20151109 (picking up)

Time to think about housecleaning

Not to do any of it just to think

Scattered about my desk scattered

About everywhere including the

Deeded property are what I will

Call tasks a good chunk of the way

To completion that includes 

Cooking a meal for twenty-five

People I don’t know but that’s

Ok I have it on the best of authority

They are children of God and 

That’s enough for me keeps me

From speculating of their formal

Standing on the social register

Who knows where I’ll end up

On that manmade book of life

All that remains is cleaning up

The pots and pans work surfaces

Floor onto which food fell and

Was either recovered in the ten

Second rule or somehow found 

Its way into Loki’s digestive

Tract even if you build a cabinet

Or replaster a wall there’s always

Putting the tools back but I ask 

You put away a hammer a screwdriver

When you’re going to need it in

Less than a day makes no sense

But it’s best to leave it somewhere

You’ll find it again or there’ll be

Far too much looking for it on

The next project and you may 

Tire of the search and begin 

Adapting other tools to the 

Purpose what is a hammer 

But a hard weight on one end 

Of a stick a pipe wrench can 

Save you half a day’s searching 

Likewise a paper clip clamped 

In a visegrip can serve to screw 

In just about anything with a 

Straight slot Phillips screws 

You’ll need a sharp scrap of metal

Again in the vise grip to get the job

Done clothes are a lot like tools

And pots and pans once they’re

Worn they needn’t hang properly

Unless they’ll be worn again soon

What kind of scrambling do you

Think happens in a washer then 

Dryer you better hustle when it

Buzzes else the weight of your 

Jeans will recrush a dress shirt

Socks what the hell underwear 

Pajamas t-shirts the like can

Just as well be put in a crusher 

Till they’re worn again who’s 

Ever been bothered by a wrinkle

In their scivvies now a pimple

On the panty line that’s another 

Thing entirely like I said when I

Started this is just thinking about

Housecleaning not housecleaning

Itself heavens no God forbid

c. J.S.Manista, 2015

20151108 (medical costs)

Charge the sucker what he’ll pay

Is the first rule of economics I’m

Quite sure Samuelson frames it 

More delicately as a graph showing

Buyers along the y-axis and price

Along the x refined to show that

One’s maximum earnings occur

At some point along the line for

The highest price times the 

Largest number of buyers if the 

Price is very low you can move 

A million if the price is very 

High sales will be rare

But that’s for widgets novels

And movies if all you’ve got

Is that one lamp your Aunt Martha

Gave you fifty cents may not be 

As bad as it sounds at first

Especially when you’ve had it 

On Craigslist for six weeks and 

Nobody’s come to see it from the

Ten who called you can regift it

If your friends lack taste or lamps

Which can save you driving it 

To the thrift store but you shouldn’t 

Claim it on your taxes not

In good conscience if you’ve ever

Thought to make a photo record 

Of your possessions would you

Even waste the effort for the lamp

Not if your deductible is a thousand

Dollars when they stole my computer

And monitor I learned that only cars

Out of showrooms depreciate faster

It may be worth a thousand dollars

To you but that gets you a buck to

Claim it if it’s five years old in my 

Dump they’d have to take a lot for

Me to get even a pittance back and

That’s including repair of the 

Break-in damage I’m reading

Steven Brill’s book on medical

Costs in America America’s

Bitter Pill and learning how

Health benefits got so expensive

He samples items from those six

To seven page line listings of every

Item used in the course of two days

In the hospital seventy-seven

Dollars for a box of gauze pads

One could buy for a buck at CVS

Or having to pay for items twice

Once as a line cost and again 

Included in the cost of the 

Emergency room billing for 

Hospital care rivals the Defense 

Department’s six hundred dollar 

Hammers former employees of

Hospitals and insurance companies

Have carved lush new jobs negotiating

With hospitals to reduce your

Bill but of course that comes at 

A price too it is not unusual to

Find non-profit hospitals with

Operating profits higher than

Apple remember that when you

Set your price it’s not gouging

It’s your due

c. J.S.Manista, 2015

20151107 (mistakes)

I haven’t read the bible through

Nor all of Shakespeare’s plays

And sonnets not the eighty greatest

Books of American literature I’ve

Read Things Fall Apart don’t 

Remember anything of The Stranger

Nothing by Faulkner Hemingway

The Great Gatsby a couple of times

I did ok in differential calculus but

Took an incomplete in integral for

Someone who had sparkled in

High school math I hit a brick

Wall in college I don’t remember

Developing anything better than

A slick facility with science but

Once I got beyond the popular

Level I fumbled like the rest

Looking briefly at a self help

Book I was given as a beginning

Freshman in college titled How to

Study I felt a nagging nostalgia

For those student days and a wish

To return to that time to do it all

Over this time the right way I

Think everybody would like to

Undo mistakes make again the 

Effort this time with enough

Concentration to right the wrong

Make up for lost opportunities

Wasted time unnecessary confusion

This time perform with clear

Purpose dedication seriousness

As if to infuse the struggling

Young mind with the stability

Solidity maturity of our present

Life if indeed we are more mature

More able to balance thrill and

Value in anything as a child I had

A flair for art third grade crayon

Portraits high school pencil sketches

Some of which my executors will

Find if they prove at all thorough

Going back though is a waste of

Wish better to hunger for something

Today non-leaking roof sounder

Body which is to say had we gone

Back we would either go astray

Again as badly as the first or

Create new errors to untangle

They lied of course when they said

You can be anything you want to

Be follow that dream Elvis sang

Life interrupts with daylight and

Crowing cocks cats who have 

Learned to lick you on the lips to

Tear you out of dreams and 

Refill the bowl of cat food 

Better to use the remaining

Strength and will for today’s trials

There’s not a single thing to do

About the past except to learn

To apologize to seek forgiveness

To make amends for these I wish I

Could and then forget 

Move on

c. J.S.Manista, 2015

20151106 (caritas serendipita)

Imagine we all turned to caring for

Widows orphans disabled aged poor 

Would they outnumber us or

Would we share in rotation with

Others one two three maybe more

Would there be enough money in 

The system to cover the pills beds

Surgeries prostheses the like who’d

Do our jobs while we were away

Would doctors nurses counselors

Get credit for already being involved

Could lawyers tell justices they can’t 

Be in court that’s the day they’ll be

Caring for their old lady no really

Their old lady or would caretakers

Trade their assignments to cover

Such gaps would you switch from

Some needy beggar and elect only

To read to children would alcoholics

Not be given drunkards or would

That be a preference of course 

Pedophiles would not be allowed 

Near children but if homosexuals

Were to work with fundamentalists

Could that change opinions or 

Aggravate all concerned Israelis 

Helping Palestinians atheists 

Teaching stricken Mormons to talk 

Disabled playing basketball with 

Physically fit mental defectives 

Would depressed folks benefit  

Counseling suicidals or would 

They do better with the cheery 

Young doomed with inoperable 

Cancers and to give the whole

Process a timely touch should

Donald Trump help refugees

Find needed housing Hillary

Devote herself to caring for babes 

Of young single mothers

Out looking for good jobs

There’s so much to consider

Perhaps the present system of 

Luck and happenstance is best

Like some knowing invisible

Hand marketwise guides some

To one others to others for the

Maximum possible good any

Of these would make great

Stories in the hands of a novelist

Hypochondriac becomes hero

Serving in the Ebola camps

Dying child gives depressed man

A reason to live still the system

Fails to spread enough good to

The deserving and leaves many

Untouched with time on their

Hands to drive sporty cars and

Frolic with numerous nubile

Naive tarts-in-waiting makes one 

Challenge the wisdom of fortune

The Good Samaritan chancing on

One beaten soul great as an example

For singular devotion but barely

Meets the need in practice

Doncha think

c. J.S.Manista, 2015