Spending My Life Poem by Long Tooth

Well, this morning began "a fine kettle of fish" to my taste
(ambiguity present and somewhat ironic) , no waste
of intent here. ‘Walk' mentioned proforma, ‘glazed doughnut' from Stan's (1)
tasked, a possible ‘chaser' to sweeten the plot. Most writes fans
of incentives to "pay good things forward, " and fond of what's brief!
Less to mess with, when what man can handle, defines core belief!

Is credulity stretched past its breaking point? Liars tell lies
to float lies that they've spun as they try to diss truth that relies
on filmed public confessions they've made! A life spent (Trump loves Joe) (2a)
to defrock Trump says I'm certifiable? "Say it ain't so! " (2b)
May God help me, remember how hard the less humble can fall,
taught this lesson by stepping on shoelaces when I was small.

My heart flies when eyes rise toward a poem love's graced with soft rhymes,
As if time I've spent writing has worth, like a bird's song, more mimes
Cast in music than concrete! My heart tastes song's favors. Now gone
As the dappled cloud's shadows sail past: ‘afternoon of a fawn.' (3)
Tell me why do I love more, late verse (my muse tendered) the best?
Is it proof that I falter, or wisdom gained. Grace hints no test!

Should I spend time on star quest (or galaxy's glow) , pray to God,
or is God seen more clearly in snowflakes than Grace? Might more odd
still be people who think that God's sparkles are qualities groked
by mere mortals, that treasures of heaven are wealth that's unlocked
by our acts? Those who've traveled know mountains earn multiple names,
while the gods (that men dream up) oft boast less simpatico aims.

Is time spent as a tree you can lean on (brief shelter from Rain)
how I honor your spirit, or meal I provide that stops pain
but encourages weakness? We enter and leave life alone!
Should friends offer advice you don't ask for, or float you a loan
you know you can't repay? Can I bury your faults? Am I Slave?
Let me spend life that's mine, not a tool, or love digging your grave!


Long Tooth
May 29th in 2020

Poet's Notes:
(1) Stan's Donuts in Santa Clara, CA, has the best donuts I've ever tasted!
(2) ‘Joe' is both a reference to coffee and to a phrase attributed by Charley Owens
about baseball player ‘Shoeless' Joe Jackson, "Say it ain't so, Joe, " after Jackson's
admission that he cheated in the 1919 World Series.
(3) A famous work of classical music by Claude Debussy