When they say it’s
a “slam dunk,”
it’s “in the bag”
or a “done deal,”
step back,
take a breath
pinch your skin,
feel what’s real.
Two offers,
“slam dunks,”
both “in the bag”
and “done deals,”
couldn’t hold water
as well as a
leaky fish tank.
It isn’t
a “slam dunk,”
or “in the bag,”
or “done deal,”
till the money
is in the bank
under lock and key
with armed security
and even special forces,
and navy seals,
and even then
just maybe.

The neighborhood herd of five
or six deer, several doe and a
button buck, came through our

pine grove this morning on their
way up the dune, maybe down
to the Big Lake. Sometimes they

linger near our nearly frozen pond.
We know this by the marks of
their hooves in the snow. Might

they be looking for a drink or
does their inquisitiveness lead
them close to the sound and

feel of the strange, vibration
of the bubbler helping the gold-
fish survive and stay alive until

spring when they will come to
the surface looking for their
breakfast when they see me

looking down on them from the
balcony? The chocolate lab
will trot to the pond’s edge

and stare at the fish simply
staring back at him. They
know he will not jump in.

They awoke to a foot of snow
on the ground, hanging from
the pine branches, falling as
the east wind did blow.

It was February four,
with winter long in the tooth,
but they stood dazzled
looking out the glass door.

The sight took their breath away;
They looked forward to bundling
up and reliving their youth
by going out to play.

They reconsidered what lie ahead;
he said he’d warm up the car;
they would hurry from the house
to find an early happy hour instead.

The man sat at the bar talking to
the bartender, a former college
cross-country runner, about
how the Speaker of the House

lied several years ago about
his marathon time. The bartender
said, “You never, ever lie about
your times. You live with your

times. You celebrate your times
and you let your times challenge
you for the next time. To lie about
your time is…” and then he just

shook his head in disgust. The
man thought about the fastest
10 K he ever ran — 46 minutes
and he thought about the fastest

5 K he ran four months after his
wife died — 19 minutes and 50
seconds — he was so angry
and he threw up at the finish line.

He never ran that fast again.
Those were his times. Those
aren’t record breaking times
but they are his personal bests.

He lives with them and he’s
proud of them. He wonders how
the Speaker of the House can
live with the time he lied about

and which everyone found out
about and which says something
very telling about the Speaker
especially when the Speaker speaks.

craggy faced, lines
that dig deeper than
a yooper copper mine,
droopy scandinavian eye-lids
hiding the rough and tender
up-north life that flowed
to a yellow legal pad
like whiskey poured
three fingers deep
into a tumbler.

White, evangelical Christianity is dead
it is now said.
It’s scrambling to survive
has led to its demise.
With the bath water,
it has thrown out the baby
and it no longer is a question of maybe.
There is no justice, no mercy, no love.
There’s just a fearful and hateful “us”
in the place where there should be Jesus.
A black man walking through a field
with his grandson,
was asked by the boy,
“Grandpa, what’s that white church
over there?”
the boy asked with a stare.
“Son, that white church is for folks who are white.”
“Is it a Christian church, grandpa?”
“No, son. Jesus hasn’t been seen there
for an eternity of days and nights.”*

*an interpretation of a scene which
I believe was in the movie The Color
Purple.

“For just ten just ones would you save the clan?”
“Find me just ten just ones and I will save the clan.”
We know that didn’t work out too well for the clan.
If applied today to the GOP,
would it be mercy we would see,
or would fire and brimstone rain down on that clan;
would the Party’s party come to a halt
and would the (p)-resident turn to salt
along with the destruction of the rest of that clan?

He stood, mouth agape at agape.
He didn’t have a word to say.
He had viewed life through a lens of dismay 
       and disarray.
He even thought it to be quite arbitrary.
He now knew all would be better, much better
       than what previously at its very best 
            would have been just barely okay.