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I used to laugh and sneer at Crazy Uncle Pete
living in his cabin and ranting about the Street.
"All you money guys are just a bunch of whores,
who'd sell us down the river while financing our wars."
I thought I knew how the world worked, not a fool was I.
Savvy and professional, I'd never be that guy.
Well, Pete's still crazy as a swarm of bugs in bed,
but crazy is as crazy does, just think about the Fed.
Just like Humpty Dumpty, the world's had its fall.
Like Alice through the Looking Glass I'm addled by it all.
Prudence is no virtue and saving is a sin.
Profllgacy's called stimulus and "limits" are just spin.
Creditors are scoundrels and debtors call the tune.
The people serve the government, the dollar's in a swoon.
What's a dollar even worth, I find to my dismay
The Fed's like our friend Humpty: "It's worth just what I say."
The Fed reveres its Patron Saint, inestimable Lord Keynes
who gave eternal license to spend beyond our means.
If "Aggregate Demand" should ever fall blame not a busted bubble.
It's not the time to quit the game, it's time to wager double.
They've marked the cards and ginned the scale to force the world's hand
into taking risk with shrinking spreads, their wish is our command
If crazy is as crazy does, then what makes the Maddest Hatter.
Writing all these March Hare rules, or thinking it doesn't matter.
BOBB
A matrix, quadrants good… and some not so
Data points and anecdotes, processes assessed
Words and deeds, influence and action… either or… or both
The sum of who one is?
A simulacrum of Judgment Day; what is one to fear
If one’s soul is in good order
BOBB
Testimony to mankind’s folly
Is the impulse to resolution
Of a false sort, driven by a calendar
And born of a regret of failings.
Why expect the improbable
And deny the inevitable?
To submit seems easier on the soul.
Yet folly is the obverse of a coin
With another side of virtues;
An honesty to own one’s failings
A humility to laugh at one’s self
A trust in grace and forgiveness
A willingness to try and try again
And a faith in a final redemption
BOBB
A Contemplation Upon a Walk with Father David Ayotte and Mary Reilly in Lourdes, France
Miracles abound in Lourdes
“Ask, and it will be given you”
“Seek, and you will find”
The healing of a broken body
Oft the prayer for our Malades
The healing of a broken spirit
The greatest answer to fervent prayer
But simple miracles as well abound…
Pilgrims march for Ice Cream!
Glace! Gelato! Helado! Eis!
Something shared, a sweetness of life
A table, conversation, a pause from prescribed duty
Cool respite from cloying heat
Impossible not to smile
With chocolate on the tongue
Strawberry, Vanilla, Coffee…
Flavors bringing flavor
A mise en scene of joy
Thank God for gifts both large and small.
N.B. In photo left we see Father Dave in Lourdes, with my son Bob III. Mary Reilly is the pointing one and my daughter Mary wears the nursing outfit of a pilgrimage volunteer. Father Dave went on pilgrimage to Lourdes last summer to pray and prepare his spirit for what was to come. Certainly a miracle was welcome but grace was the only certainty. Father Dave, my brother-in-law by marriage, passed in November. Requiescat In Pace to a faithful priest in the line of Melchezidek
BOBB
One of four brothers, by nature distant, mystified by women
Modern dating no help in maturing, finding a partner
My parents, Helen and Bob, were my exemplar
Their steadfastness together a bond I knew was priceless
Annealed by refiner’s fire into long enduring alloy
Husband and Wife face the trials and joys of life
Requited trust the bedrock of persistence
And the promise of a peaceful redoubt in days as yet to come
To know Susie is to know a good thing, unequivocally
God’s grace led me back to her after many years lost
God’s grace came upon me in a moment, a bolt
Her, yes, now, no time to lose, seize the chance, courage
Engaged in a month, married in a year, Lorna nine months later
Bob soon to follow, Sarah, Mary, Jacqueline
They rise and call her Blessed, as do I
Susie, yes, now; she makes our dreams corporeal
A noble calling derided now by fools – Homemaker
Susie, the maker of our home, guardian of its honor
What is good she brings inside our walls
What is not, is challenged at her guard post
Yes, the maker our home, the fire of our hearth
But so much more to all that she can reach
Friends corralled from the world’s far four corners
The poor in spirit lifted, the joyful news hurrahed
I confess to petty jealousy, of time away from me
Spent counseling the grieving, encouraging the fearful
Sustaining those in need, for being where she needs to be
In body and in spirit, inspired by a heart unbound
But the lion’s share is mine; more than I deserve
More than I ever dreamt of, more than I even know
All that I am springs from eternal confidence
In the promise of the Lord and the cleaving to my wife
Her smile comes from her faith in the promises of God
Her laugh then follows as that confidence is shared
Her tears come from her sorrow for the pain endured by others
Her beauty is a gift from God that radiates from deep within her
I am Susie’s husband; I am regarded wise for that
Our house is a house of honor; promises here are kept
Often there is a cost unknown, a cost that could be rejected
But Susie always pays her bills in life, and oft the bills of others
So I praise my loving Susan, to any and to all
Mere words as here transcribed and deeds as feeble recompense
Enough for her because she is wise and fears the Lord
Enough for me to hold a gift more precious than jewels
BOBB
Don’t ask me my thoughts
About the dots
Powell’s opining
Has me declining
To trust what the Fed says they’ll do
It’ll be mooted by something that’s new
BOBB
Google, Amazon, Apple, Facebook
And countless more acronymed anodyne entities
Know where I am
Know where I’ve been
Know where I’m going
Know what I’ve done
Know what I think
It’s OK, I’ve got nothing to hide.
But when I remember
What I did
And where I went
With whom
And with what
In my ’68 Caprice (with a cracked cylinder)
I pity the riders of tomorrow…
Only the cars will be autonomous.
BOBB
All God’s children are loved
We are compelled by nature and soul
To treasure their inherent worth
Large and Small
Weak and Strong
Comely and Homely
Plodding and Clever
Yet when assigned the inevitable task
To send them into the World
The small ($10,000.00)
The weak (No Color, No Trace)
The homely (That Name?)
The plodding (8yr Duration)
They demand I call them “Odd Lots”
Not for me this thoughtless epithet
They have value intrinsic
They are dear to their holders
They deserve our care and concern
I call them “intimate,” a joyful “lagniappe”
An opportunity for collegial commerce
They are my children
All God’s children are loved
BOBB
N.B. I wrote this at the height of the '20 lockdown chaos.
As Los Angeles County reloads on Covidmania, alas I find this piece
is yet again on point.
Take Heart as in Olden Times
And Brave the Seas in Open Boats
Load Your Wagons with All You Own
And Seek a Life as Yet Unwritten
Contagions of a Minute Form
Can Wrack Our Mortal Bodies
Can Break Our Loving Hearts
Can Take Our Very Lives
But Only Mindless Fearfulness
Can Take Our Very Souls
Forsaking Reason for Reaction
Makes Us Captives of the Furies
Are We Not Women Like Antigone
Are We Not Men Like Horatius
Indeed These Are Our Archetypes
We Heed Our Covenanted Duties
The Turgid Instant Message
The Cable News Announcement
Are Cautions of Sort... a Sorry Sort
And Tools to Judge the Herd
Far Worse Times Beset Our Forebears
Generations Long Before Us
Saw Famine, War, and Plague
This Too Will Pass to Memory
The Future is Unknowable
As Through a Glass, Darkly
The Past is Gone, Untradeable
But Judgement is Invaluable
Take Heart As in Olden Times
BOBB
You manage money, you get paid to outsmart
The index, the actives, the top quartile chart
Vol is your friend
But QE won’t end
Tough luck, suck it up, bear down and take heart. For…
This is the business we’ve chosen
You trade on the street with spreads razor thin
The suits pay you down and the layoffs begin
Need a friend? Buy a dog
No one listens? Start a blog
Can’t hedge, can’t sleep? So what, fake a grin. For…
This is the business we’ve chosen
You’re in fixed income sales with a miserable list
Of chiseler customers that always insist
On inverted markets and top tick treatment
The YT page never runs in agreement
Sales credits stink? Like a mule you’ll persist. For…
This is the business we’ve chosen
You’re a buyside trader without P&L
You’ve middled for millions but no one can tell
All claim your winners
You buy your own dinners
But you just smile, keep on, ‘til the bell. For…
This is the business we’ve chosen
You run the shop, you’re the king of the hill
Underlings smile as you pick up the bill
But you’re on the line
It’s you’ll pay the fine
You’ll sign the reports, the SEC’s drill. For…
This is the business we’ve chosen
A fool, I’ve spent too much time whining
About fate, faults, and taxes combining
But let’s all get real
We’ve a hell of a deal
If not there’s always resigning. So give thanks that...
This is the business we’ve chosen
BOBB
Surrounded at the table
By faces smiling, many my children
Loyal friends, good food, beer!, cake
To celebrate a birthday
Time past, years passing
A pause to celebrate a soul
Older, wiser us, parents and children
Sibling strife abated, fondness abiding
I’ve wondered why this life
Why? A mise en scene of joy
BOBB
I took a walk today... a long one
I smiled at all I passed
And waved to drivers stopped at lights
"Crazy Old Guy” I’m sure they thought
But faces grim turned bright
They smiled back... and waved
Contagions come in many forms
BOBB 2020
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