Author: Gerry

Politics

Transparency and Trust are the currency of democracy
In order to gain trust the people involved have to have a fair and equitable opportunity to participate.
Transparency which is planned and genuine assures each person can know what is going on when they choose to pay attention.
Most people have neither the time or sustained interest to solve these huge problems.
That is why we hire politicians of good repute.
We Trust our leaders to hire competent dedicated professionals.
An informed appraisal of these conditions shows you are doing the steps necessary to move our community forward.
Having met that prerequisite, now I ask you to improve the transparency and participation as we move forward
I invite you to communicate with me if you are committed to the principle I am speaking about.

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> 04/25/18

Not a new revelation that politics sounds a lot like hypocrites
not a new feeling this indignation
complex problems given voice
deflated deferred to a false choice
searching for hope for all the nation
words words words dancing absurd
when will the people’s concerns be heard
can anyone understand our problems simply
or actually listen with some intimacy?
hold them responsible for all we see
demand our leaders assure transparency
all our facts based on reality

Then the answers will emerge
bursting forth through the people’s words
democracy triumphs over the absurd
God help them
God help us
as we demand our justice

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> 05/04/18

Sneeze tick cough

Sneeze tick politics
you can’t stop any of them
they just keep going on and on
they’re mostly unpleasant
but always needed
sneeze tick
sneeze cough
cough cough
pick ticks over politics
politics
another wasted bloviated sound
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> 11/11/18

November 24, 2018
Before you can dance again

I got bit by a spider
and stung by a bee,
all in 24 hours
once again life came along and made a fool out of me

One thing I’ve learned
as days go by
you have to get back on your feet
before you can dance again

I got hit by a drunk
then sprayed by a skunk
It knocked me for a loop
and I hacked and gagged and stooped

One thing I’ve learned
as days go by
you have to use
both hands to clap

All my stuff got stolen
while I slept on the ground
and none of it was golden
the thief by dreams emboldened

One thing I’ve learned
as days go by
you have to wake up and reach for the sky
even when you want to cry

My partner left in a huff
they’d had enough
of bickering and snickering
and other couple’s stuff

My dog had no leash
so the god damned police
took her off to puppy jail
and left me here to wail.

One thing I’ve learned
as days go by
that a dog will wag her tail
when one of us gets out of jail

One thing I’ve learned
about life on the streets
it’s filled with defeats
and life’s simple treats

like a dogs wagging tail.

November 24, 2018
For the optimists it is useful to live in denial

Paradise is burning
Ventura is mourning
Congress is churning
The White House lies returning
The electorate is learning
All the nation is yearning
for decency’s discerning
and all these tables turning

For the optimists it is useful to live in denial

November 8, 2018
Cold / Homeless Count 2018

Cold rain
Driving down the homeless man
Doing his best to live as he can
The world shattering all of his plans

Cold shoulder
And hostile stare
Coming from those
Who don’t want him there

Cold heart in the night
A policeman’s flashlight
and on the cold morn
Wishing sometimes to never been born

Cold numbers
Do the counting on the counting day
Give the impression we can stop this someday
But just to know the need hasn’t assured we’ll succeed.

Cold here outside
On the day he died
Maybe it was different
If someone really tried

Existence is a struggle
the fortitude which humans must muster
to get out of trouble
proves a warm heart has a lustre

Overcoming cold rain
cold shoulders
cold nights
cold numbers
the cold outside
the blizzard of life

Fortitude and kindness
dumb luck illumine
the world’s blindness
to suffering or need
world driven by greed

Homeless carry on
from dusk until dawn
refusing to behave
as only a pawn

refusing to give in
to bureaucrats’ sin
of following rules
set down by fools
who don’t have to sleep
in the street again

Cold rain
Cold shoulder
Cold heart in the night
Cold numbers
Cold here outside

Struggle for lustre
Fortitude and kindness
Homeless carry on
in the street
then it’s dawn,
night’s behind us

Poem 2016

Poem 2015

The day my parents named me

I make myself cry

Goodness in his heart

At home with the homeless

February 23, 2018
Measure of time

I used my father’s tape measure
to measure the distance to the point of departure
Counting the inches and the feet
to the place where we found defeat
I saw the ashes
I saw the sun on the burnt-out chimney

49 and a half feet from the curb and 13 feet on the property line
I saw the inches, the feet,
The space in between then and now

The bricks, like memories, all in this place
This is where family gathered for warmth and comfort
A firestorm turned all of that into something else

The fireplace mantel had some mementos;
so I did something stupid to get up and get them
The fireplace bricks said, “You have to learn another lesson.”
And I fell down to sprain my ankle
I fell down to instantly recognize my vulnerability, once again

December 13, 2017
Among the flame then ash

October 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th

On Sunday night before midnight
a fire started near Franz’s Valley Road,
or many fires started,
between Franz Valley Road and Highway 101,
either way, thousands of acres burned
in just eight hours fire moved 8 short miles

The fire rushed down past Riebli Road like a river
up the top of the hill
over St. Andrews, the golf course road,
and down to Thomas Lake Harris where utopia once lie

Over through the Fountaingrove
and down into the hidden valley
the flames traveled
past Leete and Aaron and Flintwood and Brookdale
down to the Sleepy Hollow

At the edge of the Sleepy Hollow the flame stopped
yet continued west
over the top
down to the Fountaingrove barn,
to the lodgings and to the history
of the County of Sonoma
the Fountaingrove was the piece of our heritage
that we left for 118 years
and therefore it was a piece of our heritage

Across the road to the Journey’s End
and with finality dark and red and smoking
the Journey’s End where lives moved on
right to the edge of the hospital
where people were to be healed

the flames rose up and rushed over to Coffey Park
Reverend Coffee, not the namesake but a homonym,
his Spirit was not in those homes
Reverend Coffee, his Spirit was in the people
that he guided for so long in that neighborhood
who responded as they did
Coffey Park went up in flames
until the edge of the rails

The flames on another trajectory
swooped on down past the Adobe Canyon
past the water supply
flame swooped on down to Kenwood
and Kenwood is gone
up through the Lawndale and the walnut orchards
onto the Annadel
the dell so dear to so many
Flames reborn as flames will do
through the trees

Spirits soar through the trees
that take souls to the other side
through the trees that burned to ash
and as ash
in breathe of God moved on

Down the ranches of Bennett Ridge
burned through the trees
more homes destroyed
more ashes blown as lives and dreams will be

Flames considered Wolf house
however the flames did not return again for more
And the madrone wood burned away
On Arnold should drive another day
before the gate could open to the private roads
the flames to jump
Tales are told

<><><>

Ancient wood and young vines
Spirit holders of the souls
and as they are all on their own,
in ashes on the wind are blown

The time to hold our memories
carried just as ashes,
ashes and the spirit fly
upon the breathe of God.

Hold your passion
hold to love
hold the kindness
not ashes blown away
souls of trees
flying in the breeze
then root’s forgotten lay.

Rest quietly
let the Spirit guides guide
rest quietly
among the flame
then ash
rest quietly
let the Spirit guides guide
the spirits of trees
moved on in ash
just as you
and I
will one day
be moved on
as ash

October 28, 2017
Holding goodness in our hearts

From the depths of sadness
Memory brings forth
Moments of tenderness
In dreams
Realization
In the moment
That it is a dream
Thus comfort becomes
The knowledge that past tenderness
Resides in the heart
And wanders around the inner mind’s realm
Memories of comfort
Near the depths of the soul
Touching
<><><><><><><><><><> 12/07/14

With goodness in our hearts
and sadness in our eyes
we said goodbye

We had felt the depths
and seen too much
when we said goodbye

Strength can hold the heart aloft
though tears in trials flow
as we said goodbye

Time is healer of the heart
Mind’s eye throws us back
to when we said goodbye

Many hearts through fits and starts
Have seen some better things
as we said goodbye

Time does not erase our feelings
and silent tears return sometimes
to when we said goodbye

Holding goodness in our hearts
as we gaze beyond
when we said goodbye

<><><><><><><><><><> 09/17/17

September 17, 2017
National Hold Onto Your Gruntle Day

After long such time
I have come to be
grizzled not disgruntled
because for the longest time I joked
that I still had my gruntle
bureaucracy and absurdity
could not dislodge
the strong strings that held my gruntle in place

winds have whipped the winnowed wisps
between the humor of my heart
held fast through hours contemplating
the unexplained endless circulating
mysteries of madness
brought about by life’s
boundless hope or sadness

to move ahead is the only choice,
moving back has gone beyond
and showed the place
of unexplainable grace
as breath and chuckles meld

all the people’s perspectives perspired
to cool frustrations ire
stumbling into choices
of reward or desire
that led to places
and left the traces
of incomprehensible and the unthinkable
until arriving here

neither faith nor fear has brought this near
just the force of people’s choices
hearing their voices
and wondering all the days
maybe I could change my ways

gruntle served to smooth the rough
as I accepted fate,
it could be my fault
or some other trait
that brought me
well enough along to have to say
on this day
gruntle has its place

<><><><><><><> 170912

September 12, 2017
owl on a branch

One owl on a branch; watching, hooting
One owl contentment was eluding
Long shadows of dawn burn off the morning mist
Sunshine on dewdrops, tiny water kissed
Daylight rises up as hope into the sky
Gliding o’er the treetops as another day goes by
Landing on a lofty perch the great bird waits anew
Spending time among the pines a vigil to renew
Another night spent searching as daylight’s rays are fading
The one owl on a branch, watching, hooting, waiting
Scanning up and down the sky as solitary birds will do
Through the trees upon the breeze no other owl flew
Though blessed with sight throughout the night
Traverse the land and scanned in flight
Not birds or creatures easily caught
Held hope for what the owl sought
So back upon familiar branch returned
And listeners near and far discerned
Solitary owl sings forlorn
Not wishing for a lonely morn
Just a seeker of another creature with a song just like its own
In circumstance, desire, attitude, and tone
One owl on a branch
One owl takes a chance
To wait in the light that’s fading
Amid branches softly shading

Two owls hooting
There is no disputing
How the tale turned out, they went flying all about
Perching, preening, singing, as if to cry out
Praise the dawn and praise the dusk
As we found there’s two of us

August 4, 2017
In the evening effort flows all of my days

In the evening the sky turns Gray
if I was sad
I would be depressed
my gray matter would matter

Gray skies mean nothing
until they are given meaning,
or do they?
************************************************* 04/23/17

Effort and money flow

You need gold to buy the redwood.
Silver comes in handy to purchase the water.
Coal powers the ambitions of roads
Until liquid fuels drive the movements
Of goods and services
Things as sad as people
Money and effort
Flowing through time
************************************************* 04/23/17

Imagine if imagined mattered.
************************************************* 04/24/17

For the days to come and go the planet has to turn
The light has to shine at the top of the trees
and the girls have to call to one another
We do not need to be here to see all of this, or cause it to happen
yet we are in the world and it has meaning
************************************************* 04/29/17

I don’t know anyone
who is luckier than me
poor suffering leads to
Humble joy
joy found in life

Lonesome Cowboy Bill
************************************************* 05/07/17

All of my days
All of my nights
all of my breath
all of my fights
the world keeps spinning
around and around
breathing and fighting
near the cold hard ground
Heaven above and heaven below
getting by each day
On what little we know
Holding to blessings
not frustrations’ curse
based on impressions
for good or for worse
wander through days
and dreaming through nights
a touch or a breathe
will suffice in the fights
for justice and freedom
for compassion and help
hoping for wisdom
holding cards we are dealt
as long as we grow
as long as we try
fulfilling a destiny
whether we really know why
down through the days
and glorious nights
of dreaming and breathing
prepared to still fight
for justice and freedom
Compassion and joy
Like an ancient te deum
our desires deploy
its worth all the days
and all of the nights
its worth spending our breath
on all of these fights
************************************************* 05/09/17

May 9, 2017