The Graduate

Handshakes and hugs
And broad smiling tears,
Confident speeches to
Veil silent fears,
And time pauses briefly
Recalling the years
As the graduate
Glides ‘cross the stage.
 
Backslapping well-wishers
Seem to abound as the
Honorees hover
Five feet off the ground
And nowhere for miles
Can a dry eye be found
As each book
Opens a new page.
 
Glittering hope casts
Her sparkling beams
And offers her bosoms
To nurture new dreams,
To fill with a prospect
That bursts at the seams
And the clock cannot wither
With age.
 
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Opening Night

Places! Places!
Dim the lights!
Tempo. Timing.
Make it right.
Attack the stage.
Forget the fright.
Finally it’s
Opening night.
 
Grueling weeks of
Late night trends,
Burning candles
At both ends.
Do it over
And again
Until we get it all
Just right.
 
Love the crowd.
Forget the crowd.
Stand up proud
And shout out loud.
Overture,
Curtain, lights.
Bring the house down
Opening night.
 
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Awake at a Wake (A Conversation)

“He was…”
          “I know.”
“I’ll miss him.”
            “Me, too.”
“Remember…?”
          “So well.”
“Such kindness…”
          “It’s true.”

"And laughter…”
          “That too.”
“He so loved to laugh…”
          “To sing.”
                    “And dance.”
“To toss back a few.”
 
“Up for a challenge…”
          “Taking a chance.”
“One of the bravest I ever knew.”
“He’d want us to celebrate.”
          “Raise up a glass.”
“Have one for him.”
          “At least one.”
                    “Maybe two.”
 
“He looks really good in that suit.”
          “Yes. It’s new.”
 
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Simple Pleasures

Full moon enters my bedroom
This morning.
I watch it descend to the
Western horizon,
Inching its way over
High-arching rooftops,
Winging through feathers of
Billowy clouds.
 
I see it winking,
Watching and wondering,
Guarding the night
As it silently sails through
The harbors of heaven
Casting pale shadows,
Keeping a promise to
Always return.
 
Night bird announces
A new day is dawning,
And sunrise grows miracles
Fresh in her garden.
The world is alive
With peaceful endeavor
And life’s simple pleasures
Abide everywhere.
 
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Growing Old

“You’re not growing old,” she said.
“You’re simply growing beautiful.”
I smiled and hugged her with my heart
And placed a kiss upon her cheek.
To be so young – so innocent –
And yet so wise beyond her years,
My eyes stay tears
As memories flow
To fill my simple mind with joy.
 
Fleeting summers come and go
So quickly in a moon-kissed sky
As subtle scents of lavender
Give yearning pause to sunset’s glow.
The mirror grieves a faded past
Of tears and laughter –
Understood.
If only I could keep those precious
Diamonds through eternity.
 
Be still, my sweet.
Be brave.
Be bold to
Relish the joy of growing old.
 
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Ice Cream and Cake, Candles and Clowns

Come to my party, please,
          Help celebrate.
The invite will tell you
          The time and the date.
You won’t want to miss this.
          It’s gonna be great,
Guaranteed to erase all your frowns.
 
It’s prizes and favors
          And candy, all flavors,
With singing so loud it
          Disturbs all the neighbors.
Where fun lasts forever
          And everyone savors
The ice cream and cake,
          Candles and clowns.
 
And after the ice cream
          And cake are consumed,
The candles blown out,
          The clown danced ‘round the room,
The bloom of excitement will
          Fill every pore,
And a wrinkle of memory
          Lives evermore.
 
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Let’s Get Together

Enough is enough
     -Is enough –
Is too much.
Patience and common sense
Running amuck.
Lit up in firefight,
Caught in the crush
By her saber –
     Cut to the bone.
 
Sudden explosion
     Trembles the ground
Mocking the silence –
     World upside down til
Cymbals crescendo
     And I look around
          To find myself
Lost and alone.
 
One might imagine
     A world without hate
Where patience evolves
     And all celebrate
Diversity’s beauty.
 
It’s not too late.
Let’s get together.
     Let’s get it done.
 
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Champions

Champions come in all shapes and sizes,
Every color the rainbow imagines,
Reaching for stars in a far distant galaxy,
Braced and prepared for the battles ahead.
 
Rising from underdog,
Capturing moments of untold adventure
With banners unfurled.
Aware of the fanfare but unfazed by fame
From a frilled flock of followers
Riding the wave.
 
Pulling on bootstraps,
Constantly focused,
Flaunting due diligence,
Always prepared.
Riding the wind on the winged steed of glory,
Humble in victory,
Grateful to win.
 
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The Winds of Change

Seasons come,
     Seasons leave,
Rides the cresting winds of change,
Carries proud her sweet bouquet,
Feasts on a chameleon moon.
 
She speaks with fervor,
     Flaunting favor,
 Dives and drives the heart to fever
Til the rushed and flushed
Believe her maddening crush of platitudes.
Banking off her promised boon,
The soft caress of her sweet tune,
The mesmerizing mantra swoons
A ripening of attitudes.
 
But time keeps marching,
     Never still.
Seasons shift and rearrange,
And Mother Earth, her architect,
Breathes life into the winds of change.
 
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American Made

Hong Kong, Taiwan,
India, Japan,
Sri Lanka, Bangladesh,
Paris, Pakistan.
Leaps and bounds the trend resounds,
Increases every day.
Wondering why products don’t say
Made in U S A.
 
Bedfellows in politics or
Just good business sense.
Doesn’t seem to be a way to
Build a strong defense.
Shouldn’t be this difficult to
Find a place to trade
Where the label proudly indicates
“American made.”
 
Sure, it’s cheaper,
That’s no sleeper.
Can’t compete with that.
But the secret, hidden deep,
Comes slinking like a cat.
Tucked inside the silent storm
A deeper price is paid.
Shelter dwells inside these words –
American made.
 
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Don't Be Afraid

The winds of chance fly swift beyond the clouds
To carry seeds of challenges ahead,
Til buried deep in furrows plainly plowed
They languish in uncertainty and dread.
And every whisper falling on their ear
Lends warning of the dangers yet to come.
Foreboding foils of feckless, freakish fears
Are birth to caution, leaving reason numb.
As aimless arrows all around ascend,
Like willow branches bending without harm,
Fair truth becomes a melancholy friend
To battle with the liars of alarm
Epiphany – at last fair ransom paid –
Speaks softly in my ear, “Don’t be afraid.”
 
 
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Making the Grade

Year after year of brain-stretching agony
Bending the limits of tempered endurance,
Tables and intos and plus-minus posers
Til X becomes Y becomes, magically, Z.
 
Long-winded tales filled with dates and dead people
Wasted on battlefields far, far away.
Stories of Camelot, Sherwood and Hannibal
Camped beneath bed sheets with flashlight in tow.
 
Cries of rebellion for useless assignments
Fall on deaf ears, go completely unheard.
Oft being quoted, “Oh, you’ll thank me later.”
Though never quite clear when this “later” occurs.
 
Days wrought with dread of those sheets lined with questions,
Problems and essays and multiple choices.
Waiting for marks through unbearable agony,
Never quite sure…
Never quite sure…
 
Time marches sideways through twelve years of prison,
Forced into labor til all due is paid.
Finally, time boldly steps to the future,
Silent and thankful for making the grade.
 
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A new book in the works

Happy to announce that I have begun work on a new book: "The Writer Within; My First Fifty Years as a Writer". Although it is several months from completion, I wanted to give everyone a heads up on it. This book is designed to be a primer for anyone with designs on being a writer. Not necessarily instructional, but I hope it will inspire.
At the same time I am continuing work on my next book of poems, "The Times of Our Lives" which celebrates life events that we all share. I will be posting poems for this collection here as they are completed. Hope you all enjoy.

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Charade

Who is that hiding behind the mask
Of civility?
Claiming to understand
As the flames of misfortune
Come searching, seeking.

You shall not touch my shining
White armor.
My inoculation against your wrath
Yields me immune to your foul breath of fire
Though you aspire to drive me insane.

Speak not of frailty
Nor meekness of purpose.
Waltz proud and loud
Marching out, unafraid,
Brandishing sword and shield,
Searching for dragons,
Tearing down walls
To unmask the charade.

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Another Parade

Standing quietly in a crowd
Brimming with anticipation,
Humbled by the celebration
Soon to amble into view.

Politicians press the flesh
Or wave as they go rolling by.
Part-time soldiers stepping high
To carry the red white and blue.

Suddenly the calm erupts
As sirens blast and engines roar,
Banners wave and streamers soar
While drums and bugles fill the air.

Flowered floats go sailing past with
Girls in flighty, frilly fare,
Jugglers juggle by the pair and
Happy thoughts race everywhere.

Joy is beamed across the sky.
Another parade is passing by.

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The Wedding Vow

Hopeful hearts hurry to capture the moon as
Melodies dance to a willowy tune and
Feathery clouds dare the daffodils swoon
As two become one life together.

Avid adventures audaciously dared with
Singular passions wistfully paired and
Coveted secrets become secrets shared
Through serene or calamitous weather.

Giddy with glee, just a wayfaring child
Awaiting the instant she walks down the aisle to  
Gracefully honor the moment with style.
Now is forever.
      Forever is now.

Promises made with the warmth of the sun
Enfold and enchant, blending two hearts in one.
One chapter closed, a new one begun as
True love embraces our wedding vow.

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Happy Birthday To Me

Oh great!
Just what I need,
Another reminder – Time swiftly passing –
Alas, once again to reflect on the ages
And celebrate “Me” with cards, cake and candles.
 
Well-wishers? Abundant.
Amazed that I’ve endured the quest,
Survived the test of father time.
Methuselah, beware.
Your record in jeopardy.
 
Don’t mind really.
Just another year older,
Thankful for the chance to see
The dew drops of a brand new day,
Sit quietly with the one I love
And reflect on my blessings,
Memories collected,
And to know with a certainty
That life will continue
Long after I shed this mortal shell.
 
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Are We Cold Yet?

It’s there
     In the air,
You can sense the hawk sweeping.
Soon,
     Very soon
It will wake from its sleeping
To bite and to nip
To claw and to rip
To haunt and to halt
In its bone-chilling grip.
 
Good sense says to hide,
To keep safely inside
Secure by the fireside
To weather the tide.
But fate bids me go
On my trek through the snow,
And suffer her wrath
As her glacial winds blow.
 
And the taut winter breeze
Brings the strong to their knees
As autumn surrenders
To deep winter’s freeze.
 
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All That Is Good

All that is good,
            Let it come to me softly.
I will embrace it with arms open wide,
Sharing its essence a thousand fold,
Spreading its gospel to grateful minds.

If it means harm,
           Let me face it with honor,
Searching the undertones living below
So I may mute the thundering voices
And quell the torrent that rides stormy seas.

We are but brief
          To move through the cosmos,
A wink and a blink in the footnotes of time.
No time to waste on the lost angst of demons.
Focused and fixed and anxious to find
All that is good.

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To Be Truly Thankful

In a world where so much can go wrong,
Will go wrong,
Often does,
It’s key to stop and oft reflect
On blessings dwelling ever near.

The quiet of the evening breeze
That sweeps away the sun-drenched day…

The blissful magic of “three words”
To wash away the hurt and pain…

The joyful laughter of a child,
Life unspoiled,
Song unsung…

Yielding to sweet slumbers' kiss,
A prayer to a departed sun…

Days creep by before they run
And we must heed the piper’s call.
          To be thankful…
          To be truly thankful
Is the greatest blessing of them all.

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And Well They Served

To stand on unfamiliar soil,
Stranger to the local custom,
Sent in blindness void of reason,
Purposed only to defend,
 
Cautioned not to question orders,
You are but a puzzle piece.
Higher forces guide decisions.
“You will thank us in the end.”
 
Settling into your mission,
Studying a hated foe,
Never knowing what may happen
When and if the mortars fly.
 
Stealthily behind your weapon,
Senses climbing to a peak,
Ready to defend your comrades,
Question not the reason why.
 
Grateful when the fray is over,
Though you’re weary to the bone.
A needful nation sent you there.
A thankful throng welcomes you home.

 

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Falling for Autumn

Daylight recedes and night lingers longer,
A lazy sun lowers her arc in the sky,
And summer relents on her brutal endeavors,
Yields to the softness of crisp autumn dew.
 
Earth tones of red and gold burst with a frenzy
Flooding the eye with bountiful treat.
The fresh chill of morning makes night covers snuggle
And daybreak awakens a bright orange hue.
 
Pity to those denied your sweet treasure,
Who never bear witness to your vibrant show,
Charting your change with chameleon candor,
Rushing the senses with visual bliss.
 
Signals of change as a new dawn announces
The turn of the term,
The passage of time.
I pray that in Heaven there still will be seasons
So all may find favor
In sweet autumn’s kiss.
 
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All Hallows Eve

Eerily, the shroud descends,
Veiled in mists of Hallows Eve,
As spirits amble in the mist
Reaching from their netherworld
To touch, to feel the naked flesh
Of those who walk and talk and breathe,
To feel the heartbeat of their blood,
A kinship to reality.
 
Children quake as darkness draws
A demon host from murky lair,
Ghouls and witches primed to scare,
Bats and black cats everywhere.
With mask and costume to disguise
They set out on their ghostly trek.
A trick they sport in lieu of treats
Belays the caution in their eyes.
 
All is magic,
Nothing planned
On Hallows Eve
When spirits rise.

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Prom Night

Tuxedo Barons,
Belles of the ball,
Limousine luxury,
Sequins and glitter,
 
Streamers abound and
Ice sculptures drown
As young maidens flush
With their hearts all atwitter.
 
Painted eyes,
Starry skies,
Ripe for romance,
Couples sway to and fro,
Ready to dance.
 
Music streams,
Couples beam,
Passions ignite,
Memories born
On this magical night.
 
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