God And The Good Man

Magic

Drop a wad of paper in a bowl,

Pastel tissue paper. Fill the bowl

With water. Watch the paper open up

Into a fish, a clam, a rock, a shell,

Very brightly colored,

And they float inside the water.

1-20-14

Two Aphorisms

Might makes right.

That isn't true,

Although it might as well be.

Right makes might.

That's simply an illusion.

2-25-14

 

Words

The words I use are accurate,

But not the words of Keats

Or Shakespeare. Most

Especially the Bard,

Whose interesting words convey

Such interesting thoughts,

Nor separate the meaning from the sound.

2-25-14

Shakespeare

A play by William Shakespeare

Is an opera in words.

And every touching, memorable

Passage that goes deep,

That all the world can quote

Is like an aria by god.

2-15-14

God & The Good Man

God was testing him.

He had no money,

Just a cow.

An indigent itinerant

Stopped and asked for food.

He gave him all he had. The stranger

Asked him for his money.

The good man said,

“I have none. Just a cow.”

The stranger said to sell the cow.

The good man said he couldn't.

The stranger begged.

The good man sold his cow,

And handed him the money

In a little pouch that had been

Knitted by his wife.

The stranger smiled and thanked him,

Took the money and was gone.

Seven days went by. The good man

Slowly starved to death.

2-25-14

A Cat Tale

Cats and kittens like to sit in boxes

Peeking over flaps around the edge.

There they sit like little furry Sphinxes

In very small and even giant boxes

Watching everything that's going on.

But if the box is small and barely fits them,

They're even more content to sit and stare.

2-24-14

 

A Fantasy

He was walking down the sidewalk

When his leg collapsed beneath him,

Not just collapsed, but crumbled

Into chips of bone and sawdust.

One shard half in tact

Tore through his trousers.

He looked in fear and pain aghast

At the mess of maggots

Crawling through the wreckage,

Up his cuffs and down his pants.

Wild and quick he slapped his leg

To knock maggots off.

A thousand more in endless waves

Came through the rip. He sat there

On the sidewalk, horror in his eyes.

2-24-14