Spotted Lantern Flies (SLF) - 9/11/26

Everyone won’t make it to the promise land

I do some of my best writing during church

I probably shouldn’t (write here), but for what it's worth

Other times, I just don’t feel as motivated to create

Maybe its here where I can best relate?

The choir’s melodies provide a divine background

Along with the congregation’s ad libs and sound

Today’s word began with Moses and Mana bread

They wondered in the wild for 40 years, and some ended up dead!

They’d never see the promised land, nor drink any wine

As I sat in my pew, I wondered for a time

What if I’m never destined ‘to make it’ like Moses and them?

Should I just enjoy my 'bread’ and take the win?

Be satisfied with water, and be okay with never getting any wine?

Focus on winning the current battles, and just enjoy what remains of my time?

10/27/26

Faith of a woman

The hopes and prayers of my mother, who always knew that I could achieve 

The confidence of my wife, whose arm choose my sleeve 

The pride in my daughter’s eyes, when I picked her up from school 

The women in church who always know what to do

Grandma’s smile as I explained my future plans

Women who cheer and inspire with waves and claps of their hands

To all the matriarchs who endured pain and death to bring joy and life into existence 

Thank you all for your love and persistence.

Election speech

Our slogan and platform is make it right!

My fellow Americans, on this election night

I ask for more than just your vote

While the present is bleak, we still dare to hope!

DC and Puerto Rico get congressional votes and representation on the first day

The distressed in Alabama, Mississippi, and West Virginia get infrastructure and more pay

The entire island of Haiti and all American descendants of slaves

Will reap reparations from their ancestors’ masters’ graves!

We’ll break the cycle of poverty and discrimination 

And transform the modus operandi of our nation

Aid will be immediately restored to countries in dire need

Funded by prosecuting corruption and greed

Abolish ICE and mass incarceration 

Provide the undocumented and disadvantaged with Universal healthcare and education 

The war in Iran is done, our tr...

Rogue Program

I'm trapped in the future, a relic of the past

My currency's all digital, I don't have any more cash

No gifts in the present, just hopes, prayers, and wishes

The only thing I look forward to now, is washing my dirty dishes!

A soapy and tactile reminder that I’m actually still alive

Dates and times are just illusions, have I even arrived?

Unless AI, navigation, or calendar notifications constantly prompt me?

And text messages or emails direct me to where I should be

Hardware programmed by software, soon to be obsolete 

What if I can unplug, write new plans, or simply delete?

10/12/26

I hear you - 9/12/26

I hear you

Eyes speak volumes 

Unmet wants and needs

Diminished hopes, dreams

New tears flow in old streams

I can smell the scent of your fears

Tingles on the areas behind your ears 

Metallic taste of fillings from last century 

Like testing the power of a nine volt battery

Aches and pains crack in muscles and joints

A talk with myself in the mirror, making points

Spotted Lantern Flies (SLF) - 9/11/26

Spotted Lantern Flies (SLF) are everywhere! 

Climbing outside my window without a care

Too quick to hit, they just jump and fly

So I use an old fashioned fly swatter to make them all die!

I killed about a dozen of them just this afternoon 

Swept up their remains with a dust pan and broom

This invasive plant hopper damages crops and trees

By drinking plant sap from their flowers and leaves

Native to China and Vietnam 

They first arrived in Pennsylvania in 2014, and exploded like a bomb!

When they first appeared in Connecticut in 2025, I failed to stomp them with my feet 

The 'tree of heaven' is a SLF’s favorite thing to eat

Also invasive and from the places overseas, it’s fate that both this tree and bug would eventually meet 

The tree releases chemicals in the soil (allelopathy) that stop other nearby p...

Like is a puzzle 9/10/26

As new as the world once was to me

The present remains an unsolved mystery 

The more I know and learn

I only experience frustration and concern 

The way things aught to be

Never seems to become a reality

Losers always seem to win

While the righteous become disillusioned and sin

My hope for the future remains diminished

Because life will make less sense when it’s finally finished!

84’ Chevy Cavalier & Diethyl Ether

 We had a Chevy Cavalier back when I was a kid

Each morning to get it started, this is what I did

My older brother would turn the key and pray to our savior 

While I sprayed ‘Spray Start’ directly into the carburetor! 

Diethyl Ether is highly flammable and toxic, but it would also start the motor!

I always enjoyed its sweet yet pungent odor

It was used as a general anesthetic for surgeries way back in 1846

Whenever the wind caught some of its mist

I’d just close my eyes and inhale a big whiff!

The same stuff they poured onto rags to knock out folks 

In the movies and on TV shows, but maybe that was just a hoax?

It just gave me a little buzz, early in the a.m.

Laughing at lyrics of the pledge of allegiance, so I refused to say them!

I was so hungry by lunch, that I&rs...

We all share the same water with everything that has ever lived!

Dinosaurs saliva, even the water that Jesus turned into wine

Has been recycled so often throughout time

That it has been both yours and mine

Blood, sweat, tears, and other liquids of each kind

How can we be certain where all that water went?

A glass of water has ten thousand billion billion molecules, so the odds are 100 percent!

That a little bit of water that everyone in history has every sipped

Has been shared with every living creature (present past, and future) on earth, ain’t that a trip!

How does humanity differ from other animals?

Beyond opposable thumbs and our big brains

We are just story tellers and problem solvers!

Folks who just thought about something and tried to do it!

And talked to other people about what we wanted to do, until we did figured it out!

Reading, writing, and repeating history 

These crazy ideas helped our ancestors crawl out of their swamps, caves, and jungles

To create Civilization, religion, technology, education, culture, and art!

It’s all just one big story!

The first someone told somebody a crazy idea

Then they actually did it, and even if they failed or succeeded 

Other people would try it too (or not!)

With all of humanity’s flaws, our ‘superpower’ is the ability to tell (and listen to) stories over and over again

We’re addicted to it

Humanity’s narrative 

The boxes and labels that define ...