Y’ever notice ‘I love you’
endears itself to ‘All of you’
with nasal ‘I’-turned-open ‘ah’
like sound-induced diplopia¹?

A tipsy turn of any phrase
can meet an ear in countless ways —
an accent here or quiver there
will shift vibrations in the air

So agile is the play of word
it varies from what’s said and heard —
from phonemes² of teeth, tongue and lip
we mold our sounds to song and quip

Regardless of the prime intent
a message changes from what’s meant
when filtered through the culture blitz
and inner barkers trading crits

With right attention we…

Lifeline

I’m on the dash between two dates
A threaded timeline knit by Fates
Though taut to see, it winds in truth
From intertwining points of youth
I zigged to toddler, zagged to man
Meandering along the span
And still I wiggle, twist and bend
Despite the looming segment’s end
No path was ever quite so fine
As can be cut to but a line

Interstates

I was I were I’ve been I am I’m being I’d be I’ll be
Commiserate and conjugate the multiverse of me
The antecedent, primal self, intuitive and keen
To comprehend the alibi of all that’s ever been
The…

On the surface it’s easy to see what you will
Maybe someone looks fine but is actually ill
A disturbance of spirit or body or mind
That may worsen by having exchanges unkind
If you’re passing by people who seem this or that
Just remember — we’re clueless about where they’re at

It’s a see-saw of senses we move with each day
Jumbled thoughts and pretenses can muddy the way
Finding focus and now-ness takes disciplined views
Which is tough amid ceaselessly negative news
But persistent ideals will turn pain into gold
We can alchemize crises and raise the threshold

…

State of emergency condo collapse → lapse
Miami rescuers searching through scraps → maps
In a home by the beach → haven
What a terrible breach → cave-in

Who inspects after decades elapse?

Trapped under rubble imploring release → please
Awaiting a rescue, familial peace → ease
So much desolate news → those
Cycling bottomless blues → woes

Will these careless events ever cease?

Mostly avertible, derelict acts → lax
Focused on econ, not having their backs → cracks
With a heart-first approach → bleed
There’s no need for reproach → greed

Hoping families will soon find some pax.¹

There…

The Beginning
In an earthenware pot
By a Spanish-style wall
Lives a Grandfather plant
Growing colonnades tall
For the past several years
He’s been wandering-prone
With his cacti confab
Set in dirt topped with stone
Although waxy and green
He is wise beyond years
With a pensive rapport
That brings many to tears
Though conditions may change —
Water, light, heat and air
He continues to form
Sacred lessons to share

The Blooming
After four or five tours
Grow the once-a-year flors
Near the tip of the stem
Budding dually to fours
Dimly-bounded for hours
Crowning right in their time
Plying sunlight for powers
Toward a transient prime
Though…

For the halcyon lexicon

Not all the dinosaurs fell prey
To Chixulub¹ or climate change
A sole survivor lives today
Whose presence augments verbal range

It’s not a scaly, feathered brute
That dominates the earthly plane
No, neither hairy nor hirsute
This treasury that stokes the brain

How frequently it paves the way
When vocab’s less than aurous²
This list, not lizard, by Roget —
The clever, wise Thesaurus

—

Forsooth³, what joy it is to find
A bygone word to trace
The speech that once propelled a civ
Or bearh⁴ a sacred space

Its letters, that no longer spell
Or…

Wispy strands of silver fur
Stuff the air conditioner
Filaments of luscious coat
Congregating in my throat

Fluffy tail a swishy plume
Could be used to dust a room
Certainly to brush a gam,
Trail some litter, bless a jamb

Paws with pads that kiss the floor
Skittish sprints from traction poor
Chasing balls and pincher bugs
Claiming turf on all the rugs

Dewy eyes that plead to play
Golden as the proof of day
Swell to orb and faint to line
Morphing like a prisma-spline

This ear east and that one west
Split the sounds from home and nest
Even napping…

Please stop the wheel, I’m getting off
For on and on it goes
The need to win is funding spin
That cycles somber throes

We can’t continue at this pace
Without a break for peace
To heal the root of each dispute
The baseless hate must cease

The time has come, the time is now
The people cry, “Enough!”
Yet bombs persist and points are missed
By man-boys playing tough

The lobbied leaders of the land
Who claim to serve us well
Pretend to care, but it’s hot air
When deeds betray the sell

Disinfo’s running rampantly
And dialogue’s a gun
Can…