Prickly Pear

Tell me what you love & not just what you hate.
Boundaries are good; but don’t forget a gate.

If your loved ones only know, of your dislikes;
All we can do, is respect your wall of spikes.

See, if you built a sluice, to let some love in;
We would have a way to show it…now & then.

Even putting flags upon defending walls…
The coat of arms they bear, would inform good calls.

We’ve so much love for you, just across your moat.
We’re always listening for you to emote.

Homonymphone

Committed to not be committed; I turn myself inside out.
Decreasing all my creasings; so there’s no dirty laundry to doubt.

In mustering all of my mustard; for clearing I’m clearly keen.
I’m the only maid for the mess I’ve made…all the carnage I’ve seen.

I work while I wait for a decrease in weight, slow & steady now.
Shocks of pain whilst cleaning a pane, to be outside my mess I vow.

Pelted by rain & under false reign; I clear a path thru the waste.
Now, this orphaned son can soak in the sun; no more sorrow encased.

Headed for the gate with the jauntiest gait, freedom earned tastes best.
Being great will undoubtedly grate; but I’m here…so, where’s the rest?

Discerning

An embarrassment of riches is everything we want.
Although, no one can have all the things they want; can they, Kant?

There’s denial & discipline; all our parts on trial.
Yet one life can’t do it all; from the greatest to the vile.


Philosophers that posit “if you want it make it so”…
They’re skating past mortality; whose deadline makes life go.

Fear’s not our only motivator; but it pulls its weight.
It fosters forward motion, helps us build & helps us mate.

Still, harken to great orators’ enrichment, not their law.
Urge yourself to see all things; both the insight & the flaw.

Precarious Potential

Now closer to death than birth…
I’m still questioning worth.

Wisdom’s patina, I wear.
However, the core’s still there.

My kingdom for new O.S.
Something in line with my best.

Time is about accepting.
Rare, it’s about correcting.

Nourishing layered lichens.
Poison, my biome siphons.

Every ring’s inside me still.
Each new one: survival skill.

I’ve a weary wistful crown.
It reminds me to look down.

I’m metal, water & wood.
I’m them, I’m me & I should.

Dual Duel

Holy war makes zealots of non-pious & faithful alike.
From the atheist azure collar to the suicide tyke.

Reductive flags of right & wrong billow in sermons’ hot air.
Progressive winds o’er compensate change; trending elitist fare.

Yin just isn’t yin without encompassing a little yang.
Even its prism has its faults, absent rainbow’s color gang.

A dichromatic living must be a truly awful bore.
Those hunkered down in day or night must be desperate for more.

This is the blindness of black & white sight; polar, distant cries.
All of us living in the gray know that opposites are lies.

Wilde’s Folly

We’re crumbling by abbreviations.
Our lettered works now deviation.

A new nickname for every word.
Phrases acronymed to the absurd.

Verbose & witty forgone to blurt.
Inflectionless texting all sounds curt.

Convenience, now our sole avowance.
Ever shorter grows word allowance.

Tone & context make dialogue rich.
Let’s resist being brevity’s bitch.

Octothorp

Which tic-tac-toe’s the new delight?
Are hash browns playing tag on site?

To which new cult do we defer?
Is there a crosshatch you prefer?

Do all ideas need number signs?
Are all the sharp notes cutting lines?

Can four crossed marks sort every fad?
Is all this groupthink good or bad?

Have all the hot-takes had a round?
To leave a message: just press pound.

Fable

An orgasm & a kick in the groin.
Miracles & Nightmares are the same coin.

Neither believable, neither are real.
Both names for things we don’t know but still feel.

One is a horror; the other a gift.
One weighs you down & the other can lift.

Either can teach & both carry relief.
Either confounds us & strains our belief.

All are a lie upon which we’ve agreed.
Words are endowed with the meanings we need.