Two things you should know about me: 1 – I’ve always been crazy, but it’s kept me out of jail and 2 – I’ve always been fond of poetry and love to write verse. Below are some of my favorite amateur verses which I wrote over the last several years. None are remarkable, except to say that I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I enjoyed writing them – and I hope you’ll leave me a comment or two.

Curious Pansies
A flock of curious pansies
With brightly colored masks –
Craned their tiny slender necks
To watch me as I passed.
The curiosity I aroused –
Had a short-lived stay,
For when I circled – round behind –
No heads were turned my way.
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Katie Smiled 
Katie Smiled when we met –
Looking up from the chair she sat in;
Ann Landers, you love to get
Sweets into your column –
So, put this in:
Say I’m romantic,
Say I’m a fool – by
Looks and brains denied,
Say I’m over the Hill – but add
Katie Smiled.
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Lost In Space
Sent some messages – to a friend –
Three or four;
But silence was returned –
Nothing more.
My thoughts went out in friendship –
Launched on a special kin-ship,
Which, lost – must now –
Through space – forever soar.
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A Promise Made
Alas, the last I saw my friend,
I told him I’d see him after;
Now all is left is my regret
And memory of his laughter.

The void between that promise made –
And when it’s finally kept
Exceeds the universe I know –
In length – and height – and depth.
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Old Blue – A Tribute
Old Blue, the Heron Hero, stands alone – aloof –
Apart from the ubiquitous hosts of strange creatures
Who gawk, and talk, and move about the park.
Who watch his rituals and imagine he watches them
With the same curiosity that impels them to watch him.
Who analyze his posture – his moves – his stares –
As signs of human innateness –
And – that he cares.

Unmoved – that he is more popular
Than lesser stars on American Idol –
And more photographed than Michael Jackson, Elvis Presley –
And Marilyn Monroe –
Old Blue goes his way, unperturbed, on nature’s stage.
Shaped by evolution and rehearsed through necessity,
Old Blue wades and waits – and stares through lenses
Made precise for their singular purpose:
To spot and track a fish, his prey,
In clear or murky waters –
On a bright or cloudy day.

His weapon – a handsome, sharpened spear –
At the end of a long – graceful – neck,
Which, when drawn back, compressed and cocked
Is not unlike a coiled spring – or crossbow string.
And when Blue pulls the trigger, the spear
Is propelled with bullet-like velocity to deliver
A paralyzing stab that impales the unsuspecting fish.
This act is repeated – and, often, too –
Not to entertain admiring, doting, fans –
But, for the life of Old Blue.
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Forgotten Lines
Many a line of prose and rhyme,
Once writ bold upon my mind –
Has disappeared – quite erased,
Or else, is smeareeeed … across the page.
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Wild Ride
The dawning of that special day
Seemed just like all the rest:
I floated … in … a placid sea
With neither trough – nor crest.
But sudden – came a violent squall
And waves bore down on me –
To sweep me down a channel –
And from my placid sea.
The ride was wild and scary –
Where to? – No one to say!
But I arrived – to celebrate –
My very first – Birthday!
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Most Elusive Bird
Men hunt game birds of every stripe
They that shriek, or chirp, or pipe.
And stalk them anywhere they dwell,
Some easy prey, some hard to fell.
The most elusive bird around
Is often hunted – never found.
Many hunt the snipe – just once;
He who hunts him twice – a dunce.
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A Long Trip
There once was a man named Serenity
Who said he came from infinity.
He said he came fast,
Not once was he passed,
But it felt ——– like it took ———- an eternity.
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Anonymous
He was born unannounced,
And moves unseen,
And he’s gained immortal fame.
No one knows him,
Or where he lives –
But everyone knows his name.
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I Glanced Her Way
I liked a young girl in school,
And when we would meet in the hall –
I’d glance her way,
and she’d smile my way –
And that was the sum of it all.

The girl went away, and I had to stay;
I thought our business was through –
But many years later,
Our paths crossed again –
And we filmed a memory or two.

But she went her way, and I went my way,
And I think – of her now and then –
(Of how – I glanced her way,
And – she smiled my way) –
And ponder – a new Facebook friend?

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The Price of War
Join up brave young patriot –
Duty calls – and pride,
With flags a-waving smartly –
And a parent at each side:
One who asks you not to go,
And one who cheers you on,
Reluctant mother, willing dad –
The seeds were equal sown.
Welcome home fallen hero –
With solemn steps – and pride,
In flag-draped coffin – carried –
With a parent at each side:
One who begged you not to go,
And one who cheered you on,
Grieving mother, regretful dad –
The burden equal borne.
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