The Thai Cave Rescue

The world watched with bated breath

Northern Thailand

Twelve boys, 11 to 16, their soccer coach

in the underground cave

to celebrate a birthday 

The team’s name, The Wild Boars

“Don’t enter in the rainy season,” 

the warning sign had said

but…

A heavy rainstorm floods the cave entrance

The group retreats

Back, back, still further back

charging waters lapping at their feet

Two miles into the depths of the cave

where the team clings to safety

on a narrow ledge

Three thousand feet below the surface

Pitch black, damp, clammy, no sound

No food, no tools, no jackets, no matches

Imprisoned, no path to escape

Surreal, harrowing

Their coach leads the boys

in guided meditation 

and instructs them to 

lick water off a stalactite 

Death stares all in the eye

A park ranger happens upon their bikes

and Thai military divers enter the cave

The water so murky

their lights are useless

No one knows if the boys are alive

Chances of success, infinitesimal 

Then, nine days later, an incredible stroke of fate

Two British divers surface when their line runs out

and there .... to their surprise .... is the team

Puzzled, disoriented, disbelieving

More divers join the group

A nurse, a doctor

blankets, food

Grave peril for all

Strong currents, no visibility 

Passageways as narrow as fifteen inches

One Thai Navy SEAL — Saman Kunan 

dies on his journey out

A hundred brave divers work in that cave

teaching the boys to swim, to dive

With oxygen dropping to fifteen percent

the rescue begins on Day 16

Two divers for each boy

One diver in front, one behind

“Life-threatening,” all agree

Four boys are brought out on the first day

Four more on the next

And Day 18, the last four teammates and their coach

Underweight, exhausted

But all have survived 

Their families, unimaginable joy

Gratitude and wonder from the boys

The world breathes a sigh of relief
A modern miracle at the Thai cave

I Voted For Trump

In 2016 I voted for Trump
The best thing I've done in my life
America gets greater every single week
What we prayed for, me and the wife

I've always been a true fan of Trump
We watched "The Apprentice" for years
Such a strong leader, so bossy, so tough
He'd reduce all his underlings to tears

I never knew much about history
But Trump's the best president ever
He gets all his facts from cable TV
He doesn't need books, he's so clever

America's standing in the world had declined
But Trump will soon have us on top
Canada, England -- you better watch out
Your ripping us off has to stop

Trump's appointments, simply fantastic
DeVos, she'll end government schools
Scott Pruitt, more drilling and fracking
The lefties are looking like fools

Trump says we backers would follow him
If he shot someone out on the street
Of course we would follow him, you idiot
Those losers deserve some Trump heat

Trump's proven that most of the media is fake
Fox News is the one source to trust
Sean Hannity is smarter than Einstein
But Maddow, good grief, she's a bust

Trump will stop all these mass killings
Guns in the classroom for teachers
Even the children should carry guns
Not to mention machine guns for preachers

Congress will soon fund Trump's border wall
Stop killers and rapists flooding in
Trump will keep us a Caucasian nation
Mexicanos, you'll take it on the chin

Trump is now nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize
He deserves it much more than Obama
He's threatened North Korea with nuclear war
And stirred up the Middle East drama

The midterm elections are coming up
I wouldn't have bothered in the past
But now I'll support every ally of Trump
White nationalists will triumph, such a blast

Grading This Poem

I think I will give this poem a C

Its meter is flawed, it has dubious rhymes  

Perhaps I’d do better if I felt more free

My mind’s clogged with goop in these god-awful times 

To write an “A” poem, that’s no easy task 

I lack noble sentiments that could fill the bill 

So why even bother, you probably ask 

Especially of someone bereft of much skill  

I mostly write poems to please the teacher 

The best way to do this, a verse that’s funny

Or maybe an ode to an alien creature 

Gobbling infants by the brook on a morn that’s sunny

Too frightful, this author is lyrically deaf
I've changed my mind, this poem gets an F

Elderly Pearls of Wisdom

It’s true that grownups can be bossy 

This comes from living quite long

They think they know stuff even when they don’t

Nonetheless, here is some of my life advice

that I’m going to pass along anyway

If I were to start my life over 

The first thing I’d do: be friendlier to my parents

I spent too much time being moody and sullen 

I could have asked more questions 

I wish I’d more often said    …    “I love you”

My second really big mistake

Smoking when I went to college

After just one year, I started trying to quit

Then twenty more years of trying

So powerful, so vicious a habit 

I finally succeeded when my second-grade son 

    came home crying from school one day, 

        after learning that his father was done for 

One thing I am better at, I like all kinds of weather 

Steamy hot weather is like a warm bath

And freezing cold makes one’s blood run fast 

One time I complained about the rain to a forest ranger

“I love to camp in the rain,” the ranger said

“Camping is always good, rain or shine!”

We spend our whole lives either watching or doing 

Watching in my childhood, 

the movies, the comic books, the fourth-grade play

Doing — basketball, art projects, mowing the lawn

Watching is fun (and easier to do), but doing

is how we accomplish things 

and create great creations

Here is a tip that Deeny-Boy gave me:

For each hour of watching, 

do two hours of doing 

But don’t always follow others’ advice 

When I was nine my Uncle Kent told me

“Sleep on your stomach, not on your back”

“Your head is getting shaped like a duck”

So I slept on my stomach for seventy odd years

Now my head is flat on one side  

Being bored is a waste of time 

Things are not boring in and of themselves 

All things are interesting if you let them be

Being bored is our own personal feeling

that we choose to have 

when we’re nervous

or want to avoid getting involved

or think being bored looks cool  

Another good idea is to floss every day

Teeth are most valuable parts of ourselves

If treated right, they will last a lifetime or longer

(Also drink plenty of water) 

(Maybe six glasses a day)

(Preferably tap water from the faucet)

(If a plastic bottle, be sure to recycle)

It’s useful to carry three bandaids in one’s wallet

We all get cuts when we least expect them  

Or perhaps your friends will need a bandaid

They’ll be amazed to find that

you’re so well prepared

The hardest lesson for me to learn

(Still hard) 

Don’t be a scaredy-cat 

I was scared of summer camp, scared of wood shop 

Of going to seventh grade, even of getting a haircut

None of these dangers were real 

Sometimes we can be our own enemies

I could go on quite a bit longer

I have collected at least seventy years of ideas

Here are just a few more 

Keep a diary of your dreams 

Chat with people whose opinions are different from your own 

Read three books at the same time 

Remember to say thank you for things you appreciate

Leave a dime on the sidewalk for someone to find 

Don’t tell more than two lies a week 

Learn about trigonometry and dragonflies

(This will be helpful on Jeopardy)

Start a collection, maybe pennies or stones 

Turn off the lights when you leave the room 

Menominee River Creatures

Our crayfish dug homes in the river floor

They’d dart in their holes when we neared

Their sharp little claws were like lobsters

Nonetheless, it was humans they feared

Snapping turtles drifted by at dusk

Steve shot a huge buck with his bow

We towed it to shore with our green rowboat

Turtle murder, that made us feel low

The Great Blue Heron is a wading bird

She grows over four feet in height

And loves to eat fish and water bugs

So thrilling to see her in flight 

The otter had nests on the river bank

Steve captured a bunch with his trap

He sold their pelts for fifty cents each

To a down and out grungy old chap

Mallards are the most handsome duck of all

The male shows off his green head 

I went hunting for ducks with Dick Sawyer

But never took a shot, when all’s said 

Mudpuppies surely are the ugliest

And they live over twenty long years

They like to eat minnows and fish eggs

Near the top of my childhood river fears 

The loons lived together in the Channel

These are birds that can fly very fast 

They swim underwater to hunt for fish  

And head South when the summer is past 

The clams lay quietly near the shoreline 

We’d step on one when we’d go in 

For kicks we would pry their shells open 

An act which I now call a sin 

There were millions of minnows all summer

They swam in the shallow warm water

Life as a minnow was perilous

Being favorite snacks of the otter

We might see a seagull every now and then

Though Green Bay was three miles away

I worried the seagulls had gotten off course 

Though they never seemed to show much dismay

Water bugs swam near the river bank

They flitted about, here and there

There were hundreds of buglets in each big swarm

Every one of them heading nowhere