Hard Science...

Post by AquarianM on Oct 22, 2011 at 3:27am

Hard Science...

"Black holes are not toys, my dear. They will EAT you."

And anything else...

The rays are hot and fierce,
Ignorance is no excuse,
For there are no loopholes in the laws of physics,
If you get sucked down a wormhole,
Or overheat your planet,
Dead and cooked is still dead and cooked,
Something we little dust-specks should know by gut,
By now,
And Darwin is getting a belly laugh,
No one gives a wayward comet what you believe sonny,
So pull your head out of your asteroid,
Before you get us all cratered,
You can delete your gene pool at your leisure,
But I'll get down on you like Ronnie Ray Gun's killer satellites,
Before I'll let you black-hole mine,
So go put your bag in the LHC beam if you want to,
But blast off from Wall Street and D.C. -
Because you belong in the farthest backwaters,
Of some obscure brown dwarf.

AquarianM

By: Daniel A. Stafford
(C) 10/22/2011

My take on the state of ignorance today.

Words are the mind's bridge - it's connection to the universe.
Love is the heart's bridge - it's connection to all other souls.
Loving words can work miracles.
---------------------------------------
All of my published poetry is at:
www.lulu.com/spotlight/coloringbookforallages

A Season Of Change...

Post by AquarianM on Dec 21, 2011 at 11:08pm

A Season Of Change...

Everyone gets bored at times,
But this Christmas I'm not,
It's all crazy,
The hours,
The learning curve,
The bells and the whistles,
Months of insanity I'm unwrapping,
It'll take me weeks to get the paper off,
They bought us out,
They brought us on,
Now I'm running ragged,
Alive and charged.

AquarianM

By: Daniel A. Stafford
(C) 12/22/2011

Big changes at work.

Words are the mind's bridge - it's connection to the universe.
Love is the heart's bridge - it's connection to all other souls.
Loving words can work miracles.
---------------------------------------
All of my published poetry is at:
www.lulu.com/spotlight/coloringbookforallages

All Sweetness And Light...

Post by AquarianM on Dec 3, 2011 at 6:03am

All Sweetness And Light...
All those sayings about sugar and spice,
And everything nice,
I guess a grandparent said that,
One day when it was a good day,
A day like yesterday,
All innocence and a smile,
Having a granddaughter is like that,
Happy and bright,
All sweetness and light.

AquarianM

By: Daniel A. Stafford
(C) 12/03/2011

Note: For our Granddaughter Natalie Barry.

Natalie having fun at Chuck E. Cheese's:
youtu.be/CgfHEgMl_SQ

Words are the mind's bridge - it's connection to the universe.
Love is the heart's bridge - it's connection to all other souls.
Loving words can work miracles.
---------------------------------------
All of my published poetry is at:
www.lulu.com/spotlight/coloringbookforallages

A Life Of Depth And Breadth...

Post by AquarianM on Jan 1, 2012 at 10:57pm

A Life Of Depth And Breadth...

Words come to me in the slow places,
In quiet moments;
I wonder of the angels and muses that place them so carefully.

If my life seems out of focus,
A whirlwind of variety and interest,
I don't despair of it;
It is my joy.

The ground for all these words is deep and fertile,
Nurtured by experience and curiosity,
Watered by a lifetime of reading,
Turned and planted in the quiet hours of solitude.

There is an ocean in each of us,
Filled with fish only we will ever catch,
Darting and whirling and sparkling,
Glinting for our eyes only,
Only a few ever netted and shared.

Like all poets,
I love swimming.

AquarianM

By: Daniel A. Stafford
(C) 12-31-2011

Words are the mind's bridge - it's connection to the universe.
Love is the heart's bridge - it's connection to all other souls.
Loving words can work miracles.
---------------------------------------
All of my published poetry is at:
www.lulu.com/spotlight/coloringbookforallages

The Last Blue Beauty...(Adult Image)

Post by AquarianM on Jan 5, 2012 at 1:19am

The Last Blue Beauty...

She lies on the soft moss of the river bank,
Naked as sweet cream and ripe strawberries,
A dream no one will ever hold,
A vision for voyeurs served up warm with a plate of Armageddon,
An orchestra of sweet flesh on the last night of Earth,
Leaving her lover,
Bathing in moonlight and starlight,
Incredibly blue,
Insanely beautiful,
Impossible.

AquarianM

By: Daniel A. Stafford
(C) 01/05/2012

Inspired by Kirsten Dunst in Melancholia. ( www.magpictures.com/melancholia/ )

Last Edit: Jan 5, 2012 at 1:29am by AquarianM

Words are the mind's bridge - it's connection to the universe.
Love is the heart's bridge - it's connection to all other souls.
Loving words can work miracles.
---------------------------------------
All of my published poetry is at:
www.lulu.com/spotlight/coloringbookforallages

The Wisdom of Glass...(Oldy)

Post by AquarianM on Mar 2, 2011 at 12:07am

The Wisdom of Glass...

Glass is said to be a solid liquid,
But the time it would take a window,
To flow out of it's frame,
The physicists say would exceed,
The life of the known universe...

I think we all want to wind up under glass,
A race of spectacle spinning 'round,
Put me in a giant paperweight,
And shake up the snow, Baby,
'Cause I want to leave footprints,
Make my micro millimeter's progress,
Count out loud in Echo's pretty face,
Is the window warped yet,
And why is this paperweight on my desk,
A huge dandelion puff in the clear,
Over a wash of Navy Blue,
Bury me in a block of clear plastic,
A pen in each hand too,
And put my world under windows.

Maybe the wisdom of glass,
Will let them see through me,
To where the love is sweet,
Not any shade of molten blue.

AquarianM

By: Daniel A. Stafford
(C) 01/18/2002

Author's Comments

Aside - they have the most beautiful collection of
paperweights - hundreds - at the Chicago Art Institute Museum.
Doesn't it seem that whatever we wish to beautify,
glass is involved? Jewelry cases, hell, any merchandise case,
paperweights, pictures, church windows stained,
skyscrapers, lights......mirrors.

Words are the mind's bridge - it's connection to the universe.
Love is the heart's bridge - it's connection to all other souls.
Loving words can work miracles.
---------------------------------------
All of my published poetry is at:
www.lulu.com/spotlight/coloringbookforallages

A Madison Flower Child Over The Moon...

Post by AquarianM on Mar 11, 2011 at 12:11am

A Madison Flower Child Over The Moon...



Have you watched That Seventies Show?
I went to part of Grade School and part of High School in Madison,
Late Sixties and Late Seventies,
Respectively respectfully,
My Mom really had that same haircut,
Just like the Mom on TV,
I can show you a picture if you want.

It was a time of art and buses and bicycles,
Freedom to run the city and Rockin' Roll,
All about wild and free summers,
More than a feeling,
Finding out if it was the right time of the night,
The golden era of the long-haired children,
Bell-bottoms and bigger bell bottoms,
Roller skates and Disco,
Sweet lips and soft fuzzy sweaters too magical to touch.

You might have thought it was another planet,
A sort of urban utopia in some ways,
Teen angst meets innocence in a tsunami of creativity,
The sort of place where anything could happen,
Skateboards to skeechin',
All you really needed was a decent bike.

Flash-forward thirty-three years,
It's a frightening number.

The Lord of the Sith has taken my City,
Scottwalker become Dirt Raider,
With his nineteen Palpatines,
An evil glowing red trying for the green,
Chief Storm Trooper for the council of...Ferenghi?
Wait! Gold-pressed latinum doesn't belong in this universe!
Help me, John Lennon!
Help me John Fogerty!
Where is Superman, Spiderman, the Hulk, or maybe Thor!

There's plenty of them marching in the streets of Madison,
The REAL super heroes,
The real deal,
The people who make it all happen.

They don't have super powers or capes,
No tights or light sabers,
No blasters, no phasers,
Just heart and soul.

I just know they'll paint the return of the Republic,
With masterstrokes of unity and solidarity and community,
Hearts that care for the Common Man AND his Sister,
They will one day vanquish the forces of Evil,
Sit their sorry behinds down,
Put a great big dose of Madison in their pipes and make them smoke it.

Now the whole world knows why I'll always think of that City as home.

AquarianM

By: Daniel A. Stafford
(C) 03/11/2011

In tribute to my Brothers & Sisters in Madison, Wisconsin. You rock!

Words are the mind's bridge - it's connection to the universe.
Love is the heart's bridge - it's connection to all other souls.
Loving words can work miracles.
---------------------------------------
All of my published poetry is at:
www.lulu.com/spotlight/coloringbookforallages

If My Heart Were A Baked Potato...

Post by AquarianM on Mar 2, 2011 at 1:08am

If My Heart Were A Baked Potato...

I would slather it in your love-butter,
Salt it with tears of joy,
Top it with the sour cream of heavenly days,
Cool it with my last breath,
Just as I handed it to you on a silver platter...

But...

I can hear you say...

"Were you planning on hanging around to enjoy this with me?
Where's the bacon bits?"

AquarianM

By: Daniel A. Stafford
(C) 03/02/2011

Words are the mind's bridge - it's connection to the universe.
Love is the heart's bridge - it's connection to all other souls.
Loving words can work miracles.
---------------------------------------
All of my published poetry is at:
www.lulu.com/spotlight/coloringbookforallages

Lynn's Seed Oil...

Post by AquarianM on Mar 12, 2011 at 10:11am

Lynn's Seed Oil...

A gift from long ago,
A scent of your remembrance,
Shared in the dreams of life's loneliest moments,
A decade more of secret dreams,
Nothing you'd confide or share,
Empty heat and wasted passion,
A wilted flower that grows,
Something once-had,
Never forgotten or quite relinquished,
Slippery and pleasant,
An old comfort that's harmless.

AquarianM

By: Daniel A. Stafford
(C) 02/13/2011

"Rembrandt...Sleeping" poem #9.

Words are the mind's bridge - it's connection to the universe.
Love is the heart's bridge - it's connection to all other souls.
Loving words can work miracles.
---------------------------------------
All of my published poetry is at:
www.lulu.com/spotlight/coloringbookforallages

The Letter Army...

Post by AquarianM on Mar 19, 2011 at 1:48am

The Letter Army...

They come upon you in the night thousands strong,
Running you over with swords of phrase and euphemisms of glory,
Wild tempest of thought scattered like bodies all about,
The only thing left in the morning cloaked in mystic glory,
But ok,
What a mad night it's been.

AquarianM

By: Daniel A. Stafford
(C) 02/16/2011

"Rembrandt...Sleeping" poem #11 

Words are the mind's bridge - it's connection to the universe.
Love is the heart's bridge - it's connection to all other souls.
Loving words can work miracles.
---------------------------------------
All of my published poetry is at:
www.lulu.com/spotlight/coloringbookforallages

Big Hair...

Big Hair...

[Big booming drum track & rock guitar]

Big Hair!
Soft, sweet and sexy big hair!
Lord how I miss that big hair!

[Big booming drum track & rock guitar]

Farrah was on my wall,
It started then and there!

Girls super cute with all that big hair!

[Big booming drum track & rock guitar]

Big Hair!
Soft, sweet and sexy big hair!
Lord how I miss that big hair!

[Big booming drum track & rock guitar]

Disco on the dance floor,
Shake out all that lovely,
Big hair!

Tease me with your tresses,
Big hair!

[Big booming drum track & rock guitar]

Big Hair!
Soft, sweet and sexy big hair!
Lord how I miss that big hair!

[Big booming drum track & rock guitar]

Magic curling irons and blow dryers,
Big hair!
All over the movies hot n' sweet with,
Big hair!

Back to the future with her,
Big hair!

[Big booming drum track & rock guitar]

Big Hair!
Soft, sweet and sexy big hair!
Lord how I miss that big hair!

[Big booming drum track & rock guitar]

Baby, baby, baby,
Rockin in the 80's,
Rock that big hair!

AquarianM

By: Daniel A. Stafford
(C) 11/30/2017

Cat...Atonic...

Post by AquarianM on Mar 18, 2011 at 2:27am

Cat...Atonic...

Feline friends run in your dreams,
As always - independent,
Willful yet ignorant,
You try to coax them away from where the nightmares live,
But they're frisky and lure you closer,
To the point where sweat and worry wake you...

...and there the hungry little things are,
Staring at you.

AquarianM

By: Daniel A. Stafford
(C) 02/14/2011

"Rembrandt...Sleeping" poem #10. 

Words are the mind's bridge - it's connection to the universe.
Love is the heart's bridge - it's connection to all other souls.
Loving words can work miracles.
---------------------------------------
All of my published poetry is at:
www.lulu.com/spotlight/coloringbookforallages

Coming Up Hot...

Post by AquarianM on Mar 22, 2011 at 10:31pm

Coming Up Hot...

Love is a drug,
But there's never enough...of you,
Of you,
In my nights,
In my sleep,
I'm coming up hot,
To breathe,
You in,
Like a line again,
Love is a drug,
But there's never enough...of you,
Of you...to breathe.

AquarianM

By: Daniel A. Stafford
(C) 02/16/2011

"Rembrandt...Sleeping" poem #12

Words are the mind's bridge - it's connection to the universe.
Love is the heart's bridge - it's connection to all other souls.
Loving words can work miracles.
---------------------------------------
All of my published poetry is at:
www.lulu.com/spotlight/coloringbookforallages

This River I Run...

Post by AquarianM on Mar 24, 2011 at 11:13pm

This River I Run...

There's a place I come from,
That little Midwestern town by the river,
I can never escape it's call,
No matter how far I go,
Trees green,
Water near the same,
Limestone and dams,
The festivals of summer,
A glimpse of peace crosses my face as afternoon sunshine,
As the boat cruises down the Rock,
I feel at home,
Where I know in my bones,
This place has never left my blood,
In spite of pains,
In spite of travels,
In spite of gains,
This river I run is at the root of me,
These banks hallowed ground,
My childhood screams it's name,
My family's fate has long been surrounded by it,
The seeming languid waters deceptive in their power,
My grandmother and grandfather,
Mother and father,
Brothers, sisters,
Cousins, aunts, uncles,
Near all have watched this water run by,
And timeless times I remember,
As lives flow slowly by,
Their seeming languid pace deceptive in their power,
And I thank God for moments most would call me fool for,
To cherish this small, unknown, struggling town,
This place so often ridiculed,
But as they often say here,
Beloit Wisconsin calls you,
One can leave,
But in some fashion,
Everyone winds up coming back,
Even if just in memory of times loved or hated.
Happy as I am,
I miss the river I run.

AquarianM

By: Daniel A. Stafford
(C) 07/16/2001

Author's Comments

This was driven home to me yesterday. I returned for the annual Riverfest, a small-town affair. My wife and I were out on my brother's boat with him and his wife, and even as my wife shudders at the smallness of this place, my sense of home screams at me in every familiar sight. Places where I cut my foot running as a barefoot child, the spot where my Noni & Nono lie in eternal slumber, where my brothers & father still call home. Places where summer was God's greatest gift and spring a blessed miracle. Yes, it's small there, but in some ways, I just can never leave.

Words are the mind's bridge - it's connection to the universe.
Love is the heart's bridge - it's connection to all other souls.
Loving words can work miracles.
---------------------------------------
All of my published poetry is at:
www.lulu.com/spotlight/coloringbookforallages

Sparks And Bits...

Post by AquarianM on Mar 25, 2011 at 6:56pm

Sparks And Bits...

Sparks and bits,
Sparks and bits,
Everybody loves their sparks and bits!

Sparks will fly and bits will flow,
Off through the Ethernets they will go,
Where they stop no one knows,
Well,
Maybe.

Gremlins eat crackers,
Funny friends of Black-hat Hackers,
Code snakes and worms,
Trojan server farms,
Growing incredible Zombie swarms.

Sparks and bits,
Sparks and bits,
Everyone loves their sparks and bits!

Shiny phones and laptop homes,
E-readers and tablet tomes,
We eat it all,
From a big screen on the wall,
Jello mind pudding,
With psyops topping,
Where it leads us is there any stopping?

Sparks and bits,
Sparks and bits,
Everyone loves their sparks and bits!

I threw on my coat,
Went off to vote,
Maybe send the Future a sweet love note,
But the transmission was garbled,
By the touch-screen I marveled,
An ocean of Blue and Red,
It was all in my head,
Some wizard of Wall Street,
Votes in my stead,
Electronic proxy,
Sells water full of mercury,
Radium and lead.

Sparks and bits,
Sparks and bits,
Come swallow the working class,
Sparks and bits.

AquarianM

By: Daniel A. Stafford
(C) 03/25/2011

#evotingsux - twitter.com/#!/search?q=%23evotingsux

Words are the mind's bridge - it's connection to the universe.
Love is the heart's bridge - it's connection to all other souls.
Loving words can work miracles.
---------------------------------------
All of my published poetry is at:
www.lulu.com/spotlight/coloringbookforallages

Utopia...

Post by AquarianM on Apr 2, 2011 at 6:13am

Utopia...

Speaking of dreams,
How is the world holding up,
On the shoulders of the "strong and mighty?"

Do you sing and dance all day,
Walking on rainbows and eating cotton candy,
Or sit on a golden throne?

Call out the cannons...

AquarianM

By: Daniel A. Stafford
(C) 04/02/2011

"Rembrandt...Sleeping" poem #13

Words are the mind's bridge - it's connection to the universe.
Love is the heart's bridge - it's connection to all other souls.
Loving words can work miracles.
---------------------------------------
All of my published poetry is at:
www.lulu.com/spotlight/coloringbookforallages

The Dredgeman...

Post by AquarianM on Apr 13, 2011 at 11:32pm

The Dredgeman...

Out in the unmapped reaches,
Old places where no one longer goes,
Or knows,
Somewhere with forgotten secrets,
Sad things once whispered,
Now silent cold,
Something like a hard coffee-stained table,
Washed out to sea afloat,
Salt water does the fading,
Not sure if there's a shadow of a circle,
A dim idea you can barely hold,
Desperately-gathered driftwood,
Sitting in a quiet left-handed corner of Heaven,
Once-dreamed of,
A weak anchor for lost souls,
Sun setting slow,
In skies of magenta,
Gold,
Velvet rose,
Treasure map you can't any longer read,
Or hold,
On the wind,
I'm told.

AquarianM

By: Daniel A. Stafford
(C) 04/08/2011

Inspired by a minor character in Karen Russell's book, Swamplandia: www.amazon.com/Swamplandia-Karen-Russell/dp/0307263991

Re-Greased Lightning...

Post by AquarianM on Apr 21, 2011 at 2:18am

Re-Greased Lightning...



Thirty-six years of rust,
Some fool's idea of "repainting" half-baked,
Scars of minor neglect,
All fleeing a moment-at-a-time,
Scrubbing, scrubbing, scrubbing,
Grade 0000 steel wool and leather gloves,
Hours and hours,
Tweak with metal polish and old rags,
New bearings and reflectors,
Chrome generator lights ordered and shipping,
Water bottle mount now mounted,
Maybe REAL new paint this Winter,
But this Summer I'm gonna go,
Greased lightning and a bolt of blue,
Thirteen inside on the bike I couldn't quite afford,
Back in the days of delivering newspapers and saving dimes,
Got my 1975 Connie for fifty bucks,
Put a couple hundred and some man hours in,
Just to be a delighted child once more,
Racing the wind,
Hearing Freddy Mercury in my head.

AquarianM

By: Daniel A. Stafford
(C) 04/21/2011 Photography and poetry

Author's Note:
I'm restoring my 1975 Schwinn Continental a bit at a time. The project blog is at: 1975continental.blogspot.com .

Queen - "Bicycle Race" - the uncensored original version : youtu.be/68Ze1ZcqnO0

Words are the mind's bridge - it's connection to the universe.
Love is the heart's bridge - it's connection to all other souls.
Loving words can work miracles.
---------------------------------------
All of my published poetry is at:
www.lulu.com/spotlight/coloringbookforallages

The Poetry Garage...

Post by AquarianM on May 12, 2011 at 10:33pm

The Poetry Garage...



Ain't this just amazin'?

I park in a place for six or seven years,
That long it takes to pull in my energy,
A whim or a will or universal magic,
Dead classics come to life,
I wish it were some living wordsmiths,
But poetry of any kind beats bare tile walls,
And this makes me wonder if I can get a hundred poets,
To read from the tenth floor roof,
Raise this whole thing to another level,
Give it a dose of the living word.

AquarianM

By: Daniel A. Stafford
(C) 05/10/2011

Author's note:
All this just appeared in my parking ramp by work last week. Fascinating.

whizzyrds.blogspot.com/2011/05/poetry-garage-new-theme-for-downtown.html

Words are the mind's bridge - it's connection to the universe.
Love is the heart's bridge - it's connection to all other souls.
Loving words can work miracles.
---------------------------------------
All of my published poetry is at:
www.lulu.com/spotlight/coloringbookforallages

The Chocolate Wars...

Post by AquarianM on May 17, 2011 at 1:30am

The Chocolate Wars...


Chocolate Ninja


Chocolate Dragon

In a forked battle at Kung Pao,
Dark and drizzled was the day,
Fierce and furious with magic and heat flying about,
Mysteries that will never be solved,
Only sung about for ages and generations.

Hu Chia' Shinzo the Ninja Lord,
Fought the Terror of the Chokore-to Mountains,
The dark Dragon Shokora,
For fourteen days and nights.

There was steam and heat,
Cracked and split stones flew about,
As they battled on mountain tops,
Stalked each other in cloud valleys,
Raced upon the rustling branches of trees,
Swam between schools of mountain stream fish,
Neither staunch opponent was able to get the upper hand.

In the end, they held truce,
And the Lord invited the weary Dragon for dinner,
Which they held with ceremony and in splendor,
Under a softly glowing paper Moon.

AquarianM

By: Daniel A. Stafford
(C) 05/17/2011

Author's note:
The two images above have an interesting origin. If you've ever heard of the Turkish custom of reading the grounds of Turkish (exactly like Greek) coffee, you'll be able to appreciate this. (For those unfamiliar with the method, the reader sees images in the grounds, like an ink-blot test, then interprets them.) These came from my attempt to read the remains of a chocolate fondue dessert my wife and I had on Sunday evening. The Ninja Lord was her plate, the Dragon was mine. These are un-retouched phone camera shots of the two plates.

Words are the mind's bridge - it's connection to the universe.
Love is the heart's bridge - it's connection to all other souls.
Loving words can work miracles.
---------------------------------------
All of my published poetry is at:
www.lulu.com/spotlight/coloringbookforallages