Everybody jockeying for places,
Or someone jockeying for others, like mothers.

A virtue of being consistent concerning ethics.

Well, for sure, they are that. Isn’t every– body —
integrated, morally coordinated?
Every Body says so.
Everybody believes so at least about
Themselves.
We couldn’t go around thinking
of ourselves as Simon Legree, now could we?
What good would that do for me?

Disparate parts maintain equilibrium,
Working well together —
In one body,
One head,
One heart,
By the book,
Right down the middle,
Go with the facts
Wherever they lead,
Whatever they reveal,
Whatever the consequences.
Right now those words
Have such appeal.
Can we hear them again?

You got fired, okay.
Pushed out-of-the-way.
You weren’t nailed to a tree.
You just lost your job.
In this culture, that’s enough,
For starters, maybe.

Did you leak that to the press?
Absolutely not, uttered peacefully,
Declaratively, confidently, assuredly —

Integrity – a word so lonely,
One for which we are so hungry,
So thirsty —
“I thirst,” from the cross, cried he.

As an old white guy,
he is so embarrassed
that fat, out of shape,
old white guys with a

lot of money think
they can do whatever
they want to do to
women. He thinks it

would be really em-
barrassing and dis-
gusting, actually, if
all those white guys
were young, in shape

and looking really good.
He thinks whatever shape,
race, age, monetary assets
of those men, it is total-

ly disgusting that men
would feel free to do
what they would feel
free to do without per-

mission to a female,
human being, a child of
God. He thinks how sad
that a man would think

so little of himself to
do just that — so sad,
so pitiful, but, it has
to stop, however sorry

we may feel (how could
we?) for those sorry
SOBs, if, in all reality,
we really feel that way

at all about them which
is highly doubtful, he
reflects on and then
concludes.

In a flash,
We have broken
Away from our
Moorings.
We are adrift
On the ship
Of lies and deceit
So open and flagrant
They mock us
From land
And call us
To understand
That the lies
Are truths
And bid us
Find safety
In the
South China Sea
Or ports in
Other seas –
Overseas,
Away from our
Motherland –
Home shores
Which are not ours —
Not ours
Perhaps
Forevermore.
It could happen.
It has happened
Before —
Countries, thought
Secure,
Set adrift,
Evermore,
Evermore,
Evermore.
Pray for reasoned
Hearts,
Ethical minds
And the will
To do what a
Compass, map
And sextant might
Do to
Find the way
Back to shore,
To save democracy
Forevermore.

With language rich and thick the words come forth
Soothing brow and then disquieting earth
And sky, with meaning so utterly, devilishly dearth
Of anything worth pointing south or north.

No direction is found in words so mean.
Directionless, random utterances east and west,
But purpose is intent – the devilishly best
Which tumble out and initially do gleam

They rattle cages and bounce off of walls
Akin to Dante’s Inferno creating chaos.
Relentless, such words betray us
Intent on desecration of holy halls

Yield and let devious words pass through.
The Eternal Word is there – in you.

I listened to a conversation on grief
between famous people.

I found their fame to be a relief
because they got interviewed, not me.

They were honest, forthright, true
to their experiences.

What they said chimed with me, too.
Still, I was glad they were interviewed,
not me.

They handled themselves so very well.
They had been interviewed before.

As I listened my tears began to swell.
That’s why I’m glad they were interviewed,
not me.

The man began to notice bumps
on his fingers and he thought
of his grandfather – a great big
bump on the old man’s right hand
thumb between joints. The man,
when he was a small boy just able
to see over the kitchen table,
watched the bump on the thumb as
his grandfather poured coffee from
the cup into the saucer, blow on the
coffee swirling in the saucer and
sip. They say the apples don’t fall
far from the tree. The little boy
looked up from the cup at his grand-
father’s shiny, bald head. That was
enough looking for the day. Then
he thought of his favorite cousin
whom he hadn’t seen in years say,
“Oh, I thought for sure you would
have had your father’s beautiful,
thick, wavy hair.” Sometimes the
similarity of apples, in some
respects, skips a generation.

He came across the words
annus mirabilis,
and mistakenly thought of a
part of his wife’s anatomy.
Wanting to sound very profound
And oh, so very European,
he said, “Darling, you have such
an annus mirabilis.”
She said, “Well, thank you, dear
and I hope you too have
a great year.
But European into the wind,
So please rescind
Such erroneous references
To parts of my anatomy.”
“Darling, not to correct,
but I think you mean
erogenous.”
And she retorted,
“I don’t take kindly to
your comments misogynous.”
“Again, you completely
misunderstand.
I’m only thinking of
your wonderfully miraculous gland.”
To which she concluded, “How
did I marry such a sex-obsessed
dolt of a man?”

Tall, hulking creatures
Of Chinese steel think
They are searching the
Sky for what is real and
May fly by, but they stare
Toward the concrete
On the ground. They
Listen for any sound
And hear the siren
Cry of police and
Ambulances passing
By. Such creatures
Stamped with
The authority of
Insecurity think
They have control
Of the city but
Pedestrians look up
In pity for the over-
Grown impotent
Needy creatures of
The city — towers
With no real powers
unlike the small
trees that sway
in the breeze.

He read a flattering
article on a poet who
leaves him cold, so
he pulled on a sweater
and reread the article
and then he reached
for his down parka
and wool stocking
cap with a soft
polyester lining so
he wouldn’t need to
scratch his head. He
flipped the front of
the cap up so the
wool wouldn’t be over
his eyes as he started
to read the flattering
article for the third
and definitely last
time thinking any
more than that
might leave him
frozen in his tracks.

Misdemeanors and high crimes
are celebrated as legislation so fine
in the House of Representatives
and their very, very rich relatives.
Millions of Americans are out on their ear
and those with pre-existing conditions have something to fear,
but the representatives are oblivious to everything
including the upcoming election of twenty eighteen.