We must consider The #measure of a person When planning to trust In their abilities to rule As a servant of all Rather than the syncophant Of the glorious few. #vss365

Time wandered on as if we were not there Behind the door, waiting for the buzzer The mechanism which would unlock, let us free Yet, time continued, digital figures danced Second by second, minutes dragged. Nothing changed at all. #poetrycommunity @thebrokenspine.co.uk #PoemsAbout #LockedDoors

I spilled some of my tea When you snuck up on me All over my #saucer What is up, Sir? To cause me to waste this, see? Be gentle when creeping When someone was sleeping And just awoke Be kind, dear bloke, This heart needs to keep on beating. #vss365

Lovely morning respite A Carolina Wren singing "SECRET SECRET SECRET" From the live oak tree. Yes, this is my secret place Hidden among the houses Tree covered and messy Where my muse comes Her kisses painting my verse. #poetry #muse

When she walks into the room All my senses come alive. Like a predator I observe her Stalking stealthily my prey. My urges held closely in check Yet, my love for her excites And the #piranha in me strikes. My heart insists on her essence For only she is the stuff of life. #vss365

RIP Annie Hall

Childhood in Seattle spent drenched A #raincoat a luxury ill afforded Yet we did not care Nothing could dampen spirits The sun was up there somewhere Above the gray, heating the air. 1/2 #vss365

There was time, before, For quiet contemplation, For planning, thinking before doing. No more, just reacting. #Fatigue is now our enemy, The one thing that defeat us. Backs bent, arms dragging, We enter the fight reeling Knowing we can lose Not that we could win. It is not enough. #emoetry

It still rings in my ears London is drownin' And I live by the river. The #Clash had it right Decades before the fall ##vss365

Tapping down the campfire As we clear up the site Packing up for home After this weekend away. Such lovely nights spent Just the two of us alone. Leaving stress in the city. Now, to make sure the #ash Is cold, no reason to ignore. We will return here someday When life gets to be too much. #vss365

Silently pondering the loss Of so many dreams, unspent. How could it all turn to #ash? What step, not taken, did I miss? Here was all I hoped for, prayed for, Destiny touched lightly, as it passed. My skin is brushed now With the #ash of remembrance. #vss365

Once reputable rags Just #pulp fiction now Bowing to the leader Leading nothing but liars. O, for clarity of purpose, For truth-telling and facts. Where did the Terkel's go? Have writers lost their voice? #vss365

Moon glow lights amber On the fallow field at dusk #Huntersmoon rising #dailyhaikuprompt

I fascisti non rinunciano mai pacificamente al potere. Questo può finire solo in un modo...

I volunteered for it I served it as I served veterans I was born and raised in it Loving it as I was told I sang its praises every school morning I prayed for it enmass. And now it is unrecognizable My country broken, dieing. A #conundrum loving it still. #vss365

I, as an atheist, would accept the Rapture just to get the fuck out of here.

Blue telling me he wants dinner.

What I felt as perfect love Left me soulless, empty. The #flinching I ignored for so long Was a truth seeking recognition. I was wrong in what I felt was true Only a brief interlude between lust And whatever lies I told myself. When is it right to feel vulnerable If love isn't the cure? #vss365

I spent the morning Fishing for salmon on the Sound With brothers who have guided and guarded, Fought and forgave, For all of my life. Simple pleasures on a calm sea Talking of nothing, everything Past, present, living, and dead Laughing and crying, For all that has passed. 1/2

I swear this belt Fit looser Before the cheesecake And ice cream. #vssdaily

I am eight years old I wait #patiently right here For the ice cream truck. #haikufeels

Pay no attention To the #patient in restraints He was President. #haikufeels

This is truth.

He stacks the courts with his friends, Orders his minions to vote And fill the seats with sycophants, Terrorizes the press to stay silent, Bullies the resistors into shelter, All to #elude the hangman's noose Over his less than stellar life So mommy and daddy will be proud Finally. #vss365 #poetry

Choose 20 paintings that have stayed with you or influenced you — one painting per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just paintings. #blueskyartchallenge #art #painting

Train retreats into the distance As the young man stands unsteady Carpetbag at his feet, wrinkled suit Hung unevenly on spare shoulders. Whatever future he foresees Must be better than the #past He clearly is running from. May we bless him with success Or should we just hope for him? #vss365

was it so simple a life when we played more than thought when grandparents looked young and parents looked unsure. what did we not see, hear did our neighbors look different or were the shades the same did we fear or cheer police. 1/2 #vss365 #past

The storm took away the beach. #beach #7syllablesentence

Where once was green grass Now mud prevails; wet, cloying. Clover expected. The hound had fun here Ripping up the manicured Lawn, after the rain. Oh well, he had fun The tail wags are evidence Such is his nature. #DailyHaikuPrompt #Mud/Clover #haiku #poem #writing #writingcommunity

Seated outside on my porch listening to the rain. A moment of peace in the hellscape of America.

Early morning cringe #boisterous toddler awake Wife wants more. Yeah, right!!! #dailyhaikuprompt #poetry

Earrings sparkle bright The #nacre catching the moon Lover in a trance. #haikuchallenge #poetry

She graced the café subliminally Her pose was assured, quiet, still The silver of her hair shimmering As diamonds on a calm sea. I approached with wary confidence Unsure of my own station in her orbit She tilted her head, acknowledging I was lost in her eyes. #writingprompt #inspiration

Aging has a lot of downsides New pains in places once whole Hair either leaving or graying Yet the worst parts of all Are the heroes and mentors Long loved and admired Who pass away seemingly daily And all you can do is cry. #poetry #aging

Another chilling mourning Of young lives cut short. A media storm of opinions Drown out the plaintive cries "Stop, stop, stop this carnage!" As leaders bow and scrape To the monied interests And urge thoughts, prayers To appease the masses 1/2 #itstheguns

Seems a fair critique To point out the conundrum Of a species thought #sentient Openly working against itself Dooming its home planet To a long, slow, preventable death. #vss365

Remember the good old days when we thought the worst people were the Westboro Baptist Church?

We pay no attention to The sausage made in politics Until the #mundane metastisizes Into the horrific and ludicrous. Now we wonder who was supposed to Watch the cretins in their suits. Tis we! Tis us! We are the watchers. Only ourselves to blame. #vss365

One foot, in front of the last Across the expanse, we repeat, Away from the discord and calumny Far from the madness in pursuit. It is not wanderlust that drives us But the search for the truth we lost When we accepted falsehoods And gave away everything. #wander #repeat #2wordprompt #poetry

A day on the Oregon Coast.

#whistpr 1/4 Morning, before the heat marries humidity and suffocates the will to sit, I set my book upon the makeshift table made, from the bones of end tables and rusted sides.

T'was a long way down When i peeked over the cliff edge Not sure I'll #risk it. #haikufeels #haiku #risk

Morning light diffuser through windows In need of a cleansing hand. Yet brightens the little room Where dreams have drifted away And left a shallow sigh, a smile, A happier heart not tainted By the news of last night's vigil Or daylights revelations. 1/2 #poetry #vss365

Maybe my heart is tangled In a nest of wire encased Sprung from desires unbidden, Unanswered, unaccepted. I can sense the trap I've laid For myself, these years in hiding. Now, the love I want to feel Lies stripped, broken. 1/2 #vssdaily #wire

It was a low, growling #hum Underlying the tension A sinister tone dimming the sunlight In our eyes, as we glanced, Furtively, Around the park land. We saw it land near here Moments ago, but nothing, Not a blade of grass disturbed. Just the #hum, just there, Imperceptibly louder. #vss365

Well, crap!!! Had a whole weekend of theater planned and now I have Covid.

Do you remember the days when we thought the world was Crimson and Clover? Are we so far away from those days where now crimson colors classrooms and cheeks of caught politicians. #vss375 #crimson