THE CORNER BOOKSTORE

They say the corner bookstore as an institution is a dying breed

For people now use the internet or E-books when they read.

I was one of those people...as I walked by I would frown

And wonder how a corner bookstore could make it in this town.

Or any town for that matter, because it seemed very clear to me

That old books and the stores that sell them would be lost to technology.

But then something wonderful happened, I started working there

And I realized my initial pessimism was perhaps a tad unfair.

I’ve seen people come in and ask, “Do you mind if I just look

It’s so wonderful to see a store that is still selling books.”

Others close their eyes and take a deep breath the moment they walk in the door.

They open their eyes, smile, and say, “I just love the smell of your store.”

Yes, there are still those people out there, though there numbers are a-dwindle

Who prefer to turn the pages of a book instead of tapping on their Kindle.

Who still find it exciting, wondrous and grand

To be flipping pages of a book they hold lovingly in their hands.

Who still take the time to enjoy the older books, and, no matter how they’re frayed

Still marvel at the care and fidelity with which they all were made.

Who enjoy coming to a bookstore when all is said and done

To browse, to remember, to socialize and to have a little fun.

So although the corner bookstore is not the way most people now read

I do not anymore believe it is a dying breed.

I can see the bookstore has a lot to offer and despite technology’s fast growth

I now believe, in this fast paced world, there is plenty of room for both.

KIDS DON'T CARE

After spending time with the grandchildren I once again have become aware

There are so many things in life about which children do not care.

They don’t care if we’re old or bald, or short or tall or fat

I’m sure they don’t think about our physical flaws, they just don’t care about that.

They don’t care if our house is small or the ceiling has a crack

They don’t care if the lawn is mowed, or there’s no grass in the back.

They don’t care how much money we have or if we drive Mercedez or Jaguars

They don’t care if there are scratches or dents or parts missing from our cars. 

They do care that we love them and that we somehow find a way

To show them that we love them each and every day.

They do care that we’re honest and fair and I think you’re going to find

They care that we have a heart and a soul and we’re generous and kind.

And they do care that we spend time with them and the last time that I checked

They care we treat them with tenderness, humanity and respect.

Yes after spending time with the grandchildren I once again have no doubt

How they can teach us a lot about life by the things they don’t care about.

NUMBERS DO NOT LIE

I’m no mathematician...I don’t know Pythagoras’s theorem from that simple ratio Pi

But after spending a few days with the grandchildren I know numbers do not lie.

Yes numbers play an important role as we travel down life’s path

So with my apologies to Isaac Newton...I’ll try my hand at math.

I’ll begin with simple counting meant to entertain if not amaze

1 Spring Break brought 2 grandchildren to spend 3 nights and 4 days.

From here the numbers fly at random...I’ll just add them to the mix

7 games of Candyland played, how could 1 grandchild have won 6?

It’s amazing how 1 golf cart can make a family feel

10 times we drove all over town and 12 hands held the wheel. 

1 breakfast at McDonalds so our 2 other grandchildren we could see

But after spending part of the day 1 had to work, that left us, then, with 3

5 people helped 1 grandchild with his Hieroglyphics project...countless seeds of knowledge sown

When we made 2 sheets of papyrus, 4 cartouches and 1 Rosetta stone.

8 pairs of shoes all over the house...3 trips to the grocery store

2 loaves of bread and 3 quarts of milk...3 new heights recorded on 1 old door.

3 nights ending with 3 different movies...a wonderful nightcap

When 1 grandchild fell asleep...1 time on my shoulder, and 2 times on my lap.

1 cookout with 8 hot dogs spread out on coals that had been leveled.

5 places set at 1 picnic table and 12 eggs that were deviled.

2 sewing projects completed 3 fish painted--lots of colors, nothing gray

40 pieces of monkey bread and 6 donuts devoured in 1 day.

2 new card games learned...10 marshmallows would be all that we require

To make 5 perfect s’mores by 1 crackling campfire.

I’ll leave you with 2 final numbers..I beg you...please don’t mock

2 contented grandparents who fell asleep by 8 o’clock  

Now that the final calculations are in it’s easy to see why

We had a wonderful 3 nights and 4 days, after all...the numbers do not lie.

CASTLE IN THE SAND

With the latest news of tragedies in the world isn’t it difficult to comprehend

How often sorrow touches the lives of our family or friends?

Yet it is preposterous to think in a world where every living thing must die

That sorrow will overlook us...will somehow pass us by.

Just as joy has the capacity to surprise so sorrow has the capacity to shock

The pendulum of life swings back and forth...at any hour of the clock.

In those inevitable moments when sorrow descends upon the land

It helps for me to envision it like a castle in the sand.

At the onset that castle built of sadness stands tall...seizing our full attention.

Life has slowed down and is now crowded with misery, fear and tension.

Our face which one time was awash in smile is now a constant frown

But soon our tears, like the ocean’s waves, begin to tear that castle down.

It happens ever so slowly leaving us to wonder if we can go on

Until the day we awake to find that castle is now gone.

We find we can be happy again, and though we’ll never be the same

Our sorrow has dissolved back into the sands from which it came.

Certainly sorrow has done her damage, causing torment, causing pain

And in her wake upon our heart a lasting scar remains.

But that scar not only reminds us of the sorrow we’ve been through

It also shows, no matter the pain, that we can heal too.

It shows we can survive...it shows we can withstand

That even the deepest sorrow will dissolve...like a castle in the sand.

FULMER

He walked into the bookstore early on a Sunday morn

He was walking with a cane and a limp and he looked a little worn.

I said, “Hello and welcome.” He never turned his head.

And it didn’t take me long to realize he hadn’t heard a word I said.

When he finally acknowledged me, he said, “I wasn’t being cold

It’s just I don’t hear so good...I’m 92 years old.”

He said he was an old Navy pilot, and took off air craft carriers too

He flew a Curtiss SB2C airplane, hunting submarines in World War II.

He talked softly about his tour of duty and asked with a sense of pride

If we might have a book in the store with a picture of his plane inside.

Together we searched the stacks marked World War II campaign

He smiled when I pulled one out and turned to his beloved plane.

We put it on the counter and he quickly gained in my affection

As he gently rubbed his finger over it and labeled every section.

As we both stood together in the bookstore early on that day

It seemed to me Fulmer, for that was his name, was miles and years away.

I asked so many questions and then I’d ask some more

How many people were in the plane...2, did he have any accidents...4.

Twice they ran our of fuel but they never were lost or stranded

And two times in the haze of war on their carrier they crash landed. 

Was he ever afraid, of course he was, and he was hurt a time or two

How many subs did he blow up..he said more than just a few.

He said killing didn’t make him happy or bring him any joy

“It was my job to kill the enemy before they could kill our boys.”

I respected his reticence..for although he knew it was a war

He felt the burden of those on both sides who didn’t make it back to shore.

He bought the book, and when I shook his hand he said, “Ill be back for more.”

Then he tucked it under his arm and shuffled out the door.

As he walked away I was reminded by his honor and dignity

That Fulmer and men and women like him are the reason I am free.

MORE ON MEMORIES

Our eldest grandson Damien is looking at colleges and it’s in moments such as these

That I’m reminded to be thankful for the power of memories.

Our days are filled with many magnificent moments in these lives we are completing

But time has fashioned them in such a way to be ephemeral and fleeting.

If after we experienced a moment it was lost forever...how sad our lives would be.

But that’s not the case because we have been blessed with the wonder of memory.

Somehow as we live in any moment before it fades into the past

Miraculously in our minds and hearts a memory is cast.

It seems like only yesterday, in fact I would have sworn

It was, when we were at the hospital watching Damien being born.

I remember walking him in his stroller...we never traveled very far...

Now when he comes to visit he’s driving his own car.

I remember with one hand holding him off the ground as a huge smile crossed his lips

Now if I tried to do that I’d probably break a hip.

One of the beauties of our memories is not only how exquisitely we can weave them

But, no matter where we are, how quickly we retrieve them.

So when Damien drives away at the end of a visit do you know what I see?

I see the little guy in the stroller who used to take walks with me.

When he leans down to give me a hug, in my memory I’ve found

The little boy I used to hold in one hand off the ground.

Perhaps memories are there to bless us and in their own way proclaim

In a world that’s so capricious here’s something that remains the same.

Ah there is the final beauty of memories and it’s a beauty to behold

For unlike these bodies we inhabit our memories never grow old.

We store them is a bottomless lake and no matter how swiftly our life goes

We are able to dip our hands in, pull one out and juxtapose! 

So while I sit here seeing the latest picture of Damien, visiting colleges...on his way...

I’m also seeing that tiny baby I held in the hospital that first day.

THREE FRIENDS

Three families moved close to one another and time together they would spend.

They each had daughters similar in age who soon became good friends.

They grew up in a simpler time, not much technology blocking their way.

They left the house in the morning and played outside all day. 

They did the things young girls did, they played, they imagined...they performed

With every moment spent together a lasting bond was formed.

Three friends grew up and went their separate ways, it is the way that life transcends

But through it all, no matter what, they still remained three friends.

Their lives were filled with marriages, divorces, births, deaths, joys and woes

Three friends rejoiced in each others highs and helped absorb the woes. 

As time moved on they met less frequently but it didn’t matter where or when,

The minute they got together they were those three kids again.

Now they are all older and when they meet they follow that age old paradigm

The three friends sit and talk, and talk, and talk about old times.

They share memories of when they played, when they imagined, and when they all performed

Remembering a time long ago when their friendship was first formed.

These three friends feel blessed for the three of them all know

That it was Fate who brought their families together so many years ago.

Allowing them to form a harmony that’s paid a lifetime of dividends

For throughout all the changes they’ve endured they still remain three friends.

ONE PERSON AT A TIME

How do we substitute tolerance for prejudice?  Lets take a moment to reflect...

How can we stamp out bigotry and replace it with respect?

How can we take people’s animosity and show them that kindness can fulfill?

How can we change their hatred into tenderness and good will?

How can we see people mocking the less fortunate and teach them sensitivity

How can we see people abusing others and teach them sympathy.

How can we see countries fighting and make those hostilities cease?

How can we take a world at war and create a world at peace?

How do we as individuals overcome the hopelessness of the injustices we see each day

And teach the peoples of the world there is a better way?

Mother Theresa said don’t look at the numbers, she said with each day start anew

And the best place to start changing the world is with the person nearest you.

I believe she was on to something, though it is a daunting uphill climb

Perhaps the best way to change the world is one person at a time.

THE GOLF CART

Our city is golf cart friendly and now that we’re retired we thought, “Hey”

There’s a green way to get around and I can take it to work each day.”

So we drove to the golf cart showroom thinking, ‘How expensive can they be?’

They’re small, their light, there’s no gas engine, heck, they run on batteries.

Apparently golf carts have come a long way since our younger days of yore.

Yes, the golf carts of today aren’t just for golfing anymore.

They now have off-road tires, windshields and come in colors that delight

They’re even equipped with headlights for when you drive at night.

The price tags start at four thousand dollars which made my heart go bump

After all, it’s still only a golf cart. Who am I? Donald Trump.

For five thousand you can get flames on the sides and a top speed they call CRUISE.

For five thousand dollars it better come with a chauffeur! Who am I? Howard Hughes.

As Deborah and I saw our golf cart dream die and were dejectedly walking away

The manager yelled, “Hey I can give you a deal on one that was traded in today.”

He took us to an old white golf cart that was manufactured in 1997

It was a little weathered and beat up but to us it looked like heaven.

Heaven is a good description as this cart never saw one golfer’s shot

It was used by a funeral home to show off their cemetery plots.

In fact if you look close enough...and you really don’t have far to hunt

The remnants of the funeral home name rest in shadows on the front.

But we fell in love with that old cart even with her scratches and her scars

We bought her immediately and are proud to say that old golf cart is ours.

We strung prayer flags across her back and on her top painted stripes of green

With her blue hubcaps and ceiling to match she’s one fine looking machine.

We can imagine ourselves riding around to our neighbors envy and acclaim

Once we get a peace sign painted to cover the funeral home name.

Yes, we relate well to our old golf cart, after all we are both a little past our prime

But as long as our batteries keep working we should last a long, long time.

HOW HUMAN WE ARE

When you look around at the progress we’ve made, as a species we’ve come very far.

Look at the amazing things we can do that make us forget how human we are. 

I’ve seen those spy thrillers on TV, you know where a satellite is twirled

And they can tell what a person is eating on the other side of the world.

Governments can surreptitiously enter our airwaves and somehow interface

With all our communications and exit without leaving a trace.

We can program bombs to drop where we want...our phones are now super smart

We can give people new prosthetic limbs, new faces, new organs...new hearts.

We can send satellite’s to the heavens, to Venus, to Mars and Neptune

We can fly faster than the speed of sound and even land a man on the moon.

I order from Amazon and I swear immediately after I hit send

I can hear the UPS truck carrying my package coming around the bend.

So how, in this age of technology, can an entire plane go astray

Without anyone having some answers...How can this happen today?

I bought a pair of Tom’s shoes on line.  I love their concept, the feel, and once more

I can track those shoes from the warehouse until their delivered to my front door.

I was tracking them the other day while watching the evening news.

Experts were talking about Flight 370 and sharing their different views...

I thought to myself how peculiar this all is...how utterly insane

I know where my shoes are at any moment while they’ve lost an entire airplane.

Sometimes we forget we are only human that we don’t control everything near and far

It takes a natural disasters or a Flight 370 to remind us how human we are.

CHOOSE HAPPINESS

A friend posted a link on Facebook the other day, and just where did that link go?

To a web site that asked the question, ‘Can you be happy 100 days in a row?”

It challenged us in this fast paced world to join the happiness craze.

And post a picture showing something that makes us happy for the next 100 days.

They urged the people to visit their site and this happiness thing...to get behind it

They believe if you start to look for happiness then you are going to find it.

It seems they know what they’re talking about for all the people they interviewed

Said looking for happiness every day puts them in a better mood.

They are more optimistic, more complimentary, and they feel better by far

As they find more happiness every day...they realize how lucky they are.

The one disturbing fact of this study which has found it’s way into this rhyme

Is that 71% of the people challenged said, ‘no thank you I don’t have the time.’

They don’t have the time to find happiness?  “Don’t have the time,” they say!

It makes you wonder, doesn’t it, just what are they doing all day?

Everyone has time for happiness to think differently is a mistake

For happiness as the happy ones know is a choice that we can make.

That doesn’t mean that choosing happiness is as easy as it sounds

For even in the mists of sorrow...happiness can be found.

If you wake us this morning and say to yourself I choose happiness today

I have no doubt you will find some or it will find you along the way.

Soon it begins showing up wherever you may go 

Then before you know it you’ve surpassed 100 days in a row.

Till one day you’ll realize it doesn’t matter where you go or where you’ve been

You don’t have to go looking for happiness...happiness comes from within.

REPETITION

As I endeavor to write a poem a day I think perhaps...perchance

Before I go any further I should apologize in advance.

As my contemplations and reflections string together over time

I’ve come to the realization there may be some repetition in my rhymes.

It is my goal that on a variety of subjects these little rhymes shall touch

But come on, you’ve seen my head, my brain can only hold so much!

Did you know on average we only use 45,000 words in our normal everyday speech

Since I’ve completed over 200 poems...I believe my limit has been reached.

Besides as we get a little older, although it’s a subject we don’t often discuss

For one reason or another...things start to repeat on us.

So my apologies for any mishap, any error or mistake

And any future blunders I am most likely apt to make.

Yes, if I occasionally reiterate or you think: ‘Hey haven’t I read this before?”

Don’t mock me just remember...sometimes it’s better to ignore.

Yes, if I occasionally reiterate or you think: ‘Hey haven’t I read this before?”

Don’t mock me just remember...sometimes it’s better to ignore.

Wait! Did I just repeat the same thought..if so I think...perchance

It is fortuitous for me and you that I’ve apologized in advance.

GREAT EXPECTATIONS

Working in a bookstore I am delighted to admit

Has some wonderful advantages...some unexpected benefits.

How can I not be mesmerized by the charm and the allure

When I find myself surrounded by the world’s great literature?

It has prompted me to look around and wistfully concede

There are so many books...so many authors whom I have yet to read.

So I went home to our bookshelves with the expressed purpose to explore

If they housed any novels I hadn’t read before.

I discovered we had some classics to my sheer enjoyment and exultations.

I finished Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye and I’m on to Dickens’s Great Expectations.

I was reading at my own pace and wondering if I would see

Pip give Estella a kiss on page one hundred and forty-three.

He didn’t, so I quickly turned to page one hundred and forty-four

But before the kiss could be revealed, something fell out on the floor.

I closed the book and picked it up...and was reminded how lucky I am

For in my hand, dated February 2, 2004, I held a 10 year old sonogram.

There was a picture of our grandson Aden packed into Ali’s expanding space.

To help us recognize what we were looking at it had labels...body and face.

Ali’s name was in the corner, it was 9:27 A.M. when the time stopped

And on the bottom of the sonogram...the words Hi Nana and Pop Pop.

In many ways life is like a novel for as we read we’re never quite aware

When we turn from one page to the next what might be waiting for us there.

Sometimes our story is predictable, sometimes there are twists and turns about

And sometimes when we least expect it, a memory floats out.

Will I keep reading the classics? On that question there is no debate.

For thanks to the bookstore and Charles Dickens...my expectations are now great.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BEN

Today we wish Happy Birthday to Ben Cohen a man who set the world aflame

So much so that we’ve come to know him by his first, not his last name.

In 1978 he teamed up with his longtime childhood friend, Jerry

Together they transformed ice cream forever with their unique use of dairy.

Yes, Ben and Jerry took a correspondence course and a whole new world unfurled

When in Burlington, Vermont they changed the ice cream world.

They brought flavors like Phish Food and Half Baked for the world to taste and see

They gave us Cookie Dough, Fossil Fuel and Chocolate Therapy.

They’ve given us Chunky Monkey, they even lace some of their pints with jam

They’ve given us Karamel Sutra and Blueberry Vanilla Graham.

I could go on and on naming flavors that whet the appetite and tease

But I can’t, you see I have to stop typing...I’m drooling all over my keys.

Ben is also a social activist someone we can embrace

As he tries in his own way to make the world a better place.

Wether or not you agree with his politics...how can this man be faulted

When he brings us Peanut Butter Fudge and Caramel that’s been salted!

The man who brought us Imagine Whirled Peace, Cheesecake Brownies and Cinnamon Buns

Has shown he’s got a sense of humor and is not afraid of puns.

For opening our world to new flavors, today we say thank you, Ben

Oh no! I’m thinking of Cherry Garcia and I’m starting to drool again.

So let me bring this poem to an end but instead of singing that birthday tune

I’ll be going to the freezer and getting out my spoon.

COMPLAINING

We have become a nation of complainers. Don’t you find it a little insane

To be surrounded by so many people who complain, complain, complain?

We complain about the weather, we complain about waiting in lines

We complain about the service in a restaurant, we complain about the wine.

We complain our team just lost the game, we complain it wasn’t fair

We complain when we look in our closet and there’s nothing for us to wear.

We complain about the dog, we complain about the cat

We complain that we’re too poor, we complain that we’re too fat

We complain today is Monday, we complain about our job and all its stress

We complain about our government, and we complain about the press

We complain there’s so much to do, we complain we need more time

I even imagine there are those out there who complain about these daily rhymes.

And they’d be right to complain about this rhyme for even I can see

A rhyme complaining about complaining; there must be something wrong with me.

So I will gladly end this little missive, this dreadful parody

But just one more thought before I go and then I’ll let you be.

Today when you feel like complaining would it be too ludicrous or bizarre

To stop for a moment and think to yourself...how lucky you really are?

IF AT FIRST YOU DON'T SUCCEED...

Today I offer this little quiz, for your amusement and edification

You may hold until the end you’re thanks and appreciation.

1.   His first two automobile companies went bankrupt but he never lost his way

      The third company he created is still making cars today.

 He was cut from his high school basketball team but he saw in himself what other             could not see

    And he is now considered the greatest player in basketball history.

3.  His music teacher called him hopeless saying he had no talent musically

    When his career was over he had written 9 complete and 1 unfinished symphonies.

 This boy was such a poor student they called him ‘that ignorant one’.

     But he proved them wrong by winning the Nobel Prize in Physics...in 1921.

5.  He lost more elections than he won but he remained steadfast and confident

     Saving the Union of our country as our 16th president.

6.  His first book was rejected 30 times, he even threw the manuscript away

     But he is now one of the most widely read authors of this or any day.

Henry Ford, Michael Jordan and Beethoven, 1, 2 and 3 in case you were wondering.

Followed in succession by Albert Einstein, Abe Lincoln and Stephen King.

Failure is part of life for as long as you inhale

Chances are there will be times when you are going to fail.

The trick as these six men will readily admit

Is to get up and try again...because you only fail when you quit.

Don’t let today’s failure stop  you...for tomorrow you may be a whiz...

Who knows someday, you too, may be an answer in this quiz.

PERFECTION

We are taught from an early age perfection is something we need to strive for

It begins with that big smiley face when we get that perfect score.

It’s so ingrained in us as we grow up that before our youth is through

We want to look and act and be perfect in everything we do.

We soon find out our perception of perfection as we make our daily climb

Changes, as it is impossible to be perfect all the time.

Ask a roomful of people to describe their perfect day...you’ll find out it depends

As you receive a myriad of answers before the evening ends.

Why is this? Because we tend to get a little wiser as we get a little older

We understand perfection...like love...is in the eye of the beholder.

When we discard our initial ideas of perfection we become liberated and free

To find moments of perfection in the imperfections that we see.

A perfect day, a perfect evening is no longer an unattainable myth

Sometimes it just depends on who you’re sitting with.

A perfect meal, a perfect party, all take on a different view

What often makes them perfect are the people next to you.

And this is as it should be for we all deserve to experience the affection

Of discovering that our lives have countless moments of perfection.

How long would we have to wait before our last hurrahs

If we chose to see as perfect only moments without flaws.

No, it seems to me it’s imperfect vision that allows us unabashedly

To view the world around us and see things perfectly.

Take this rhyme as further proof...for wouldn’t it be absurd

If I waited for that perfect poem...I’d never write a word.

So here’s a thought to end this verse, I hope you get behind it

If you go out looking for perfection today...I have no doubt you’re going to find it.

THE BUTTERFLY

Today is ‘Learn About Butterflies Day’ an insect we’d all love to hug

So I offer up this little limerick in honor of that beautiful bug.

I know it’s 3-14 and I should turn my attention to that mathematical constant Pi

But I choose instead to focus on the unpredictable butterfly:

From egg, larva, pupa to adult

The metamorphosis of a butterfly I now exult.

Yes down through the ages

They’ve encountered these stages

With such astonishing and beautiful results.

For mere beauty nothing in nature can beat them.

If they had cell phones we’d all want to tweet them.

Though their beauty’s diverse

It is also a curse

Because both frogs and birds like to eat them.

But here’s something I think long overdue.

And I now bring the question to you.

Shouldn’t that divine butterfly

Be called Flutterby

After all, isn’t that what they do?

I HATE SPELL CHICK

Is there anyone out there who likes spell check, you know, in your phone...that clown

Who takes the words you want to say and turns them all around.

He isn’t very nice, he can be vulgar, gross and crude

He will take the words you’ve painstakingly chosen and quickly change the mood.

There are many examples of his X-rated potty mouth but I write for the family

So I’ve chosen as my moral obligation to keep today’s rhyme rated G.

Like the person who was invited to a pool party and was certainly misled

When the text they received said they were invited to a poop party instead.

Or the wife whose text: ‘I’m out getting pregnant’ I’m sure set her husband a-tingle

Imagine his relief when she walked through the door holding only a can of Pringles.

Then there’s the woman who texted her friends about her dear husband Fred

She never saw the surprise on their faces when their texts read Fred was dead.

Or how about the Caucasian man who from his co-workers caught a lot of flack

When he texted I’m stepping out...but in a minute I’ll be black.

We’ve all been there.  We’v all had those moments where we’ve lost dignity or grace

When no matter how careful we are, the wrong word enters cyber space.

I proofread my text and swear it’s perfect but spell check is so devious and mean

It makes changes only after I hit send...and then they show up on my screen.

I immediately scream NO! (or something X-rated) then quickly amend the text

And wonder what that crazy spell checking scoundrel is planning for me next. 

I wish I could disable this feature, it’s something I would gladly disown.

I seemed to get along just find without it...before I purchased this phone.

Yes, if I had the choice to axe spell check...It wouldn’t take me very long.