Austin Poet

The Lockdown Got Me Down

3/17/2023

Mesmerized by flickering flames
I'm reminded of people, places, names:
The world I knew before the blight
imposed restrictions overnight
Curbed my social interactions
Interfered with my transactions
Brought my world to a screeching halt
Locked me down and it wasn't my fault

I remember places
and a sea of faces
that were once more familiar than they are today
Now I'm out here once again, feeling my way
Out in a crowd
Out on the town
I must admit the lockdown got me down

We've had a few gatherings at home and out
Excited loved ones clustered about
Hugging and kissing
(That's what's been missing!)
Saying things we couldn't write
in emails during the wretched blight

So yes, I'm back in touch
But not as much as I used to be
The blight changed so many things, you see
And one of them was me

My Email Address Book

2/17/2023

My email address book lives in a file
that I edit and update once in a while
The software program lets me delete
any address that becomes obsolete

Some of those dot-com details, however,
will remain in my email address book forever:
Friends and relations who've gone on ahead
to realms where emails are no longer read

I cannot delete them
Don't even try
I just can't bear to say goodbye

Eight Billion

1/7/2023

We went forth and multiplied
when we came down from the trees:
hesitant hominids in twos and threes
The air was hot and the earth was dry
The time had come to say goodbye
to our closest cousins, the chimpanzees

We ventured out across the world
hunting and gathering and playing with fire
Honing the talents we would all require
Some made rafts and ruled the waves
Some drew pictures in their caves
for other cavemen to admire

Seeds grown in fertile soil
yielded what we need to eat
so we tilled the earth and planted wheat
In time we started drinking wine
when grapes appeared on someone's vine
and friends and neighbors pressed them with their feet

As the eons lumbered by
we paid attention to the sky,
saw constellations move and wondered why,
invented language, mathematics, the wheel,
music, penicillin, and steel
All we had to do was try

So, yes, we've multiplied
Begotten umpteen generations
Human populations
are steadily mounting
Eight billion now, and still counting

Thanksgiving 2022

11/28/2022

It's a dream come true
being here with you
at our annual Thanksgiving rendezvous
What have we done this year? What have we said?
What have we written? What have we read?

Some sat on balconies
and watched their evenings, mornings, afternoons
measured out with coffee spoons

Some wandered lonely as a cloud
through rolling meadows and vacant lots
and far-off fields of forget-me-nots

Some chose this time to leave
To make their way towards the light
and go gentle into that good night

Some were focused on the future
with children at their feet
Wondering how they'll manage to make ends meet

Some scribbled, some drafted
Some fiddled, some crafted
Some pushed, some pulled
Some broke away
in search of something to say

But today we take a break from the bustle and the noise
lay down our tools, our weapons, and our toys
to form a circle, you and I
and raise our thanks up to the sky

Lights Out!

10/15/2022

Where do you go when you turn off the light
and it's dark as a pit in your room?
Do you fantasize about spending the night
in Tutankhamun's tomb?

Are you whisked away to a cool cabaret
where the doorman shakes your hand?
Where you blend with the crowd and mumble out loud
in a language you don't understand

Do the scenes in your dreams seem familiar at first
until you can see that they're not?
Do the characters blur into somebody else
and there's no making sense of the plot?

Do you dream in color or black and white?
Does your poodle turn into a shark?
Are you wondering what to make of your dreams
as you lie there alone in the dark?

And all for what, since they're all forgotten
the moment you open your eyes?
Gone like mirages that vanish at dawn
with nary a word to the wise

But deeper down perhaps there's a reason
we spend so much time in our dreams
For they cleverly show us, again and again
that nothing's as clear as it seems

These Wings We Have To Earn

9/17/2022

A poem in a magazine
Presents an unfamiliar scene
So much is new at seventeen
How will you ever learn?

Then someone takes you by the hand
Come on, she says, I'm with the band
And all at once you understand
That you will get your turn

Colored lights flash overhead
Where better angels fear to tread
You feel the music in your head
And watch a candle burn

Morning finds you on the street
Your memories now bittersweet
Asking everyone you meet
How soon will she return?

But love's an art by any light
Not everyone can get it right
It can't be mastered overnight
These wings we have to earn

September 17th, 2022

9/17/2022

The World I Knew

7/17/2022

These summer days are fleeting
and soon we'll face the fall
Too late to start deleting
the writing on the wall

Unwritten rules provided
a chance for common cause
Those norms are now derided
by louts who flout the laws

The Reds said their vendetta
would not take long to fight
Of course we all knew better
and still no end in sight

Inflation will awaken
extremes we've learned to dread
Democracy is shaken
and hanging by a thread

I wonder where we're going?
These days I feel estranged
Don't trust the seeds we're sowing
The world I knew has changed

The Russian Stone

4/15/2022

Russia threw a stone into the Ukrainian pond
sending ripples to my doorstep and beyond
Ripples of disbelief, horror, outrage, sorrow
I'll wish it was all a bad dream when I wake up tomorrow

If we don't stop monsters before it's too late
we'll soon have barbarians at the gate
Our myths all tell us we must slay the dragon
but what if that ignites a third world war?
We've seen this all before

And yet the blight of war is already upon us
grimly visible on phone and tablet
Scenes on our screens we can never un-see
recordings we can never forget
Each image binds us to Ukraine in a virtual sense
that fans the flames of our impotence,
inflames our frustration and regret

Here, in my quiet secluded space
far away from that hellish place
I picture Ukrainians in their fields and cities
fighting for their lives
Shattered buildings lying in ruins
Dead bodies lying in the street as grandmothers walk by
holding hankies to their noses
and another poignant chapter closes

I share their ordeal in my mind at least
and bow my saddened head to the east

Words on a Page

3/16/2022

Some find heaven in a garden
on their knees with their hands in the soil
Some spend their days in a kitchen
waiting for the kettle to boil

Some like to gamble all night long
wherever the chips may fall
Others play games on a neighborhood field
keeping their eye on the ball

Some feel at home in a grand hotel
with room service day and night
Some find their bliss in a boat on a river
waiting for the fish to bite

Some people choose to withdraw from the world
all alone like the fool on the hill
Others who love getting lost in a crowd
cannot stand sitting perfectly still

Some of us long to be limber and fit
turning cartwheels across the floor
Others prefer to consult crystal balls
to see what the fates have in store

Some are obsessed with their grandfather clocks
and their passion for being on time
And I find my heaven in words on a page
and the pleasure of making them rhyme

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