" Hunting Czechoslovakia "

While hunting in Czechoslovakia
we had bird boys and girls
who would pick up the birds we had shot.
They were teenagers looking to learn
and earn alittle money.
One of the girls who was fetching birds
for John and I was having alittle trouble
picking up the birds if they weren't quite dead.
I decided to help her and showed her
how to put her foot over the live birds head
and press it firmly to the ground.
Do what damage you can do
and then reach down and pick it up
and wring its neck. Hence, a bird for the
cooking pot, back at the lodge.
Often they were our evening meal.
After the days hunt there was a service
honoring all the birds
that were shot that day.
They were laid out on the ground
near a large fire started in their honor.
The hunters formed a line in front of them
and were part of the service to honor the birds.
Good sportsmanship and respect for the game
were always part of our hunting.

" Hotels "

Remember staying in the 5 star hotels?
A lobby fit for a King.
Staff in starched, pressed, uniforms scurring about
taking you to your room with a view.
The bed linen white, crisp and clean.
White down covers perfectly placed on the bed.
An air conditioner purring out its cool, clean air.
Clean carpet and a clean bathroom, no smoking here.
The ever present shampoo, conditioner, soap, body lotion shower cap
kleenex, hair dryer and drinking glasses
with paper covers over the top to tell you how much they care
and that that glasses are clean.
Thick, white cotton bathrobes and towels.
Just pick up the phone and you got
a delicious breakfast in bed,
and anything else you wanted.
A little refrigerator full of your favorite drinks.
Hangers you could steal, color television,
extra pillows and blankets that looked
like no one had ever used them.
Candy on the pillow at bedtime
and a paper under the door in the morning,
and wake up calls.
All you could want and more.

Remember this hotel?
A dark, dingy, lobby
that smelled of old dirt and smoke.
Dragging your suitcase up the stairway
down a dimly lighted, smoky hallway
to a room that looked down
on the roof and the alley
above the hotel kitchen.
The carpet was dirty and when you opened
the window to get rid of the smoky smell,
you smelled the cooking grease of the kitchen.
The towels were small and gray,
making you wonder if they had ever been washed.
There was no soap, shampoo, etc..
There was a dark gray ring around
the bottom of the bathtub.
Someone elses hairs stuck to the surface of the tub.
There was something brown on the toilet seat.
You were not sure if you wanted to even
put your suitcase on the soiled bedspread.
You carefully folded it
and took it off the bed.
The pillows looked like a bag of cement
that had hardened in the bag
and lost its paper cover.
You looked down at the gray sheets
and noticed something on the fitted one
that covered the mattress.
You looked closer and saw
that it was a scab from someones scalp
with a long black hair still attached.
If you went down to the desk
and ask for clean towels and sheets
they would be the same.
How were you going to stay in a room
where you did not want to touch anything?
You did.

" The Latest and Greatest "

When times are good
there are plenty of good times.
We want more and don't keep score.
Mistakes were made,
everyone is to blame.
Whoever becomes president,
will inherit this mess.
Debt is destroying
our land and people.
The taxpayer will
pay the bills of the country
when they can't pay their own.
They are now the needy.
The need for the need.
Never enough of the latest
and the greatest.
The goods times stopped,
even the rich are poor.
The searchers stuck
with their feet
in the mud of greed.
A perfect situation
for the terrorists.
What will matter after
they stike again
and there is no power
to plug in the latest and greatest?

" Me, Myself and I "

Everything I write
reflects
my outlook on life.
Memories of the past,
a glimpse of the present,
the maps of the future.
Like openning
a box a Cracker Jacks
to find a prize
and see what it is.
So much happens
by your doing nothing,
like gray hair and glasses.
Forrest Gumps mother
said it well.
"Life is like
a box of chocolates,
you never know what you are
going to get."
What we search for
is ourselves,
hidden like the seeds
we put in the compost
waiting to see what will surface.
Surprise, after surprise
of new growth
sprouting in our lives
as we search.
Never quite satisfied
because we know there is more
we have not yet discover.
We need to know
what is over
the next mountain.
We need to know
what will continue to fuel
the flames of our fire.

" Learning to Remember "

Learning to remember.
Your birthday
after the three years
you have been gone.
Being reminded again
of the events intertwined
in 46 years together.
What I would be
if our paths
hadn't crossed.
The children, animals
friends, hunting, fishing
giving life to our life.
We made our way
the best we could.
The good times still
bring a smile to my face.
Alone now, to see
what I still have to learn.
I wonder as I wander
an uncertain path
still following
your footprints
after all these years.
Your eyes just behind mine,
learning to remember.

I Am the Writer"

I Am the Writer.
I am nothing.
You are the reader.
You are everything.
Each word
that finds the page
is for you.
Too much, not enough,
you are the reason
I am here.
You are why
I write.
My mind searches for you
in each thought
protecting and respecting
the very idea of you.
Laughing and crying
among the words.
Come and sit with me
and be my friend.
The writer.

"Nomad"

Nomad
searcher
learner
metamorphose

answer the question
hands eyes heart
become the camera
you hold

wheels for feet
traveling
to see
first hand

no following
independent
intelligent
hilarious

places
hold you
crayons
color your eyes

watching
sorting
pictures
frames

minds eye
camera
never still
journals

click
images
silent
lonely

finding
yourself
in the eyes
of others

Nomad
where
are you
going?

what do
you want
to find
in the light?

perhaps
the part
of you
unknown

the part
observers find
in the shadows
of your work

the little bit
left behind
to make
them wonder

the mystery
in the picture
revealing all that
needs to be known