Studio8 - Uniting the Arts

one foot in front of the other
the march of time, and youth
can be so elusive, just when you are
about to grab it, in vanishes in your hand of air
keep on truckin', best jam you can
the mind is alive despite the body
that likes to bully, a jab to the ribs
from out of the wild blue is just as likely
as you waking up, but fear ain't got no place here
wish i had something profound to say
so in lieu of that, I've just said this
see above

the mind
fairly certain
all is delusion

checkin in
checkin out
the screens have slowed down
where are the new voices
are they put off
by senior citizens
maybe we aren't hip enuf
for the young poets
that peruse the cyberworld
looking for the Edge
or maybe there are too many choices
I mean there must be a hundred
different cereal boxes in the USA
and maybe we dress funny in their minds
maybe they can picture me
typing this in my underwear
I mean good words do paint pictures
and so do bad ones

or maybe these stone tablets we chisel
can't be fashioned as quickly
as the shorthand tweets
that pass for communcation these days
u no wut i meen?
I once thought
that email might revive the lost art
of letter-writing

what an ass I was

.

rocket ride to nowhere
now they want to give us 5G
cuz the waves from 4G wasn't killing us fast enough
boy do I sound like a Luddite
always wanting things to slow down
but those born into the digital age
want it to speed up
and they look at me like I'm a T- Rex
because it takes me so long to register
at the doctor's office
Where are all the people I used to enjoy
talking to...now replaced by this lime and banana plastic
screen.....that is why I love the woods
it's mostly the same...trees and bushes and stones
that aren't much different from my last hike
and no one wants me to hurry up
I can choose my own pace in the forest
and if I do meet the occasional speed walker
I step aside, let her pass, say Good Morning
and she says, Yes...It Is

amen brother steve, amen...
am I the last man standing
without a cell phone?
bereft of i-Toys?
an entire working life
spent in technology
inventing
discovering
and in the end
I discovered
silicon ain't the bees knees...
that honor belongs to
carbon

smart phone to the right
nature and silence to the left
me in the middle

fathers day jam
oldest boy just left
he bought me this hearing device
digital
anxious to give it a try and a thoughtful card
he has his own shit to deal with
ulcerative colitis
a mean MF...he's lost a lot of weight
he's pale and weak
and he is thinking about my hearing
my daughter and I will have brunch later
and my youngest son and I will get together Tuesday
on we go, down the road
Happy Fathers Day Jammin'
to all you daddio's

kids
they need parents
for distraction

a mild, gray day
damp and humid
an indoor kind of day
dishes washed
bills paid
beard trimmed
one load of laundry done
another in progress
another in the queue
a low-adrenaline kind of day
a day to sit quietly
and render unto caesar

whither the jam?
surely the jar
has not been scraped clean
surely the hunger
has not been sated
surely
creative fires
have not been quenched
but merely banked
red heat glowing
silently
beneath the ash
patiently
waiting only for more fuel
before erupting into flame
dancing, flickering,
feeding upon one another
burning hot
like the musical forge
of 'trane & mccoy
of miles & john
theirs without words
ours with...
play, sisters & brothers....

ants in the jam
roaches in the shower
perpetual play

groggy morn
head turning
jaws clamping
the coffee needs a boost
so do I
eyes won't focus
mind follows in suit
so as not to renege
I'm not a cheater
I'm a go-with-the-flow
an old flower child
looking for the goodness
in folks
it must be in there
somewhere
in this gun culture crowd
in this white-power crowd
what can an old man do
how can i change the world
perhaps my mission should be
kindness
the lend-a-hand-jam
maybe i can say good morning
and mean it
maybe i can provide a shoulder
to lean on, to cry on
maybe i can make someone smile
the woman checking out my groceries
the man selling newspapers and ice water
on the corner
maybe I can love harder
maybe I can jam longer
into the dark night, my music
a balm
my words all profound
or maybe I can't
but the smile-jam seems doable
how hard can it be

a little nod
surrender to inner hope
one breath at a time

one small nod for women
one giant surrender to hidden hope
we cannot take more than one breath
at a time, so jam slowly, be aware
take it all in, for it will only happen one time
this way, open the mind's eye
see the love, bring it into your heart
then expel