2016 Valentine

Laughter is the best medicine,
on this, most people agree,
but they’re not married to me,
so it’s harder for them to see
that it takes so much to feel free,
to take me as I might or might not be
save me from myself, to heal me,
see deep into the real we. 
Our love is long, 
mine sometimes a feeble song, 
yours waxing ever strong, 
no need to assess right and wrong, 
for both are one, and one is both, 
in truth without you, I’d not be content,
never know peace, nor what love meant.
What’s important to know, 
as older we grow,
it’s always my pleasure
with you as my treasure.

My Favorite Moment

I love it
when we kiss and
our noses bump,
and we laugh.

Anniversary 2015

There's no better day on the calendar than this one. It started well before 1970, but that's the time when we started counting, married at halftime of the Packer game.

Anniversary 2015

We’ve done it again, another great year,
making it happily to forty-five,
we go on fabulously, gloriously,
loving and sharing, my how we thrive.
Oh, maybe we’re not quite so strong,
what with knees, stomachs and eyes,
the words we too often bandy,
but given we’ve used our bodies for so very long,
how amazing it is we’re still such arm candy,
There’s no doubt,
it simply can not be denied,
whether upright or not,
we’ll always have each other’s side.
Just the thought of us
forever provides me a thrill.
It’s always been so, and
I know it always will.
We’re older, of course, so it’s
a different type of pleasure,
a more comfortable feeling,
one we can longer treasure.

(and isn’t that beyond measure.)

Blue Mirror

She asked about the blue mirror we
had moved a few times but never
used, so I told her the story of how,
from the time I was four or five,
my mother would put it on the four
by five cedar chest we used as a
table, and at Christmas time, we'd
put snow and little people on it to
make a festive scene.

I'm 70 now, and through the years,
a lot of stuff has disappeared, like
lamps and photos and baseball cards, and
people, too. I've lost dogs and cats, some
car keys, the home I grew up in, even
my mother, who died suddenly one
September, and we didn't have Christmas
after that for a long time, what with
sadness, and later, war, for me.
I never lost that blue mirror, though.
Then I met her, and I had very little
stuff, but I had her, and that was enough
for me. Her family was big on Christmas,
and, after we returned from our December
honeymoon, her baby sister put the
ornaments on their tree, the ones made with
a glitter and a glue stick, the ones with
everybody's names on them, and we were
the last ones to go up, smack dab in the
center front, to much oohing, ahing and smiling.
My dad was there, our first Christmas in
forever. It was cold, really cold, but
our hearts melted.

So, the blue mirror, remember? After
we moved to a town with lots of folks,
one where we could have visitors, we
started to decorate excessively. Too much
was still not enough, with wreaths and
themed trees and garland and such. she
said we should bring out the blue mirror and
make a scene, so we went looking for
fake snow and little trees and people
Then Department 56 happened,
and a train set happened,
and more Department 56 happened,
and I built display tables and drilled holes
and did dangerous, overloaded wiring
and it was big and grand and good,
and all of our friends loved it,
and more Department 56 happened,
and a storage locker to hold it all happened.

I think I mentioned that I'm 70 now,
those boxes and tables got heavier,
that wiring got more painful to connect,.
we've lost a few more people,
there's this talk about voluntary simplicity.
Still have that blue mirror, though.
I think soon we'll start a new tradition,
borrow from the past, bring out the older,
garage sale the newer.

But, then, there's the crazy
Krinkles accessories,
and all the Santa ornaments,
and the clowns
and the reindeer
and the angels
and...oh, what the heck, one more year,
and I think we can find room for
a blue mirror

My Brothers and Sisters, the Marines

The only war that matters
is the one you fought in.
All warriors
have this understanding.
All veterans
have this agreement.
So many wars,
yet only one was the worst.
It’s the one you fought in.
Because it happened to you.
There’s love for the nation,
rich and powerful and beautiful.
(but not perfect).
So many battles,
even when there was
nothing to win.
My brothers and sisters
did not, do not,
fight for a nation, not really.
They did not, do not,
fight for some higher authority.
nearly never.
They fight for each other,
keeping their pledge,
abiding by their oath,
operating with ruthless honor.
They fight together,
my brothers and sisters,
protecting the living and
attending to their higher obligation,
remembering the dead.
My brothers and sisters,
The Marines.
I love them and appreciate them,
even when I have not met them,
I know them.

One more Dodoitsu

Some people say I’m unhinged,

some, less kind, call me loco,

and it’s all just because I’m

crazy about you.

Another Dodoitsu

I get up in the morning

with nothing at all to do.

By noon, my retired soul is

far behind schedule.