SUNDAY NIGHTS ON HBO

Meet me in the living room, it’s almost nine.

You know where to find me, I’ll be in my chair

The weekend is over, but it’ll be fine.

Others think about Monday, but I don’t care.

Tony Soprano had to bump off his friends,

but we don’t know if he got it in the end.

Dick Winters, Nixon, Guarnere- Band of Brothers

greatest generation, braver than others.

Stringer Bell, cops couldn't get him on The Wire,

in the game until Omar opened fire.

Nucky gives orders, runs his Boardwalk Empire

greed, corruption, a professional liar.

Game of Thrones, poor Rob Stark, rotten King Joffrey

found out weddings are deadly places to be.

CONFESSIONS OF A MODERN DAY HERMIT

"I don't want to be alone,

I want to be left alone."- Audrey Hepburn

I prefer to do my banking online.

I don’t answer my home phone.

I avoid going to the Post Office.

I Christmas shop on the internet.

I buy groceries in the early morning.

I still say "hello and see you later",

but I wave and always keep walking.

I like to prepare my coffee by myself.

I look for a seat by the window in the

Bagel Shop and I could do without the

Beyonce music blaring from speakers.

I’d rather not listen to the droning list of

Sports Center clichés on the flat screen

TV that’s suspended from the ceiling.

I take back roads, avoid highways,

go to dinner in the late afternoon.

I don’t want a table by old people,

babies, teens or families with kids.

I park at the back of the lot, far away

from the mess of cars that cruise rows

with blinkers in search of a front spot.

And when I come out of the stores,

each and every time, I find my Jeep

surrounded by trucks and other cars.

It’s a magnet that seems to attract

them or maybe it’s a well planned

conspiracy organized to make sure

my efforts to be left alone are in vain.

LAST NIGHT ON PLANET EARTH

“in case of rapture this car will be unmanned”

- bumper sticker from the 70’s

Instead of going to the family’s New Year’s Eve party

they laid in bed, under the covers watching fireworks

on TV as the Millennium arrived across the time zones.

He waited for confused computers to cause malfunctions,

havoc, mass destruction- maybe the end of the world.

Number two was about to appear in the thousands place,

catchy slogans, media hype, a wave of fear, but in the end,

there was no end. Just a basement filled with generators,

flashlights, firearms, fuel, rolls of duct tape, cases of water,

cans of tuna, and boxes of granola bars bought from Costco.

This time, roadside billboards quoting scripture went up,

messages swirled across the internet, people at work felt

a need to talk about it, radio shows called in the experts.

Somehow, he began to consider, maybe the end is near?

Last night, he was all alone, but took himself out to dinner.

Feeling like a death row inmate from the movies, he ordered

a Philly cheese steak with fried onions that filled his plate and

he had no worries of cholesterol levels or high blood pressure.

As he shook on the salt, he admired the difference in the flavor.

He sipped his Diet Coke and said a prayer for all he’d been given.

A WORLD WITHOUT TUITION

I hope one day to turn on my television and

hear on CNN that Congress passed a new law,

but I’m still waiting for it to happen. I mentioned

it a time or two, I even wrote a poem about it.

I imagined what it’d be like to make education free

to those who wanted to study, to learn, to achieve.

What if they thought of a way to reward those

who want to work, who want to apply themselves?

Wouldn’t it be easy enough for a Senator to say-

Hey, let’s find a way to make going to college free?

And then they could compromise, argue, and debate

before most of them agreed to let the people reach

their full potential. Allow them? No, empower them

to take care of themselves, their children, and families.

Of course, there'd be a catch, a hitch, a pact, a prerequisite.

In exchange for tuition free advanced college degrees,

scholars must make a promise, must sign an exemption.

Upon graduation they must vow to not look for, expect,

ask, or demand Food Stamps, Medicare, Social Security,

subsidized healthcare, low income housing or free cheese.

Instead they'd have to be on their own and live their lives

as independent thinkers, responsible law abiding citizens, and

contributors to our society-socially, emotionally,economically.

PRO-EDUCATION

I planned to include a quote from Montessori
but wondered how many people knew her or even cared
what she said about children and their full potential.
I won’t begin with the old “teach a man to fish” proverb
or the slogan “A Mind is a Terrible Thing to Waste”.
I’ll start with what some of my grandfather’s words,
They can take your house, your car, even your wife
can leave and take the kids, but the one thing that
can’t ever be taken away from you is your education.

I want to tell the lawmakers and politicians,
Keep your healthcare bills, food stamps, welfare,
unemployment, Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security.
Give us all the opportunity to get a free education
from preschool through college, technical and
trade schools, Nursing Schools, Master’s Degrees, PhDs.
Open it up to anyone who wants to go, to learn, to achieve,
to gain knowledge, to prepare, to realize their full potential.

Total free tuition, no charge for everyone, just give it away!
You’d see a society of strong, proud, independent individuals
who’d take care of themselves, their families, their communities.
If they don’t make it, they'd have nothing to cry about. No one to blame.

DRIVE THRU NATION

Circle the lot in your Yukons, Escalades, and Armadas.
Cell phones in hand, waiting for the pampered ones
to call and tell you to drive up and get them at the door.

Your children are not made of tough metal or strong fiber.
They’re made of silk, rayon, or that Under Armor material.
Surely they’ll melt like pink and blue circus cotton candy.

Circle the lot in your Caravans, Siennas, and Voyagers.
Dart through the lanes of the congested school parking lot
you’re on a mission to an uninhabited planet, a quest.

The sons are daughters are inside the building, taking exams
to get into the colleges of their dreams, not the in-state
affordable ones that you like, but the fun,out-of-state party schools.

I park my Jeep at the back of the lot; zip up my rain coat,
pull my cap down over my head and go for a stroll in the rain.
Smiling, I wave and yell, “Don’t worry son, after all- it’s only water.”

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