during a smoke session in the dead of night
I lit my cannabis-packed pipe
then the world of THC smiled at me
as I drifted happily
and when I awoke
all I could remember
was that it was GOOD smoke!
-30-
When I Light My Pipe
Month: December 2025
Wildflowers in the Weeds
the deserted lot was full of Nutsedge and crabgrass
growing haphazardly around
piles of broken glass
lying about on the ground
by any measure
it was unsightly
but not to the little girl
who wandered by
and saw the wildflowers
with an appreciative eye
-30-
Creepy Good
there was something about him
that made the students beware
that made them curious
about his 1000-yard stare
He was slender and tall
a loner that seldom spoke
and who played great basketball
on the varsity team
that was undefeated
and every coach’s dream
but when the lights went out
and everyone went home
he stood outside the gym alone
looking at the wall’s graffiti
showing him looking creepy
a hero on the hardwood floor
afterwards a laughingstock
students liked to ignore
then one day he went away
and joined the NBA
-30-
The Book of Life
when the Book of Life opened one day
worlds of words streamed out
causing religious men to pray
as words dripping in blood
told mankind’s story
every word told a tale
of human folly
and war
never-ending sagas
in legends and lore
when the Book finally closed
it was forevermore
-30-
Drunk as a Skunk
I got into an argument with my boss the other day
and afterwards I got drunk as a skunk
with a lot to say
I lurched around the office
in an alcoholic haze
a pissed-of apprentice
ending his days
-30-
Christmas Story 2025
Baby Jesus quietly slept in a bed of hay
his parents nearby keeping guard
night and day
while ICE agents roamed the land
preying on Brown people in a sickening display
of racist hatred during the Christmas holiday
What would the grown Jesus have to say?
-30-
Reality Challenged
they met the morning after the Great Realization
had swept across the nation
he asked her if she was experienced
and if she ever heard Jimi Hendrix’s interpretation
of the Star-Spangled Banner?
she wanted to know who stopped the rain?
and he told her it was her imagination
bubbling up from her active brain
still, she could plainly see the rain
coming down
on the increasingly wet ground
and realized she wasn’t insane
-30-
Just Passing By
pedestrians in Every City Ohio
wouldn’t look down
at the still body on the ground
instead, they walked around
eyes forward but not seeing
not wanting to know
in ignorance fleeing
a harsh reality
uncomfortably bleeding
in their path
a victim of someone’s wrath
no
they blindly plunge ahead
with growing dread
unwilling witnesses
to a harsh reality
reminding them
of their mortality
-30-
Vanilla Shake and an Earthquake
Dear Reader. This is my Mea Culpa. I admit that my creative juices dried up back in August. I’ve been wandering in a wasteland of worry over the fate of democracy ever since. It’s finally time to let my muse run rampant again and to paint pictures with words strung together like a pearl neckless waiting to be worn.
The vanilla shake stood tall on the blue table
frozen in time like a promise of better things to come
simple in its splendor a modern-day fable
a temptation that can make anyone succumb
suddenly an earthquake rocked the room
and the vanilla shake shook
with impending doom
when it looked like the vanilla shake
would fall
and give way to the quake
that isn’t want happened at all
-30-
The Creative Chronicles of Dave Stancliff 