Author: Ian Hunter

I retired from the energy business in 2014 and started writing poetry. At first I shared my writing with family and friends. Then I set myself a challenge to write a poem every day for a year. After meeting that goal I just kept going and started this blog in 2021. I hope you enjoy reading my poems. Remember happiness is just a state of mind and poetry is great nourishment.

Hot tea and a wave from a friendly dolphin

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On the west coast of Florida

I sat outside by the dock early one morning

A hot cup of tea by my side

The low sun donated a temporary pink hue to the fluffy white clouds

The light breeze danced on the water to make tiny ripples

Birds sang their daily dawn chorus

No sign of human activity

It was my time to be alone with nature

I watched an egret stepping through the shallows

Stealthily searching for sustenance

Just like all other animals

Food water and shelter are their essential yet simple needs

Animals have no need to be fed news 24/7

They have no stress induced by pandemic worries or politics

I wondered what it would be like to have the mind of an animal

Suddenly I saw a big splash in the water

A dolphin surfaced close to the dock

He was probably feeding on small fish

Surfacing again about ten feet from me

We made eye contact briefly

It was long enough for us both to size each other up

I am sure he was thinking about me

Wondering what this human was doing up so early

He swirled around and leapt up high

Slapping his tail on the surface with a loud crack

It was his way of saying hi to me

I waved back and smiled next time he surfaced

I am pretty sure he smiled at me before he swam off

He probably went to his pod to tell them about the human who smiled and waved at him

I could not wait to tell everybody about my fabulous start to the day

Hot tea and a wave from a friendly dolphin

Save the planet, eat carbs and put cemeteries in space

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Its that time of year

The festivities are over

Put away the Christmas tree

Eat the last of the chocolate gifts

Step on the scales and gasp

Riddle yourself with guilt and remorse

Get back on the diet again

Dust off the exercise machine

Sign up for that gym yet again

Why not make some more resolutions

Do something to save the planet

Reduce your carbon footprint

While you reduce your expanded waistline

But wait there is a huge problem here

A sedentary person breathes out 2.3 pounds of CO2 per day

Vigorous exercise increases this eight fold

Diet and exercise can explode your carbon footprint

If everybody on the planet exercised continuously

It would release 98 Billion tons of CO2 into the atmosphere annually

Best we all stay at home and eat more carbs

Become a responsible citizen and store carbon in your body

Sit on the couch and exhale less often

But what about when you die

Where will all your stored carbon go

Cremation sends it into the atmosphere

Burial is probably a slow release back into the earth

Best you get launched into space

If each rocket has a payload of say 150,000 pounds

That could propel 1,000 dead carbon storage people into space

We will need 56,000 rocket launches a year to keep up with death rate

Hopefully they will have low carbon footprint rocket launchers by then

Just mail/email/call/text/WhatsApp/visit me

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I can remember as a child getting letters in the mail

It was ever so exciting

A birthday card or maybe a gift

Perhaps a long letter from a distant aunt

As I got older, letters became less exciting

Bills and junk mail filled the mailbox

People hardly ever write letters anymore

Opening the mail has become a chore

Something I do maybe once a week

Standing over the trash can and tossing most letters unopened

The rest are usually bills which have been paid electronically

I can remember the days of answering the phone every time it rang

Back then our landline had no caller ID

There were no robo sales calls in that era

Today I only answer calls from people I know

The rest go to voicemail

I can remember when I got my first personal email account

It was exciting to get the new email alerts

There were no junk emails as only trusted friends had my email address

Then slowly but surely emails became boring

Daily barrages of sales pitches

Malicious emails trying to trick you into virus traps

Today I leave most of my emails unopened and delete them

I can remember when texting was a novelty

No need to make or receive phone calls

Few people want to talk on the phone anymore

Especially if the call is out of the blue

Just send a quick text message

Sorry I will be 15 mins late

Don’t forget to buy milk

Call me please

Then came the group texting messages like WhatsApp

Great for planning a party or an event

But if you don’t keep on top of your texts

You can easily be 50 messages behind the rest of the group

I can remember the excitement of hearing the doorbell ring

Rushing to open the door and say hello

It might be a friend surprising you

That does not happen anymore

Today I check the doorbell App before going to the door

I can see who is there on the doorbell camera

If I don’t know the person, I might just ignore them

So if you really want to see me in person

Write me an old fashioned letter telling me you will be sending an email

In your email let me know you will be calling me on the phone

I probably won’t pickup so leave a voicemail that you will text me

Text me to say when you will sending me a group text

Then send a group text to the whole household

Stating the date and time you will show up at the house

When you arrive please ring our doorbell and talk into the camera

If you are lucky, somebody might just open the door and greet you

Golden silence

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no blazing orange sunrise today

no blistering early morning heat

welcome clouds fill the skies

passing showers cool the hot ground

flowering plants breath a sigh of relief

searing summer heat has briefly retreated

vanished is the breeze

stillness descends over the bay

trees are frozen in time and space

motionless leaves resting peacefully

a heron mimics a statue in the shallows

no watermen plowing through the sleeping bay

no passing pleasure boaters at dawn

the daytime roaring jet skiers are still in bed dreaming

at this magical hour I claim the bay to be mine

alone with just my thoughts and nature

I dare not whisper

to break the golden silence of this beautiful morning

morning star

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I rose early before dawn

gazing at the morning star

Venus was shining brightly

low in the eastern sky

a world without a moon

nor oceans or rivers

our barren sister planet

with no protective magnetic field

lashed by the solar winds

a planet too hot to support life

yet she still rises early mornings

to watch over her flowering sister

I became intensely aware

that miracles were essential

to bring us the gift of life on earth

One day of battle won

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Early morning silence shrouded in darkness

She lays in bed after a short unsettling sleep

Her mind acutely aware of the pains of old age

Limbs ache and stiff joints resist motion

Her mind tells her to ignore the pain

She tries to remain totally still and avoid any muscle movement

Shunning her medication as it slows down her thoughts

Its an ongoing war with daily battles

Sometimes those battles are lost and she swallows the pills

Today the pillbox sits untouched on the nightstand

She reaches out to the left side in the bed

Feeling the empty space once occupied by her recently departed husband

Her heart aches at the memory of his loss

There is no medication prescribed for such pain

She lingers a while conjuring up images of their life together

Long walks holding hands

Romantic dinners together

Bringing up a family

Smiling faces on vacations

Playing with their grandchildren

Before he was suddenly taken away after a short illness

Her hands scream in pain as she clutches the empty bedsheets

A long glance at the pills starts a fierce debate

Another day of pain or medically induced numbness

Why not take the whole box of pills she pondered

It would put and end to these constant battles

She reached out to grab he pill bottle

Recoiling sharply as she heard a voice yell no don’t do it

It was her husband no mistake

She put the light on replied where are you?

There was nobody else in the room

She sighed and reached again for the pill bottle

Please don’t take the pills he screamed

OK honey she answered knowing he was watching over her

Reaching out to smooth the wrinkled sheets on her husband’s side of the bed

Her arthritic fingers resisted but she overcame the pain

I promise not to swallow the whole bottle of pills she said softly

She never went near the pill bottle for the rest of that day

One day of battle won

Pulling back the sheets at bedtime

Her husband’s side of the bed was already wrinkled

A man of all sizes

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we all need to buy things that fit our body size

clothing is an essential need unless you are a nudist

selecting the right bicycle for your size is important

if you play golf make sure you select the right club length

lets start with what you put on your feet

if you were born in the US you will know your shoe size

when you go to Europe Mexico Australia China or the UK

be prepared for a totally different shoe size

does your foot change shape when you step outside the US

perhaps air travel induces permanent ankle swelling

do walking styles differ internationally

maybe Australians have more toes than Europeans

mens jackets are sold according to chest size

with options in regular or long

sometimes I fit a regular jacket and other times its a long

maybe my arms grow and shrink depending on the weather

I went to a bicycle store for a fitting 

I sat on a machine that adjusted the seat position

they measured my power output for a range of settings

then told me I needed a size 58cm

not all bicycles are sold in cm sizes

some manufacturers only offer small medium large and XL

worse still these sizes are not universal

one make in a medium is equivalent to a large in another make

I looked through my closet today

scanning the sizes of my shirts and cycling jerseys

all these items fit me today

but their labelled sizes range from L to XL and XXL

somebody needs to invent a body sizing App

where my phone maps my entire shape and form

then when I want to buy anything at all to fit me

I can just use the App and tell them I am size “Ian”

From Sputnik1 to CPAP nightly orbits

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One of my earliest childhood memories

Was walking one cold night with my dad

Peering up into the dark sky between lots of twinkling stars

He pointed out a moving object streaking across the sky

Told me it was the Russian satellite called Sputnik1

The first ever satellite put into orbit

I honestly don’t remember if I actually saw it

But I can recall the intense excitement we shared

He loved technology and his stories sparked my imagination about space travel

A few years later Yuri Gagarin was first man in space

I was spellbound and wanted to learn everything about rockets 

Telling everybody I was going to be an astronaut when I grew up

Visions of myself wearing an oxygen mask with tubing at high altitude

The first manned moon landing was a very exciting time

I was fifteen years old the and already committed to be an engineer

Following every step on TV with baited breath

Later studying aerodynamics during my Mechanical Engineering degree

I finally understood the physics of rocket science and space travel

I never quite made it to piloting a rocket though

Marriage and a family became my priority over space travel

I entered the world of work and my career took off like a rocket

Flying millions of miles on passenger jets during 4 decades of Corporate life

Looking out of windows from 30,000 feet while sipping on cocktails and working on my laptop

Seeing many different terrains and vast unpopulated areas as I edited my Powerpoint presentations

I still had the urge to travel in space one day

Many years later I retired from corporate life and witnessed the start of commercial spaceflights

The mega wealthy paying huge sums to ride in orbit

Having to accept that I will never ride in space with those Billionaires

But I can still live my dream as a CPAPONAUT

Now I dress up in my own little spacesuit every night at bedtime

My CPAP machine has a long breathing tube

Connected to a full face mask strapped to my head

I can hear every breath through the mask

It feels like I am wearing a space helmet 

I close my eyes and think about being blasted into orbit

Soon I am fast asleep and dreaming of space travel

Orbiting high with my CPAP lifeline watching Sputnik1 and Apollo 11 fly by

My dad is there smiling with me

I parachute back to earth in my dreams before morning

Taking off my CPAP space helmet after re-entering earth’s atmosphere

I walk to the bathroom whispering to myself

That’s one small CPAPstep for man, one giant CPAPleap for mankind

I try But Sometimes…And

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I try to be good

Always do the right thing

But sometimes I mess up

And it all goes south

I try to be nice

To everybody I encounter

But sometimes I slip up

And treat somebody unfairly

I try to be kind

Help anybody in need

But sometimes I hesitate 

And miss an opportunity

I try to be truthful

In everything I say

But sometimes I gloss over

And tell a little white lie

I try to forgive

When others do me wrong

But sometimes I don’t forgive

And I end up regretting that

I try to keep in touch

With friends and family

But sometimes it goes too long

And friendships drift away

I try not to gossip

Or run down my friends

But sometimes I do

And it makes me feel bad

I try to be happy

Spreading joy to others

But sometimes I am sad

And it shows

I try to forgive myself

when I make a mistake

But sometimes its a really big mistake

And I just beat myself up for a long time

I try to be trustworthy

Never meaning to break a promise

But sometimes I slip up

And then I deeply regret letting somebody down

I try and write a new poem daily

Posting on my blog at 6am every morning

But sometimes I run out of time or inspiration

And I post something I wrote before the blog started

I try………But sometimes…….And