April 23: Pathfinder Blood

Pathfinder Blood
by Tom King

 Lanape Chief Nemacolin was a pathfinder
And a direct ancestor of mine.
A guide and blazer of trails for colonial troops
Through woods of  birch, and larch and pine
Highways trace his trails across the Cumberlands
Down the Ohio and Great Lakes
He knew Washington and others of my kin,
Marked forests, valleys, plains and cedar breaks.

Our ancestors once cut trails into the wild untrammeled West,
Built railroads, highways, villages and towns
Through wilderness uncharted, not yet traveled,
Our grandpas plotted farms and hunting grounds.
Today Door Dash descendants of these pioneer folk,
If on the GPS my home's not showed,
They cannot find me on a map and in frustration.
Toss my groceries out along some random road.

(insert face palm)

© 2022 by Tom King

 

 

 

April 22: What? Me Worry?

 

What? Me Worry?
        By Tom King

I once worried about the state of the nation;
Asteroids, earthquakes, conflagrations.
Tornadoes, typhoons
And nukes on the moon.
But for now I'll give my worries a vacation.

© 2022 by Tom King

 

April 21: Can I Get an Aspirin?

 

 Can I Get an Aspirin?
           by Tom King

Now I've got a headache; it's been coming awhile.
Add to that my galloping arthritis,
I inherited it from Mama's side.
Along with allergies and dermatitis.

Oh, I've got ailments aplenty to talk over with friends,
Relatives, or loved ones who answer their phoneses.
As I age, I collect more aches and more pains.
Helps me keep up with the elderly Joneses. 

I hate talking about medical conditions,
But when we chat with folks our same ages
It takes 20 minutes to cover our surgeries,
And describe our failing kidney's last stages.

I miss the days when I used to discuss,
Hobbies, sports, next summer's vacations.
Instead, we obsess about anesthesia.
And the side effects of our medications.

Right now, I'd like to talk about boats,
Fishing, carburetors, movie ratings.
Anything but the last thing my doctor told me,
Or that I'm steadily deteriorating.

© 2022 by Tom King

April 20: Twitter - A Limerick

Twitter - A Limerick
          by Tom King

A social media site let's call Twitter
Saw it's numbers go into the shitter.
Till Elon acquired shares
Said, "Now let's make things fair."
Now their board has gone all a twitter!

© 2022

April 19: Sharing My Birthday However Unwillingly

 

 Sharing My Birthday However Unwillingly

                             by Tom King

Today's my birthday which is kind of weird.
  Cause it's not just mine alone.
All sorts of birthdays, anniversaries and such
   Share the date with me.*
I first noticed this in the early 1990s,
   When my Sweet Baboo was making a cake
For my birthday and we were listening
   To the news and puttering around the kitchen.
And we watched the Branch Davidian compound
   Catch fire and kill those inside.
Again on my birthday a terrorist blew up
   A federal building in Oklahoma.
I began to look back at birthdays past.
   I read a disturbing science fiction story,
And in it the world ended April 19, 1954 -
   My actual birthday. It was kind of creepy.
In history, I found I also shared the date with
   The shot heard round the world in 1775.
   The San Francisco Earthquake
And various massacres, shootouts, riots and such
I don't like to watch the news on my birthday.
   Feels like that way nothing bad will happen
To innocent people or a war will start
   It's not that the date is bad juju or jinxed.
Or that my birth has anything to do with catastrophes.
   My dog died on my birthday which spoiled it for me.
I've taken to celebrating my birth two days early and late
   With my birthday in the middle. I call it Cinco de' Tom.

I figure spreading it out dilutes the actual birthdate's significance,
   In case the devil's trying to creep me out.

© 2022 by Tom King

*Some Things That Have Happened on April 19: 

• 1775 The shot heard 'round the world - Battle of Lexington and Concord
• 1775 Paul Revere and William Dawes ride and are captured by the British
• 1861 Baltimore riots- Civil War secessionist uprising
• 1897 Boston Marathon begins
• 1906 San Francisco Earthquake
• 1943 Warsaw Ghetto uprising
• 1985 FBI & ATF agents seize The Covenant, the Sword and the Arm of the Lord's Arkansas compound
• 1989 USS Iowa gun turret explodes
• 1993 Branch Davidian siege ends in fire
• 1995 Murrah Building blown up
• 2013 Boston Marathon bomber killed in shootout
• 2018 Derry Northern Island riots
• 2020 Nova Scotia massacre -22 killed
• 2022 Three mass shootings in just this past week (which included my birthday)
  

 

April 18: But I'm from Texas

But I'm from Texas
     by Tom King

They think we are afraid of them.
They think they've almost overcome,
The weight of Christian history
The strength of American character.
They think with naked propaganda
They can just obliterate the old ways,
But  the old values are stubborn things.
And while a few may give up more easily;
Succumb to a constant flood of words
And apparent "popular" opinion.
And draw a feeble draft of courage from the mob
Convinced they've overpowering strength in numbers.
But I'm from Texas. We understand, how to pick
A place to stand; the value of fighting a losing battle,
Till the last of us are fallen for what is right,
And the field is littered with the defeated enemy.

I still remember the Alamo, guys.
You don't mess with Texans.

© 2022 by Tom King

April 17: Minions

Minions
by Tom King

I read a pack of lies today,
Fresh delivered to my social media.
An eager debunker of my point of view.
With the confidence of an encyclopedia.
But someone this guy respected,
Told him to disbelieve his lying eyes.
Things are better when it's done the way
Conforms with all they philosophize.

Minions do that sort of thing,
In their eagerness to belong,
To feel the way the cool kids feel,
The herd's siren call so very strong.
It feels so very powerful to share,
The opinions of the mighty crowd.
To trample the voices in the dust,
Of naysayers speaking up too loud.

The confidence of minions,
Resists evidence of reality.
Their religion must be always right,
In its utter and complete totality.
Not a detail may with fact be challenged.
No deviation from "our truth" permitted.
So powerful the urge to be the winning team,
The herd is willingly dim-witted.

© 2022