Anybody else frustrated?

My call goes to voice mail
and disappears,
never to be answered.
Is there a place in outer space
where voice mails gather
to enjoy their reward
for ignoring calls?
And is this elite group
joined by e-mails
left unread
and then deleted?

m.e.  08/12

Medical Mystery Tour

Told my sister
"let me explain Medicare"
and then proceeded
with a series of
if
ands
buts
maybes
possibles
sometimes.
Pausing for breath,
realizing the futility
admitted my defeat
"There is no explaining Medicare."

Sister said
"My head is spinning"
and we both imagined
green gunk spewing
ala "The Exorcist."
Wished her luck
finding participating provider
and getting preauthorization
and what is the
ICD-9 code for
demonic possession, unspecified?

A.H. 8-10-13

What I Haven't Learned In Fifty-Seven Years

1) How to make risotto.
    I had a risotto and kale dish "concept" several years ago. It didn't end well and I am still suffering from PTCD (post-traumatic culinary disaster.)

2) How to blow bubbles with bubble gum.
    I give up.

3) To read the instructions first.
   It isn't always the last thing I do but it's certainly not the first. Instructions may have been helpful in preventing the above-mentioned risotto and kale disaster.

4) Which months have 30 days and which have 31.
    I know there are tricks and devices to remember this. I can't remember those either.

A.H.
8-3-13

What I Have Learned in Fifty-Seven Years

1) When opening yogurt, hold carton away from you - it burps.
2) Moose are big animals.
3) Chocolate is my friend.
4) I am skilled at napping.
5) It's the heat AND the humidity.
6) What doesn't kill you, doesn't kill you.

I'm sure I've learned one or two other things but I can't think of them right now.

A.H.

Looking for Little

Looking for Little
(at Denali National Park)

In the shadow
of the Great One
(not you, John)
I delight
in tiny drops
of color
scattered
and admire
the tenacity
and triumph
of alpine flowers.

A.H.

I've noticed garage and yard sale signs blooming like dandelions all over town.

Yard Sale

Laid out in the yard
are outgrown tastes,
discarded ambitions
and dashed aspirations
hoping for resolution
in cold hard cash.

m.e.

Ugly
(for Touch Chea and Sorn Sreap)

How do you survive
Pol Pot
and then
be killed
a world away
in your home?

I don't understand.
I don't want to have to understand.

Note: Touch Chea and Sorn Sreap were Cambodian refugees who were killed in their home in Anchorage. Their killer, just released from jail earlier in the day, also sexually assaulted their 2 year old grand-daughter and an elderly, demented relative.

Ugly 2

Summer sunshine
doesn't erase
the ugly stain
of a couple
mowed down
with malice.

Note: A couple walking home were deliberately hit by a car. She remains in critical condition.