October 2013 K Poems
Flashback
I’m scared of my actions.
I don’t like your reactions
to my blackouts
and stints in the drunk tank.
I love you, but you can’t
keep on going on like this.
Goodbye to the mirror
Goodbye to those endless lines
I used to drive down the highway
to see you.
Goodbye to our future.
Goodbye to our past.
Goodbye to the short term.
Goodbye to those things
that were supposed to last.
The cocaine meant more to me
than you did, so you said goodbye.
I was still me
I used to go down to the water
after I’d done something wrong
jump in and baptize myself
try to start over, but when I got
out of that water I was still me.
Difference
The two balls were bare
but one by one, at
different games,
I got autographs on them,
autographsfrom two of the
National League East winning Braves team.
Joey Terdoslavich was preoccupied
when he signed my ball mostly ignoring
the fans who surrounded him
to talk to one fellow only.
Jason Heyward stayed with the fans
for a long time, signing balls. He smiled
and said thanks when I said to him
that I appreciated all his work with the team
and how he had come back from his injury.
Each player is different. Each experience
of getting a ball signed is different.
You can’t drink and drive
Fill yourself with booze.
Soon you got a groove.
Keep on drinking: soon
you can’t move: cop got
you pinned against his
car says you can’t drink
and drive.
Settling for less
I’d like to have a yellow one
instead of this green one
that I have in my mouth. I
don’t like green, but it was
all I had.
I’ve been second best
and failed a test, or two.
I’ve been on the ground.
I’ve been very down
more than a time, or two,
but I never quit believing
in what I was, or what I
could do with it.
Nosy
I often wonder
when they are
on at the same
time, if they
are talking to
each other
even though
they broke up
quite a long
while ago.
Cool Breeze
The dogs are really scratching themselves, this morning
perhaps it’s retribution for all of my past lives.
My coffee has gotten lukewarm, but I drink it anyway;
coffee is mostly the way that I start out my day.
Your daddy bought you your pickup truck
and because of your daddy, you ain’t never been down
on your luck. Cool words are what I need; not jealousy.
I’m on the bus. You’re in your truck. It’s all genetic
predispositions: who ends up what way. I feel a cool breeze
blowing on my face. Do cool breezes affect you the same way?
What if a cat could talk like a bird?
Or a dog talk like a turtle?
A snake talking to a lion?
Would that equal world peace?
Who lives and dies
Who’s making money?
Whose dropping bombs?
What was the name of
that soldier who died
just the day before
he was going to turn 18?
Who fights the wars?
Who profits from their demise?
Who lives and dies?
This morning on Sports Talk Radio
Try our plumbing service.
Salmonella in our fish.
Falcons need to win.
After thinking
They were waiting until there were four outs left
in the game to put Kimbrel in. He never left the
dugout.
I had an attitude
told the moon what to do
Angels have come to me.
Have they come to you?
Literal Latte Submission Oct. 10, 2013
Sent in US Mail
Who lives and dies
Nosy
You can’t drink and drive
Cool Breeze
Difference
The above 5 poems were just mailed
to Literal Latte. Wish them luck!!
Thanks Leah for turning me onto this
publication. If any of you have publication
leads, please contact me.
I can’t figure out who you are.
Are you the woman wearing
the red dress? Are you the woman
sipping on the lemonade. Are you
the woman living with the millionaire?
We will not regret the past
I had a history to answer to
until I learned a better way.
Say you’re sorry, make amends
and then get on your way.
Bank Statement
Money makes me salivate
run the wheel like a gerbil
I give up me for it.
I’d give you up for it.
I grab it where I can.
I don’t give a damn
if you got some.
Hip hop haircut
Neil Young is going to get a hip hop haircut.
Wouldn't that be funny to see: a hippy
going about like Run-DMC.
Me and you
One day, we will rise into the stars
and not fall into the ditch.
One day, we will smile
into each other’s eyes
and not look down
upon each other and criticize.
One day, we will smile at passersby
not look at our fellow man
with dollar signs in our eyes.
One day. One day. One day
all our dreams will come true,
but for now it’s only me and you.
Caution
I have to be careful
to not develop
an interest in you
because I am looking
out for myself.
The love you have
Every morning comes a day
be thankful for your place to stay
be thankful for the bread you eat,
but most of all be thankful for
the love you have.
Rewrite
You copied me
and I stole from you.
Just talk doesn’t fix anything
All this talk about toxicity
is just another poison.
Solace
Night.
Day.
Week.
Month.
Birth.
Death.
Beginning.
End.
I am covered in crust
I am covered in crust
splotches and flakes
that assure that I will
never be a runway model.
Fatal Food Fast
Order me a heart attack
lots of burgers with bacon.
Practice doesn’t always mean perfection
My dad bought me a 99 cent basketball
from a bin at the grocery store when I
was eleven years old. I wore that ball out that summer
on the basketball court behind the public school
that I was to attend that fall after having spent
grades one through five at a Catholic school.
The ball wasn’t a real basketball;
I soon realized that plastic is not what
all the other kids were playing with.
Eventually, I got a real basketball and
got to play on a team of eleven and twelve
year old kids. We won the league championship
my first year on the team, and came in second
the next year. I was a starter on the runner up
team, the leading scorer. To get to that point
I had spent umpteen hours shooting a basketball
through a hoop. I even talked my dad into putting
up a hoop in our driveway, something that he later
said he came to regret because I used it so frequently
and the noise of the ball on the concrete and the noise
of the ball hitting the backboard ruined the tranquility
that he was seeking at that time in his life. I played
basketball through my senior year in high school.
I was too greedy of a player to really be of any value
to anyone by that time. I wanted the ball every time.
I wanted to score the most points. When I was on
the results were good, but when I was off it was ridiculous
how many shots I took and missed. Practice doesn’t
always mean perfection.
I start my day with coffee
a cup or two, not the nearly
whole pot that I used to drink.
Coffee can make you tense
I have learned the hard way
and I prefer for my days to
be pleasant.
Politically correct
“Good Morning,” says the bird
as I lift the sheet off of her cage
that I cover her dwelling with
each night before I go to bed.
“Give me a kiss,” she adds and
then she clucks a few times as
if to imitate kisses. She then
says, “Good Morning,” for the
rest of the day. We are working
on teaching her, “Good afternoon,”
and “Good evening.” We do want
her to be politically correct.
Businessmen and husbands
We used to go to Old Saybrook
for a week in the summer, as kids
with our parents. One summer
my dad let my turtle go, because
he said that I was not taking care
of it. I think that he was full of shit
and just didn’t want the turtle in
his house. There were always kids
at the pier, on the beach, cruel kids,
who would hang string attached to
bait into the water to catch crabs.
They would then pull the legs off
of the crabs and burn their bodies
by holding a magnifying glass to
the poor things. Can you imagine
what type of businessmen and
husbands these kids turned out to be?
I’m thinking about what to do
now that I have had my coffee.
What I feel like doing is going
back to bed, but I probably won’t.
I will probably do what I usually
do in the morning: write poems.
The first time that I was arrested
I was of age to drink having a beer
at a party and a cop pulled up and
said, “Come here, boys,” to me and
two friends. The one “friend” dropped
his beer as he walked with us towards
the cop without warning us to do
the same, so the cop busted us for
Public Consumption of Alcohol.
My jail stay was short as my father
showed up and bailed me out, something
that he had sworn for years that he
would never do. I should have learned
some sort of lesson here, but I didn’t
and I continued drinking until I was 34
with many other arrests along the way
related to me and my drinking.
Pleasure
Mr. Turtle, George, had spent a few days
under his rock and I was starting to get worried
that he was sick, but this morning, he is gleefully
swimming the length of his aquarium, end to end,
he goes, as if he is making progress, which pleases me.
Disappointment and sorrow
I had cracked two eggs and started melting
a thing of butter in the microwave. The oven was warming,
and then I realized that I had no bananas
and, thus, could not bake a banana bread for
my love.
The first time that I was arrested
I was of age to drink having a beer
at a party and a cop pulled up and
said, “Come here, boys,” to me and
two friends. The one “friend” dropped
his beer as he walked with us towards
the cop without warning us to do
the same, so the cop busted us for
Public Consumption of Alcohol.
My jail stay was short as my father
showed up and bailed me out, something
that he had sworn for years that he
would never do. I should have learned
some sort of lesson here, but I didn’t
and I continued drinking until I was 34
with many other arrests along the way
related to me and my drinking.
Hothead on the internet
Have you ever known a person
who is nice in person, but is a
hothead on the internet? Their
personality completely changes
once they get their fingers on the
keyboards; points of view that you
never knew they had come rushing
to the forefront like a brick would
thrown at your face by an adversary.
They are very self-righteous about
their attitudes. Everyone is wrong
but them. We are a
bunch of losers
and they are the only winner at this
thing called the game of life. They
won’t go away either forcing you to
use the block button to get rid of them.
Dig deep
You got to pay the fare
otherwise you risk arrest
going here from there.
Live
Swarm.
Burrow.
Migrate.
Infest.
Digest.
Ingrate.
Saliva.
Sweat.
Blood.
Water.
Minerals.
Aspirin.
Fire.
Tears.
Smile.
Yes.
No.
Frown.
Die.
Live.
Forgiveness
I hope that you feel inside,
good, like I want you to feel
by offering you this apology.
One of the greatest tastes in the world
is the taste of an Air Head candy in your
mouth. There is nothing like it. It is a
marvelous experience. This is not an
endorsement by the sales staff, it is a
happy review of a wonderful tasting candy.
If you could write a poem
If you could write a poem
that would make all the world’s ills go away
how long would it take you to write it?
If you have that poem in you, why fight it?
Jot it down and release it.
Do it now. Do it right away.
Write that poem that will chase
all the world’s blues away.
It’s probably not possible, but why not try?
Bigger Markets
If you’d been in a bigger market
you would have been bigger,
would have got your picture
on the cover of The Stoned Roller,
would have played Thursday Night Live.
But you weren’t, you were a big fish
in a small pool, and those much smaller
than you got big because of where they lived.
A little inspiration
When you’re looking for a little inspiration
where do you look? Do you look in your momma’s
cookie jar where she used to hide bus fare that you
took and bought warm beers from the boy down
the road? Do you look in the school book that you
used to like to read, though you were no good at
passing tests on what you had read? Do you look
at the map on the wall that you kept so you could
see all the places that you wanted to go? Where do
you look for a little inspiration?
I’m waiting for my man.
I’m waiting for my man.
I’m waiting for my man.
I’m waiting for my man.
I’m waiting for my man.
I’m waiting for my man.
I’m waiting for my man.
I’m waiting for my man.
I’m waiting for my man.
I’m waiting for my man.
I’m waiting for my man.
I’m waiting for my man.
I’m waiting for my man.
I’m waiting for my man.
I’m waiting for my man.
I’m waiting for my man.
I’m underneath the bottle,
and, once again, it has put me
behind the bars. I started out
wanting to be a Superstar,
now I’m strung out, here, on Mars.
Heart ache is hard
Heart ache is hard.
Heart ache is mine.
Heart ache kicks me
in the balls all the time.
When listening to Chris Knight
lines that are alien to my existence
come to mind and wind up
on this page. It's been a long time
since my heart was broken. It's
been a long time since I've shook
my hands in fists of rage at the moon.
Though I had nothing
I would have paid anything
to get with you,
but you said that you didn’t
want money, and you showed me
your bird seed.
Gimmee some perspective
Are you speaking from
a first person perspective
or a third person perspective.
A best friend’s empathy
My dog, Morisson, looks up at me
sympathetically seeming to know
that I am in pain as I scratch the
psoriasis on my right hand.
He
cannot alleviate the discomfort
that I am feeling, but it is heartwarming
that he acknowledges what I am
going through.
Some old writing
Some old writing that I just
brought up from a bin in the basement
reminded me of the time
when I lit a piece of paper
that I was typing on on fire
and watched the flames leap
up the curtain in
front of me.
I sat there in a catatonic state,
a zombie to the whole situation.
After she put out the fire,
my girlfriend didn’t know what
to do with me. She made a bunch
of phone calls and they said
take him to the mental institution.
It was about five days before
I figured out who I was
and who everybody else was
like The President, who the folks
at the loony bin seemed to think
it was important for me to know.
This was in the mid-eighties when
I was doing a fair amount of LSD
and drinking copious amounts of liquor
The doors of perception that
60’s gurus predicted would open
for me if I did hallucinogens
had quite the opposite effect on me.
