My Couple Counseling Career

Thought for the Day

He thought. She thought.
He said what he thought she thought.
She thought he said what he thought.
Whether he ought
To say what he or she thought,
All that thought has come to naught.

Happy Talk Like Yoda Day (May 21)

Like Yoda We Talk

(41st anniversary of “The Empire Strikes Back” release)

Master Yoda we celebrate today --
Syntax we torture to his way we say.
Try you not only the thing you must do --
Your tongue we untwist can when you be through

In Dagobah swamp him first we do meet --
Skywalker Yoda trains, head below feet.
Away undone raw Jedi called to fly --
Swamp back he comes in time Yoda to die.

Gone then he was, henceforth one with the Force,
Later in the past returns he, of course.
Angry Anakin he trust not to train
But rash Ben Kenobi he not restrain.

Clone Army he commands, Republic fix,
But not foresee he Order Sixty-six.
Darth Sidious he duels, but failed, he did.
Into exile he went, in swamps he hid.

There him Luke finds before in the future --
Back us Lucas takes to that adventure.
As Force spirit he pops up when scripts need --
His cryptic words haunted Jedi must heed.

With you the Force be, so powerful is,
If like Yoda you learn to use talk his.
If which words you know not sentences end with,
At least do not condescend like a Sith.

You’ve Gotta Believe?

The suspect says, “You’ve gotta believe me!”
How often have we heard that urgent plea?
“Believe me when I tell you,” starts each line,
And you wonder if that is a bad sign.
“Matters of faith,” says Preacher, so aloof,
“Do not need, indeed deny, any proof!”

It will not be seen if it’s not believed,
But in such ease, your thinking is relieved.
Decide before you know untidy facts
Which from your resolved certainty distracts.
Trust what you are told and not what you think,
And you can act in a mere eye’s hoodwink.

Maybe take your time and puzzle it out,
Explore your options, consider your doubts.
What is knowable for you to analyze?
What other things are not, you recognize.
In the end, when you are done either way,
You still will need to get on with your day.

Happy Limerick Day

There once was an Englishman named Lear
Who composed poems too witty to bear
He is responsible
For so much runcible
‘Cause it was such a good word to hear.

If you ever wrote a limerick
Thinking you had a wit oh so slick,
Likely you soon did find
And to it was resigned
Even friends think you’re a lunatic

Happy No Pants Day???

The first Saturday in May
Has been declared No Pants Day --
For me it was a surprise
To see legs before my eyes.

For some alone in a room,
Or maybe meeting on Zoom,
They like to feel a small breeze
Blowing gently through their knees.

But I like to keep pants on
Even when everyone’s gone.
Maybe shyness, I suppose,
But my legs I don’t expose.

Oh no, I’m not Donald Duck
With tail feathers to get stuck.
If you want, relax that way,
But at my waist my pants stay.

That should make everyone happier!

Facing Your Fantasies

Reality is a crutch used by some
When they cannot cope with their fantasies.
To what is done they too simply succumb,
Not the suspense and hope in the breeze.

Oh, yes, I guess, it is easy to walk
On the solid ground there under your feet.
You don’t live aloft as the soaring hawk,
So you need to look when you cross the street.

But would you fly, albeit by airplane,
If none had let the mind ride on birds’ wings?
What you think of now as real in your brain
Were, once upon a time, just fanciful things.

So, pay attention to what surrounds you,
But do not ignore what might not be there.
The dreams (and terrors) which your mind can brew
May also, someday, lead you to somewhere.

Nibbling on the Neighbor’s House

When I was a kid, in our neighborhood,
There was a house with a fence ‘round its yard.
We were told, ‘though we never understood,
That with that neighbor, we should be on guard

When parents won’t tell their children the why,
Curiosity will soon make them itch.
So explanation was for us to try --
And we decided, there must live a witch.

We had heard tales how witches lived by tricks
And of the lures which into their traps led.
Her house might look like it was made of bricks,
But we knew it was really gingerbread.

The gumdrop trees grew just beyond our reach
In the lollipop garden inside the fence.
There must be owls guarding, ready to screech,
And lawn gnomes to come alive in defense.

This challenge was in need of a great plan,
One that would require all of our whole squad.
Tom, Pete, Rick, Ashley, I guess even Stan --
A perfect assault, completely unflawed.

We would have to be fast and go at night;
Two to stay behind, protecting our backs,
Two with wiffle bats if there was a fight,
And two to gather treats to fill our sacks.

But Stan had to be home before sunset,
Tom lost his bat and could not think of where,
Rick was unsure of what share he would get,
And Pete was pretty sure he did not dare.

Ashley was still ready and raring to go,
But now that great plan seemed certain to fail.
How good were the treats we would never know,
But the gingerbread was probably stale.

Intelligent or Smart?

When they’re wrong, it’s intelligent to know,
But it’s likely smart not to tell them so.
With this you may not totally agree --
Often I wish this was a rule for me.

Falstaff says that valor needs discretion;
He preferred very passive aggression.
If nobody noticed, that would be fine;
He still knew without his butt on the line.

Should you keep your opinions to yourself;
Just bundle them and set them on the shelf?
Who needs the benefit of your learning
When it’s their beliefs you’re overturning?

Well, you may say some things are worth the fight.
Sometimes someone must set what’s wrong to right.
Perhaps that someone sometimes should be me,
But when, I would bet. you would not agree.

Enjoy Your Saint George Day Feast -- Friday April 23rd

St. George - Patron Saint of Dragons

Saint George, they say, was known to slay
A mighty dragon in his day.
But dragons scold, those whom I polled,
I should not believe all I’m told.

Holier than this saintly man
Were not so many a Christian.
Ready with Might for what was Right,
He believed in the Holy Fight.

While in Silene, George saw a scene
With a dragon, so fierce and mean.
There a princess was in distress,
Wearing her last and finest dress.

‘Twas her duty, said this beauty,
To be sacrificial booty.
Chosen by lot, as she was taught,
Any objections were for naught.

She tread the swamp with proper pomp
To save Kingdom from Dragon’s stomp.
Alone she faced, both calm and chaste,
With none to see her be disgraced.

George intervened, stepping between
The princess and the dragon green.
From mounted stance, he drove his lance,
Smote his foe a staggering glance.

While beast was felled, down George hurdled,
Asking Princess for her girdle.
While still so weak, wrapped ‘round his beak,
This female garment made him meek.

They marched to town, all gathered 'round,
And at her feet, Dragon laid down.
But people feared, something so weird,
As Dragon tame as he appeared.

They did demand to free their land
That Dragon be killed while at hand.
It is alleged, to Christ all pledged
As George held Dragon with sword edged.

Dragon did plea, What about me?
I would also a Christian be.
I would repent, from here be sent,
And live in peace whither I went.

Mercy, new found, folks did astound --
In George's heart this plea did resound.
It was the Way, not heartless slay,
But let Dragon go free that day.

Few can know how beast kept his vow
But he stayed faithful until now.
By George, they swore, truce evermore --
That's the last dragon-human war.

Optimistic About My Past

Does what you have seen, to some degree,
Lead to what you are going to see?
Maybe less of what and more of how
Are affected by your life up to now.

Survive your lows and enjoy your highs
And the next good thing is less surprise.
Forget the good and dwell on the bad
And what comes next may well make you sad.

It does not change what did happen then
Nor prevent nor make it come again.
But what you take from experience
In attitude makes a difference.

Enjoy National Poetry Month --
It's not all that bad.

IRS Tax Day

(tune: My Way, lyrics by Paul Anka,
sung by Frank Sinatra, et al)

And now, the time is here
And so we face the final deadline.
Accounts, we’ll make all clear,
We’ll state income on the right line
We’ve made some cash, that’s sure,
We invested here and there along the way
But now, time has arrived, IRS tax day.

Expenses, we’ve had a few,
Too few to itemize deductions;
We filled forms as best we do
And made sure to subtract exemptions.
We checked math at each step,
Each detailed line in the taxing fray
And now, the money’s due, IRS tax day.

Yes, it’s the time, I’m sure you know,
When we say bye and watch our cash go.
Something to do nothing about;
Checkbooks open and we shell out.
Through all, we hear the call, IRS tax day.

We earned, saved, and invested;
Some shares gaining, others losing.
And now, dues are requested
And there seems just no refusing
To think companies do too
And yet they say, not in a shy way,
No, we do not pay on IRS tax day.

For what is a man, what has he got?
The IRS will tax the lot.
But aren’t companies people too
And should pay their taxes as they’re due
When their math’s done, their income is gone
On IRS tax day.

IRS Tax Day!

El Rana - Song of a Graduate Student

El Rana

(tune: El Paso, by Marty Robbins)

Out in the Florida swamp called Big Muddy
I fell in love with an enchanting frog
Nighttime would find me waist deep in the water
Pepena would sing as she sat on a log

Sweet as music were the croaks of Pepena
Surely and slowly I was under her spell
My love was deep for this small amphibian
I was in love but in vain I could tell

One night a strange young bullfrog stopped by
Swollen up like a balloon
Belching and honking, he attracted the eye
Of pretty Pepena, the frog that I loved

So in anger I
Challenged his right for the love of my girl frog
Out flew his tongue to snatch a dragonfly
I answered with bug spray to poison his prey
The bullfrog croaked there in a blink of an eye

In a moment all went totally silent
Shocked by the pollutant I sprayed about
Swamp creatures stared at me with rage rising
I had one choice and that was to get out

Out of Big Muddy I splashed so quickly
Fast as my legs could churn
I reached the dry land, ahead of the mad band,
Jumped in my Jeep and the rubber did burn

Just as far as I
Could from the Florida swamp of Big Muddy
Out of all wetlands I used to study

Back in the city my life seemed so pointless
My herpetology degree was a waste
But I dreamt of my beautiful Pepena
My love drew me back to the place I disgraced

I packed my bag and loaded up my car
Driving all night on back roads
"Maybe the next day a predator will find me
But I must get back before my head explodes"

At dawn I got to
The dusty parking lot at the Big Muddy
I heard it singing its sweet song to me
My love was strong and it drew me swamp-ward
Into the muck my Pepena to see

Off to my right a Crocodylus acutus
All around me swarmed Aedes aegypti
Splashing and slashing, I couldn’t let them get me
I had to reach Pepena ‘though I might die

Something was dreadfully wrong for I feared
A. piscivorus swim here
‘Though I must walk through this murky water
I struggled on almost frozen with fear

‘Though my love for
Pepena was wrong, yet perversity raged
‘Though I was scared I can’t stifle the need
I saw her log where so often I watched her
Now for all their forgiveness I must plead

From under a leaf, Pepena sat besides me
Oh, a Rana okaloosae so near
I cradled her between my loving fingers
One little kiss and I changed my career.

Anhedonia

(tune: Pachalafaka, by Irving Taylor (1958)
Also sung by Soupy Sales and by the Muppets)

Anhedonia, anhedonia
It’s sweeping all over the nation
Anhedonia, anhedonia
A symptom of our long stagnation
Oh, I know the term
Will make you sadly squirm
For it reminds us of bygone days
There’s no pleasure in
This year’s endless tailspin
Leavin’ us in a bleary weary daze.

It’s not apathy
Nor quite misery
For those don’t express what we’re feeling
Even fiddlesticks or
I-can’t-get-no-kicks
Just don’t describe with what we’re dealing
But anhedonia, anhedonia
Makes us wonder if it cured by vaccines
So confused we’ll stay
Lest comes the day
We find out what anhedonia means
We find out what anhedonia means

The Lonely Rabbit Revisited

See: The Lonely Rabbit

Oh woe, I am such a wretched rabbit --
Homebound is now a deep-seated habit.
The past year I ate undelivered treats,
And now I think my rump has ingrown pleats.

I used to have a job to do each year,
Now I have nothing as Easter grows near.
Once people would root for me; that was nice;
And now they want to shoot me; maybe twice.

No candy to make, no baskets to fill,
No prep, no eggs, and no children to thrill.
Another Spring gone down the CO-VID drain;
Check back next year if I’m canceled again.

I’m Free

(tune: Born Free (Matt Monro))

I’m free, as free as a sneeze blows,
I’m free from my sweat clothes,
I’m free to leave now my home.

Go free, and crowds will surround me,
Their noise will soon drown me
Each time I go out my door.

I’m free with no walls between us.
I'm free with vaccine inside,
I have no need to hide.

I’m free and I can start living
‘Cause I have been given
Shot two to set me free.

If Ever I Must Grow Up

If ever I must grow up,
Who will I finally be?
You may say I’m not a pup
And I need not wait to see.

But despite those bygone years,
I still visit youth in dreams.
When fog of memory clears,
Little time has passed, it seems.

I yet wish I could believe
In many fantastic things:
Peace and love, the tales I weave,
Simple fixes from magic rings.

You too, grandkids, will grow old
And learn much along your way.
But to some dreams try to hold --
Remember it’s fun to play.

Georgia in the News

(tune: Georgia on My Mind (Hoagy Carmichael))

Georgia, Georgia
Oh, what they do.
Those voting rules there
Keep Georgia in the news.

I said Georgia, Georgia,
What can you do?
It seems mighty clear
You do not like it Blue.

Other folks reach out to vote -
Democracy they promote,
Still in grasping hope you wrote
The rules to favor you.

I said Georgia, Oh Georgia,
No peace I find
Those voting rules there
Keep Georgia on my mind.

Swinging in America

(tune: Swinging on a Star)

Would you like to shoot an AR,
Blow away your prey from afar,
And be scarier than you are?
Or would you rather have the vote?

The vote is a right of adult citizenship
‘Though a right many seem to skip.
Our votes should decide who our leaders are,
Although they often follow their own star.
And by the way, if the news you do not note,
They may be now stealing your vote.

Or would you like to shoot an AR,
Blow away your prey from afar,
And be scarier than you are?
Or would you rather have your health?

Healthcare is an issue most of us take to heart,
A reason from our money we part.
We want relief from injury and disease
But who can believe those drug and doctor’s fees?
If you have insurance or lots of wealth
Maybe you can afford your health.

Or would you like to shoot an AR,
Blow away your prey from afar,
And be scarier than you are?
Or would you rather have safety?

Safety is a commodity in short supply,
Telling the good from the bad guy.
Is each for himself the best way to go
Or does control make security grow?
But if sight of policemen makes you chafe,
You may never feel truly safe.

And all the answers aren’t at hand
And not all march to the same band.
So you see it’s all up to us
Can we be better than we are?

Or do we each need our own AR?

If You Meet A Leprechaun

If you meet a leprechaun,
You should treat him with respect.
He is a phenomenon
With an Irish dialect.

Do not be fooled by his size
Nor smile hidden in his beard.
What he said were not quite lies,
But yet not as they appeared.

You see, he lives by himself,
And sees now a bit of fun.
You are his chance for mischief
And a rare encounter won.

He does not mean to harm you,
But your good is not his goal.
Twisting like a crooked screw,
He wants all in his control.

But if you ever trick him,
Beware of his awful rage.
Fun will become hateful whim
And he will go on rampage.

So, when you meet such a soul,
You do best to back away.
Say hi and keep to your stroll
And you’ll never rue the day.

Finding What You Look For

I thought I saw an unicorn
Happily grazing on my lawn.
I’m fairly sure I saw one horn
‘Though it was still dark before dawn.

There are fairies in my garden
Tending flowers that they’re guarding.
When I pick one I ask their pardon,
But I can feel their glares harden.

The gnome living under that tree
Thinks that he is hidden from me.
I admit he is hard to see,
But small footprints hint where he be.

I suspect a troll lives next door --
His unmown yard is an eyesore.
At nights I’m sure I hear him snore.
Despite all, he is my neighbor.

Perhaps it is my fantasy
To see what others do not see.
But such a life often pleases me
To stretch a bit reality.

Happy Pi Day

Throughout the whole world around,
Today is the day we have crowned
To celebrate the ratio
Used by ancients long ago.

March fourteen is three one four,
The first digits of many more.
Archimedes’ constant, pi,
Circle girth by two radii.

Area equals pi r squared,
But round is how pie’s prepared.
Today make the festive pledge
To honor pi with a wedge.

Buttering Up Your Bread

On which side is your bread buttered
Or is it Fluffer-nuttered?
Did you put on the slathered fat
Or need someone else to do that?

Butter is a most tasty treat
Making better all that you eat.
But unless on your friends you snack,
From buttering them up, hold back.

Save your butter for better things -
Use only for the fun it brings.
Buttering up the boss is wrong,
If workers are to get along.

But what when Boss butters the bread
And sees extra to you is fed?
May you accept such a favor
Of a treat which you so savor?

It is hard to see as a debt
When we are pampered as a pet.
Perhaps nothing back will be asked
And you will never feel harassed.

Playing favorites is a game
That is tricky by any name.
But it is one both sides might choose,
Hoping that nobody will lose.

We'll Go Once More A-Roving

(Thank you to Lord Byron)

Soon we'll go once more a roving
Staying out all the night,
Getting economy moving,
And hopes again burning bright.

For COVID outwore its dread,
And vaccine raised up its shield,
And though we must mourn our dead,
Now we can go afield.

Through this pandemic we strove,
But threat may return again,
Yet we'll go once more out to rove --
May loss not be in vain.

COVID Vaccine Dues

(tune: Folsom Prison Blues)

I see the vaccine coming, it’s rolling on her cart
I ain’t seen such a crowd since the COVID start
I’m stuck in my livingroom and it’s losing its charm
But vaccine is rolling near to shoot me in the arm

When COVID was first starting, the governor told me
“Citizens, let’s be smart, let’s lockdown for safety.”
But she shot me once today just so I won’t die,
When I saw that needle coming, I released a long held sigh.

I know there’s still folks waiting in their lonely home
They’re maybe drinking too much and wishing they could roam.
Well, my first turn is coming, I know I’m not quite free,
But those people will too be shot, and then they can see me.

When they shoot me again, and they let me leave the house,
I bet I will go a little farther with my spouse,
Far from my livingroom, maybe some vacations,
Then I will hurry home, back to my TV stations.

Making It Real (Constitutionally)

Making It Real

We can talk of many concepts,
Debate and even write them down,
But they’re unreal if none accepts
They are rooted in the solid ground.

So it is for Democracy,
That implausible way to live.
In theory it seems near crazy,
To make our neighbors combative.

How simple to be told what’s right
By a wise and God named ruler.
Let the informed say when to fight
And not some offended dueler.

Might you trust in the guy next door
If the adequate rules were made?
To welcome some distant vote more
With careful foundation laid?

It is a challenge to be met
To change theory into nation.
We have not got it quite right yet,
But it’s not imagination.

When you can see and I agree,
The abstract gains reality.
The pure concept may never be,
But we don’t live in fantasy.