A sudden updraft elevates me To a higher plane Where the air is so clear The faraway ocean is easily seen And the smell of groundlings is barely scented A momentary pleasure To be savored and forgotten My favorite perch lies just ahead From that branch The kaleidoscope that is the earth below Comes into better focus Little humans over there Some moving up and down Others round and round And there, some are tossing A circular object at each other While bigger humans kick A large sphere on the ground And occasionally into the air From the smaller two…

My spirit requires quiet to breathe
To flourish
To be at peace
Find yourself in the silence of your heart

Noise is everywhere
It surrounds and suffocates
Interrupting every thought
Find yourself in the silence of your heart

The busyness of everyday life
In which we immerse ourselves
Isolates us from all living things
Leaving us lost and alone
Find yourself in the silence of your heart

We search everywhere for answers
To life’s mysteries
And to give meaning to our existence
Find yourself in the silence of your heart

Much time is spent on activities to entertain ourselves But…

Poetry/Humor

Thank you Ivette Cruz
For thinking of my well-being and
Securing a place of rest for me
Upon those occasions when I choose
To pause my activity
And let people admire me
For however short a duration that might prove to be

The demands upon my energy Seem almost without limit at times For I am to be found in every nook and cranny In the air from which all draw breath Bursting forth from the mouths of babes And ancients alike To be found in the melodic ululations of birds As they cast their spells With their glorious songs…

She was neither angelic nor perfect She was so much more than that As grounded as a redwood tree As real and nurturing as the sun Someone others felt better for having been in her presence A person that exemplified the rich possibilities That come with striving to be as fully human as you can be And showed that it was not Only a goal worth attempting But in fact your destiny If happiness is what you desire She rarely talked about religion and her faith Rather her actions were eloquent testimony to her beliefs Her aim was to make…

Today my wife and I ventured out using public transportation for the first time in over a year. It felt very strange, with an odd mix of excitement and nervousness. Except for visiting our grandchildren we had not traveled outside our town. We who would often pre-pandemic use trains and subways to attend plays, musicals, and ballets in Boston, Massachusetts, now were going there after a long hiatus. It is not a lengthy trip for us, only about half an hour by train, but it was such a long time coming. And it felt so good to be to be…

With raisins they are one of my three favorite cookies.

Two swans made a home last summer In a tributary of a local river After my first sighting of them Thereafter on every trip through the adjacent town forest I always looked To catch a glimpse of them Besides their obvious beauty There was some aura about them That I found to be comforting As if their presence was a sign That the world still contained some goodness A reminder that even such a small unexpected sighting Had the power to make the world seem like a better place Could cast a warm glow over the ordinariness of daily life…

Aliens from outer space Bring them on, the sooner the better Put out the welcome mats Have an orchestra ready to greet them A chorus prepared to chant them on Given what we have done With the one planet upon which we live Reflective, self-aware life forms From out there Would offer a ray of hope But what if they have looked at us Have done their research And are fearful of meeting us After all, what would a reading of our history on earth Reveal to outsiders Wars: global, regional, tribal, National, religious, civil, racial An environment in crisis…