Category Archives: Against the odds

Once upon a time

You pass, as one does, a
Youthful woman, was that
You, way back when being 
In your twenties was real
Time for you, when walking
Coatless towards a party 
Did not send shivers up
Your arm and your allies
Carried beer and you held
The pizza box, every one
In this group gleeful and
Giddy with anticipation of
A good night out. Are they
All you? Passing time past
On this Saturday street as
If yesterday can be met in
Real time, you as you were
You as you are, a weekend
Stroll into what once was

When the world was

We had a chance when
The world was young 
To make things better
To improve life here
To create a more humane 
Future, to favor an
Outcome that showed
Progress. We had our
Chance, and many a
Prophet to guide us
Prophets we ignored
We chose to ignore, in
Willful ignorance of
How the world should
Look. We had a chance.

Embraced

Is it love, or vanity that demands
You be faithful while I enjoy a flirt
Can you have my whole heart if
You hold a fraction of my attention
My freedom ringed by an embrace
Love should never be so absolute
As to exclude all other possibility.
Love is possibility, like an embrace
It encircles everything and holds
Firm the heart, held yet free, not to
Explore beyond the embrace but to
Soar in its inevitability, held free, 
Held fast, embraced, encircled in 
Love, exclusive but free to explore
Can you have my whole heart if
You hold a fraction of my attention
Is it love, or is it vanity holding us
Fast, faithful in love, free to soar

Topsy turvy

Rule of thumb, or follow the
Vernacular guidelines, in the
Patois of compliance, do as
You are told. That's a rule of
Thumb. Obey, execute, do as
You are told. Comply with, be
Observant and fulfill orders.
Adhere to whatever, although
It's not scientific or evident or
Based on evidence. It's a rule 
Of thumb, it approximates the
Rules that ought to guide us,
But is not so precise as to be
Demanding or insistent. It's a 
Rule meant to be followed on
The bias, zigzag, not a straight
Line. It's a rule of thumb which
Is not so much a rule, as a bit
Of a guideline, a suggestion to
Think on. Rule of thumb is no
Rule at all, with the thumb on
The scales, justice is turned to
Injustice, the scale unbalanced
Unhinged, the rule o'erweighed 
By the print of the thumb, rules
Crushed. The scales overturned
The rule of thumb gone astray

Hold on….

Your friends will cluck over
How deeply misaligned you
Are. You will feel it, too. You
Know there is a gap, a divide.
When love seems impossible,
You dig in deeper and hold on
More stubbornly. It is you who
Knows why you love. It is you
Who knows what you love, it,
Your love, is not impossible. It
Is yours. You know why, you 
Know that love is personal, it
Is yours, to hold on to, to dig
Into, stubbornly, and with all
Your heart. When love seems
Impossible, when you and he
Are so different that love is
Cast over a chasm, you dig 
In deeper, hold on stubbornly,
You've got this, it's yours.