Marco Polo

Marco Polo
is a new guest
he scurries around
the perimeter of the fish pond
foraging
for remnants of trout chow
trapped between the rocky crevices
sharpening his claws
on neighboring plants
and fruit trees
papaya, coconut
orange and
lychee
tumbling
now into a pitcher plant
another new arrival
from Borneo.

Poor Marco,
traveling to this oasis
took a lot out of him
he’s so thirsty to explore
he hasn’t read the warning signs
little does he know
who his host is
that the table is being prepared
for an exotic rat stew.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trWzDlRvv1M

Blind Faith

"I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason and intellect has intended us to forego their use." - Galileo Galilei
"A casual stroll through the lunatic asylum shows that faith does not prove anything." - Friedrich Nietzsche

Blind Faith

is
hoping
to catch one
fish for dinner
in a polluted
reservoir so you can
feed your scruffy family
of five, expecting that one fish
will multiply into plenty, plus
too, persuade them into thinking its God.

Consequences

We
all need
to face the
I-Told-You-So
the bouncing bad check
snorting white powder costs.
The medicated food chain
bloated size eighteen appetite
the rash rolling click of a blind mouse
trust placed in who packs our parachute.


**Etheree

Good Morning America!

Good Morning America

Good Morning Starbucks
Venti Me!
I’m going for the bypass tomorrow
I woke up today and
all my size twelve’s turned into four’s
and I can’t get the zipper UP
I may need EMS to resuscitate me
from this god dammed war
that’s killing all of our boys
and I’m asking MR. President
what is it all FOR?
I want OFF this rollercoaster
I want Opie and Andy
to call I LOVE LUCY
and tell her that
marrying RICKY is a big mistake
that Ethel is a cow and Fred is really a cereal killer.

Good Morning America
I need a ZEN moment
a place to exhale all the garbage
from my black lungs
coughed up in the trenches
of foreign wars
that I can’t afford
because my credit just went down the tubes
and needs a banker
a little gold to back me up
prevent my guts from being
blown up in the chopper
in a bombed out country
that hires kids as mercenaries
What the hell is it for
Mr. Senator?

Good Morning America!
Stop the bullshit
the crying
soap opera
raging
about the streets
of London
Don’t you see that
we are all in this together?
We need a plan
we need Mr. Spock
to beam down
and give us the logical
answer
before the Alien High Council
sends us to a frozen prison planet
because no one here is INNOCENT.

Good Morning America!
Let’s toast our Statue of Liberty
one last time before China
calls in her note.
Before the polar ice cap melts
the earth stops resettling and
before Voyager reaches its final destination.

Good Morning America
Today is the day
we resurrect GOD
meet those ancient aliens
who designed the giant stone monoliths
that litter the planet
like an ad for air travel.
Refrigerator magnets
to foreign collectors
from a far off galaxy
who will surely
look up in their ancient texts
calculating the odds
of contracting the human infection
inoculating the crew
for their close encounter of a shitty kind.

Good Morning America
Wake up!
We are being consumed by a sinkhole
a malfunction in the earth’s crust
sliding, suffocating
obsessed and arrogant
and our time is running out.
Pardon me
Excuse my partisan ass
Mr. Speaker but
America is pissed
off and we were wondering
when you people on Capitol Hill
will get up off your rich collective butts
and DO what you were elected for
which is to speak for the PEOPLE
because we are tired of swallowing
your sovereign AGENDA’s and we’re not going to finance them ANYMORE!

Geography Lesson

From the front of the class
I can see the chalk smudges
on the back of her dress.
Two white hand prints

cross her parallel shoulders
and a longitudinal eraser mark
stares at me from her angular derriere.
That’s what I’m thinking, when she asks me

to recite the exact latitude
and longitude of Honolulu, Hawaii
the correct answer being
21° 6' 35" N / 157° 31' 51" W

I grin back and as far as I can tell
the equivalent of that
has absolutely nothing to do
with the location

of the chalk marks on her dress
and relatively everything to do with
last night’s homework assignment.
So I do what any red-blooded kid would do

I grab my crotch
make a face and
I ask permission
to use the restroom.

Congress

Words pour from their mouths
like water from a faucet
making promises

until we need them.

Until we realize they’ve said
something they shouldn’t have.

Sealed with government approval
they caw, squawk and eat away at our resolve
taunting us
stabbing us over and over
with our own
deceit.

Their black beaks
daring us to
stop them and
see
before
they mushroom
into a dark cloud
before they grow bigger
and transform into something else.

Scavengers fixed to gorge on the placated
at the table of procrastination
and donkey white lies.

Problem Solving-- ABCdarian

Aaron is the eldest. He is twelve. He loves
Baseball. His problem is he has to babysit
Corinne his younger sister. Corinne is five and she
Demands his complete attention, she cries
Every time he tries to practice with
Frank his younger brother in the backyard.
Garth the family Doberman
Howls competing for notice, making
It impossible to focus. Garth sometimes
Jumps and nips Frank in the butt as he tries to catch the ball, this
Keeps Aaron quite busy.
Let’s just say
Multi-tasking is not Aaron’s strong suit.
Now Aaron’s
Only hope of getting good at baseball is to dream up a
Plan that will keep Corinne and Garth busy so he and Frank can practice. He has to think
Quickly. He grins. Nearby a
Rope
Swing sways in the old oak
Tree, rubbing against the branches and swishing
Under the greenery. Corinne, I’ll buy you a
Vanilla ice-cream cone and I’ll
Wager a chew bone to Garth to see who can keep quiet the longest.
X-ing, his fingers behind his back Aaron reaches down to pick up a stick. Garth instantly
Yields. Fetch, Garth. Corinne plays with Garth, Aaron's practice resumes in the clever
Zone.

Jealousy

Jealousy’s best friend is Suspicion.
She has rights, perceives your weakness
and is married to Envy.
She distrusts everyone
their children are Greed
Anxiety
Bitterness
Self-doubt
Fear.


**Nonet

Letters to a Prisoner by Connie D.

Letters to a Prisoner by Cornelia "Connie D" DeDona

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Amazon and Kindle



A Survivor speaks out!



Required reading at Habilitat- a drug rehab in Hawaii



Honorable Mention in Poetry at the 2011 New York Book Festival!!



Outstanding look! A unique perspective from a Mom into the mind of the enabler. Free Yourself and the Addict!







View all my reviews

Bible Acrostics

Groovy
Out-smoking
Dude

Resourceful
Outspoken
Militant empire exacting their
Absolute philosophy over all other
Neophyte
Societies

Priest
Apostle
Unique
Lecturer

Jewish rabbi
Erudite
Scholar
Unwavering
Spirited son.

Fire Dance

Check out my latest Photography Book, Fire Dance!
http://www.blurb.com/bookstore​/detail/2319240

Writing a True Novel

Writing a true novel is like dueling with a cockroach; penetrating and exploring the past could get real messy. Don’t kid yourself if there is anything else you can think of to do, go ahead and do it. It involves a truckload of continence and revision.

You begin by dreaming about the past, sorting through old pictures and searching for and actually finding old friends, who you later discover were better left in the dark.

You set your scene; research the town you grew up in and thought you knew. Lots of surprises await your discovery under the dusty covers. Then you get to pick which roads to go down and which ones to pass up. It requires enormous energy and creativity; buckets of right and wrong decisions line up for inspection. Old issues march up to, and then parade-rest at your door. Closure takes on a higher meaning, something akin to, should I tell them about the implant, and which one?

Who is your audience? Why should they care? Can anything human relate? Or should you save the paper for puppy training? Why now, have you achieved enlightenment? Who will it hurt or help? Precious time is spent writing poems, honey-do and shopping lists, feeding the dogs, and taking pictures of cloud formations. You spend an inordinate amount of time reading other inspired memoirs and novels, and spending time with the grandkids, anything but writing that damn book…

But wait there’s more, you have to get your facts straight, no embellishing to make it more interesting; names need to be correctly spelled and a time frame established. Trust only a handful of your friends to read and critique. Don’t post online if you want to publish a chapter elsewhere. Take all advice with two aspirin and try not to get confused; one chapter at a time. Find a group meeting and stick with it.

Don’t forget about Aunt So and So, who worked at the Library and discovered the cure for that deadly virus, or the Uncle who won the bronze in Seoul, or the neighbor from next door who died of Cancer because family and friends will get mad at you if you leave them out.

Show them, describe using all the senses, make it colorful, who was popular, what music was playing on the radio and what did you wear. Sprinkle in some dialogue with a dash of character. Pack a punch, leave them wanting more and don’t solve all your characters’ problems; your next blockbuster is wheezing in the wings.

Giant Tag

We tackled the beach

dodging Man ‘o War jelly’s

tagging Big foot’s mark.

Jellyfish

The straggler popped, cracked beneath my heel
resembling light blue bubble gum
startling me from my daydream.
I looked down in dismay.
Would that bubble sting
or would it just
flatten blue
burn the
sand.

*Nonet--A nonet has nine lines. The first line has nine syllables, the second line eight syllables, the third line seven syllables, etc... until line nine that finishes with just one syllable. It can be on any subject and rhyming is optional.

Ghost Train

**This is a story in a poem using one syllable words.

Far from here
in a black coal car
a sense of true
got shot and scarred.
It jumped real quick
                  and as it flew
It struck an oak, stout and new.

It glared back wise
with gold owl eyes.


Its heart
dripped thick
on an old black crow
that sliced his neck with coarse cruel blows.
The crow’s shrill beak
cut nose and cheek
the blood then hissed
and hit the street.
It scowled and bared its blood red teeth.

A street lamp blinked
It could not sleep
nor get that thief
to change his leaf.

When
his thumb
shrieked hot lead
it found its mark
trained for dead.

The blast came fast
sharp as an axe
and chopped a clock
that ticked and tocked.

I hugged the frame
and the glass
in hope,
since two
my fears would pass.

Still dazed
I traced
his ash gray face,
that shot an F
through a coach seat base.

A rock hard sneer
trapped in a frame,
this ghost
still drives
the night sick train.

Camel Dung

Fresh camel dung

 the curse of the lower Nile
attracting a multitude of flies high above
decomposing mummies
buried in forgotten pyramids
beneath the sands of time
deep inside secret chambers
stacked with gold
foraged from the influence
of unknown origin
of which countless markers
have been left behind
planet-wide
flies being the common denominator.
If the ignoble fly had been in charge
how might he have managed?
Would ancient insects have done a better job
at keeping quotas and curbing bad behavior?
Who would’ve done the heavy lifting?

The chosen people were dropping like flies.

There had to be a back-up.
Someone must’ve had a plan.

Why were the pyramids so big?

Are they entrances to another time

Or a door into our own psyche?

Are WE the alien life form
on this hostile planet?

What have we learned?

What legacy will we leave for our children

our children’s children?

What time capsule will they discover?

Will it hold the key
to the age old question
Or merely pose new questions?
Will we survive
on this planet of dwindling resources
or calculate new methods of regeneration
revolutionizing an alternative fuel
a godsend of limitless magnitude
something similar  perhaps to
camel dung?

An Amazing Animal

Godsend defers tweets to higher power.

Godsend; keeps word, gives fresh perspective.

**http://sixwordmemoirs.aarpmagazine.org/topics/animal

http://amzn.com/1456405365

I Am Me

I am me
the reflection staring back from the glass
the half full cup
the dark chocolate freak
sometime friend to a certain scale.

I learn in the face of challenge
that my obscurity may be a good thing
that as I trip and fall
no one will see
or care.

I am a notion
a shadow
a spot on the frame
moving past old beliefs.

Becoming new.

Sometimes haunted
chased
driven
alone.


I existed before to fill your square pegs
round spaces
anything.

I persist to soulfully
pound
in the dark
without a key
without a pigs chance in hell
that you will understand my need.

I am a rogue wave
a rushing tide
a rare
voice
a thinking stone
passionately pulled
occasionally moved.

Mixing and mashing theories
slashing
splitting
flicking hard-nosed butts

against a blue-green world

of melting ice
smoking pillars and
smashed stones.
I am me

a miracle

to those
that bore me
with nothing
but a seed to plant
nothing but hopes and dreams.

I am much more than your
dogma
much more than a pulsing frame
wary heart
weak organs
tired blood
hidden muscle and moral bone.

Protect me from your reckless ways.

Spare the child in me.

I deserve
to dream
to inherit the ideas
of our creator
to see
beyond the black
molten mass
we’ve
become.

Cloud Concerto

In this open air venue

floating nymphs
stitch their serenity
free of charge.

A child is stilled
comforted by their play
counting their fluffy leaps
over misty fences
fascinated
by the scope of their splendor.

Angelic arms wrap
emerald peaks
exhaling excited vapor
as the spotlight shines
on tonight’s premier
presenting
fine art and composition
to the cultured audience
who clap and cheer
instantly
recognizing the
bird song prelude
and butterfly solo symphony.

Appeal for Book Reviews on Amazon

Thank you in advance for purchasing my book, Letters to a Prisoner.  I'm looking for reviews on Amazon. A previous version of this book was endorsed by Al-Anon. It contained exerpts from Al-Anon's Blueprint For Progress. I decided to go ahead and publish without those exerpts. It is currently required reading at Habilitat-The Place of Change, a drug rehab in Kaneohe Hawaii. Here's the link for your convenience: http://amzn.com/1456405365