The Grin

I saw you watching me

And suddenly I was unsure

Of myself

Not knowing whether I should

Smile

Or pretend I was unaware.

I decided to do nothing.

You began to grin

In a way I could not unsee.

So, I smiled back at you

Unconsciously 

And it was on.

We acknowledged one another.

Why is that the most difficult thing

About falling in love

Is the simple act of seeing that the other

Truly exists.

I see the season's first robin

And I recognize spring is near.

You sat in a coffee shop

Not more that six feet distant

And I shivered at the notion

You even lived!

You and I have travelled far

Since that caffeine-fueled introduction.

What if I never acknowledged your grin?

What if we never took that first stroll

Or stood before that black-robed preacher

To say our vows?

Our children's children would have ended

Their possibilities right then

Had I not returned your grin.

You know? 

Just like that grin

You're wearing now.

o

 

 Hi, Readers....this site has been down, on my end for some time, but it appears to be "good to go" again. Soon, I'll be posting new material. I've be frustrated! But, maybe that's in the rear view mirror now. I hope I can soon lure you back. 🐶 

~~ james

The Inhalation of Skies

i am Wind!
i am the inhalation of skies
lungs of terrible draft
and willful fury.

i am Tornado!
i spin with hell's
centrifugal anger
and i will sweep far
your most worthy foundation.
i will lift high and dash your infants
with more ferocity
than Herod
stripping away every
cherished
prize.

i am Hurricane!
i will level your cities
break your levees
and forbid your populace
to return
rebuild
re-begin.

i am Wind.
i am deaf to
cantons of mercy.

when you believe you are safe
build monuments to the slain.

        But
I WILL RETURN!

I am Destroyer Wind.

As an offering for Veteran's Day I submit the following. I wrote it in 2017, memorializing probably the most senseless, most heedless example of foolish and poor leadership, exemplified by Col. Custer. Had I been there, I'd have shot him myself. The number of men butchered by inept officers are legion. God rest them all.  

Custer's Corporal

Well, no man never asked my starch

When we set off on our westward march

And no winsome lass never asked me why

When I set off for to win, or die.

No Cheyenne lance never pierced my skin
So I tried it once, and then again.
I heeled my spur when the Captain yelled "Charge!"
And I was kilt right there, beside my Sarge.

They laid me down and then scalped my hair
Then they left me dead and cold and bare.
But the handsome Colonel, he died there too
And the history they teach you jus' ain't true.

Well, the stories all brag of Custer's glory
But the unvarnished truth is another story.
It was all Lakota on that day
Until they struck tent and rode away.

So, hear me clear, all'a you bold boys
And quit all'a your brave, naive noise.
Every soldier boy that goes to war
Will get what war has in store.

Enjoy your boyhood kickin' rocks 'n cans
And don't rush off to be a man.
War ain't no lark, and it ain't no game.
And if you do come home you won't be the same.

I took six arrows in my side
And a tomahawk split my skull open wide.
Their squaws pierced with needles, my young ears
In hopes in the afterlife I could not hear.

Boys, you may keep your banners and flags.
From where I sit, there's no cause to brag.
I can no more hear that bugle call.
They kilt us one, and they kilt us all.

Just a few feet above my bones
The army set me up a stone.
Now, don't you think that's petty pay
For the dreadful pain I bore that day?

Sorry I've been gone, ya'll. This site got all twisted up on the provider's end. But maybe it's better now. I'll soon find out. I have things I've written that I haven't posted. But maybe things have been cured----or I could not have posted this!

James 🌛

 Sweet Beth Ann

She was my darling.

She was my own.

And this was where the seeds of

Our love was sewn.

On the beaches, along the sea

Is where my lover

Gave herself

Only to me.

I loved her purely.

My love was true

When the blossom

Of our love was new.

But my sweet one

My dear Beth Ann

Gave herself

To another man.

I saw her strolling 

In the fading light

With that wicked villain

Out in plain sight.

He had taken 

Beth Ann from me.

I had a plan

It was clear to see

Many nights I waited

Behind the dune.

Where we loved together

In early June.

But the winds of October

Blew off the coast

And I planned the death of

The one I loved the most.

I shot that wicked 

Evil man

And buried his body

Deep in the sand.

Then I forced my own love

My dear Beth Ann

Taking her roughly

By her gentle hand.

We were waist high

Out in the surf

And declared she would now receive

What her love was worth.

I kissed her harshly

On her traitorous lips

Then kicked her feet from beneath her

Watching her slip.

I held her under 

The angry waves

And fashioned for Beth Ann

A watery grave.

The tide then washed her

Far out to sea

And she was done

Making a fool of me.

Now I'm an old man

Sworn off romance.

I never married.

Never took the chance.

And I don't go

Down to the sea no more.

All I hear is

What she implored.

Please, my darling

Don't take my life.

I always intended

To be your wife.

You shot the reverend 

Writing our sacred vows.

Her death plea numbs me

Down the years, till now.

Dear Readers~~~

Life has been complicated. It appears I am returning to police work, 👮 at the invitation of the Deputy Chief. It will include I prepare and provide some training for those younger than myself, as well as occasionally taking a seat in a patrol car. 🚓 I often remarked that I got out of law enforcement just in time. But when they offered I could not say 'yes!' fast enough. It's a new department, somewhat smaller than my last one, but still a Chicago suburb. I start on October 14, and am ready to roll! 🚨 I'm not leaving here. That's non-negotiable. 🚔

She Said

She Said

You are the breath in my lungs
She said.

Words have power.
They bring reality to hopes
Animation to concepts
And power to life.

Words charm and thrill.

You are the breath in my lungs
She said.

I believed her
Trusted her lovely words.

You are the breath in my lungs
She said.

How could I know
To her
Words were
“take-back-able”
The way children take back words
Play with power
And tease with intentions.

You are the breath in my lungs
She said.

But she took it back
The way Lucy jerks back the football
Just as Charlie Brown runs in for the kick.

You are the breath in my lungs
She said.

Just kidding.

 

Legion

It has been a long while 

Since this pervasive gloom

Has returned to infest

Our national backbone. 

No need to recount the multitude

Of dangers.

They are Legion.

Every evening I sit doing 

Risk Assessment. 

It may not help that recently

In the midst of a sleepy Sunday

Two men attempted to break through

Both my front and back doors

Simultaneously.

It was damn unnerving.

Thundering slams onto 

My locked doors.

Screams from the intruders

Threats from myself.

I was prepared to kill them.

Nothing I've experienced 

Is more sobering than 

Centering your blade site

On center mass

With the intent to forever stop

A beating heart.

Yes.

..the Afghani sun boils the concrete

On the streets and tarmac in Kabul.

Possibly the blood of the Innocents

Will bake into sticky reminders

Of those murdered.

.....

Night breezes stir river grasses

And chills the bodies of the hopeful minions

At our borderless south

Replete with disease and covert terrorists

Not to mention the tens of thousands

Simply searching out a dream.

.....

California is on fire.

.....

West of Nashville, bodies float

Face down 

Over what once were blueline highways.

.....

Where went our sleepy dreams?

The warm embrace of children?

The sparkling midnight eyes of lovers?

Lazy, meandering drives 

Through the heartland?

I know where mine went.

They all dissolved into  

A universe narrowed

By the laser point of my pistol

Centered on the chest of the man

I meant to kill.

The Inhalation of Skies

 

  i am Wind!

i am the inhalation of skies
lungs of terrible draft
and willful fury.

i am Tornado!
i spin with hell's
centrifugal anger
and i will sweep far
your most worthy foundation.
i will lift high and dash your infants
with more ferocity
than Herod
stripping away every
cherished
prize.

i am Hurricane!
i will level your cities
break your levees
and forbid your populace
to return
rebuild
re-begin.

i am Wind.
i am deaf to
cantons of mercy.

when you believe you are safe
build monuments to the slain.

        But
I WILL RETURN!

I am Destroyer Wind.