Saturday is Independent Bookstore Day

Saturday, April 30, is Independent Bookstore Day, an event celebrated by more than 400 independent book stores in NC.

Support your local bookstore.

The Scheme

The Scheme

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Gone is the ear splitting quiet that did enthrall

And corrupted by

Angry voices on lifting breezes—

Deer in the woods loudly sneezes—

Jazz fusion from late sixties.

Country, exurbia, bows to suburban crawl

Offending my eye

With noises cities exude—

Electrical hum so rude—

Famished fauna search for food.

Embrace power outage; the forced silence it brings

Appreciate those

Whispers floating down the street—

Bird glides at a bite to eat—

Rocking chair with tea and treat.

Generator spits and interrupts everything

Salutes life we chose

Light pollution pours like rain—

Fidgety squirrel bolts insane—

Lost the life I sought to gain.

My future’s unwritten, and when I sleep, I dream

Of our conveniences bowing to nature’s scheme.

By Rick Bylina

4/27/16

Give Me Chocolate or Leave Me Be

Give Me Chocolate or Leave me be

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Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah-blah-blah blah-blah.

So goes the day without the energy—

To write great words to inspire mankind,

Or wash dishes so cockroaches don’t roam,

Do laundry or crawl naked like a sloth,

Or do the chores on a day that’s sunny

Till the earth, pull the weeds, and plant the seeds.

Oh yeah, chop down some trees to heat my home.

Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah-blah-blah blah-blah.

My good wife likes to list chores aplenty,

Advises often with words that remind,

“When you go shopping, buy me a blue comb.

And then skim the fat off the chicken broth.

Mail my friends. Drop that Facebook enemy.”

Her list of wants far exceeds my needs.

By Rick Bylina                                         

4/26/16                                                  

Seasonal Evolution

Seasonal Evolution

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As tax day ends, nature sends exhausted hummingbirds?

I hear, not see, their quick fly by as they shout, “It’s Spring.”

Helicopter outside my window—smile so absurd,

Never have I heard them sing, but hum an unknown song.

They shoo dull Juncos to arboreal summer forests.

Smartly away from southern heat to breed and to rest.

Vibrant Grosbeak flits to his cooler mountain retreat.

My alarm clock now is the Cardinals’ harsh morning tweet.

Oh my Carolina Wren with scolding voice so loud

And tiny Blackcap Chickadee standing bold and proud

Will you drive me into debt with your big appetite?

Why don’t you harvest more bugs at the edge of the night?

Shrill tweets, love songs, and territorial squabbling

My southern birds are here to stay; this much shall endure.

And despite the Blue Jay’s metallic ting-ting, ting-ting

Morning’s sweet cacophony, rings outside my screen door.

By Rick Bylina                                                     

4/25/16                                                              

My Grandson Alex

My Grandson Alex

Jumping and leaping

Crawling and creeping

Bounding and wriggling

Bouncing and jiggling

Skipping and hopping

Jumping and bopping

Smiling and winking and dancing around

Grinning and twisting, both feet off the ground.

Laughing and giggling and yelling and more

Climbing and falling kerbang to the floor.

Rolling and turning and punching and kicking

Throwing and catching and dropping and picking.

Stepping and stomping and running and racing

All the neighborhood pets he is chasing.

Pushing, punching, bending, bucking, always on the go

Calling, singing, shouting, cheering, joy from head to toe.

My Grandson Alex is living proof for all the world to see

Perpetual motion does exist, especially when you are three.

Al Manning

I Thought I Saw a Snowflake

I Thought I Saw a Snowflake

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You need to understand and know

That, yes, in April it can snow—

In Rochester and Buffalo

In Boone and Winston-Salem, too.

Earth rotates an Arctic vortex

Slips its mouth to lick old Tex-mex

Gets southern jet stream to relax

Throws us moisture from L-A-X.

By Rick Bylina                                                         

4/22/16