30 November 2011

Nerd’s Keywords


Nerd’s Keywords
29 November 2011

My online wealth manual highly preferred
Using AdSense for money earned
A search of the US for the last year returned-
Top Searches: facebook, how to, you
Weather, craigslist, lyrics, games,
But no personal or celebrity names.
Rising Searches lists minecraft, wells fargo
Netflix, translate, amazon, facebook.com
But doesn’t list TV shows or a sitcom.
Poems was a popular search in Arlington,
Texas; Phoenix, New York, Atlanta,
Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington,
Dallas, Houston and Philadelphia.
Poetry was searched in Chicago, 
Washington, Philadelphia and Dallas;
Also in Seattle, Atlanta, San Francisco, 
New York, Houston and Los Angeles.

28 November 2011

Come Hither Weather

In southern California the air usually flows from the ocean to inland. Periodically in the fall, the air flow is reversed from inland to the ocean. Such a condition is called Santa Ana. Air from inland areas actually blows over desert regions so is warm with very low humidity. That condition happened yesterday and inspired today's poem.


Come Hither Weather
28 November 2011
It’s much too nice to stay
Inside. The temperatures say,
“Come outside and play.”

24 November 2011

Take Myself Off the Shelf


Take Myself Off the Shelf
23 November 2011
What a miracle it must be
To be me, really me!
I have a great ancestry,
An impeccable pedigree
With heroes in my family tree.
That’s why I must be 
The very best of me,
And follow my passion of poetry
As an expression of a higher me.
That way my life can serve to be
A guide to those who follow me.
What a blessing it must be,
What a gift it must be!

21 November 2011

Great-Grandfather's Journal

This morning I worked on rhyming my great-grandfather's journal, Jesse Nathaniel Smith. Here he talks about the first winter in Salt Lake City.


Most had not been able to purchase a supply
For a year, then freight it across the plains
And mountains with scanty means, having to rely
On weak teams and frail wagon trains.
I was just at an age when my appetite
Was very keen, but there was no other way.
We put ourselves on rations; food being tight,
About a half a pound of flour per day
Without any vegetables, but a little beef,
Sometimes none, and milk from a cow.
I herded cows the whole winter without relief.

18 November 2011

Possibilities and Limitations

English is a wonderful language full of possibilities. Wiktionary has over two and a half million English entries. Although many words are science and industry specific. Sometimes I think English never met a word it didn't like. Many foreign words have been imported whole. That means many rhyming possibilities.

However, in composing poems, periodically I've come across a word that's hard to rhyme. The Complete Rhyming Dictionary edited by Clement Wood on pages 117 & 118 gives a short list of words that don't rhyme. I've spent the last few months going thru my rhyming dictionaries culling words that don't rhyme or that rhyme with only one or two other words. In other words, these are words to avoid. They can still be used in poetry, just not at the end of the line to rhyme. My hope, dear reader, is that you will help me add words to or delete them from my list. Here's a sample of common English words that don't rhyme: agent, also, ancient, bogus, bozo, budget, bulb, citrus, country, damage, delta, eighth, else, film, fortress, gospel, govern, helmet, hungry, icon, iron, joyful, junior, kiln, kingdom, liquid, limit, market, memo, naked, ninety, object, office, poem, polka, questioned, quotient, refuge, riot, sahib, sculpt, temple, topaz, ulcer, unit, velvet, visit, width, and wolf.  For the complete list, you can contact me by leaving your email address in the comments or use Facebook or whatever works.

16 November 2011

Allegory Story


Allegory Story
16 November 2011
The accuser
Of the abuser
Was a loser
Whose blues
Was a ruse
To make the news.
Don’t confuse
Outward success
And public address
With inner mess.
Celebrity tabloids
Are full of factoids
And celluloids
About a star’s erosion
And career corrosion
With an implosion,
Who’s standing halts
When behavior results
From character faults. 

14 November 2011

Visualization Affirmation


Visualization Affirmation
14 November 2011
Who’s that handsome dude in the mirror
With a golden earring in his ear?
Life is better this year.
Still wishing for money up to here,
But visualizing crystal clear 
Many sources, never fear.
From a product’s premier
Forging ahead in a career.
Also imagining someone dear
Who is loving and near.
Enjoying health and cheer
With many a peer
While traveling from here
Like the jet set tier.

13 November 2011

Following Breadcrumbs

Initially they didn't look like breadcrumbs from the universe. My email was hacked this week while I was on my computer. The reason I knew was from all the bounced emails. On advice from a fairly computer savvy friend, I changed my email password. To to that I had to log onto the AT&T site using the same username and password that I use to pay my bill. I have a Mac and just click on the mail icon to read my email. Once in a while there will be a bar across the top of an email saying the computer thinks a particular email is spam. While I was in my account changing my password, I noticed emails in the spam folder.
Several years ago I joined Toastmasters to learn how to respond to impromptu questions. At a couple of their events I heard Darren LaCroix speak and even went to his Humor Bootcamp. Later Darren did a webinar with Lynn Rose where she introduced the WOW Factor. WOW standing for Without Walls, meaning speaking fearlessly. Last spring Lynn did a webinar with Wendy Robbins who wrote the book, "Why Marry a Millionaire? Just Be One!" Then over the summer Wendy is a series of webinars with all kinds of movers and shakers, from thought leaders to cutting-edge technology. Since I'm on my computer for hours at a time anyway, I was looking for a way to make money using the internet. From Wendy's interviews I connected with more people sharing free ideas and insights about living more abundantly. Okay, I did spend money Jim Kwik's memory and reading improvement series. See my video about improving memory.
Meanwhile back at the ranch, I had also bought into uQast but stopped hearing from them and figured they probably took my money and ran. I don't have a vindictive personality to go chasing after them, which just would have been good money after bad. But when I accessed my email differently, there were emails in the spam folder. In going thru those "spam" emails I was able to reconnect and revitalized my learning curve.

10 November 2011

Obstinate Magistrate


Obstinate Magistrate
10 November 2011
The county fair judge 
Wouldn’t move or budge
From his decision on the fudge
In spite of the bribery nudge
And characterization smudge.

09 November 2011

Metamorphosis Process


I took Jack Random’s “All Around You” and rhymed it.
Metamorphosis Process
6 November 2011
When I die, fold me naked, brother,
Into the dark flesh of the earth pile;
No coffin fortress against my mother,
No formaldehyde lip stitching denial 
Of the soft machinery of life’s assault.
Let the gentle sex of the probing root
Trail downward along the white vault
Of my cathedral bones’ strong suit.
Let the holy orgy of the earthy sod
Fill my domed skull with the resurrected
Gentle loving of the worldly clod.
Then each year fold me unprotected
Back into the warm flesh of creation
And I will become the loving planet.
I will spread my spirit on the wind’s reverberation.
I will have eyes of green rose granite.
I will have blood in the splashing sea tides
I will have a consciousness of grass,
And I will have arms under all the hillsides.
Arms vast enough at last, landmass
To hold all my children by the platoon.
From my warm bed I will be the sun's lover
And a magical brother to the moon.
I will trail sidelong and downstream cover
And I will be in the food you consume
Alive in all the fruits that abound,
Awake in the fall of each cherry bloom.
Once dead and in the solid ground, 
Now immaculately starting to leach
I will be there when you’re going
To burst the veiny flesh of a peach.
I will be all around you silently knowing,
This is my body bursting for your sip.
Take, eat and pass me with cants
From hand to hand and lip to perfect lip.
Let my name dissolve with my substance 
But when you drink the blood stew
And eat the smooth flesh of plants,
I will be alive, awake and all around you.

04 November 2011

Gratitude for Latitude


My friend James Kent publishes an online newsletter for his family & friends. It's called Ohana News. Each year he asks for contributions for his Thanksgiving Issue.

Gratitude for Latitude
4 November 2011
This year I’m grateful to get a pension
Meaning no alarm clock (That I savor.)
Which greatly reduces my tension
And contributes to each day’s flavor.
I’m glad of the serendipitous discovery
That chocolate, blueberries and walnuts
Improved my short-term memory
And boosted my brain out of its ruts.
I’m thankful to be in San Diego County
For the weather, Balboa Park, beach,
And mountains; meaning so much bounty.
I appreciate having friends within reach,
To socialize with gay men who
Think along the same lines as me,
Enjoy the same activities as I do
And add to my felicity.

02 November 2011

Latecomer Summer


Latecomer Summer
2 November 2011
The weather was just too nice
To write poetry and stay indoors
So I thought about it twice
And played hookey by going outdoors.
I called my friend, Billy Bob
To see if he wanted to go to the park.
It was his day off from his job.
We went to the local landmark
And saw koi fish in the reflecting pool,
Grounds with flowers ad nauseam,
Avoided a student class from school
And took in the Timkin art museum.
While crossing back over the bridge
I spied an artist with his tripod
Painting, standing out on a ridge,
So I trotted over to his sod.
It was truly an afternoon 
Filled with beauty and art.
It seemed to end too soon
When it was time to depart.