26
These stones/ steeped in madness
now descending/ in a flurry of
wholesome outdoor toing and
frowing/ meant for the whole family
in middles/ in pandemic
at Christmas time even//
In spite of common senses
human endurance’s
being firm and unbroken
not weeping yet praying
bounded by torment
preserving the faith keeping
commandments/ may I be found
happily/ finishing my course//
26October2020
Markle~
25
“Your dogma precedes you.”
“Something red and sticky dripped down upon him from the trees.”
“You harridan!” She screamed.
(“What’s that?” I whispered.
“An old shrew or bossy old woman.” he leaned in murmuring.)
“Episcopus vagans are roaming the countryside!”
“He doesn’t tackle you, he doesn’t get paid.”
“The wall of life comes at you now all to once.”
“You may have one epicurean selann or plenary indulgence
per feast-day, just so long as it is not flummery.”
“Lots of very delicate work this.”
“Are you sixes, sevens and nines?”
“Coherence is not in today.”
“...as always, communication is secondary to the process...”
Markle~
19October2020
24
Down the street from my parents house was a sand pit created
by nature. It was a naturally shaped baseball field created by the
coming together of two great dunes. Contractors took advantage
of this by building houses along the edges of the pit. We took
advantage of it by naming it after the man who owned the property
we had to cross to get to it. Kids can be cruel. Someone thought
he looked like a toad when he chased us one day as we brazenly
marched across his backyard in the middle of the Saturday summer
sunlight. I have to admit it was a close comparison. He was kinda
heavyset. Had a ruddy pockmarked face. Even his voice seemed
to crock one boy said. It might have been me. To this day when I
meet guys who I grew up with and I mention “Toad Stadium” they
know what I mean. How could you forget a kid image like that. No
one seems to remember who said it though. Kids are like that too.
14October2020
Markle~
23
“You’ve done enough. Have you no sense of decency sir?
At long last have you left no sense of decency?” McCarthy,
Jim Jones, Charles Manson, David Koresh, Keith Raniere,
Donald Trump. Anyone else make a connection? Have
you had your glass of purple kool aid today? The Fox News
is in the hen’s house. Guard your eggheads! Victims, fall
in love with their captors. Followers believe blindly in the
object of their desire. Tyrants and dictators believe their
own lies first. Disinformation is the tool of the despot. “Help!
My belief system has been hijacked by extremists!” Criminals,
often engage in victim thinking, believing themselves to be
moral. “You’ve done enough. Have you no sense of decency
sir?” We created the Anti-hero in the intervening years sir.
Decency is no longer in vogue.
13October2020
Markle~
22
My older brothers built the best tree forts. Not because
they did but because they were my older brothers.
Doesn’t every younger brother idolize their older brothers?
Everything they did was always one step beyond our
abilities; my younger brother and me. Accept dyeing.
Well, maybe they did that better than us, who knows?
We haven’t died so there’s no comparison, yet.
Our older brothers built two platforms high up
by shimmying separate sections of the trees,
at first attaching the boards with knots they learned in
Boy Scouts, then securing them later with spikes. I think
they did it just to string an Otis Elevator cable that they
got from my brothers future father in-law. I remember
the sound of the wind past my ears. It was like death.
11October2020
Markle~
21
“If you think of what you want it will slip from you.” Every time
I go to a large mall or amusement park with large parking fields
I park, jump right out of the car and go in as directly and purposefully
as I can. I don’t make mental notes about the lot number or row.
I might be in the store for a minute or an hour. No matter. When I
come out of the door I proceed directly to the car. I never question.
Just walk. Somehow, someway, my subconscious knows where to go.
As long as I don’t question it. Yep. That’s right. If I even so much as
whisper “Now where is the car?” I am lost. And rightly so. A lifetime of
nurturing my train of thought along the stream of consciousness in
loose interior monologue allows me to trust my connection to the
external. God help me I have to admit, I have wandered lots aimlessly
wondering and cussing myself out for doubting many is the time
in my youth. You can train yourself to trust yourself. Trust me.
08October2020
Markle~
