America

the long nightmare ends

and the dawn comes

    Democracy 

we sing 

different songs 

from the same

big page 

the tunes 

aren't perfect 

but other pages 

bring horrors

   Environment

earth, air and water

they seem so vast

and us so small

much have they changed

without us

yet now the pace

is so much faster

and ours

the onus

lest dreams

become nightmares

Some things are always important.


    Journey
she and I
together so long
giving things meaning
by sharing                                                     

                                                   
Small children and good poets
have a lot of questions.
Beware of those who claim
to know all of the answers.

                                    
The scenic photos on this blog
are from various countries.
I didn't take them. I hope
you find them enjoyable
and inspiring, as I do.

                                            
In these tough times, we need
inspiration from various arts
more than usual.
This might work in some places
(outside, with social distancing):

     Poetry reading
bards and triers
a venerable tradition
the audience listens
looking for magic

                                                                                                                                                            

I'm lucky enough to be living in
a place where the management
of COVID-19 is going very well.
Of course, our ancestors also
faced huge challenges including
wars and plagues.

    Other heroes
some doctors in pandemics
firefighters in bushfires
whistleblowers in corruption
mothers who manage much

The human mind is the
most complicated and
mysterious thing
known to science.

     Humanity
bring the band
and sing great songs
armies of robots
can't kill poetry

   Teeth treatment
braver than usual
and more repentant?
memories flow
and time passes

Samuel Johnson opined:


"No man but a blockhead ever
wrote except for money."


I beg to differ.

I had a very long childhood illness.
Here's the story:

    Overnight hospital stay
first for a very long time;
when a toddler, illness forced
a fearsome confinement -
hours of therapy daily,
no contact with other kids;
the compensation has been
that restriction reluctance
kept me out
of jail and hospital!

 Some universities have
Confucius institutes. There's
a lot of postmodernism and
identity politics around. Maybe
more should be taught about
Shakespeare, the ancient Greeks
and Western civilization generally.
What do you think?

Here's a new poem of mine
which might apply to various
times and places:

    Political fog
tread carefully
and know who to follow
horrors may be near
but light should come

   Manual for poets
See like a child,
yet be a useful adult.
Love language.
Seek sagacity.
Enjoy the marvel of creativity.

A newspaper with about 600,000
readers likes that poem of mine.

The USA is an unusual country, and more resilient than it might seem.
It has had a big gun violence problem for a very long time. Maybe the mass involvement of young people may finally help to bring a lot of progress in the gun issue.
That would also raise hopes about other, newer problems.
The photo is of flowers in the Arizona desert.

My poem below is in two print magazines - the usual one and a church one.

    Hope?    
so many adrift, endangered -
can they lift their horizons?
to see something bigger and better,
to help themselves and others

I hope you enjoy my blog. That seems more likely if you don't like most modern poetry and do like good photos.
Poems favored by the poetry "establishment" would seldom be popular with most folk.

Rhyming poetry isn't fashionable,
but sometimes draws big crowds.
Each to his own!

My recent poem below is
also in "Positive Words".
It's a good magazine!

    Campfire yarns
memories and stories flow
as the flames fly;
an ancient way
to grander dreams

Below is one of my earlier poems. It's in the internet magazine.

    Dreams of a poet
will the storms clear
and the warblers sing?
can the love of wisdom
bring the wisdom of love?

Here's another poem of mine from the print magazine:

    What could help?
well, said the bard -
I can't stop wars
or build good cities
or clean the air
but perhaps my words
will make your heart sing

Of course, visual art goes back a
very long way in human history.
So does poetry. In every culture,
there was oral poetry before
writing was invented.

Here's one of my poems from the internet magazine:

    Mystery
who can explain life?
don't try too hard
logic should be
a servant of love

At various times, I submitted a total of 14 poems to the print magazine "Positive Words". All of them were published. Here are a couple of them:

    CT Scan
it's okay this time
says the main umpire
keep playing for good teams
and enjoy the games

    Philosopher's walk
the narrow track winds around
lush greenery, such a balm
mental clouds dispersed
by wonders of nature

Subjects like religion are often treated in a serious
and dogmatic way. "CT Scan" does it differently.

Good humor is wonderful. Here are a couple of quotes:
Victor Borge: "Laughter is the shortest distance between two people."
Anonymous: "Dogs have masters. Cats have staff."

Some of my poems are in print magazines; others are easy to find via google search. It seems to me that people with a wide range of political opinions tend to like my poems (not being biased, of course!). Comments on blog posts are welcome; perhaps some people are mistakenly reluctant to comment because they don't want to act like poetry critics. The blog is the less common, non-commercial type. I try to enjoy being useful.

A few generations ago, there was little or no alternative to coal as a source of fuel for many things. Coal miners worked long hours, got coal dust in their lungs, and died young. Hence this poem:

    Coal miner
grandpa's ancestor
seems to say
see my story
and count your choices

Try this poem, folks:

    Music
a language
with no translation
yet meaning
so much -
words can't convey
its magic and mystery

Greetings
Do you think that most modern poetry is too obscure and/or gloomy and/or self-absorbed? If so, you might like the poems below.
You may find them a bit offbeat, but that should be okay.
By the way:
(1) Re the first one, I don't mean to imply that one group is better than the other.
(2) The last poem is particularly for those (like me) who are a bit technologically challenged.
Here they are:

    Country relatives
parallel worlds
theirs and ours?
crossover sometimes
but only the nimblest
can dance in both

    Persistence
forests have paths
and birds still sing
rainbows may be few
but sunshine comes again

    Hi-tech
strange new
languages and mysteries;
how to blend
old dreams with new?