Fugitive Visions Poem by Robert Charles Howard

Life is a Cafeteria

    Life is a cafeteria because
    there are too many dishes
    for one small tray
    and you have to stand in line
    when you’re hungry.

Dashboard Humility

    Turn the key.
    No lecture
    no homily,
    just a single word:
    'Airbag'

Anatomy of Arrogance

    A shivering ball of fear,
    wrapped in a crust of pride
    too thick for sharpest arrows,
    huddles alone but well protected.

    Strutting from a seated position,
    he/she hopes beyond all dread
    that none will ever come to know
    the terror behind the mask.

Modern Narcissis

    Narcissus leaned forward
    to better view his matchless beauty
    and tumbled to watery doom.

    Beloved America,
    how far can we lean in self adoration
    before our coasts tilt into the seas?

Combo

    In a combo, no one’s supposed
    to hog the lead on every tune.
    So let's all pitch in on the head,
    take a chorus now and then
    and try to keep up with the changes.

Eternal Dust

    Cradling a handful of Illinois dust,
    dry residue of sycamore, deer
    and ancient Mississippians,
    I splay my fingers like an eagle's claw -
    and release it to the fickle breezes.

    A sudden gust of wind
    swirls up an ocher cloud -
    a cyclonic dervish of sand and clay.
    My hand, upraised for a shield
    ever so briefly vanishes -
    veiled by the impatient dust.

(To the reader: this a kind of suite of previously posted poems. I would be interested in whether you think the combination works) .