All-night
I push the broom
Wet mop the floors
Clean the restrooms
Haul
Trash
Out the back door
Work done
Every muscle sore
On my way home, I stop at the liquor store.
Tomorrow
I go back for more
316
Evening delivery!
Brown box
stuffed with packets of vegetable seeds
left at front door.
My heart goes flicker flicker while I fall asleep
and dream of starting this season’s garden.
315
My
Old
Friend
The
Rusty
Noisy
Window shaker
Air conditioner
Keeps me cool all night
314
Half a Century ago
Different time
Different upbringing
The father
Hiking in the woods
With his young son
The boy
Falling on the rocks
Scraped his knee
Started to cry
The father
After making sure that the boy’s knee was OK, looked his son in the eyes and said:
“Spit on it and continue on”
That day the boy started on the path to become a man.
313
White blue morning sky
Strong reflection
Off Ocean
I’m not catching any fish, but already have a nice tan.
312
There is nothing like a lot of sleep, some yummy food for the tummy, and a little nooky, to get one back into the game.
311
Truckload
Mushroom dirt
Dumped
Front yard
Shoveling
Loading
Hauling
Wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow load
To the backyard
Replenishing
Garden soil
Under
Hot
South Florida
Sun
310
Together
We ride our bicycles
Front and back gigantic baskets
Fully loaded
With
Blankets
Umbrellas
Small folding chairs
A cooler stuffed with
homemade sandwiches and pink lemonade.
We are a couple of bums
Going to the beach
309
Watching
his car burn
on the side of the freeway,
he decided
it was time to take a long holiday.
308
Strong wind
Light rain
Coconuts fall on metal tool shed with a bang
Hanging gong continues to clang
Wind chimes dance and shriek
Waterbed starting to leak
Impossible to sleep
307
Tide Rolls out
Leaving behind seaweed clinging to the rocks
Exposed to hot sun
Dependent
On the ocean
For life to carry on
306
All Night
Dancing
At the clubs
Early morning
Taxi ride to the beach
Soft king-size sheet
Spread out on the sand
Watching the sunrise
I held my beautiful lady
Who was wearing a white hippie dress
Over a perfect South Florida tan.
305
Boca Raton
My bicycle
Chained and locked to a coconut tree
I’m relaxing
At an indoor outdoor restaurant and bar
Drinking
Bordeaux wine
Eating
Gourmet
Pasta
20+ ingredient
Fancy dancy
Salad
Observing
Valets
Parking
Mercedes-Benz, Ferrari, Maserati, and Lamborghini automobiles
The man sitting to my left
Gives me his card and says:
“I’m a financial wizard
Trust me”
The man sitting to my right
Gives me his card and says:
“I’m a bankruptcy attorney”
304
Scrambling the eggs
Fish rot on the dock today
Nothing left but hate
303
Hole in the window screen
Mosquitoes
Enter
Search
Locate
Feast
Leave
302
Yogurt
Topped
With blueberries and honey
Three-way organic concoction
Cools down my tummy
301
The old gambler
Lived in a small pool cabana
At a rundown motel
On Miami Beach
One evening
We drank several beers
Eat his homemade potato salad and kielbasa on the grill
When it was time for me to leave
Never again would we meet
The old gambler said:
“Save some of your coins so you do not end up broke like me”
300
The old man
Bent over
Walking on the beach sand
His pencil-thin wife
Holding his hand
Most mornings
They pass by around 8 a.m.
The couple told me
They will walk together until the end
299
Squirrel
Collects nuts and seeds with gusto
Grows diversified portfolio
Finds a wife
Simple
Happy
Life
They Jump from tree to tree
Love
Sprinkled
On the leaves that drift in the fragrant breeze
298
I live in the backroom
Rent is cheap
Easy to sleep
Morning trips to the big-box store
Purchase
Extra-large frozen pizza
Two liter plastic bottle of soda pop
No longer bang the drum
Spirit gone
297
I pulled out a twenty
Retail clerk said
“Sorry sir
We no longer accept paper money
Pay only with your phone
All purchases must be known
The Watchful Satan
Is always with us
So we are never alone”
296
They invented the game
Controlled domain
Took the cream
Left behind small change
Now
Their efforts are in vain
Sloppiness
Replaced
Tidiness
The yarn unwound
Lost all strategic ground
Standing at the roadblock
Stuck
Watching cuckoo clock
Tick tock
Tick tock
Tick tock
295
Pot of lamb stew
Bottle of Malbec
Greek peperoncini
Warm rye bread
Soon
Bellyful
Ready for bed
294
My old Cadillac
Has a blown head gasket
I now ride a bicycle
With French bread and wine
In the front basket
293
Five days heavy rain
No beach, but roof does not leak
Glad shack on high ground
292
Pompano Beach
2 a.m.
Old Motel
With Character
Second floor balcony
Eating pepperoni mushroom pizza
Bottle of Chianti
Watching the moon light up the ocean
291
Damn right
We are preppers
World
Is in the shitter
Two years of food on hand
Kitchen cabinets
Full of carefully marked cans
Solar panels on the roof
Giant sized chicken coop
All emergency supplies needed
Preparations completed
Every night
Me and the Mrs.
Watch the news
Drink cans of beer
Feeling blue
World a zoo
Any day could collapse
I wonder how long 10 cases of rum will last.
290
Afternoon rainstorm
Lost all of my energy
Maybe take a nap
289
Sitting on beach chair
Sun cooks oil coated skin
Tide rolls in cools feet
288
Coming into the Hermit’s library
Wife
Said
“I cannot take it any longer”
“I need to dust this place”
Armed
With a box full of dusters
We cleaned a few shelves of books
Then
She
Started sneezing
And
Needed to take a break
Saved
By an allergy attack
Until
Next time
287
Surviving
Decades of storms
The sea grape tree
Wrapped around side of shack
Continues growing
Probably
Will outlast me
286
Pound nails
Into the wood
Continue
Building fences
Blockade
The bridge
Crush
Less privileged
Take away
Safety nets
Use windfall
For military jets
285
The flourishing 90’s
The good life
Would not end soon
Dollars
Scooped up with a gigantic dustpan and broom
Swinging back and forth
Moving mountains of hay with a pitchfork
Shifting sand
Globalization
Moved across the land
Jobs have disappeared
Elites
Now offer peasants
Handkerchiefs
To wipe away the tears
284
Small white bird
Five meters above whitecaps
Floating
Eyeballing
Then
Instinctively
Torpedoes into ocean
Catching prize
283
Spraying glass cleaner
Wiping with a soft cloth
Mirror
Of
My
Mind
Spotless
282
Dark clouds everywhere
Strong wind blows them away
Only 10 a.m.
Hot sun fills the stage
Perfect beach day
281
Silky
First light
A snake
Lounging
On a stepping stone
Catching some rays
Squirrels
Practicing
Acrobatics
In the coconut trees
Birds
Stop
At the feeders
For a quick breakfast
Frustrated
Cat
Needs playmate
280
On the steps of Krak Des Chevaliers
Walking with a cane
Hauling her oxygen tank
The old lady said
“Travel while you’re young”
279
Many balls in air
Busy
Not going anywhere
Purchased
New sneakers
I go round and round the track.
Faster
Faster
Faster
Wind is blowing on my back.
What is it all for?
I cannot think straight.
Change needed
Before too late
The Hermit Poet's Ramblings 