AFTER THE FACT The mystery of history Reduces all to sophistry If fecklessly, not skeptically, Accept we its validity. Did Kennedy form strategy Preventing Cuban tragedy When quarantined Fidel at sea? Or was it serendipity? Did atom bomb need dropping on To-be-defeated-soon Nippon, Because Japan, to its last man, Would fight invasion hand-to-hand? Was Civil […]
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Finding a Traveling Partner Two suitcases with wheels, packed with clothes needed for a week, rolled through the driveway, enter my RV class B. Before the key starts the ignition, I make sure to not forget my travelling accessories. In the passenger seat, my bobble head figurine shakes its head in agreement that I have a picture of […]
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A Good Customer I saw Al once a month for 30 years, maybe more, doing business together. He retired to hunt bear in Alaska, hook Tarpon in Florida, golf in Scotland. He had it all planned. Nothing would stop him. Months later I learned doctors said he had cancer of the blood. The outlook was bleak. I called Al and he said six months, […]
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WHERE NONE HAS GONE BEFORE Though we arrived just yesterday In geologic time, Appears we’ve had too much to say, And none of it sublime. Repeated cometary blasts, The forces needed to Turn species into fossils past When time was overdue. Like plague of locusts, we can scourge Wherever we alight. Primeval ecosystems purge. We’re quite […]
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“FOUR” CAST The earth’s been here four billion years, But humans mere four million. How often has the atmosphere Received a “global killing?” Have comets many seared the skies, Volcanoes oft erupted? What oceans parched till desert-dry And climates left disrupted? How many times has planet warmed, Engorged with greenhouse gasses, While glaciers melted and reformed […]
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ROMAN RUMINATION I went to visit ancient Rome, But found it never fell. Its buildings may seem crumbled stone, But it’s alive and well. Its mighty temples still exist Though in an altered form. Its rings of gold and amethyst Still fingers rich adorn. For in the City Vatican The emperor still reigns, Descended from Octavian, […]
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The Widow Next Door Every Saturday when the sun is out and it’s hotter than Hades Monica next door raises her garage door early in the morning and leaves it up long past noon as if Herm will walk out at any minute oily and greasy needing to clean up the way he used to every Saturday […]
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It’s Snowing in Manila “The snow is always falling in ‘Fargo,’ cloaking the world in metaphysical confusion.” – Jessica Zafra The militant chided the child for singing “White Christmas” when the longest Christmas season isn’t white, in the absence of snow in these parts. (The movement would not give its imprimatur.) But it gets almost-white cold up in Baguio City. But […]
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sKiN by, Melissa R. Mendelson Are you hungry? Are you thirsty? Are you cold? Are you warm? Are you awake? Are you aware? These questions ran on a loop. It seemed like with every hour, they greeted me as an old friend would, but no face accompanied these words. I remained alone, locked in solitude. My black arm rested across […]
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Into White Love was the heart nestled in soft, white sheets, beating with beauty, and glistening with rays of life. Love are the lights in a mother’s eyes as she brushes the hair of her young daughter and then takes her by the hand to lead her daughter into the world outside, protecting her with her mighty wings, but […]
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