Cockamamie

Forgive and forgot or so it goes
Well not really forgot
'cause everyone knows
More like the night before the project is due
Been there, done that...haven't you?
There are still some moments to scribble, right?
So late into this rainy night,
Is that a rooster I hear crow?
Is there still time? It must be so!
To concoct this cockamamie rhyme
Oh my god look at the time!
I will get to it, no doubt for sure
Get to it, get to it, I will endure!
But first there are things to do I must,
Get done, accomplish, you too I trust?
(Please insert your own list here:)
Things I “need to” or so I fear
Like sweeping the floors and oiling the doors
The list grows long of endless chores.
And time keeps on
ticking,
          ticking,
                    ticking...
And who do I think I'm
tricking,
           tricking,
                      tricking?

Call the bomb squad
I'm about to blow!
Red wire, green wire, maybe yellow?
Keystroke one
then keystroke two,
Look at me
without a clue.
I throw my fate upon the court
A fool's refuge of last resort
And ask of you if it seems fair
To forgive my poem of such despair?

-Paul Sanderson

February, 2015

Push and Pull

I am invited to a party,
Will I go?
How will I fit
Who will I know
What will I do,
What will I do?!
Stand awkwardly
Joke defensively
Drink medicinally?
I think
too much,
futuring:
Will I look good/bad
Will I over commit
Or under achieve?
Will it haunt me
When I view the highlight reel?
And will I pass the final judging:
My clothes
My hair
My breath
My humor
My intelligence
My god!
Shall I be the recipient of
My self-issued blue ribbon,
Or the much dreaded
Certificate of participation?

Outside Dog, Now in a Convenient Poem Form!

Saw just his head
Ears flopped
As he popped up above the road horizon
A canine whack-a-mole
Playing peek-a-boo.
He snatched a look of me
Talking on the phone in my truck by the roadside
Then he dropped back out of sight
on this Groundhog Day
(Although living in Hawaii,
He'll never see Punxsutawney Phil)
Maybe a shadowy mongoose predicting
Six more weeks of paradise?
A few minutes later
He runs the fence line fast and free:
I get a “woof”
He gets a smile,
His to-do list seems short,
Mine now has dog biscuits
At the top
With three stars.
***

Turnips and Marigolds

If you want glory in your garden plant marigolds.
You will only have to sow the seed once likely
and leave the rest up to the sun and showers and soil
they will enthusiastically volunteer their lives and loveliness
they are not subtle these common characters
they push their faces up towards yours
and scream out
(for those who care to listen)
“Love me!”
And why not?
It's a fair trade. You'll get your monies worth, and more.



In my garden the little bees,
mere insect motes,
tickle the seeds out of the blossoms.
When dried you might spread them again
or simply let their nature and wisdom take charge.
They know well what to do
Their course well charted.

The seeds come bountifully, just
Stick a few dried blossoms in you pockets
and drop them here
hand them there...
mail them to a distant friend
and share!
as you are shared and gifted.
Beauty, so wanted and required
Has never been so generous
and so needed.

Tidings

We call upon the gods

in our darker times

To send us hope

of one more sun

A day whose zenith rises

higher

standing for a moment more

before the cold and dark

drives us inward to find a lesser fire

a warmth that must suffice

found perhaps in some reserve

dug deeper

kindled closer

until those memories

green and rising

among our dreams instinctual

turn and turn and turn again

and give us light

transient but fail safe

a gift of hope renewed.

Incomplete

There was a moment of silence,
After a bit of chat and news
About places and problems,
An ongoing story that I am familiar with...
It wasn't an awkward pause,
I was with you in important ways
Talking privately from the heart,
But it was also incomplete;
I could not see the faint pulse
Rising in the soft chords of your neck,
I could not fold my hand in yours
In your moment of disappointment
In your frustration
That you mask so well with
Patience and determination;
I know these things were there.
Pressing my eyes closed
I can conjure them across time and distance,
But my hand was on the cold indifference of the phone
And it is not the same.