WAKE UP
NEVER TOO LATE
FIND THE JOY
PARTICIPATE
LIFE’S IMPORTANT
NOT ABOUT YOU
BUT RATHER ABOUT
WHAT YOU DO
DREAMS ARE SAFE
NOT ALL BAD
A WASTED LIFE
NOW THAT IS SAD
SO TAKE THE STEPS
ONE BY ONE
GOALS ARE REACHED
YOU HAVE WON
BY STEVE HAARMAN
11/27/11
There is truth to be found
One must look for it
It is not given
Not by the fake news
Only we do not call it the fake news
We call it the really fake news
Everything repeated verbatim
By anchor to anchor on
Every news station
Maybe an exception
A few of the shows on Fox News
Or Fox Business News
And One American News
A station which explodes with the truth
And points out the lies
More people are beginning to believe
In the President of the Country, who
Has done so much to move us forward
Accomplished more in three years
Than any man in history
He is an outsider, which is why he is detested
And assigned to impeachment on the day of his victory
Higher wages
Lower taxes
More jobs
Minorities lifted
Soldiers given relief
NATO paying up
Iran contract nullified
Regulations voided
USMCA
China recognized for what they are and challenged
Record Stock Market
Record revenue
Exposure of corrupt FBI and CIA at the top levels
Much more to do
Dealing with dictators
Completing the wall on the border
A five billion dollar request, denied
Which has cost us over $250 billion for
Feeding, housing and health care illegals
Removal of sanctuary cities
Removal of MS13 gangs
Defeat of ISIS
Rebuilding inner-cities
Draining the swamp
Removing troops where not needed
Charging for services rendered
Shrink government
Get the education department closed
As millions of tax dollars thrown at it
And the results are the same at 20 years ago
It is sad that so many believe that their party
The Party they support is the same party
That their grandpa and father supported
They are mistaken but cannot change
John Kennedy would be a conservative
Once entrenched and indoctrinated
It is difficult to come to reality and change
It is not Republican versus Democrat
It is the swamp versus us
The Statists versus the country
The millionaires versus the wage earners
The word is out
Time to listen
Stanski
December 11, 2019 ^
The only town I knew when I was young
Was the one I still love now that I am old
There were no streets paved with gold
Or a history with stories left untold
We were a neighborhood
Part of a bigger city
A collection of characters true
Docile or stern, grim or witty
Curfews and standards
Things we just wouldn’t do
Credit at the bakery
Joe, who repaired the shoes
Paint store and flower shop
They were all places you knew
Always wondering what you would do
To put a claim on fame
Cecil the butcher would help you
Decide on the very good cuts
Hammer & Cortenof, the hardware
Carried only the very best stuff
Harry Shook at City Service Station
Was part of the big family
You didn’t want to get out of line
He would take you over his knee
Kick the can and marbles
Basketball until all hours of the night
Kids of different backgrounds and color
Seldom was there ever a fight
Drugstores on every corner
Sometimes it was hard to choose
You could not pick a bad one
Really nothing there to lose
Lawn jobs, raking and mowing
Shoveling snow all winter long
Character developed unwittingly
Harmony and love, like a song
Gone now are the dear old neighbors
Mr. Warwick won’t be seen again
Dr. Slemons, old man Clark and Mr. Johnston
Nobody left it seems
It was a great, fine brotherhood
Room for every quirk and scheme
No one blowing taps for the other guy
Too much on your own plate it seemed
When you left you really didn’t leave
You moved, but you still held the dream
Home means different things for sure
Logan Street will always be home to me
By Steve Haarman
Revised by Stanski
December 11, 2019 ^
The owl and the cowboy
Now that could be a story
One that I might want to tell
The owl was heard around the cowboy camp
It kept some up but it wasn’t too bad
To some it wasn’t the owl
It was just that they were very sad
Damn this town, but we can’t leave now.
Least ways not ‘til I get my lovin’ back
You see, I love that girl, but she had to leave
And took the train to Birmingham
Now, that’s all the way under the Mason-Dixon Line
She said she would be just fine and
Told me to listen to the owl at night and
Keep my eyes on the stars
I don’t wanna leave you now she said
But I just have to go
I’m Detroit made and I never stayed
Chicago couldn’t keep me either
I said adios to California and I traveled east
That was all before I met you
I made it big there too
But I was missing something and that my friend was you
When I left that was when New York had her heart broke
So hold on for your love, give me a little grace
I had to trust her and had to smile
Had to talk it over with that hooting owl
I checked the moon and watched the stars
Stayed away from the cowboy bars
I sent her a note
I’ll be here waiting for you
And waiting for you to get back
When you do you’ll find me
Down around my place
My lovely shack
With a tip of the hat to John Hiatt
Stanski
December 11, 2019 ^
My Flamingos are shivering today
They are made of metal and
Have been fairly steady and reliable
Through all of the seasons up to now
But when the temperature is cold
That would be minus four or five
And the wind blowing at twenty mph
Even the sturdiest of us begin to buckle
A few weeks ago in Florida
The birds moved just enough
To avoid the alligators
They seemed content in the
Warm/hot weather
They adjust as nature has provided
Never a harsh word or complaint
Tomorrow is always a new day
We barely get ourselves shoveled out
Of twenty-four inches of snow,
Exhausting the snow-blower in the process
Now wait for a delivery of something newer,
More powerful and dependable
Snow is in the forecast so the race is on
Do we get the machine in time or
Spend our moments feeding the birds
Five or six inches of light snow is not much
But without equipment and over ice, will
Most certainly manifest a major problem
Prayer seems futile in times as these
The facing up is what is important
Attack before the avalanche
I look out at my birds
They seem to nod in agreement
Stanski
December 11, 2019 ^
What will the sea throw up today?
Its behavior is not known or unknown
Three days ago, two days ago and one day ago
It throw huge waves, thunderously, upon the shore
Today that same sea is calm and innocent
Lending to us a feeling of control
But the subliminal knowledge that we control nothing
Where is the dune that was created over the last fifteen years?
Covered with grasses and vines with long spidery roots
Over seven feet tall in places and twenty-five feet across
The sea stormed its way in and took it away
In its recovery it took all of my totems
It took my eight-foot square meditating deck
And the thirty year old bench that we sat on
It claimed part of another, older dune and
Did this without a permit from
The Department of Environmental Quality
The department with its man rules that
Make things impossible for those who wanted
To build a lovely home on the magnificent shore
Because one endangered Lily stood in the way
The sea has reclaimed the Lily and without a doubt
Thrown it with the current to a new location to flourish
This is what the sea does; it has no rules, but just is
We foolishly get in the way of nature with our novel ideas
Build walls which finally, in time, break down
But, oh, I remember them well and weren’t they great
Especially when the light of the setting sun fell upon them
The sea is forever changing and we are helpless
We reverse rivers to our own detriment
Rivers are straightened and swamp drained
Until the unintended consequences come to pass
Then we spend millions and billions trying to restore
Will we ever learn? That is the question
Today the answer is no, but then there is hope
Stanski
December 10, 2019 ^
Teardrops
Raindrops
Rainbows
Van Gogh
Indigo
Picasso
Mistletoe
Banjo
Tango
Tangle
Laying low
Persuading
Evading
Memories
Slow go
Cargo
Too much
As such
New fad
Too bad
Bagpipes
Copper pipes
Plastic banana
Persona non grata
Bad fit
Then quit
How sad
Step it up
Drinking cup
Rearrange
Forgive
Forgiven
Now glad
Stanski
December 10, 2019 ^
New day
This day
Everything soon will start to fit
This day
No play
Long work list will make you sick
Start slow
Then go
Just fast enough to avoid the kick
Sun day
Fun day
The rent is due, should start to click
Slow go
No show
All of this and I don’t give a lick
Day done
Had fun
Work still to do calls for the whip
Final day
No pay
Laid to rest, bow your head and rip
Stanski
December 10, 2019 ^
The big comeback
Almost lost and now on the verge of victory
And then only to be denied because somehow
The other players needed victory more than we
We almost made it
We almost made a thing of it
Where it would take us fascinates us more in fantasy
Than it would in the world of reality
When we don’t have it we can extrapolate outcomes
To levels almost beyond belief
We can become critics of those who won
And who seemingly do nothing with the benefits they received with victory
The actual doing
In the jungle of obstacles and probabilities
Is daunting and beyond the scope of imaginary projections
We want the losers to keep dreaming
The winners to keep working through new problems and situations
Winners can begin dreaming and losers can try problem solving
We mix the good with the bad
The haves with the have nots
The bitter with the sweet and
Somewhere in this process come up
With either an overall good outcome
Or a blandness which fits all, but makes no one happy
We have room for all but reward the winners
Encourage the losers
Recruit new players and slowly advance
The process is exciting; the dreaming essential
Confrontation with reality is a must
Together we grow and perfection is still sought
We give allowance for error and make preparation for failure
Mountains await us, just because we can
Stanski
December 10, 2019 ^
We look and we see
And what do we see?
We see flags, posters, banners, buttons, and shirts,
Each proclaiming something about us
Each is a little layer of identity
A feeling of belonging
A thread of security
Which keeps us from falling apart
And becoming isolated
As we try to sort out just where we’re going
In this topsy-turvy world of ours
We have our scars, styles, shoes and they become our badges
Just a little more layering and what we need to comfort us
The iPads, droids, and other technological gizmos
Give us an upper hand for a while
But we know the empty feeling will soon be returning
We look for direction
But where are the leaders
And is there any hope in this dark world of insanity?
Who do we trust and who can we follow?
Who will teach us to lead?
We begin to think and analyze
And know that we have to begin to grow
We have to know more than the last thing we read
Whatever the season, this is the time of growth
False gods say the end is at hand
While all around us new growth is exposed
We look to our God for purpose
With our acceptance of this
We feel the presence and are uplifted as we move forward
The novelties lose their importance
And our gratitude for life increases
Stanski
December 9, 2019 ^
Steve Haarman 