Richard St. Clair

I had a spinal shot today, Oh my:
It passed by quickly, merciful it was
Though not a pleasant thing - it does
Me good, or so they tell me, bye and bye!
...

Having no interest
in resolving my life's pain,
Ponderosa pines...
towering far above me,
...

March is finally spent, and what a ride!
Through unexpected snow and ice I've slogged:
To Mother Nature my complaint I've lodged
In hopes that winter lastly will subside!
...

Wait we for a suite of rains and ices
To descend upon our storied town;
Somewhere it will bring a power line down -
A veritable cosmopolitan crisis!
...

Spring is now a halcyon day today,
The temperature just right, the sun is shining,
The birds and bees are busily at work, dining,
The flowers soaking every available ray!
...

Looking back I see my faith has changed,
From one of fear and promises unkept:
My erstwhile faith I've staunchly overlept,
Spurning the lies of gurus half deranged.
...

It may just be that my Norwegian genes
Have cursed me with a damned obesity;
Or karma?My lax diet? Iniquity?
Tell me, Muse, just what this problem means!
...

A chill in the air:
painted across the sky,
heavy clouds
moving in high winds-
...

Yes, we all have a karmic debt unique:
Our distant lives bear witness to our pain,
And as we cycle through rebirth again
It is Nirvana that we finally seek.
...

The robin perched atop the tree
Signals spring his warbling song;
How long will I be pleased to see
The robin perched atop the tree?
...

The snowflakes of the winter night
Crown the land with regal mien;
The driving wind seems to incite
The snowflakes of the winter night
...

Recovery through deceit, intimidation,
Peer-group pressure, cracker-barrel values,
Higher-power contemplation rationed
Daily, weekly, served up with a callous
...

Half melted snow
soaking into my shoes-
circling seagulls
swooping near my head:
...

When days of winter rain return to snow
And midwinter thaw reverts to ice,
Retreating into sleep I dream of warm
And sunny times when music fills the air
...

Knowledge sweeps our mysteries away,
Disproves attractive theories left and right;
It undermines the grounds for firm belief,
Impoverishes the visions and the dreams,
...

Before he was enlightened under the tree
He fasted and self-tortured every way.
He had no friends, just fellow ascetics, men
Who ate but one small grain of rice each day.
...

This is not a sonnet, can’t you tell? It
Has a line less than it should, for, hell, if
I am to be printed in this broadside,
Rules require the lines to number oddly.
...

Midwinter sun breaks through the nimbus cloud
And steals away the January chill,
Though soon enough I’m sure the weather will
Avenge the thaw, returning with a rowdy
...

The day Coretta Scott King was laid to rest
Four more Black churches were burned down
to the ground.
Parishioners were stunned: they stood around
...

How sweet the morning mist and sweet the day,
Whose timeless time has neither start nor end,
When sounds the mockingbird’s ecstatic lay!
...