Need Ticket

I wish that Southwest ran a ferry
To places interplanetary.
I've got some credits I'd like to use
For a jolly Jovian cruise.

Work at Home

Observation: I've taken to shaving at random times.
Rumination: (Now I must think of something that rhymes.)

Flutterby

White butterfly, you with the flappy wings,
Flitting around the flowers in the sun,
Going about your business in a way
That calms my agitation, tell me now,
What’s up in your world? Recent caterpillar,
Reborn after a snooze in your cocoon,
Now whizzing in a hurry to get done
Whatever urgencies consume your brain.
I suppose it’s mostly eating and mating.
The world of insect life goes on and on!
As does the human one, but you have brought
Without intending it, these happy thoughts.

In the Plaza

Statue of giant red alien lobster
Marked safe, so far, from toppling mobsters.

Legacy

The famous academic was so precise,
He thought footnotes on his headstone would be nice.

Whihala Beach

Beloved behemoth lake, tranquil today
Along the coast of Whiting, Indiana,
Between the refinery and the big casino,
Working class beach that takes me back to childhood.

Towers of steel loom distant, obscured by smog.
Muscular city, engine of employment.
Nobody moves to Chicago for the climate.
But when a gorgeous day arrives in town
We drink it down, devouring all its goodness.

My wife is in the water, like a porpoise
Gliding and diving in her element,
Retrieving a football that some boys had thrown
Beyond their own ability to swim.

And I stand watching, stringing out these words
Attempting to record in one brief sketch
This ordinary love of life on earth.

Memories

Way back in March, the original goal
Was just to flatten the climb.
The caseload would stay the same, we were told,
We'd just spread it out over time.

Jazzing It Up

I'm forming the John Autonomous Zone,
A region I can call my own.
Its acronym is really snazzy.
You might even say it's JAZzy.
I set the rules behind my wall,
Where I can do anything at all!
I am the master of my life!
Except - when given advice by my wife,
I have been known to modify
The laws I issue from on high.

White Winged

Flocks of gulls with greedy gullets
Swallow cicadas with glee.
Nature in action - again I mull its
Beauty and cruelty.

Bugged

If you are a cicada,
I’d rather see you later.
But there’s so many now,
I’ll just endure somehow.

If Only

If I could just go back to last November,
I’d tell the Chinese not to hide the bug,
And then I’d tell a certain police officer,
Don’t kneel on necks, you overconfident thug.

Lacking in Both, Personally

Ringing in your ears is bad,
But earrings in your ears is rad.

Close to Home

I got a text that my pharmacy
Is temporarily closed.
It causes little harm to me -
I can drive to one less exposed.
But others, I’m sure, will suffer more.
It’s a cruel thing, to loot a store.

Also True for Dinner Too

Whenever I delay my lunch,
Instead of eating hastier,
My mouth reports, amid the munch,
That everything seems tastier.