Mid-December

Mid-December

It comes every year

On an an age-old system 

The months are a part

Of time measurement

The strange clock ticks

Weather changes as earth

Rotates and revolves

It's not yet heavy winter

This year of rain and sun

Just one small snow didn't last

This home has traveled

On two feet and dreaming

Since it gained life and vision

There may be no tomorrow

That thought grows into next

Or almost a list of possibilities

Barry G. Wick

Doorway

Doorway

A cold and windy day

Outside and inside my life

Despite my gratitude

For all that life brings to me

Over the roof next door

Branches move in a tree

This rolling breeze strips

The remainder leaves to ground

Much like those tossed

Below the porch I stare

Across to the sea of grass

Of this tiny lawn between

What ate the walnuts

Thrown to my porch

Raccoons or possums

They'll have more tonight

Then I can't let more go

Their Christmas gift seen

From a poor man edged

In his walker at the doorway

Barry G. Wick

Survivor

Survivor

The silence of my younger years

has become the silence

of my older times

The world around me growing up

hated me

The religious claimed they were

salt of the earth

Any farmer knows

if they spread salt on the earth

nothing grows

They spread salt on my life

Yet through that poison

I still grew

Then HIV then COVID

Still with all around me

I've shut down

What is missing

Is love

Life to me now

Is like picking 

Tiny black lint

Out of a new white towel

Sisyphus weeps

If being homosexual is life

For you

Or transgendered

Anything different

South Dakota

Is a damn horrible place

Or anyplace where people

Believe in hate

Teach hate

Speak hate

See the world through 

Their hate eyes

And if a part of the indigenous

Where your ancestors lived

Is where you are hated

Not all no but enough

Enough

Barry G. Wick

Purpose

Purpose

You say you're getting older

And your life is slipping by,

Remember what your parents saw

With each well seasoned eye.

Even when the eyes don't work

And blindness ends all color,

Bright sounds make this life worthwhile

To some will seem so dull.

You are here to share the earth

It's sounds it's sights it's feel.

To share the earth with parents past

For them we make it real.

Barry G. Wick

Fateful Event

Fateful Event

Dr. J. Robert O father of the bomb

Walks into your living room

With a box that displays a red button

“You can destroy all who hate” he says

“By pressing what's here my friend”

How long will you think how long

Is it simple or difficult for you

You're not at war though the world

Is full of hate when the moment

Becomes a check on you

“May I ask you questions Dr. O?”

“More?” He says “More questions?”

Is it warmer next to your gadget?

It's all he seems to do you think

So you have the warm covers

To which you turn again and again

They'll protect you from hate

No need to use the bomb

When hiding is more powerful

Then in the Bhagavad Gita

“I am become covers of warm beds

To return to time after time

The destroyer of cold toes and

Things that go bump in the night”

Barry G. Wick

Conspiracy

Conspiracy

Hark the Herald angels

Santa Claus is coming to town

Born in a manger

Signaled by a star in the east

Next to the new Wal-Mart

Barry G. Wick

Reflections

Reflections

Sometimes

A few billion photons

Will hit a polished surface

To reflect someplace

Where the movements attract

My eyes

It is the same with people

II see what they reflect

Good or bad

Some reflections

Become rainbows

I see them and smile

From my dark life

Knowing the universe

Loves the colors

As much as I do

Barry G. Wick

Nobody

Nobody

It's great to be nobody

Who lives alone

Who has no one

Who has no arguments

Except in the silence

With dark days and rain

Of no importance

It's a great time of life

To be alone with the mind

Except the days

With memories of a past

Full of mistakes and stupidity

Everyday

Then I see Wanbli soaring

By the window

As he searches his valley

Along the creek

I feel he is my lifeblood

Come to visit

To take away this nobody

Inside of me

To screech his greeting

Sitting on the fir

Next to the house

He is the king

And I am his servant

It's all there is

To have a great life

As I scout 

the water’s edge

for big fish that jump

Into the talons

Of his majesty

Barry G. Wick

The Dreamer's Alien Abduction

The Dreamer's Alien Abduction

Upon his side a dreamer travels

Through unknown rooms and hills

He tells the truth to his partners

Even when he doubts his words

He wants confrontation from haze

That invisible creature of sleep

Cool air sits in light breezes

No sun shines on fellow dreamers

He learns the earth is a ranch

Where food takes  self-care

Feeding itself others and plants

While waiting for the taking

So lost with laughs at odd words

Because there is no truth

Just the images of dreams

Odd and otherwise at night

Laugh if you must at this

But is it known deep down

What happens when others

Disappear in parks and nights

Barry G. Wick

Creation of a Messiah

Creation of a Messiah

His Father is concerned

For his future as messiah

The heavy feet crush the sand 

Of the desert to fine dust

Since a desert is a good messianic

Place to begin as a future godd

He is arrested for wearing

Steel sandals on bulging feet

The arresting officer  keeps

His own feet and toes

Out of the way fearing

What he may do if angered

Not understanding his ability

To heal which will be a quality

Yet to be added to this first draft

A judge just asks him

To take off  this heavy footgear

Donkeys run away wildeyed

Crowds of people having heard

Of his prospective powers are shocked

When in his presence

Seeing the rope around his robe

Stretched tight to restrain his bulk

His Father is convinced he may become

An example for fat priests

Giving sermons in over-designed edifices

He rises through the clouds

Suspended by a tall crane

It's his way of getting to heaven

Without any miracle crap

That has become so boring

Barry G. Wick