TIDES

Rising and falling,
sea birds calling
a trill, shrill
and resounding.
Surrounding the shore,
seaweed tossed and sands
of lost childhood, decay.
On a good day, you can see
clear across to Canada,
a cyclical sonata awash
in rushes and retreats.
Beneath the feet
of beachcombers, the warmth
of a million suns baking,
taking shells and driftwood;
a good haul for an early spring.
Still, the gulls sing
a redundant song, strong and shreiking.
Another wave rises, then beats
a hasty withdrawal. Through it all
you breathe the freshness abounding,
Rising and falling, your chest
duplicates the lunar lambada
of the Great Lake. Waters rake
the moistened sand on its departure.
Sunsets and crashes leaving colorful dashes
across the glinted surf. Tides return
to where they had come as the night descends.
Another day ends in the swell of tides.


Walt

NIAGARA FALLS ( A RETURN)

Nature's wonder
under the thunder,
over the span of generations
the cascade continues.
One of those venues that
stirs the heart
and moistens the eyes
(and most of your clothes
if the wind takes a turn)
You yearn for the beauty
to capture you, taking
your pulse to feed its frenzy.
Many come to be enchanted,
enhanced by the sheer power
they can stare for hours.
Newlyweds and wannabes,
seek to sneak a peek
on their way to more
intimate locales. Sex sells
but in the shell of the gorge,
the churning is matched
only by the memory it leaves.
Branded upon a romantic heart,
the roar of Niagara remains.
She never leaves you.
You'd be a stooge to not
take refuge in her thunder.
Nature's wonder, Niagara Falls.
Slowly I turn...

Walt

NO MAN IS AN ISLAND

Set adrift.
Surrounded on all sides,
a man stands, aloof,
proof of his arrogance.
There is an ignorance
that precedes him,
An apathy that defines him.
Lost in a sea of self-import,
he'll resort to anything
to make his point. Annointed
in his mind, he will soon find
a need. Lessons of a life,
rife with pitfall and valleys,
he'll someday rally. Treading water.
Clutching to the life preserver called hope.
Survival awaits, as long as he stays afloat.

Walt

JANUARY SNOWS

First comes the thaw.
A heartless tease from a gentle breeze,
bringing showers and hours of warm.
No storm in site; just the right temperature
to make a nice White Christmas
a fond memory. Every sensory stimulus
is less provoking as I stand, choking back
my enthuiasm. A wide chasm between
reality and what I know to be an illusion.
It is this intrusion of this lake; unfrozen and
enabling, labeling these shores as
the snow capital of nowhere. Glancing to stare,
aware that the forecast calls for resurgent flurries.
You scurry to catch a quick glimpse of the skies
and there before your eyes you realize.
The snow machine is well in tune.
I hope it ends before we hit June!


Walt

POPSICLE TOES REVISITED

It comes and goes
when the west wind blows
and we're in the throes
of lake effect snows.
Jack Frost, the leader of my foes,
is drowning out my Ho, Ho, Ho's.
These ten little guys have surely froze;
the way it goes with popsicle toes.


Walt

BEFORE THE STORM

How strangely still
the water is today.
Calm and tranquil, strangely still.

Clouds upon the horizon,
harbingers of things to come;
clouds obliterate the sun.

The air is cold; it chills,
winds stirring through the clearing.
Winds of change do not thrill.

How strangely still
the water is today.
Peaceful thoughts; I get my fill.

And then the clouds converge,
driven by gusts of icy breath;
a nasty dose of a late season surge.

Before the storm, it seemed quite warm.
How strangely still
the water was today. Such a rapid decay!


** Inspired by "Sea Calm", by Langston Hughes
 
 
Walt

POETIC NURTURE (Pathetic Future)

Life went on in a downward spiral,

a world gone viral and lacking in decorum, no forum for discourse, 

just the forces of nature in coercion with the latest version of humanity without sanity.

The vanity of every man, woman and child had taken a wild turn, spurning tradition and
heading on amission to destroy all good things. Presidents and Kings, lacking in insight,
fight for their agenda, hardly mending fences and fostering the pretense that they strive
for the common good. But, no man had the ability to change things, no hope was ever
offered. We asked not what we could do to achieve that city on the hill amidst a thou
sand  points of light. All we did was fight. In a country of excess, we came to lose the
ability to express, we would digress, a less civilized purpose; a banal circus of
illusionists and clowns. Cities and towns, centers of populations and industry,
armies of force and destruction laid barewithout care.
The inevitability of a
world wide revolution,
a universal solution

to pollution and
hunger, homelessness
and hopelessness,

brought all the
problems to the
common man
to solve. We 

had evolved into 

survivors, alive 

for each other; 

sister and brother,

Father and mother.

Pulling together in

the same direction.

Not striving for per-

fection, but working

to keep the peace.

Poets became the keepers of wisdom, wordsmiths

and scholars, knew it got better before every verse. But first we needed 

to join our hearts and minds to find our footing; a good way to start. No longer were
we right of left.Conservatives and Liberals ceased to exist. Republican and Democrat
were not viable concepts.Too bad we had to destroy all we held dear to get to
here.          Maybe          in          the          future,          we'll          remember.

Walt

BOOM OR BUST

Lake Erie is a temperamental beast.
A haven from the oppressive summers,
but winters feast obsessively upon
each morsel of moisture left exposed.
A chain of timbers are left to float,
an ice boom to restrict the transmigration
of the frozen precipitation. Keeping clear
the water intakes and outlet culverts
from its destructive assaults. No fault
to the Corp of Engineers who follow their orders
and Mother Nature's dictates. Every storm that takes form
from Toledo to Buffalo passes over her wake,
seeding the clouds with a chilled wind and an evil grin.
For within its scope is the hope that accumulations
will be controlled. But you'd sell your soul
that the lake's effects will not wreck that plan.
A man with a snow blower can take only so much.
And such is life in Buffalo.


Walt

SORT'A SHORT RETORT

Whale, I never!
Who you callin’ anemone?
Sea hare, you!

Marie Elena

WOODLAWN BEACH

On Erie's shore
just south of Buffalo;
in the shadow of Bethlehem Steel,
Woodlawn Beach languishes.
Sand strewn with drift wood,
seaweed interwoven between
seashells and toes; rocky layers
stubbing and protruding, eluding
them was a battle.
Passing years brought stench,
abandoned Steel Plant stand
and ominous reminder of the decay.
Dead fish and gulls where children played,
now they stay off shore. No more
escaping or scraping memories out of
her unkempt shell. Just as well.
Woodlawn Beach is closed again.
This Year. Every year.


Walt

TORNADO AND TEMBLOR (A Kelly Lune)

a tornado here

a quake there

it’s all quite Erie

Marie Elena

WHOLE LOTTA SHAKIN' GOIN' ON

The talk of the town.
               "Did you feel it?"
                              Carole King felt it.
                                                                                    The earth moved.
               Desk accessories  m    i g   r   a  te  d.
Family pets went berserk.
       I was at work;                                  metal shelves
                            made a din. Vibration and rattle
                                                             a Teutonic battle Cali style
in Western New York.

The epicenter was in Quebec,

but what the heck, we felt it here.
                                                                                    "Did you feel it?"

 

 

Walt 

Caught between the wave
of indecision and doubt
my feet get so wet


Walt

STORMY WEATHER

Violence in electric downpour
trying to snore as the thunder rolls,
my tired soul yearns for some quiet
while this riot is incited. Lightning
dances and is excited. Waiting for the
tympani of noise to recoil. All toil
in a late Spring storm.

Walt

WINDS OF CHANGE

Thermal inversion run amok
just your luck to be caught
in the cross hairs of a violent assault.
Not the fault of any one,
just nature's way of reminding us
that someone else is in control.
Every soul held in the balance
in the hands of One all knowing.
Showing that protection is only
a prayer away. The winds of change
come at a cost. But never due
to lost faith. Giving us all we can handle.


Walt

WAY TO MAKE WAVES

Sedentary and tranquil
gives way to tumultuous and
turbulent; a churning

turning your demeanor
irascible, highly harassable
and looking to pick

your battles when they come.
Never one for confrontation,
but in your station you choose

to defend your honor and hone
a place for yourself, (or a small
piece of you) to claim your notoriety.

Your sole propriety to society
is to stay alive long enough
to outlive your dreams and it seems

the only way that will happen
is to rage against the light, and
anything else that gets in your way.

For on this day, you have decided,
there is no need to hide your ire,
you fire from the hip and slip into a stance,

your chance; your only chance
to take charge, be large and barge forward.
Don't mind rocking the boat, the tide has come in

and you need no assistance in churning up
the foamy brine. For in your own mind,
you are already making waves.


Walt

MAY RAIN

Clouds, dark and ominous,
a predominance of wind and chill,
not enough to kill the plants
but enough to make them dance
in the whip up of weather.
A silence falls; precursor
to a storm approaching,
encroaching on a good day
with the threat so offered.
A mist begins, begetting a shower;
a sudden downpour ensues
while you rush to the car
with keys in hand and a hope to reach
the power windows before
giving the seats a good soaking.
Tough luck. It's a shame
you don't move as quickly
as you used to. Rain - 1, seats - zip.


Walt

HOPE AND CHANGE

Making a change for change sake,
is akin to shouting into the wind.
Intentions, mask the futility
of where your fire is directed.
In retrospect, nothing really
does transform. It is manipulated.
It is cajoled; a good front is placed
in front of the vile vision still seething.
Thoughts become controlling; left to
simmer and boil over again in time.
Turning a jaundiced eye to the truth.
You hope for better, but don't hold your breath!



Walt

LESS THAN FOUR

It's kinda funny, sorta
that on a day the prompt at PA
reads "More Than Five",
I'll be posting less than four
since the bullies have taken the playground.


Walt

IT WAS ONLY A TOY

a recovery.
saved from an incineration
at the local dump.
mud clotted and tarnished;
plastic woodgrain end mangled.
but there was something there.
he saw it. he always saw it.
it would be different when
he was done molding it to
a new glory. it was only a toy.

a reconstruction.
a wire wheel found its soul;
an oiled rag found its shimmer.
mud, unplugged and liberated,
fated for better things.
a learning experience.
master and apprentice; hands-on.
it would be different when
they were done fighting for
its new glory. it was only a toy.

a manipulation.
hand-crafted and brought to a new light,
a fight for what was good and right.
a father and son searching for
a common foothold; standing abreast together.
one expressed in words; one spoke in woods
both with an eye to an uncertain future.
he looked to the father for the guidance to cope;
the elder looked through a smoky brown bottle to deal.
no glory, it was only a toy.

a presentation.
shiny; newly blued gun barrel, detailed and gleaming.
shiny; freshly carved gun stock, his father's vision,
a craftsman in artistry; an artist in craftsmanship.
mounted on a placard of equal polish and shine.
and it was all his. they worked it together,
each with a unique vision for a common cause,
amidst applause and a few more draws on the foamy malt,
they shared in its pristine newness; a bond - father and son.
fated in glory, it was only a toy.

a disintegration.
perspective breeds contempt, pubescent and independent,
the son and father, sharing a name and a craftsmanship,
and little else. offspring, impressionable and fragile, a lump of clay
eager to be molded. parent, increasingly cold and inebriate,
escapist artist with a hand at wood, but not clay.
the father becomes the hunter, the son the protector
of all they had shared. slowly being extracted from
his warm and living hands. the bond; the truth and reality.
the alcoholic without glory and a boy with a toy.

a destruction.
shiny; newly blued gun barrel, detailed and gleaming.
shiny; freshly carved gun stock, his father's vision,
a craftsman's artistry; two artist's craftsmanship.
mounted on a placard of equal polish and shine.
the solution to an argument; a physical affront to the abuse
of a mother caught in the cross hairs. a drunken stare
and a lashing out to cause as much pain; as much mutual
destruction. a common bond; a joint effort;
one time glory. it was only a toy.

a devastation.
a project bringing/tearing apart all that was attained
through camaraderie; for an ideal. a father, taking the barrel
between his calloused and smoke scented hands;
swinging for the fences, sending shards of white metal shrapnel
skittering; sending slivers of burnished mahogany into flight.
throwing the shattered remains at my feet. a declaration;
"you are my son. you walk in my steps unfaltering."
an upheaval. rebellion. a denial of all preached as gospel.
devoid of glory. it was only a toy.

a resentment.
long harboring animus for one so loved and revered.
bonded in a conservative ideal, from opposite sides
of a shared misery. a choice; a road less journeyed.
the son strays to find his way; his voice, his choice
to walk his path. the father grasping at what had always
passed from father to son, somehow undone in this rendition,
and his suspicion lies in the opposition they have assumed.
the old mule and the young pachyderm seeking an open mind,
lost glory. it was only a toy.

a revelation.
scars remain on a heart that had found peace and forgiveness
in the passing of one so loved and revered. the fear of
taking a contrary stand against the old guard long buried
along with whatever hatchet remained. the vision of shattered
dreams and ventures, made somewhat whole. in heart and soul,
father and son again achieve oneness. two men joined in name,
sharing similar styles, from diverse sides of the aisle.
the thoughts stir up a laugh and a smile, all in mutual forgiveness;
a new glory. it was only a toy.

Walt