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

persons v people

persons i can talk with and care for

people tend to gang up and forget

to honor the ones opposite

as human beings worthy of respect

i cringe when my world gets ‘people-y’

because i do not enjoy fighting

but i’m good at it

what more can i say?

if wrinkles are interesting

i must be fascinating

if clean bad jokes make you smile

you’ll love conversations with me

if you know deep pain

you’ll find me a listener

why isn’t it ‘NO one is above the law?’

why do we put up with slandering

or belittling or outright lies?

why do tolerate ‘alternative facts’

when proof and truth can be

whatever anyone wants it to be

rather than what is mindfully

agreed upon?

why isn’t the rule of law what

we demand of our policy makers?

what have we given up and

what have we gained by doing so?

just a bit exaggerated?

on these hot days i try to picture

the Portland TV reporter standing

at Sylvan Hill with snowflakes

drifting around her and melting

into the wet sidewalk while she

exclaimed, “We’re reporting

from a white-out!”

play off

so many months of work

so many moments of frustration

with the computer

with finding feedback

with my ability as a playwright

until this morning

i gleefully

hopefully

relievedly

e-mailed ‘Freddy’s Wake’

to compete in the world

aaaaahh

that tomorrow i will consider

how it should have been done

i will leave for tomorrow to face

remember to respect

my eyes are tired as i work hours

at a setting on my play

while the summer heat

builds the allergy count

just outside my window

but i am not wielding a pickax

or tarring a road under the hot sun

so, i have little to complain of

when so many as worthy as i

are working in greater pain

dawn present

haiku

mountain silhouettes

backlighted by sunrise gold

glorious God gift

alas, a lack

poor Bluffo, despised

by brother humans for greed

lacking empathy

flower-whispered

haiku

flower-whispered love

colors nurture our courage

bid us pray to God

in a jiffy

oil change was interesting

as i sat in my car watching

a half dozen black-uniformed men

check and measure, open, fill and close

haul out air filters clogged with

dirt and debris needing to be changed

efficient, thorough and courteous

so good to be serviced by people

who know what they are doing