Observations on a Crowded Sky

Military jets at 50,000 feet

     leaving trails of mystery

too heavy to move

Commercial planes at 5,000 feet

     prepare for delivering 

anxious tourists 

Black birds at 500 feet

     heading east en masse

never finish the sunset 

Hummingbirds at 30 feet,

     our empty feeder

long forgotten 

Gnats circle at 20 feet,

    frantic action

with no collisions

Charcoal and lighter fluid drifts at 10 feet,

     the neighbors dinner 

ready in one hour

Dragonflies at 2 feet

     buzzing the lawn

for dinner

     

 The dog and I at Ground Zero,

     eyes skyward,

earthbound.

Ken Owen   
Van Niddy Press   September 2017

The Wrong Enemy

The naked emperor 

is not your enemy

he is just a rotting corpse

of a once great idea

a powerless ornament

on the hood of the car

it's what's under the hood

that should concern you.

Ken Owen    

Van Niddy Press   September 2017

Try Not to Think

Try not to think;
it will usually
hurt.

It does 
me
you see
but perhaps for you
it will be different.

On most occasions
if I think of something
it reaches right in
and cuts me to the quick
almost immediately.

The trick is this:
experience 
the experience 
but don't think about it,
just let it happen in front of you

let it fill 
your heart and senses
but not your mind
where you'll over-think it.

Not easy.



to Randy from Ken, August 2017