Lulu by Mikel K
Not Everybody Can Be A Beatle
By Mikel K
You Rock more and More Mikel; this is Phenomenal!
--Yvonne Cherie
"Mikel K is a vast wilderness of creativity only the very outskirts of which Mikel himself has yet to explore... this gives us all a lot to look forward to."
--Cyndi Craven
Not going to lie. As a fellow writer, I love reading your posts.
--Melissa
Mikel,
Thanks for letting me come by and vent and getting me tea. You are very sweet sometimes, and I appreciate it.
Lulu,
Caroline
Thank you for paying me back with a lecture about how I need to have a car
when I asked you for help getting dog food.
Mikel
Does anyone truly "know" Mikel K?--Kevin Norris
"OH YEAH, THE ONE AND ONLY...MK"--Nicolas Miraballes
"Mikel K is a Poet. And God´s Child."--Tomas Pastika
"Mikel, your poetry is so beautiful..."
--Anna Elizabeth Collins
do you really want it? (the pulitzer prize) do you want to have to curb your thoughts and words because you have your eyes on the prize? you know as well as i do that you are the voice of the people…the real people...not hearts and flowers bullshit...rhymes and rhythm and mental masturbation...fuck that...you have an audience who digs you NOW...id love to see them do a warmly insightful portrait of you at the pool or the local walmart, or perhaps share a pavement sandwich with you and Roman? Ha...does the average joe get a vote? You dont want what they've got. but recognition is always nice...so you have my vote..."You da man!"..."
--Melissa Holtan
Now and later
For a time, everyone is here,
and then, after a time,
everyone is here, and there.
Not everyone stays in one place;
many people scatter.
You can never know who is going
to do what.
You can never know who is going
to go where,
so enjoy everyone as much as you can,
now, just in case they will be gone,
later.
Robbed
Sometimes, the dogs like to linger outside
longer than I like to let them linger,
and, sometimes, I let them linger
for as long as they want to linger.
We don't go on the three to five mile walks
that we used to; in fact, we don't much walk
at all, these days, due to my arthritis.
I miss those walks, and I know that the dogs do, also.
I need
I want a second cup of coffee,
this morning, but I don't want
to get up and make it.
I need a machine that makes
second cups of coffees.
I need a machine that makes
the rent payment.
Just do the work
You have to approach them
make them aware of you
wave your work in their face
like a monkey showing off
a banana that he has just
plucked from a tree.
They won't discover you.
Greater Dignity
Some of them know to
ask for a sample,
and I give it to them,
and then they head over
to the cream counter,
and fix it the way they like it.
Maybe they are getting over,
maybe that sample saves them
some money that they can buy
listerine with, so that they
can pass out in a pool
of their own puke on the sidewalk,
but maybe that sample gives them
a little dignity, and, sometimes,
some dignity can grow on you
into greater dignity.
Nothing sexual intended
I have never met her, but she has placed her lips up on my lips
her heart has intertwined with my heart, nothing sexual intended.
The End
I'm going to drink a hot tea, and then situate myself in the bed with a book. Soon, my pillow will call to me; it will say, "Put down that book, and give yourself fully to me." And I will.
No rules no infatuations
The perimeter is cloudy,
and he liked it that way.
No chance of ABC
Some days, I can't get from A to B.
Heck, some days, I can't get to A.
There is no pill that can fix you
Cycle on your bicycle
leave all this pain behind,
but the pain comes with you,
with each push of the pedal
it gets stronger.
Lay in your bed, looking for rest,
looking for a respite from the pain,
but the pain is still with you,
it wakes you, and then takes you
to the same place you went on your bicycle ride.
Sitting at your desk, you'll sit for just awhile,
until the pain drives you from your chair.
No milk
I turn the milk container upside down,
but no milk comes from it, have i
already finished the container, I wonder
then realize that I have left the top on.
Today is a day off
Today is a day off, and I am not getting out of the house to run some errands until 4pm; that is because I slept late, and woke up still feeling worn out; that full body worn out feeling that you get from taking what they're giving. You would not push your body over the edge, like your boss does, if you were taking a Yoga class, swimming, or riding your bike: no way. Anyway, I have some errands to run, this afternoon, a pay check to deposit, some laundry detergent, Stevia, and deodorant to buy; a couple of bills to pay over the internet, when I get home.
Things that make me nervous
When I'm in love;
when I'm late for work.
When I have use the facility,
and there is no facility near.
When the dogs are barking at me,
when I come home.
When I fall off my bike;
when I used to hallucinate.
When I used to imbibe
to the point of winding up locked up.
On a crowded elevator,
in a crowded restaurant.
On a crowded beach,
in any kind of a crowd at all.
When I'm a dollar, or two short
at the grocery store;
when I look in the mirror,
and I'm not sure who that is looking at me.
Now and later
For a time, everyone is here,
and then, after a time,
everyone is here, and there.
Not everyone stays in one place;
many people scatter.
You can never know who is going
to do what.
You can never know who is going
to go where,
so enjoy everyone as much as you can,
now, just in case they will be gone,
later.
POSTED BY MIKEL K POET AT 10:39 AM 0 COMMENTS LINKS TO THIS POST
Robbed
Sometimes, the dogs like to linger outside
longer than I like to let them linger,
and, sometimes, I let them linger
for as long as they want to linger.
We don't go on the three to five mile walks
that we used to; in fact, we don't much walk
at all, these days, due to my arthritis.
I miss those walks, and I know that the dogs do, also.
POSTED BY MIKEL K POET AT 10:36 AM 0 COMMENTS LINKS TO THIS POST
I need
I want a second cup of coffee,
this morning, but I don't want
to get up and make it.
I need a machine that makes
second cups of coffees.
I need a machine that makes
the rent payment.
POSTED BY MIKEL K POET AT 10:23 AM 0 COMMENTS LINKS TO THIS POST
Just do the work
You have to approach them
make them aware of you
wave your work in their face
like a monkey showing off
a banana that he has just
plucked from a tree.
They won't discover you.
POSTED BY MIKEL K POET AT 10:21 AM 0 COMMENTS LINKS TO THIS POST
Greater Dignity
Some of them know to
ask for a sample,
and I give it to them,
and then they head over
to the cream counter,
and fix it the way they like it.
Maybe they are getting over,
maybe that sample saves them
some money that they can buy
listerine with, so that they
can pass out in a pool
of their own puke on the sidewalk,
but maybe that sample gives them
a little dignity, and, sometimes,
some dignity can grow on you
into greater dignity.
POSTED BY MIKEL K POET AT 10:08 AM 0 COMMENTS LINKS TO THIS POST
Nothing sexual intended
I have never met her, but she has placed her lips up on my lips
her heart has intertwined with my heart, nothing sexual intended.
POSTED BY MIKEL K POET AT 6:22 AM 0 COMMENTS LINKS TO THIS POST
MONDAY, AUGUST 03, 2009
The End
I'm going to drink a hot tea, and then situate myself in the bed with a book. Soon, my pillow will call to me; it will say, "Put down that book, and give yourself fully to me." And I will.
POSTED BY MIKEL K POET AT 9:56 PM 0 COMMENTS LINKS TO THIS POST
No rules no infatuations
The perimeter is cloudy,
and he liked it that way.
POSTED BY MIKEL K POET AT 9:55 PM 0 COMMENTS LINKS TO THIS POST
No chance of ABC
Some days, I can't get from A to B.
Heck, some days, I can't get to A.
POSTED BY MIKEL K POET AT 9:42 PM 0 COMMENTS LINKS TO THIS POST
There is no pill that can fix you
Cycle on your bicycle
leave all this pain behind,
but the pain comes with you,
with each push of the pedal
it gets stronger.
Lay in your bed, looking for rest,
looking for a respite from the pain,
but the pain is still with you,
it wakes you, and then takes you
to the same place you went on your bicycle ride.
Sitting at your desk, you'll sit for just awhile,
until the pain drives you from your chair.
POSTED BY MIKEL K POET AT 9:38 PM 0 COMMENTS LINKS TO THIS POST
No milk
I turn the milk container upside down,
but no milk comes from it, have i
already finished the container, I wonder
then realize that I have left the top on.
POSTED BY MIKEL K POET AT 8:59 PM 0 COMMENTS LINKS TO THIS POST
Today is a day off, and I am not getting out of the house to run some errands until 4pm; that is because I slept late, and woke up still feeling worn out; that full body worn out feeling that you get from taking what they're giving. You would not push your body over the edge, like your boss does, if you were taking a Yoga class, swimming, or riding your bike: no way. Anyway, I have some errands to run, this afternoon, a pay check to deposit, some laundry detergent, Stevia, and deodorant to buy; a couple of bills to pay over the internet, when I get home.
Mick Jaggar sings, "Angie," as I write this, and it is my hope that my friend Angela Bowie is doing well, today.
POSTED BY MIKEL K POET AT 3:00 PM 0 COMMENTS LINKS TO THIS POST
Things that make me nervous
When I'm in love.
When I'm late for work.
When I have use the facility,
and there is no facility near.
When the dogs are barking at me,
when I come home.
When I fall off my bike.
When I used to hallucinate.
When I used to imbibe
to the point of winding up locked up.
On a crowded elevator.
In a crowded restaurant.
On a crowded beach.
In any kind of a crowd at all.
When I'm a dollar, or two, short
at the grocery store.
When I look in the mirror,
and I'm not sure who that is looking at me.
Home is where Bundy is
When we first moved into this apartment,
"Go home," meant for my dog Bundy to
head to the closet, and camp out
on the red blanket that I had put there for him.
Soon, though, Bundy started running underneath my desk,
when I would holler, "Go home," at him.
We have lived in this apartment for almost a year, now,
and Bundy only enters the closet to eat;
his food bowl found a home there but he didn't.
Living through adversity
Somehow, the see saw that she had been riding on
hit her in the face, sending her two top teeth,
and enough blood to make a five year old scream
flying out in front of her.
When her mother got the call about the incident,
she was even more freaked out than the kid was.
That was Friday, this is Monday, and both mother,
and daughter are fine. They just left the dentist' office
where the dentist said that they both would live.
Does baffling me indicate greatness?
I don't like it when I read a poem
and I have no idea what the person is writing about.
I especially don't like it when I read a poem, five or six times,
and I don't understand what that person is writing about.
The book that is the current winner of the Pulitzer Prize
is like that: I have no idea what M.S. Merwin is talking about.
Is that the key to "great" poetry: you have to baffle
the mass of man, and woman; you have to make it
so boring and obscure that few people outside of the committee
that picks the Pulitzer winner know what the winner is talking about.
David Bottoms writes much better poetry than M.S. Merwin.
How to Be Considered for a Pulitzer Prize
Distinguish yourself as a writer, particularly in journalism - the main category of the Pulitzer Prize. Other categories include the novel, poetry, biography, political cartooning, news photography and musical composition.
Get an entry form from The Pulitzer Prize Office, 709 Journalism, Mail Code 3865, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027. Or call (212) 854-3841.
Get your entry together. Guidelines differ for each of the categories, but for all categories, you'll need to include a $50 entry fee.
Ezra Pound's poems drive me nuts
They locked Ezra Pound up for being crazy,
which makes sense to me,
having been fed his writing on the way
to walking with an English degree.
How to win the Pulitzer
You have to make your writing obscure,
so that the average person can not understand it,
just the people awarding the prize,
this is why Bukowski never won it.
The cruel bastards have me by the balls
The computer voice informs me that I have
a seven minute wait,
and then begins an advertising assault
that is cruel and merciless.
I just want to get a one day extension
on the due date to my bill;
I don't want to learn about
the complete ATT product line.
It's my quiet time, normally;
just me, a cup of coffee, and the keyboard,
but not this morning.
--Mikel K
Somebody keeps giving this guy a carrot,
so he plods along
Home is where Bundy is
When we first moved into this apartment,
"Go home," meant for my dog Bundy to
head to the closet, and camp out
on the red blanket that I had put there for him.
Soon, though, Bundy started running underneath my desk,
when I would holler, "Go home," at him.
We have lived in this apartment for almost a year, now,
and Bundy only enters the closet to eat;
his food bowl found a home there but he didn't.
Living through adversity
Somehow, the see saw that she had been riding on
hit her in the face, sending her two top teeth,
and enough blood to make a five year old scream
flying out in front of her.
When her mother got the call about the incident,
she was even more freaked out than the kid was.
That was Friday, this is Monday, and both mother,
and daughter are fine. They just left the dentist' office
where the dentist said that they both would live.
How to Be Considered for a Pulitzer Prize
Distinguish yourself as a writer, particularly in journalism - the main category of the Pulitzer Prize. Other categories include the novel, poetry, biography, political cartooning, news photography and musical composition.
Get an entry form from The Pulitzer Prize Office, 709 Journalism, Mail Code 3865, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027. Or call (212) 854-3841.
Get your entry together. Guidelines differ for each of the categories, but for all categories, you'll need to include a $50 entry fee.
Ezra Pound's poems drive me nuts
They locked Ezra Pound up for being crazy,
which makes sense to me,
having been fed his writing on the way
to walking with an English degree.
How to win the Pulitzer
You have to make your writing obscure,
so that the average person can not understand it,
just the people awarding the prize,
this is why Bukowski never won it.
The cruel bastards have me by the balls
The computer voice informs me that I have
a seven minute wait
and then begins an advertising assault
that is cruel and merciless
I just want to get a one day extension
on the due date to my bill
I don't want to learn about the complete ATT
product line
It's my quiet time, normally
Just me a cup of coffee and the keyboard
but not this morning.
Sad sad sad
It is a sad occasion, when you run out of artichoke spinach hommus. Hommus? That is what it says on the top. I thought that I was buying hummus; have I been scammed? It is also a bummer when you run out of roasted garlic and artichoke salsa, but worse things could happen to you; don't you, and I, know it?!
POSTED BY MIKEL K POET AT 10:35 PM 0 COMMENTS LINKS TO THIS POST
Tonight I had a pavement sandwich
I fell from my bike like I was being thrown to the mat by a jiu jitsu opponent, turning my head right before smashing into the pavement, avoiding breaking my nose.
"Are you alright? Are you alright?" I heard a man ask me.
"Yes," I said, "I am alright."(Funny how you can assess that so soon.) "I just need help getting the bike off my right foot."
Somehow, the bike was pinning my foot to the ground. The man moved my bike, and then asked me, "If I could get up?"
I said, "Yes, I'm going to use one of my Yoga positions," and, then, I got into Downward Facing Dog, for a moment, and then came out of it to standing position!
The guy who helped was named Roman. I'll probably never see him again, but I would like to thank him, again, for his help.
No fun
She's cute, but she seems like a depressive.
I've been around depressives before; they are no fun.
Hell, I've been a depressive; I was no fun.
Jump on your bed seventeen times to relieve stomach indigestion
Most everybody has a suggestion for this
and s suggestion for that: wear a copper anklet,
one lady said to me yesterday;it will help your arthritis.
I googled it and it seems that copper supplements might help,
but there is no scientific proof that a copper anklet will help.
Another lady suggested squeezing half a lime into water,
in the morning, as a way to help with diabetes.
She said that it helps her control her blood sugar, and appetite,
even though she is not diabetic.
When I quit drinking, there were many suggestions
given to me to help me.
There is a lot of advice out there; you just have to
figure out which advice is really good advice.
Monkey is waiting
Outside, Monkey waits for me
to bring her her morning meal.
Yesterday, it rained,
and I wondered where Monkey went
when tears fell from the sky.
I soon found out; she went to my garden,
which is shielded our house's roof,
and made herself comfortable in the dirt,
dirt that used to be my carrot plants
before Monkey came along
and made herself comfortable in them.
I would rather that Monkey is comfortable,
and dry, than have a few scrawny carrots
any old day.
What are you?
I make coffee for money, but I am really a poet,
no wait, I am both a barista, and a poet,
no wait, I am a father, a poet, and a barista,
no wait, I am a father, a poet, a barista,
and more than a friend to my pets.
So many titles, so many ways to define ourselves,
so many roles to play; I am happy with all of mine.
Gratitude is not a river in Egypt
I'm out of soy creamer, this morning,
and there is no milk in the house,
so I have nothing, but Stevia,
to put in my morning coffee.
I think I will survive;
people go through far worse,
there are American troops in Afghanistan,
and Iraq, who don't know if the next car
that they approach wil blow up,
and kill or maim them.
There are women in emergency rooms,
all across the country,
who have just been beaten up
by someone who "loves" them.
There are all kind of mean and evil things being
done to animals, so that people can eat them.
You get my point; I am blessed,
and you probably are, too.
Smell Good
The cat likes my new deodorant
he licks my underarm whenever
I lay down on the bed right before
he climbs on my chest and pushes
his head into my hand demanding
that I scratch him
The wrong button is pushed
Don't bark; bark, bark at me.
It is me; the hand that feeds
you, coming home through
the door that I left you alone
inside of to guard against
the outside world, and not me.
I've always felt the same
Robert Frost felt that he should be a poet,
and not a laborer in a factory, or a deliverer
of newspapers
Banana?
Do you think that the dogs care
if I warm their oatmeal? I don't.
Handshake
I make a pact with you, Ezra Pound:
I will detest you no longer,
but investigate you far further than I have.
I am a graduate, now; in school
they only showed me so much of you.
Take over
Perhaps cucumber,
perhaps watermelon,
but most likely a spider web;
in this form you have entered
my heart,
and are consuming it.
Tres
Maria, we used to whisper, at night,
about things that weren't right
as if our love could somehow fix them.
Susan, our conversations were mostly
about how to save the world.
Jennifer, we quit eating meat together,
making a small statement together about
how cruel it was that animals were killed
to feed us.
Respite
You peppered me with poison darts from your foul, foul tongue.
You'd done that with many men before, and I guess you thought
that that was fun, fun, fun; so I had to run.
I'd rather eat bologna sandwiches in a cell alone,
than constantly argue with you on a telephone.
I'd rather live alone on an island than non-communicate with you.
Pet Update
I like it when I have several cans of wet cat food in the pantry above the sink, because this means that my cats will be happy in the morning when I feed them their little wet cat food treat. I pay way too much for the dog food that I feed my dogs, but I have healthy, happy dogs, and, we all know, that your dogs get what we pay for. I need to clean the water that my turtles inhabit, but I don't have to do it immediately. The turtles salivate like Pavlov's dogs when I open the lid to their container, knowing that I am going to be dropping green, or red pellets, into their existence.
Illusion
Young men, and woman, are not losing
arms and legs, or dieing in wars,
there are just cars being sold at a discount,
and games being won or lost in baseball.
I hate fickle women
The kind who say to
you that they would
like to hang out with
you, but never follow
through on it. What
kind of a perverse
thrill do they get
from this?
Of course, then, there
are the women who are not
fickle, and they make up
for all the fickleness
of the fickle women.
So, what is its purpose?
This writing that I do will probably never free
journalists from unjust nations; it will
never stop wars, feed people who are starving,
aid addicts in ending their addictions.
It will never buy me or you a new house,
a new car, or even a new outfit to wear out
to dinner. It won't buy dinner, either.
The speed of sound
We were discussing this city that I live in,
a friend of mine, and I. My friend used to
live here, so he knows what I am talking about
when I say that nothing is ever the same
when you go back to it, in this city: there are
always new buildings popping up, at the speed of sound.
Not quite time yet
I laid a small timer on my bed, yesterday afternoon,
so that I would remember to return it to its rightful owner,
and, several times, during the night
my foot swept over it, turning it on.
Beep, beep, beep it went, stealing me from a deep sleep.
I found humor in the situation, as I removed the timer
from my bed, wide awake, way after midnight,
and placed it by the lamp next to me, and drifted back to sleep.
Salvation
The dump truck salivates for tin cans,
knowing that money is a virtue.
Oxymoron
Her legs are enticing,
but her smile is not inviting.
Just a thought
People will think what they want to think.
I will think what I want to think.
You will think what you want to think.
I'm not sure what to think about this.
Fuzzy
It seems that "the cable" should run
under the ground, but branches from
a tree in our front yard knocked a cable
from the air, and my tv and internet
don't work.
Well done
I can't play a guitar,
but I can fry eggs.
Burn me
From the dirt sprout seeds
and to the dirt many of us
will go.
I won't back down, either
Tom Petty sings it,
and I believe it.
It's a rule
Everybody with long hair, has had short hair at one time,
or another, but not everybody who likes ketchup, enjoys mustard.
Been There
"Alright, come on," The Singer Screams,
and I perk my head up for a moment, but
soon I see that he is not taking me anywhere
that I have not already gone.
Murder
Murder; it's cloudy
but I must tell this tale:
The Ones who really murder
never go to jail.
I'm strangled
I'm strangled by my inhibition.
I'm strangled by my lack of green.
I'm strangled by these other feelings
inside of me.
I'm locked up, no chance of parole,
I am where I am for a very long time,
sentenced by myself.
Next
I need to clean my turtles' tank
I really need to clean my turtles' tank
I am going to clean my turtles' tank
I am going to clean my turtles' tank
very soon after I get off this computer.
A.M. Choices
It seems that I can't much write, anymore,
unless I am telling you the truth,
and, these days, if I am feeling like shit,
I don't much want to tell you that,
so I don't say anything at all.
I'm torn, this morning, between eating
a bagel loaded with butter,
or a bowl of oatmeal full of banana,
or both.
Which of the three choices would you have?
Do you whine to people when you feel miserable,
or do you keep it to yourself?
Would you rather be fat, or mentally balanced?
I take this pill
that contributes to weight gain,
and I want to be skinny,
if not for vanity purposes,
due to arthritis, and diabetes.
Well, I ran out of that pill,
a few days ago, and I said to myself
hmmmmmmm, let's wee how I feel without it.
Well, the answer is that I felt like shit,
old anger, old depression immediately crept
back into my being, the bottom line
of this story, for me, being
don't alter your pills without checking
with the folks who prescribe them.
Things that yesterday
Things
that
yesterday
seemed so important,
don't even register
in my consciousness,
today,
or yours;
which would indicate
that we all need to
take a chill pill
in the now.
Needs
I need a new drug.
I need a new rug.
I need a new car.
I need a new Superstar.
Simplicity or stupidity?
I have six Christmas cards taped to an old window air conditioning unit that doesn't work. Here it is, early August, and the cards are still up there; why I'm not sure exactly, but I was just thinking how I will have an advantage this Christmas, because I won't have to hang the cards up. I guess the same logic could be applied to Christmas trees, and pumpkins: leave them up year round to avoid having to put them up each year. I need to make my bed: why not leave it unmade, I am just going to crawl into it each night, and mess it up, once again?
Awake
Sometimes, my head is clear at five a.m.
I go back to bed to find myself groggy near noon.
Movement
Summer is passing rapidly,
as winter did,
as fall and spring will;
as my life has, and is.
About yesterday
You're killing your today,
because you can't forget
about yesterday.
It's a personality defect
that you have,
that you can't get over.
If it wasn't him,
it would have been
somebody else.
They are all, as you say,
just men after all.
Oops
I took the pills that filter out The Madness,
but I ran out of the ones that keep anger and depression away.
He is a groveling salivater
She says that he pleads
only with his eyes,
and I say, "Nonsense...,
he salivates on my knees all the time."
The guy in these poems
The guy in these poems is supposed to always be happy,
and well-balanced.
He is supposed to be on his way to Living The Dream.
But, some days, he is not happy,
and, some days, he is not well-balanced,
so, he he either doesn't write,
or he hides the unhappy, unbalanced writing.
The guy in these poems is as full of shit
as anybody else: he's happy, he's sad, he smiles, he cries.
Meds or Macaroni
If you are feeling balanced, and happy,
when that is certainly not your nature,
then why would you interfere with the handful
of pills that you swallow that help
to keep you feeling balanced, and happy?
One reason might be weight; someone tells you,
or reminds you, that one of the pills
that you are on contributes to weight gain,
at a time that you are desperately trying to
lose weight to help your arthritis and your diabetes out.
Another reason might be cash;
when it boils down to meds or macaroni,
what choice should you make?
The demons invaded me, this week
The demons are always lurking,
always waiting for a drop in my defense mechanism.
In order to be happy
I was dependent on The Buzz,
now I am dependent on Pills.
Both the buzz, and the pills,
keep the demons at bay.
All alone again
At first, they will do anything for you.
You are The Great Poet, but as that
Great Poet Shit starts to wear off,
you find yourself doing, once again,
things that you used to do for yourself.
For rent
We all have our own dementias.
She needs you when you need her,
and neither one of you is available.
A carpet that your dogs can puke on
I always hate the carpet that is part of whatever place that I am renting. The carpet is usually a nasty, old carpet that most of you wouldn't let your dogs puke on. That is about the only good thing about these carpets that inhabit my spaces: my dogs could, and have puked on them, without there being much of a difference being made in the carpet. Part of the problem is being lazy, and having animals, but that is not the whole problem. "Too many problems, so why am I here?" sang The Sex Pistols, in one of their songs. I wonder if they were singing about carpets?
Promises, wishes, and a beggar who can't ride
If I had 800 thousand dollars,
I'd give it to you for the 8 dollars
that you gave me this week;
I really would, but I don't,
so what good is it, really,
to even talk about it, because
we all know that if I suddenly
got 800 thousand dollars,
my desire to give it to you
would most likely change,
and I would just find myself
giving you the eight dollars back
that you said that I didn't have
to return to you.
You should see the turtles now
One of them is basking under his heat light;
the other one is swimming back and forth in her box.
They look like happy turtles;
I'm going to start changing their water more often.
For $39.99 you too can have real love
I was about to remark how happily
the day was starting off,
(I'd offered up prayers of thanks,
I was sipping on a nice cup of coffee,
I had cleaned the turtles' tank out yesterday,
and the turtles looked very happy today,
the cats and dogs were fed,
my son had sent me a Lulu message on his new I Phone)
when a message flashed on the bottom of my laptop
telling me that "Two members in the area were interested in me..."
INTERESTED IN ME?! WOW!
And all I had to do to maybe connect with them was join.
Dismal could be the day, when you worry about this kind of shit.
I clicked on the X in the top right hand corner,
sending the message to hell, where it belonged on this sunshiny day.
I am wondering if I attract the broken ones, or if, at this stage in life, they are all broken.
Positive Thought
I have a thousand pair of socks,
but I do not have enough of
the kind of socks that I need
to walk around this dog and cat hair
infested carpet, so that the filth
does not infect my feet and cause me
to die of diabetes.
There was a solution for no internet
The technician from the cable television company
should be here within minutes; I have been without
cable tv, and semi-hi speed internet for four days;
not a life-threatening situation, but I have found
that I am way more addicted to my five and ten minute
bursts of Cable News Network viewing than I realized
that I was.
Plenty of poems, but no partner
I have no idea which ones to give them,
whether I was swapping partners, or giving them poems.
Different Strokes
Some people get depressed
when they run out of money.
Some people get depressed
when they run out of pills.
Some people get depressed
when love leaves them.
Some people get depressed
when they leave love.
Some people get depressed
when they wreck their car.
Some people get depressed
when they wreck their life.
Some people get depressed
when they can't watch cable tv.
Some people get depressed
because they don't measure up,
Some people get depressed
because they have excelled,
and it's not what they thought
it would be.
I used to get depressed
when I'd look in the mirror
and know that I was, once again,
losing my sanity.
The shit you got to put up with
to get your 8 bucks an hour
His fat made me look skinny,
and he kept looking at the girl
who I was working with,
and she kept complaining
that he was staring at her;
then he came up and put
his arm around her and said
"My wife doesn't mind
if I flirt...why if I was
eighteen years younger."
I told my co-worker that,
if I had a bat, I would beat him
with it for her; that made her smile
and we finished the evening.
Slip Away
I felt something crawling across my angel
and that something could only be a flea
was what I told myself sliding my fingers
across my angel preparing to kill that flea
but that flea slipped away.
The Moral of the Story
Rooting through the cupboard
I find a bottle of hot sauce
that I had forgotten that I had.
Yikes. How could I so misconceive?
I have gone without hot sauce for
what seems like a millennium.
What the cat does behind my back
Katie busted Kobain sniffing in my coffee cup
when I wasn't around to guard it.
This made me laugh: sneaky cat, eeeeehhhhhh?!
Engagements
I think that it is funny, ha ha, that with all the advanced communication that we have in existence in this world today that I can never get a woman to pick up the phone when I call her.
"Oh no...it's him..."
VOICE MAIL (CLICK) "Hello, this is Mary Lou, and, as usual, I don't want to talk to you."
I need to implement a policy whereby when, after I have reached a certain number of voice mail engagements, with a woman that I throw her phone number away, and never call it again. I really do.
You are not alone
You are not alone
in your depression.
You are not alone
in your lonely thoughts.
You are not alone
in your inability
to get things done,
oh what a savior
your bed has become.
Mistaken Identity
I asked him if that was his grandson,
and he laughed, "No that is my son,"
he said. "Many people think the same
thing." He was a pleasant man, one of
those type persons who, when they first
approach you, appears as if they are
going to be mean, due to a harshness
in their face. Never judge a face by
its cover.
Need speak
The faces that speak to you
don't really speak to you.
Gemini Perhaps
From blonde to brunette
to hair as black as night
with no moon no stars
no lights from earth
no houses no cars.
I wonder who you are.
(1)
The best thing that I can do,
right now, is to go to bed;
however, I slept all day,
and I am not feeling tired.
(2)
Do you think that a dog
would start eating his
foot, if he started to
starve to death?
(3)
The branches in the tree
might fall, any minute
and, if your car is parked
below them, your car will have
seen better days.
(4)
It's a dead end road
All leads have been investigated,
and extinguished; time to get
on the road again.
It's a lonely road, but it's a road you know.
Excuse
So far, scratching Kobain's head
is more interesting than reading
The I Ching, so the cat gets an
unusual morning massage, unusual
in that his daily massage usually comes
at bed time, but he was a good
excuse to put a boring book down.
But
It is much easier to explore the inner existence
of another, than it is to explore your own inner
existence. Looking at yourself takes honesty; you
don't have to be dishonest to look at the soul of
another one, but
Mansions
Listen to the music
if they'll let you.
Different
I'll tell you what I am going to do for you,
thinking that what I do for you, you will do for me,
but you won't.
Keep on hallucinating
One day all your dreams
will come true, and you
will have everything you
want.
White Bread
Try to integrate yourself
when you always march
a step insignificant to
the significance of their parade.
Should have used the stairs
I wanted to go into Door A,
but I opened Door B, instead,
and was pulled inside.
Some people make you
Some people make you
feel good about yourself.
Some people make you
feel like shit.
Camel?
So high you smoked up your family
when you came down nobody wanted
you around.
Read The Label
Drunk smiling driving
death enters; you plead
but it extinguishes you.
Metamorphosis
Do you have the key to your car?
Do you have the key to Heaven?
Do you have the key to your inner desire,
now and forever?
Do you think that you are clever,
that you can tell Satan hello
and run with him,
have fun with him?
Is what is elegant cool to you is;
are those with much just fools to you?
What will replace the Mp3?
What will replace you and me?
Let us put a smile on our faces
and be happy for an hour.
Elegance
My refrigerator is dirty,
and is almost always nearly empty.
I must be The White Trash
that "they" are always talking about.
Incarnate
The dogs move in on my hand
as it descends from the bed.
Adrift
An incunabulum is not a little baby,
it is not a concubine; for me its
meaning can not be gleaned from
looking at the word; I must resort
to the dictionary to learn its meaning.
Are you smarter for the more words
that you know? Does a great vocabulary
indicate a greater intellect, a greater wit;
would it translate into a more charismatic smile,
a larger bank account?
Would you drive a faster, fancier car
if you knew more words? If you were a man,
would the babes dig you because you know more words
than they do; would men drool over a gal
with a large vocabulary?
Does the sun set regularly while the moon
drifts towards the sea?
The cost
Sometimes, I want to reach out and touch someone
who has reached out and touched me, but I know that,
often, in doing so, the act loses something in the translation,
so I just let it lie. I'm not sure if something is lost,
in the process, or if something is maintained;
I think that it is mostly a matter of self-preservation
and I must preserve myself at all costs.
At the bottom of the bowl
The cereal is stale,
but the blood sugar
is low, and I didn't
make it out to the
grocery store, last night.
There are bananas, and milk.
Inconsequence
Large mouthed bass swimming upstream undaunted;
they have to make it into school lunches by midnight.
Horses are excited to see their Master,
he slams them over the head, one at a time, with a blunt object;
instead of running round the farm, like they had been doing,
they are eaten for dinner at a casual dining kind of place.
A man wears a grin after raping a girl, she can finally reach
her gun; she pulls it out, and kills him.
Synthesis
I think that no one is like anyone,
and yet we are all alike.
Hunger
The dogs wouldn't eat the remainder of the stale cereal that I ate at
5am this morning. I put it on the floor for them; they sniffed it and
walked away. You know it's a bad thing when you will eat food that
your dogs won't, and I'm not talking broccoli, baby.
Electrocution
I may walk the beach when I am old
Looking for mermaids who haven't been sold
a condominium to die in
The sand will shuffle through my feet
knowing that soon I will be part of it
and not apart from it
Angels may not greet me
for there may be no there like we are taught
here I go again contemplating that
which is not contemplatable
Hurry hurry I must get a seat
though I know not where I go
I don't want to be first
I don't want to be last
I don't want to be part of the middle class.
God will have to give me a private audition
or I will stay in that place of indecision;
there is no yes.
There is no no.
Now it is time for me to go.
I won't have the
I wish that I could read the menu,
and be full. Scratch that, I wish
that I could read the menu and
derive the pleasure that I would
from eating the meal, and then be full.
Wouldn't that be fun; and cheap?
Quandry
I'm an autodidact;
you taught me everything I know.
Logic
Are we here by chance;
will you dance with me,
though you are not inspired
by my looks?
I read books.
Do you want to sleep with me?
'Living The Dream
The Government wants to increase
its ability to watch me.
McDonald's wants to sell me
food that's bad for me.
The bank wants to foreclose
on my home.
My job fired me. My wife left me.
I lost my sanity.
Novel
Anna Karenina confessed her love for me,
but I was busy with Muriel Barbery.
At the end of the dock
I'm a pauper without a prawn
nothing in my wallet, no food to eat.
Ghostly
My knee follows me
wherever I go making me
painfully aware of its existence.
Meal
I skip the snacks
and head right for
the infatuations.
It is lonely there.
Sweat
Awash in lack of creativity
the man slips back into a dream
that feels uncomfortable
seeking comfort there;
no reason, no rhyme, just pillows.
Your succulent breasts allure me
Into your eyes whatever color they are I stare,
hoping that you will let me put my hands on your ass.
Things you should know
Tomorrow is Tuesday,
and the next day is Wednesday.
And the sun rises in the morning,
and sets in the evening.
Don't step in dog poop.
Unrecoverable
You hit your bottom,
and you kept on going.
What's the level of ease in making an F?
Hunger in the gutter
you find yourself
and all it took you
to get there
was a needle and a spoon.
There's room at the bottom,
folks are dropping out, every day.
Existence
Homeless men have been trained to leave
their backpacks, and bags, at the front
of a store, when they come in to use
the bathroom, or the water fountain.
I know this because yesterday I was the
greeter at our store: my job being to say
hello to everyone who entered the building.
The wonder of it all
Morisson spends a lot of time at my side,
when I am at my desk typing. I wonder if
he feels ignored, because I do not show
him all the attention that he seeks.
When I do show him attention, Bundy comes
running, and tries to stick his nose in between,
my hand and Morisson. Dogs are curious
and wonderful creatures.
Blessing
I think that today is a have a second cup
of coffee day. I can feel that urge inside
of me, wanting to bust out to the edge of my
existence. How blessed I am to be able to
sit at this desk, and type, every morning.
There are men waiting outside The Home Depot
praying to get some sort of work, hoping
that a truck, or car, will stop, and wave
at them, indicating that their services are
needed. What a humble existence they have.
How lucky I am to have been spared from such?
What is hitting your bottom?
Are you an alcoholic
if you drink a bottle
of wine every night,
but don't get drunk,
just use it instead
of Xanex to stay calm?
Some barriers you can't build
Lice have invaded the well to do
their children scratch their heads in confusion.
Oblique
I am Epicurus
covered in oil, and now changing the tires on my car.
The Meanest Share
They will smile
if you only have underwear.
My loge
Never a mansion,
but sometimes more than I can afford.
Importunate Boors
Trick or treat-ers on the Fourth of July
seeking a sitting with Santa.
Conjuring Act
When I was younger I had no ambitions
other than to write, and, now that I am old,
I have not other ambitions than to write.
Running interference(not)
Sometimes, I know that I have spelled a word correctly,
but the red underline of the spell check comes on anyway.
I look at my spelling, and I look at the spell check spelling,
and I see no difference, but I give the spell check the benefit
of the doubt, and play it that way, figuring that the spell check
needs to assert itself every once in awhile, and let itself know
that it is alive, and who am I to interfere in this process?
Reevaluate
She has given up trying to talk to angels,
she talks to her new plants instead.
Rigmarole
Her sigh as she pulls her panties tighter;
my moan as I yearn to pull my pants off.
Splendiferous(not)
Sometimes, I drink so much hot tea
that I start chewing on my thumb
like speed freak might well do
hanging out in the alley waiting for
another bag.
You can't fight fire with smiles
You can cry,
but those tears that fall
to the ground
should freeze,
and your heart should get just as cold
dealing with this man
who wants to steal your children.
Fight fire with fire, honey.
Be as cold as ice to an asshole.
How Heaven suddenly turns to Hell
The tips of my fingers touched
the top of the oil that I was frying tofu in.
Morning soliloquy
There are few extra minutes to lollygag about
this morning, each second is precious: coffee,
and oatmeal are a given, and I will try to squeeze
in the writing of a poem, or two. A shower is a must,
even though I will soon be headed out to do a dirty job.
Hail Mary
Secular Rosary
stuck on the seat
with no money
to put in the envelope.
Vocab
Can I rind the gears to my car,
and lay the transmission to waste?
Wide Open
Men and women are still dieing in Iraq and Afghanistan,
and some of them are coming home with holes blown
in their bodies, and minds.
Ain't life unkind,
and we fight about Health Insurance,
leaving our kids at battle wide open.
But, now you've forgotten the question
You know that you need a man;
you know that a man would be the answer.
Until you crash
You go walking past all the fancy stores,
don't even bother to look in the windows,
you know that there is nothing in there for you.
As you wait for the bus, cars drive by.
You'll never own one.
You become a dancer doing cocaine,
all the men love you; the possibilities are endless.
Let's be sad
Let's call it our situation,
say we are living naturally.
Hallucinate or suck the lime?
I'm good man.
I love my mother.
I like to hallucinate.
It doesn't hurt anyone;
Timothy Leary didn't say
that it could take me
to The Pearly Gates.
I'm not hear to criticize.
The man with his gin n tonic
is the one who needs alibis
for his multiple dui's.
Hug
Sometimes, there is nothing like a hug.
I got several of them, from two different people, today,
and let me tell you...I needed them!
It always turns out that I need a hug when I get a hug.
I remember the days, almost two decades ago, now
when I did not accept, give, or understand hugs.
I was a cold-hearted man!
These days my heart is warm.
Where shall the last be?
I'm standing on the last train heading north;
the train is going south I'll probably
never reach my destination Alienation is such
a lonely place to go but I'll get there and
call it home, once more. Her smile was seductive,
she really pulled me in I paid her bar tab
and then I never saw her again. I'm on the last train
it's not my first time going out of my mind
over love that won't be requited I'd quit trying
if I knew how, but even a clown cries in front
of the kids, sometimes.
Get in the mix
Because I limit my use of salt,
I tried putting garlic powder
on my oatmeal for seasoning,
one morning; it was nasty,
like I imagine putting hot sauce
on oatmeal would be.
Have you seen the refrigerator?
A man needs a maid.
A man needs a maid.
A man needs a maid.
A man needs a maid.
A man needs a maid.
A man needs a maid.
A man needs a maid.
A man needs a maid.
God, this place is filthy.
No ins and outs
She crawls in through the keyhole in the back door,
carrying a big flashlight to see what I am doing.
Dismal Din Din
Well, I am like a Boogie Woogie,
and you are like a Waggi Dazzle,
and there was no dinner cooked, tonight.
I show myself the stars:
your nose is filthy from
the pages that turn you on,
no amount of yearning
can change anything.
I hitchhike to pick up my groceries,
you take a limo to the end of the hall
to turn the lights off.
Why don't you take it on the chin chin?
Bend over; smile.
People are looking out for you because
they love you. The system is based on
love, not the buck; down on your luck,
better run for cover.
Mr. Big Stuff
I'm waiting for something big to happen,
today, like I was waiting for something
big to happen yesterday, like I will be
waiting for something big to happen tomorrow,
but nothing big ever happens.
I've really got to chase these feelings
of grandeur away.
Wanna go on a date?
I sleep like a cat
eat like a dog
got less money than the bum in the alley.
Send love not collection notices
I aspire to more in life in love
than I have, and, of course,
one day, this poetry will make me,
a millionaire.
You are miserable because it is all about you and not me
The main reason that people are miserable,
I have been told, is because they only do
for themselves. Nobody ever asks me if I need
a ride to the grocery store; they let me limp
with my arthritis back and forth, and wave to me
from their stars.
It's Friday, and everybody is standing in line.
In their cars to get home,
at the bank to deposit their check,
at the grocery store to buy them some food.
At the restaurant to get a table,
at the movies to watch a film.
I wonder if they will have to wait to die,
and have to wait to get into heaven.
The waiting
I'm waiting for The Power Company to take my call.
I'm waiting for The Power Company to come out and
raise these power lines that have fallen in my front lawn.
I'm waiting.
I'm waiting,
and the computer voice inside the telephone keeps apologizing.
Fair is a place where the cotton candy sucks
You need a band aid
and they won't
give it to you
because they want
another mansion
from which
to watch you bleed.
Either
Things can either suck,
or they can be good,
and, mostly, it is a choice
that we make to experience
either.
I am blessed to have love in my life
Some days I don't feel it.
Some days, I am uncertain.
Some days what I have is not enough.
Some days people don't love me
just the way that I want to be loved,
but that is all a crock of shit.
You can't dictate to true love,
how and what love should be.
I know; I have tried,
and failed miserably.
You got to sit back and let love
come at ya.
Where's my chair?
Picture this
Sometimes, something that you dread
turns out to be wonderful, and, of course,
sometimes, something that you are looking forward to
winds up sucking.
I'm breaking no new ground, here,
but I'm not breaking any wind either.
I'd like to teach the world to
Ideally, if I'm in the right head space,
I don't want to teach anyone anything;
it's not my job: I'm not a teacher.
Ideally, I will keep my mouth shut, and learn.
My job is to listen.
It's what I've been hired for,
and if I do what I am supposed to do,
the benefits are immense.
That was a nice song though,
wasn't it a soda commercial...
"I'd like to teach the world to sing
in perfect harmony."
What a beautiful notion, but I'm still working on
my own harmony.
And pitch.
Paul McCartney is fixing to play a show in a park that is located about two football fields away from my abode. I'm fixing to go to work. Paul will raise several million for charity in the next several hours. I will make about sixty bucks, which will go towards keep the lights on. I really don't understand this huge gap between Paul and I. As far as I can tell, the only thing that he's got on me is that he plays the bass. McCartney will probably fly out of the park in a helicopter, or a limo. I'll ride my bike home. At the end of the night, we will both lay our head down on a pillow. I hope that Paul has a smile on his face as he turns out the light; I know I will. Not everybody can be a Beatle.
I pay a price for perpetuating the species
I'm The Drone who has just copulated
with The Queen Bee. I die leaving my
love organs inside her that the next
bee behind me pulls out.
No exception
I have never been to Nanterre,
but I'm sure that people live there.
Echo in the distance
You sound the fire alarm
before the blaze is blazing.
Another Issue
My cable television is back on.
I have been without it for two weeks.
I don't watch much television,
but I missed the television that I do watch.
I need to clean my kitchen counter,
but that is another issue.
I don't much crave her, but whenever I think about her, I think about her tits. Now, that is not a very nice thing to do, is it: objectify a woman like that? I mean you should respect women for their brains, now shouldn't you...but this one that I am talking about here is a bit ditzy. I mean, she is not stupid, but if your life depended on getting the correct answer on some advanced placement questions, you would not be wise to pick this little lady to respond to them.
Sometimes, by saying "No comment," you are making
a big statement.
Thomas Pynchon I'm not
I'm going to throw out my pets
move to The West Coast
make a picture about my life
let you know who I am
well, damn, I just got rid of
my pets
that's the kind of guy I am
do you think that the movie will sell?
I need something new.
How about you?
I'm looking for love,
not lectures, and excuses.
I'm looking for love,
not someone on the run
from themselves.
I'm looking for love,
not someone burned recently.
Close
Every sentences dances she says
I'm wondering if she lives in NYC
and one day I'll move there to be
I forgot to get the limes
I'll need a replacement
for the hip I have.
People are so full of excuses.
I think I'll have peanut butter
for dinner, tonight.
Somber
She's not the only fish in the forest,
better to throw her back than to let her
lead you into further disarray.
While you're wasting time with her
your heart is not open for the one
to come along who will blow her away.
We're not all God's Children
I'm stating the obvious.
There's danger in bubble gum
I have this rule: if I am going to do something that I think that I might have to apologize to someone later for, I don't do it. It's a simple rule that has save me lots of headaches. It was developed from having many headaches, engaging in stupid, and or callous behavior that lead me back to the doorstep of the person who I had performed the behavior on, having to, once again, get down on my knees, and say, "Please forgive me." It is much easier to just not engage in the behavior, so as to avoid the embarrassment of the apology; trust me.
I am tired, this morning. I guess that I could get back into bed, but I have to be up in about an hour to start getting ready for work. I like mornings best where I don't have to be anywhere, where I don't have to get up at any particular time. I have had my morning cup of coffee, but I am still sleepy. The dogs have been fed, and they have been let out, and they have gone back to sleep: bastards! It is as if they are rubbing it in: ha ha, we can go back to sleep, and you can't!
I just drank a glass of honey and cinnamon. Someone, at The Bookstore, told me that that concoction was good for arthritis. A check of Google confirms that there are a lot of people who believe that two teaspoons of honey, and a teaspoon of cinnamon twice a day, in a glass of water, will chase the arthritis pain away. I wonder what my Doctor will say about this. I am sure that the formula is not A.M.A. approved. Those A.M.A. dollar bill grabbers are not interested in cures outside of those that occur inside the Doctor's office. They are not about prevention, either. They are about treating it as it is about to fall off. They are about maximizing dollars for the Doctors with each injury and illness.
Stop.
I did not come here to bitch and moan tonight. I came here to tell you that my dog, Morisson, is scared because there is a storm happening, this evening. Poor Mo is curled up in the fetal position at my feet. When I go to bed, in a little bit, he will beg to be allowed to get on the bed. This is the only situation where I allow a dog in my bed, when it is storming, and Morisson is freaking out.
I want relief from my arthritis; my dog Morisson wants relief from the storm that he is scared of. Sometimes, it gets very simple.
It is raining ouside, a noisy thunder
and lightening type of rain, and my dog,
Morisson, is glued to my feet. When I go
to the bed, Morisson will want to join me,
and I might let him. This is the only situation
where I allow a dog to get in the bed with me.
My dog's fear of storms is great; very great.
I am drinking honey with cinnamon in a cup
of water. Supposedly, this concoction is
good for arthritis.
The beauty of her stupidity was amazing.
She immediately ended her participation
in my life.
Create a mechanism within which you can live.
The fan seems to blow
the noise that is emanating from the clothes drier
that is located behind the fan.
A lady drew blood from my arm, yesterday.
She didn't do a perfect job, the needle
hurt a bit when she stuck it in.
Let's all drink aspartame
so Donald Rumsfeld can profit
from our cancer.
The dangling tree branches have been
cut off the tree. No veggies for dinner.
Prose can steal you from poetry,
like a waste of time girl can steal you
from pursuit of a girl worth your time.
Take a breath and give thanks
one day you won't have breaths to take.
Suffering heart so it goes,
isn't it a wonder
that you can live through
such strange suffocations:
a smile on your face,
when you feel like crying,
moving on with life
when you feel like dying.
Poor Dog
I was especially nice to Morisson, this morning,
grabbing him by the head, and giving him a good rub down.
He is banging his tail on the floor, now; expecting more,
but there will be no more, for a bit, as I have stuck my nose
into the laptop monitor and am doing the morning's creating.
Poor dog; poor, poor dog.
Bad bad
Sometimes, it's in there just waiting to come out,
and sometimes I am constipated, can't get a word
to flow from my brain to the page.
My focus is multiple, now; I am working on a book,
a memoir, of sorts, and also letting the poetry
come to the surface when it so wants.
I felt bad, this morning, the cats were waiting for
their little breakfast snack of wet cat food, but
I had none for them. I was at the store, yesterday,
but didn't think that they were out. I am a bad Master,
bad, bad.
Before the next paycheck
I eat pancakes for breakfast,
but don't fry the eggs that I was going to fry.
I have to ration food, around here, or it might run out
before the next paycheck arrives.
Miracles
The smile on my face as the sun comes up.
The food in front of me when I open the refrigerator door;
The wagging of these dogs' tails when they see me;
The happiness that my children exude when we hang out.
They're coming to take him away, ha ha
Repeating Revolution he did nothing out of the ordinary,
but they showed up, and took him away, anyway, because
you can't keep talking about Revolution; it scares people.
You can't have meat if you don't eat your lima beans
Reverse osmosis is thumbing it's nose
at those who hallucinate fish on Friday afternoons.
I run into my room, and hide, but the process
is unavoidable. They rub my nose in it again.
Telephone, telephone; my kids could make a phone call,
but in the old days, it wasn't the law.
The law, the law was to put up with whatever they came up with.
Refuse
Drifting with my lover through the pages of a book
I never took a look at anybody else.
She was the only one who I wanted to please.
But winter turned to spring, and she didn't need me
to keep her warm any longer.
What can you do, but cry, and realize that pursuit
of love that wants to leave you is stupid.
Don't drop the half full cup
Love isn't lost; it is patiently waiting
for tomorrow, or Wednesday afternoon,
when it will with a smile present itself
to you again, my friend.
Don't wallow in misery; don't sink into cynicism.
This world is good; it has a lot to offer you
Adornment
It's all a rehearsal
it's all a rehearsal
for the big thing,
which may or may not occur,
but if it does happen,
I'll be ready.
How many Hail Mary's?
It's not Saturday, but I keep thinking
that it is Saturday. It keeps feeling like
it is Saturday; the cats still sit
in the kitchen, waiting for their breakfast snack,
which I have forgotten to buy. Cat's can really
work you, make you feel guiltier than a Priest
pounding his pulpit on Sunday.
It's elementary Watson
I crack the pages to this book
like another man would crack a safe,
finding as much value in my book
as he does in his safe,
and all I have to do to not get arrested,
today, is not get drunk.
August Rain
Only in the morning
after she's been awake
for a little while
will she tell you
where she stays at
but first she apologized
for being drunk last night
and not remembering how
she wound up in your bed.
You, tell her that it's o.k.
but you feel a little uneasy, too.
If it's all been said and done
then that means that we can't have any fun.
Any how, I don't believe that you say
looking into her blood-shot eyes.
I understand the rain,
but I don't get the clouds in your eyes.
You say you got it together,
but you're holding emotions that you just can't disguise.
I'm not sure that words mean anything
at a certain place in time
You try to pull out a dollar to fix a situation,
but all you got is a dime.
I think of someone else as I kiss her,
not sure why I am playing this game.
Sucker Punch
I've taken a sucker punch have you
ever felt miserable knowing that
some bastard who couldn't normally take you
is now standing over you smiling while you bleed
on the floor ego damaged people who don't
like you above you smirking patting the
scalawag on the back.
I don't know why I brought it up.
This kind of shit hasn't happened in years.
Whisper when you want to scream
I'm not sure, but words may linger
where they are spoken, and if they are screamed
they also linger, but not as quietly.
Words that are screamed hold their anger,
and fifteen minutes later, a day later,
a week, a month, all the years until the screamer dies
those words hang there, angrily in the air where they
were shouted out, drowning out words of love,
and regular words that are lingering, too.
Admission
Except for learning a lesson, the cold beat me;
it showed up in the middle of a summer night,
and killed a plant that I had fallen in love with.
This plant, grown from a grapefruit seed,
of a fruit that had, one day, nourished me
was supposed to grow strong, against many odds,
I was going to keep it in warm spots: above
the clothes drier at the end of the hallway,
below the big window that lets in lots of light
and warmth, and outside, when it is summer hot out,
near the door, so I would not forget it.
But the cold beat me, it showed up one night,
like it might to a farmer's citrus crop in Florida,
and killed my plant.
It has not been a good year for growing things,
but, as with all aspects of my life, I refuse to quit.
Where my love resides
She lives in a space ship,
that will never land on earth.
Sometimes it's best to walk on by
If she and I got together
there would be too much ego in the room
so I decided to not even say hello.
I'm picking flowers in a New York garden,
smiling about all the wars that were averted.
I don't know if the cat is tender
He meows at me as if to say good morning,
but I know that he is really meowing for
his morning treat,
but that is o.k. I like him saying hello,
whatever the reason.
"Good Morning," I say to him,
and he smiles back at me.
What a pretty way to start a day.
You will love me that much
Kiss me; kiss me tender darling,
though I do not know who you are.
I am your frog, perhaps no Brad Pitt
on the outside, but inside I am like
Johnny Depp on a movie screen.
Handcuff
Mostly, if you have nothing to say
it is better to keep your mouth shut
or your fingers off the keyboard.
A good investment
Outside, in the tree that sits in the front yard,
a large limb waits to fall. It may fall on someone's car,
it may fall on someone's head, but money by the landlord
will not have been spent to bring it down.
Not caught in a cage
Some ideas are good,
and some ideas suck,
and looking back on things,
I would have to say
that I make better decisions
as I age.
I like licking
I smile when I eat pie
that I like, but I have an orgasm
when I eat cake that I bake.
Do you want air conditioning in your box?
Elongated boxes that commissioned sales people sold to your crying loved one playing on their guilt; the deceased was really into Van Halen, wasn't he; don't you think that you should put an FM Radio station in their casket, and tune it to a Classic Rock Station that will keep him happy, supplied with Dave and Sammy for life?
It seems kind of stupid to you, and a waste of money, but the salesperson is convincing, talking about the spirit world, and how our soul carries on, as if our soul is going to carry on in that little box that he has just sold your, wife or husband, or gay lover, whatever the situation may be, because we should all realize by now that there are a lot of situations outside of The Leave It To Beaver set up.
Ted Kennedy got caught sneaking out of Purgatory, and told the angel who discovered him, that Kennedy's have a deal with God where they go straight to heaven no matter what they did on Earth.
100,000 Hail Marys
There was a time in my life when I was as destructive as I was creative. I can see the roots of this, and if I was still into blaming people and things for things that I have done, I could see these roots, and point to them and say, yes, this is why I did what I did. But, I did what I did because of who I am, and I accept full responsibility for it, all of it; it is a part of who I am, and was. I am lucky not to have died during that period of my life, or worse, have killed someone else.
Exit
Just because she knocks on your door,
doesn't mean that she wants to come in.
Does the gray button get grayer the more you push it?
Kill A Crack Head?
Robbed.
Rubbed the wrong way.
How dare he profane my space,
not to mention walk with what
is mine.
What is yours, you start
to wonder, when someone
can kick in the back door
and take so easily
that which was close to you.
There were pictures of my kids,
when they were young,
in that laptop, and now
they are in the hands of some crack head.
Give me a gun; should I kill
for what is mine?
Bringing home the tofu bacon
One of my goals had been to become a certified Iyengar Yoga instructor, but I think that my arthritis might have put a stop to that; we'll see. (All things are possible, are they not?) A thought that I have is to get an MFA in Poetry, when my daughter graduates from high school. (Can I pay for it? Do I want to subject my poetic "style" to academia? Will I then write like all of "them?") Besides that, I just want to write. I need to publish, though, don't I? I need to bring home the tofu bacon with the words...
Funny and Philosophical
Christmas cards are still scotch-taped to a large, old air conditioner that sits in the window in front of me. The landlord said that he couldn't get the air-conditioner out of the window, and he had even had help. I'm not sure why the cards are still hanging up, but I think that I will leave them taped where they are until after next Christmas and then take them down. About an hour ago, I was very hot, sweating in fact, so I turned on the fan, that sits to the left of my desk, and, now, I am chilly. The dogs sleep at my feet. It is raining outside. I hope that it
stops raining by mid-afternoon so that I can run my errands without getting wet. I just finished reading a book. It was a funny and philosophical book. I don't think that the author will win The Pulitzer, but he will get a new car, or two, out of it.
Funny
My fears are few my dreams are coming true,
though they are not the dreams that I started out dreaming.
Funny how more reasonable dreams replace the irresponsible
and useless ones as you age.
Hello
I went to bed around 10 p.m.
and woke up around 3 a.m.
there is no great significance
to this;
Bundy was waiting at the side
of the bed, as he always, is
no matter what time it is
when I get up expecting for me
to put my hands on him and say hello.
Day off
I'm going to change the turtles' water
and the cats' kitty litter.
My stomach is talking to me
My stomach is letting me know
that I didn't fry my fish enough
last night, try as I might I can't
call it sushi.
I dreamed about a writing meter
that takes how you feel into consideration,
and the meter was off because of the fish.
Dreams are weird; I mostly don't remember mine,
except for the ones that I have when I m awake.
Ignorance in the name of
I never knew it when I was living too fast,
but there were those around saying that it can't last.
Mostly they didn't tell me; because would I have listened?
No.
I knew what I was doing, and nobody could talk to me.
And then there was jail.
And then there was The Loony Bin,
places that I never thought that I'd wind up in,
places that I'd never been.
But I kept going, once the closed doors opened,
and carried on like I'd never been to those places.
Cat on the run
I opened the drawer where I keep the cat treats, and Kobain came running. I also keep my silverware in that drawer, so Kobain knows that when the silverware rattles the he might be able to get a treat. The cat is sitting under the drawer, and next to the trashcan. I have just emptied a cake packet into a bowl to mix. I have the supposedly empty package in my hands. I throw it in the trashcan, and a cloud of fine chocolate dust rains down on Kobain. He didn't expect that, and neither did I. He runs off. I'll have to give him two treats next time.
Heat
I slept under a comforter last night. It was cold out, and it was cold in here; not in my heart, but in this room. I am glad that it is not cold in my heart. There is no comforter warm enough to keep my heart warm.
No can squeeze me
Come back; come back into my arms
Too far; you've gotten too far away.
Past transgression
I don't ever want to talk about love, again.
Love has turned out to be an enemy and not a friend.
The sun will shine again soon.
Until then, I will sit alone in this room.
It's burning baby burning
Dense brush the fuel for fire
Fire that doesn't care about
pictures of your loved ones.
I watch the fire safely, on my t.v.
blessed that it is not coming to burn me.
What do I really know?
I think that it is bizarre that if your daughter gets kidnapped, raped, etc. that you wind up a celebrity, of sorts, on Larry King. Dick Cheney's running scared...so he's on the attack. Let's talk about your buddies at Halliburton, who own Iraq, because of you, Dick.
Making it Melita
I am not a precision coffee maker.
Some times it come out hot,
some times it comes out warm.
Sometimes I let the hot water sit
for too long,
sometimes I add too much soy creamer.
On occasion, I make a perfect cup
of coffee, but I forget about it,
leave it sitting on my desk, as I type.
I enjoy most cups that I make, though,
as imperfect as some may be.
Another poem
I give you a poem
in lieu of a mortgage payment.
I give you a poem
instead of a new car.
I give you a poem
instead of vacations
to lands near and far.
I give you a poem
instead of fancy dinners.
I can not promise
that my poem will feed you.
I can not promise that
I will need you more than
I need my poems.
I cannot promise you anything
but another poem.
I busted out a sweater, a pair of sweat pants, and a pair of full length socks, this morning. It has gotten cold, here in Atlanta, Ga. Last year I turned on the heater, when it got cold, and the bill was unbearable. This year I'm going to go with warm clothing, and space heaters, and see how that suits the animals and I.
I opened one of the twenty nine cent wet cat food cans, this morning. The cats did not miss a beat in chowing down, once I placed their bowls on the floor, so I feel safe to say that they see no difference between the cheap kind, and the expensive kind of canned cat food. It is not their main meal, the little scoop of wet cat food in the morning is just a treat. I keep a bowl of high quality dry cat food on top of the drier at the end of the hall that leads to the bathroom. It is hidden behind a big jug of liquid clothes detergent, the kind that is supposed to be better for the environment. I had to put the jug in front of the cats' dry food because, of course, Bundy was getting up on his front legs and helping himself to hefty portions of it.
Bundy, and Morisson, were also both helping themselves to ample amounts of cat poop, when we first moved into this apartment. I wasn't particulary concerned about it, besides feeling rather grossed out, until someone told me that the dogs could get really sick from eating cat poop, and that it would lead to expensive operations for me. I really want to stay away from all of that, my dogs getting sick, and my dogs costing me big money.
I put a storage container over the cat litter box, and cut a hole in it small enough for the cats to get in and out of, but too small for the dogs to stick their nose in. I also put the fear of God in the dogs anytime that they wandered near the bathroom. I think that the combination of the two methods has worked. I don't need no cat poop eating dogs in my house.
When you have duo animals, as I do, two dogs, two cats, and two turtles, you sometimes worry if one animal is eating more than the other, if one animal is getting starved out any. Sometimes, I will find Bundy in Morisson's bowl, and I will yell over at him, "Hey, Bundy get out of there, that's not yours."
On the other hand, Morisson will, sometimes, sneak in the closet where Bundy's food is kept,
and eat Bundy's leftovers. The same goes for my cats, Kobain, and Jaggar. These two will go back and forth from each other's bowl in the morning, freely eating from both bowls. I guess that the dogs and cats know what they are doing, as do the turtles, who I particularly worry about, sometimes, because one turtle, Rue Paul, the female, is way larger than the other, Prynce, the male.
I guess that the process is like humans eating together. A male and a female living in happy matrimony, or a couple gleefully living in sin, figure out how to eat together don't they? I have never heard of a reason for divorce to be he or she ate more than me!!
You rope then tie me
I smile then frown at you.
The situation has gone from happy to sad.
Who should jump out of the airplane first?
The irreparable harm of sobriety
This guy sent me a video. In it he took a sip from a glass of something, and grimaced, "Bourbon," he said. And, then, he said something to the extent of, "We're back together after five months sober, a period of irreparable harm." I have never heard a drunk call a period of sobriety something like that. I have heard drunks say that it was hard as hell to stay sober for that long. I have heard a drunk say he was thankful for staying sober that long. I have heard a drunk say that he relapsed after a period that long, but I have never heard of any length of sobriety referred to as a "period of irreparable harm."
The "irreparable harm," usually comes after the relapse, after the period of sobriety, when the drunk has started drinking, again. Maybe this guy is blazing new trails, and will come out with The Bigger Book.
Go figure; you run into something new, just about every day.
Sleep is always the greatest attraction
Should I,
eat?
Clean the turtles' water?
Stay on this computer,
and try to write some more?
Sleep?
Take out
We all got our places in life
billionaire rocker rings a bell
inside his bedroom orders some sushi
from a woman lives a million miles away.
Brothers
The dogs are not interested in ice cubes, today,
Morisson because there is a storm outside,
and Bundy because I don't know why.
The dogs usually love ice cubes, they catch them
in mid air and treat them as if they were any other
snack.
They bite them, they chew them, they finish them
and come back for another one; normally.
Maybe Bundy is not interested in ice this morning
because Morisson is not interested in ice this morning.
Sometimes, two dogs act as one, somewhat, I have learned.
The Daily K(sort of)
I have this circular fan that I keep by my desk in the summer. It blows cool air that keeps me comfortable in the heat. A few minutes ago, I turned the fan off the first time in months; it was making me cold. Summer is leaving us; soon her heat will be replaced by cold.
As soon as I sat down in my chair at my desk, this morning, my dog Morisson stuck his nose in my hand. He was trying to pull my hand off of the chair, and get me to show him affection. I toyed with him, this morning, fighting his nose with my hand, refusing to give into his wants. It is a game we play, and he likes it, almost as much as he likes my hand rubbing his head, and body.
Without the fan, I don't have the white noise that I have had for months, and I can hear just about everything that my neighbors are doing. I will turn the fan back on, just point it in a different direction. It is not my desire to know what my neighbors are up to.
What are your neighbors up to?
What are you up to?
What kind of day are you going to have?
