The Women of Winnemucca

The Women of Winnemucca
Can not be called any less
For their hardworking demeanor
Thick skin makes them leaner
And their hands
Are made of wood knots.

If you'd ever met
A Woman of Winnemucca
You'd know it right away.
Straight to the point
An obsidian tip
Right on target; hell bent.

Because they know
The struggles of life
And no longer cry
For they know what it takes
To bend and to pry

And their children may hate them
May curse them or praise them
But they raised them up- irregardless
They know that in the dessert
You either live or you die
You either grow up or you cry
And for that you always live
As a child.

But if you learn from their lessons
These Basque looking angels
Or Paiute Sages of the Desert
Will show you a way
That is filled with love and with praise
And the rain will wash away
All the sand and the dirt
And let blossom
The most beautiful flower.

The Boys of Winnemucca

The boys of Winnemucca
Deserve a loud applause
Gone away for 15 hours
Shift work night or day.

The boys of Winnemucca
Have families great and small
Every day they miss them
And every night they call.
8 days on/ 2 days off
4 days on/ work non stop.
They work those shifts
With crews long bent
And come home beat as a dog.

Covered in ash
Covered in grease
5 o'clock shadow
Eyes drooping down for sleep.

The boys of Winnemucca
Deserve a lot of love
Gone away for 15 hours
Shift work night or day.

The boys of Winnemucca
Break their back
For the one's they love
And we should really call them Men.
For a miner's work is hard and harder
Down in shafts so dim.

(soon to come- girls of winnemucca lol )

Honorable Mention

So- the results from the poetry contest I entered a year ago came back. My poem- "The Parting Birds" got an honorable mention from over 5000 applicants. Also- its being published in a book. Nothing big, but it made my day :) I'll try again next year, too.
Here's the poem-

The Parting Birds

As the snow fell
The little sparrows came
At first one at a time
And then like the rain.

They came from a place
That grew little grain;
And they had heard the rumors
These fields once sang.

But the hope summer wrought
Happened too cold to grow
And the waves of once
Luscious grass
Got covered in snow.

Little tracks of despair
With their hopes and their dreams
A sparrow's prayer for grain
A day became weeks.

Yet, it was from their belief
There came a great Parting
Where the silent clouds opened
And heaven's grain, finally, fell soundly.

Freedom Is

Freedom Is...

Freedom is a Nevada Range
Listening to the radio
Setting your own stage.
Freedom is a Constitutional stay
Holding a bloody document
That we fight to display
Freedom is a Right and a Choice
to pursue your own Happiness
which ever way.
Freedom is working to the bone
Because you believe it
Not because you are told.
Freedom is a Boxer
Standing in the ring
Fighting for your life
Or fighting just to sing.

High School Drama Production

As I sat down in the 5th row for certain
I could hear all the laughing
From behind the blue curtains
A few minutes passed
And the lights drew quite dim
The full house ushered in silence
For what would develop within.
A youthful face came out on stage
Painted white as a ghost
And an exalted expression to display.
It was a mystery, he said
Or a bleeding heart thriller
All set in tune
To an Edgar Allen Poe chiller.
The Tell Tale Heart
had nothing on them
The heart bump bumping
And the Cask of Amontillado
I could hear the prisoner thump thumping
An hour of this, and then it was
The Fall of the House of Usher
A ghost and a madman
A friend and a sadman
All wound up and painted acrylic sets
The opium dreams of a poet,
Was a minimum budget and a dream
A deep undertone of insanity
And a fragile as glass human theme
It was all there-
A noble local function
All with the means of the
High School Drama Production.

The Healer

The Healer

The Qi was a gift
To her for the healing
Her hands were warm
To mend the bad feelings
She came to me
With mirror set eyes
And in silence she led
The pain to surmise.

________________________

An Ode to the Healers!
The ones with soft hands
Not Phizer or Merck
Johnson and Johnson.
Not the Doctors with blades
Or Nurses in spades
Not the voodoo or hoodoo
Hypothetical parade.

The Loon and the Lion

The Loon and the Lion

The people will vote
For a Loon or a Lion
On a near judgement day
For a flag that is lying
Flying away.

__________________________________



There is nothing
Oh nothing
Nothing I can say
To change the course of action
Our country might stray.

And here we are
On the verge of WW3
Won't you
Put down your Obamaphone
And listen

They are sending the troops in today
Yes today
Going to bomb:bomb:bomb
Away.

Get that nuke before she cooks
All our hair and good looks
Coming to America
It's the day before
Before she shook.
It's coming
Down:Down:Down
Better not look.

______________________________________

Oh I'm crazy
"Yea. She's crazy."
I was just in the Panamint Valley.
I saw the fly boys-
Yes I did.
Getting ready for war.
"Yea. She's crazy."
Totally Detached.
No one else
Save Alex Jones
Can wear this crazy hat.