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
Stanski
January 7, 2020 ^
How many billion dollars
Over one and one-half
Plus the wooden pallets
Given to Iran
This was the foreign policy
Bribery for containment
This was the old regime
Making big decisions
Like drawing lines in the sand
The sycophants hailed this as genius
Then the game was over
An outsider came to town
Put an end to many dreams
Iran was not fooling many
Did not live up to agreements
Soleimani was in Baghdad
With plans to do damage
To American interests and
Take the lives of many soldiers
He had been confined to Iran
For several previous years
He had been responsible for
About a fifth of American deaths
In the country of Iraq
The President had him taken out
In a clean, precise strike and
Also got the second in command
Putting an end to an
Evil terrorist and gave a severe
Blow to the country of Iran
There has been restraint
Patience has been evident
No war is desired
But evil is evil and must
Be eradicated
If we cannot do this then
We should withdraw
From everywhere
The Bush Doctrine is dead
The Obama Doctrine is dead
The left is upset
Critics were appalled
How many body bags
Did they desire?
Theirs was the false choice
The right move was made
The left is worried
What about endless wars
The left is contentious
There has been caution
The right thing was being done
Quietly and efficiently
There was no hilarity
As when Osama was taken out
Or when Kaddafi was killed
No ho, ho, ho it is over
Nothing but seriousness
The world is not safe
But it is a safer place
With Soleimani in hell
Stanski
January 7, 2020 ^
I don’t know
what a dream is about
something mundane
possibly peaceful or
something causing a shout
Many possibilities
like black cats flying
or dogs on unicycles
maybe bored women
walking around sighing
Stay awake
try to think
moving forward
dare not blink
Is action better
than sleep-time dreams
Why do deer freeze
in auto light-beams
Their lack of action
can bring sure death
Our lack of action
may cause wrath
People will wait
give you a chance
Dreams or reality
You choose
It is your dance
Stanski
January 7, 2019 ^
The greeting card came
After the Christmas rush
I did not recognize the name
I opened and was given
The identity of the sender
It was the daughter of friends
I had be trying to track them
But had failed to do so
I sensed something was wrong
Quite a few months had passed
Since my last effort and as happens
They slipped my mind
She sent her greetings and
Then the sad information that
Her dad had died over a year ago
Her mom passed away in December
Of this year. They had been my
Late son’s God parents
I had bought my business from him
In 1963 when I was a young man
They moved to the East Coast area
He was in the Drug Detailing business
We kept in touch over the years, but
Not as often as when they were still local
I wrote a letter to Beth, the daughter
Covered all of the things I could think of
It was generous and thoughtful
They were a big part of our lives,
My brides and my own when we
Were young neophytes in business
You get used to not seeing folks as
Time has its way, but when I read her
Note the only thing I could do was cry
Stanski
January 6, 2020 ^
NO LAUGHING MATTER
150 Billion dollars. Given to Iran
Was this a bribe or simply a payoff
Maybe we needed a way
To dispose of pallets
Who screamed at this?
Nobody out loud because
Political Correctness
Was still in vogue
Osama Bin Laden killed
In his tent, just for watching
A few old movie tapes
Harmless and the
Commander in Chief Obama
Hailed as a hero
A serial terrorist named Soleimani
Planning an imminent combat
Operation against U.S. Forces
Is sent flying to hell along with
His second in command by a
Special operations drone and
The radical left goes nuts
If no action had been taken
With the information known
These radical liberals would
Have been fighting for the
Microphone to scorn the
Inadequacies of our President
The Fake News have had their
Field day and with no action
Would have had another
They like their cake and
eating it, too
Now the big payoff is void
All promises voided
Pallets will be burned
Along with our flag
Behind the scenes and
All the bluster many
Iranians are happy
A step closer to their freedom
It is no laughing matter
Stanski
January 6, 2020 ^
I have read
more than one poem
By a poet
who has been published
I wondered
what was so enticing
What was so profound
in his work
Not getting it
is universal
Listening to some
incoherent ramblings
by those who
have been proclaimed great
Leaves one
wondering
I am going to
keep writing
But should
that road
lead to
obliterating reality
or hiding in the
rendition of muck
Then someone
whomever you might be
Please come and
take my stuff
Burn it
and then
take me
over your knee
Stanski
January 6, 2020
The clingers; I feel for them
All they have is the false narrative
How depressing; they should be seeking
The truth; but blinded, they cannot see
Good people in many ways
Many accomplished in their art
But swayed unfortunately by prejudice
Cannot tolerate being wrong
Authenticity is not recognized
Nothing but love for the country
Will not send 150 billion in cash
To keep the enemy from being rash
Death to America is not CNN
But agendas seem to parallel
Lies do not improve the ratings
Or stop the teeth from abrading
Liberal cities in America
Troubled by the homeless, drugs and feces
Needles, urine and disease; stores closing
The left’s toleration is imposing
Open borders allow sex trafficking
Rapes increasing; illegal drugs are flowing;
Causing death and so much sorrow
What if not checked will it be tomorrow
The cult is happy; they throw their jeers
Blinded by simpletons; oblivious to tears
The President is at fault; put the blame on him
Do not accuse the left; that would be a sin
Stanski
January 6, 2020 ^
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
Even then I wondered what
I would do to put a claim on fame
Cecil the butcher would help you
Decide on the very best cuts
Hammer and Cortenof, the hardware
Carried 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
Stanski
January 6, 2020 ^
AN ANSWER TO A LETTER CONCERNING ABUSE
You know
Even when you don’t
At least not first hand
The knowing goes on
Nothing you can do
Can’t improve the condition of one
Who has nothing more to lose
Childhood lost
Should be enough
But then
The living with shame
As though it were hers
Tender soul and heart
Bearing wretched wounds of abuse
Hope only comes in process
Higher power, please dwell in me
Make everything right and comfortable
Although I know it never will be
The one I counsel listens
As I tell her
Other tales of woe
She answers
I will keep moving forward
No one can show the way
It’s finally up to me
Though they try to understand
I have to make it happen
Do it the best that I can
I release the “what might have been”
Knowing I only have today
Have to get through this one
With the Help for which I pray
I put my soul in His hands
He will show the way
Sometime it will get better
But it never goes away
Victim-hood,
Because of animal lust
Ruined life,
A terrible price to pay
You can destroy a body
Tarnish an intellect
Put sadness on the countenance
But a soul you’ll never dent
So put down your hammer and chisel
You will never cause her more pain
She’s put her life in better Hands
Hands with eternal reign
Stanski
January 5, 2020
No one is perfect
Look down the long list
Not one faultless being
Flaws wherever you look
Still the cult attacks
Number forty-five
Thinks he is the
Worst man alive
In some ways he is flawed,
But then aren’t we all?
The erudite, those above it all,
With their sycophants in line
Point their fingers
Hoping they are right
Knowing so many times
They are far from the truth
These, the ones with the degrees
So smug in their ascertaining
Are examples of how the few
Can influence so many and
Cause them to believe in what
They know is not true
These all-knowing are in the dark
They are the angels, fallen
There is no intellectual obligation
To follow these peddlers of myth
They cannot be taken seriously
When their bias is so profoundly evident
They are guilty in the highest sense of
the same high crimes and misdemeanors
The hallowed positions they hold
Are being desecrated by their lies
There is no real explaining of hatred
Justification of its outcome is folly
To soften partisan decisions we
Cannot bring on more absurdities
Our president has been blamed for things
His adversaries have long been doing
He has received little credit for all that has
Been accomplished while enduring three years of duress
Stanski
January 5, 2020 ^
Steve Haarman 