S.O.S.

Symbols of sanity (or why love is like a hammer)

I call them symbols of sanity,
but they are really
what I have learned at hardware stores
and what the B&W painting,
General Home repair crew
did at Arby's on Old Hickory
every morning before 7:30
These symbols have to do with the way you sip your coffee,
how you talk with sincerity about sincerely ordinary things,
what you don't say,
the way you demonstrate care by listening,
how long between thought out expressions,
how little concern you show for your own pain,
I call them symbols of sanity (SOS),
They FIND YOU on spring evening walks
while you're planting Azaleas or overseeding your lawn
Or when you get up early and have tea with your daughter
They are what lovebirds find to talk about after the lovemaking
when the outsider would think there is nothing left to say
Stuff, a great SOS word,
like how many times the average person swallows in a day
or why people's toes are shaped the way they are
or why it feels so good to enter the summertime...
It's funny lovebirds should creep into this twist on sanity,
but I've learned something about (wo)me(n) and love, and it is this:
it is best to love everybody and every moment a little bit,
and to save the head over heels for special occasions
Pure, unadulterated, sanity is mentally flirting with that gorgeous person while you're picking out the right sized nails for that storage building
and being willing to admit you are that complex
and that somewhere between the desire for the person's body
and the selfless construction of a handy hut
is where we all ultimately find ourselves
alone...
not quite smart enough to understand how our biology incorporates into a sensible existence but never dumb enough to just let it take over.

Before I go around that final bend I would like just once to
hold hands with "everywoman" I've never met (and never will literally), look her in the eye,
and say to her with the honesty of a B&W painter, you are stunning
and you represent your gender well but no better than I mine and
neither of us serves our kind better than that
lovely sun setting does the stars
and that all my life I have admired those you represent from
sometimes up close and sometimes from a distance but that
way beyond the sky we will unite
and along with the sun, moon, water, other men,
other women, machine, emotion, we will learn
to represent understanding and the ceremony
to celebrate the occasion will be called a marriage,
the wedding of the physical (flesh) with
potential (ideas)
But before then I will go on studying the symbols and searching for that perfect combination of
hardware (hammers and nails) and software (desires and glances).

Hope

Churchill rallied England asking for blood, sweat and tears
Roosevelt said “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself”
I say our hope is courage in the face of fear
Here with thoughts in my head and ideas on my shelf

During the mid 90s In the Balkans, people preferred the poetry book
featuring tough characters who persevere against long odds
But when it became clear to survivors they had what it took
Danielle Steele’s stories returned with love from the Gods

Sometimes in life we must throw our defiance a bone
Thoughts of transcendence up to the point of despair
And though desperate take solace our endurance is long
Cozying up to words that in better times we could not bear

If circumstances are to conquer the spirit in us
It must happen during an early attempt
For hope dies hard once we feel delight in overcoming self-doubt
Despair must sneak up on the vulnerable
and snuff them quickly,
for if the person survives the first wave of attack,
desperation is in for a protracted battle

In the best of possible worlds, no one would face tough times
But then we would never learn the worth of companionship
in the school of loneliness,
the assurance of positive thinking
in the classroom of dejection
the power of self-control
in the college of unlimited options
Real peace of mind is always earned
The light of hope is brightest
for those who endure the dark