Author: Mike Hoffman

Down and out semi poet who is down and out in the Low Country of South Carolina after living in Atlanta which is not to be confused with the south, the old south or the new south. Atlanta was a global metropolis with all the pluses and minuses that comes with that. The low country, low because it is low, 8 feet above sea level, is not Podunk but once you get to Podunk, turn left. I try to chronicle a small part of all that through my daily haiku for you.

11.22.2025 – that time of year when

that time of year when
yellow leaves, none, or few, hang
shake against the cold

That time of year thou mayst in me behold
When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang
Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,
Bare ruin’d choirs where late the sweet birds sang.
In me thou see’st the twilight of such day
As after sunset fadeth in the west;
Which by and by black night doth take away,
Death’s second self, that seals up all in rest.
In me thou see’st the glowing of such fire
That on the ashes of his youth doth lie,
As the death-bed whereon it must expire
Consum’d with that which it was nourish’d by.
This thou perceiv’st, which makes thy love more strong,
To love that well which thou must leave ere long.

Sonnet 73 by William Shakespeare.

If you traveled the length and width of Beaufort County, South Carolina you might be hard pressed to find more fall color then is this little patch of trees near where I live.

Beaufort County is 40 miles long and 10 miles deep and covers the coast of South Carolina from Savannah to Charleston.

At high tide, 50% of Beaufort County is underwater.

The salt is in everything and there is not a lot of color you can get out of salt.

Growing up in Michigan, the local forests are a poor player for fall color.

Having lived in Atlanta for years, the local forests are just as lacking for spring color.

The simple pond in the picture has the very real chance to be home to both alligators and water mocassians but it sits in the middle of housing development surrounded by an lawn that invites you to bring a picnic lunch and sit and enjoy your surroundings.

If you do that and aren’t bother by the alligators or snakes, either the fire ants or the sand gnats will eat you alive.

So why do I live in this salt marsh swamp?

That one line there captured by Big Bill.

Upon those boughs which shake against the cold.

Its the end of November.

It is forecast to be in the low 80’s and we are off to the beach.

Now my favorite fall colors are the numberless shades of blue in the sky and in the water of the Atlantic Ocean.

In me thou see’st the twilight of such day

This thou perceiv’st, which makes thy love more strong,

11.21.2025 – dead voters stolen

dead voters stolen
fraudulent ballots secret
computer servers

Federal investigators have been interviewing multiple people who are pushing unfounded claims that Venezuela helped steal the 2020 election from Donald Trump, the Guardian has learned.

While there were a variety of conspiracy theories that helped fuel Donald Trump’s 2020 “Stop the Steal” movement – dead voters, stolen, fraudulent or forged ballots, and secret computer servers in Germany – the purported influence of Venezuela was always a central claim. It asserted that electronic voting in the US was secretly controlled by the impoverished regime, both by President Nicolás Maduro and his deceased predecessor Hugo Chavez.

Not only was it bizarre on its face, but a judge in Delaware ruled it false in 2023, and Fox News, Newsmax, and OAN later paid a total of hundreds of millions in total damages in defamation claims. At heart, the theory was that Smartmatic, which had the contract for electronic voting machines in Los Angeles, and Dominion, which ran voting in many other parts of the country, had been created or influenced by Venezuela to fix elections.

From the story, Trump’s DoJ investigating unfounded claims Venezuela helped steal 2020 election by Aram Roston in the Guardian.

On the day when I left home to make my way in the world, my Daddy took me to one side.

‘Son,’ my Daddy says to me, ‘I am sorry I am not able to bankroll you to a very large start, but not having the necessary lettuce to get you rolling, instead I’m going to stake you to some very valuable advice.

One of these days in your travels, a guy is going to show you a brand-new deck of cards on which the seal is not yet broken.

Then this guy is going to offer to bet you that he can make the jack of spades jump out of this brand-new deck of cards and squirt cider in your ear.

But, son, do not accept this bet, because as sure as you stand there, you’re going to wind up with an ear full of cider.

Damon Runyan from his musical, Guys and Dolls.

Of course, I have to consider, had the current guy in office won in 2020 … he wouldn’t be the current guy in office today.

Never would have heard of the current VP.

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Also growing up in the shadow of Chicago and the original Mayor Daley, I am reminded of the joke of how Daley was in boat with 2 guys and the boat was sinking and there was one life jacket. The three guys vote and Daley wins by 7 votes.

11.20.2025 – telling myself, I

telling myself, I
was impressed, had to be some
impression in it

Impressions of Sunrise over Hilton Head, 11/20/2205

Impression I was certain of it. I was just telling myself that, since I was impressed, there had to be some impression in it — and what freedom, what ease of workmanship! A preliminary drawing for a wallpaper pattern is more finished than this seascape.

Louis Leroy’s review of the painting, Impression, Sunrise, was printed in Le Charivari on 25 April 1874.

Claude Monet, Impression, Sunrise (1872)

According to Wikipedia, While the movement and the painting initially garnered controversy, Monet’s Impression, Sunrise gave rise to the name and recognition of the Impressionist movement, arguably exemplifying more than any other work or artist the Impressionist movement as a whole in style, subject, and influence.

Driving to work this morning I could see the sunrise.

I was just telling myself that, since I was impressed, there had to be some impression in it.

11.19.2025 – dolphins had always

dolphins had always
believed far more intelligent
for the same reasons

Sunrise over Skull Creek with dolphins mucking about unseen – but I know they’re there.

Adapted from the passage:

“For instance, on the planet Earth, man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much—the wheel, New York, wars and so on—whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more intelligent than man—for precisely the same reasons.”

From The hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy by Douglas Adams (New York : Pocket Books, 1985).

I had a ride to work this morning so instead of defending myself from drivers who are intent on killing me, I was able to look out the window.

When you ride to work in the Low Country of South Carolina you get to look out the window at water.

You get to look out the window at water and look for dolphins.

Sometimes you spot one or two or more as they muck about in the water having a good time.

They have such a good time that just to see them makes you feel better.

And sometimes, when I get a ride to work I can look out the window and see dolphins.

There are worse places to ride to work.

I got to thinking about dolphins.

They do not labor or spin.

They spend the lives not knowing about borders, taxes, politicians, jobs or NFL Referees.

You know what?

I do believe that they ARE far more intelligent than man.

11.18.2025 – democracy most

democracy most
fragile thing on earth, it rests
upon you and me

Democracy is the most fragile thing on earth, for what does it rest upon?

You and me, and the fact that we agree to maintain it.

The moment either of us says we will not, that’s the end of it.

It doesn’t rest on anything but us; it doesn’t rest on armed force, the moment it does it isn’t democracy.

It isn’t something to kick around or experiment with.

From the preface page to the 2017 Edition of the book, Advise and Consent by Allan Drury (WordFire Press: Colorado Springs, Colorado , 2017).

Advise and Consent is one of those books AND film adaptations that I can read or watch again and again.

Watching the movie today I have to laugh the Minority Whip of the Senate arrives a the Capitol Building in a cab, walks to a news stand and buys and paper and only then learns what the President did overnight.

In today’s instant news coverage, I marvel that anything got done back in 1959.

I mean the poor guy woke up, got dressed, had breakfast and got to work before he had any news on which to plan his day.

According to Wikipedia, “Advise and Consent is a 1959 political fiction novel by Allen Drury that explores the United States Senate confirmation of controversial Secretary of State nominee Robert Leffingwell, whose promotion is endangered due to growing evidence that the nominee had been a member of the Communist Party. The chief characters’ responses to the evidence, and their efforts to spread or suppress it, form the basis of the novel.”

A Mr. Tom Kemme, in his book, Political fiction, the spirit of the age, and Allen Drury (Bowling Green State University Popular Press: Bowling Green, Ohio. 1987), writes that, “The basic assumption underlying Drury fiction is that totalitarian Communism is intrinsically evil and that Communism’s ultimate goal is world domination, an end or goal that Communists will strive to achieve by whatever moral, immoral, or amoral means are expedient, including propaganda, lies, subversion, intimidation, infiltration, betrayal, and violence.”

Had anyone been able to tell Mr. Drury that such a threat would be coming, not from Communists buy from within the Government, he would have dismissed the plot as impossible to believe.

But if we make one slight change, that phrase can be read …

The current administration is intrinsically evil and that the current administration‘s ultimate goal is world domination, an end or goal that the current administration will strive to achieve by whatever moral, immoral, or amoral means are expedient, including propaganda, lies, subversion, intimidation, infiltration, betrayal, and violence.

Just that last bit is worth repeating.

The current administration will strive to achieve [its goals] by whatever moral, immoral, or amoral means are expedient, including propaganda,

lies,

subversion,

intimidation,

infiltration,

betrayal,

and violence.

It’s worth repeating Mr. Drury’s warning.

Democracy is the most fragile thing on earth, for what does it rest upon? You and me, and the fact that we agree to maintain it. The moment either of us says we will not, that’s the end of it. It doesn’t rest on anything but us; it doesn’t rest on armed force, the moment it does it isn’t democracy. It isn’t something to kick around or experiment with.

It isn’t something to kick around or experiment with.