The Hole In The Bucket

The Hole In The Bucket I first heard Pete Seeger and Odetta sing this classic song of male ineptitude back in the 1960s. As his questions got dumber and dumber, she got more and more impatient, until finally she was shouting at him. But he had the last word. “There’s a hole in the bucket,

Pols

POLS They claim to be trying to fix The worst of our country’s malfunctions When they come up with ploys and neat tricks, But they are devoid of compunction. All they want is to cling to their seats, So they concentrate on re-election, Using fund-raising rallies and tweets And practicing mass misdirection. In the end,

The Spice Of Life

The Spice Of Life Quarks form the base of all matter, we’re told, And I find it delightful that they Come not in six types, but six flavors- At least that’s what the physicists say. There are up quarks and down quarks, And bottoms, and tops, And strange quarks and charm quarks, Before the list

Making It

Making It You’ve outsmarted all of the rest. You’ve proven that you are the best. But still you can’t stop. You work till you drop, Because nothing exceeds like success.

Getting On

Getting On In spring, some old men’s fancies sadly turn to thoughts of loves long lost, abandoned, left in the distance, only dreamt. Not this old man’s fancies, for I’ve been lucky in love, and so remain, although I bitterly regret the pain I caused to those I loved and left. For I have been

The Festival Of Toast

The Festival Of Toast Dirigibles for Heaven leave on time each hour from the tower on the shore. Wing’d people flicker through the flower-towns, feeding as they fly. Today’s great leader frowns from a monument of paper to a war we loved to lose. Electric cowbells chime in the upland meadows where the tractors mate,

The Festival Of Toast

The Festival of Toast Dirigibles for Heaven leave on time each hour from the tower on the shore. Wing’d people flicker through the flower-towns, feeding as they fly. Today’s great leader frowns from a monument of paper to a war we loved to lose. Electric cowbells chime in the upland meadows where the tractors mate,

Unlocking Time

Unlocking Time Winter locked my mind in place As though I were under house arrest. My thoughts, imprisoned, became dreams- Not nightmares, always, but dark enough To leave a trace of fear. This morning there’s a change, as though My sentence has been served, and I can go Not wholly free, but less constrained. The

At The Elysian Fields Retirement Home

What Do You Miss? The Elysian Fields Retirement Home is a large, slightly run-down three-story building with a wide verandah overlooking the sea. Set out along the verandah are several lounge chairs, and seated in them are eight old men and two old women dressed in bedroom slippers and white terry-cloth robes. In front of