Dreams

dreams of demons in the darkness of December,

 when in the light, only ordinary people,

but in the darkness,

the reality true,

demons exist in the darkness of my dreams.

 

Sacred

sacred,

time or place,

sometimes both,

but rarely at the same time,

the birth of a savior, 

a sacred time,

a river where spirits felt,

and heard,

a sacred place,

so privileged to live among the sacred,

if only in moments,

or in dusty outposts along my journey.

 

the onset of Depression

 

the intensity of emotion,

seeing a child smile,

or an old man, stumbling along with his cane,

joy and pain,

the height and depth of feeling,

day after day,

until one day,

nothing,

no emotion at all,

unmoved,

by the happiest or saddest of news,

the soul seemingly a void,

empty,

aching to feel,

the brain tired,

thoughts unfinished,

a pile of clutter in the corner,

eyes too exhausted to see,

ears fatigued, no longer can hear,

a silent, dark, empty being,

God save me. . . . .

 

December Memories

December memories,

cold and wet,

along the river,

and oh so tired,

now,

no longer wet,

or cold,

only tired,

and old,

waiting for the storms to end.

 

Living in the USA

Rail workers told what they need,

jobs lost, 

counted as created,

a lie,

a big and bold lie,

laws ignored,

or broken everyday,

willfully by the lawmakers,

judges now only politicians in robes,

too gutless to demand the laws be obeyed,

elections corrupted by both money,

and time,

easier to control by the political elite,

Pelosi and McConnell,

the same corrupt sinners,

if the layers peeled back,

neither giving a damn about America,

only power and their vision of the good,

such a dark time,

as Biden tries to export America to the world,

God I hope he fails,

living in the USA.

 

Darkness Reigns

eyes on the ground,

too weary to look the future in the eyes,

the darkness comes,

along with the winter,

thoughts heavy,

the mind troubled,

no place now a place of peace,

instead uncertainty reigns,

as we are left to look for lights in the darkness.

 

Tomorrow

tomorrow unknown,

not a promise,

only a hope,

the key to live today,

and not live  in tomorrows,

always waiting for the future to come,

enjoy the moment,

live it mind body and soul.

 

That Time of the Year

from All Saints Day until Ash Wednesday,

death in the forefront of the mind,

but for the Savior's birth,

darkness the prevailing mood,

the cold begins,

wearying both mind and body,

Thanksgiving and football games,

a man-made reprieve, 

precious hours in which death not pondered,

ashes to ashes,

and dust to dust,

die you will,

die you most,

this not my favorite time of the year.

 

November nears

November nears,

and darkness descends,

America at odds.

Ukraine under attack,

while Russia erased on the world stage,

crazy upside down world,

Biden, and Trump cartoon characters,

roaming the halls of the White House,

fringe groups left and right,

remind one of the nazis,

and  governing democrats and republicans akin to the communist party of the old USSR,

rights and privileges greater than the average joe,

yes, November nears,

and darkness descends.

 

fall begins

fall,

colors orange, brown and gray,

gone the green of Spring and Summer,

the cold approaches,

the blood slows,

the muscles ache,

winter,

a season to survive,

awaiting the return of spring,

somber and faded,

the landscape,

and the sky, 

blue replaced with shades of gray,

 the memories of summer,

slowly dying away,

the colors of fall,

orange, brown and gray.

 

Uncertainty

Uncertainty breeds fear,

a president lost in a fog,

unsure of where or even sometimes who he is,

a war in Europe never ending,

money given to a nation, called both the most corrupt nation in Europe,

and yet the beacon of democracy,

which is it?

climate change, a confused concept,

no answers in sight,

just throw ideas against the wall,

solutions more about control and manipulation, than about solving anything,

laws ignored, except for the law-abiding public,

criminals and politicians, free to do as they wish,

uncertainty breeds fear,

and then contempt,

until the dragon released,

and the future uncertain,

as it always was and is.

 

Disappearing

A way of life seems to be accompanying me to my grave,

the world now unreal, located on a computer or cellphone screen,

the beauty of the world only seen in glimpses, or on vacations to far away places,

livestock have become an enemy of the state, 

climate a problem, men will attempt to solve,

arrogant as they are,

a way of life seems to be accompanying me to my grave.

 

The Eye

Eyes, always watching,

be it,

mother or daughter,

or father and brother,

child or grandparent,

eyes are always watching,

Government and Church,

Social media,

the eye is hard to escape,

for in your head,

your conscience sees,

soul awake and watching you,

best to just accept,

eyes are always watching. . . . .

 

Flowers

 

Summer Fades

the summer fades,

the colors turning to brown and gray,

no longer lazy days,

fall returns with the world in revolt,

wars across the globe,

starvation a reality,

people likely to freeze,

dark thoughts fill the days,

while Summer fades.

 

Flower Paintings

 

these times

the rains stay away,

angry,

til the anger gone,

when it seems they all come home on the same day,

the prairies and deserts wise,

only the people dumb,

forgotten, the ways of ancestors,

thus look to the land,

the prairies and the deserts,

holy and everlasting.

 

A Family Story

 I remember my Grandpa, teaching me how to “run the hills”. It started one day when I was probably under 10 years of age. I asked Grandpa what he did for fun, and one of the things he said was he would run the hills. Not knowing what this was, I asked him to teach me. He said most people didn’t know how to do this the right way, in his opinion. You didn’t run directly down the hill, you tried to find a ridge with a small incline, and you would start there, on the ridge of the hill, and then run and look to the sides to see a gradually incline on the side, not too steep, then you would run this, gradually heading down to level ground. The route you took, should look like the cow trails down the side of a hill. I loved doing this.

       When we moved deeper into the sandhills, the hills were much larger. I used to “run the hills’ in the evening in the horse pasture, where the horses were. I would change to tennis shoes, and put a curry comb in my pocket and go run the hills. The horses would come and I would brush them a bit, and then when I ran the hills, they would sorta run them with me. They would beat me down the hill I chose, and then wait there for me to come brush them again.

       A family friend saw me with our horses one day, and said “Damnit Doug, I don’t know how you have done it, but you got these horses believing they are dogs instead of horses”

      I didn’t see the problem with this, until working cattle, and  sometimes the horse would question what I was telling them to do. Guess that was one of the reasons I didn’t make a very good cowboy.

one liners

Swirls going nowhere.

Purple and pink, and green and yellow, colors in a lake

scary and dark, monsters awaking in the night

a serene blue, covered in Christmas colors, as if a Christmas tree just recently blown apart

 

some old paintings

this is a painting from a photo, of me viewing the ocean. A rare thing for a redneck from Nebraska.

this painting is of my horse, Casey. I loved that horse. I was getting him to move some cattle, but had a little camera on me, so took this photo, and then created this painting. 

I painted this piece, when I was having some trouble with my religion, (never had any trouble with my faith, just my religion) . . .I called this "The Sinner's Pew"

A Poem and a Painting

 It is Time

by Douglas Polk

reality seen through tweets and clicks,

actually created and manipulated,

coerced into being,

government, only clowns and criminals,

lost in the seedy world of their own making,

the church, the same,

neither able to cope,

as the unreal and the false,

replace the true,

only the masses must face the actual events of the day,

food and gas too expensive,

money, available only for war,

rights and citizenship under siege,

the wars already begun on the computer screens,

identifying enemies, and teaching how to hate,

If there is a God,

it is time for His return,

if people are believers,

it is time to unite in love,

but sadly, this not the reality seen through the tweets and clicks,

the unreal and false,

replacing the true.

Winter paintings for this hot July

old bridge into the ranch (gone now)

son sledding at Cottonmill

road south of Oshkosh

view at my son's hospital window in St. Paul, MN

Dismal in winter

                                    tractor southwest of Kearney, NE

Random Paintings

 

Truth

 

News Feed posts

The Democrat elites in Washington don't care about Americans. They have repeatedly shown this to be true. Obsessed with Donald Trump, Trump has been gone for two years and yet that is the most important, if not the only thing on their minds.

1. After losing the 2016 election, instead of attempting to better the lives of Americans, they created a "Russian Hoax" costing millions and millions of dollars. Creating distrust among the citizens and different branches of government.

2. Instead of preparing for Covid 19, the Washington Democrats spend precious weeks attempting to impeach Trump even when they knew it was an impossibility. So instead of preparing for a pandemic, they spent months in an impeachment.

3. After winning the 2020 election, instead of governing, they again spent millions and millions of dollars to impeach Trump. Trump and his followers were never a threat to the government, Trump was and is a threat to the elites in Washington. Jan. 6th, more than anything was a sign a good portion of the population was on to the farce that is Washington politics. It has less to do with Trump than it does to people figuring out, the elites have been screwing over most of America for the last 50 or 60 years.

4. Finally, instead of addressing many of the problems caused by neglect and the pandemic, Democrats would rather spend their time talking about Trump's actions of Jan. 6. Inflation continues, with high gas and food prices, an open border and crime, and uncertainty across the world, with Ukraine being destroyed, Afghanistan starving, we are supposed to worry about Trump throwing food, or cursing his Secret Service . . .It is obvious to anyone with half a brain, Washington could give a shit less about common, hard working Americans. They won't be caring in the future, but they will sure being trying to convince America otherwise.

City Scenes

a conversation on the street

city corner in Kearney, Nebraska

driving through some cities I feel civilization crumbling . . . .

city lights at dusk in St. Paul, MN . . . .

a famous view, but all I noticed were the lines and shapes . . . .

 

some older paintings