Bounce A Baby
11/15/2017
Bounce a baby on your knee
Bounce a baby one, two, three
Touch a baby, touch its cheek
Touch its hand, touch its feet
Use a hankie, peek-a-boo
Kiss a baby. I LOVE YOU!
Goose Bumps
3/2/2017
They could be called cow lumps or dog or cat or horse or sow lumps,
But they're not. They're called goose bumps, and I don't know why
They show up whenever I'm cold or afraid,
And sometime just when I feel shy.
It happens when I'm watching something scary, and Mom says
“Are you sure you can handle this, dear?”
I nod my head “Yes” and all of a sudden,
Those nasty old goose bumps appear.
Those pointy little bumps fill up my arms,
And sometimes, my legs and my back.
Once they're gone, a breeze might come up
And then all those goose bumps come back.
Jimathon Jonathon Timathon Sweets
11/17/2017
Jimathon Jonathon Timathon Sweets
Likes to tease
Each kid that he meets.
He'll pull out your hair
He'll be loud and quite rude,
And the paintings he paints on the walls are quite crude.
He'll push all the kids, then laugh while they're down
And he really considers
Himself quite a clown.
He teases the teacher, till she gives him time out
Then cries in his chair.
"I didn't do it!," he'll shout.
MEXICO
6/8/1996
There was a place, one time, we chanced to be
On a hill overlooking a southern sea,
With calm blue waters that lie below,
And you gave a pastry to me.
It seemed that it was sugar-laced
With a light sort of angel's dough,
And I don't know if it was the pastry's taste
Or the scene of the calm below,
But the memory is with me still
Of young love on a grassy hill,
Of sugar melting on my tongue,
Of a calm blue sea
In a world still young.
My Aged Aunt
6/30/2018
My Aged Aunt lies dying on her bed,
Surrounded by crisp white sheets.
Fluffed pillows prop up her head
Which can no longer support itself.
Her dim eyes gaze at the scene outside
Where the last rays of sun still kiss the afternoon.
Whether or not she can see the children play,
It all will be ended soon.
The head falls back, the eyes close
The color darkens in the face
Her chest no longer moves at all
And her sweetness has left this place.
Playing Chess with a Cat
2/2/2019
I was playing a game of chess with a cat
who was staring me down from across the room.
The pawns and rooks, dead on the floor,
spoke volumes about my impending doom.
Just me and my knight, a lovely lad who tried
to grant my every wish.
As the cat slowly crept in for the kill,
the knight exited the kitchen with a sandwich of tuna fish.
The cat first looked confused, retracted his claws,
then focused on the sandwich plate.
I felt relieved, then thanked my noble knight
who gave up his sandwich for a stalemate.
Pretty Girl
5/20/2018
My pretty girl is gone now.
Suddenly, her smile is very old.
The youthful flesh of her cheeks has deepened,
Her eyes are strangely tired and cold,
as if she lived a thousand lifetimes
and aged a bit in each one,
as if the years,the drugs, the men
and mistakes all took their toll
and the carefree moments of youth are all gone.
Then, she turns abruptly, and gives us a look
that almost resembles a smile,
and we see a mirror to her soul.
The youth is still there, the beauty
was just hiding in shadows.
We see her inner glow as she emerges in the light.
We welcome home our pretty girl,
and once again, the world is all right.
That's all
11/15/2017
A summer freeze in early June
Killed crops in the fields.
And frozen blossoms on the trees
Bore silent witness to the barrenness of Fall.
Just one night of the year
Caused so much change.
That's nature. That's all.
THE NIGHT LIGHT
11/14/2017
Mom kissed me goodnight, and then tucked me in
She pulled all the covers
Up under my chin.
"Now, don't be afraid," she said with a kiss
"You're perfectly safe here,
My dear little miss."
But something strange happened when she turned out the light.
The monsters came out,
For they just love the night!
The monster who lived right under my bed
Growled. He was hungry.
Though no words were said.
The closet-beast prowled in the corners that night.
It knocked down my clothes
And looked for a fight.
The thing that lives in the drapes by my bed
Likes to shake them a lot,
But I've seen his head.
He has warts on his face, and one horrible eye
And a mouth that breathes fire,
If you try to run by.
The little rug creepers aren't really so scary,
They'll trip you, of course,
And they look awful hairy.
The ones that hang out in the dark by the door
Are the scariest of all,
And there's at least three or four.
So I yelled to my mother, "Hey Mom,
Do you think
You could possibly bring me something to drink?"
She brought me some juice and a night light,
That's all.
Then plugged the night light right into the wall.
In a moment or two, the monsters were gone.
They don't like the light.
They had to move on.
So where are they now? I don't worry about them.
They're in the next room
With my big brother, Jim.
THE ALPHA MARE
6/8/95
The Alpha mare fears no one.
No horse is her friend.
She alone decides just when and where
The grazing day will start and end.
The stallion wants to drink his share,
And pretends he doesn't care,
He tries to go, but then returns
To wait for the Alpha mare.
To wait until she's thirsty,
Until she wants to drink,
For the Alpha mare rules the herd,
No matter what the stallions think.
THE DOG
10/3/2018
She drinks from the pool
and wet paws make tracks
across the pavement.
Waiting for the bus.
Waiting for him,
hoping he'll come home today.
The boy is gone.
He'll never return,
but at times, the dog looks to the road,
Expectant, waiting.
Her toys lie unused.
She walks to the house alone.
She won't live much longer.
She's old, for a dog,
and dogs die too quickly it seems.
Tonight she and the boy
Will run and play in the fields,
Both alive, in her midnight dreams.
The Rockman
6/8/1995
My mother was saying
"Don't play with rocks!
You might smash your fingers,
You'd be better with blocks.
You might smash your toes,
You might smash your hand.
So don't play with rocks
Or build a rockman!
But I built a rockman
How could I not?
He had two eyes of granite
And he winked them a lot
He said I'm a Rockman
I'm nimble, I'm fast
There's no way you'll catch me
There's no way you'll last.
He ran down the street
That old Rockman did
And scared all the cats
And scared all the kids
Except me, I still chased him
Down the street, up the hill
You can't catch me," he yelled
And you never will.
He ran past the bakery
He ran past the zoo
He said "I can do
Whatever I want to do."
He ran through the stores
And past the museum
He ran so fast that
Some people couldn't see him.
He ran through yards,
He'd open the gates
He ran through the park
It was getting quite late
He said "You can run all you want
You can run All you can
But you'll never catch me
Cause I'm a Rockman
He ran on the sidewalk
He ran past the mill
He said "you can't catch me
And you never will."
He ran by the water
And jumped in the lake
And that's where the Rockman
Made his mistake.
Rockmen can run
Of that, there's no doubt
But Rockmen can't swim
They can yell, they can shout
They'll knock over things
And maybe they think,
But if they're in the water
All they do is sink.
So now I play with my toys
I play with my blocks,
Action figures and puzzles
But never with rocks.
And I don't smash my fingers
My hands or my toes
I don't have to run where
that Old Rockman goes.
If you want, you can find him
In a heap by the shore
Put him together
He'll be a Rockman once more
As for me?
I have warned all you girls and you boys
Now I'm going inside
To play with my toys.