[Marlo]
Kevin is in seventh heaven
snapping his shots of William Hastings, the Third,
feeding birds with wings unfurled
stretched out wide, steady and strong
facing a fortuitous offshore gentle breeze,
a needed assistance to momentarily freeze
forward motion contrary to gravity’s decree
to pull all air-born objects back to the ground.
The sound of happy, hopeful gulls fills the air
while carefree Kevin directs William
to face the east visage of squawking gulls
forty-five degrees from left shoulder to hand
to stand ready for the brave to grab what was craved.
One aerobatic bird perfectly positioned closest to William
appears to anticipate Bill’s next move
to initiate a soft drift with extended head
at the right moment to orient wings, body and beak
to gently but quickly and graciously receive his treat.
From hand to beak a sweet harmony
clicked the camera’s integrity.
[Kevin]
I’m all done now, Bill.
We’ve an honor pledge to be
socially polite.
Contrite hearts are less festive
than bastions of companions
and introductions
of unknown humans wanting
genuine discourse.
Off to rural gaiety
with new and old encounters.
[Marlo]
Marlo here, once again, to steer this tale
and unveil things hidden to many
but needed to be known
to understand what is shown.
Johnathan’s Crystal,
one-quarter shy of five feet,
a petite, sweet perfection
of female grace
laced with strong fiber
steeled with twenty-seven years
of tears and joy, was rescued
by Compton’s Hastings’ toiling expertise
that untangles binding chains
that restrain estranged souls in pain.
Born with secrets known only to a significant few,
her or his arrival confused and infused
his or her enlightened, but frightened parents,
with the organic conundrum of ambiguous genitalia
to be embraced by courageous parents
who relish independence and truth with gentle reservation.
With much medical advice, considered more than twice,
they chose the road to guide the child to become a brave spirit
exposed to all pink and blue events who’d bemuse the world
’til she knew her true nature that would reveal her future.
[Hastings]
Kevin, I dare to say that today
you again displayed a propensity
for presentations of contradictions.
First you identify with rushing water
that defies solid rock with suppleness
to dissolve its hard resolve to block the waterway.
Yet you thrive and spring alive to capture
gulls hovering and Light Sphere,
your prized photo shot earlier this year.
[Kevin]
You have to capture
speed’s moments to know for sure
the beauty obscured
by accelerating thrusts
to rush to serenity.
How long of a ride
to abide your friends’ favor
and savor good food?
[Hastings]
Thirty minutes, forty-five at the most . . .
[Marlo]
Johnathan often hosts several fine folks
for extended stays to pitch hay to feed cows
or assist sows and piglets in muddy pens
or suspend and mend barbed wire
strung post to post along wood line or road
to enclose pasture quadrants for domestic residents.
Our travelers will arrive just as the community strives
to revive pleasantries in the dinning hall,
a small out building graced by a tall willow.
Turning left onto the brown hard ground ribbon
one-car-wide with more room to abide bike lanes
for the coming and goings of pedaling friends that defend
muscle over convince or a journey’s bliss over expedience.
Twenty yards down the path stands a two faced sentinel
[The Conversation]
[Marlo]
Considerations
categorized to comprise
an organized foundation
of thought brought to bare
upon issues pertinent
to communal improvement
are additive sums
from diverse world views pursued
to clarify future course
for all companions
to heed as agreed to breed
harmony dependably.
First to be read is Compton’s Note
said to be to be read before all group discourse.
[Compton’s Note]
My good friends, fellows and companions,
exchanging views, perceptions and intentions
(not yet realized) should not surprise your sensitivities
when awareness of such endeavors expands your consciousness
and fills the spirit with joy and delight
at the sight of intangible tapestries of wonder and mysteries.
Individualism is diversity’s charge.
Harmony is diversity’s charm.
Common Ground facilitates learned lessons.
[Marlo]
Johnathan passes this note
that Compton wrote to Crystal.
[Crystal]
What is it that prodigal sons and daughters learn
that burns through the pleasures of excesses?
What possesses individuals to curtail
their habitual desire to assail the senses
with lustful entertainment over loving engagement?
[Bob]
The prediction of continuing this affliction
is the presence of addiction.
Change, therefore, occurs when the addiction is deterred.
[Crystal]
But then, addiction has some source
that sets its potentially unstable course
which becomes pertinent to this discourse.
What moves life down diverse, divergent paths
that may converge or fork and torque mental prowess
to exert choice when paths cross tossing certainty
to the wind of unpredictability?
[Bob]
Accountability seems to be formidably sound
as a source to enforce which step to take
and which to forsake.
[Omar]
But if there is no accountability we’re free to be whatever
or to partake of whatever our desires require.
[Yolanda]
So the goal is to become the source
that regulates both the course and the choice.
[Diane]
Control, to hold others accountable,
is the surmountable task for humans to achieve.
Believe me when I say
each and everyone of us would never betray
our desire to keep enemies at bay
through alliances with sources of finance
to enhance our probability to finesse the toils of others.
[Bob]
But, Diane, that’s the trap that ensnares souls
and lays bare the tragic void of the deluded,
parched with thirst, as they wander mirage-filled lands.
Desperation dissolves high aspirations.
[Omar]
Yea, Swordfish, a piece of cinematic literature
features tantalizing images of girls, guns, money and power to shower
your Christmas yearnings to feed daily schemes
to feel good, to control, survive and thrive
above all accountability with personal ingenuity.
But brutality is brutality and frankly
Disgusting.
[Crystal]
I’ve seen this movie and other flashy trash.
Many modern stewards of formalized human reflection
have fallen into base ejaculation from creative pens
and defend their expenditure as Art for Art’s sake
and forsake the imposing task of taking humanity
to new levels of reality with integrity and positivity.
[Omar]
The root issue is insidious and ancient.
Money, the abstract offspring of greed,
has been weaponized to exceed
the task of distributing goods and services
to become sinister, senseless, transparent coils
to ensnare lives into servitude.