AUG 13-09***For the Thousands That Have Destroyed It
It took only one
To restore
My faith in man
Here's what it took
I was low on printer paper
So I went to an office supply store
Just got out of my Jeep
When a dirty 20 somehting
Asks can help him and his old lady
I don't see an old lady
But he unfolds an old cardboard sign
That says so
I've got a couple of bucks
Of loose change
In my pocket
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poem by Tom J. Mariani
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2008: Held In Custody
copyright 04-21-08
for single-parent urban Moms
Happy Mother's Day
When I was growing up
She was like
The large green dense bush
That now grows in my yard
You wouldn't want to
Brush up against it's
Stiff spiked green leaves
They protect not only the bush
They serve as an effective barrier
Only allowing those in
That are small enough to perch
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poem by Tom J. Mariani
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08-25-09 ***THE KENNEDYS - - - Myth or Reality?
Ted: February 22,1932
August 25,2009 - - - 77 years
Why we never had to
Take him out
The way we did
Jack and Bobby
His two
Irsh punk brothers
They thought
They could double deal
After we delivered
For their dad
Old man Joe
He knew
Who he had
To take care of
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poem by Tom J. Mariani
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Generations Apart
She was the only
Person I know
Who painted
Interior window trim
In high heels
Helping us now
Get our house ready
For renters
She has always seemed
Dressed up
Even in an apron
Back when I was five
She pretended to count
The chocolate chips
Warning me that there
Wouldn't be enough
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poem by Tom J. Mariani
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And Then He Just Fell Down
'Former boxing world champion
Johnny Tapia was in critical condition
at a Los Vega hospital
after apparently falling at his home
and losing consciousness
early Saturday, hours after
he was charged with
possessing drug paraphernalia.
Tapia, a five -time world chanpion
with a history of problems with the law and drugs
had returned to his home in Las Vegas
after the confrontation with poilce
and was with his wife, Teresa,
when he fell
according to Trayce Zimmerman,
Tapia's publicist.
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poem by Tom J. Mariani
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Christmas Lesson 2008
Years ago I opened a special Christmas present.
It was from my uncle, sort of a surprise.
All that was inside was a deck of playing cards.
Maybe he hadn't seen my list or knew my size.
When I thanked him anyway he said,
'Do you knew how to play
Cards for pushups? '
As he smiled in his way.
Cards for pushups?
It can get pretty hard.
You shuffle, turn one over.
Do what's in the card.
Ace, do 15. Face card, do 10.
Others by the numbers count.
Takes a lot of work for two
As the discards start to mount.
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poem by Tom J. Mariani
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03-26-2010*** The Heart of A Writer's Studio
What pulls me to horde
Old pencils new pens
Newspaper clippings
Books magazines and my notes
My home office has
Stacks of papers on the floor
I have or plan to
Go through and organize
The room scares my wife
She tries not to look in
She knows it'll take a shovel
And a dumpster if I die
There are orrginal first drafts
Several revisions
There's works-in-progress
I still have to decide about
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poem by Tom J. Mariani
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Ho! Ho! Ho!
Dolce & Gabbana
Juicy Couture
True Religion
Seven For All Mankind
Apple Bottoms
Air Force 1
Louis Vuitton
If this was on
my ganddaughter's
Christmas list
I would have headed
for a music store
Thrown myself at the mercy
At something with metal fragments
Sticking out of body parts
Me not knowing the differnce between
Blue ray and I-Pod.
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poem by Tom J. Mariani
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Why Does The Summer of 1939 Sound Like Now?
The World's Fair
from the Great White Way-
where rides
and the freaks
and the Aquacade were-
to the grand
temples to American industry,
promised a future
no one belived in.
The buildings were,
in the words
and fashion of the time,
streamlined.
Their exteriors were
softened
into graceful curves
as if they were
in a high wind,
taking off into
some promised land,
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poem by Tom J. Mariani
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Just When I Thought I'd Seen It All
OK I know it's a liitle early
For Christmas poems
But the catalogues have been coming
By mail for weeks
So I'll keep this short
For those of you or
People on your shopping list
Who still have self-winding watches
Wrist that is
That need help getting wound
It's hard to believe
But they have come up with a cure
This machine $100 to $200
Holds one or up to four
Wrist watches - - - at last count
I only needed one
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poem by Tom J. Mariani
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