Published by The Australia Times

One of my poems was published by The Australia Times (TAT) in their poetry magazine. I'm totally blown away, they used my photo and gave me a two-page spread. After clicking on the link below, in the lower right corner of the screen, you can enter page 62 to skip directly to my poem.
http://www.theaustraliatimes.com/magazine/poetry/issue/215/

Not Tasking, Basking

Not Tasking, Basking
9 July 2014

Among the abandoned mines,
We look at the summer sky.
Relaxing in the pines,
We watch three hawks circle by.
Sitting on the porch swing
Listening to the birds sing,
Swatting occasional flies,
Not doing a darn thing,
Just swapping true lies.
Together, my friend and I
Watch the evening sunset.
As the time goes by,
Life is good, you bet.

Nightfall Overhaul

Nightfall Overhaul
10 June 2014

Good night, Paul, good night.
Time to turn out the light.
As you sleep tight,
I wish you sweet dreams.
In the glow of moonbeams,
May pleasant be the themes
Of the scenes in your mind.
As sleep helps you unwind,
Relaxation is assigned.

Morning Jog, Day's Prolog

Morning Jog, Day's Prolog
12 June 2014

Leap, run, run
Is my cadence
In the morning sun
Near my residence.
The sun on my skin
Feels warm and good.
A touch of silken
Breeze cools the neighborhood.
I wave at the neighbor
I see as I run past.
It adds to the caliber
Of my day's forecast.

Cream of Self-Esteem

Cream of Self-Esteem
9 June 2014

The old uptight me
Is now loose and free,
The way it ought to be.
After years of agony
I've broken from tyranny.

The tyranny of group think
That was way out of sync
So I felt like a rat fink
And brought me to the brink
Of almost no more pen and ink.

Pen and ink let me fully express
My inner self with success,
Without having to repress,
Confess or be a mess.
It's been a long process.

A process of listening and reading,
Uploading new ways of thinking.
By baby steps proceeding,
Getting results, not misleading,
Old ways gradually receding.

Australia Times Again

The Australia Times published one of my poems:
http://www.theaustraliatimes.com/emagazines/poetry/issue211/#p=26

Touch As Such

Touch As Such
23 May 2014

Your hand on my knee
Generates the calm
Of skin on skin.
The sensation pleases me,
To feel the palm
Of another human.
Let me soak in our alchemy
And focus on the balm
Of the touch vitamin.

For Mother's Day

Honor On Her
10 May 2014

As soon as she's pregnant
A prospective mother dreams.
Most of them are poignant
As she plans and schemes.
She has very high hopes
As she suffers and copes.

On this day we honor the women
Who labored to give us birth,
Who gave their all for our beginnin'
And fostered us on this earth.
The name I value above any other
Is the sacred name of Mother.

One Horseman's Son

One Horseman's Son
16 March 2014

On paper my father was a farmer
But that's something of a misnomer.
Although he spent time pulling plows
I never knew him to own any cows.
Proving as a groom that he was a generous gent,
He gave my mother a horse as a wedding present.
Around the time I came along
His horse herd was a dozen strong.
Among canyons and hills renowned
For expansive outdoor spaces,
Were acres and acres of playground
And an all-around view of faraway places.
I grew up riding horses on our days off.
We would see the them from a ways off
And approach with grain in a pail,
Shaking it to make the sale.
With their noses in the bucket, distracted,
It was easy to slip a loop around their neck
Before they caught on and reacted.
Just reins were all you needed, by heck,
To ride bareback and race with the wind.
Nothing more fun could be imagined.

How pleasant to wallow in the sentimentality
Of remembering youth in less than its totality.
I now live hours away in another state.
Growing up on a ranch didn't determine my fate.
My current lifestyle is different from then,
Very different from what might have been.
Hoeing beans and getting sunburned.
Was the very first money I earned.
I carefully accounted for every penny that came.
The values learned then are now lived the same.
Yes, much has changed over the many years,
But I'm still the horseman's son, my dears.

Rhyming Dictionary

I haven't posted any poems lately because I've been concentrating on compiling a rhyming dictionary. Here're some words I worked on today. Do they rhyme for you?

Al

owl

foul

fowl

Hal

howl

Cal

cowl

corral

chorale

Val

vowel

This is a glaring example of English words that sound the same, but aren't spelled the same. Maybe English spelling needs to be revised or reformed.