An Evening Sipping Tequila

I’m thinking...remembering.
The Ides of March had only one hit,
“Vehicle”, an attempt to run with Chicago and
Blood, Sweat, and Tears.
You know, the big horn section,
nice and brassy. They weren’t that bad.
After Blues from Laurel Canyon
John Mayall seemed boring.
There was Strawberry Alarm Clock’s
“Incense and Peppermint”, which was fairly silly.
Surely you remember the rambling,
incoherent, “American Pie”, which everyone liked,
and that ridiculous “MacArthur’s Park”
sung by Richard Harris.
We saw the Berlin Wall built, lasting
from 1961 to 1989.
It was a failure. Even in 1961, we knew
it would eventually be that.
Nice try, Nikita.
But, thank goodness,
Leonard Cohen became better with age.
Jimi Hendrix’s rendition of the
“Star Spangled Banner” still reverberates
the pain of where we have been,
and where we are again.

A Moment Of Kinship

Some have said life is short.
Yes, if you waste it.
Or if you can’t be bothered
with something because
you think life is too short.
But life is long so we can accomplish things,
build things, and worry, fret, stress, feel joy,
and spread some happiness.
Is there anyone
who can say that 70 years
is a short period of time?
When we were ten, anyone
over forty seemed unbelievably old.
My mother lived to almost 90,
and she thought that was too long.
Galapagos Tortoises can live
over 100 years.
Horses live to about 30 years.
And dogs and cats come up short.
But there was Spock’s
“Live long and prosper.”
I always loved that moment of kinship.
A wonderful way to wish us well.

Parts Unknown

Remembering Anthony Bourdain

There is a hole in the Universe.
No one has stepped in.
There was no place in the world
I was uncomfortable when he was there:
passionately curious, sensitive,
a consummate teacher.
Did you see Houston? Montana? Vietnam?
Congo? Armenia?
It was the people, the same everywhere,
and wonderfully different. He let them speak.
Their food, their stories, their histories.

But now, in remembering what
he stood for, I hope more of us
make time to annihilate those parts of ourselves
that are a sham, to uncover
our true nature;
take time to walk in someone else’s shoes,
eat their food, to become more human,
to shine a little light on darkness;
take time to recognize one truly heroic person
in our lives;
take time to listen to winds that blow
across our borderlands,
ruffling grass, messing our hair,
speaking truths that have no limits.

On the other hand,
I'm mad as hell he did
what he did.