Category Archives: Life Journey Poems & Prose

Listen First to Understand

by 

I want to help them
give advice
make them think I’m smart and nice

but then I hear a wiser man

listen first to understand

I want to brag
shout what I’ve done
make them want to cheer me on

but then that wiser man again

listen first to understand

no, I don’t always heed the rule
neediness makes me play the fool
but in the quiet of evening light
I look back and know what’s right

listen first to understand

and I will be a loving man


tio stib


You might also enjoy: “If” by Rudyard Kipling; Life Journey Poems and Prose

Mockingbirds

by 
they are human mockingbirds
instead of songs, they mimic words

nothing pretty, nothing nice
nothing new
the same old vice

always males who want attention
spouting nastiness I cannot mention

they yell and scream
they cry and shout
when things go south
they sulk and pout

let’s make a rule that changes things
and tell the pols they all must sing

no talk

like feathered songsters on my walks


tio stib

You might also enjoy: The Hummingbird; The Comfort of Complacency

My Friend Ego

by 
Ego is upset today
I wouldn’t let him out to play

sometimes he thinks he is the king
and disagrees with everything

he worships his own point of view
scoffs at ideas that are new

at his worst
he’s quite the boor
and then I shove him
out the door

now locked away
inside my mind
I hope
he will become
more kind


tio stib

You might also enjoy: High on Gratitude; Control Freaking

Passwords

by 
Security precautions require 
that you reset your password

Enter new password

letmein

Passwords require at least one capital letter

letmeinPLEASE

Passwords require at least one symbol

letmeinPLEASE!

Passwords require at least one number

1MoreTimeletmeinPLEASE!

Your session has expired
please begin again

!


tio stib

You might also enjoy: Control Freaking; life is like a broken egg

A Wilderness Pill

by 
when my back aches
there’s a pill to ease the pain

when I start sneezing
there’s a pill for allergies

but when I’m trapped in urban loneliness
when my soul cries out for wildness
for freedom
screams to be lost in Nature’s oneness
back in the immensity of desert silence
standing in awe on a mountaintop
dancing with waves crashing on a wild beach

then
I need a wilderness pill

a medicine that smells of campfires
that tastes of Springtime meadow flowers
that reverberates with coyotes howling
at the rising moon

but my heart knows
this easy out can’t begin
to feed the hunger

it’s time to get out
get away

time to be on the loose again


tio stib


You might also enjoy: Sorely Needing Wilderness; Which Mountain to Climb

little deaths

by 
at first you think
that’s strange
she must be distracted

the repeated question
the forgotten moment
it’s just not her

but things keep happening
shoes on wrong feet
pants on backwards
toilet paper wadded up in drawers
she can’t count to ten
she wants to walk over to mom’s house
but mom lives in a another country

the oddities keep coming
building

and now
after days
weeks
months

of little deaths

she sits
vacant
wordless

gone


tio stib

You might also enjoy: Walking With My Lover’s Ghost; This child Who Once Was Woman

All the Lovely People

by 
the grocery clerk who
bags my things
the coffee man
who sometimes sings
postman, gardener, neighbors too
stopping by with

how are you?

all the lovely people
who lift me on my way
their nods, their smiles, their greetings
that brighten up each day

and as I lay my head to rest
my heart full, I must confess

my simple life
is richly blessed

tio stib

You might also enjoy: Over the Rainbow; Because Once, I Was Loved by You

A Daughter’s Love

by 
open
she said
holding the spoon in front of
the silent face

open
she said softly
looking into the empty eyes
the eyes that once so dearly loved her

the lips parted
the spoon slipped in
the food swallowed

automatically

empty
she set the bowl aside
gently wiped the mouth
the mouth that once had said

I love you

bending down
she ran her fingers through the greying hair
inhaled the scent
of innocence

pressing her lips
against her mother’s head
she kissed the child
she’d never had

tio stib


You might also enjoy: A Trail of Hearts; A Child’s Smile