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.

Thanks in advance

Ian Hunter4 Comments

When I first started to write stuff

It was easy to write a poem

I had lots of stories in my head

They were often dusty but tellable

My well of old stories ran dry

Plagiarism was not the answer

I had to dig deeper

Find new subjects to write about

I started to focus on objects

Imagining that they were alive

The dishwasher had funny stories to tell

My closet was full of gossip

Some days everything goes quiet

The trees stop whispering to me

The clouds are all asleep

Sunrise is aloof and gives me a polite silent smile

In desperation I started to write fiction

Creating characters in my head

I give them the freedom to act

They perform and I take notes

My actors are great for a week or so

Then they mysteriously disappear

I have no idea where they go

The stage in my mind becomes empty and quiet

My feelings are ever so dependable

Take a chair Mr Happiness

Spill everything while your psychiatrist scribbles

The inner peace and love poetry soon goes stale

I desperately want more tools in my writing toolbox

It just came to me in a flash right now

I can write about all the amazing people I know

My next poem might be about you

Cavemen technology was like rocket science back then

Ian HunterLeave a comment

I have always been fascinated by the process of evolution.  Its amazing how technology has advanced through inventions and discoveries.

The first systems of writing can be traced back to 3400 BC but this was not a unique occurrence.

Over the next two thousand years, at least three other full writing systems were invented independently in different parts of the world.  Inventions can also be traced back to multiple origins.

The blast furnace was invented independently in Africa, China and Europe.  Magnetism was discovered independently in Greece, China and India. 

In the field of chemistry, oxygen was discovered by multiple independent scientists across the globe. Its hard to swallow that all these multiple discoveries and inventions were just coincidental examples of serendipity.  

I wonder if humans are destined to evolve from cavemen to rocket scientists and beyond in a pre-programmed way. Perhaps is there something coded in our DNA which precipitates discoveries and inventions when we are presented with the right combinations of data and physical elements. Whoever manages to crack that code will discover the meaning of life.

We look back in history and deem our ancestors to be primitive but they were all at the peak of groundbreaking technology for their time.  We will seem equally primitive today by those who will look back on us thousands of years from now.  

Recently I saw a rocket launched from the Wallops space center. I was in awe for a few moments but soon after returned to my daily tasks as if I had just seen something routine.  Rocket science is not rocket science if you are a rocket scientist.  

Live your life with meaning……….SLOWLY

Ian Hunter1 Comment

sometimes we move way too fast

running from home to the gym

racing from the gym to the office

not taking a break at work

dashing to the store

grabbing a bite in a restaurant

drinking a quick nightcap at a bar

then home to sleep before doing it all over again

no time to pause or reflect

not stopping to smell the roses

but when you do slow down

it all becomes so much clearer

time slows down too

you realize that you are blessed to have

-eyes for seeing

-a mouth for tasting

-a voice for talking

-ears for listening

-hands for feeling

-lips for kissing

-a heart for falling in love

-feet for walking

-a mind for pondering

memories to cherish

suddenly…..

the roses smell incredible

sunsets look so spectacular

home cooked meals taste delicious

voices sound so sweet

music makes you dance

you can take a walk

while holding hands

and being in love

that kiss under moonlight

makes everlasting memories

you can still dream big

get all your work done

and live your life with meaning

But…………………..slowly

Unsubscribe is my new mantra

Ian HunterLeave a comment

My emails are out of control

Around 100 new emails  arrive every day

Mostly unsolicited marketing stuff

I only open emails I recognize as important

The unopened ones pile up

Its too much effort to delete them all

I recently decided to purge all my incoming emails

Opening every email daily and hunting for the unsubscribe option

Its always in fine print hidden away

Often it takes you to a second page to confirm 

After a couple of weeks the flow is starting to subside

New ones still pop up uninvited

My name must be on mailing lists that are being passed around

I will have to make the unsubscribe a daily ritual

Perhaps I can extend it to other parts of my life

When those annoying commercials come on TV

It would be great to have an unsubscribe button on the TV remote

The commercial instantly stops broadcasting and will never repeat

When you answer a robo call on your phone

It would be nice if you could just say unsubscribe

The caller hangs up and never calls again

When at a bar and some really boring guy in the next seat keeps chatting to you

You ask the bartender to unsubscribe you from him

He instantly stops bugging you

When somebody is tailgating you on the freeway

You hit the unsubscribe button on your rear view mirror

Their car is made to slowdown and back off

When you get a pile of junk snailmail

Toss it all into your smart unsubscribe trash can

Where it scans the senders and deletes you from their mailing lists

If your bills are getting to be too expensive for your budget

Hit the unsubscribe option to stop getting them

Unwanted callers ringing your smart front doorbell

Unsubscribe to have them teleported away

Tired of your partner in that bad relationship

Hit unsubscribe and they instantly vanish forever

If you are really old and sick with no quality of life

Hit unsubscribe and go straight to heaven

Unicorn in an Aloft Hotel

Ian Hunter1 Comment

In the lobby of an Aloft hotel

Images streaming on a TV screen

A unicorn strutting around

Walking by a building

He goes up an escalator

Sees a mirror

Lays down

A spaceship arrives

Hovers over the unicorn

Beams him up in a bubble

The top of the spaceship is a building

The unicorn appears in a room

Still inside a bubble

He floats higher

The side of the building opens up

To reveal a Starbucks coffee shop

The door opens into the restrooms

The unicorn appears with rockets on his sides

He flies away

I saw all this back in 2019

I am still trying to figure out what its all about

candle lit in prayer

Ian HunterLeave a comment

Sick friend

Candle lit

Prayers said

Candle flickers

More prayers

Candle flickers

Hope eternal

Candle flickers

Praying harder

Candle flickers

Thoughts wander

Candle flickers

Memories flash

Candle flickers

Years back

Candle flickers

Friend laughing

Candle flickers

Treasured memories

Candle flickers

Back now

Friend smiles

Candle flickers

Friend fighting

Candle flickers

No surrender

Candle flickers

killing no birds with just a few words

Ian Hunter1 Comment

We often find birds on the deck near our sliding windows

Occasionally they are alive and winded

Hyperventilating and desperately trying to recover

Before a predator snaps them up

I stand guard over the winded ones until they fly away

Sadly we find most of them already expired

I looked up ways to prevent these unintended bird collisions

The first suggestion was to put blue tape on the windows

Start with tape from corner to corner making a big X

Then tape a vertical cross to make a big star symbol

The sort of thing people do in pending hurricanes

As if the howling wind is somehow repelled by blue markings

I am not sure if it works for either case but I will not be trying it

The next suggestion was to cover the glass with soapy water

The theory being that all those bubbles will make the surface more visible to birds

I this case you will get the added bonus of cleaning your windows

Sort of like killing two birds with one stone

Or should that be killing no birds with two bubbles

I will not be trying that either because soap bubbles soon slide off glass

It would be much better to capture a few birds

Form a class and teach them all to read

Once they are all good readers

Send them to teacher training classes

Release them so they can teach all the other birds read

Then put up a small sign in the yard

Beware Of Flying Into The Sliding Glass Doors

No more dead birds on the deck

Add an accessory to your bird feeder

Miniature clip on books creating a bird reader

Bird literacy rates will soar

Killing no birds with just a few words

its a Maryland thing

Ian HunterLeave a comment

Picking blue crabs is something very special in Maryland

Its generally a family and friends gathering taking three hours or more

Fresh crabs are steamed with old bay seasoning and dumped whole onto a table covered in paper

Then the fun starts by pulling off the legs, peeling off the back and scraping away the intestines before picking out the sweet crabmeat chunks

A wooden mallet and a knife are the simple tools of the trade

Typically steamed crabs are consumed with fresh corn, hush puppies and fried chicken all washed down with copious amounts of cold beer

Its a summer tradition with local crabs being harvested from April to November

Local restaurants specialize in steamed crab feasts offering all you can eat options

Watermen sell steamed crab by the bushel for home consumption 

Its a real skill to extract the meat from a steamed crab but anybody can do it with practice

Holding up a fingernail size chunk brings admiration from your fellow diners as they pick away at tiny morsels of the sweet white crab meat

Its a hazardous activity as sharp crab edges easily cut fingers open letting that salty old bay spice rub into those open wounds for added pain

But the thrill of the chase and the group banter make it all worthwhile

You can take blue crabs out of Maryland but you can never take the blue crab picking out of a Marylander

Stories matter

Ian HunterLeave a comment
Photo by Suzy Hazelwood on Pexels.com

Times are changing

Keep on moving

Don’t stand still

Go with the flow

Times are changing

Adapt and absorb

Swerve and duck

Be totally flexible

Times are changing

Minesweeper running

Stepping carefully

Click bang boom

Times are changing

Limbs are missing

Months of rehab

Learn to walk again

Times are changing

Don’t give up

Keep on moving

Beautiful sunrise 

Times are changing  

Aquire new skills

Guitar lessons

Form a band

Times are changing

Writing hit songs

Performing and touring

Famous and wealthy

Times are changing

Friends lost contact

Surrounded by associates

Who spend your money

Times are changing

Retire from performing

Move to remote place

Stop answering calls

Times are changing

Become a writer

Smell the roses

Stories matter

nosnow n nomow

Ian Hunter2 Comments

Every week these little green men fly down from Mars. They ride around outside our new home on scooters eating up all the grass. Some of them use noisy sticks to chomp up the bits of grass the scooter Martians cannot reach.  Not sure what its all about but it saves me from mowing the lawn.

I hate snow, I hate shoveling snow, I hate it so much that we winter in Florida every year to avoid the mid-Atlantic winter.

nosnow n nomow!