TO MY ADMIRERS

I write most every day.

Verses flow from my MacBook.

Most are very good.

I only ask you, take a look.

Read a few aloud.

Do they have a pleasing rhyme?

Is there a rhythmic flow,

Constant beat in every line?

Is the meaning crystal clear,

A hint of humour there?

Perhaps a touch of irony,

Is there truth for us to share?

I strive to keep it light.

The deep stuff’s not for me.

I’m not an English scholar.

I eschew such pedantry.

If I evoke a smile,

And a nod of approbation,

Your time has been well spent.

I accept your admiration.

But money says it best,

So show your perspicacity

By cash or cheque dispatched

To my home in Waikiki!

WHO AM I?

Here I’m in my dotage,

Eighty years of age,

Still seeking my identity,

Near the final page.

Am I a fiction writer,

My great novel yet unborn?

More likely I’m a poet,

Though my verses readers scorn.

No, I am a soldier,

Graduate RMC,

An officer, a gentleman,

A leader, any fool can see!

For many aimless years

I plied the PR trade

For breweries, utilities,

Any which top dollar paid.

I’ve been a father and a husband,

A neighbour and a friend.

With each puff of wind

To be congenial I would bend.

A man without convictions,

Never forced to take a stand.

I’ve been lucky, oh so lucky,

But characterless and bland.

Do my wife and children love me,

A mere nonentity?

What of value can I leave them?

What’s to be my legacy?

Must I bequeath a mystery,

One that stalks me though I die?

Perhaps they will discover

Who the hell am I?

THE MOVIES

I used to go to movies

Before my hearing failed.

The shows were entertaining;

Evil lost, the good prevailed!

The hero got the girl,

The villain went to jail,

Or maybe to the morgue.

It was a cautionary tale!

Today it’s very different.

Life is more complex.

Movies are more daring.

There’s profanity and sex!

Sometimes it’s hard to tell

The good guys from the bad.

The endings unpredictable,

Uplifting, dour or sad.

The movie stars of old

Were famous, every one:

Bogart, Gable, Holden,

Bergman, Hepburn, Dunne.

One can scarcely keep abreast

Of the modern movie scene.

Actors come and go,

Just images on the screen.

Still I go to movies

Though rarely, I must say.

Those over-loud commercials

Even keep the deaf away!

TELEVISION

What a piece of work

Is The TV Industry!

It brings to our living rooms

Amazing variety.

News of the world,

Sports of every kind,

Comedy and drama,

Food for the hungry mind.

It shows events unfold,

Ten thousand miles away,

And right where we live,

Folks at work and play.

It also transmits trash,

Numbing banality,

Infantile commercials,

And crass pornography.

There for every taste,

The best and worst that be,

Projected for to see

In HD and now 3D!

COMPUTER LITERACY

I own an old Aptiva.

I use it every day.

But am I cyber literate?

NO! Not in anyway.

I’ll write a line of verse

(If present is my muse),

E-mail friends and family,

Read the latest news.

I keep a daily journal,

List books that I have read,

Names of old acquaintances,

The living and the dead.

But I wouldn’t know an iPod

From a thing to eat.

Blackberries, Kindles, iPads

Are mysteries dark and deep!

I’m falling far behind,

But don’t give a damn.

I don’t need to be au fait

With hard-drives, bytes, and RAM.

When my PC goes awry,

I call the kid next door.

He speaks to me in riddles,

But I soon compute once more.

THE UNKNOWN

What we think we know

Is but a tiny part

Of what there is to know.

We’re yet so near the start!

We know a little science,

Some philosophy,

But still we flounder lost,

In a vast uncharted sea.

Questions yet to answer:

Is there a God ‘up there’?

If so, did He create us?

Does He hearken to our prayer?

Does life have any meaning?

What happens when we die?

Does religion offer refuge?

Could it be a monstrous lie?

What’s beyond the galaxies?

More light-years of the same?

Or other dimensions

No genius shall explain?

If there’s a caring God,

He gave us minds to think.

If there is no God,

We’re still obliged to think.

Faith and superstition.

Lead to a fruitless end.

Knowledge and the truth

Only mind will apprehend.

LUCK

Did you ever ponder

How luck affects you, pal?

Every day’s a risk

For every guy and gal.

You may win a bundle

On Lotto 6-4-9,

Get a big promotion,

Meet that date divine.

On the other hand,

Your luck may not be good.

You could step into the traffic

And dent somebody’s hood!

You may become disabled,

Wrongly sent to jail,

So many things can happen

On life’s uncertain trail.

Events good and bad

That were never planned

Can change your life forever,

In an instant set their brand.

How we like to think

If we achieve acclaim,

It’s because we’re clever,

We’re masters of the game.

But if we’re truly honest,

We would humbly admit,

We were fucking lucky

We didn’t end up in the shit!