Steve Haarman

There are funny lines
Is it going to cost?
No, I work pro bono
What do you care?
Is that smoke coming out of your ears?
There is a truck coming at me
I hope you are dressed right

No, I won’t be quiet
He wasn’t a horse f====r, but
Close enough; he was a flasher
Well, son of a b===h
I rescued seven in trouble
Your language is obscene

Sit down young man
You are out of order
I need some money
Come over for soup
It was a terrible night
You’re tempting me with a deal

You never come over
Tell me another story
Let’s get back to it later

I never read Doctor Spock
You are supposed to be nursing
It comes with the breasts
I need an agent badly
Did I miss your call?
What are you doing here?
You really want to know?

There is the mountain
We’re climbing it
Call a cab for me
I am not you, I’m me
I came here broke and I’m still broke

Don’t screw around with me
I’m sleeping on a couch
Hope it’s comfortable
I want you back
No, is my answer
Too bad you left
I cannot be a savior
Where are the deer?
More snow is coming
Bring me a Scotch
 
Stanski
January 19, 2020 ^
 

I am at peace
The snow storm came and Mother Nature
dropped eight inches of precipitation

My driveway looked long, but
was the same length as yesterday
Nothing to do except begin

My machine started and then stopped
Neglect showed its face
I had the fuel, but failed to fill the tank

After resolving this problem, I began the
back and forth clearing the parking area
It was much slower than reading these lines

The point came where I could
begin the long curving driveway
Snow had drifted to a foot

I took it slow and got to the road
The county trucks had not been here
I cleared some of the area for them

Slow and steady, while remaining patient
I continued and began dreaming,
Thinking about men and their machines
I was lucky to have a powerful engine
And a reliable tool

I thought about a picture my late bride
and I saw in North Dakota in a local newspaper
A teacher/farmer had died
It showed him being thrown around 
in his threshing machine

He taught at my granddaughter’s school
We covered the picture 
to keep her from seeing it

He was checking something and 
his clothing got caught
It was a gruesome death 
and sorrow flooded me again as
it had when we first saw the article

My daughter and I finished our 
battle against the snow in 
a matter of one hour and forty-five minutes
We parked our tools and went inside

We were happy that things had gone well
The workout was arduous, but satisfying
I continued to think about life and 
how fortunate we are for having so much

We must continue to realize this and 
maintain respect for those who came before us, 
constantly improving things
 
Stanski
January 18, 2020 ^
 
 

THE WIZARD
 
Think about the wizard
Just another hoax
So gullible are we
No one has to coax
 
Experts are surprised
Why should they be
More propaganda
To upset you and me
 
Career vipers
In control of the news
Accuracy be damned
They have nothing to lose
 
What they’re about
Just protect their job
And stay on the right side
Of the unruly mob
 
If you play by the rules
You’ll probably never win
Just look the other way and wink
They’ll know you by the grin
 
Play your horns for the wizard
But don’t pull back the drape
There’s no truthful hero
Wearing the magic cape
 
Stanski
January 17, 2020 ^

Plantation moss

Called Spanish

Alive on live oak trees

Apparent symbiotic relationship

Held in esteem as

Symbolic of deep, Old South

The moss is not Spanish

It is not even moss

The oak trees take:

   One hundred years to grow

   Another hundred to live

   Plus one hundred to die

We, as a country:

   Grew for one hundred years

   Have lived for another hundred

   Are we using the next hundred to die?

Like much in life

Things of perceived value have a worthless epithet

When reality asks to be recognized

We play with falsehoods

Until they become the “truth”

Symbols can be good:  truth is good

   Will we keep calling “our moss” Spanish?

Can we wake up to truth

Or be blinded forever more

And left to perish in our own ruins?

Stanski

January 17, 2020 ^

Now they’re gone
What does it matter?
They had their say
You heard their chatter

Their influence like vapor
Evaporation of the power
Coolly leaving behind
Just a few with sorrow

Who were the affected?
How deep the furrow?
Myth becomes truth
Legend imitates a tower

Soon the meaning is gone
If it ever was there
The memory is lost
Who would really care?

The block of life that counts
Is not the cornerstone
But the love in every brick
And how it was shown

Affected every soul it touched
In a quiet sort of way
Not worrying about tomorrow
Living for today

How it manifested thanks
For the precious gift of being
Gave back a hundred-fold
Before the final leaving

Stanski
January 18, 2020

Clem Ley was my grandpa
A funny man of sorts
Used words like “thunderation”
Smoked cigar clippings in his pipe
Worked for many years
at Tokheim Manufacturing
on Wabash Avenue
in Fort Wayne, Indiana
They manufactured gasoline pumps
and during the Second World War
they switched over to munitions
He was a maintenance man

I was born there and so was he
That made him special in my book

The story I want to tell though
came about one summer
while I was vacationing there
My grandmother
was doing things that irritated him
To solve this problem
Clem walked to the nearest drugstore
Bought a large bottle of Lydia Pinkham Tonic,
a cure-all for female maladies, and returned home

He opened the package and proceeded
to pour out one tablespoonful and
suggested that Emma, his wife, take it
When she said she wasn’t taking that s—
he threw the tablespoonful into the sink
then he fetched another utensil and
poured out another dose and said
“Well, I’ll take the damn stuff myself!”

By this time everyone was laughing hysterically
He thought we should all take a dose to settle us down
It was 36 proof at the time, but we declined
There are other stories but this was one of the best.

Stanski
January 17, 2020 #

Some get caught up in titles or
a name implying virtue and sanctity
Reading words carefully written
for an agenda takes much care, but
taking the time is essential

When they put their talents toward
destructing the President by
any means possible, one group,
“Christianity Today” in calling for
the President’s Impeachment
misses the point of being Christian

For Christianity has inherent gifts
including understanding, kindness,
forgiveness, grace and hopefulness,
selflessness and encouragement

To have a goal of removing
the President from office is
completely contrary and goes
against everything that Christ taught us

Ecclesiastes states that surely
there is no one on earth so righteous
as to do good without ever sinning

The President has a flawed past and
he isn’t always politically correct, but
he has protected those with no voice
and cannot protect themselves

He watched four previous administrations
Stand by doing little while
the world was being flipped upside down

He has given up his life to defend the meek
while at the same time he has been slandered,
attacked, and verbally assaulted

“Christianity Today” has joined with
the leftists who are anti-Semitic
calling for the boycott of Israel and
the killing of our Jewish brothers and also
the murder of children in the birth canal

The President sees their desire to
root out God from everything American,
the desire of the vipers in the swamp
to teach us morality while getting rich
by being bought off by the Chamber of Commerce,
the Pharmaceutical Industry,
insurance companies and big business and
many other entities which are subverting our interests

Our President has been put on trial by law
just as Jesus was put on trial
It is not God’s law which is being used
He has not been accepted as leader
because he threatens those with the power

They do not like him because
he puts the working class first and
gives voice to the voiceless

Those in the swamp will have to
answer to the God they deny and
explain why they ignore His precepts
and worship the golden calf purchased
by the middle class paying their taxes

In the meantime those Christian in the true meaning,
love and defend our President who acts for
the voiceless and has lifted the well being of
people from every culture, race and creed

“Christianity Today” will be answering as well,
but not in the way they had in mind

Stanski
January 17, 2020 ^

Eight o’clock light
Filters through evergreens
Casting no shadows
Brightens the snow
Trees are still
Gray clouds hold steady
In the south
A promise of more white
There is no movement
But signs of earlier searches
Animals, mostly deer
Working hard for their feed
It is cold
Eight degrees above zero
I wonder about the roads
An earlier start
Would be wise
The calm before the storm

Don’t think about reward
You have this day
Others are out there
You may see them
Sense a struggle
Offer a helping hand
It is cold for them, too
Any good deed will do
Also try to slow down
Don’t be tempted to scurry
You will miss too much of life
Just watch others in a hurry
Life is so precious
Live every moment
Doesn’t matter about shadows
Birds may not be in the air
A lonely feeling may settle
Don’t let it get you down

Be prepared now
It is time to go

Stanski
January 17, 2020 ^

There is an order
I try to follow
Like to feel rhythm
When I’m in my flow
Everything natural
Comfortable feeling
What it’s all about
Part of my expression
Never boring to me
I make that so
Play games with emotion
Make my own show
People may follow
Try to keep up
I give them credit, but
They don’t have my strut
I don’t shout out
With mockery
It’s my private game
My personal victory

I know, too, that
There are other rhythms
Motion and order
Leaving me behind
I like that situation
And like to dwell
I can catch up
Once I have the touch
I keep it secretive
No one knows
What I’m doing
Or why
It is just life
These things I do
Life competed fairly
Played by the rules
Always be fair
Pump up with kindness
A fool-around; enjoy yourself
Avoid the convoluted mess

Stanksi
January 17, 2020 ^

The roaring
Like a woman’s scorn
Won’t be tempered
By manly wishes

Danger lurks
Seek your shelter
Quiet time
Is not for now

Time was had
To prepare
Wasted chances
Won’t take you there

Winter winds
Part of the season
Won’t be bought off
For any reason

A woman’s scorn
Part of life
Right or wrong
Knows no season

Winter winds
Like any winds
Are only ill
When they blow no good

Take the wind
Take the sound
Reminders that life
Has no bounds

Never to control
Never to mind
Your own pathway
Is what to find

Stanski
January 17, 2020 ^