Fogerty Creek

Fogerty Creek flows iron red,
On its way to the ocean’s breeze,
Below the nests, past the rabbit’s bed;
Threading ribbons through eyes of trees.

Rose tints are cast on all one sees
Underwater and the clouds overhead…
Swells in a rainstorm, stops in a freeze,
Fogerty Creek flows iron red.

Cutting it Short

I may have cut my life short,
By ten years, maybe twenty…
All those Smokey, booze filled years,
Filled my memory vaults, aplenty.

Vodka Tonics on the roof tops,
Dancing high above the city…
I mingled with the anonymous
The famous and the pretty.

Dj’s spinning lights and vinyl,
Beats per minute our quality…
Donna Summer filled our sails,
Dancing sailors, adrift at sea.

Valets parked our inhibitions,
Strobes led souls to the disco,
The days began at midnight;
We were alive in San Francisco.

We always made it home by dawn,
Chirping birds, hangover factors,
Two cups of Joe by six A.M.
Then back on horses and our tractors.

Law Degrees

A law degree, or heroin,
One soldier AWOL, or a vet…
The future’s often scripted,
By the best pal, last girlfriend met.

Some losers rise above their fate,
Success, the best revenge…
Some winners fail with success,
Snap under pressure, just unhinge

Dropping through the funnel,
Life screams the question why?
Some losers rise to rule the world?
Some saints doomed, first to die.

Arizona Sky

Charles, Woody, Paul (my father)


Three boys in Arizona
Waited to board the plane,
One was sheltered, one stole horses,
The orphan used our family name.

Little did they realize,
Flying over the Arizona plain,
One would die of whisky,
In self-inflicted pain.

One would be a gambler,
Beneath Las Vegas stars,
Dying broke supporting women,
Impressed with sporty cars.

One became a physicist,
Flying in planes around the world.
Leaving behind the other two boys,
Whose wings seldom were unfurled.

Since you Asked About the Island

You inquired if I am happy now.
I am, but yet, I weep often.
I’ve seen people, kind deeds and miracles,
Fade away, though I haven’t forgotten.

I find the more beauty I witness,
The more people and pets I befriend…
The higher the level of sorrow,
The larger the loss in the end.

R8 D O FLYR

I had a youthful need for speed,
Each tree climbed, had to be higher.
Sliding down hills in a cardboard box,
Never compared to my Radio Flyer.

Now days fishing high on a rock,
Or napping by a warm fire,
Satisfies like my need to read.
There is little more left to desire.

Pelican

If the ocean were a clock face,
My finger, an hour hand…
I’d point out to you at two o’clock
The laziest Pelican.

He doesn’t dive, he eats afloat,
While sitting, he scoops his fill…
Then fly’s off once more, not paying…
Adding the dinner to his bill.