Hammering it Home

A man of 82 attacked,

A hammer to his head,

Is lucky, thanks to 911,

He didn’t end up dead.

Misinformation made the rounds,

A pack of nasty lies 

Regarding Paul Pelosi,

But that’s sadly no surprise

For there are no boundaries anymore.

Whatever rage is felt 

Will circulate, despite the fact

It hits below the belt.

So jokes and rumors sprout and spread

While in intensive care,

The Speaker’s husband lies in bed,

As we become aware

That this is now our country’s norm.

It sickens me to know

Our standards, once so lofty,

Have dropped down so very low.

The Stars and Stripes

After 9/11, flags

Were proudly on display 

To show the world we stood together

In the U.S.A.

Such a rare attack at home

United every side,

So stars and stripes were flown

To show defiance, strength and pride.

Yet now that symbol has become

An icon of the right

And seeing flags on people’s homes

Makes me a bit uptight.

It’s sad to know the comfort 

That the flag had once provided

Has been altered to portray a land

So hopelessly divided.

Leaf Blowers

Where once in fall, the air was filled

With such a special smell,

That burning leaves aroma

Which I loved, as you can tell…

Today, instead, we have the sound

Of blowers making noise,

Which I would bet that not

A single living thing enjoys.

The leaves, once raked and burned,

Now sit in piles to cart away

Or else get spread around, where they

Will, in the future, stay.

I miss the scents of autumns past 

And crackles of the flames,

Preferred to the incessant drone

Each blower loudly claims.

Yeesh

I’ll never understand the drive

To buy or own or wear

An item a celebrity

Touts, thinking we will care.

But many do and run right out

To be the first to preen

In clothes or shoes they’ve noticed

In a fashion magazine.

Yet what if that celebrity 

Does something clearly wrong?

Attraction to his products

Suddenly won’t be as strong.

That won’t be a dilemma

For a person such as me,

Who would never, in the first place,

Purchase anything by Ye.

Marriage

Marriage is a give and take,

A push and then a pull,

With patience tanks that vary

From flat empty up to full.

 

You go along with plans that you’d

Prefer had not been made,

But next time it’s your spouse’s turn,

Unhappiness displayed.

 

Yet somewhere in the middle

There’s a balance that’s achieved.

The yin and yang combine

And all good feelings are retrieved.

 

Unless they don’t, when scales are tipped

And things veer way off course,

Resulting in no give, just take,

Which leads to a divorce.

Parasail

In Florida, the family met

For dinner by the beach.

A parasail came into view,

Which sent the gulls a’screech.

 

My aunt, who’s 94, exclaimed,

“I’d like to take that ride

To celebrate my 95^th,

With someone by my side.”

 

We all cracked up, a funny joke,

But looking at her face,

We weren’t sure – could this be something

That she might embrace?”

 

If so, who’d keep her company?

For none of us would go.

We decided on my sister

Who, not there, could not say no.

 

A lot can happen in a year,

Though surely, without fail,

There’ll be a poem next August

If my aunt does parasail!

At the Airport Early

When you’re at the airport early,

You can chill out and relax 

Since there aren’t many stressors 

That will stop you in your tracks.

You’ve already dealt with traffic 

And returned the rental car.

Once you’ve made it through security,

Head to the nearest bar.

Have a drink or two or twenty

Or, if drinking’s not your style,

Find a Starbucks, grab a coffee

Or walk circles for a mile.

Check out stores and spend some money;

Buy a t-shirt or some chips,

Then just find a place to settle

And plop down to rest your hips.

Read a book or do a crossword;

Text a friend or make a call.

Though the minutes may move slowly,

Just be glad they move at all.

In a while you will be boarding

To begin your journey home

And if you start feeling bored,

Then that’s the time to write a poem.