Wicked Wintah Fun

snowplow is it love or hate
the berm at driveway's end is great
again
the road is clear and that's just grand
but getting to it that's a damn
near impossibility in time to make the start
of shift at work unless I shovel very fast with heart
attack in back of mind
oh please oh please just not this time

at last the shoveling is done
I'm winded but no chest pain fun
I turn toward warmed up car and run
thinking I've finally won
but what's that noise that diesel thrum
and scrape oh no it's him, or her, they come
again

Inspired by the morning's cardio and Jessika O'Sullivan​​​'s Clear and Cold Long Island photo g+ post

A Trick of the Light

another Monday is at hand
shaving mirror where I stand
water slap and razor pull
practiced motions let me mull
on things that are and might have been

reflection shows some lines of age
flesh a little soft these days
chins speak of diet rich not lean
sedentary it would seem
the path this life has wandered

eyes still sharp but now they glaze
journey back to other days
when water slap meant in the pool
teaching swimming that was cool
as lifeguard had it made

visions of what lay ahead
college, Navy, Dive School bred
to follow where Cousteau has led

on the bottom in the rig
marine archaeologic dig
umbilical providing air
from topside team all taking care
to keep the divers safe and sound

nearly time to decompress
shift's gone fast, I must confess
tools all gathered on the stage
signal pull for winch engage
return to surface nigh

focus sharpens with the pain
of razor nick blood flows again
Monday mirror reasserts
to old reflection it reverts
time on bottom just a dream
reality that's never been ...
... yet.

© 2015 Frederick Andrew ~ All Rights Reserved

No Traction

Been awhile since my last write
though ideas have been in my head
the words that make them live won't flow.

so I've come to this special zone
reserved for times that I can't move
around the barriers in my head

it's here that I permit myself
to move the cursor or the pen
across the lines without constraint

to let the words just come and go
and fill the space non-sequitor
and act a kind of eductor

the ideas have been rather grand
professing love for those at hand
and seeing chaos in day's milieu

Absolute Conviction

absolute conviction often known as righteousness
a state of mind reflection has no business to transgress
a state of mind which human fallibility should render unapproachable
by any with a history of tolerance as checkered as the race which tolerated

pogrom
slavery
holocaust
internment
apartheid
inquisition
house committee on un-american activity

to name a few of our transgressions
in the name of truths which are clearly beyond our ken

reflect on that before you beat the drum
and instigate the next crusade

before you set in motion
another absolute conviction

Circus Tricks

multitasking is a lie
unless you have a staff
an exercise in spinning
plates on sticks

the illusion of success
rests on them being round

it is the oblong platter
that will bring you to your knees
as all the plates slow and precess
and in procession leave you with
ceramic shards cascading to the ground

and an empty oblong platter

Inspired by RC deWinter's Life Interrupted and JJ Walker's deckplate ruminations

talisman

though mute and still
the fire you light
illuminates a place long dark

its warmth unlocks
the bittersweet
tears fill an upturned smile

at season's end
lovingly stored
you'll light that fire again

Inspired by a g+ post by Jessika O'Sullivan



Rocks and Shoals

navigating rocks and shoals
never are there two alike
each its own configuration
light of day or dark of night

tide and current always matter
and the hand upon the helm
don't forget the lowly wiper
answering desired bell

more important than the outrage
or the spin of charlatans
is the need to work together
for the betterment of all

Inspired by Chris Flegel's Angry Men: Impossible Play