Eloquence Lost (96/365)

Where is the eloquence
Of days gone by?
How have the sound waves shaped us?
We can sing a thousand songs
And hum a hundred tunes
But we talk twice as slow as we used to

No one writes letters
Anymore
Pen pals a long lost notion
We email and text
We call and voicemail
Communicate faster than neurons

Thoughtful words are a treat
Well written prose
Luxury
That we rarely take time to enjoy
I rewind a hundred years
To find text that speaks
To my heart, my mind, and my soul.

Meatbag (95/365)

Gratuitous violence
Omnivore
Herbicides pesticides
Nervous system

Amygdala fear
The higher mind
Prefrontal cortex
Massive grey mass

A human has choices
And little information
Time to work
1300 books to read

We adapt to survive
Chaos dancers
Organize and thrive
Meatbag with legs

Respond (95/365)

Too hot to handle
We fly off the handle
Count to ten
Simmer down
Maturity is practicing
To respond, not react
The only way to show
Real love and respect
Emotions are important
In a primal sense only
To evolve we must think
Of the greater good.

We put the Love in Evolve (94/365)

Loving for you
Loving for me
Loving saves the species

Our big brains
Our big hearts
All looking out for each other

Abide by the law
And peace is yours
Make your own rules at your peril

Billions of eyes
Ears, hearts, and hands
Follow the yellow brick road

Love's Burden (93/365)

I'm tired of your drama
My burden is enough to bear
How do people do it?
How do two separate souls
Who have grown up worlds apart
Agree to get through life
Together?

Are you selfish for sharing your pain
Or am I selfish for not wanting it?
Is it worth the added heartache
To leave your lonely days behind?
Are my words an insult to the ones
Who've lost the one they loved?

Immense (92/365)

A shiny red plane
Flies under the half-moon
As I walk on the clouds
Brimming with potential
A galaxy slips
Through my fingers
And I stand agape

Worry (91/365)

You have to believe
You have everything you need
To meet the challenges of today

I look at what others have gone through
And wonder if I could win
In that situation

But the universe has strange and wonder-full
New things in store for me
Events I could not imagine

My brain only logs my experience
Who knows what paths will cross
Tomorrow

Declaration Day (90/365)

The moment you declare your intention
The testing period begins
If you decide to love
Prepare to be heartbroken
If you decide to live
Prepare to look death in the eye
If you decide to conquer
Prepare to fail and fail
If you decide to give
Prepare to have it all taken from you
The treasure of the champion
Is not the gold award
But the discipline, courage
And co-operation learned
Getting up each time one falls.

Newton (89/365)

We do well with routines
Predictability
Things going well
One event rocks the boat
And we panic
As if faith in our welfare
Is a fragile egg in God's mighty hands
When will we admit our nearsightedness
And daily wear our God-glasses
To see the drama
As Newton saw the law
When an apple hit his head

A Question (88/365)

How much work is required
Of a human?
"Sometimes I try too fucking hard."
How sensitive must I be
To take the most efficient path?
If I am patient my route will be revealed
Just before I take a step
Or after
In any case my doubt
Just casts the question to the universe
It echoes off the farthest star
And I step where I hear no sound.

Like the Ants (87/365)

The sooner you realize
We're just like the ants
The better you'll feel about
Your life's contribution

Each ant does a job
And no one's the boss
They don't worry, just work
And it all gets done

Each one to his talent
One note in a song
At the end a perfect village
A home for them all

What makes you think you're so different?
We're on the same Earth!
Take a lesson in success
From the modest workers

Too Little, Too Soon

I think the problem with our present attempt at health reform is that Obama is trying to pass a bill quickly without "changing the way Washington works," as he promised to do in his campaign. Health care can not be considered independently of lobbying reform, campaign finance reform, lawsuit reform, or immigration reform. Six months was far too ambitious considering the steps that are needed to restore trust and fairness in and among our legislators. Congress still has too many strings attached to competing interests. It is also not helpful that the debate rides on the tail of government bailouts of industry. Whether or not a public "option" is considered, haste will make waste unless we give fair time to all the interrelated issues that challenge the country's progress. I applaud the President's demand for action, but he must take the proper steps to really change how Washington works in order to avoid a stalemate. It seems the only items that move quickly anymore are one-man czar-type decisions, such as the bank bailout, the Iraq invasion, etc., which have not yet proven to be cost-effective nor wise. Our credit rating in the world rose short-term, but is falling long-term. I hope there exists a congressional steering committee which is responsible for shaping the intentions of legislation and is looking at priorities in the context of interdependencies.

From Darkness (86/365)

I don't know what he sees in me
But I am so pleased that he sees it
I don't know what creation sees in us
But I know I should be glad

What is our potential,
When we are in the world, not of it?
Can we be joyful always
Even in death, loss, sadness?

When we know how to stay alive
Educated enough to thrive
We control our evolution
Change your environment; change your line

The food you eat, the sounds you make
The amount of exposure to man's folly
The world was spinning when you dropped in
All you control is you

What men have learned over the years
Is the Divine won't let you down
Where men will fail and lose your trust
The higher powers still shine on

And though you play at human games
Designed for win and loss
Remember always how far you've come
From darkness, void, ashes and dust

Is It a Dream? (85/365)

I don't want to be an anal, striving yuppie
Living high above my means
My means are immense
But it makes no sense
Chasing comfort at the cost of living free

You should study something smart, they said
Be a doctor, engineer, use your head
You'd be a fool
To teach at school
Use your brains and make the green instead

The world is full of bad advice
Dick and Jane will speak their minds
So do what feels right
And don't lose sight
Of the things you want most from this life

Pink Concert - San Jose Pavilion

Love Song (84/365)

From where I've stood
It's one in ten thousand
Who embraces the world
With arms wide open

It takes one to know one
Trust inspires
Let the music move you
Sing pretty thing

Letting that which does not matter
Truly slide, truly fade
You're never more beautiful
Than today.

Night Song (83/365)

I don't want to write a love song
Or a hate song
Or a song about anything we did last week
I want to write a thunderstorm
And a steady downpour
A lightning strike
And a flooded mainstreet
I want to find myself in a stranger
Then curl up in your arms
And beat my heart against your steel
Studded chest
I want to find a place to rest
From the forces that push me
Past the faces I'll never know.

Beginning (81/365)

Time to get inspired
Time to print the map
Time to make mistakes
Time to bounce right back
Time to keep your cool
Time to try again
Time to utterly fail
Time to meet the future

Drama (80/365)

Life is interesting
Sometimes the drama isn't even ours
Yet we bounce in its ripple
Sometimes playfully
Sometimes with fear of being tipped over
In our little canoes
We all need stabilizers on our craft

Enlightened (79/365)

When everything affects everything
Of course your childhood matters
The wrongs you were dealt
Were not your fault
But the result of the wrongs of forefathers

As we grow older and shed our dead skin
We should purge the wrongs that have plauged us
Forgiveness is leaving
The past in the past
And instead claim the future as yours

Then you hold the dreams of the human race
Your lips and your feet can be golden
Let each step you make
Blaze a trail to the truth
And carry the world on your shoulders

The Ride (78/365)

Water drips at the tug of gravity
A banana wears its bright yellow pants
My soul longs for beauty, simplicity

When my consciousness streams
Uninterrupted
For a song, a kiss, a project
I ride with the river
Not even a splash
As we roll over unseen landscapes

Let me be as the water
While I have this brain
And obey the sweet laws that formed me

Or let me be as the fruit
In a colorful suit
Admired, peeled back, and consumed.

Dream On (77/365)

I want to paint you
A beautiful picture
A landscape of hills
Colors galore

I want to play you
A tune for the ages
A melody so sweet
You can't help sing along

I want to thrill you
And challenge you
Lead you to a new world
I want to go there
And go there
Come hell or high waters
Diverted, Amused
Overcome and enjoyed.

A New Start (76/365)

There is no greater power
For a brand new start
Than listening
Really give your heart
Forgive yourself
Forget the past
Acknowledge
Who you were
Declare
Who you are
Let the chains fall loudly
Leave them where they lay
Follow not your sorrow
But the hope in your heart

The Speed of Trust: A Review (75/365)

Nothing is as fast
As the speed of trust
In a relationship,
organization,
The market, and society

Organizations are no longer built on force
Speed is the ultimate
Competitive weapon
Trust, the one thing
That changes everything

Keep your commitments
Trust should be guarded
Integrity and caring intent
To the end

Be capable, get results
At work and at home
Forgive, manage risk
Trust, analyze

Get better, more efficient
A Social Capitalist
Honest and loyal
Willing to relearn

Transparent, Respectful
Reputation and a handshake
Character; competence
Trust is a verb

Extend to create
Stop wasting time
Commuting and making change
Nothing is as fast
As the speed of trust

Deluded Again (74/365)

The wise remain quiet
As fools rush in
I try to be understood
When I should understand

Familiarity breeds contempt
We all like a mystery
Every man craves the chase
She tends to assume the best

Let me be an echo
Nothing new between my ears
The delusion was that what I gave
Was ever mine at all

Accuracy

For those of you like me who have ever wondered how accurate these roadside temperature signs are...These signs were on opposite sides of the same street!

Conversations (73/365)

If you would only read all my poems
I could tell you what's in my heart
Perhaps I need to practice
Growing the distance
From the brain to my mouth

When your thoughts are like images spewing out of a fountain
It's impossible to name each one as you speak
Much less to keep them in assembly
I move my lips at a narrow mumble
A sort of dam on the reservoir

Our conversations like a dance
With a waterfall
Powerful and it keeps spilling and spilling
Until it loses its magic and majesty
And you just leave

Sunflower

From Aunt Connie's garden in Florence, Montana.

Friends (72/365)

On a journey far from home
This was home some years ago
Friends appear and fade and grow
Heart to heart and soul to soul

The Day's Thoughts (71/365)

Hope and love or hot rod?
LSD and Woodstock
Laissez-faire or state-run
Please, can I have some?

When you die, why would you
Think you're coming back here?
Speed of light, speed of soul
Other Earths to choose from

Decorate these plain old shells
Paint and plump and groom them
Get a tattoo, piercing, brand
Powder, shine, and tune them

Love and mercy, trust and faith
Things that don't come easy
Remind yourself every day
Of who you want to be

On Key (70/365)

It's freaky when you tune your mind
To the frequency of the Milky Way
All the lyrics sound the same
No matter what the station
All the books read alike
No matter who the author

Every shared revelation
Makes perfect, boring sense

It gets so easy to tell
When someone is out of tune
All you hear is the dissonance
The words no longer matter
The challenge then is twofold:
To believe in their future
And to hear your own dischord

The Process (69/365)

There's no such thing as perfect love
In relationships down on earth
Our bodies, our minds, our experiences
Make loving the hardest pursuit
Fear is so easy
Distrust a snap
Anger & pettiness common
Who ever wanted the easiest life?
Fanned and fed grapes on a sofa
All of us bred to adapt and survive
Without a challenge we stir
Give us this day just our daily bread
Forgive those who trespass against us
For love conquers all and foes see the light
When we trust in the process that birthed us

The Way Home (68/365)

We were given these amazing
Bodies to test drive
Living machines

We've altered, we've crashed
We've abused and indulged
We've jumped the fishbowl
And gone to the moon

But when you turn off the lights
And dive deep within
Life becomes dark

Society chases its tail
And we all fall down dizzy

In this industrial pot
Of colors and creeds
We listen and learn
But the quest for truth
Is a puzzle with no box

So we each hold our lights
No matter how bright
And shine without blinding
As we walk through life.

The Lovers' Temple (67/365)

You've come to my temple
With humility and faith
Your lips
A mantra against my skin
My sighs
A praise unto eternity
Baptized in my waters
We ly with the stars
Just as electric
Just as temporal

It's Official

It is with a bittersweet taste in my mouth that I enrolled in my employer's health care plan yesterday, for which I become eligible in October. As I was signing the papers, I felt how lucky I was to not have to pay extravagant costs for reasonable health care anymore.

However, I was reminded of a comment by Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, who entertained the idea of not getting married until everyone who wants to be married has that opportunity in our country. I didn't want my acceptance of health care to be a sign of my compliance with a very, very broken system.

Having not had access to affordable health care for the past 3 years, I understand what it is like to be uninsured, and to live with the uncertainty of knowing that a single incident of bad health could financially wipe out everything I had worked hard for: namely, my business, and my freedom.

As a society, we have got to begin subsidizing things that actually make us healthier. Instead of corn and soybeans, let's subsidize preventative testing, vitamins and supplements, and memberships to fitness facilities and yoga classes. We have invested in sickness for too long, but it will take more than insurance company reform or a "public plan option" to change direction.

Calm after the Storm (66/365)

We all have the potential
To do good or to do evil
Certain things make it hard

To do good

Maybe you weren't raised right
Maybe you got a chemical flaw
Maybe you had some bad breaks

Would it kill you to try?

It feels like it could sometimes
When your rage blooms deep within
It's gotta go somewhere

You know you should take ten

But the release feels so good
Like snot from your nose
But the virus spreads