No Wonder!

Many countries
Have developed
Unique varieties
Of bread
That complement
Almost every
Meal served locally,
Whether at home
Or in a restaurant.
This was certainly
True for both
Turkey and Iraq
Where I spent
The last few years.
I developed
An appetite for
Many of the
Local breads,
Especially when
The loaves
Were fresh out of
The oven.
I am also quite fond
Of Nan bread
From India too,
Especially when
Accented with garlic.
When I got
Back home
In America,
I was appalled
At the stuff
We pass off as bread.
It is almost all air
And absolutely no taste.
That reminds me
Of an astute comment
Reportedly by
One of the
Russian cosmonauts
Who was in
Our country
As a part of
The international
Space program.
He said that
The United States
Has got to have
The worst bread
In the Cosmos!
Truer words
Have never been spoken.

Bus Talk

I am on a cross country
Bus trip
Soaking up the scenery,
And eavesdropping on
On some of the conversations
People are having.
Quite a few of
My fellow passengers
Are unemployed
Construction workers
Who are being retrained
By the government
As long haul truck drivers.
One of the guys
Was telling how his class
Started out with
Over 100 participants,
But was narrowed down
To less than thirty-five
After drug testing.
Speaking of drugs,
I witnessed two drug busts
During the course
Of our passage through Texas.
Some idiot had a stash of drugs
In his backpack,
And the sniffer dogs
Zeroed in on that immediately
At the immigration station,
So the police arrested him
And carted him off to jail.
What started off as
An excruciatingly long trip
Became a much, much
Longer trip than he had
Ever expected.
Another guy was caught
Trying to load
A backpack full of drugs
Onto the neighboring bus
At the Dallas bus station.
I guess the prevalence
Of drugs are a
Sign of the times.
These are certainly
Desperate economic times
For many people,
And several of the riders
Had been out of work
For over a year,
So they were keen on
Making extra money
Anyway they could.
What I found interesting
Were the comments
Of several of passengers
Regarding the drug busts.
There was a lot of discussion
On how the two guys
Should have
Transported the drugs.
Quite a few
Of the them seemed
All too familiar
With the purchasing
And the selling of narcotics.
There were also a few passengers
Who insisted on
Telling their life stories,
But most people
Tried to sleep their way
Across the country.

Counting Railroad Cars

Along numerous cross country
Highways and byways
Here in the United States,
Railroad tracks parallel
The road way.
I remember as a child
Occupying myself
On cross country trips
Counting the number
Of railroad cars
On each train we passed.
Here I am
Over fifty years later
And I still feel
The compulsion to count
The number of railway cars
Whenever I pass a train.
I believe my record
Is a train with over
Two hundred fifty cars
And six locomotives.
Counting can be difficult
When the train is headed
In the opposite direction.
I must have counted the cars
On over a hundred
Different trains
Over the years.
Good old Union Pacific
And Southern Pacific Railroads
Have conspire to entertain me
Over many thousands of miles
Of otherwise
Monotonous roadways.

Stressed Out Working Mother

The combination
Of being a new mother
And working for a living
Can stress any woman out.
If the woman doesn’t find
An effective release
For that stress buildup,
It will surface
Sooner or later
As an explosive outburst,
Typically instigated by
A minor problem
That is amplified into
A major issue.
No matter how rational
She may ordinarily be,
At the point of explosion,
Reason and sanity
Tend to take
A leave of absence.
In her outburst,
She is apt to do
Or say almost anything,
And it takes
A very understanding
And tolerant husband
Not to respond in kind,
For doing so
Only adds fuel
To her fire.

A Wordless Goodbye

I see you standing
With that confused,
Forlorn look
Clouding your eyes,
Not knowing what
To say or do.
Neither of us
Have ever been
Very good at
Saying goodbye.
Each of us must
Read the other’s eyes,
And understand
That love is present
Even when no words
Are spoken.
We each wait for the other
To make a move,
To say something,
To do something,
To give us an excuse
To hug the other,
But neither of us
Can break the hold
That silence has
On our souls,
And so once again
We miss an opportunity
To bridge the chasm
That lies between us.

Plan of Action for Iraq

The United States
Has expended
Billions of dollars
In the effort
To reconstruct
And stabilize Iraq.
The projects
Ranged from
Military bases
For the Iraqi army
And police stations
To hospitals, clinics
Schools and sewage
Treatment systems.
Now that the US
Is terminating its
Military mission,
Another phase
Of the reconstructive effort
Should be considered.
With Iraqi cooperation,
An organization
Of Iraqi engineers
Similar to the
US Army Corps of Engineers
That is dedicated to
The future of Iraq
Needs to be established.
Such an organization
Is essential to administer
Engineering design
And construction projects
Throughout the nation.
It should be
An organization strong enough
To set national
Construction standards,
And versatile enough
To handle almost any type
Engineering challenge
Facing the nation,
From design and construction
Of roads and highways,
To the revitalization
Of the railway system,
The upgrading
Of the electrical generation
And distribution systems
As well as national
Water distribution
And treatment systems.
In as much as possible,
The organization
Should foster
The growth of
Local construction
And construction
Support services,
And should be responsible
For establishing
And implementing
Material standards
For the Iraqi
Construction industry.

Third World Construction

Some of many things
The Third World
Typically lacks
When it comes to
Building and construction
Are rigid design
And installation standards
And effective
Quality control inspections
To ensure that
The standards
Are followed.
Architects and contractors
Cut corners
Whenever and wherever
They can to save money.
Sometimes out of
Sheer incompetence,
But often due to
Flagrant corruption,
Serious and potentially
Dangerous flaws
Get constructed into
Structures being built
That could easily
Have been caught
If inspectors were
Doing their jobs.
As a result, structural failures
And electrical fires
Are fairly common,
And construction
In general
Is often far below
Internationally recognized
Standards.
A prime example of
The hazards involved
Is the death toll
And the damage
That occurred
As a result of
The earthquake that struck
Port O Prince, Haiti.
Hundreds of thousands
Died as a result
Structures collapsing.
The only structure
Left relatively undamaged
Was the US Embassy
Which had been constructed
To US seismic standards.
Interestingly enough,
A much more powerful
Earthquake struck Chile
Shortly after the
Earthquake in Haiti,
But the latter resulted
In very little death
Or construction
Because seismic standards
Had been implemented.

The Project Manager from Hell

She is a nightmare
To work for,
As anyone who has had
The misfortune
Of being assigned to
One of her
Design projects
Can testify.
She treats subordinates
As if they are
Imbeciles instead of
As trained professionals,
And finds fault with
Almost every task done.
Whenever things go wrong,
Or redesign is necessary,
It is always the fault of
The idiots who work for her.
The truth is that
Most of the issues
Are the result of
Her own incompetence
And mismanagement.
She demands
Sacrificial overtime hours
Knowing full well
That everyone is salaried,
Thus are not compensated
For any overtime spent.
To ensure that everyone
Is maxed out on overtime,
She schedules
Frequent frivolous
Day long meetings
Forcing people to work overtime
To get the work done.
The company
Loves her though,
Even though her projects
Are difficult to staff,
For the company happily
Bills the client extra
For all the overtime spent,
Making her projects
Extremely profitable.

Maternal Oneupmanship

New mothers
For the first time,
Eying every other
Baby they see,
And comparing
Them to theirs,
Each thinking
Their baby is
Somehow cuter,
Smarter, better
Than the other.
Even the outfits
The baby wears
And the stroller
They are riding in
Are grounds for
Maternal oneupmanship.
They beam
With obvious pride
While gloating
Over their baby's
Apparent superiority.

Do-It-Yourself Styles

I am one of those guys
Who dives in
When I buy something
Requiring assembly,
And figure out from
The size and shape
Of those pieces,
How they should
Fit together.
I may cheat a little,
Once in a while,
And glance
At the instructions,
Or at least
At the pictures
To see if I am
On the right track,
But I usually trust
My builders instinct.
Some other people
I have observed,
Will study
The instructions religiously,
Not only looking
At the pictures and drawings,
But also reading
The document in its entirety
Before they even try
Assembling anything.
I will often have
The item put together
Before they are
Ready to begin.

An Outcast's Perspective

He works the streets
Of the city,
Scrounging out a living
Begging for change
And dumpster diving
To collect
Bottles and cans
Which can be sold
To the recyclers.
His clothes are
Torn and tattered,
And he smells like
He hadn't taken
Taken a bath
Or a shower
For several months.
He has been living
On the streets
Without a shelter
Over his head
For eight to ten years,
Except for
Occasional brief stints
In the city jail
On charges of trespassing
Or disorderly conduct.
He survives on
Discarded food
Fished out of
Garbage cans
Supplemented by
Occasional meals
At one of the local
Soup kitchens.
Though his hardships
Are obvious,
He ironically
Views himself
As wining at
The game of life.
He takes pride
In the fact that
He can survive
Without working
A traditional job
Like normal people do.
He has a sense of freedom,
Of not being
Encumbered by possessions.
The only possession
He has besides the clothes
On his back
Is a shopping cart
From a local supermarket.
He thinks of himself
As self-sufficient.
What little he needs
In life
Can all be found
In a dumpster.
He sees himself as a rebel,
An outcast
Thumbing his nose
At society,
And in a perverse way
He is proud of
The life he lives.

The Making of a Bully

He is just
Thirteen months old,
But he already had
His parents wrapped
Around his little finger.
He had figured out
Exactly how to get
What he wanted,
And he would badger
And bully them
Until he got it.
He lived entirely
In a ME centered world,
And his parents
Were rightfully concerned
As to how he would act
Once he started
Going to school.
What would he do
When there were
Other personalities
Just as demanding as his?
How would he react
When he discovered
He no longer
Ruled the roost?
My thought is
That they need to
Get him accustomed
To being around
Children his own age
Before that time.
If his behavior
Is left unchecked,
He could easily
Turn into a tyrant.
Or a school yard bully.

Corporate Bastard

He is a good old boy,
Married to corporate life
With three bitter divorces
To show for it,
And a fourth on the way.
Work was his refuge
From the failures of his life,
And also his identity.
He had risen through the ranks,
Almost to the top,
And he felt and acted like
He owned the place.
He demanded nothing less
Than total dedication
From all who worked under him
And expected them
To willingly make
The same sacrifices
He had made in his life.
It was obvious that he felt
Woman were not cut out
For corporate life.
He justified his open hostility
To them by noting
How many of them
He had observed
Forsake their careers
For family life .
He saw woman as
Flaky and unreliable
And treated then accordingly,
And as far as he
Is concerned,
They have been
The ruin of many good men,
Men just like himself
Who knew where
To place their priorities.

About Face

She had always done
All the things
She was told
Would make
Her successful,
Wealthy and wise.
She earned her way
Into one of the
Top universities
In the country
In her chosen field,
And worked
Her tail off
To graduate
At the top
Of her class.
On graduation,
She got a
Lucrative job with
A major corporation
And quickly worked
Her way up
The corporate ladder
To nearly a
Six figure income.
She had put in
Countless hours
Of unpaid overtime,
And sacrificed
Practically all
Of her social life
In the head-long rush
To get ahead.
She was just over
Thirty years old,
And still single,
But had topped out
And was getting
Frustrated with her life
And her career,
For she was
As far from
Her dreams
Of how life
Would someday be
As she had ever been.
Doubt had begun
To creep in.
Along about this time,
Her father whom
She had always
Been trying to impress
With her work ethic
And financial well-being,
Became gravelly ill,
And she took
Her annual two-week vacation
To spend with him.
Two weeks after she returned,
Her father passed away.
When she asked for
Additional time off
To take care of
Her father's funeral,
She was told that
She had used up
Her paid leave,
So she would
Have to take the time off
Without pay.
That was corporate policy,
But then there was
Corporate philosophy
To deal with.
It was also made
Abundantly clear to her
That the corporation
Expected her to
Dedicate her life
To the company,
And if she took
The extra time off,
Then she probably
Wasn't the right one
For the job
In the first place.
The corporation felt
That it owned her,
And could dictate her life.
Once she realized
That mentality,
She knew it was time
To declare her freedom.
In a career about face,
She took her leave
And never returned.
She ended up teaching
English as
A foreign language,
Earning a fraction
Of what she
Made previously,
But she is now happier
And freer
Than she had
Ever been before.
Though painful,
She doesn't begrudge
The road that led her
Where she is today.
Some people travel
Their entire lives
Searching to find
A purpose
Worthy of their life
And an activity
Worth the effort.
Now she has it all.