We would have thought that 
he could have bought this and that,
but he was frugal in ways that 
              others struggle
                   in —
        in this consumer society promising humor’s
                               gayety but offering only anxiety
and only concluding that 
              the
               best is consuming
                                 this and that
                                         and that that
way 
is not the golden way
or the king’s highway
but ending in nothing gay,
just dismay
come what may
this very day
which is the only day
                               we have to consume
our way
                          up
                            and
                                down
the king’s highway
on our way 
nowhere today
and so we say

that while we thought that 
he could have bought this and that,
he was frugal in ways that 
            others struggle
                  in --
                       and out
                         and
                     round about

and he’s still here
                         and we have dried up 
                                      and blown

                                away.

The pudgy, middle-age woman
flipped the bird over and over
again at the journalist who was

just doing his job reporting the
news. He stood alone, mike in
hand. She was surrounded by

jeering, leering, jostling, hassl-
ing fellow mobsters. It’s a good
thing the journalist was on a

platform with a railing separating
him from the mob or who knows
what they may have done. Earlier

in the evening, the woman fixed
dinner for her family, they prayed
before eating and she admonished

her teens to behave themselves
that evening at the movie and to
be home by curfew. Who knows if

the woman did any of that earl-
ier in the evening before the
raucous rally but she spewed

epithets and angrily thrust the
middle-finger over and over and
over again at the guy who was

just doing his job behind the mob,
behind the stage where stood
the sneering, hate-instigating

provocateur. If the woman had
children, one could only hope
they were, indeed, at the

movie and not watching mom
on TV. Ah, but there is always
the news and ubiquitous You-tube.

Driving the back roads home from Toledo —
the farmlands, the corn never before looking
so good, apples growing, grapes growing,

hops growing (that’s new), old gas stations,
a fifties’ era abandoned outdoor theater,
a restaurant that fits the image of a road-

house — he thinks about sitting in the back-
seat of his parents’ Dodge traveling the
back roads of Indiana and Michigan for a

Sunday afternoon drive following the buck-
seventy-five fried chicken dinner at the best
diner just over the border from Illinois into

Indiana. He says to his wife in a voice that
almost sounds like he is asking permission,
“I think I would like to have a couple glasses

of wine this evening. It was a long round trip
today.” He’s been cutting back on the booze
because it hurts his arthritis. His wife says,

“That sounds good.” As he sighs a big sigh,
he continues driving west toward the dunes,
pond, waterfall, Big Lake — home.

The drivers on the drive
To and from Toledo were
Courteous like little old,
Goody Two shoes altar boys
When the priest eyes them
And such a surprise given
All the wise guys weaving
In and out of every other
Drive here and there and
Everywhere, Why? Beats me.
I don’t know why but I
Will give credit to the
Governors of Michigan,
Indiana and Ohio for
Roads that are so, so
Bad that even wise Guys
Are wise enough when they
Drive, if, perhaps, for no
Other reason than enlightened
Self-interest just to stay
alive.

new spruce is dying —
needles dropping — silent sighs;
pour water with prayer.

The church says pre-marital
counseling is important for
the success of a marriage,
like it is crucial to discuss
with an infant why it is im-
portant that the infant
consider a college degree
and perhaps a post-graduate
education. It won’t compute.
So, he used to say to glassy-
eyed couples that they are
going to do what they are
going to do with or without
the benefit of clergy and that
they should come back in
a year in all the wonder of
post-traumatic shock syndrome
to discuss the reality that
what the couple has embarked
on is the most difficult
journey imaginable, because
after a year, if then, what
they have done, are doing
and will do begins to become
imaginable in all of its
glory and horror. Imagine
that.

It was reported that
children — nursery school to
fifth grade — were about
to rise in rebellion against
the state — potential rebellion
quelled by vigilant white, male
teen who entered the school and
shot many of these potentially
dangerous rebels to death using a
military style rifle.

It was reported that
teens in a movie theatre
were about to rise in rebellion
against the state — potential
rebellion quelled by teen-aged,
white male patriot using military
style rifle to shoot many
potentially dangerous
rebels to death.

It was reported that
dangerous brown babies
with evil intentions toward
the sovereign nation of
the United States crossed
the southern border of the
US from Mexico. Action has
been swift and prompt to
separate those babies
from their mothers and
fathers and hand them
over to officials who might
at some point in time
further deter the babies’
intentions to overthrow
the government of the
United States by physically
and sexually molesting said
invaders.

It was reported that
hoards of brown children
in Puerto Rico were plotting
violence against the US
mainland but that plot has
been quelled by the US action
to dehydrate the children into
submission and ultimately
death.

Black children have plotted
the overthrow of the government
of the United States since
the adoption of the Emancipation
Proclamation, but the United States
has remained strong against these
child rebels through the use of
thousands upon thousands of
lynchings and the fire power
of loyal, local police forces
across the country.

The government (federal, state
and local) and vigilant
young, white males armed
to the teeth remain on high
alert regarding potential
acts of espionage, treason
and outright war against
the United States by children —
infants through teens, mostly
brown and black but sometimes
lost and errant white babies
as well.

*idea from a blog post by
a colleague in ministry

The philosopher was a first-rate
mind who went to second-rate
schools, taught at a third-rate
school and published brilliant
essays. He was dismissed. If
he had gone to first-rate schools
and taught at a first-rate school
and left intentionally to teach at
a second or third-rate school to
make a statement, he might have
or might not have been dismissed,
only to prove that pedigree is still
more important than product.

Every morning, weather permitting,
she peddles her cruiser bike down
the steep hill and past his house
on the way somewhere.

Every evening, regardless of the
weather, she peddles her cruiser
bike past his house and up the
steep hill on her way home.

He sits at this desk and wonders
how a middle-aged approaching
elderly person has the strength
to get up that steep hill, at any
time let alone, day in and day out.

Then he saw her riding in town
and mentioned her and her
admirable feat to his comp-
anion who looked up at the
cyclist and said, “Oh, didn’t
you see the auxiliary, electric
motor?”

He read “The stock market
is not the economy.”
Wages are stagnant.
The economy for most
is Humpty Dumpty.
“All the king’s horses
and all the king’s men
couldn’t put Humpty
Dumpty together again.”
Wages are stagnate;
the lies persist:
Don’t worry about
broken Humpty Dumpty;
his life is actually bliss.
Believe the broken promises
of an administration
bought and sold by the rich.
The market for the rich
inched up another inch.
Poor Humpty lies
by the side of the road
broken by broken promises
into the barren ground
his life blood flows.
Humpty sat on a wall
he thought was just the right height
to keep others out;
for this he would stand
up and fight.
He did and from that wall
he did fall,
his last words
quoting the poet, were
“Something there is that
doesn’t love a wall.”