Forbidden Words

Hidden in every lexicon

Lurks words that if used on Twitter

Would be banned

Usually the words would be outlawed

For the pictures they paint with just their letters

A classic is the word, ‘lumpy’

A five letter word which is a picture book

With images of rolls of excess skin hanging

On a body sedentary permanently

Really though ‘lumpy’ is a bit of a misnomer

Lumpy almost adds a poetic touch to what otherwise

Might be referred to as fat

And we would all outlaw that word

So now the search begins for words

That might allude to a meaning

Without really spelling it out!

FXC 6/28/2020 frankxcameron.com

Copyright

Aren’t they made of the same cloth as we are

Not exactly sure what is missing

Seems like the media needs us in a frenzy

To be obsessed to read or hear the next rendition of ‘truth’

No point in waiting

There is no truth

A million times we prove this to each other

The latest example

‘Attitudes about police’

Would be so sweet if police weren’t needed

No drunk drivers, child abuse, murder, etc. etc.

But we are a million miles away from that

Or a billion years

Every religious organization

Testifies about good and evil

And often delineates exactly what is good and evil

‘The Ten Commandments’ is a prime example

But on a practical basis laws were enacted to keep us under control

That is actually hilarious

If the good Lord, whichever one you believe in, can’t keep us under control

What chance does mere man/woman have

So in all the craziness that we are

Law enforcement officials are required to moderate our behavior

They are after all representing us and actually come from us

Some of us comply others defy

Where are we now?

Where we have been since time began

Postulating

Postulating that we are capable of moderating our own behavior

Is that true or even possible?

We could ask our own ‘Supreme Being’

While looking in the mirror

FXC 06/14/2020 Copyright

frankxcameron.com

90 is hot

Standing tall on a steaming blacktop driveway

Sun still blazing late afternoon

Pensively studying your house

Questioning whether to enter or not

No life in that house right now

For today is the first day to share your proudest creation, your 4 year old girl

With the woman with whom your story began but now has ended

Joint custody now delineates who is happy and who is not

Quiet now alone in the house

You must contemplate

The depths of emptiness

Searching the walls for comfort

Yet there is no easy way

To lay pain to rest

Till in the game

‘My turn, your turn?

The spinner points to you

I want to hold you

But that actually just delays

Healing

There is no parade today

FXC 6/3/2020.

Copyright frankxcameron.com

What do you want to be when you grow up?

So great to be four, five even six

When playing fireman, policeman

Occupied your time

Well, then, it was cowboys and Indians

Then that crazy concept of school started

With it’s mandated idea of educational happiness

To mold perfect citizens

Pouring into young minds

What was considered necessary for success

And by the end of high school

Hopefully an inkling was starting to germinate

In your pursuit of happiness

But money is the measurement of success

Not enough, you are not a success

So your education may or not spell

How you are viewed

But get passed that

As spouse and children might envelope your life

Taking it in an altogether different direction

And then for goodness sake grandchildren and retirement

Rename and repurpose you

And then what

There are those who know better what you need to be doing

Downsize, go slower, try puzzles

Let someone else watch the grandchildren

Maybe this is the time to read that book, paint that picture

Take up a new language

Hell I’ve only had 70 years and never done those yet

How ‘bout I just be me?

Whatever that may be

FXC. 5/31/2020. Copyright frankxcameron.com

Not going to deny it

The awful truth is that this existence is limited

Never wanted to concede that point in the debate

Especially this early in the game

It’s still early, right?

However now that the line in the sand has been crossed

Looking for a soft landing

Don’t know if there really is one

Some options have already been discarded

Stopped drinking, smoking to reduce those causes

Granted since no one exits at a predetermined time or method

Multiple complications crop up

One which was simply terrifying

Was the swab test for the coronavirus

Wore the mask, avoided contact with others

Online shopping became a routine

Yet, yet a procedure that had been delayed

Now had been moved to the front of the line

Thus the red flag of the swab test now flew brazenly in my face

Had already heard descriptions

None indicating a walk in the park

And since the test was given in a parking lot

While in one’s car by a nurse garbed as if traveling far from here

Was really unnerved as if this was my first shot

Knew already some had to administer the test to themselves

That would be my last choice

So the moment was now, the nurse holding what looked like a twelve inch skewer

Hardly noticed at first but quickly became quite aware of a

Very foreign object being inserted where it should

Never have been inserted

Then my Academy Award effort began

As groaning and tears added to complete degradation

Of what had once been a very proud man

Of course could not really look at the nurse now

Embarrassment was the least of my worries

As I hurriedly rushed to use the sanitary clothes

To clean my face

My prize?

Negative test

FXC 5/31/2020 frankxcameron.com

We are too close

There are those with whom casual defines the relationship

Others with whom there is a nodding aquantaince

At work there are often many friends

Till an invitation to go for drinks after work

Then the friends list is pared down

Occasionally there are those with whom a confidence is shared with

How that confidence is shared by your confident

Will determine how long they remain your confidant

Beyond that there are those with whom you are too close

Discretion was compromised in an unguarded moment

When eyes meet there is an acknowledged moment

A breach of decorum has occurred

Too much is revealed

Possible wishes, dreams, hopes, sadness

Feelings which bind

We are too close and I must go!

FXC 5/1/2020 Copyright frankxcameron.com

Ah, for the 60’s

Being 20 in the sixties was so cut and dry

All right being 20 is cut and dry anytime

Solutions seem to exist on the tip of the tongue

How the world survived till your twenties is a miracle

The popular slogan,

“If you are not part of the solution you are part of the problem”

Echoed and reverberated as a standard answer for those

Wondering what is happening with this new generation

Protests and campaigns often melted into life’s responsibilities

Till today when the anguish of injustice

Still smothers, those who it always have

The weak, the poor, those of color, the disenfranchised

Surely time has not stood still

Not quite believable the country still struggles

To understand the fight for justice

Is a life long battle

Fought in other lands and at home

This country was taken from the Indians,

The soil tilled by blacks,

Developed by those with vision

Evangelized by multiple faiths

Any wonder it is sill standing

So hard to hold hands

With those we see as the enemy

Yet somehow, somehow

They are our brother and sisters!

FXC 5/31/2020 Copyright frankxcameron.com

The Gift That Just Keeps Giving

Unaware 70 years ago of the arrival

Of she who would be the princess of my world

In another city, another state

Might have been in a different world

Yes, there are many pictures and cards anotating

Her history and story

Long before I arrived other friends and boyfriends, family

Were in the mix

Finally at 17 I was able to debut

At a chance meeting arranged by her best friend my sister

Already almost family

Smitten is an understatement

Took two dates for my future to unfold

Has taken 50 years for me to understand

How little men really understand about loving

Do understand that this gift is not infinite

That life takes a toll

Our walk through life full of stumbles, skips and jumps

Will continue in each other’s arms

From this day forward

I love you Julie Becker

Happy Birthday!

FXC 5/19/2020

Copyright frankxcameron@gmail.com

Forgot what poverty was

Could it be that late in life

There is no money tree

Savings evaporate as hand sanitizer dries

No one to hold

As the world is on the barbecue spit of disease

Not a new moment

Hunger, paying the rent often the

Beginning of a relationship

You made my shirts, cut my hair

Now back in your barber chair

As your fingers find the part in my hair

Warm hands patted my hair

Almost massaging a very old white scalp

Oh, yes the memory of pleasure

Reverberates throughout

Your kind soft hands

Remind me of when we had everything!

Frank X Cameron 4/19/2020 frankxcameron.com

Copyright

No You’re Not!

Hear tell another birthday has snuck up on you

Don’t know exactly how a birthday sneaks up on one

Only so many days in the year

One would have to be your ‘lottery’ day

Or not

Birthdays, youthful birthdays are candle lighting good

But when there is not enough room for all the candles

Numeric candles are used

As if to reduce the obvious

Getting older

Supposed to act more mature

More accepting of graying years

There is consolation though

Your progenitors

Are probably much older than you

Though how anyone could be older than 50 I don’t know

Happy Birthday Katie my lady!

FXC 4/15/2020

Copyright frankxcameron.com