Relax
Be patient
Sit by the river with your fishing pole
Most of all
Do not be dragged down the rabbit hole
Overtime
Bad character
Will be exposed
Then you will completely know
It is time get up
And
Permanently
Walk away from the sideshow
169
Frantically
Scratching
At his deformed image
In the mirror
Hyperventilating
He cried
“Please help I need air”
Fallen idol
Emotional bowl of jello
Desecrated soul
Pissed in his own rice bowl
Alone
There are no more calls
No longer the star
Of the Masquerade balls
168
For a long time
She had suffered much
No longer heard the beautiful sounds
Of the garden chimes
Final days
I sat in a chair
Next to her hospital bed
In the end
“I no longer believe”
Is what she said
167
Privileged
Less privileged
Social climbers
Boomerang slackers
Believe in the good book
Or burn in hell
Pray five times a day
Study Quran
Or an infidel
Sprinkle ancient dust here and there
Until on their deathbed
Atheists do not seem to care
Who is right?
Who is wrong?
Respect each other’s beliefs
Start getting along
Before humankind is gone
166
Hold on a second
I will open wide
So you can shove it down my throat
Artificial intelligence
Tossing the human race
Down a catastrophic slippery slope
You high tech freaks
Crave to wire everything on the Globe
Creating software and machines
Without hearts
Futuristic
Armies of Robots
Totally state of the art
Seizing power
All societies will fall
Because geeks
Will no longer
Have the intellectual capacity
To halt
The contraptions
From controlling us all
165
Fiddler crab
Moving back forth on beach sand
Never stays with plan
Has no control of wheel
Flip Floppers never close deal
164
Stingrays
In the sea
Gliding along effortlessly
Queen angelfish
Swimming gracefully
A grouper
Under a coral ledge
Observes me cautiously
Spiny lobsters
Look tasty
School of barracuda zoom back and forth aggressively
Just another early morning dive
In the Florida Keys
163
Put it on the bain marie
May not eat for another century
Spent winter in Romania
Hung out with vampires from Transylvania
Full blood transfusions made me live forever
But much crazier
Worked my way over to India
Met a snake charmer who was even zanier
He gave me a worn copy of the Tao Te Ching
Went home to Miami
Every day for one month
Sitting on the beach
Reading all 81 chapters of writing by Lao Tzu
No more luxuries for me
Decided to pawn off all of my bling
To this day for no reason
When drinking coconut water
Start to sing
The Star Spangled Banner
Oh say can you see
Numerous shrinks unable to help me
Bought old wood sailboat
Went off to sea
Made landfall here in Tahiti
Really enjoy your company
Please pour me some more tea
162
Sitting on my beach chair
Who the hell needs a career?
Catching rays
Reading philosophy books all day
I’m not a frustrated big shot
With an empty fridge
But has kitchen granite counter tops
No
I live in a sixty year old three room shack
Concrete Block Structure
Flat Roof
Survived multiple hurricane attacks
Sharing space with
Reptiles
Rodents
Termites
And
A gigantic organic vegetable garden out back
Love my Sony Walkman
Forget digital sound
Will die a cassette man
For over forty years
Bar-B-Que
1-2 times per week
Colonoscopy just came back all clear
Drink Ice cold Heineken beer
Nine years ago stopped cutting my hair
161
Early morning bathe
In cool holy Ganges River
Brings contentment
160
Chop chop chop and slice
Always taking is not nice
Sneaky like scared mice
159
Eight years
In the can
No longer same man
Paroled
Desperately
Trying to secure foothold
Mops 1000’s of square feet every night
Grinding
On decaying bones
Inside his mind
Alone
Out of everyone’s sight
158
Spring blooming frenzy
Bromeliad flower spikes
Stand at attention
157
Hot weather is here
Daily afternoon rainstorms
Bamboo on steroids
156
Warm mid-morning
Iguana getting suntan
On backyard stepping-stone
155
The bricklayer
Hunched over
Under hot Florida sun
Working twelve hour days
Moving ton after ton
Six years ago
Came from El Salvador
Across American Mexican border
Stashes every extra quarter
Like a hoarder
Dreams of going back to wife and two kids
Yet every day
Becomes older and older
154
Had a moment that day
Decided
To throw it all away
Purchased
One way ticket
Going
South of the border
Now
Live as a loner
Spending days
Fishing
Drinking ice cold Coronas
Belly full of polo, ensalada, rice, beans
And
An occasional Senorita Bonita
Dressed in tight fitting jeans
153
I never laugh at others misery
However
This time it is worthy
Smaller and smaller
The number of places for the corrupt to hide
Stashing the cash
In safe locations
Is like sticking a finger in a beehive
The barristers who wash the money
Do not have complete control anymore
Setting up shell companies is the game
No one knows in whose name
For decades the scheme worked
The data kept in nice little paper books
Today information online
Compromised security
Could put all involved
In a very bad bind
Maybe time to go back to old school
Buy Private Island
And
Bury currency, diamonds, gold coins
Under the mansion’s swimming pool
152
The trader
Always glued to his computer screens
Charts, data, news feeds
Today on top
Next day may bleed
Wears the best threads
Custom made Italian suits
Silk ties
Aim for luxury penthouse
That reaches towards the sky
Weekends hit casino
Roll some dice
A couple lines of blow
To maintain high
Ego becomes oversized
Contact dominatrix
Expert at making grown men cry
Deep down
Not the money
That nukes the veins
It is being in the game
151
Bite Bite Bite some more
Laser focus on one chore
Only so much time
Grab a shovel dig mine
Results ring like cathedral chimes
150
My favorite pastime
Surfing top of storm clouds
That floats through the sky
149
Heavy Thunderstorm
Raccoons having a party
Inside of house roof
148
Hacking sugarcane
Scorched fields farmhand feels pain
Only bossman gains
147
Tokyo room
Shared bathroom with thirty people
Saved Yen for sushi
146
Endless Raking
Leaves fall daily on rock garden
Hermit learns patience
145
They come they go
Do not succumb to undertow
Maintain steady flow
144
Courageous black bamboo
Shredded by hurricane
Storm gone new culms come
143
Simple Go stones
Placed tactically on wood board
Devour silence
142
You’re irritated
I know that you are
May I offer you a chocolate bar?
Yes
Life is unfair
However
There is no need to despair
Bad luck comes and goes
At least you have beautiful toes
You say I’m a clown
Who only plays around
Come over here
Take my hand
I’m going to set you free
and
Whisk us off to a secretive magical land
141
I just purchased a rusty 95 Town Car
Grab some clothes
We will drive far
Cheap rooms
Hot sex
Along the way
Miami to LA
Driving scenic highways
If the lowrider dies
We can call a tow truck
Sell it to the crusher for 400 bucks
Laugh all the way back home
On a greyhound bus
140
Sorry
I’m very confused
You say that all the shapeshifters escaped from the zoos
Nothing about this on the news
How do you know this to be true?
What
You are one of them too
139
Forty years ago
The decades just come and go
My father and me
Fishing in Florida Keys
Casting lines shooting the breeze
138
Take Me Please Take Me
Faraway where we can play
bamboo flutes all day
137
How does person gain depth?
Only one way my friend
Life Experience
136
Dust balls on the floor
Reminds her of dreams no more
Life now one big chore
135
Why keep chasing?
Believing you are gaining
Face it you’re fading
134
Washing dishes by hand
Scrub dry plate fork frying pan
Relaxation
133
Catching butterflies
Warm spring morning sunny sky
She began to cry
132
Freshly poured cement
We put down our handprints
Forever together
