DON'T bring @ gun

to a baptism, to your child's
first grammar-school play,
to a first holy communion,
to a confirmation, to a wedding,
to your ex-wife's next wedding,
to your last day on the job,
because chances are high
that you'll soon regret it
& so will everybody else;
so just don't bring a gun.

(10 FEB 13, Santa Clara CA) v2

GUN ADDICTS

GUN ADDICTS

Firearms 
spew gun-addicts' 
ka-powered fears.

What 12-step program 

can rehabilitate them?
What's its first step?

(11 JAN 12, Santa Clara CA)V7

suburban XM@S dinner

 
The large suburban Santa Clara home was darkly spacious, with a small sparklingly decorated tree reflected in a mirror; nearby it, on the wall, a massive TV-screen.

None of the 6 of us sang christmas carols; 2 sang karaoke pop songs; I sang Ihr habt gelert das cocktails ABC from Brecht's "Mahagonny", impressing everyone.

We had roast turkey, baked ham, corn/maize polenta, mashed potatoes, with merlot; I had hot decaf tea, but passed on apple pie. I was given lots of left-overs to take home; a Mind Benders daily block-calendar (giving it later to a puzzlist where I live); 4 pairs of Eddie Bauer half-sox.

Despising another (singing) guest for being a prurient, sexist, divorced single-dad Vietnam War USN vet spoiled my evening,  thinking: '"What am I doing here?" so I told the hostess later by e-mail & phone. She tactfully suggested he & I came from "opposite ends of the cultural spectrum."

FAITH

FAITH

(about his daughter Fiona)

In her quest for skill

our dexterous child unlocks

the file with letters from Santa

that have sat beside cookie crumbs

and dregs of milk each joyful morning:

the summation of her year, words of

caution and praise.

“Look,” she says.  “Look at this.

Santa has been using our computer!”

And we nurse, as we should, I hope,

the slow turning of the earth,

the eventual lengthening light.

 ~George M. Perreault (D. Ed.)

gmp@unr.edu  Univ. of NV/Reno

GO ASK A GUN-ADDICT

IF gun-ownership as an addiction  
FEELS WRONG TO GUN-OWNERS,  

GO ASK A GUN-ADDICT

VARIANTS: 

Gun-owners are/become gun-addicts, 
but deny it, like most addicts do.
They need a 12-step gun-program.

Securely addicted,

gun-addicts fear

Someone will disarm them,

Someone will assault them,

because they're armed,

calling it Freedom.

(24 DEC 12, Santa Clara CA) v5

LIVING ALONE

LIVING ALONE

Living alone, nothing
ever gets done now

without thinking:

nothing gets done now

without thinking
how to do it ?

(16 DEC 12, Santa Clara CA)v10

JASCHA

JASCHA

Little yellow Jascha

chirrips on his peg in 

the birdcage in my
Polish grandmother's
sunny white kitchen
  
while I crunch away at 
Kellogg's corn soya 
soaking in whole milk

on a happy Saturday
off Salem Common.

(15 DEC 12, Santa Clara CA)v4