The Sky is Falling

 

The sky is falling

(2/11/2025)

I have a spider bite on my foot

& it itches.

I want to scratch it

but I already did that. 

it's all red & puffy.

I placed a cold wet compress

on it. 

I watch some news to distract

myself. (bad idea)

now I think the sky is falling…

The president did this, the congress

Is divided and does nothing, A billionaire 

who bought the election has access

to all our data, half the country is in an

uproar, the other half is in shock, as

thousands of people lose their jobs, women

& men in africa will be dying from aids &

starvation because the president

stopped the aid. All the farmers that voted

for him are upset because the price of grain

has fallen because the president stopped

the aid. etc, etc, etc.

I turn off the news and my foot still 

Itches, I still want to scratch it & now more

than ever I feel like Chicken Little and think

the sky is falling..

bd burton

On my 67th Birthday

 

On my 67th birthday

I started the day as usual by taking

my blue eyed 

     husky

for a walk around Silver Creek pond. We look

for the mother duck and her ducklings. We

stop to watch the swallows going this way

and that way and listen to all the birds

singing their early morning tunes.

  The maintenance man working on 

one of the high school ball fields calls out

“That's a handsome looking husky you got

there.” I call back “He is a good boy, and he

likes to get out early for his walk, although

sometimes I would prefer to stay in 

my cozy bed.”

  He laughs, I laugh. Our early morning

laughter seems to harmonize perfectly with

the songbird tunes for this morning.

It’s a good way to start my 68th year on this here earth. 

bd burton, 6/4/2025

Walking the Tall Grass

 

Walking the Tall Grass

If you walk in the tall grass, say

in June,

           when the grass is waist high,

     you're going to be stung by something

or another.

  But if you dont walk in the tall grass

       you’ll miss all those wild

                                             flowers

showing off their palate of vibrant colors.

    & you'll miss the 15 swallows performing

aerial acrobatics

      eating some of the things

that would like to sting you. 

bd burton

6/24/2023

self love

 

self love

i followed my 

breath

into my heart

& there i found

a purple flower.

It was so

lovely I wanted

to cry.

it reminded me

of my mothers

love for me.

she loved me

unconditionally

even tho I was 

a troubled child.

moody, whiney

and tested

her patience

often, very often!

a thought occurred

to me. 

maybe she is

speaking to me from

beyond the grave.

maybe she wants

me to love myself

the way she loved

me.

       unconditionally.

bd burton-5/20/2025

 

The Swallows Are Back

The swallows are back for the summer

at Silver creek pond. Nova and I leave early

for our walk. I want to get there before

the world wakes up.

On the way we encounter Mama Mallard

with 8 little ducklings swimming behind her

in the creek. We see a killdeer and a willet

by the shore pecking for food. We reach our

destination. A bench by the pond near the

building where hundreds of swallows have

built mud nests under the eves.They are

darting about in the sky zigging and zagging

every which way snatching bugs. It is

amazing they don't run into each other.

I am unsettled. My brain is going in many

directions. I force myself to slow down, to

breath deep, to open up all my sense doors,

to drop into my heart.

Swallows snag their bugs and return to their

nests. Then they do it again and again. The

swallow songs blend with all the other bird songs,

robins, western meadowlarks, red wing

black birds and a yellowthroat warbler.

I become lost in this early morning

extravagance. Nova lays down and rests

beside the bench.

Some of the swallows perform these

magnificent dives at the pond only to touch

the water with their beaks to grab a bug

leaving beautiful concentric circles flowing

out in waves of energy.

After a while when my heart is soft, and my

mind is still we head home.

bd burton, 5/14/25 

 

Zen Pessimism

Life is a bitch

         & then

you open your

eyes and

         wake up,

seeing everything

   is connected.

 A smile forms on

        your face.

bd burton, 

1994 

 

I keep waiting

I keep waiting for some big

spaceship to come down from

the sky and a Buddha looking

alien would come out and wack 

me on the side of my linear

thinking head, just like I use to

wack my old tv set to fix the fuzzy

picture. Then the whole universe

would come into focus and I would 

exist in a state of constant WOW!

bd burton, 6/10/1994