Full

 

In memory of you, the great Jack Lane—

though I called you Brother Mark

through those few

important,

life-full years.

When you asked me

(the football player)

to arrange a vase of flowers,

of course, I did—

no, I tried and failed miserably,

but you thanked me for trying.

When you paused our English-class class

for a few days in order to teach etiquette

we—the supposedly smart cohort—smiled,

shook our heads;

and we learned.

You showed us to be never so full of ourselves

that we could not be full for others.

We love that man,

you, Jack Lane, Brother Mark.

As we have, so I will

cherish and nourish-from your memory

all these

important,

life-full years.

                                   

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Bob Komives :: Fort Collins © 2024 :: Full 2404

 

                                                  

On Stretch of Sand; I Coconut

 

together on our beach

beneath our trees

(yours, mine)

tending

sharing

knowing

each

a stretch of sand

 

 

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Bob Komives :: Fort Collins © 2024 :: On Stretch of Sand; I Coconut :: 2403 

 

 

 

Proverb 2402

Late to bed, sanely to rise,

makes one

healthier, wealthier, and wise.  

 

 

 

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Bob Komives :: Fort Collins © 2024 :: Proverb 2402 

 

citation:

https://www.theguardian.com/science/article/2024/jul/11/night-owls-cognitive-function-superior-to-early-risers-study-suggests

 

Do Not Think Me a Pundit

 

 

 

 

Bob Komives :: Fort Collins © 2024 :: Do Not Think Me A Pundit :: 2401

Misfit

 

It is not the getting older (which is a true gift)
it is the becoming a misfit.
I no longer fit with you
because I lack the machine to join you on What's App.
And that is my fault.
I try to join you on Instagram,
but I and my screen are misfits.
We are of the horizontal race
but the drinking fountain has a new sign: “verticals only.”
That is my fault.

Though innocent,
I have long been accused
(in a gentle loving way)
by friends and loved ones
of choosing and enjoying my missed fits.
Perhaps it was my charm--
almost never a problem nor a fault.
Now, it is my fault that I must send you an email rather than a text.

Until I have the machine that allows me to fit
I will add Instagram to the things I forgo.
I will continue to be myself,
enjoy knowing myself as a misfit,
and love you for knowing:
the charm in it is all my fault. 

 Misfit, 9/24/23

Bob Komives

 

 Fort Collins © 2023 :: Misfit :: 2301

 

We Were Younger

 

We were younger and optimistic 
              for our nation and planet.

 Pessimism is newer, 
              painful and useless.

I am in pain
              seeking a cure. 

We Were Younger

Bob Komives

Fort Collins © 2022 :: We Were Younger :: 2202

 

I Pray For Peace This Moment.

I pray for peace this moment
(for more than absent war)
to gather one contentment
on a land where I've sown four.

A day to care,
a day to share,
to make a stranger, friend,
to spread a peaceful moment
through circles without end.

I Pray For Peace This Moment.

Bob Komives

Let me fight for what I believe
and your right to believe me wrong.
Let me help my needful neighbors,
yet not make them sing my song.

Let me squeeze the hand I'm given
and give the hand I own,
to lend a working shoulder
in the village I have grown.

The favor I just lent you
I had borrowed long ago.
The favor I just accepted
comes as wealth from debt we owe.

We live in borrowed clearings
on an earth that greatness mends.
When we leave this place we've borrowed
let's not be the place it ends.

A day to care,
a day to share,
to make a stranger, friend,
to accept a neighbor's favor
through circles without end.

In hour of work,
in hours of play,
to remember attention paid,
to share a silent moment
and speak as silence fades.

Let us pray for peace to gather
in fields of absent war,
to harvest our year's contentment
on each day when we plant more.

Our time to be,
yes, time to see
we can be a village growing friends.
Pray, squeeze a hand and give one
through circles without end.

Bob Komives :: Fort Collins © 1999 :: I Pray For Peace This Moment :: ,9907

Be Careful

 

Be careful.

Before you make a next, fashionable quip about white males;

imagine yourself sending all white males

(those you personally know)

to death camps;

sell them into slavery;

destroy their shops and their right to work.

Picture imprisoning them unjustly.

Castrate them.

Rape them.

Take away their right to vote and hold political office.

Stop research into their diseases.

Lynch them for flirting.

Deny them their right to education.

Blame them for all evils in history.

If you think my caution silly,

if you know such could never happen,

then, quietly to yourself,

acknowledge:

prejudice is prejudice--­

even if fashionable,

politically correct,

naively innocent,

among good people,

good friends.

Too convenient and too blind.

Too lazy and too dangerous.

Be careful.

Be Careful
Bob Komives

Fort Collins © 2019 :: Be Careful :: 1904

 

One January One

 

'just another day, but not.
'just another year, but, no, it is not.
'just another hope, but we know it is not.
'just more moments, so why momentous?
'just another opportunity that we both have and have not.
'just another day, but not.

 

 

One January One

Bob Komives

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fort Collins © 2022 :: one, one, two-zero-two-zero  :: 2201

Aspen

 

Aspen

Bob Komives

 

 

 

Fort Collins © 2021 :: Aspen  :: 2107

Economics Must Be a Science

 

 

 

Economics Must Be a Science

Bob Komives

 

 

 

Fort Collins © 2021 :: Economics Must Be a Science  :: 2106

 

Worthday Candle

 

         
mother and father
          hoped for good
          while
I oh I
          strove for better


          yet we found
          this final-seeming report 
here and here
          scattered around


          it says we
got and gave
          neither
more nor less
          of
worth and can
          than
one one other
          of
white and man

Worthday Candle

Bob Komives

 

 

 

Fort Collins © 2021 :: Worthday Candle :: 2105

 

All, in Pursuit of Happiness

 

 

Perhaps and per sometimes,

above their glass ceiling

women see white men

walking and talking and keeping them down.

Perhaps and per sometimes,

above their wire ceiling

men see a man or a woman

walking and talking and keeping them down.

Perhaps and per sometimes,

we are the schoolteacher,

urban planner,

road paver,

social worker,

line splicer,

and nurse.

Perhaps and per sometimes,

we see men or we see women

walking and talking and keeping us down.

Perhaps and per sometimes,

we hear them praiseful and thankful

for having us around.

Above our ceilings of wire and glass

they are few.

Below, we are many.

We are their objects of both envy and disdain.

Perhaps and per sometimes,

we are grandparented or grandchilded

or will someday be great-grandchilded

by those shadows above wire and glass.

Perhaps and per sometimes,

they have spoken or will someday speak of us fondly

for doing this life well.

We deserve to be celebrated,

not to be divided,

nor have it decided that parts of us 

fit today's category of whom to deride.

At our story among multi-stories

we have a name, a gender, perception of race, 

and ladder of personal history.

And, yes,

we may notice those at the story above--

looking down through their glass and wire floor.

We may notice those at the story below--

looking up through their glass and wire ceiling.

Both may see our work and our talent.

One or both may not. 

Perhaps and per sometimes,

they see us aspire to climb or descend,

or stay where we are--

all in pursuit of happiness.

All, in pursuit of happiness.

 

 

All, in Pursuit of Happiness

Bob Komives

 

 

 

 

Fort Collins © 2021 :: All, in Pursuit of Happiness  :: 2104

 

 .....

 

graphic: Arise  ©  2021