Burger Hill to Round Pond September 23, 2020

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waiting it out

The person who came to service our furnace

Laughed when I described the gurgling noise

The hot water circulating in the baseboards

Sounds like my stomach when I am hungry

Easy relaxed genuine mirth bubbled up

From someone so evidently happy with their work

Making an honest living making us ready 

To leave our house for the entire winter

We are not entirely relaxed about it

Uncertain about the course of the pandemic

On edge as the repression intensifies 

Targeting Black Lives Matter protesters

Summer is over and winter is coming

When the living is anything but easy

If you must stay around and be active 

Unable to migrate flying south or hibernate

That used to be us contending with the cold

Staying shut inside wearing extra layers 

Putting up with innumerable discomforts 

Counting the days until our release

Now we have the option to go subtropical

Joining up with the birds wintering over 

But being human we are once again waiting it out

Counting the days until the pandemic subsides 

The underlying interminable oppression in this society 

Felt by people of color like a knee on the neck 

Experienced in ways by all poor and working people 

Drags on continuing long past its expiration date 

And yet people have an irrepressible vitality that endures

A readiness to embrace any cause for celebration 

Demonstrative in our affection for loved ones 

Delighting in each welcome moment of happiness

Wawayanda September 22, 2020

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Bearfort Ridge September 20, 2020

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bad dream banished

When I am feeling down

Waking from a bad dream

Every ache and pain sensation

Tells me I am old and in decline 

My inescapable individual existence

Confined within this wrinkled skin

Subject to dark thoughts while asleep

Weighs upon the morning hours 

The neighborhood leafblower noise grates

As I read the news almost all bad

Sometimes the bright side disappears

Until my companion cheers me up

Though I haven't talked about it

She asks me knowing I am dispirited 

Sweetly giving me a hug and a kiss

A connection changing my outlook 

This is a welcome blue sky day

When we can get outside of ourselves

Walking in nature enjoying the sunlight

Moving our bones being alive

But having a life partner to share it with

That is the greatest gift I am given

Who banished my residual bad dream 

To let us have this precious day together

Hanks Pond September 19, 2020

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Lake Sonoma September 18, 2020

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