Smelt Dipping

Smelt Dipping(My first ‘Published’ Piece, Written at age 11)A few weeks ago, our family went smelt dipping. My cousin used a pair of our waders and went out dipping for smelt. When he came back to shore, he was soaked and wet. Then I went out and started dipping. I caught one w]and went back… Read More Smelt Dipping

Profound Kindness

Watching the world hateSeeing it attack itselfNo care given to kindnessI often wonder howWe can tolerate this hurtContinue to function neverthelessI try my best to do goodTo show love and concernYet even I often failI try to instill in my mindAn image of my fatherAt the super table.Waiting patientlyFor everyone to have their fill beforeDishing… Read More Profound Kindness

Cool

Oh wow! I fell prey to the mainstream teen phenomenonYeah, man, my generation had the commercial power And cause we had shared interests and “disposable income.”We changed the worldStep aside, you children of the 50’sAnd let us who grew up in the 60’s and 70’s instructWe were a major force in shaping popular culture, fashion,… Read More Cool

One Word

I was asked the other dayOver a pint, don’t ya knowWhat one word describes your childhoodI thought, smiled, and contemplatedFrowned, grimaced, and mutteredStarted to answer, then thought againThere was love and happiness and joyIn our small home.I never went without, my belly always fullMy parents never divorcedThey never had physical fightsThey were always home at… Read More One Word

Cecil

Yeah, my brother, my big brother,He was 22 years my senior. Someone cut from a whole other generation, if you will. Born of my father’s second marriage. He spent his first few years after birth on a failing cotton farm,In the back country of Missouri.He wasn’t slow, or dumb, or an idiot.He did become a… Read More Cecil

Life is A Bowl of Cherries

Ponder this old sayingLife is a bowl of cherriesDoes it not instill thoughts of pristine, gleaming fruitBut the top sparkling layerThese hide the rotting, spoiling bottomTruth of the bowlLife is A Bowl of Cherries(Rotted and Full of Worms)2026