A walk from ordinary.........................Poem by Carlos Alvarado

Favors are a kindness

Thankfully accepted

Without compulsion

Nor with obligation

That which is probable

Is often disappointing

If what was hoped for

Would be astonishing

Selfishly failing both

I walked seven miles

Taking it as penance

For being inattentive

It was an education

Until sweltering heat

Exhausted my energy

And lagged my stride

 On one prosthesis

He bore a slight limp

Toward my direction

Compelling reflection

Reasons are plentiful

For an amputation

But what mattered:

His smile, passing me

(Poem) Forever

I remember always her hands

That held me first of all

Guided me with a stroke

Gentle and enlightening

Transmitted her smile

Into a flourish of air

Commanded evil to stop

With a prayerful clasp

Cracks from hard work

Fissured her skin

Coins, counted on the palm

Delighted her to give

Comforted my sorrow

With a pat to my head

I am what I have become

Forever loving my mother

(Poem) Significance

There’s no significance but existence

(Claimed poet Fernando Pessoa)

Yet to exist I aspire to be significant

To leave a trail revealing who I am

With billions of inhabitants and

Evolving artificial intelligence

It’s difficult to become notable

Without thoughts that are unique

Yet manifold replicated DNA sequences

And stunted environmental diversity

Diminishes the prospect of anyone

Ever claiming dominion over a mindset

If a clone of myself has been born

And more yet to be conceived

Why shall I toil to claim significance

And assume a manner of importance

It’s in the isolation of my home

And the splendor of imagination

I am the earth’s greatest writer

As long as not beyond my door

And with the passion and emotion

Shared with those I keep company

I’ve created a world in which I’m one

Exceptional by the love they’ve returned

The track to who I’ve become

Courses under a shelter of love

At the end of which are memories of

A life lived accompanied in pleasure

(poem) Deepest of the deep

          Voyage

Never to have happened

Nor celebrated

Into the abyss

Absent of light

But a distant glow

          I was

Deepest of the deep

          Loneliness

Passion buried within

My heart

Afraid to be touched

And divulge a lie

Silent darkness

          I am

Deepest of the deep

          Desolation

Courage to confront

Its fervent grip

Light without shadow

A soul is bared

Blissfully exposed

          I know

Deepest of the deep

          Love

Emptiness fulfilled

Every heartbeat

Pours joy

Into the void

Sharing my riches

          Freed of

Deepest of the deep

(Poem) Two Mast Sailboat

From the wisdom of Aristotle

“We are what we repeatedly do”

I am a log that rolls out of bed

Each morning, with crusted lids

I stumble to the bathroom

So many have asked me

Now that I’m in retirement

How I’m liking the repetition

Underlying a subliminal expectation

That my reply would be of disdain

There’s an art I’ve not mastered

To break the doldrums I am in

I’ve rearranged the pillows

And their linens by color

Yet I still roll out of bed

This morning, out my window

I glanced a two mast sailboat

In a waterway of motorboats

Immediately I was transported

To places I’ve previously traveled

It was to the Nile with a brilliant sun

Or a Brazilian village on the seashore

I recalled  the wind blown sails

Powering ships on ruffled waters

Passengers content in their adventure

Once was a time everything was new

But since has being transformed

Into a tedious repetition

Shall I yield to the imagination

Or resume with my adventure

(Poem) Cheating words

Life rarely progresses on an easy path

And mine has not been an exception

If not for those I met along the way

I might’ve stumbled on road gravel

I’ve been portrayed as timeworn

But I rather credit my age and status

To a “tried and true” triumph

Adapting the process to my favor

One survival skill I’ve mastered

Is to judge, or be judgmental

Crucial for distinguishing between

What we seek or can harm us

It’s in the nature of things

Defining by the contrasts

Yet being judgmental is equated

To unmerited condemnation

In seeking literary effect

Or political convenience

Oftentimes we cheat the

Consequence of words