BEDTIME, a poem

       

Lying abed, unable to sleep,

          gripped by this nightly discomfort

          I want to slip into the void

hoping for interesting dreams

Counting my breathes to plunge

me into a night land

brimming with adventures

for my uncontrolled mind

On awakening in morning

ofttimes recalling unbidden dreams

          with pleasure or some disquiet

          Lying abed, unable to rise

         

         

         

UNFORTUNATELY FDR, a poem

         There is plenty to fear

          He might be reelected

          along with the peril

of reshaping America

into what he awfully is

Oh, if only we could

call forth our giants

from the other side

to guide us again

to a decent America

George Washington

Benjamin Franklin

Teddy Roosevelt

Abraham Lincoln

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

LONG LOVING

She was the heady stuff

          Of elite human beings

          Thinking her own thoughts

          Living her own life

          Being a modern woman

          She was all mine

          To a limited extent

          I was all hers

          To a limited extent

          In an old-fashioned marriage

          Life was splendid

          When we were one

          Dissatisfaction did bring        

Trying times on occasion

In our long loving marriage

THE ALSO-RANS, a poem

   

          Oh, the joy of the winner

          to come in just barely first

          through an incredible spurt

          Of course, there would be no best

          if it weren’t for the rest

          The struggling also-rans

          are in the losing pack

          Their feat is in the trying

          but there is no denying

          they dearly wanted to win

          The cheering fans

passive watchers

give little thought

to those who tried

but failed to star

BEN CONNOLLY in the PARIS COMMUNE

Go into battle with Gen. Jaroslaw Dombrowski and Louise Michel in my

novel, BEN CONNOLLY in the PARIS COMMUNE.

The book will be available for free downloads from Kindle for five days this week, from Wednesday (April 1, 2020) through Sunday (

April 5, 2020).

Please read it, enjoy it, and review it.

A GOURMET FEAST

For the fortunate

          a gourmet feast

          For the others

a fast food treat

          Making love is a miracle

          Having sex is a venture

          Lovers are soulmates

          for a moment or forever

          A loveless connection

          is an ephemeral pleasure

          Love happens

          Sex is a choice

CONVERSATIONS, a poem

I wish I could play back

          My conversations with Ginger

          We had many happy ones

          About films, novels, children

          Politics and the world

          I wish I had recordings

          Of those conversations

          I can’t remember them

          In detail

          They were words spoken

          And enjoyed

          Gone like the momentary

          Licking of an ice cream cone

          Or sipping an Irish whiskey

          On a damp, cold, winter evening

          I wish I could reach into my mind

          Or brain to sort through

          Those tens of thousands

of conversations

          To replay them at will

          I have clears memories

          Of slices of sentences

          From Ginger, from my mother

          From others in my life

          Most positive, some negative

I wish I could play back

          My conversations with Ginger