Austin Poet

Multitasking!

8/16/2026

What am I doing? I'm multitasking
It's not going well but thanks for asking

I'm out on the highway and I'm not alone
Ten thousand drivers, all on the phone

I'm eating my breakfast, egg tacos and cheese
And steering my car with my elbows and knees

Sending an email while I'm on hold
Drinking my coffee before it gets cold

Texting a video for someone to see
While watching the news on my dashboard TV

Rush hour's a nightmare, a crisis is looming
A million commuters all gabbing and grooming

What should we do if we want to survive?
There's no way around it: let's hang up and drive!

My Early Eighties

6/21/2026

I'm in my early eighties now
Not trying to scale new heights
I'm taking smaller steps these days
I'm taking smaller bites

I take a nap right after lunch
It splits my day in two
I'm not as busy as I was
But still have things to do

I'm comfortable with how I move
My body sets the pace
No longer in a hurry now
No longer in the race

My time is mine and all my days
Begin and end with kisses
This life has taught me many things
And now I know what bliss is

Spring Rain

4/18/2026

A spring rain is falling
in the morning when I rise
Drumming on the awning
under melancholy skies

Spattering the patio
with a pitter-patter sound
Life-restoring waters
seeping deeply underground

The green grass is gleaming
in the soft grey light
The flora adores it
when it rains all night

Wafting through the flowerbeds
from a teeming rivulet
Comes the aromatic fragrance
of a garden soaking wet

Pool Party

3/15/2026

Once upon a warm winter's morning
A party at the bird bath ensued
When a flurry of birdies, some still yawning
Arrived in a rambunctious mood

Splashing, chirping, pluming, and preening
In no time my heart they purloined
Fluttering, flitting, trilling, and cleaning
What I would give to have joined!

Winter Night

1/17/2026

The trees are bare, their boughs like bones
Their leaves are at my feet
The bleak midwinter's mournful moans
Pervade the empty street

The air is cold, the sky is clear
The moon is going down
The stars hang like a chandelier
Above the sleeping town

I am the only one around
There's no one else in sight
Just me, the neighbor on the ground
The guardian of the night

2026

12/31/2025

Another year's behind us
Old twenty-twenty-five
A new one now will find us
Determined to survive

Awash in retrospections
Forgotten all too fast
We face in two directions
Till January has passed

We've dealt with joy and sorrow
With pleasure and with pain
But history says tomorrow
We'll meet them once again

For life's an education
That helps us realize
It's not the destination
The journey is the prize

Thanksgiving 2025

11/30/2025

Poets tell us that life is a treasure
If we're lucky it might be sublime
I am grateful for love beyond measure
And my place in the passage of time

I am thankful for kindness and caring
Simple gestures can make life worth living
I am moved by the custom of sharing
And the habit of generous giving

I rejoice when the strongest are gentle
And when wisdom is given its due
Never mind if I sound sentimental
I revere all that's noble and true

I give thanks for the next generation
Boys and girls who'll be here when I'm gone
Though the future may cause trepidation
They're the promise that life will go on

Blissful Silence

10/18/2025

Blissful silence, you alone
create my perfect comfort zone
A refuge from the constant chatter
of the world and all its clatter

Give me the silence of the tombs
before the din of crowded rooms
I envy monks their quiet cells
away from all those decibels

Modern living's noisy ways
are ubiquitous these days
TV screens on every wall:
Do we really need them all?

There is no more soothing diet
Than hours on end of peace and quiet

My Elders

9/14/2025

One by one they slipped away
Whittling down the generations
After years of holding sway
at our family celebrations

Always there at every turn
Nudging when I'd misbehave.
Sadly, I would never learn
the tales they carried to the grave

Now those family tales are gone
Vanished like a shooting star
Whittling down the lexicon
we use to picture who we are

I wish I'd asked them, one by one,
to tell me everything they'd done

Pocitos Beach in Winter

8/21/2025

The low grey sky cast a cold grey light
on the coast where I lived in my teens
The air in July had a wintry bite
that froze my legs in my jeans

The lonely beach was a perfect place
to puff on a damp cigarette
Where the onshore wind would sting my face
and my shoes would be soaking wet

The stormy sea was a fearsome force
The shoreline flecked with foam
I watched as the tempest ran its course
then finished my smoke and went home

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