The 6 o’clock Hour
By 
Seated at a table, colorful sails overhead,
Waterfront Park, Safety Harbor.
Enjoying peaceful respite with a friend.
We’ve completed our walk.
To our right, the popping of a cork,
wine shared by nearby picnickers.
It’s dinner hour.
The evening throngs have not yet arrived.
Facing the Bay, water ripples peacefully.
Tampa’s buildings a muted gray.
The sky, an expanse of blue,
not yet illuminated by the pinks and purples of sunset.
Low humidity this evening.
A steady breeze penetrates the warm temperature.
Perfection.
Escape from the other 6 o’clock hour.
CNN/FOX news blare out the latest jabs
from left to right and right to left.
The ongoing report of American divisiveness.
Seeking a calmer world view,
I switch to BBC news.
Muslims brutalized in northwest China.
Bullets, bombs and their aftermath
continue between Russia and Ukraine.
Woman in Iran murdered
for wearing her hajib incorrectly.
The 6 o-clock hour…
Waterfront or TV news
Two different realities.
One world.
Author of “You Can Go Home Again“
