Growth Rings

Growth Rings

I never imagined the present future back when I was a kid

Suppose that I did?

How could I possibly count all the blessings that rose to the surface?

For I found love, security and purpose

Beyond all my hopes and dreams

A kid from Indianapolis, born with middle class values and means

As I approach 50 springs

I also can’t imagine myself being nine

1985 seems like such a distant time

Even the present sometimes seems hard to understand 

The hours and days fly by so fast, its more difficult to plan

Or imagine what the next future presents will be

Like annual rings, recorded beneath the bark of a tree

So I’m writing down all my stories to help the future remember me

Perfection is a myth

An unrealized lie that causes folks to just wish

Knowing all the unknowns is the pits!

Ignorance is bliss!

Take a hundred shots, and you're guaranteed to miss!

Possibly more than you’d make

Think everybody’s better than you, please don’t take that bait!

Envy’s the thief of joy, so don’t be a statistic 

Just do your best, don’t stress and be more realistic 

If you accept this truth, you’ll evade the fangs of failure’s pain

Treat perfection like rabies, or you might just go insane!

Even the most talented artists, musicians, and athletes fail more often than not

I’d be a hypocrite if I told y’all what you shouldn’t do or ought 

Perspective, isn’t black is what the kettle called the pot?

Those who choose peace or fought 

Folks who choose to live o...

8 billion humans and 7 billion rats

There are more humans on earth than rats!

By over a billion in fact

That’s 8 billion humans to 7 billion rats

But only 700 million cats!

Goats, cows, and sheep

There are about one billion each

Scientists estimate 784 million hogs

And approximately 900 million dogs

Earth's mammal numbers are small to behold

Compared to 20 quadrillion nematodes! 

Those microscopic roundworms match the number of ants present on our planet 

Both are double the number of all other insects, but don’t panic!

In the oceans, Antarctic Krill number 500 trillion

But the deep sea bristlemouth fish many be more than a 20 quadrillion

Scientists have only discovered 10 to 20 percent of all life on our planet 

Now you may start to panic!

Humans vs. Primates

The opposable thumbs and will power debates 

Many surmise as the only lines that separate humans from apes

However, I’ll ask just one question without refrain

Could 30,000 apes sit in a stadium and enjoy a 2 hour football game?

Schrödinger’s cat - 1935

Both dead and alive, a cat trapped in a box

Trapped with a radioactive atom, a hammer, Geiger counter, and vial of poison fastened with locks

Theories of quantum mechanics debated in 1935

When Schrödinger and Einstein wrote, to this conclusion they arrived

The hammer brakes a glass vial

When will radiation spike the Geiger counter’s dial

Killing the cat, or not

See the paradox?

We don’t know the cat’s fate until we open the box

Known unknowns, zero, one, or both, fate chose

Radiation, nine lives, broken glass, poison, hammer, gravity, who knows?

Understanding

Puzzle pieces in an unassembled heap

Flipped and grouped to form a boarder neat 

The frame, the start of one’s belief

A collection of unknown shapes defined provides relief

How everything is connected, our purpose is to try and fail

Colors, patterns, and answers write our life’s tale

As more is known than not, and our work is near completion 

Once our purpose ends, we face deletion.

Dime the Hooper made bail

Dime the hooper just made bail
Hours with no food or representation, weeks in jail
Arrested for no reason other than being in the wrong place
Trying to stay positive, despite bruises to his ego and face
When they dragged him across the asphalt, his flesh ripped and bled
Knees in his back and kicks to the ribs, Dime didn't hear what they said
Slurs, curses, and maybe Miranda rights?
Sitting in a cell with dull florescent lights
Dime wondered, why him again?
He was just shooting hoops in the park with his friend.
A few days of missed work and bruises on his face
Explainations, lawyer fees, stares, whispers, disgrace
As the church prays for him, his family offers hugs and support
But he found himself alone in both jail and court
The bail bondsman grined when accepted his fee
Bail debt and a criminal record feels like a noose slung from a tree.