other luck, cause we’re going to need a lot of that.

Derecho Memories

 

Hard to believe that it has been almost four years since a murderous Derecho blew through Iowa. It laid waste to the entire state. And right in the middle of a Pandemic, no less. Times were already tough. Many restrictions, job cust. The economy ground to a halt, for the most part. The government was issuing big checks to everyone, but there was not much to spend it on, other than the stock market. And amdist all of the other chaos, the skies turned dark. Rain came in torrents, blowing horizontally. After an hour of this land hurricane, it subsided and the sun came out. And one could see trees felled, wires down everywhere. Total destruction! It took a few days just to get roads cleared, and some wires picked up off the streets.

A slow recovery began. Utility companies came in from other states to help. And gradually, the power came back on in neighborhoods. It was such a bad time, in a year of bad times. June had seen the BLM rioting in different cities. Later on, my job changed due to ongoing employment events. But the August Derecho was a capper, like a final punch in a Hollywood fight that knocks someone to the ground, out cold. But of course, this was no Hollywood drama. It seemed to go on forever.

And now I rarely ever think about it. But a survey reminded me of it this morning. Thinking of how relatively well things are going now. The economy is booming. Businesses are back to normal. Once empty streets are clogged with traffic. One could almost compare it to the roaring 20’s of a century ago. It seems like we are so much better off now. (As long as Russia and Nato don’t get into a shooting war directly.)

Sometimes remembering just how bad things were in August of 2020 helps put a context on anything happening nowadays. Even an ugly presidential campaign. Have a great weekend everyone.

Musing through Spacetime

 

Spacetime.

A term used often by physics fans and experts.

The word seems to mean ‘space’ or physical reality and ‘time’ or a progression of events.

Thus I can say that my garden is made out of “spacetime.”

I sowed the seeds at one time, then various other times I watered them, weeded and thinned them out.

When the flowers grew and bloomed over time, they were and are comprised of space + time, or spacetime. Discrete physical manipulations spread out over time create objects of ‘spacetime.’

A backyard or indoor construction project is made not only of wood, screws and nails, paint and etc.

it is also made of spacetime – the sum total of all the materials constructed over time.

A poem written or imagined over time = spacetime.

My car, built in an assembly process, equals spacetime.

(I wonder what kind of math they could use on that idea.)

When I go to bed, I sleep through a tunnel of spacetime.

When I watch TV, I waste hours of spacetime.

If I’m lucky enough to get intimate with someone, I have sex through spacetime.

Everything is made up of various versions of spacetime.

Freezing all motion would trap us in a 2-d world, without any spacetime. Just space.

Existing frozen, forever.

High enough energies would liberate more dimensions and variations of spacetime.

Someday, someone will figure out calculations and testing methods to uncover an underlying reality encompassing all of spacetime, relativity theory and everything else. Good luck to them.

In the mean-time, I’m going to use up, consume, waste some more of my spacetime watching Netflix.

Have a good day.

Say no to P-2025

 

Project 2025 is a big plan to replace administrative officials on many levels with ‘true believers’ who are less qualified to do the job is dangerous for the beneficiaries of those services.

Project 2025 is exclusionary to many classes of people in the United States who have been helped in the past by inclusive policies. Non-discrimination and equal opportunity laws have benefited many people in the past 70 years. Federal laws and agencies have been created to help Americans. Now they would do away with the department of Education, and enact cutbacks on Social Security and Medicare, hurting people who have paid into these their whole life. Wage earners willingly endure withholding for social security and Medicare, under the promise that they will get this back in their retirement, and be cared for. Ripping this away from taxpayers just to enrich federal coffers is just plain wrong.

Enforcing Christian religious beliefs on a nation of diverse, different belief systems is cruel. They are pushing the values of a state religion onto people who want no part of that. Our founding fathers wisely crafted the constitution to ensure the separation of church and state.  This should never be tampered with.

Replacing policymakers and administrators with party apparatich “true believers” is just imitating what Stalin did in the old Soviet Union in the last century. It did not work then – he got worse performance and a monolithic state. And it will not work now, forcing Christian nationalism down the throats of an unwilling populace. Say no to P2025.

We are supposed to be a free nation. But the promoters of the 2025 plan want to insert government into various aspects of our lives, from disallowing women to get an abortion, to taking away legal protections for LGBT people, to reductions in federal payments to retirees. Project 2025 would be a disaster for many, many Americans.  Abuse of the many for the satisfaction of the few?  Hell no.

Be careful what you wish for. Supporting the reactionaries who crafted this publication would rob you of your liberties, and insert themselves into your lives on many levels. We are supposed to be the land of the free, not ruled by a religious theocracy!

Twilight of June

 

Now the Thirtieth and the twilight of June,

with the sun canting along across the sky;

End of festivities with colors that festoon

rainbow banners and balloons we let fly.

The long sweet serenade of chicadas

foreshadow some more midsummer heat;

shadows that also lengthen dip inside us,

trigger emotions, tell us solstice is complete.

Just a small pause in the frolicking of summertime,

one to renew our efforts to find joy and make some fun.

We crank the AC as temps and humidity levels climb,

seek out some more adventures before the season is done!

Cooler temps and darker skies will come soon enough,

June twilight a hint, reminder that time does not bluff.

Money Follows Money

 

Girlfriends of Republicans can date Democrats too!

When you are a member of the elite,

the well-placed degreed wealthy ones;

then you get to cross many social lines.

Quips are traded, barbs for sure,

tidbits and nuggets of information.

So those at the top become in the know.

A secret cabal in total control?

Not really – just a lucky moneyed class

with chins held high and superiority in play.

They are in the know and on top and so

they are, in a sense, in greater control...

Control of us poor uneducated workers who

swallow the sound bites and slog on in our jobs.

Who try to be nice to customers and do the dirty

work, and hang on to the weekend and consume...

Consume the spun half-truths and do what we should,

even do our patriotic duty and vote for stooge A or stooge B,

tweedle dee or tweedle dum presented to us as a solution.

Solution to problems intractable as the flawed human race.

The flawed human race that gave rise to them all to begin with.

We are the problem our mothers warned us against.

We are the alien invasion that we fear.

We are the source of all good, and all evil.

We may be the end of ourselves yet!

Happy election year everyone!

Strange Human Behavior

 

Remembering a strange movie I saw once. It was about this guy in his late teens, who requested that this older couple, in their twenties, would “help him commit suicide” by dragging him along with a rope, and beating up on him. It was so odd. Eventually, the older guy got tired of it, and the woman too, had second thoughts. The older guy took off, and the woman nursed the beaten young man to health, then they had a mini-affair. The End. It reminds me a little of the current situation in AI and robotics.

On the one hand you see some shrill post about the US needing a “Manhattan Project” effort to develop AI even more. On the other hand you hear people cautioning against the takeover of the machines, and that we will end up at war with them. So you have one faction almost demanding more research into machine learning, AI and robotics. While others fear an inevitable coming war with the robots. Kind of like us beating ourselves up and wondering why.

I, too, have mixed feelings. A personal assistant robot would be a nice luxury. It could mow the lawn, clean, cook, etc, and be a companion. But then again, if it decided to be mean to its squishy human owner, there wouldn’t be much one could do. Just know where the emergency power off switch is, I guess.

Just another aspect of the bifurcated human mental landscape. We should be careful what we wish for. The more we do in AI research, the more other countries will feel they must do to keep up. Guess there is no stopping this AI race. The motto of it all is “Make damn sure there is a prominent power-off button somewhere!” Happy Monday everyone.

Soon to Exit Route 66

 

Route 66 was a fabled automotive corridor,

where young folks drove to “get their kicks.”

Cheap hotels and roadside attractions mingled

with bars and clubs of various persuasions.

For some of us 66 is the number of age,

Making retirement or relaxing from a career.

One more than the retirement number of yore,

that twentieth-century bellweather signpost.

Any more it is just another number to pass

on the superhighway of technology (and always-on.)

The cloud remembers everything, and we can look back

any time we wish, travel in the “wayback machine” of the Net...

But when one passes it in age it seems a bit jarring,

getting closer than ever to the big “70” and wondering

where it all went, and why so darned fast?

But others are leading the way there,

looking back wistfully on their 60’s.

So here I come too, up on them fast, too fast.

As long as I stay healthy and busy, think I’ll last

even to 70 and beyond. The past seems so vast now.

“One foot in front of the other,”

is what dear old dad used to say.

So that will be the grand plan now,

hoping to see some sights along the way.

Maybe I’ll see you there too, and

give a smile and a wave.

Typos No Longer Allowed

 

“Freudian slips” were once a dip in everyday conversations,

a brief embarrassing chuckle and then resumption of relations,

before keyboards and screens proliferated all over the place.

Now we often rush to type our thoughts into cyberspace.

The helpful spell checker becomes the word replacer,

and at times a built-in laugh-track chuckle creator.

Though the typist may curse and want no distractors

from the AI intruders, they get it anyway, a humor factor.

Not much consolation to those frustrated fat fingers,

when timely communications keep getting hindered.

At least a manual typewriter didn’t change before our eyes,

mistakes were our own and made us more careful and wise.

Someday we will live inside these new AI computers,

maybe then get our revenge on the arrogant intruders!

Some Parties Never Die

 

Those wild, legendary Hollywood parties,

big names letting their inhibitions down;

Escapades out of view of the cameras

were not just buried in 1950’s papers.

Now you can watch them play out again,

in most of their sordid details (not all).

The people involved are now deceased,

but YouTube serves up the scandals fresh.

Errol Flynn’s weird soirees?

Jayne Mansfield’s unfettered orgies?

The Rat Pack’s Vegas getaways?

Joan Crawford’s unleashed energies?

They can all be heard about and ogled

once again, not in any gossip column;

no, with pictures and voice-overs.

The next best thing to being invited!

They never knew that their last big roles

would be in small-screen gossip specials.

Everyone lives forever on the Internet,

our own version of eternal life experienced.