perseverate

we begin and begin again
each day anew
and though we necessarily perseverate
treading the same paths
we are not the same
not who we were yesterday
nor who we shall be tomorrow
we are always the eternal now
going forward
gaining ground and perspective
in one dimension or another

metadata

we read the signs and portents
augury our action
checking and rechecking each hypothesis
pouring over data, metadata, microdata
anything that can explain
the things we can't explain
fear and hope and love
we quantify the universe
and do not see the forest for the trees
mystery and magic are found in the facts
and we need not extrapolate too far
to live in wonder

bodacious

Give me a life that's grand,
Bold, bodacious and unplanned
Full of surprise, joy and laughter,
Add some tears, but sunshine after.
A bit of strife, like spice, for flavor
But lots more sweetness, please, to savor.
A life that's filling and sustaining
So in the end when strength is waning
In reverie, again I'll live
Tasting all life had to give.

fictioneer

The tales tumble forth.
Like pulp fictioneers
We can't help produce but
Prolifically
In our verbosity.
We rush and race
In rambunctious rhythm -
Bouncing back and forth
Springboarding conversation.
No pause for breath,
No pause for regret,
Just torrents of truths
With tiny embellishments (for flair)
Fueled by sonorous sibilants
And whiskey.

nepotism

Life's not fair,
unless you're an heir.
We learn that while we're young.
The rules are set
by the teacher's pet,
and blondes always have more fun.
Nepotism's rife
in a world of strife
& we're told to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps.
Yet oldest son
glides to number one
and the rest of us fight for the scraps.
We fuss and we fight
for the little that's right
while the richest look down and laugh,
they separate some,
decided who's smart or who's dumb,
to them we're just wheat or we're chaff.
But whatever we are -
they set the bar
and decide what to do with us all
because thanks to the system
they don't have to listen
and so silent, the rest of us fall.

riot act

She waits and watches,
hears the pounding of my heart grow stronger,
feels the hairs on my arms stand at attention,
catches the breath in my throat
as my thoughts blur and warp
like heat rising off asphalt on a summer day,
and in that pause -
she pounces.
This voice in my head: the champion of all my previous bad decisions,
my endless hesitations, tumultuous fears and
plaintive desperations rises up and
reads a riot act in violent volume
reverberating through my skull,
"Slow down! Don't be stupid. Don't believe!
Don't hope! Don't trust the moment! Don't rush in!
Don't set yourself up for a fall."
And with those words I shake and quiver,
falling, fading, becoming lesser.
And then you whisper my name like an incantation,
press tender lips to mine like medication,
and silence the siren's call
which would dash me against the rocks of my insecurities
and thus, you lead me to safe harbour.

quisling

a fox in the henhouse
sly and stealthy
you crept in and stole
all my eggs
more fool I
putting them in one basket
quisling that you are
you gave them to another
though they're not yours to give
and crept out again
into the night
sleek and beautiful
and dangerous