Revel

you are wrong to record your life as it happens to video and snap and live don't waste your time documenting be there in the moment at that moment revel dance joyfully in its presence you are wrong to record your life as it happens live it

Stop and Drop and Roll Away

They are driving me

to spend more time
and money
and attention
on entertainment
because
they keep doing things
that makes me mad
and irritates
and angers
me constantly
and
I can only handle so much
before I have to stop
and drop
and roll
away

December

December is bittersweet bitter memories of people passed sweet experiences with people present You have to take the bitter with the sweet or all that's left is bitter.

Cost

When I am gone Don't spend your time Thinking of me The cost is too high The past is past The present too valuable.

Blank Eyes

While blank eyes stare at me from across the room My poetry flows easier than their thoughts

Human Condition

The human condition will be the death of humanity Our inability to understand life outside our experience is so human We have so far to go yet we have so little ability to grow We can't see ourselves as valuable life forms What hope do new life forms have?

I Stood in the Snow

I stood in the snow and remembered sledding and snowballs and hot chocolate and cold, wet clothes and it is sad to think this part of my life has been over for so long I stood in the snow and remembered

Holidays

The holidays are hard

now that my parents are goneand my grandparents Each year it seems I have one less placewhere I feel at home

Snow Day Sick Day

Snow Day Sick Day I am at home either way I don't understand I cannot say should I be glad or should I be mad? I am at home either way It sucks to be sick I really must say.

Pictures In the Hallway

In the hallway of my school
There are pictures of former students
Their graduation photos reflect the excitement
and promise for the future the must have felt
Most are gone now, graduating from this life.
And I wonder, where did their time go?
My own picture hangs in a hallway and
students must look at it and wonder about me.
What was his life like?
Just as I ponder the lives of those in my hallway.

The Power of Other People's Words

The Power of Other People's Words

Rarely do we inspire ourselves
We don't say or write things that
make us want to do better
or be better.

But the power of other people's words
can cause us to stop and pause,
reflecting on parts of our lives
we have long forgot.

The power of other people's words
can inspire us to change our lives
or work to change the lives
of others.

The power of other people's words
can demand we take action
to vocalize our anger, or terror
or dismay.

The power of other people's words
make me want to do better,
to be better.

That is the power of other people's words!

Poem, September 8

What is a life well-lived?
Can a short life measure compare
to a longer one?
What is more valuable, excitement and adventure
or longevity and consistency?
Do you prefer the idea of celebrating
your retirement or others celebrating
at your wake?
Do the dead enjoy memories of a life gone too soon
or of a long-lived life?

Poem, September 7

What will it mean
when I hold my first grandchild?

Will I finally be able to accept I am no longer young,
That my time to be an adult is overdue?

Will I reject the feelings of age, rebelling against societies (or my own)
expectations of what a GRANDPA must necessarily be?

Will I simply quit, for a moment at least, living in my head
and finally enjoy the simple pleasure of holding a new baby?

Poem, September 6

Game Day Ritual

Turn the channel to College Gameday
I need to see what They say about the Hogs.
I wait for the phone call from dad.
The ritual of the phone call every time they play

Except
He won't be calling anymore
That ritual died when he did.

Then
comes the text.
Are you ready for the game?
A new game day ritual starts with my daughter.

Poem, September 5

Nostalgia

You don't know what you've got 'til it's gone meant
nothing to a teenager who had everything
and had lost so little

Amazing how the songs of youth
become the painful triggers of the old

You see, nostalgia isn't about recapturing joy of the past
it is instead a way to escape the painful
memories of the present

Poem, September 4

How much time should a teacher spend
Learning more about the content
Simply to keep alive the love
and excitement
Of learning more about the content?