By Their Nature

Children aspire
To bigger and higher.

Unskeletal

Traditionally by Halloween
Lots of trees are bare.
But this year, as is clearly seen,
The leaves don’t seem to care.
Some of them are even green...
Come on, drop down from there!

Bomber

I’m disappointed this is just some isolated loon.
I was hoping for a convoluted conspiracy - and soon!
So I’m starting a rumor that this guy was framed
By some very bad people, never to be named!

Routine But Ouch

My dog had an operation.
She seems to be healing.
Seeing her tail wag again
Brings a wonderful feeling.

Yawn

Took a class on yoga for restful sleep,
But had to wake up to drive home.
I hope my state of relaxation will keep
Ready while I finish this poem.

Did It Again

Once I sign up for a race
I feel bound to do it, just to save face,
But I don’t tell anyone of my plans,
So I wouldn’t be disappointing any fans,
Except the guy in the mirror, who I hope
Won’t think I’m a mope.

Effects

A life is like a a stone
Thrown in a pond.
It goes on rippling
When the stone is gone.

Java Juice

Am I drinking coffee enough?
It’s just one daily cup of the stuff.
But it’s a large, so is that in fact
Two cups stacked?

Rattling

A big supply of rattlesnakes
Really makes
Being trapped in a mine
Exquisitely fine.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-45893215

Excelling

A proper spreadsheet glories
In hierarchical categories.

Sessile

The lovely Sea Cucumber
Is rather prone to slumber.
Unlike the busy ant,
It gets mistook for a plant.

Product Idea

Someone needs to sell time-release safes for home snacks
To protect ourselves from late night craving attacks.

Tick

I hadn’t known the Tick
Was an Arachnid.
I'm sure some smart kid
Sitting in the back did.

Glad Hostage Is Free, But...

Why did we go from “minister”
To calling people “pastor”?
I’m sure it’s nothing sinister,
And not a big disaster,
But word-choice alteration
Always jars my brain.
Just when you know a language
It goes and changes again!

Staying On Track

From what I can figure, a train engineer
Doesn’t even have to steer.
They hit the gas, they hit the brakes,
And try to avoid catastrophic mistakes.

Dry

I talked to a Chicago police officer who had worked marathon support for the race here last Sunday. I asked about the weather and she said it rained a lot. So I suddenly felt I had stumbled into a bit of good fortune because it hadn’t rained that morning in Milwaukee, where I was running that other marathon.

I’m not quite sure that made up
For hours of extra travel,
But something about cold rain
Makes my brain unravel.

Milwaukee

After steady forecasts of rain this morning, and after a rainy early morning drive from Chicago to Milwaukee, the rain stopped for the actual marathon.

Went out way too fast
And had to slow down
But still had a blast
Seeing the town.

Driving Out Of My Way

I was downtown today, to do some work. The place was jammed with out-of-towners here to run or watch the Chicago Marathon. Forty-thousand runners, that's a lot.

Even more people would like to run it, if they could, but forty thousand is some kind of practical limit. So they put in a lottery to get in, for normal people, like me.

Tomorrow is the Chicago Marathon,
But I'm not going to run it, I'll be gone,
Off to Milwaukee to run a marathon there.
Such are the burdens that lottery losers must bear.

Pirate Pet Preference

Said the pirate with a parrot,
“Other pets are just absurd.
Neither dog, nor cat, nor ferret,
Can repeat your every word.
If your pocketbook can bear it,
Then you ought to buy a bird!”

Scholarly Advice

You want your homework
Eaten by a doggy?
Just add gravy -
Get it nice and soggy.

Street View Sighting

I saw the Google street view car.
Will I soon be a street view star?
Will I be shown for all to see
With blurred-out physiognomy?