Motivation

Halfway to completion

A mile short of completely done

I never miss a deadline

But I slip right up to some.

Almost through but not quite there

I think of a friend’s wise words

When I’m feeling bad, I run faster, he says.

Race to the finish, then hurl.

Refrigerator Blues

The first clue

Was the melting blue goo

Seeping from the thing

Formerly known as

My refrigerator.

Eww.

At closer glance

From a kneeling stance

The appliance

Floated in a sea

Of molten liquid

Oh.

Long weekend away

Late night return

Greeted by the smell

Of rotting fruits and meat

Nothing to eat

Nothing to save

No.

Less is more

They took our old appliance

When they brought the new one

Empty shelves and vegetable bins

With the steady hum of

A cooling frost

Time to buy new ice cream.

Now.

Next

Always believed

I could make my own good luck

That I am the master of my fate

But now

Some days are longer

Than others

And I’m not sure where to look

For my joy.

Scotty and the Bear Hug

The hug heard round the world, it was

But Scotty Van D didn’t know

When the leader of the free world

Stopped by his pizza joint

Where his uplifting message would go.

The hug wasn’t planned

 Wasn’t cleared by the prez

And even Secret Service was surprised

They saw teddy bear man 

Caught up in the moment

And stood down

While they watched their boss rise.

The hug brought a smile

To the people who saw

And the photo and the man were a hit

When Scotty Van D made the rounds

Of the media circus

We wondered if his head would still fit.

Coming back to Fort Pierce

Through the pizza joint’s door

Scotty brought his fame and his joy

But he shared all his bear hugs

Like he’d always done before

With every friend

Every girl, every boy.

Fame wasn’t all roses

With Election Day approaching

The far right feared

A positive press.

Still our Scotty took the high road

(I’d like to think it’s my road)

And delivered pizza pie to the rest.

Dog Walk

The dogs' morning walk.

May be their favorite thing.

They trot along beside me,

Hunting lizards,birds and bunnies.

Today, they saw something new

A gray tiger cat just a few doors down

Sunning himself in the drive

What!  What!  I could see the wheels

Turning inside their poodle brains.

It was not our gray tiger cat, of course

Clyde passed away this summer

He was almost 17

Our first pet as a family

Pre-dog.

Still Clyde had been king of the back porch

He wandered the neighborhood proud

Everyone stopped to greet him

He loved poodles and people alike.

The dogs looked for Clyde on the porch for days

After he was no longer there.

The teens understood the cat had died

To the dogs, he had just disappeared.

As we approached the other gray cat

The poodles wagged their stubby tails

Cookie did her happy dance

Mack pulled ahead to greet the cat.

A friend of Clyde’s, perhaps they thought?

The new king of the porch? But no.

When the cat turned and ran away

Instead of running to greet them

They knew.

I had not hidden Clyde away

This was no switcheroo

We were a family

Without a cat

And now the dogs knew it, too.

A Haiku For Our First Lady

She is my hero
I vote Michelle Obama 
Buy one, get one free.

Marathon Fibs

Pounding your six-pack abs

You felt the need to lie

To make your run faster, greater

Oh, VP nominee, why?

I suspect a character flaw

That makes you insecure

You couldn’t just say you’re a runner

You had to embellish more.

For those of us lifelong runners

Who have run for miles and years

Your little white lie was serious

Not the accident it first appeared.

Who hasn’t rounded their finish time

To the next greater minute or mile?

But to take an hour off your finish time

What does that imply?

It tells me that you’re a fibber

Who thinks he’ll never get caught

I blame it on your mother

And worry those lessons untaught.

Mistakes

No one is perfect

We all make mistakes

Some are bigger than others

Like the college football player

Who scooped up the ball

And ran the wrong way

Not just a little, but a lot

Fifty-eight yards is a long way

To run the wrong way.

And I thought

Here’s the first college football

Game of the season and look

He’s already made his mark

On national TV

Sorry.  Not sorry.

So don’t whine to me

About sending a stupid text

Or two or twenty.

Or forgetting to return

A library book for six months.

Yesterday’s mistakes

Are tomorrow’s lessons

If you play attention to them.

And besides,

Did you run 58 yards the wrong way

On national television?