EVERGREEN PEACE

Secrets of our storybook universe
Backed into corners unfolding pages
Flipping through yet-to-be edited chapters
Scanning indexes for prophetic solutions

Chips off old writer's block
Bipolar slow unsure glacial meltdown
What lies beneath monolithic icebergs
Once upon certainties currently aren't

Compromised more-or-less climate change
Rising global temperatures shifting gears
Weather patterns heightened sea levels
Extremes increasingly frequent severely intense

Global warming bodes cataclysmic effects
Fact not fiction apocalyptic forecast
Taming circus freaks of nature
Illusions deled droughty famine stetted

Uphill struggle pitted against downtrodden
Pretending to love each other
Forced smiles fake friend betrayals
Denying inevitability of sharecropper fate

Help make our endangered planet
Safe for diversity uniquely special
Respectful tolerance our humanistic goal
Environmental protection united common cause

Nothing worth knowing can be
Taught prefatory wisdom proofread enlightenment
Skepticism turned to leap-of-faith derring-do
Conviction copyrightable granted literati authority.

              FOSTER CHILD

Bewildered kitchen helper parental discard
Licking bowl batter poured into
Greased baking dish oven preheated
Roundabout layers frosted when cool

Stubborn past refuses to budge
Jokers wild 52 card pickup
Shuffled full house to house
True natal date bluffer guesstimate

Under helium balloons twisted streamers
Bucktoothed grin unwraps gift box
Satin ribbon rainbow hastily loosened
Tucked in shyness neatly refolded

Gee whiz kid fake-believe amazement
How's wonderland Alice barefoot surprise
Forced smile pinching twinkle toes
Punishing blisters tight squeeze fit

Hoping Oz red tap-dancing shoes
Won't melt Neapolitan ice cream
Dribbling tricolor chin flashbulb snapshots
Blinking lighthouse spot beaming glow

Cake sunken treasure icing cover-up
Looks better than it tastes
Telltale devil's food leftover crumbs
Unbirthday candles ceremoniously blown out.