How long
until
systems
we’ve built
decide
that we’re
a glitch?

148/365

A neon light flickered
above the door
of a fun-looking shop
that hadn’t been there
before.

Shop window treasures,
comforts and pleasures,
my favorite author’s new book.
The Anglerfish Cafe?
Seems harmless enough,
it couldn’t hurt to look…

139/365

Morpheus offers three pills;
red, green, and plaid.
Neo is unimpressed.
Hooked into the Matrix,
we dream together,
creating a shared reality,
and this?
this?
this?
is far from our best work.

137/365

The Moon
is hardly a skip away.
Earth’s mass tugs hard on lunar soil.
Earth’s hearts tug lightly on our hearts.
We watch our home float in the sky
against untwinkling stars…

Onward to Mars!

From rusty landscape
through thin atmosphere
where gravity fades
like an inverse square,
Phobos and Demos,
Terror and Fear,
a pale blue dot
brings tears to our eyes…

Toward Jupiter we rise!

Such beautiful bands.
Such an array of moons.
But cosmic hiraeth,
now unbearable,
homesick,
Earthsick,
from this outermost limit
we must return soon!

134/365

Solve for X?

Have you seen X?
Have you memed X?
Have you groked the toxicity?

Have you dipped a toe
in the cesspool
swirling around the drain
of a larger eXcess pool?

Solve the habit.
Dissolve the habit.

Dissolve for X.

132/365

The invisible scar
runs deep,
a secret ache pulses
in the heart of my being
as your ghost forever twists
the blade of your sadism.

anger?
      sometimes.

regret?
      often.

pain?
      never-ending.

healing?
      denied.

130/365

Punctured!

Sharp metal
wounds the wound,
over and over,
end to end.

Heal yourself!

The thread taunts the body,
and the body
self-heals,
expels the thread,
collects another scar.

128/365

Forever poisons
on clothing, carpeting, and chairs,
we can’t see or smell them there;
on our packaging and pans,
enduring decades after bans;
in our water, in our soil,
regardless of how long you boil;
in our organs, in our blood,
a toxic trace can taint a flood.

127/365

Once upon a manuscript,
there was a plot so twisty,
characters so real,
so much magic,
so much sand,
gods who toyed
with human lives,
and writing potent enough
to make a beta reader
fall in love.

I married the reader,
and never did finish
writing that book.

126/365

Betcha you can’t
separate
words from wood pulp.

Betcha you can’t
distinguish
author from idea.

Betcha you can’t
dam
the river of ink
that flows
from Gutenberg’s press
to Nostalgia’s used bookstore.

125/365

The store offered its
selcouth wares
to the discerning few
who spurned the couthy life
without becoming uncouth.

124/365

I dream of my father,
alive again!
in the driver’s seat
of our old Zephyr
on a road trip, he and I,
to tour the colleges
of Pennsylvania.
He doesn’t speak but echoes
present into past,
as I drive my child
to Philly
with Dad’s memorial candle
in the cup holder.

123/365

Borderline,
feels like I’m going to
lose my mind,
but I keep on
pushing my ears
over the borderline:

Hello?
Hello?
Hello?
How low?
a mulatto?
an albino?
a mosquito?
my libido?

Retreat to the 80s and report
from the time after time:
It’s the end of the world
and I feel fine!

121/365

Flowers bloom,
bugs pop,
and trees floosh
at Day 30’s dawn.

Windows to open,
grass to mow,
words to write
as Day 30 ticks on.

Ready to clock in,
the writer must lock in,
with an eye on the sun
while under the gun,
oh why couldn’t April
have a Day 31?

120/365

All line up, take a stand,
it’s time to play
Game of the Brand!

The iron is hot,
your skin is taut,
so undo your jeans
and take a squat!

And though you might be
feeling sordid,
smile as you get recorded:
Your brand loyalty will be rewarded.

119/365

I’ve been pulling a book
from the ether of my soul
for you to enjoy
once it’s drafted,
once it’s edited,
once it’s submitted,
once it’s rejected,
once it’s revised,
once it’s accepted,
once it’s published.

Have some poems
and a newsletter
while you wait.

116/365

Tragic
how few people
appreciate the artistry,
the interplay
of text and tags,
cascades of style,
magical bags
of JavaScript,
images, frames,
embedded media,
all meshed together
in a mad science rush
of source code.

115/365

Break from the pack,
ready for the show,
aim for the win,
but finish in the place
of second thoughts
of second chances
of seconds short
of eternal glory.

111/365

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PLACEMENT

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109/365

From air,
from light,
through the miracle
of photosynthesis,
from deathly sacrifice,
and layers and layers
of time,
plants form coal
that humans turn
into fire,
into power,
into civilizations,
unless nature
cranks her furnace
and hides the carbon away
in useless shiny rocks.

105/365