Slow To Anger

Insults will put you down

If you let them

A jibe here

A stab there

But a criticism

Or an inneundo

Like a rotting wInter leaf

Before spring

Can sail away on the wind

If you’re slow to take offense

It’s tiring to be offended

Day after day

An exhausting round

Of mind games

Of word wars

Of battles that can’t be seen

Blood shed covertly

Will hurt just as much

But they know not what they do

Accept failure of others

Even if they can’t keep their hurt in

Long enough

To keep from hurting you

Sometimes, it’s not personal

If a glass falls

Its many shards will scatter

In all directions

And chances are

One or two willl cross your path

But sometimes, it is personal

Smiles and knives have been sharpened over time

And tipped with poison

With you in mind

Perhaps for many years

And expertedly pointed

At your back

For a well aimed

Well planned

Bullseye!

But whether it’s wrong time, wrong place

Or accidently on purpose

You can nurse a slight all day

And all it does is take away

From what is important

To you and your life.

MidLife Crisis

The desire to relive youth

Comes on like a contagion

A midlife crisis is an apt word

To describe the malady

Many go there

But some never return

A clock can be biological

Ticking loud enough

To cause ears to bleed

And heads to explode

And minds to claw

At the walls of time

Like a trapped animal

Remembering suddenly

Things never done

Places never been

Hearts never explored

Lands never conquered

Dreams never realised

Emotions never felt

Repression never lifted

Oceans never explored

Projects never finished

The clock can be cerebral

A desire or need to ram

And jam in, as much as possible

Like filling a suitcase to bursting

So it can’t be closed

Easily

Red sports car

Leather jacket

Guitar

A younger model

A need to re-affirm

Masculintiy

Femininity

Desirability

Or all three

And a hope to escape

The existance one finds themselves

Embroiled in.

The midlife crisis is actually

Three quarters of the way into life

Creating an air of desperation

Suffocation

Drowning

Falling

A need to fall

Sweet surrender

To practice for that other surrender

Of death

But hopefully

Once the crisis is over

You come away – unscathed

Without leaving too many casualties

In your wake

And it’s back to reality

Normality need not be

Stale soup and slippers

Instead, it can be sanity

And staid need not be stagnant

And dreams need not be broken

And summer can burst through

The illusion of spring.

Penalties

Penalties are…

Humiliation

For everyone involved

Penalties are…

The homocides

That never get solved

Penalties are…

The liars

That hide their stash

When everyone else

Is putting in the cash

Penalties are…

The shirker

Who gets in late

Penalties get lucky

And cannot wait

Penalties are…

Random

On a game board rolled

Penalties are easy way

Yet come up

Fools gold

Penalties are…

Unrequited Love

Dreams Unrealized

Hard Work and Skill

Count for nothing

When there are penalties.