<div class="line">Nero fiddled while Rome burned.</div>
<div class="line">He was secure on</div>
<div class="line">one of the seven hills.</div>
<div></div>
<div class="line">His larder was full.</div>
<div class="line">His coffers overflowed with gold.</div>
<div class="line">He was the supreme ruler.</div>
<div></div>
<div class="line">Below, in all directions,</div>
<div class="line">the sky was lit up</div>
<div class="line">by fires of his burning city.</div>
<div></div>
<div class="line">He took it all in, feeling immune</div>
<div class="line">from the ravages below.</div>
<div class="line">Nero was above it all.</div>
<div></div>
<div class="line">From his fiddle</div>
<div class="line">flowed gentle melodies of joy</div>
<div class="line">and the sweetness of life.</div>
<div></div>
<div class="line">He was mired in his own invincibility.</div>
<div class="line">But what would he have to rule over</div>
<div class="line">after his city was burned?</div>
<div></div>
<div class="line">We sneer at Nero as a fool.</div>
<div class="line">We are superior, know better.</div>
<div class="line">We have atomic missiles.</div>


Heath

Pride

Nero

<div class="line">I am sitting in my spacious house alone.</div>
<div class="line">A large fly alights.</div>
<div class="line">I stare at it, laugh.</div>
<div class="line">It is the only other living thing.</div>
<div></div>
<div class="line">How did it get in? The windows are screened.</div>
<div class="line">How can it get out? I don’t know.</div>
<div class="line">I decide to let it live. It does no harm.</div>
<div class="line">For the next two days it sometimes</div>
<div class="line">lands on my desk. I say, “Hi.”</div>
<div></div>
<div class="line">Now it’s gone. I sometimes wonder,</div>
<div class="line">did it die, or just get out?</div>


Clusters

In Diminuendo

Horsefly

<p style="padding-left: 0px;">I am walking along the sea shore<br />
on a brilliantly sunny day.<br />
Looking at myriads of stones polished<br />
by eons of moving waters.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 0px;">They are old, old.<br />
Countless centuries old.<br />
Yet the fresh, azure ocean<br />
is far older than the stones!</p>


Sex Education

Finding Yet Another Way to Say  What Can’t Be Said Any Other Way

The Sea

<p style="padding-left: 0px;">In the entrance<br />
to a vacant store<br />
stands a shopping cart<br />
full of bric-a-brac.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 0px;">Behind it, on the stone floor,<br />
sleeps a ragged clothed body.<br />
All that man owns<br />
is in the shopping cart.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 0px;">I pause, wonder,<br />
what does he eat?<br />
Where does he bathe?<br />
Has he any friends?</p>
<p style="padding-left: 0px;">I could wake him.<br />
Give him a dollar<br />
and ask him.<br />
I can’t disturb him.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 0px;">Though asleep<br />
on a public street<br />
his privacy is respected<br />
by everyone passing by,</p>
<p style="padding-left: 0px;">I lock my door when I retire.<br />
I worry, have a shotgun.<br />
I have an idea.<br />
It sounds crazy.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 0px;">I’ll put on ragged clothes.<br />
Fill a shopping cart with junk.<br />
Find a vacant store entrance<br />
and get a good night’s sleep!</p>


Letter to the Victim’s Family

Under the Shadows

Why Not?

<p style="padding-left: 0px;"><span style="font-size: revert; color: initial; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;">For years my ego fooled me.</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 0px;">I carried the world on my shoulders.<br />
I now realize how inane that was<br />
Living within a self-imposed island.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 0px;">Achieving inner peace, my vision expanded.<br />
I embraced the vastness of the unknown.<br />
Though I am less than a grain of sand.<br />
That concept does not humble me.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 0px;">My ego remains big.<br />
A grain of sand owns its Universe.<br />
During my time alive<br />
Increasing awareness makes life tastier.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 0px;">With each heartbeat one word resounds.<br />
It keeps repeating, “yes, yes, yes.”</p>
<p style="text-align: right;">


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January 12, 2013The SeaFred Fox

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January 12, 2013The SeaFred Fox

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