Accustomed to her morning exercise
(she took up running during quarantine),
she thought she’d push the distance. So she tries
to make five miles be her new routine
instead of four point five. Her guides advise
a smart approach – she read it on her screen:
“Don’t fret,” they said, “about the extra length.
Just run the last part first, while you have strength.”
(Ottava Rima)
My artist daughter and my son-in-law,
obsessed with symbols, occupied by themes,
tried posting swastikas as charms, but saw
the Internet accuse them of extremes.
We told them it would happen, for we knew
that though the lucky origin was true,
the shape was foully murdered by the strike
of Hitler and his hideous third Reich.
We’re witnessing a similarity
with current politics – the ruling right
(King Trump and court) insist that day is night,
and devastate what was the GOP.
Republicans are gone – the future story
should name anew or harken back to Tory.
My regulars got ballots in the mail
while I awaited mine. It came at last.
I carried it inside (the season’s grail),
and with it an emotion that surpassed
relief: a postcard sent delivered joy –
Arriving with official voting things
were sentences and stickers from a boy
I love – a 3 year-old who always brings
a sense of wonder, humor, logic, glee
to every day – reminding me to look
at living like a glad discovery,
aware I’m paying less than what I took.
Today is hard; the year is difficult.
A toddler teaches hope to this adult.
I have a calendar but don’t rely
on it, retired, home 200 days.
But morning gives a message from the sky –
to rise at 6 is long before the sun.
And then I feel a chill I can’t deny,
informing me that winter’s on approach.
No longer needing fans for cool supply,
I switch appliances to what conveys
the warmth I want, as summer says goodbye.
(Magic 9)
I live so close to neighbors, you’d expect
my house to be a fishbowl where you see
my every act, but here we all respect
and cherish our domestic privacy.
We aim our vision forward in the yard,
ignoring social noise unless it booms.
We give what space we can – it isn’t hard
to filter out disturbance from our rooms.
But twice in thirteen years I’ve harbored here,
a next-door house ignited in the dark.
A frightful fire filled our atmosphere,
and voices I don’t know rode every spark:
the neighbors never-noticed offered help
before the fire engines’ welcome yelp.
Weary of worry
Tired of tense
Hoping for hurry
Savoring sense
Our tax laws are a
rat’s nest, but they’re not that bad:
of course Trump broke some!
Sure we’re acquainted with incompetence.
We think of it as failure to succeed,
but left unchecked it’s negligence indeed.
We’ve seen it in our exes: lack of sense
or sensitivity, and selfish greed –
sure we’re acquainted with incompetence
(we think of it as failure to succeed).
Perceiving it with clear intelligence,
incompetence does more than just impede –
it binds us, or it flails until we bleed.
Sure we’re acquainted with incompetence.
We think of it as failure to succeed,
but left unchecked it’s negligence indeed.
(English Madrigal)
When I was young I longed to have long hair:
like princesses and Barbie dolls at first;
then schoolmates blonde and lanky everywhere;
then middle-parted hippies. I was cursed
with natural curls, a tendency to frizz,
the color almost-black (I didn’t know
how bad a hundred strokes of brushing is,
as strategy to make my hair-type grow).
So after college, when attacked by lice
(I never should have borrowed Liz’s brush),
I had my hair cut short, and it was nice
(my love for length was like a schoolgirl crush).
But now my hair is gray, six months uncut,
and mostly I’m enjoying it, somewhat.
I never checked this out, but I was told
when I was young, that some suspected Jews
of spreading the bubonic plague. That bold
surmise was baseless, based on stupid views
that held because the Semites weren’t ill,
they must be at the root of the disease.
In fact their laws of living were their pill –
they prospered from their food and health decrees.
And if we are to learn from history,
then let’s ignore the theory I just read:
Among the famed, how come the GOP
to test so positive? Why not instead
(or too) the Dems? These questions beg an ask,
yell citizens who never wear a mask.
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