Swim slow along a lively river smile
From first drop of joy to deep sea of soul
Dive in the madly loving happy wilds.

Let luck loose you as an unlikely isle
To duckish dozens squacking in a row
Swim slow along a lively river smile.

Drop in the always falling forward trials,
Dip in the dimples, ripples, rapids, go!
Dive in the madly loving happy wilds.

More red than blue with every lazy mile,
A laziness that swallows mountains whole,
Swim slow along a lively river smile.

This is your time to be kind crocodile,
Find perfect loggish froggy floating flow,
Dive in the madly loving happy wilds.

Learn of a river smile, go ask a child,
Turn to the water if you’re who you’d know,
Swim slow along a lively river smile
Dive in the madly loving happy wilds.

Someone once had all the answers
Right before all else occurred.
Now most of what we seem to know
Is nonsensically absurd.
If we might forget we know
All that we can put in words
Then those little laughing answers
Might again be fully heard.

Kindness or mindless?
You must know kind this
Way to remind us
That we are we!
You and me!
Humankindness!

Otherwise it’s mindless –
A sort of other person blindness
That may lead to acting spineless,
Leaving others all behind us
While we still end up in last.

I find kindness finest.

Signed – Us?

There was a little girl
With the cutest golden curls
Who knew she’d rule the world.

There was a scowling owl,
A grumpy, dour fowl
Convinced he’d save us all.

But she only ever thought it,
No matter how she fought it
She distraughtly never got it.

Sure people could do better,
He wrote us all a letter
That can’t have read much deader.

When I say fought, I do mean wars
That tore up many foreign shores
And haunted many doors.

“Dear disgusting little things,
Listen to one with wings
And enjoy the peace I bring!”

Her armies burned more than they kept,
The people lost and wailed and wept,
She scarred every spot she stepped.

“You must change yourself
To a rootless flower on a shelf
If you would live in health.”

It was not because of small nor girl,
Nor cute, golden, nor curls
That she never ruled the world.

It was not ’cause he was wrong
Or his letter was too long
That folks refused to go along.

No, she never ruled,
And he didn’t end the cruel,
But don’t drop to ridicule.

Whatever may be meant,
Whether kind or cruel intent,
We don’t like being bent.

Peeking out my toes
I hold a different view
Than eyeballs perched on nose.
More full of lint is how it goes
But I’ll take that far over those
Wide open eyes pretending to be closed.
Maybe I’ll see you down where the dust grows.

One thing I’ll tell you from the start –
However big a bear may be it still fits in your heart.

But best beware the little bears
‘Cause they’ll squeeze in there undeclared
And you’ll be caught all unawares,
Caring more than may be fair
Unless, of course, you learn to share
In being one such little bear.

Last thing I’ll tell you, please take care –
Or you may find your heart fits perfect in a bear.

Photo taken by Nancy Anderson.

A miracle is spherical
With no way in or out.
It never was and it won’t be
And will not hold to hope nor doubt
And will not come when called.
That it ever comes at all
Is something I’ll not understand
But be moved on its way through.
It’s its own glory
And I’ll just say, “Thank You.”

I was finally going to the Grossry Store!
I knew my needs, I had my files,
Time to shop the finest filth
Found in the vulgar wilds!

There’ll be eyeballs by the aisles!
Full shelves of puss filled vials!
Toe hairs!  All smells and styles!
Livers in slippery piles!
Sales on the sloppiest of Kyles!
A hundred forty-four types of boogery childs!
The very vilest of biles!

But all the foulest whiles,
The Grossry Store is
Nothing but pickles and mayo for miles!
Though, I suppose,
Pickles and mayo are pretty gross.

When all your turning comes to terms
With that last corner’s charms,
I say let that be what confirms
‘Tis time to dive like worms!

If I were you (silly to pretend I’m not,
But we’re stuck again in sincere plot),
I’d go toes to sky
Without a worry why
So few others dive
When with an easy try
We might untie our eyes
And find ourselves alive
In a honeyed hive
Of roots, rats and real allies
That won’t allow us to deny
We’ve finally arrived
Home.

Then it snowed.
Cold made itself so
Known it glowed.

Two best friends worked
Most wondrous things from whitish dirt.
Snowman, snowsnake, snowcake, snowfort.
No plan to make snowflakes contort
In any way except snowart.

Both friends saw where this path went.
One sank into the snow well empty of intent.
Though dangerous, it would be a chance most well spent.
The other friend dreamt wonders that they might invent
And packed friend and snow to their content.
A snowstorm is a must-not-miss event.