Baked - Not Quite Fried

Baked - Not Quite Fried

When pieces of the whole stop working

You know eventually what is broken...

Like poor ‘Ole Humpty Dumpty - ‘it’ cannot be fixed

It is the waiting; that ticking time bomb clock

That is and its’ constantly repeating -

“Did you put the chicken wings you brought me in the frig?”

As the body loses functions some slower than others

We witness how it might be for us who remain

Straining at our own seams - struggling with our hopes -

While depending on whatever faith we might have remaining;

While attempting to hold up our partners as well as bringing

Ourselves up by our own sagging boot straps...

Plans have to be rearranged, altered, - have been changed

Responsibilities rendered, by those in attendance -

There is no room to ‘chew the fat’ -

There is no timetable, rhyme or reason - There is no

Escaping the winter season as darkness looms... It doesn’t

Matter how warm it is outside or how short the ride might be

We have to clasp each others hands walking as a united unit

Being satisfied at being able to fulfil others needs before our own

Wishes - as we fill the center of the generational ‘sandwich’

©JP/davh

Attending Attention

Inspired by K.A.B.

Attending Attention

Being aware is the tricky part... Every snowflake has a lesson.

The light fluffy ones and the ones full of a heaviness that could weigh us down,

But we have to shift their presence in order to make our own path safe...

And so there I was all layered and bundled, getting snowed on as well,

Taking a swath of a mixture of frozen water, white fallen clouds given substance

And weight - only thinking in the moment to clear the double wide drive...

The steps to the door, and the side walkways...push, settle the mass

Into the shovel and heave ho - sailing without a ship in the winter’s atmosphere

All concentration focused with only the slight distraction of a few passer-bys.

And that is how I was for about an hour; cloaked, scarfed, hatted, mittened, booted;

All before breakfast, because I didn’t know that school had been canceled -

So the grandchildren wouldn’t be traveling - and most folks shouldn’t have either...

Driving in that morning mess white knuckles grasping steering wheels - only creeping

Twenty miles per hour on roads not yet plowed thinking that they had no other alternatives -

But life is always choices, and safety and self preservation needs full recognition.

©JP/davh

Winter Limericks for Mad Kane

http://www.madkane.com/humor_blog/2013/12/08/round-limerick-off-monday/

Winter Limericks for Mad Kane

I

A rumor was going around

That the sun was going to astound

But all those white flakes that fell

Made winter a very cold living hell

That left too many of us house bound!

II

A woman was running around

With layers of clothing was bound

Being a devout nudist

As well as a Buddhist

She tried hard to not make a sound

III

A fellow whose body was round

Took himself to the reindeer compound

Red suit with white trim

And no thoughts to be slim

Chuckled merrily as Rudolph was found

©JP/davh

Stuck on a feeling...

With thanks to K.A.B.

Stuck on a feeling...

Waking up is hard to do...

especially when you aren’t there,

and the old alarm clock finally bit the dust.

Even though I replaced the battery.

The time advances rapidly as if it were a high speed train

that plans to never stop...until unplugged.

Daydream believer...

that’s what’s on the agenda after a long yesterday

trying to forget night dreams that weren’t quite nightmares

but weren’t clues to buried treasure or illuminated points of inspiration.

The bills are alive...

with the sound of ‘Pay me’

waiting there on the table eyeing the checkbook like a lover.

Need to pick up the ‘grands’ this morning...

the little boy asks; “What are you doing?”

as Daddy buckles him in his carseat.

Grama says; “We are going over the river and through the woods...”

Still more than half asleep the boy says; “But we did that yesterday.”

Extra, extra - read all about it!

Pick up the paper before getting the ‘children’ out of the car -

that was tossed on the drive, that you ran over on the way out...

because you didn’t see it because it was still dark.

Not quite seven, or impossible. Just things, normal things...

day to day replay - until the coffee is brewed and the brain

takes over the rote and routine functions that the body has

chosen to believe are important tasks for surviving the day.

©JP/davh

Just Brilliant

with thanks to C.K.

Just Brilliant

Being in the sunset of her years

she no longer wishes to read the daily paper

our gift to her, because there was nothing else she needed

So now I’ll have to remember to

keep tabs on that box of favorite cookies that

she said was her favorites...though one can never be sure

And serendipitously replace them

so when she wants a little sweet treat...she might

also remember the first time she ate one and thought, mmm, good.

Even if that was over several decades ago

when she didn’t need anyones help to run and play

when she wasn’t helping her parents or teachers or siblings...

With only one eye now it is perhaps

just a tad more difficult to focus on the limited view

that seasonally changes from her little homey box of a room

So we take turns, those of us that live in a less

restricted world to make the one she lives in as comfortable

as can be - augmenting the menu with home cooked meals she enjoys

Being in the sunset of her years

I can only wonder how often she might reflect on

all of the wonderful colors she has added to others lives

©JP/davh

Entwinded

with thanks to K.A.B.

Entwined

I

all roads lead to Rome...

and on the way to that pilgrimage

whether it is to fame or some other fable -

the threads of our being, from the clothes

that we wear, the emotions that tear...

and slip away to leave the naked thought

are left along the sides of the road

so we can return to where we have been

in some obscure dream filled with symbols

belonging to places we once called home

even if just for one evening to walk

in the barely lit shadowed alley ways

that belonged to some ancient place

that was never mapped, but was well traveled

II

and out of all the yarn that has been

found at yard sales or bought at charity shops

that has been knitted, crocheted or otherwise

tied together to make wearable art  for family

and friends or made into hats and blankets for

newborns or scarves for strangers...

I have never thought to imagine how many miles...

all that string would it equal -

maybe more than enough

to go to (and come back from)

all the places I might

ever have wanted to visit...

III

unraveled life threads

memories built in layers

of when we tied knots

(c)JP/davh

Respectfully : November 11th.

Elfje Quint

Respectfully

service

then and

now, in war

rarely in peacetime, brave

protectors

protectors

of choices

the ability to

make, break and shake

laws

strong,

brave, true,

just, and willing

to spill blood for

freedom

laws

attempting to

guide singular vision

to global expanding populations;

people

people

some strong

some weak - still

need protecting from tyrants -

service!

©JP/davh