I once worked with a wonderful woman from Japan who spoke five languages   and ran the company’s training department    we’d have lunch together two or three times a week at the best sushi restaurant in Georgetown   every year she would go back home for well over a month to visit her mother    I had to keep training on track while she was gone   but I was okay with that because I knew she would be coming back   bearing gifts of matcha tea just for me (the good stuff you can only get in Japan)   and we would pickup our lunchtime routine right where we left off   then one day she went to Japan but wasn’t coming back she had received a promotion   and planned to marry her old college sweetheart   I’d still have lunch at the same sushi restaurant occasionally after she was gone but it wasn’t the same without her the owner gave me free sake anytime I came in somehow knowing I must be missing her   📸 me

#vss365 #poetry #taper   We gathered in late-October  under a huge white tent near the football field surrounded by colorful leaves   it had damned good energy stocked with food and drink    one person after the next I haven’t seen in eons  comes up to tell their life story and inquire about my own shrouded in mystery as it is    my sweetheart rumored to be married with kids enters pretty as when I left her to go west     so strange is the bond that still exists somehow  the unknown and unknowable linger in the air   as questions about happiness arise then taper off to disappear   just in time for the Homecoming game to begin    📸 me

#vss365 #poetry #Miles   I had no intention to buy wine when I stopped by the health food store   but when I heard the woman who runs the wine and cheese department   explaining wine characteristics  to another customer including how sweet wine is metabolized by the body I had to stop and chitchat:   “it sounds like you know your wines,” I said   “I try my best,” she said “do you prefer whites or reds?”   “red, for sure, whites give me a headache, although I’m always nervous about the sugar content,” I said   “sugar isn’t an issue with a dry red wine,” she said   “I see,” I said “what’s your favorite?”   “I like the saperavi grape, it’s one of the healthiest wines you can drink,” she said   “I’ve never heard of it, do you have any in the store?”   “why yes, we have an excellent organic red from Georgia,” she said   “Georgia?”   “Not the state, the country,” she said   She picked up a bottle and handed it to me   “this wine is so deep dark purple red you can’t see through it in the glass,” she said   “I’m interested although it’s a bit pricey,” I said   “It’s apocalypse wine,” she said “worth every penny”   “apocalypse wine?”    “absolutely, when the shit hits the fan, you should have some wine on hand, I keep a bottle of this in my go bag,” she said   “okay, in that case I’ll try it”      of course I did try it as soon as I got home not willing to risk missing out should I not have as many miles to go before I rest as I anticipate   which apparently is usually the case in matters such as this   📸 me

#vss365 #poetry #doubt   “Bad birds,” she screamed “bad birds”   Little Bob her chihuahua who was napping in the October sun near the privacy fence sprang to life and ran into the house through the doggy door   fearing he might be snatched by the hawk (now screeching) and held hostage high up in a nearby pine tree    with no doubt that if the ransom was not paid   only a faded collar with it’s metal dog tag would be discovered in the nest by a tree company trimming branches years later    they will call the phone number on the dog tag to notify next of kin:   “it appears Little Bob didn’t make it, but we can’t be certain”   📸 me

#vss365 #poetry #Commitment   She was a dancer a great dancer breathtakingly beautiful   who competed in couples ballroom dance contests around the world   our first several dates did not include dinner, drinks, movies, or even haunted houses around Halloween time    instead we went to the dancehalls in DC   with large crowds filled with women and a few sharp dressed men possessing insanely exceptional dancing skills (maybe the most confident men I’ve ever seen)   who went from one woman to the next with hands extended to bring them out on the floor   whenever one of the men selected my date usually within the first five minutes of our arrival I had to stay on the sidelines sulking feeling small out of place out of sorts   she never said it out loud but it was clear that if I was to have any chance of making it I had better get with the program and learn to dance bringing her roses from my garden wouldn’t cut it   within weeks I found myself in a dance studio with this beautiful woman and a private instructor attempting to learn to tango   after the third lesson it must have been obvious I was a non dancer   she was none too pleased with my ineptitude and lack of commitment   she thought it best to cut her losses and move on   it ended with some very nice kissing fogging up the windows of my car outside the dance studio   proving that the old saying “it takes two to tango” is absolutely true   📸 me

#vss365 #poetry #fueling   She had eyes that see through the darkness   to glimpse what’s coming in autumn   she stayed in a large communal house   drinking beer before dinner with artists   poets hermits sailors   after a long day painting trees and clouds   fueling the fire of love we seek to find    📸 me

#vss365 #poetry #nervous   There’s no doubt that being a CEO is tough to pull off effectively but being a beloved CEO is next level tough   it takes a caring and charisma that goes way above and well beyond what’s written in the position description   one of only three beloved CEOs I’ve had the pleasure of knowing was a former professional football player   who drove a black Corvette with a Batman sticker on the back window and kept nunchucks under the seat in honor of his idol Bruce Lee   we could often hear him coming from a block away blasting Real Wild Child by Iggy Pop or Blitzkrieg Bop by the Ramones    he would speed into the parking lot then pull smoothly into his reserved spot   where a handful of us hand-selected employees were gathered  waiting for him at 0700 when he arrived each day   “pain is weakness leaving the body,” he’d always say “be like water my friends”    before we all set off on a trail through the woods for a two or three mile run that doubled as his staff meeting   “give it to me straight, no bullshit,” he’d say   as each of us in turn would surface issues to discuss   he’d listen deeply always wanted to hear our thoughts and recommendations   then usually make a decision on the spot   “I’m getting nervous about that proposal due tomorrow, let’s meet at 10 to discuss pricing”   by the time we returned to the office we were energized and ready to go we worked hard and literally played hard looked forward to his Friday happy hours at a bar owned by one of his NFL buddies   and the annual family picnic where he would dress in some outrageous costume   tell jokes so funny everyone would still be laughing months later   and remembering him fondly with a smile years later   📸 me

#vss365 #poetry #Training Forgot to add tags

#vss365 #poetry #sneakers   What if the heart really was the main thing   the prime mover the source of beauty love passion   while the head although certainly important was supposed to only play a supporting role   then what if we found out the head had gone rogue   was sneaking into areas it had no business being in   and calling the shots without consulting the heart   thereby creating a huge mess in the world   a mess so big that no one could or would find a way out   until the heart was restored to it’s rightful place on top ❤️   📸 me

#vss365 #poetry #Lottery   I’ve never hit it big in the state lottery   probably because I’ve never bought a ticket   instead I take my chances in the wilderness   especially in autumn where there are so many more ways to win   and the payout is always guaranteed:   watching the red maple tree’s leaves turning red   eating wild grapes   feeling the passion of passionflowers   spotting mushrooms near a fairy ring in the distance   and best of all when Lady Luck is on my side   hearing the voice of God whispering secrets on the wind   📸 me

#vss365 #poetry #Unexpected   I went to the woods as I do almost daily to think about life    to decide if I’m any better off with all the stuff I’ve accumulated   such as the personal library filled with books that would be the envy of any librarian   or more impoverished than I was when all my worldly possessions  including an awesome futon bed (I wish I still had)   fit snugly into my vintage Datsun 240z that I fully restored including a glass-like metallic blue paint job  (I wish I still had)   allowing me to leave town in style at a moment’s notice   should I hear the unexpected call of duty   which I did hear quite often back then   and was more than good to go   📸 me

#vss365 #poetry #dead   I’m out on the deck making notes about  the good stuff   that keeps increasing simply by me noticing the little things   that have always been here and will remain by God’s grace till death us depart:   the gurgling  sound of a cold Chianti  when poured into a stemless glass (reminding me of my first kiss)   the lid of the slow cooker clanking as it releases steam filling the house with delicious aromas of roast potatoes carrots onions   the warm feel of thick fleece pulled on for the first time this autumn while chopping wood and building fire   dogs barking madly at things seen and unseen as the sun goes down to die behind the trees    promising to rise up again tomorrow without being coerced   📸 me

#vss365 #poetry #bravery   Although it makes for good ghost stories   out in the field  of an abandoned ranch     around the fire on a dark mid-October night   I don’t believe Spanish moss which is neither a moss or Spanish   is the long beard of the meanest man who ever lived caught in live oak trees   as the old Deep South legend along the Mississippi Delta says   that seems a little too far fetched   I’m more inclined to believe it’s the hair of some alien creature like Big Foot   that popped out of the collective unconscious of humanity increasingly yearning for freedom   spotted from time to time in our brave new world   that has such strange creatures in it!   📸 me

#vss365 #poetry #sound   It’s bad enough getting scared by a scarecrow on the way up the trail   but getting scared a second time this morning on the way back out is something unthinkable   something that can never be admitted to friends especially old Army buddies   known to be fearless under fire who would mock me ceaselessly if they ever found out:   “hey, Sargent Major,” I said answering the call   “hey, Sir, how are you?”   “outstanding, what’s up?”   “I may be in your neck of the woods tomorrow,” he said. “I wanna take the kids on a hike”   “you know you don’t need to ask, just go, my woods are your woods,” I said.   “did you put up any scarecrows again this year?” he said.   “Oh yes, but of course,” I said.   “Sir, it’s odd you do that, you know,” he said.   “it’s just for fun, the spirit of October and all that,” I said.   “do you think it’s scared anyone yet?” he said.    “nah, maybe a 5th grader or two,” I said.    “well that’s good to hear, the one you put up last year kind of creeped me out a little bit,” he said. “It was damned spooky, making eerie sounds”   “seriously?” I said.   “yes, it startled the hell out of me when I came up on it, I dropped down and low crawled into the bush,” he said.   “you gotta be shitting me Sargent Major, since when have you been scared by anything? don’t tell me your getting soft in your old age,” I said, laying it on as thick as possible   happy it was him and not me that was outed for cowardice in the face of Halloween decorations   📸 me

#vss365 #poetry #delta   The delta between my dream life and the actual life I’m living   has grown wider after unexpected but generally predictable bumps on the road to good fortune    I may have imagined being lucky in love finding a wholesome woman  early on to settle down with building a safe life together where there is stability and a peaceful (albeit boring) romance   in reality I’ve not be so lucky barely scraping by sometimes going through long dry spells with little or nothing to write home about   punctuated by the sheer terror of wild rides with crazy love that required putting everything else in life on hold   career art friends family sleep even hikes in the woods went by the wayside for years   with no end in sight knowing that at some unconscious level I thrive on the drama and don’t really want to get out of it until eventually I do   then decades later  I’m hunted down like a beast of burden on social media and all the old temptations come rolling right back in as if it were just yesterday   📸 me

#vss365 #poetry #calm   Well, nature‘s hard at work once again   creating more vibrant beauty   than I have the strength to assimilate   or the courage to capture in poetry   this calm rainy morning   as I rush through a busy life   almost missing the latest color changes   of the leaves with white-breasted nuthatches   and a red cardinal landing   on a branch near the bird feeder   patiently waiting for the squirrel to finish breakfast   📸 me

#vss365 #poetry #quake   In the spooky month of October the neighbors compete   to see who can pack the greatest number of pumpkins squash and gourds on their front stoop along with goblins witches and ghosts   some go overboard with 12-foot tall animated plastic skeletons   I leave all that off and go with Edgar Poe to a dark quaking forest to re-read the Raven out loud   where screams howling grunting flashing red eyes are not uncommon   under soft moonlight on or around the anniversary of his untimely and mysterious death (October 7) at the tender age of 40   📸 me

#vss365 #poetry #siren   In the autumn woods I encountered a petite woman   wearing an absurdly large pack who was being walked by two huge  German shepherds    it not only seemed ill-advised but literally crazy  when she let them off their leashes to run wild in the creek   then to run away barking madly up the trail ignoring her commands   “stop Kaiser, stop Shep,” she shouted   while oncoming hikers froze in their boots with justifiable fear and trembling   “can you help me catch the boys? she said   “I’m more of a Golden retriever or small breed kind of a guy, I don’t know how to handle shepherds”   “I don’t either,” she said “but I’m nuts about them”   “WTF?” I said silently to myself as inner alarm bells were going off   although I felt great compassion for her plight I’m not a trained psychologist so I suggested she call animal control as I veered  off the main trail to disappear deep into the lovely dark woods   much later  I heard the sound of distant sirens feeling a little guilty for not going the extra mile with her   📸 me

#vss365 #poetry #sin   There is a part of me attracted to sin and debauchery that I disowned years ago   but he’s still active from time to time still causes mischief gets into trouble prone to fall for the wickedness and snares of the devil   just the other day I went to the museum with the express purpose of viewing garden paintings by an artist I know personally   instead I found myself in the Ancient Rome section  hanging out with Dionysos the god of wine theater and madness   getting ideas for Halloween costumes and then before I knew what was happening planning once again a wild Halloween party   as one of the guards on duty watched me suspiciously calling for backup   📸 me

#vss365 #poetry #island   I like to imagine getting shipwrecked on an uncharted island in the Pacific   with a wholesome woman named Mary Ann and a glamorous movie star named Ginger   where there would be lots of adventure and things to do all day every day like fishing and building shelters   of course survival would be an issue and getting rescued would be a concern eventually   but in many ways it seems preferable to visiting a luxury island with big hotels and pools  for a two-week vacation in the summer then working the rest of the year to pay off the debt   📸 Peter Girardi