Almost Rubber Chickens

As youth, we were flamboyant,

Emitting auras of sexy colors…

Slaves to nature, we were peacocks,

Living only to attract others.

Years later we crossed paths again,

Shocked at how we’ve weathered…

Not only were our memories false,

We’re both molted, and so un-feathered.

Tumbling Towards Terminal

Diving in irrigation ditches,

Our sport’s vehicle?  Gravity…

Falling in rivers, warm pools and lakes,

Graceful cliff dives into the sea…

We seem to enjoy the pull of nature

Drawing us ever closer to earth…

Until we discover when older,

We’ve tumbled farther away since birth.

Grammar School Hero

I was a grammar school super hero

I set drowning bugs in gutters free.

Draped in a bath towel superman cape,

I hid out in the tallest tree.

Yet, I was the klutz in middle school,

The team member never selected…

I decided to run for class clown,

And unanimously, was elected.

High School lasted five long years;

I smoked and drank for fun.

While working for veterinarians,

Juggling what needed to be done.

Others thought me quite responsible,

The kid that would go real far…

It is true I got lots of mileage,

I did it all for a convertible car.

Speeding through the swirling fog

Down Davis Road to “Light My Fire”

I matured, breaking sound barriers;

My life couldn’t get much higher.

My young eyes only saw beauty,

Translating visions to symphonies.

Along the way, lost pets and loves,

Paved sad roads with epiphanies.

Freedom was riding a horse so fast,

Through wheat fields under thundering skies…

I learned the power of my own will,

And everything, eventually dies.

Jackie and Jack

 

In the Canyon and Garrapata,
I witnessed two idols fall,
Dissolved as if by acid,
Both by choice, with alcohol.

Jack, my surrogate father,

Was only a dream I had….
Aloof, drunk and deserting
No different from my dad.

So many conflicting memories

Under the Bixby Creek Bridge… 

I still envisioned a future,
Far beyond that Big Sur ridge.

Jack, you are still my hero,

Tarnished, but a part of me…
And then, there’s the father I hated;
Another genius, time set free.

Barriers

I unrolled barbed wire for acres

To keep the animals “Under my tree”.

I often wish now as an old man,

The fence was cut, and they ran free.

One side kept the livestock in,

The other kept predators at bay…

I see now the moral dilemma;

Risk harm or take freedom away.

If I were the horse with flared nostrils,

Inhaling the scent of a better stranger,

I would prefer the choice to run free,

Risking a future chance of danger.