Category: From the Soul

by Ernie McCray

It seems to me
that the most bothersome aspect
regarding Donald J
talking out of his asshole
about Iran
taking out Los Angeles
and San Diego,
should be the cheers of support that rose
from his followers.

I mean there wasn’t a single boo
that escaped the lips
of the MAGA folks
this traitorous felon
was talking to
and that leaves one to wonder
how anybody,
with an ounce of love in their soul,
never mind their politics
or points-of-views
or personal situations,
can be okay

by Ernie McCray

September 2026
found me in high spirits,
thanks to quality time I enjoyed simply
being in the company
of good people
at a time when we human beings need each other
so urgently,
and the folks formed a nice range:
new and old friends I visited in my hometown,
a number of inspirational individuals
with whom I broke bread at a memorable dinner,
sharing so much laughter
and stories overflowing with wit,
and I’ll forever remember the time I spent with
a room of young high school artists
who are illustrating a collection of my poetry
and, on the subject of writing,

by Ernie McCray

Visited the place of my birth a little while ago.
Tucson.
Needed the trip so desperately
during bluesy soul-sapping times like these
as that desert town,
over the years
when life was somewhat getting me down,
has always eased my mind
gifting me with a kind of assurance
that nothing has really budged,
that everything’s going to be okay,
making me feel that way
going back to my childhood days

by Ernie McCray

I’m shaking my head,

wishing I could go upside the heads

of a handful of

self-righteous wealthy Silicon Valley tech moguls

I just finished reading about

in a most revealing book, The Nerd Reich,

devious fascist narcissistic eggheads

who, in spite of

their enormous wealth

by Ernie McCray

The words,
“Be excellent to each other out there,”
that I read on a Facebook post recently
really struck a chord with me,
especially considering
how too many of us
treat each other these days
on social media,
attacking a fellow human being’s very person
rather than challenge
a specific point-of-view intellectually,
the very opposite
of treating someone
the way you want to be treated.

by Ernie McCray

Regarding all that’s being said
about Anthony Fauci’s
handling of the Covid-19 pandemic,
what he did or didn’t do
to keep us safe,
we, as a nation,
have to come to understand
that science, inherently,
is a mixture of failures
wherein an approach to a problem
put into use one day
might require dismissal
the very next day
based on new data
that has come into play,
something I noticed
without a real grasp of the situation
as a child at play
when people in charge of public health
deployed all kinds of do’s and don’ts
that had me asking my mom an array of questions
about why the pool was closed

by Ernie McCray

With the tragedy
at the mosque
still on my mind
I’ve been thinking
of a wonderful book
I just finished,
“The Future is Peace,”
written by Aziz Abu Sarah,
a Palestinian,
and Maoz Inon,
an Israeli,
who, rather than focusing on their ethnicities,
choose to view themselves
as human beings
who are trying to cultivate

by Ernie McCray

I experienced an evening
in these times of cares and woes
just a short time ago
that was ever so heavenly,
like sweet music to my ears,
beginning with a Lyft ride
in a car
whose radio,
speaking of music,
was playing
a Sonny Rollins’ song
in memory
of him
now that he’s gone
and the bebop phrasing
coming from his tenor saxophone
those deep rich strong tones
for which he’s known
set the tone
for a dinner
I was going to at the home of my friend,
Cecil Lytle,

by Ernie McCray

Attending a
Community College league of California
Trustees Conference
with Maria, my querida,
a trustee,
I happened upon
a session that very much interested me,
one regarding
protecting campuses
from ICE
who a while back
became a concern
to Santa Barbara Community College
when agents, nevertheless,
although they didn’t harass or arrest
any students,

by Ernie McCray

My heart weakens
when I see my city
seeking to make catastrophic reductions
in arts funding,
as I feel,
in my very being
that the arts
should be at the center
of all things
since from humankind’s beginning
the arts have been essential
to a human being’s
wellbeing,
a means of communicating emotions,

By Ernie McCray

I’ve been an 88-year-old
for a few days now
and I’m still rocking,
however, not to my surprise,
to the same vibe
I was moving to during
the waning moments of my 87 years
of life,
dealing with the little aches and pains
and minor discomforts and irritations
that come with aging
and having to continue
fighting off a president’s lies
like a man
shooing and swatting flies
in response to a war
to which he gave rise,

by Ernie McCray

I, along with a room
of other people,
just spent
“An Afternoon with Josefina Lopez”
who just happens to be
an award-winning
highly acclaimed Chicana
playwright and screenwriter
who gave to the world,
early in her career,
the play, “Real Women Have Curves,”
which later
became adapted into a film
and then
a Broadway musical,