The Compass of Home

Out of a dark place
To a compass I call home
Adding to the circle of my friends
Somehow made me feel more alone

It only takes a few
To cause
A paradise to be lost
Little raises buying condescending hazing
Security has its cost

I smile that True North holds its place
And that there is a Director of my life
In circumstance and space

Whether my circle be large or small
I know the Lord personally
And I experience
His presence and His grace

Seeing the results
Of the steps I took while blind
My memories are now recorded
In words I learned to rhyme
As season moves to season
He was with me all the time

Catfish Dinners

Between Catfish meals
In Dallas and Natchitoches, LA

Proud 2017 graduates walk the stage
Diversity displayed
On a football field with artificial grass

Intelligence
From around the world
In uniformed procession
In this Pather class

Turbans and hijabs testing
How diversity really makes me feel
If I am honest
Fear is part of the deal

Catfish dinner to celibrate
Cheese cake shared
From a common plate
If Lora is involved
It is always great

Rolling down 20 east
Soon going to eat another
Catfish feast
Looking at Cattle ranches
With a 1,000 head
Black Angus, White and
A few Herefords too

They are seen from
A 75 mph highway of liberty
Long and mostly flat
Thick with trees
Air conditioned Kia
Feeling no breeze
Going to buy a Harley
If I travel through these trees

Shreveport casinos
On both sides of
The Red River flow
Getting work treating addicts
Probably not going to be difficult
That much I know

The houses turn poor quickly
On the southern leg of the trip
Hot and muggy
The weather suits me
With BBQ food and
Music that is bluesy

Abodes abandoned
In numbers that astound me
Roofs protected with canvas tarps
No street lights
At night it must be dark

The land Elbert and
His daughter Hazel
Has been found
A wooden homestead
And trailer still in the clearing
Deer stand and deer feeder to the rear
Teresa says she is converting the stand
To a doll house for viewing not for chewing

Fire ant mounds
Producing sand by the pound
The forrest thick
With trees young and old
If we build a road
Some got to go

The tall tree by the old homestead
Is sacred to Teresa
The site she will be buried
All her kin she has told

Ribbons chased down
For boundiaries they have marked
Apparently the surveyor
Has done his part
Trying to figure out
Is this is an ending or
Or is it a start

Lakewood Inn for another catfish meal
Should have ordered
Fried green tomatoes too
Cole slaw had it's own flavor and texture
Pickled green tomatoes
Complimented them just right
Catfish was enjoyed
Michelob ulta light too
My two catfish dinners
In Dallas and Louisiana
Are finished and through

Tired of Anti Obama Anti Trump

So tired of Anti ....

Anti Obama
Anti Trump
Anti global warming
While the polluters take
Planetary dumps

Can I get a witness
For clean water and
Clean air

Who you voted for
Frankly I don't care

We are worrying about guns
When murderers we are producing

We complaining about immigrants
When there is genocide
In the country of their choosing

Ripping babies from wombs
When birth control is no mystery

If you don't understand racism
Then you don't understand history

Every race feels the grevious suffering
Of their ancestors from the past
Be they Jewish, Armenian,  Irish, or Black
If you think that doesn't effect the present
Then my friend
I think you might be an ass

Pointing out a group's present prosperity
Adds insult to injury
Because all you are saying
Is that if there was justice
Then my grandparents
Could have lived
Better than me!

I am
Pro planet
Pro person
Pro country
Because differences are real

Learning from each other's differences
Is the biggest challenge
In this being human deal!

So can we talk
On the block
In the field
Especially at the University
Please
Can we add ideas to
The the list of the things we call diversity!

And
How about taking a breath
Before you shout perversity!

We live better than any generation ever has
Can we go a little easier
On the plastic and the gas

Starvation is demonstrated evidentially
In 30 minute commercials
While men beating each other
In a cage
Is the newest
Multi million dollar rage

My profile picture has me drinking a beer
I will to talk about anything
From Christ
To why people are queer

But know this my friend
If we disagree on every subject we discuss
I will value you as a person
In that you can place your trust