Month: December 2019

Just because someone
Does not offer you a drink
Isn’t a reason to suppose
That he has committed a crime
Some are not generous
Not so hard to understand
Others have a reason
To give a false impression

Technology ruins everything
Where has critical thinking gone?
So you have your feelings hurt
Is the bad or just a set back?
Now the strive to get even
How absurd one might think
The thought of forgiveness lost
Like Little Red Riding Hood

Hansel and Gretel cheering
They are full of spirit
Have a feeling for human kind
Not drifting as in a dream
We are all different creatures
No meaning is quite the same
Don’t make a stand on floating ice
Thinking that you look grand

Step back and look about
The world looks beautiful
Even with all the frustration
No need to play the part of a fool
So many opportunities
So much time
Make the right choices
You’ll find that you’re fine

Stanski
December 16, 2019 ^

Some said that I was smooth
Could glide along like the wind
And sweet, too, never leaving
Anyone with the feeling of bitterness
I was observant and considerate
My friends’ mothers called me
Mr. Wonderful. I was superfluous

Then college came along
I had no extra money
Could not spend good feelings
Or compete with the
Gross Pointe boys, with
Nice clothes and flashy cars
I turned inward

I observed them
They seemed to be surface people
Now and then I ran across some
Who seemed to come from deeper inside
Their meaning had more measure
I could relate and also converse
Retrospective analysis: I was immature

I had not learned how to behave
Could not arrange the use of time
Chose the wrong things to prioritize
Was loose with my language
Excuses were not hard to find
I thought my case was different
But I was just one of many

I came to grips with reality
Learned to say no when it mattered
Finished schooling and began my career
Became entrenched in work and doing
Married a left-over who was right for me
Taught our children to think of others first
To be smooth and sweet; superfluous

Stanski
December 16, 2019 ^

Sitting
Waiting
Wind blowing news-grams
Friendly message arrives for you

No postage due
Subtle warning
Become unglued
From your comfort zone

Spring is coming
But not too soon
To suit you
Or mute you
From complaining

Message is here
To warn you
Don’t lose time
Live today
And take what unfolds

Then no regrets
In future retrospection

Live every day
Don’t waste a minute
Of your miracle
Which is life itself

Damn fool
Move now

With thanks
For new awareness

And gratitude for this
State of enchantment

Stanski
December 15, 2019 ^

These are for you
They are my best gifts
They are my tears
They are my joy

They are my loss
They are my gain
They are my energy
They are my passion

And sadly

They fall short
Of expressing
The true
Higher qualities
Which we all have
Within us
And want to use

As we express ourselves
In living our lives
On a daily basis
Within the parameters
Of God’s purpose for us

May His peace and guidance
Always be with you
These would be the real gifts
The precious gifts

Stanski
December 15, 2019 ^

What was and

Now gone

Never to reassemble

Even though

We see

The component parts

Dancing before us

___

To see this

And sense it

Is to know what

Brokenness means

Stanski
December 15, 2019 ^

So many time we perceive joy as happiness
Brought on by a successful event or some victory
We may become audacious, even ignore other
Important things going on about us

But there is another joy not marked by
Laughter, celebration or outward smiles
This joy is held by those who do not
Necessarily reek with optimism

They intuitively connect with the
Seriousness of condition. They are
Aware of the hard reality of life, but
Do not build walls of the cages, that

They could find protection in
No, the evil powers about them
Are challenged by legal means or
By prayerful meditation and good acts

Death is a possibility, but it will be under control
It is an everlasting peace that they point to
Suffering will be shared; then released
It is now that they find their quiet joy

Stanski
December 15, 2019 ^

As long as you are ignoring me,
please don’t bother answering my
question.

Stanski
December 14, 2019^

Dads caution their children
Hands off, sonny
Don’t break anything

Officers take children
Under their arm
Help them shop

Compliment them on a choice
That will be nice for your mom
Now let’s look for your dad

Children are happy
This is their day
Glee is the word

Merchants are frantic
Never been this busy
So many children

No music on the streets
Too much work
Setting up a sound system

A lot of white hair
Many men with beards
But no Santa Claus

Ho, ho, ho
On Dasher, on Dancer
Lighten up, Rudolph

A lot of noise
Many good hearts
Happiness prevails

Stanski
December 14, 2019 ^

ADDING IT UP
America is no longer a land of the free
But a land enslaved by ignorance
The Boomers were pampered
Parents did not want them to suffer
No hard financial times for them
No world wars for them
They took freedom for granted
Protested the Vietnam War
Withdrew from society
Narcissistically turned inward
With hallucinates and dropped
Out of society until free-love
Communes and drugs depleted
Their money and they had to work
In the eighties they infiltrated
The news networks and education
We have been paying ever since

Entitlements have replaced
Personal responsibility
Diversity has replaced community
Partisanship has replaced objectivity
Political correctness over civility
Social justice has replaced charity
We arbitrate morality replacing the
Equitable judgment of moral certitude
We incapable human beings have
Replaced the Divine Creator
Human life is only valued by
The importance we give it
The strong oppress the weak
We take human life at will

These are dangerous presumptions
We are still a great nation
But we are living off the efforts of
Those who came before us
The moral, spiritual, and intellectual capital
Is not being replenished by anything real
It is a false capital that we have found
And unfortunately it will not sustain it

Stanski
December 13, 2019 ^

A century past
This magazine was founded
It is called “POETRY”
We look back and stumble
Looking at what we think may be
The best critiques or
The most interesting characterizations

Which have the intellectual quality that
Amazed and continue to amaze
How many poems have to be narrowed
To the sensational few which we feel
Will endure the test of time?

Which conversations echoed best
The sentiment of the time and do
They still have relevance when
Compared to something
Written as recently as today
What was the era like?
When the then current material was presented

The fitting will be chosen
That is a safe bet
The picking of more than a few will be appropriate
Just because they were written by someone unknown
Who we now universally recognize
That goes without saying the blustery will say

There is but one reality and the truth of it is
Everything is very subjective
Selected pieces will state clearly
What most know but can’t express well
Eloquence has to be recognized
There is safety in numbers and
Many will agree that the selections are perfect
My door is always open

By Steve Haarman
September 7, 2012
Updated by Stanski on December 13, 2019 ^
^