respect and reflect

quiet, please

time to think before answering

a moment to hear and take in

what is actually being said

to be able to respond

rather than react

listening is so difficult

without moments to reflect

and respect

L moves back

homesick for my own chair

looking out my window at neighbors

who come to check if my blinds

are not open by nine in the morning

homesick for my own cooking

though the crabcakes here are delicious

homesick for coffee in my own mug

as I read my Arizona newspaper

homesick for the warmth that keeps me

from shivering day and night though

my room here is warm

it is fine here

but I am ninety

I want to die at home

bouquet after bouquet

bouquet after bouquet whisper

love and celebration now that

i am 58 again for the 27th time

such outpouring beyond

my own deserving is unsettling

until i can persuade myself

to close my eyes, lie back

and thank God for blessings

i have time to try to live up to

espresso icing

see the humor in the twist

when what you expected

turns out to have its own kick

Sharing Sharon

dedicated to her second and third

generation and to the scut work

in the kitchen of the church

she shies at being thanked for service

seldom recognized or acknowledged

saying, with self-deprecation,

“I’m just one little key

in the whole piano.”

as mother and doctor

 setting things right, for me

means setting up as much as i can

to be nurturing for my family

friends and patients

i cannot protect them from all harm

i cannot heal them from disease

i can only give them what i am able

for their inner strength and insight

and for their environment to be

in their favor for health and growth

and for the caring ones around them

to know them – warts and all – as

persons to cherish, support and love

if only

haiku

dogma promises

deep trust in a commitment

of dry autumn leaves

squashed pinks

pinks of dawn meagre and pale

behind whitish-blue-gray

solid bank of cloud

ruddy flush of vivid sun rising

livid at its struggle to be seen

appeared flattened, squashed

between now darker blue cloud layers

fit to be tied to the sky

without give-way to night

for days on end      

if only

haiku

whispered promises

deep romance with commitment

of dry autumn leaves

ponder our night

where are my stars?

no longer glory

night darkness gray rather than black

Milky Way not even skim

meteor showers desiccated

city lights reflected in clouds

the man in the moon depressed

man in the moon so depressed

city lights light up the clouds

meteor showers desiccated

Milky Way no longer even skim

night darkness gray rather than black

no longer night’s glory

where are Nature’s stars?

taking control to chaos

‘taking control’ is not the same

as tearing apart

‘control’ hints at redesigning

rebuilding, moderating to make better

but the Center for Disease Control

and the Presidential Cabinet Secretary

of Health and Human Services

being in the charge of people

with no medical training would seem

to imply willful incompetence

and deliberate demolition of needful

functions for the good health of Americans

no one can control chaos or entropy

one can only attempt to re-build

inevitably at greater cost

bluff, bloat and betrayal

poor Bluffo-Bribo

never grasped that to tear down

means that what is now chaos

will go on by Nature’s law, entropy

which can be relied upon

for utter destruction

While the Justice Department will do,

if not based on man’s rule of law,

the bidding of whoever is strongest

and bloat is not the equal of strength

bully boy

Tommy Frooby was a bully

head and shoulders bigger

than Chris and me as he

and two buddies came at us

as we crossed the city-block field

But Tommy’s sneering demands

made me mad and i went after him

with both fists—i won

Later, he went after my sister

G.P.

my best general practitioner is retiring

i am glad for him, as he gives of himself

he listens and deliberates, not what is easiest, but what is best long-term 

then spreads out his plan

for his patient to consider with him

he deserves to fulfill his own joys

i will miss his care but i wish him well

give entropy its due

those who lean on constructs

like ‘rule of law,’ or  ‘civilization,’

had better remember that entropy

is powerful in the universe

and tends to tear what is built

into chaos that must countered

what took years or centuries to build

can be destroyed in months or weeks

and will take far longer to re-construct

auto me nothing, please

at times, auto-correct or suggestion

of what i wanted to say next

on my computer helps

but mostly it interrupts and distracts

and causes me to backtrack and fix

and, like a backseat driver,

i’d like to leave it off at the next

intersection of its thoughts v mine

autumn hues gambol

colors pirouetting

in chill-edged draughts

green costumes changed

for final bow to yellow

golden, orange, auburn

ruby, burgundy, red

and, rarely, blue

nods and curtseys

to the reality of cycle

oh, Bluffo, where?

 poor Bluffo Bribo

handed a moral compass

was told he held a direction finder

to the greatest treasure vault

but he couldn’t find it

even when he stopped to ask directions

of those he’d chosen as advisors

skim

haiku

cream skimmed off the top

takes richness from skinny-armed

pot-bellied children

color in motion

sea water aggravated by stubborn basalt

gray-green whipped to blue-green

veined with foam white smashed

against purplish brown to billow

into misting columns rising

collapsing into whitened channels

in rock vulnerable from melting

cooling, now attacked again and again

with each wave clawing at its surface

as it recedes gray-green again with

bits and specs of earth ensnared

and yielded to mother ocean

creative builder as well as destroyer