N e a n d e r t h a l i s h

Wow !

Am I proud to be able to trace my ancestry
all the way back to the Neanderthals!  Oh, the
marvels of modern-time technologies. Back as
a kid, my school library had a complete set of
the Encylopedia Britannica high up on a shelf.
It was so out-of-reach that the librarian had to
get them down for me. It was from them - I got
a hint of where I came from. The pastor of our
church said that we came from Adam and Eve.
(At the time, I thought it so amazing that Edam
and Ave were the very first Neanderthals.) 
How special is that?

        Mind you . . .  to think that I once actually
                looked like those folks.

But . . . those Neanderthals. Such foreheads and
those jaw lines. Rarely did we see anyone in
our neck of the woods that looked like that. 

However, there were a few folks that came close.

We wondered how come others in their families
looked like that as well. This was well before we
learned about heredity and genetics in science
class.

            We didn't poke fun at them . . . 
                              we were simply in awe.

LATE SPRING (haiku)

A brisk wind, blue sky
Cottonwood seed fluffs make friends
with scattered, white clouds.

P A T I E N C E

I have come to Southern Chile's
Ortway Bay, seeking
Magellanic Penguins.

I walk the weathered,
wooden boardwalk
toward the sea,
            just beyond carpeted grasslands.

High-tide waves
                    crash nearby.

There they are - among
bleached driftwood and the
continually battered boulders.

Nestled together -
cluster of young penguins,
attired in rock-grey and dull white.

Standing in patient silence.

They await an inborn urge to
venture into krill-rich waters -
and the risk of
being snatched up by roving,
hungry seals.

As night falls,
the young penguins
return to the security of
their birthing burrows.

Bougainvillea Trinity

Bougainvillea Trinity

                  Go ahead . . .

         show your three-partite
              bracts to the sun.

               Delight the eye.

                       Fade . . .

                   then spiral
                  earthbound.

               Solar-powered
                    pinwheel.



-The Bougainvillea is such an unusual vine.
 What you would assume to be its flowers . . .
  are actually colorful bracts. (The flowers are
  tiny and hardly to be seen.) Our Bougainvillea
  vines are in pots and we move them outside to
  grace the deck in the spring, summer, and fall.
  Then, it's back inside for the winter.

Never At A Loss

    Why is it so rare
      for a person to
     starve, while at
         the beach?

   They can always
            eat the

sand which is
       there.

A BLAST FROM THE PAST

Years ago . . . while in seminary in Washington DC . . .
I was standing on a corner with a gang of inner-city
youth in the, then infamous, Second Precinct.

At the time, it was the city's most crime-ridden area.
I was meeting with black, junior-high youth who
lived in the area's run-down tenements.

A helicopter flew low overhead. It blared out:
"President Kennedy has been shot."

The gang shouted at me, don't leave - stay.
They ran off, soon returning with scrapbooks filled
with newspaper clippings and photos of Kennedy
and Cassius Clay . . . their two heroes.

I will never forget standing there with Oliver, Donny,
Sonny, Charles, and their leader JT. Tears were shed.
We hugged.

A tragedy beyond imagination.

F a k e r s

Twaats can be fake,
     tweets are fake, but
          twiits are not fake -

                most of the time.

There can be
     fake twoots . . .
           fake twuuts.

I know all of the above
     for sure,
            because
                I've seen a
                     thing or two.

One thing is for sure . . .
     and Rene' Decartes*
             would never lie,

I think, therefore I am.


                     *Rene' Descartes (1596-1650), philosopher and
                                  mathematician, is regarded as the originator of
                                  modern philosophy and for defining a starting
                                  point for existence . . .
                                                      I think, therefore I am.