Aftermath....

What happened ??
Were we dreaming ??
Did the sky FALL ?
What about the birds ?
Did they DIE ?
Will the wires electrocute our kids ?
Will there EVER be school again ?
It's sunny outside...
like it never happened...
What about the shelters ?
The boats in the middle of the highway ??
How many cans of tuna can one consume without ACUTE MERCURY POISONING manifesting ?
Do you think the fish KNEW what was happening ?
Was there really a SHARK on the street in TEANECK ?
My mind is BURSTING with the onslaught of MYRIAD NOTIONS of
POTENTIALLY LETHAL CIRCUMSTANCES !!! 
But it's sunny today...
Where did the storm go ?
Do storms eventually PETER OUT ?
Or do they just keep REEKING HAVOC on different locations ??
forever ????

New Jersey Looks Like VENICE Today.....

Are we being "overly-dramatic" ?
Sensationalist even ?
Perhaps we are SO BORED, that we've grabbed onto this unique opportunity to SUFFER  ?
or...
Is the set of circumstances so incredibly DAUNTING and SOBERING,
that we are essentially FROZEN ?
Paralyzed in an otherwise FILLED DEN of activity and purpose....
The deafening sound of NOTHING speaks volumes on this weird, APRES-STORM afternoon....
New Jersey looks like VENICE today....
We've exchanged our vehicles for GONDOLAS !
There are overturned RAILROAD CARS on the streets.....
There are HOUSES floating on the Turnpike, for God's sake !!!
And yet...
there are ALWAYS those who are simply NOT affected....
who are FAR more interested in...uhhhh..
THE ELECTION....for example...
or...a movie they saw recently.....
Or....
 maybe they're having a BAD HAIR DAY....
Well, I don't know......
But you get the point.......
I say to those people here and now:
"STOP !!!
 BE HUMAN....EXTEND YOUR ARMS TO YOUR FELLOW MAN!
Your heart  will be forever enriched by its capacity to LOVE..."

The Storm....

The sound of PURE RAGE...
deafening....disconcerting...
What do you suppose GOD is doing up there ?
or...
Is HE down here with us ?
Shoving the water forward.....TESTING us, yet again ?
With HIS might ?
And WE...
sitting ducks....
protected ONLY by a thin sheet of glass...
I'd say that it's pretty clear we do NOT have the UPPER HAND...
And so...
we wait....
cooking hearty broth...
busying ourselves....
adding yet another layer of oil paint...
to the already SATURATED piece...
Can we survive ?
Were we placed here ONLY to survive ???
AGAIN and AGAIN ??
Survival seems to be our most prevalent legacy.....
And then ??
What then ?

On Delusion......

Pesky little mite....delusion...
They say that it sneaks up on you......FOOLS YOU.....MESSES WITH YOUR HEAD....
It makes you think that it's REAL...
It makes you feel like a QUEEN....on a THRONE....
with a SCEPTER...
and a TIARA.....
a DIAMOND and EMERALD TIARA.....
But it's NOT REAL...
Or is it ?
Is TRUTH a PERCEPTION of reality ?
or....
Is reality the simple truth in and of itself ?
Who's WRONG ?
Who's RIGHT ?
WHO KNOWS ???!!
Does the big mouthed BLOND win ?
simply because she's CRAZIER ??
and LOUDER ???
and TRASHIER ?
and REALLY OLD ???
or ....
Do YOU win ?
well.....WIN is kind of a STUPID WORD...
Do you PREVAIL ?
Yes, that's better....
Do you PREVAIL....
because you sit back and retain your composure ?
even in the face of ALL the haphazard minutia flying ?
Confusing, to say the least....
Beneath you....for certain...
ICK......

The Dragon.....

You know that it's there...that dragon...
That beast....
welling up inside of you...
It clothes itself in a costume that looks very much like EXCITEMENT....HAPPINESS....
And it even goes so far as to parade a seeming aura of innocence draping over its 'frail' shoulders...
The dragon eats its greens and it presumably goes to bed early.....like a GOOD GIRL....
It dresses in PINK....like a LADY....
She makes like she's all grown up and elegant...
and CALM....
But make NO MISTAKE, my friends....
That pesky dragon is FROTHING at the bit...
Waiting to JUMP .....Head first....
into the GLORIOUS pool of iniquity...
into the ever-present VAT of bubbling, RED SOUP....
Hey....I'm just alerting you...
Don't shoot the messenger....
She's a GOOD GIRL too.....

Creative Energy abounds....

We can feel it in our bones....
We can HEAR it even...
Creative Juice....flowing...
the gurgle...the SMASHING....
as a river of rapid , vibratory  current...
WET....SENSUAL....and EVER UNDULATING....
It seeps into our body while we sleep....
and we begin to literally TUMBLE with anticipation...
WAITING...WAITING....for morning light....
so that we can begin, yet again, to HARNESS the CREATIVE MONSTER as if it were a wild steed...
needing only CARROTS and DISCIPLINE....
BURSTING from its stable...

We cant always help what happens on the other side of the room.....

We can make some half-baked attempt at intervention....
We can STRONGLY SUGGEST a different path...
We can send anonymous messages throughout various portholes.....
We can even devise some pretty impressive, yet subliminal enough rhetoric to somehow
tip the scales of inequity...
But ultimately,
 that old "Ya can lead a horse to water" thing.....
Its so true.....
WE SIMPLY CANNOT CONTROL WHAT """"THEY"""" DO...
what goes on outside of own finite purview....
Nonetheless....
we continue to break our backs and hearts and WALLETS
 in order to CHANGE that which we perceive to be WRONG....
that which is OUT OF BALANCE....out of whack..
that which is SO utterly DEVOID OF FENG SHUI,
 that it makes us literally CRINGE at the sheer inhumanity of it all.....
And yet.....having said all of that.....
What are you gonna do ??
I mean....
WHAT ARE YOU REALLY GONNA DO about it ??

On Mike...

What did she remember about her brother on this 5 year anniversary of his death ?

Mike had been a gentle soul....almost fragile in a way....
Where others might have "hardened", he had become mellower ...softer somehow....
His pallor had become more white with age....perhaps not so robust...
But one could still decidedly see that handsome, athletic,  young buck beneath the surface....
He was honest...forthright....
a man who others depended upon....
There was a silent kind of resignation about him....
a sadness almost....
while at the same time, that twinkle in his eyes spoke volumes about the mischievous imp
living inside ....
There was NO NEGATIVE JUDGMENT whatsoever about the people around him...
To Mike,
Everyone served a purpose....Everyone was sacred....
The man was loved....deeply...
Even five years later, I can hear his voice,as if it were yesterday....
 patiently explaining things to me....his little sister.....
God, I miss him......