Early August Poetry

The following poems were inspired by the creative people at Tinker's Alley and Paul Henry's Gallery, and by our recently departed furry Stamper family members pictured above, Maddie and her daughter Shadow. May their journey over the Rainbow Bridge be a fun-filled adventure.

Cat Hair
The old comfy couch
needed a good cleaning

I got my roller on
and dug in
working the fabric
with vigorous strokes
and thick hairs appeared
grey, sticky clumps

Reminding me of
soulful eyes
black pupils
squeaky mews

The same fur
used to rub on my leg
marking the territory
as hers

She—
now a box
labeled Shadow—
ashes, ashes
but my mind
embraces love

Gordon Stamper, Jr.
August 3, 2018

******

Action Hero
Grab complacency
by the waddle
and toss it aside

But the bodyguards
would never let you

Extract the intractable
with a rusty shovel
and uproot it in shreds

But the town
won’t let you dig there

Take out
the choking vine
with a loud chainsaw

But the neighbors
like the way it looks

Action heroes
don’t have to deal
with rules and regulations
they tell the captain
to shove the badge
or drive their 4X4’s
out of quicksand

But I’m no Rambo
or John McClane
or Lone Wolf McQuade

I’ll have to grumble
like a low-energy Lou Reed
and rent the curtain
to the principalities’
Holy of Holies
on the page

Gordon Stamper, Jr.
August 3, 2018

******

Good Afternoon (or an ode to critical thinking)
Now that you’ve mentioned it
we give mouth service to
critical thinking

State universities
de-emphasizing liberal arts
emphasizing the sciences
becoming the training grounds
because employers don’t want to
train anyone

While our captains of industry
our job creators
send their offspring
to the finest Ivy League colleges

Do you think those schools
tossed out literature and philosophy?
Hell no!
The wealthy wouldn’t accept that
leave the button pushing to the masses

But sorry for the rant
I need to know
if you’d like
mashed
fries or
sweet potato tots
with that

Gordon Stamper, Jr.
August 1, 2018