Modern Life?

Cherries bloom humbly--

Now organized expertise 

Ever failing us

Frederick Taylor

An Organization Man?

How could this be a Zero?

2b)  Does the object continue to move after it comes to rest?

Maths are essential--
Ask nonsense but degrade play
Words matter really

or should it be

Maths are essential?
Ask nonsense but degrade play--
Words matter really

They're still locust-eaten years, even if redeemed

Munch's Scream redrawn as Despair

All that man builds dies
Son sent in love never fades--

Man's son loves but leaves

More technology is always better

Roll laptops to class

Technology for learning--

Four students watch one

Come on people now, see how we don't smile on our brother?

Construct differences

Peace in our time...doubtful--

Re-render Caesar

Call it Israel or Palestine,  The Occupied West Bank or Jewish Settlement,
relations among the varying groups is strained, to say the least.

Play the Man

Maintain Dignity--
Walk miles in hot dust alone

Be comfortable rock

Elegy for a Brother

Grief burns cold in heart

Mother limper than dead sun--

Son rises to spring

A little bonus...a poem by that brother.

RUMINATIONS NO. 1

I have taken to the streets and filled our house with mysteries;

Is God not the first and last of all mysteries?

Then I have filled our house with pieces of God,

How better can the House of Man be furnished?

REDemption: The best laid plans....

I asked my students to do a Haiku on some place in the world they have visited.  We have a lot of military students, so some of them have been to unusual places.

First, I wanted them to look at a picture from their time in the place and free write about it.

My picture(s) and my pre-write--

It seems like everybody who comes to China gets his picture taken with Mao. There were tourists—Chinese and foreign—all around us taking this same photo. It was hot that day, and we had walked several miles to get there. How does Mao stay looking so good through all the heat? Well, a ways inside this wall—the gate to the Forbidden City—I visited Starbucks. After that refreshment I bet I look even better than Mao.

I wonder how Mao does it—looks so pleasant after sending so many people to their deaths. It’s funny, too, that his picture guards the entrance to the Forbidden City. “Foreign Capitalist Devil and Chinese Citizen, alike, watch out when entering here…unless you want an iced mocha.”

Next, I asked my students to ponder their free writing and then do a Haiku on the subject.

My Mao Haiku

Forbidding man comes;

Pink petal of redemption

Wilts in the cauldron

How much do relationships matter?

Good divorce, you say

Are you ignoring wreckage--

Chick unrealized 

The Problem with Education?

We had parent conferences last night.  It gets tiresome to think about all the organizational gobbledygook that is supposed to make everything so much better but matters little to parents, students or worthwhile learning.  This idea--notion?--called EDUCATION gets puffed, but little more.

Don't overheat the Core

Crank up to Power Standards--

Real learning go hang

Turn the handle and all the cogs will grind out a college-ready reader. The steps to making great art!

A Rainy Day in Palanga



A carving a of V. I. Lenin set in a big chunk of amber     



A biography of Lenin, in an amber mosaic cover

The Blessing Christ, a statue of Jesus

outside the Amber Museum in Palanga, Lithuania, 
which houses Lenin memorabilia, cast in amber 

Amber Communist

Rain washes but can't redeem--

God bless Lenin…NO

A Dahlia by any other Name

It was 5 years ago yesterday--October 16--that we picked up our son.  He was 14 days old.  We met him in a hotel parking lot....It's a lot better than it sounds.

Flowers bloom for eyes

The heart's garden blooms anew--

Atlanta baby