Fish tail, fish tail, half sheet,
working the green chain heat,
full sheet, fish tail, fish tail,
feeling good as the morning sails,
half sheet, half sheet, full sheet,
standing all day long on your feet,
full sheet, full sheet, time to change the cart,
the conveyor runs all day with just one start,
full sheet, half sheet, half sheet,
the green chain never stops,
the chain moves fast,
no time for talk,
fish tail, fish tail, half sheet,
defined fifty eight year old drinker Pete,

(After Gould again)

How odd or even
obvious that we seek
the serene artifice
of a library, easing
our dripping sweat
with its slowed, cooled time

Here we first met,
face to face, I laughed
as I saw you had comically
draped a lithe trout
clumsily over a jar
while a rabbit, hare or
something similar

My nightmare, stuff of nasty dreams
has come again, with all his schemes
His twisted mind with mine does duel
he hides in waiting, plotting cruel

I ask why, he torments me so?
says he; “I do it, to feel that glow
The glow I get from besting you
The best I get, is from fooling you”

It’s late at night and I hear his voice
I don’t want to listen, but have no choice
Unwilling partner in past times
Convincing liar, I abet his crimes

Houses bear with a certain solitude-
Windows stare with eyeless black
Boards are washed, a timeless servitude
They house the dead, but do they know
The living looking back?

Pale in the vale of sun-stripped stalks,
Out in the windless woods walked
Those penniless pitiful few-
Who eked out a life here
For a year or two

And now, in the scraping interlude
Between silent cars and wind gusts through
Sits I, mock monarch to survey,
The kingdom of rooks and slow decay

Broke out of the house, now I am loose,
walking White Ave. sipping a juice,
avoiding sidewalk cracks, needing a chew,
I search my pocket through and through,
pull out a Peppermint stick,
unwrap it real quick,
car tires ticking,
flip-flops flipping,
people walking,
Old Strathcona talking,
once silent pavement bursts with noise,
as old men show off there toys,
convertibles converted,
Christian perverted,
walking society,
such variety,
human condition,
in multiple transition,

Sometimes they are rowed
There are times that they are towed
Some just chug along
Some have engines strong

There are those that run forever
Ones that shouldn’t be, no, never
Ships passing in the night
Ships fading out of sight

The friends that make you smile
Friends that go with you the miles
Friendships carry loads
And friendships travel roads

Build them all in friendship yards
Just be a friend, it ain’t that hard
This is all I’ve meant to say
My friends, I truly see that way

This last year, some regrets
If I’d known
Would’ve hedged my bets

Should’ve followed to the letter
Would’ve done more
Could’ve been better

Resolution... [January contest]

This is the year; you wait and see
I will study hard and make up for lost time
I am going to play less

The wolf howls from far away
Stay away from my door
Let him blow YOUR house down

Less Horizons…

Sneaking up on me
On tip-toe and silent feet
I was riding high and free
But old age and I would meet

I out paced it by my youth
I had so much heart
Now I was to learn the truth
What I should’ve known from start

Old age don’t play by rules
Neither does it care
It will steal the family jewels
It will take away your hair

The strength that you once had
Will slip off and go away
Your bones will hurt extremely bad
You’ll be weaker every day

Charlie entered the room, sat at a corner table,
his gait was frail, but firmly stable,
all dressed in black,
with a red and black skullcap,
it was neat, no frayed fringes,
his cap opened on hinges,
he sat in his mood,
of troubled solitude,
he was a loner,
he was straight, not a stoner,
but life was in a skid,
as he flipped back his lid,
inside he removed a time piece,
stating that voices wouldn't cease,
he had to let the voices out,
to remove any doubt,
for it really did matter,

there is a lonely spot
off the beaten path

a small meadow
a single tree
and me

I sit
back to trunk
in rest
as shadows
slowly pirouette
and thoughts wander
as they will
to places pleasant
in which to ponder

a sense of bliss
arises within
and I realize
that we
the tree and me
are both exquisitely
happy