My Starting Point (Haiku)

It is that I'm not.
My thinking is, I should be.
Unreasonable?

The Grand Analogy (Haiku)

Reality-- be damned!

There's someone in the room

We don't speak to her

She's big

And she's ugly

We know she's here

We don't want to talk to her

We want her to leave but she won't

She doesn't say anything but we know

We ignore her

Talk all around her

Carefully, never referring

Always on the alert

She won't go away

She's here to stay

We're enured to her

But we don't feed her

Deal with her later

Ignore her at your peril

Reality be damned

Thanksgiving Day (Haiku)

Who I Am (Haiku)

Caterpillar now
Spinning spinning his cocoon
Then a butterfly

Our Fairy Tale Life (Haiku)

Fairy tale stories
Ogres, Giants, Rivers, Chasms
The challenges of life

The Pool Playoffs (Haiku)

One needed to win

Safety, foul, then ball in hand

The hero du jour

Amour Disparate: He said; She said...(Haiku)

He said:
She was a tall one

Nose to nose my toes were in't

Toes to toes my nose


She said:
He was a tall one

Nose to nose between my feet

Toes to toes, oh dear

Friends Far Away (Haiku)

A Portuguese friend
Proud to say she reads my posts
So I'll keep writing

A Portuguese friend
Proud to say he reads my posts
So I'll keep writing

Whoever you are
Take your pick from the above
Sentiment's the same

Facebook Lament (Haiku)

I cannot like you
It's not that I dislike you
I just can't like you

A Possibility

Master awakens
Influenced influencing
But bodies must die

Is there more to life
Developed does he live on
We can only hope

Caterpillar in
Emerging from chrysalis
Complete butterfly

Insects we are not
But the example serves us
Metamorphosis 

At the Billiards Club

Junior was standing next to me, he is of short stature, and to make up for that he is quite muscular, he has a buzzed haircut, bright eyes, and loud, brassy tenor voice.  I said to him, "Were you a sailor because in my experience only sailors use the word 'fuck' more than you."  He replied, "Hell no, I've never been a sailor; fuck you."  He said this without malice, just a sort of matter-of-fact manner and went on to play his match at the table.

Another team mate said, "Yeah, I know what you mean."  "You know, when I'm around you, I try to clean up my language a little because I've noticed that you don't cuss very much."  This surprised me because I was not conscious of making any effort to not cuss in company of the team.

He went on, "I work in the West End and you wouldn't believe the kind of stuff I have to listen to every day."  "When I come home, and I live out here where the people are a lot nicer, I find that I have to cool off for a while every night just to get my head right so I can talk to people."

I said, "Yeah, I know what you mean."  "When I get home from here my wife says, 'You've been at the pool hall, haven't you.' "  He caught my drift right away and laughed out loud as he said, "Everything is relative!"

A Fact of Life (Haiku)

Not interesting
You're ignored and on the shelf
Be interesting

Not interesting
Thrown away with no regret
Added to the pile

Not interesting
Because you figured it out
Winning without fail

Play a game of chance
Winning not quite up to you
That's interesting

To err is human
To watch is interesting
Since it isn't me

Look for nuances
The devil's in the detail
Surprising insights

The weather changes
With every passing day
It's never the same

The scene is changing
Everything is in motion
Planet, people, life

No place for boredom
With all that is going on
It's interesting

If you participate

For the Record

This past weekend there was yet another incident that compels me to set the record straight.  It isn't so serious that I would risk a friendship over it but I am a little tired of hearing it.

For the record:
In December of 1991, while living in Wisconsin, I filed papers establishing a corporation with the Secretary of State in Kentucky; I then became the president and sole shareholder of this corporation.

It purchased a franchise from an Atlanta based franchiser giving it the rights to use trademarks and methods to operate a certain business in the greater Louisville market.  It operated there and in Lexington until 2000.

In January of 1992, I relocated to Louisville and began establishing the office and the business.  In February, I hired a sales person with the understanding that as the company grew he would become the Sales Manager and so it went.  When a second franchise was purchased, he became manager of the Louisville office.

This person received a paycheck from then until he quit the company some years later.  When he quit, he simply left the company.  There was never an investment of money or transfer of assets from that person to the company, no stock was sold to or transferred to that person.  When the franchise was sold in 2000, he received nothing from that sale because he had invested nothing.

Occasionally, from 1992 until as recently as last Sunday, I've heard comments  attributed to him and made by him, that would cause a person think he was a partner, an owner, or a principal in the company.  Remarks such as when someone said to me, "Oh you were so and so's partner," or when he said, "that's when I came here to establish the company, with John."  Quite frankly it bothers me a little when I hear it but what the heck.

So, for the record that's the way it is/was.

Tees

The Difference (Haiku)

One word, the diff'rence

Two letters, it's very small

Yet unique to us


Genetic mem'ry

Explains how most things are done

But man can abstract


If, what if, if then

Piquing  imagination

Take us down new roads


Roads not traveled by

Other species of this earth

To the moon and back

The Artist (Haiku)

The artist creates
Having created, moves on
His work is over

The painter dabs paint
The pattern inspires others
Hang it on the wall

The poet scribbles
The words to inspire others
The work to be read

The actor emotes
The scenes to inspire feelings
In the audience

The painting has dried
The book written and published
The curtain has closed

Each looks to the next
Stimulating expression
To move others on

A Rare Blend of Political Philosophies

When asked about industrial inequality and what the town was doing about it, Mr. Webb, the editor of the town paper, says:

“Well, I dunno.  I guess we’re all hunting like everybody else for a way the diligent and sensible can rise to the top and the lazy and quarrelsome can sink to the bottom.  But it ain’t easy to find.  Meanwhile, we do all we can to help those that can’t help themselves and those that can we leave alone.  Are there any more questions?’

Thornton Wilder, Our Town.  1938

The Intersection of Life (Haiku)

The two realms of life

Physical - Spiritual

Intersect in us

Why? (Haiku)

Why do I do it?
Reading only my writings,
Reason avoids me.

Go towards pleasure?
Not what I see in review,
More overcoming.

Away from the pain?
Not necessarily so,
More overcoming.

Done for the money?
Net worth shows it is not so,
More overcoming.

A fighter inside;
Fighter, maybe warrior,
Not one to have fun.

Seeking the struggle.
The reward for all the work--
A breath on the slope.

Then onward, upward.
Sometimes on the same mountain
Sometimes another.

It seems important
To search for the Holy Grail
But never find it.

Important also
To see the demon dragons,
Slay them each in turn.

Some satisfaction
In reflection can be found.
Rest not on laurels.

Move on, find the next.
Dream, imagine, and decide.
Commence the struggle.

Ever the artist
Not working for the money
Strive for achievement.