Having taken a lot of flak for going AWOL, I thought I'd put out something I wrote before I left the Navy. Seems like a hundred years ago, and looking back at that faded chickenscratch brings a smile to my face. If I could do it all over I wouldn't change a thing. Life for me began when I was
GOING AWOL
I'm a shepherd...
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ABOUT LOVE
Blasting through the black
Counting the seconds, turning the degrees
There's no getting her back
Through the shallows, through the trees

Violent are the waves
On such a lonely night
What price my soul pays
To see such a sight
There's no letting go
No way I can
So here I stare
In a restless daze
The wind in my hair
Cold mist...
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LIBERTY OR DEATH
Buddy systems are swimming
In an ocean
Of milk, and honey
And my hopes are brimming
With the notion
Of adventure, and money
But my heart is a cactus
In the desert heat
How long will this last
So quik to correct us
My heart misses a beat
Icy eyes melt fast
I long for a day off
A day to relax...
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Friend of mine today told me I never learn. I was telling him how I almost got kicked off this site for being "rascist." He first told me most people on here probably don't know shit, then reminded me of a bout between us three years ago. We were in Bar Charlotte and he was checking out this babe. I told him to not even...
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Some days I can barely keep up. In the rain last night I was awakened by a loud crashing noise. Big pine tree just decided to fall over. I spent a couple hours making rounds at various flea markets and thrift shops. Found a North Face parka for $3. Mainly just hit everything often to find the deals. Anyway, my chainsaw wouldn't start, so spent...
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Sure was chilly on Mountain Island Lake this morning. Bald dude with a green Ranger nearly hooked me in the face with his back cast. There was a reason I was saying "Coming up behind you!" as I trolled out of the back of a cove. He was an inexperienced fly fisherman I could tell so I had my guard up anyway. Probably scared him...
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NORTHERN LIGHTS

Auroras must be keys
To unlock the unwise
Who ride haunted seas
Unwatched, Undaunted
Am I, utterly unwanted
Like a sun that won't rise

My senses, my sanity a tease
For no one hears my cries
Absorbed by a breeze
Crackling, taunted
Am I, tricked as I flaunted
A gleam lost in my eyes

A wisdom, a home I won't seize
What grows...
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Thought I'd post a poem I wrote just before giving up commercial fishing....
THE MIDWATCH
Bathed in a humming, blood red glow
Are my eerie footsteps, metallic and slow
Echoing softly, up the starboard ladder
This nightly post has never been sadder
Voices in the dark: "You're early" "I know"
Troublesome dreams, idle chatter
We trade a lie for a lie, a truth for a...
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I love the smell of fresh cut rosewood. If I could bottle that I'm sure I could be rich. For now I'll just have to keep my special relationship with that smell to those zen moments.... The times when you have to be in touch with your art. Wincing in pain at the smallest misstep; feeling the ecstasy of creating beauty, all with the combined...
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So southerners are a breed apart. Charlotteans have this drawl, not quite uppity Charleston and not quite hillbilly West Virginian. Like they say no in two syllables. Sounds like saying "now" and "ooh", but blended into almost one syllable. My neighbor's a native and is a character. He's a carpenter who likes that alcohol and cherry red '56 Suburban with red velvet interior. Also had...
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