Suddenly

There is a thing that we do
To get on with our days, we do.
We hope.
Though we don’t know
That we hope.

On the other side of that slope,

Will I see you tomorrow
At this time?
And if not, what will I find?

Phone calls unanswered,

Letters returned –
I did not know enough to learn
The name of your mother,
Or some friend or other,
To ask where you had gone.

Imaginary Evil

The problem of evil
Is the rejection of truth.
But we cannot agree on the truth
And so disagree about evil.

The problem is ancient,

From the days of the cradle
Where stars did form and thrive:
For all that we argue
And all that we cry,
We don't even know we're alive.

Little Rhyme

If I could only find the time
To set down a little rhyme,
A poem with a thought or two,

I would leave the world far better

If you and I should come together
And share the truth I saved for you.

Individuals

“Buy me,” said the sign.

Buy now!

Don’t ask why.

Don’t ask how.

Just buy.

Hurry up, buy now!

The limit of your credit,

The limit of your merit,

Is the sky!

Operators stand by!

Only you can be so beautiful.

Only you can be so you.

Only you can be that dutiful

In a suit of rayon blue.  

Only jewels will make her happy.

A broach of gold is just the thing.

But to really make her happy,

You must add that diamond ring.  

Money clings

To the face in the mirror.

So make that skin look clearer!

Moisturize,

Actualize,

Individualize,

And super-size: 

Buy stocks

Buy rocks

Buy cars

Buy wars

Buy fountains

Buy mountains

Buy pills

Buy thrills

Buy vacation

Buy affection

Buy rope

Buy hope. 

This is the sign of the times.

A glass of fine wine

And you reach the divine

Pinnacle,

Where dances the real you

In smart shoes

Of leather.  

So never mind the weather.

And never mind the clime.

You will end up all the better

If you spend another dime.

 

Warning

What conversation is to be had

With someone like you

Who thinks I’m mad? 

I tell you the festival will end.

So set time aside to spend

Getting to know the silence. 

It will sound, the silence,

Like that time

When your voice falters,

Like that time

When your slow legs alter

The schedule of your day. 

You won’t recall this conversation.

There will be no slow conversion

With the looks of pure aversion

That the young will send your way. 

So take time now to listen:

See how ice on branches glistens

On a crisp, cold winter’s day,

How branches full of flowers sway

In the breeze one fine spring day. 

Hear the cicada cry out its doom

In the heat of a summer afternoon

And the silence when its cry does stall

On a quiet evening in the fall. 

Take time to greet that old man who sits in the park,

Whose eyes will not let him stay out after dark,

Or that old woman tossing crumbs on the ground,

Feeding pigeons, seeing ghosts all around –

For one day time will come, without sound,

To show their faces in the mirror.

What warning could be clearer?

Time to choose which you hold dearer -

The noise and lights and thrills of the carnival

Or that hand on your hand when you’ve been left by all.

 

Hunger

When we were young upon the earth,
We did not understand the stars –
So many eyes of the gods upon us.

We did not understand the thunder and rain –

So many gods howling their disdain.

But we understood hunger.

And pain.

We were bound together

To seek our sustenance.
So over hills and plains we ranged.

In the time since,

Not much has changed.
Spears gave way to guns.
Stones gave way to mortgages.
Shopping replaced the hunt,
With prey replaced by wages.

Locked together in a barrel bobbing out to sea,

We don’t know if there is food for you or me.
We stare at the foul and fruit upon the table
And ask, “From what ranch, garden, or stable?”

Fish as alien as the stars,

Beef mysterious as the rain,
Sweets that startle as the clap of thunder –
Our ignorance remains.