Bonnie Suwannee O

 Bonny Suwannee O!

john clare stokes

Adapted from John Clare poem, Bonny Lassie O!

O the evening's for the fair, Bonny Suwannee O!

To meet the cooler air and join an Ibis there,

With the dark dishevelled Clare

Bonny Suwannee O!

The bloom's on the briar, Bonny Suwannee O!

Seed cones on the cypress; and wilt thou gang to see 

The shoals that roil for thee,

Bonny Suwannee O!

Tis agen the running stream, Bonny Suwannee O!

In a sandy nook hard by, with a little patch of sky.

Beneath a button bush to keep us dry

Bonny Suwannee O!

There's the butterwort all the year, Bonny Suwannee O!

There's the Jessamine bright as gold, and the Otter never cold,

And the Iris flags unfurled,

Bonny Suwannee O!

O meet me at the shoal, Bonny Suwannee O!

With the Wood stork flying in, 

And the wild Azaleas like thy skin

Blushing thy praise to win,

Bonny Suwannee O!

I will meet thee there at e'en, Bonny Suwannee O!

When the bee sips on the tupelo and Barred Owls on

Branches lean

And the moon beam looks between

Bonny Suwannee O!

Glock 19

Stoked that the Glock 19 BB gun arrived today. Its loud! 

 

Ice maker

 The icemaker from Chefman  Iceman was expensive. It worked for nearly two years and would say add water when it was full. I wrote the manufacturer only wanting maybe information how to fix it. They offered a new one despite being out of warranty. It’s finally coming. A shout out to this company.

Not Voting

 

Stones the same

 So Glen Beck says

The number one regret

At the end of days

Is the burying

Who we really wanted 

To be

Worrying what others 

Think

Keeping file and rank

Staying in the lines

Following the by number

Colors

Chiding those who

Stray

Thinking their bend

Is the end all rule

For others

Disdaining stained glass

Preferring austerity 

Cause it's always been

Thus in this family

Misunderstood Emily's

Condemned to a dark eternity 

For writing poetry

And not minding the

Laundry

Sad markers in the cemetery's 

All saying practically the

Same thing boringly

Of he was born

Of she died

Sterile dates

Cliche epithets

Safe within the lines 

No color in these

Marbled rows.

Crosby Lake Cemetery 

Starke

Glock

 Ordered me a Glock 19. Haha Glock look alike co2 BB gun. The Red Ryder I used to scare off stray Cats and squirrels died, so this should be a good replacement.Plus if I want to break into Wally World for some free rides, I’m set.

Waiting

 We wait for Melanie to come home. Always late hours, always tired out. I so dislike her having to work so hard. Now I’m too old and physically unable to work. And if I did? What? Drive cars? 

Tanya And Roscoe 

Loser

 In this life

There will always be the

Connected

Astute

Savvy

Shrewd

Tuned

Focused

But do not let it

Deter

Or stop you

Yes

To the banks 

May go the money

And to the walls

Of others adorned

But as a friend said

Losing doesn't make one

A loser

Herb always wins. Is Herb good? Perhaps. Is Herb  friendly to me? No. He usually ignores me and once refused to shake hands. There are few people I try and avoid. Herb is one such.

What vanishes

Man is in love and loves what vanishes,What more is there to say? WB Yeats 

Gulf Fritillary

 

In the garden today on the marigold. 

Down Pounds

 Down Pounds 

Once was the time

A ride down Pounds Hammock

was something looked forward to

the pines lining both sides of the

often about deep enough to get stuck in sand

road with tracks bearing turkey and deer

butterflies and honey bees swarming

on the flowers in the zone between ditch 

and pines, stopping often for just watching

jets passing through the myriad stars above

but not today for in the recent seasons the

timber men have taken about all the pine

pesticides or something has gotten the

butterflies and various insects

Just a lone dragonfly escorted me today

I’ll be a much older old man

by the time all these empty tracts fill in

the barren Pounds Hammock again

with planted pine.

The Sweeter Things In Life

 The sweeter things in life 

John Clare Stokes

Sometimes someone does for you

a good thing

They know your mothers biscuits

you are missing

Smothered in the cane syrup

You and your father made

So what if they were baked by

Winn Dixie

So what if the cane syrup was

of the Columbia County kind

By the first bite I was once again

at the ole Homewood table

Looking out the screen window

down around the pond the sound

of the blue Ford tractor nearing

Knowing soon it would come

my turn to make the long way

through the pines to time beyond time.