BULL MOOSE

If a big bull moose
Were on the loose
In your back yard,
Would it be very hard
To make it vamoose?


(Bill and Dee Dougherty, new friends met on our waysouth voyage, are accustomed to seeing moose in their back yard in Anchorage, Alaska.)

THE U.S. PRISON POPULATION

The U.S. is incarcerator number one.
Of us, prisoners are percentage one.
It seems there've been some times
When somewhat minor have been the crimes
That some of them have done.

And, though it seems beyond the pale,
Many folks are spending time in jail
With sweat stains on their collars
For the want of a hundred dollars
To put up for bail.


(Based on front page articles of February 29 in The Washington Post and Richmond Times-Dispatch.)

EVITA

We saw where she lies buried.
To the leader she was married.
Unlike prior leaders' fashion,
For workers and kids she had compassion.
From this she never varied.


(Lynchburg's Heritage High School is staging the musical play "Evita.")

COFFEE

Coffee isn't just caffeine.
Vitamins are in the coffee bean.
It's got minerals too.
Right good for you
Is the coffee-drinking scene.


(Based on an article in The Pocahontas Times.)

RED EYE FLIGHT

If you’ve been on a red eye flight,
You know it’s torture light.
You forever cruise
Trying to snooze,
Miserable the entire night.

BUENOS AIRES

We’ve seen the Plaza Mayor
And where poor folks live in squalor.
The tango was born in Boca.
It’s nothing like the polka.
We’ve learned what Evita stood for.

We’ve sampled Argentina’s beef
About which we have no beef.
Each other’s toes we’ve mangled
Trying to learn to tango.
A pickpocket is a source of grief..

In a souvenir store
With leather goods galore,
Helen got loose,
Bought a jacket made of moose
But nothing more.

The money, we think, was spent
On the world’s biggest rodent.
What can be the excuse
For calling a rat a moose?
The capivara to compliment?

Boating in the delta,
We saw houses built for shelter.
We’ve eaten tasty food.
The summer weather was good,
And we didn’t swelter.

We’ve visited the city of the dead,
All of whom were well fed.
We’ve learned about the disappeared
And how Evita poor folks endeared.
Our flight home we’ve now to dread.

ESTANCIA GUEVARA

Music, dancing, horsemanship,
Eating, chatting, good fellowship.
A great time we had,
And I’m very glad
We made the estancia trip.

EL VIEJO ALMACEN

The show at El Viejo Almacen
Was for sure a perfect ten.
Fine Inca music we were experiencing
And superb singing, piano, tango dancing,
Accordion, base fiddle, and violin.

RECOLETA CEMETERY

In the richest cemetery ever seen,
Super wealthy dead lie serene.
Their souls off to heaven went,
And I really think the riches spent
Totally were obscene.

FLYING TO BUENOS AIRES

Our flight to Buenos Aires
Didn’t really tire us.
Well fed for survival,
We knew upon arrival
We’d see sights to inspire us.

USHUAIA

We disembarked at Ushuaia,
A city for some too quiet.
I was thinking like,
If I find a gift I like,
‘Twill be OK to buy it.

DRAKE PASSAGE

Our ship was really rocking
As we headed for our docking.
In rather windy weather
We were cruising hell for leather.
Nineteen knots we were clocking.

HALF MOON ISLAND

Helen is feeling a little humble
For having taken a little tumble
And thereby having discovered
What its like to be covered
In back with penguin guano.

FABULOUS CREW SHOW

I knew they’d dance the Tinikling,
But I really had no inkling
That the folks who serve us lunch
Are such a talented bunch
With such a fabulous show to bring.

ESPERANZA

It had been our hope
To land at the Bay called Hope.
That plan they had to amend
Because of too much wind.
But we didn’t mope.

BROWN BLUFF

On the beach at Brown Bluff
We watched penguins do their stuff.
Seals we saw there too.
We’ve had landings quite a few,
But I doubt there can be enough.

WILHELMINA BAY

We were of fine demeanor
In the bay of Wilhelmina.
There were whales to see,
And, as for debris,
It couldn’t have been cleaner.

ALMIRANTE BROWN

Much less than a town
Is Almirante Brown.
We had a perfect day
For our brief, happy stay,
And the sun was shining down.

PORT LOCKROY

Port Lockroy, a tiny place,
Is a former British base.
With lots of ice,
It’s views are nice,
But it’s winters hard to face.

LE MAIRE CHANNEL

We cruised through "The Kodiak Crack."
Scenery it did not lack.
Cliffs and glacier ice,
And also very nice
Was a seal on its back.

A WHALE OF A DAY

Gentoo penguins galore!
Humpback whales four!
Glaciers and icebergs everywhere!
Scenery extraordinaire!
Fur seal in a drowsy stupor!

SHACKLETON

Shackleton was an Antarctic man.
Survival was his plan.
His story is replete
With many a marvelous feat,
And he never lost a man.

OUR CAPTAIN

An anonymous man is he
Who knows right well the sea.
Don’t know our captain’s name,
But we’ll have him to blame
If we sink into the sea.

DECEPTION ISLAND

Deception Island is a volcano.
I found it light on snow.
Into its caldera we were sailing
To check out its station for whaling
While hoping it wouldn’t blow.

CAPE HORN

The weather was in perfect shape
When we set foot on the cape.
(It wasn’t as though
It was sleet and snow
And a problem to escape.)

The sea was like a placid lake.
Many photos I was pleased to take
Under the sky sunny bright.
What a glorious sight
Upon which to wake!

PUERTO WILLIAMS

It’s a pleasure to recall
The Port Williams waterfall
And the fun we were having
Watching a glacier calving
And sea lions by a fjord wall.

WAYSOUTH INDIANS

In the south south lived natives crude,
Greased with fat and mostly nude.
Some were foot Indians;
Some were canoe Indians,
And their women dove for seafood.

They live in pictures that we see.
Otherwise they’re history,
Wiped out by blights
Because of some whites
Such as we.

OLD TRAVELERS

Travel can be sublime,
And it’s not a crime.
But for trips you’ve desired,
You need to be retired
To have the time.

And the other factor involved
Is more likely by then resolved.
Of course there are a few,
Those folks very clever who
Have that matter earlier solved.

PUERTO NATALES

With posterior pain
And views through our window pane,
We made much travel
Over roads of gravel
To see the Towers of Paine.

The Horns of Paine
Are another attraction main.
We took many a photo,
Saw a lot of guanaco,
And ate all we could contain.

It was a grand day
To see Salto Grande,
A waterfall
Sure to enthrall
With snow white spray.

PUNTA TO PUERTO

On Patagonia there is less conjecture
After Franz Gingle’s learned lecture.
Manuel Marin was our informant
On the much maligned cormorant.
From Stefan Kredel we got the drift
About consequential continental drift.

YOU CAN'T CHANGE YOUR MATE

As for the things that frustrate
Which you’d like to renovate,
You shouldn’t even try,
And this is the reason why:
You can’t change your mate.

On patience you need to concentrate
In order to adjust and tolerate.
Focus on the things you like,
And overlook what you don’t like
‘Cause you can’t change your mate.

PUNTA ARENAS

It didn't really strain us
To fly to Punta Arenas.
With hardly any glitches
We found some ostriches.
But we didn't meet Jimenez.

SANTIAGO

We´ve been to Santiago
And the winery de Martino.
We´ve sat in a yarda
Munching our empanada
While sipping on our pisco.

We`ve been way up in the Andes
Where the views are quite outstanding.
We`ve dined in high Portillo
Where rich folks go to ski, oh.
Everything`s been fine and dandy.

Six million isn´t small.
We´ve been to the cathedral.
We´ve seen the palace presidential
And fine districts residential.
Yet we haven´t seen it all.

Santiago was founded by Valvivia.
Baquedano fought in Bolivia.
We´ve ridden round the city.
From San Cristobal she is pretty.
´Twas a shame to take leave of her.

APPRECIATION

Whatever be your nation
Or your occupation,
And regardless how you're situated,
Nothing is more appreciated
Than true appreciation.

And people who are refined
Show appreciation of each kind,
knowing, of talent, some things take a tankful,
As well as being thankful
When folks to them are kind.

WHAT IS A SOUL?

Just what is your soul?
They say it plays an important role.
But maybe you have wondered,
As I have often pondered,
Just what is my soul?

Does it like to slink?
Can it clearly think?
Does it care about the weather?
Is it feeling better
When I'm in the pink?

WE'RE ALL KIN

We're all the same within
Whatever the color of our skin.
With different noses, eyes, and hair,
People are people everywhere,
And all of us are kin.

SUPER BOWL SUNDAY

The very best are they.
Did you watch them play?
I did per my plan.
Everyone's a fan
On Superbowl Sunday.

HOUSE MOUNTAIN HIKE

This week I had to hike one day.
I decided against Sunday
'Cause, as you can surmise,
That mightn't have been wise
Since we start our trip Monday.

'Twas a glorious day
On Groundhog Day,
Goodness knows,
When from Lowe's
We drove away.

There were sixteen in our party,
All hale and hearty,
When, before our hike,
We met our leader, Mike,
For his orientation at Hardee's.

We drove through Lexington
Under blue sky and sun.
Then, out on Jacktown Road,
We turned onto House Mountain Road,
But it was the wrong one.

On Saddle Creek Road
We parked to unload.
When we left our four cars,
He had for two hours
Been on the road.

Our route up the ridge
Afforded a view of the Blue Ridge,
A view easy to like,
And the air was a lot like
The inside of a fridge.

Yet the cold did not hinder
On the midday of winter.
Three miles we were logging
When we left the road meant for logging,
The forest to enter.

Mike, a man of good heart,
Was full of info to impart.
He's been a biologist
And a naturalist,
I'd say, from the start.

A man of his kind
Is right hard to find
Wherever you search.
We smelled the bark of black birch.
To like its aroma, I am inclined.

We lunched at the shelter that serves
The House Mountain Preserve,
Including Little House,
The Saddle and Big House,
Which Bill Stubbs conserved.

Mike, who teaches at Sweetbriar,
Built not a fire.
Our luncheon was slow,
And Corbin played banjo
But not a guitar.

The Little House summit had we all gained,
Corbin would have played his banjo again.
He could well have strummed it,
But I could not have hummed it
Nor sung its refrain.

The Little House trail was right icy
Which made climbing right dicy.
Some decided 'twould be nice
To climb it on ice.
We did but not nicely.

Two dogs followed us up there.
'Twas all downhill from there.
Someday I'll go back.
We saw a bobcat track
But none of a bear.

We got down by bushwhacking.
I don't mean machete hacking.
By then it was warm.
We had to perform,
And we were not slacking.

As for the other half of our crew,
We knew not what they'd found to do.
But they climbed the other peak
Where they took a peek
At the wonderful view.

'Twas a fine hike all in all
As best I recall.
And on the Day for our Wetlands
We headed back toward flat lands
Before the nightfall.

In fact, ere it was done,
This hike was great fun.
I've been on many a hike,
But this hike led by Mike
May be number one.


(I enjoyed the NBATC eight-mile House Mounain Hike, led by Mike Haysleett 2 February 2008.)

LOAN SAVES MCCAIN'S CAMPAIGN

McCain went out on a limb
To keep himself in the swim.
He borrowed some dough,
And, don't you know,
It did wonders for him.


(In November Sen. John McCain took out a $4,000,000 line of credit to bail out his presidential campaign which was $500,000 in debt.)

CANADIAN LUMBER TOWNS

The U.S. building surge
Caused milltown folks to spluge.
Now the Canadian lumber boom
Has been replaced by gloom
Which may take a while to purge.


(Canadian sawmill towns had a boom, but it ended with the U.S. housing surge.)

ICE STORMS

We are prone to complain
When we have freezing rain.
But I'll say in a minute
An ice storm has beauty in it,
Clearly seen through my window pane.

PROSTATE CANCER

Cancer found in friend's prostate
By PSA test of late.
Implanted radioactive seeds
Are part of what he needs
The cancer to eradicate.

Active for some thirty days,
The seeds in place forever stay.
According to what he wrote,
Each seed has a metal coat,
And radiation therapy has a role to play.

Treatments will begin without delay,
Radiation for six weeks every day.
The seeds are the size of grains of rice.
The two treatments should suffice,
His top-notch doctors say.