a leaf in the wind

So cold and numb, the hailstrikes scarcely hurt;
their relative velocity's quite small.
Ten thousand meters off the Aussie dirt,
Wisnierska wasn't piloting at all.
Unconscious baggage in convection's blast
her glider--packed with snow--persists to fly.
Her life-force on the wane, and fading fast
the mystery is that she didn't die.
Where Gadd and Castle opt to sit one out,
she takes the meethead's word the day looks good.
Subordinating any private doubt,
'though now, she might repent that, if she could.
Mere gossamer within the stormhead's suck
she lives to fly again, through dumbest luck.

cupping

What octopus signed Michael Phelps' back
and left its calling-card all down his arm?
How many other suffered such attack
and was there more than superficial harm?
A lifetime, they've been honing their technique
and fear one race might turn on happenstance;
one top performance at their very peak
is too important to be left to chance!
Competitors will grasp for any edge
they've long since shaved off all their body hair.
And now the purplish blots of hemorrhage
accessorize their minimal swimwear.
Where one can't carry talismans for luck
they bear stigmata of the cups that suck.

June 12th

When Jimi Hendrix strode up to the plate
and Richard Nixon caught on bended knee
Dock Ellis smirked. 'Cause to hallucinate
is pretty much the point of LSD.
Opposing coaches envy what he took.
No pattern's manifest for them to find
in any scuttlebutt, or scouting book
for pitchers operating out of mind.
Four walks, no hits, no runs; the game was won.
the batters live forever with the shame.
The counter-culture changed how things are done
and what it even means to "play the game".
"The hardest feat in sports" to get a hit
when Dock's atop the mound, and he is lit.

Free at last! III

ten thousand years since glaciers cleft its face
the granite of Yosemite's pristine.
No longer slogging up at Harding's pace, 
this generation likes its climbing clean.
Lynn Hill debuted the new way on the Nose
although deplorables still lean on aid.
Each year, a new "impossible line" goes
and--incrementally--progress gets made.
Now Alex went free-solo up el-Cap;
vicariously, millions share his win.
Between us and young Honnold yawns a gap
meticulously filmed by Jimmy Chin.
Sang-froid! Just skills and chalk and shoes and wall
as we suppress the prospect of a fall

sensei

Triassic pterosaurs ruled Utah's skies
once dragonflies relinquished air-control
diminished from their former seagull-size
while their forbears metamorphized to coal.
Long teeth attest big fish comprised its meal
a minnow'd swim back out between the gap
big pectoralis tugged on sternum's keel
to generate the impetus to flap.
A soaring primate claims to innovate
what long before by brutes had been well done
but Utah's still the bomb to aviate
bird brains can't rule alone in having fun!
Once lithified, the oracle bones last
two hundred million years, to tell our...past.

puerile

Mike Pence sat as Olympic Games began
like Kaepernick protesting some grave wrong
symbolic speech belongs to everyman
and need not disrespect the flag, or song.
His outrage may be feigned, or deeply felt
but still Mike's rightly deemed a hypocrite
White Privilege marks every card he's dealt
while others always play a hand of shit.
As petulant as Trump, but not as fat
he's more inclined to condescend, than boast.
as best he can, he'll channel the big brat
by boorishly insulting his own host.
This peevish pair's our nation's crying shames
as blind as Scrooge to Spirit of the Games.

low flight

Cast off the surly bonds of gravity;
embrace the joy awaiting us on high.
It's not enough to live life in 2-D
when once you've realized we're meant to fly.
A kite's a pretty minimal machine
a bargain, amortized on so much fun.
And as a sport, it's almost wholly green;
convection's driven--gratis--by the sun.
Uncircumscribed by stadium, or court,
with little but the wind for us to hear.
Apotheosis in the realm of sport!
We're only bounded by the atmosphere.
A pleasure long beyond the reach of kings
belongs to anyone who'll take to wings.

Russo III

Symbolic speech, like Kaepernick employed
enjoys robust protection by the First
Amendment; laws that ban it must be void.
Allegiance is a farce, if it's coerced.
But in the workplace, laxer rules obtain; 
employment can depend on staying mute.
The contract's all about mutual gain
and Management wins when there's a dispute.
A lot of teams could use his good right arm
but none dare face Trump's tantrums and his ire
while Donald warns attendance would take harm
if Colin were the quarterback they'd hire.
Trump wants Black athletes quiet in their place
but still pretends he didn't run on race.

Russo II

Symbolic speech, like Kaepernick displayed
enjoys robust protection by the First
Amendment against laws that might be made.
Allegiance is a farce, if it's coerced.
But in the workplace, laxer rules obtain; 
employment can depend on staying mute.
The contract's all about mutual gain
and Management wins when there's a dispute.
A lot of teams could use his good right arm
but none dare face Trump's tantrums and his ire
while Donald warns attendance would take harm
if Colin were the quarterback they'd hire.
Trump wants Black athletes quiet in their place
but still pretends he didn't run on race.

Russo

Symbolic speech, like Kaepernick displayed
enjoys robust protection by the First
Amendment against laws that might be made.
A pledge of loyalty can't be coerced.
But in the workplace, laxer rules obtain; 
employment can depend on staying mute.
The contract's all about mutual gain
and Management wins when there's a dispute.
A lot of teams could use his good right arm
but none dare face Trump's tantrums and his ire
while Donald warns attendance would take harm
if Colin were the quarterback they'd hire.
Trump wants Black athletes quiet in their place
but still pretends he didn't run on race.

while the fatcat's away

Vacation beckons, Donald blows this town
away from the humidity and heat.
The toll of so much winning's got him down.
At golf,  his friends accept he's gonna cheat.
The drive he slices into the pro shop
goes unrecorded; there's another ball.
His caddy sets a tee with it atop;
to mention it would be the height of gall.
But back in Washington, Bob Mueller's team
is prospecting among the gold for dirt
already, Flynn's shown more than just a gleam.
Trump's going down; the landing's gonna hurt.
The links this Special Counsel documents
spell out the downfall of this president.

tempus fugit

the Second Law decrees our flow's one-way
we can't undo the thing that has been done
at best, we'll make the best of every day
but youth's too often wasted on the young
Achilles never counted thirty years
his corpse--save one small puncture--was pristine
but aging athletes suffer tendon tears
if we keep skiing when we're no more teens
live fast! die young! the world will sing your song
most glorious of all the sons of Greece
but such a candle must flame out ere long
and fits in poorly when the world's at peace
to guard our worn-down knees and aging back
we can't keep chasing kids down double black

another's life

Joe Simpson's touched the void, but hasn't died
vicariously, we enjoy the tale
of hauling his ass off that mountainside
where normal actuary tables fail
alone, without support, he had to cope
back down to basecamp where his own tracks led
pursuing Simon who had cut the rope
believing, in good faith, he must be dead
exquisite storytelling makes one feel
experiences by the climber's lights
emotional responses can be real
although you've sat at home, and shunned the heights
mortality imbues this life with zest
but someone else's near-miss--that's the best

cupping

What octopus signed Michael Phelps' back

and left its calling-card all down his arm?

How many other suffered such attack

and was there more than superficial harm?

A lifetime, they've been honing their technique

and fear one race might turn on happenstance;

one top performance at their very peak

is too important to be left to chance!

Competitors will grasp for any edge

they've long since shaved off all their body hair.

And now the purplish blots of hemorrhage

accessorize their minimal swimwear.

Where one can't carry talismans for luck

they bear stigmata of the cups that suck.

motivated

Dawn finds us stooped, already on our  quest
with gun and pail and tripod on the sand
when saner folk are still snug in their nest
out foraging to find the horse-neck clam
the bay lies emptied this low tide of June
with cryptic dents and holes at which we stare
obedient to both the sun and moon
the ocean's gathered into heaps elsewhere
what wage could compensate such brutal work
that we perform for sport and don't complain
we thrill at possibilities that lurk
and shrug at those who doubt that we are sane
strange act of faith, to claw through sand and muck
as if we dreamt we'd bag a geoduck

so green

a parody of youth and vulgar wealth
all flagrant ego, too cool for ski-school
without regard for courtesy or health
he'll let the geriatrics mind the rules
the sickest gear from all the swankest brands
to wow the ladies at the ski-lodge bar
an adolescent puppet of his glands
who sneered at limits 'til he pushed too far
the monochrome of Winter yields to Spring
a swatch of scarlet stark among the pines
as flesh sloughs off, synthetic fabrics cling
a skier who ignored the 'boundary' signs
a boon of nitrogen elates the trees
a dilettante who thought he really skis