Planning trip
Destination debating
Itinerary drafting
Brainstorming ideas
European adventure
Mediterranean cruise
Departs Rome
Go early
Rome tourism
Explore Tuscany
Then cruise
Onward London
See family
Visit daughter
Hug grandson
Make memories
Return home
Decided itinerary
Cruise booked
Find flights
Hotel reservations
Train tickets
Plans made
Dates fixed
Family onboard
Calendar entry
Counting days
Anticipation growing
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
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.
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
Cheeky Monkey Poetry 