Training

 Training 

I laugh, looking back.

The years speed up—

Florida traffic when the snowbirds arrive.

Red lights feel optional—unless you remember you’re in one. I’ve seen enough to strip the naiveté from faith.

Crashes—car parts flung in a wide, bright ring of road. A debris field like the war my mother saw at five: waking to sirens, running in nightclothes, my grandmother scooping up five children and saying, now.

My shoulders are broad—

one of my better features—

as I round the corner of 69.

No one notices—until you’re treading water in the Gulf and need something to hold you up.

Yes, we were immigrants. I became a U.S. citizen in Honolulu forty years ago. We came by plane, sponsored by family; I was an infant in my mother’s arms while Germany still counted the cost of war.

I got a chance at a better life—better than my mama had. The man I married was a brute: brilliant, cruel. I loved him. I loathed him. He showed me the world and taught me to fight for my place in it. Years went by, soldiering on. Still, I learned: keep your head, keep moving, and don’t let the wreckage be the end of you.

Chasing Hope

 Chasing Hope

 

I try to catch up—

to the woman climbing the hill ahead of me,

the same rise of pavement I swear remembers our footsteps.

She’s there most mornings—steady as a sunrise,

moving with a brisk, practiced stride that doesn’t waste breath.

Her outfit matches the season—

light layers when the air still holds onto night, a brighter shirt when the day turns bold,

good shoes, a cap pulled low, a water bottle that catches the sun like glass.

She’s sensibly dressed for the climb, for sweat, for weather that changes its mind.

And still—she carries a smile the whole way,

as if she knows something kind about the day before the day has proven it.

I want to meet her, not just follow her shape up the slope—

to fall into step beside her, where conversation feels easy and unforced.

But she rounds the bend the way certainty does—

one clean turn, and she’s gone, swallowed by trees and distance.

The neighbor’s dog barks as I pass—sharp and sudden—guarding the invisible border of “too late.”

I picture the talks we might have if I ever caught her—

politics, sure—spoken softly, as you do with strangers before they become neighbors,

current events that arrive on screens overnight and feel different in morning air,

the weather—humidity, wind, the first hint of rain—small forecasts we can test.

Maybe she’d tell me her name and laugh at how long it took me to ask.

Maybe I’d admit I’m still learning how to begin—how to step forward without an excuse.

Hope, I realize, looks a lot like someone who keeps walking even when no one is watching.

Maybe I should jog, let my breath turn ragged for a minute, just to close the gap.

Maybe I should get up earlier, when the streetlights are still on, and the world feels unfinished.

Maybe I’ll meet her tomorrow—at the start of the hill, before the bend decides for me.

 

 

 

Pulling Weeds

 Pulling Weeds

Takes dedication—

effort, time management,

and self-discipline (the unglamorous kind).

The payoff usually shows up as blisters,

a few bruises, and the occasional puncture wound.

Plus deep-knee bends, squats,

ducking under the prickly bushes.

The result is rewarding—

but limited to the growth hours left in this season.

 

Leadership

 

It seems

doesn’t ask for any of that.

Unless you count sleeplessness,

ranting in the wee hours,

collecting enemies (including faith leaders),

choosing a gift for the dictator’s

birthday party,

starting wars, grabbing oil,

suing the government, and cutting deals

which, for some, is apparently easy.

Go team.

No kneepads required. 

Calm After The Storm

 Calm After The Storm

Today we awaken—
soft light trembling on our faces—
First, to absorb the hush of shock,
emotions streaming from tired eyes,
hands worn by the trials behind us,
unable to summon applause,
even as triumph calls.
Yet still, we rise.

We rise, we rise—
from shadows into light,
with hope reborn at dawn,
our hearts unbowed, our spirits strong.
Through every storm,
still, we rise—
to greet the day,
to claim the calm we’ve won.

 

In the hush,
we find the seeds of hope,
rest in the gentle shade of renewal,
witness what we have become—
then softly, surely, declare:
we have won.

We rise,
trampled and battered,
with storms at our side—
to the left, to the right—
still, we rise.

We rise, we rise—
from shadows into light,
with hope reborn at dawn,
our hearts unbowed, our spirits strong.
Through every storm,
still, we rise—
to greet the day,
to claim the calm we’ve won.

 

We pray to the sun for light to guide us,
then to the son for hope to rise within.
We lay down the weight of oppression,
conquer the beast of despair,
gather in the circle of survival,
and greet the new dawn we have won.

 

We rise, we rise—
from shadows into light,
with hope reborn at dawn,
our hearts unbowed, our spirits strong.
Through every storm,
still, we rise—
to greet the day,
to claim the calm we’ve won.

…

Rewarding Bad Behavior

Reeks

Like a game of thrones.

It throws the innocent from the turret

A witness to incest and lies.

And then cries like a crocodile.

Tears washed in blood and bile.

…

We crown the cruel with laurel—smile,

And dress their damage up as style;

We pay in praise for practiced guile,

And call the bruising all ‘worthwhile.’

We stack up perks in a shining pile,

While quiet decency lives in exile;

Then scold the ones who name it vile—

As if the truth should stand on trial.

...

So let it stink this tilted scale,

Till justice learns its tone.

GOD is an Ancient Alien

 

 

The rivalry fades—
science and faith,
their contest a shadow
beneath cosmic signs.

 

Ancient wisdom speaks:
Darwin’s distant god,
the zeal of holy wars,
words shimmering, shifting,
visions conscripting the mind.

 

Scriptures etched by divine hand
challenge chaos, command order;
yet we gaze across the span
of humankind’s unfolding,
seeking the wisdom sown
in primordial seeds.

 

Darkness whispers probabilities—
a reconciling reality
where bibles and theories meet,
where old truths and new questions
find common ground.

 

Can reason unmask
the mysteries time has veiled?
Perhaps the answer waits
where logic and wonder entwine,
in the mathematics of ancient belief.

 

Vog Sunrise

Scarlet sun slices,
ebony frame—
Iwa birds dazzling,
violet lilies in the rain.

Orange heat breathes,
banyan’s crown aglow,
dew on emerald leaves,
morning’s gentle flow.

Beautiful, beautiful—
but unlike fog,
this haze is born of fire,
its breath is sharp and strong.

Vog glows in the morning,
brilliance in the sky,
but beneath its silent shimmer
a beauty that can burn—
where fog only softens the dawn.