You are a great writer
By Mikel K

February K Poems


The purpose of observation is understanding. We are not observing ourselves so that we can change into something else. We are observing so that we can see the truth of ourselves, in the moment, in the now. That understanding is itself the change. All other change is merely deception of the self--a return to a world of past and future where the empty, bankrupt self believes it can become something more than it is. Thus the challenge in observation is to observe without the desire the change what you observe, to become aware without judging.

--John McAfee, Into the Heart of Truth P.168


"You are a great writer…"--A Lady from the Internet

"Mikel K Poet--never before has there ever been a more profound poet and writer. You will love him.. You will hate him. You will envy his word slaughter and truth. You will stalk him, need him and desire him until he has you on your knees begging for one last taste. Back and forth, up and down, in and out... A true man of God and earth, Mikel K will keep you reading. Reading the truth. His truth."-
--Diana May-Waldman

"Darling, I feel much, much better, right now. I have been the victim of a wrong perception. I see clearly how I caused both of us to suffer."--Buddhist Remedy


A thought on newspapers and books

I don't read or subscribe to the newspaper,
in the old fashioned way. I don't like to
get newsprint on my fingers; when I read
the paper, it is on my laptop.

Do you think that, one day, books will be obsolete,
that we will all read what authors have written on
our laptops and blackberries?

I like books. I like to hold them, and to flip
through their pages, as I read them, or as I am
looking for something in them.

I hope that books are never made obsolete.

No more lousy love

It was cold out, yesterday,
a nasty cold that found my
feet shivering within my
socks and shoes.

I went to see my therapist,
and we were both elated
that there was nothing wrong
in my life, outside of the fact
that I only got four hours
on the schedule, this week, at work.

One of the good things
that we talked about
was that I had gotten out of
a lousy relationship.

Isn't it funny how "love"
can be bad for you?

I vow to never be in lousy love, again.

A little note about The Super Bowl

There are more important things for me to do
with my life than watch The Super Bowl; football
doesn't much interest me, but when I got home
from work, yesterday, I turned on the television
in time to watch Arizona score for the last time,
which looked, at first, like it might have been
enough of a score to win the game, but it wasn't:
Pittsburgh scored a touchdown with an incredible
catch towards the end of the game, as I did something
at my desk other than fully concentrate on the game.

You probably already know all this; even if
you didn't watch the game, I would bet that you saw
the replays on t.v., later.

I haven't much cared for Bruce Springsteen since
the Born To Run album. I think that his greatest work
was in his early albums, and, basically,stopped with
that Born To Run 8 track cassette, and the rest
of his songs are just pop rock, and not poetry,
but I would have like to have seen the man, and his
band play the half time of The Super Bowl.

Did they lip sync like I heard that Tom Petty and
The Heartbreakers did?

When you shut the door shouldn't it stay shut?

Some people keep popping back into your life,
and they are not people that you want popping
back into your life, they are people who you
had shut the door on, and tried to escape from;

they are people who made you angry
or made you feel uncomfortable in one way or another,

so you just shut the door on them,
and hope that they will quit popping into your life.

The words have dried up

The words have dried up,
I'm going to get a job
with a coat and tie.

The words have dried up,
I'm going to lead a passionless,
meandering existence,
maybe I'll look to a church,
and the state to give my life meaning.

The words have dried up,
a sunset is just a sunset, now;
the smile of my children
no longer takes on a greater meaning.

The words have dried up,
a cab ride in New York City
is just a cab ride in New York City,
it is not a great adventure.

The words have dried up,
my life is over.

Having good food to eat is such a blessing

I start the day by eating grits
soaked in soy butter. Usually I
eat oatmeal, but, today, I am out
of oatmeal.

Grits are good; I should have put
tomatoes in them, but once I started
eating them, I was lazy.

I did add pepper to my grits;
pepper is good in grits.

So many people have nothing,
or little to eat, this morning;

I give praise to my higher power
that I have good food to eat.

Shut up, Lou

Shut up, Lou,
I say,

and turn the TV off.

There is only so much self-righteousness
that I can take in an evening. The guy
has been a journalist forever, and his
constant bitching, and moaning have done
nothing for the American people.

He sells soap, like most of the other journalist do.

No fun for some chickens

The chicken will fight the fox,
the chicken will fight the eagle,
to protect its young.

But, the chicken can not fight
anything, while locked in a battery cage
being forced to lay eggs for you.

A chicken is only friendly to chickens
that it knows.
A chicken knows when trouble is on the
horizon, and warns its young.

After reading this, maybe you won't find
eating chicken any fun.

http://www.hsus.org/farm/resources/animals/chickens/

Do you obtain a distinct advantage
by eating "cage free" eggs?

Perhaps not, but the chicken does.

"Arguably the most abused animals in all agribusiness, nearly 280 million laying hens in the United States are confined in barren, wire battery cages so restrictive the birds can't even spread their wings. With no opportunity to engage in many of their natural behaviors, including nesting, dust bathing, perching, and foraging, these birds endure lives wrought with suffering."

http://www.hsus.org/farm/camp/nbe/

Her memory refuses to leave me

Her memory refuses to leave me.
Her memory refuses to leave me.

The things that she did confuse me,
but I'll never receive an explanation.

Do you believe in angels?

I collect angels. I have quite a few of them,
scattered about my abode, and on my porch.

Do you believe in angels?
I also collect turtles. Do you believe in turtles?

During any times at all

I was cutting through the Home Depot parking lot,
on my way to see if I could pick up more hours,
at work, next week(this week I only got four)
and a guy asked me if I had any work that he could do.

He looked like he was in the early stages of
some type of drug problem, but I thought it funny
that he was asking me, who has been affected by
the recession, just like so many of us, for work.

I was talking to one of my customers, yesterday,
in the same parking lot, at nearly the same time,
and we both agreed that we were not very far from
being one of the guys, without a job, who was wandering
the streets.

You really have to be thankful for what you have,
during these uncertain times, and, really, during
any times at all.

How we treat the least among us

The wind is howling, outside,
and I am very thankful to be
inside, where it is safe and
warm.

Can you imagine being an alcoholic,
or a schizophrenic wandering the streets
of this great nation, on a night like this,
or on any night really.

The great President Reagan,
and his equally wonderful cohort Bush One
put the mentally ill on the American sidewalks
during their period of looking out for the wealthy
in this great nation, and no one has done anything
to help the least among us recover from this blow.

Martin Luther King Jr. once said that a nation
can be judged by how they treat the least among them.

Sometimes, a nap is the best thing

Sometimes, a nap is the best thing
to take; I took two, today, one before
Yoga, and the other at 9 pm.

Both naps refreshed me. I awoke from
each of them better capable of facing
the day.


When something that is supposed to take away stress causes it

Someone gave me this little bottle of "Rescue Remedy,"
a flower essence, that is supposed to be good for stress relief,
if you drop it on you tongue.

I can't get the bottle open, which is causing me stress.

Some thoughts on yesterday's weariness, and on a snake and a dove

I was exhausted, last night, nearly to the point of
intense frustration, from cleaning houses, all day,
and the smartest thing that I could have done
would have been to jump in the bed, which is, exactly,
what I did, and, now, this morning, I feel refreshed.

The dogs have started to wake me up at 7 a.m., and I
am not rewarding them by feeding them right away,
for this would reinforce this alarm clock behavior
that they have been exhibiting.

There is a bird chirping, outside the house, which reminds me
that I would like to buy a bird feeder, and place it
in the front yard,

I am thinking about buying a snake, and a dove.

My friend, Jeff, asked me yesterday why I wanted a snake,
and I said, to him, "I don't know, I just do."

There is something majestic about snakes, that I have become
attracted to, recently.

Jeff and I have to go back to one of the houses, and put
the finishing touches on it. "Clean, clean, clean," is our motto.

I want a white dove, symbolizing peace.

Not much time for poetry

Not much time for poetry, this morning,
I have a long work day ahead of me.

The dogs will have to make it without me,
today.

As I approached my house

As I approached my house, I heard a dog barking very loudly, psychotically, almost, and I realized that it was my dog, my Bundy, barking at a couple of dogs across the street from our house that a man was walking. I saw that my neighbor's car was parked
outside the house; not good, I thought. Bundy is the kind of dog who does what I want him to do, only when I am there, and when I am not there, he, basically, does what he wants to do; and he wants to bark at other dogs, and humans who are in his line of vision, when he is home.

As I was, and am

I haven't been inside a drunk tank, covered in blood,
covered in puke in seventeen years. Isn't it amazing
what happens when you quit drinking, if you are an alcoholic,
as I was, and am.

Not a good sign

I just met her,
and, already,
I want to forget her.

I need to buy oatmeal, today.

It is at the top of my list,
a very significant thing that I must do.

I like pushing a grocery cart down the aisles;
sometimes, I grab a cart, even when I am too broke
to fill it; somehow it reassures me to push it
about the store.

I steer the cart up to the counter,
pull my one item out of it, and smile.

"Some day, we'll all be rich. Some day, I won't
have to listen to you bitch."--Black Flag

Who do you miss the most?

She is very jealous of what she is jealous of;
I am a parameter off limits.

I have a checkered past,
she has an uncertain future.

Far away is far away,
and close is close.

Your mother or your lover,
who do you miss the most?

A hooker smoking crack is a hooker smoking crack

"The future's uncertain, and the end is always near."--James Douglas Morrison

A moron with money, is still a moron;
he may be able to eat a fancy dinner,
and be rude to the wait staff, but
if you believe in karma, day is going
to come when he is going to get his.

If I am spending time worrying about
the rich man, then I am not working on me.

I can not do anything about you,
but I can do things about me.

A grain of sand at the desert is a grain of sand
at the desert.

A hooker smoking crack, is a hooker smoking crack.

Shoo, go away

Sometimes, I wake thinking of the people I don't like,
instead of thinking of the people who I love,
and I find myself asking why are these people who I don't like
occupying time in my head?

The collection agency computers are turned on early,
they automatically dial you, and, if you pick up, they ask you
to wait.

It is cold outside.

I was tired, yesterday, and didn't do much, but visit a friend
in the hospital. I hated to see him laying in that bed.

Life is the greatest opportunity that we will ever be given.
Use it wisely.

I hope that he looks better tomorrow

My friend didn't look good, today,
laying in his hospital bed,

he is a man of strength,
being savaged by an unknown enemy.


Why can't I just let her be?

If I fall in love with a hooker,
I'm going to want to change her
in to a nun.

If I fall in love with a nun,
I'm going to want to change her
into a nun.

Something like that

I don't have any answers,
and, as I age, I have less questions;

I just live, without thinking about living.
I used to think too much.

If you are thinking, you are not existing.

Telephone collection agencies and mooching bums sometimes bother me

Two street drunks approached me, tonight,
and one of them said, "Sir, can I ask you a question?"

I replied that I didn't have any money,
and the bum started to sass me, so I sassed him back;
in fact I completely out-sassed him.

As I walked away, I heard bum one say to the other bum,
"Why is everyone in such a bad mood?"

I was smiling as he spoke.

There is only pleasure in certain pain

I found a hypodermic needle
in the toilet of a house
that I was taking a piss in,
the other day, and I thought of
the pain that somebody must be
in.

Why do I take the sun for granted?

Sometimes, my skin crawls.
Sometimes, I eat chocolate.

Sometimes, I take out the trash.
Sometimes, but not often enough,
I watch the sun set.

I take the sun for granted.
Why?

Love can be the enemy

If I let the moment slip away,
the moment may never return to me.

He pulled his dick out of his pants,
in her living room; what a weird
advance.

Life can be so awful, if you take it
on everybody else's terms.

You have to stand, stand for something,
stand up for yourself.

Love can be the enemy.

I have found someone new

My heart is still beating,
and I am still breathing;
I have survived
the disappointment of you.

I have found someone new.

Once upon a time

They have cut their long hair,
and sold or smashed their guitars,
they have given up on their dream,
of being superstars.

Middle aged men greet you at retail locations,
salesmen smile at you,
construction workers carry wood to your house,
and you would never guess that, once upon a time,
these men were players in a rock and roll band.

You've got to work

Fat is never plausible
so I'm telling the muscle of my younger years to return.

Be careful what you say

I hear sirens, this morning,
I think that they are from fire engines,
I pray that everyone is alright,
and I am reminded of something
that happened when I was a kid.

My mother was driving this lady home from work,
one night, and some fire trucks sped by,
and the lady with my mother jokingly said,
"Ha, ha I hope my house isn't on fire,"

and when they got to the lady's house,
they found that it was her house that was on fire.

The case of the barking dog

I am going to have to have a talk with my dog,
Bundy, and explain to him that wake up time is
when I want to wake up, and not when he wants
me to wake up!

There is a dog barking in a nearby residence,
and, for a second, I let the dog's barking bother me,
then, I realize that my dog, Bundy, probably does
his fair share of home-protection barking, when I am not here.

I know this to be true, because, the other evening,
when I was walking home from work, I heard him barking
at a man, and his dogs, who were walking on the sidewalk
across the street from our abode.

Bundy is part Rotweiller, and he is very protective
of our space, at the least growling at people and their dogs
who pass by, our residence, and, often, barking at them.

Bundy is by no means a perfect dog, but I am, by no means,
a perfect human, and the two of us do pretty darn well together.

Thank you to The Creator for letting me be able to take what they are giving!

The new schedule came out,
and I got the hours that
I need, this week, to survive.

It is funny how helpful a pay check is;
I have never really appreciated a job,
before, but, in these recessionary times,
I know how valuable a job is to have,
and I thank The Creator
that I, not only have one,
but that I have one that I really like.


I think I'm going back to bed

I think that I'm going back to bed,
dogs and cats, having been fed,
a cup of coffee having been consumed.

I think that I'm going back to bed,
it seems like the logical thing to do,
the bed is calling my name.

A commercial sold is a commercial sold

Arguably, what you hear in one place is not
what you will hear in another,
you can change the tv or radio station to prove this.

One point of view is not granted,
though they have found that it is cheaper
to disseminate the news through fewer sources.

Every time that they say hello

Her nipples call to me long distance,
they text me, and say hello.

Her nipples give me reports, updates.
I smile every time that they say hello.

Enough things store bought

I'm contrived, a carbon copy
of you. You are original, totally.

Look what you put me through,
me trying to keep up with you.

Stop.

I have to get off;
enough things store bought.

We don't want to talk every day,
that would spoil it.
We don't want to sleep with just each other,
that would ruin it.

I'm a blabbermouth

A song can change the world
will you be my girl?

We could last forever,
wouldn't that be clever,
I might run out of things
to say,

and I'm a blabbermouth.

Chocolate for breakfast

I used to always have eggs,
but now I eat chocolate for breakfast.

Oatmeal won't do anymore,
I've got to have chocolate for breakfast.

I'd rather have chocolate than sex,
I guess I'm getting old.

The Doctor says that I have to watch
my blood sugar, but that won't stop me,
from having chocolate for breakfast.

Milk chocolate
white chocolate
dark chocolate,
it doesn't matter to me,

I've got to have chocolate for breakfast.

I used to eat eggs,
I used to have oatmeal,
often I even had grits,
but, today, it's chocolate for breakfast,

chocolate for breakfast
chocolate for breakfast,

what do you say,
will you join me

we'll have some coffee,
and
chocolate for breakfast.

Be careful who you love

She couldn't live up to my expectations;
none of them have, but I love them all, anyway.

There's probably a reason why I've never wed,
it's the same reason that I've never stayed employed
for any length of time.

You can't stay young forever,
sometimes the road up ahead is not clear.

Be careful who you love.
Be careful who you love.
Be careful who you love.

She told me that she would love me forever,
but when the next man just like me came along
she left me alone loving her from a distance.

Be careful who you love.
Be careful who you love,
be careful why you love.

What is love anyway, but three words
often designed to trap you?

Be careful who you love.
Be careful who you love.

I've had my heart broken so many times,
that it can't be broken anymore.

Be careful who you love.
Be careful who you love.
Always wear the glove with strangers.

And poop

I didn't feel like walking the dogs, tonight,
because I was tired, but I knew that it would be
grossly unfair to them to not get them out
of the house for a bit, so I put on my walking tennies,
and my leather jacket, and wandered out
into the world, also wearing black gym shorts.

It was that kind of evening, cool,
but warm enough that you could
expose your knees to the night,
and not freeze to death.

The dogs were thankful to get a walk in.
They love to walk.
And pee on things.
And poop.

Funny how people are

This girl at work started yelling at me,
so I yelled back at her, and then, after that,
she treated me with more respect than she ever has.

Funny, how people are.

At least I didn't call her Root Beer

Her name was Kola, and when she left
the coffee shop, I said, "Goodbye Coke,"
and she just smiled.

Because Bob Dylan said to

Bob Dylan sold his song "Forever Young," to Pepsi,
so that they could sell sugar to kids;

something like that. Anyway, it's his song,
and they are your teeth. If you are a kid,
you are probably not going to much think about
your teeth until you are older, and they give
you problems,

like, for awhile, before several thousand dollars
went to the dentist, I couldn't eat chips with dip.

Well, I could eat the dip, but not the chips,
and there were other things that I can't think of,
right now, that I couldn't eat either; it was a bummer.

When I was a kid,
I probably would have bought Pepsi because Bob Dylan said to.

From trash can to trash can

Two men are walking down our street
going from trash can to trash can;

it seems like a lot of effort to put in
to find what?

From trash can to trash can

Applying for a job, is a pain in the ass,
but so is rooting through trash cans.

I'm trying not to be judgmental,
but, come on, we all make judgments
every day; some of them keep us alive.

I hope that the two men do not scatter
trash along the street, next to the trashcans,
like men like them often do.

It is very unsightly, and I like to live
in a beautiful world, a world that would be
more beautiful if men didn't have to,
or want to go door to door, from trash can to trash can.

Wondering about the mailman and more

There is a helicopter hovering over our neighborhood,
and I think how there might be someone on the run,
somewhere down below it; their life didn't turn out
like their mother wanted it to for them, and, probably,
also, it didn't turn out like they would have wanted it to.

Mostly, people wind up working in a different field,
than what they majored in college, but that is
a completely different thing; star high school and college
football players mostly don't go onto the pros,
and most pros don't make it to The Super Bowl.

The mailman is walking door to door, across the street,
my dog, Bundy, has a keen eye on him.
When the mailman gets to our door, I will have to send Bundy inside.

I wonder if the mailman started out to be a mailman.

When you wake at 4 a.m.

When you wake at 4 a.m.
the dogs do not get up with you,

they lay on the floor
with one eye shut,
the other eye sort of half open
keeping an eye on you.

Double Entendre

First, you get a rejection letter,
and then they send you a copy of
the edition that you were rejected from.

I have learned

If I don't feel good about something,
I shouldn't do it, I have learned

the hard way is to do something over
and over, and never learn from it.

I'd like to thank the elephant handlers.

I'd like to thank the elephant handlers
for their knowledge of cats, which they

never conveyed to me, but learning for yourself
is where it should be.

When you think about the number of people
who have handled your lemon before you've dropped it
in your tea, you might come to understand why tuna
are not good to eat after spending nearly fifty years
swimming in the sea.

The garbage man wanted to be a Doctor,
the serial killer wanted to be a Saint,
funny how what we wound up being,
and what we wanted to become usually aren't the same.

Each bean is different

Each bean is different
and the bag of beans
that I have, now,
do not please me,
as much,
as the last bag of beans
that I had.

Cell Phone Policy

She went back to school, yesterday,
and the school authorities were sure to
explain to her, fully, the new cell phone policy.

She had violated the old policy,
and received a several day suspension from classes.

The suspension might not have bothered her,
I mean what kid wouldn't enjoy a vacation from the grind,
but her mother took her cell phone away from her,
while she was suspended.

The explicable-ness of un-inexplicably

I am un-inexplicably ecstatic, this morning,
well, not un-inexplicably, and not ecstatic,
so I guess that I am not un-inexplicably ecstatic
at all.

My situation, this morning, is explicable,
and I am thankful that it is.

The stranger cat

The dogs sit in the sunshine, on the porch,
and stare at the cat. I can not tell what
their intentions are. They live with two cats,
and have learned to be civil with them,
but it is my bet that they would chase
the stranger cat, furiously, down the street.


When you're living in a submarine

My package was marked as undeliverable,
though I never even licked a stamp.

When you're living in a submarine,
it's hard to get a message on Mars.

I wonder how they pick and choose

I made a stain on a page
of one of my favorite books,
but the world did not end.

I hear sirens going off in the city,
I wonder if the world will end tomorrow,
and if it does, how long will it take
for you to find out about it,
if you do not have the cable news.

My dogs do not trust some people
who pass by the abode, when I am sitting,
on the porch;

I wonder how they pick and choose.

I need love

I need love,
and I can't find it
in these books
that I am reading.

I need love,
and I can't find it,
in these poems
that I am writing.

I need love,
and I can't find it,
at the grocery store.

I need love.
I need love.
I need love.

It looks like rain

It looks like rain,
so the men paving the street,
in front of my house,

are nowhere in sight, today,
they are making love, perhaps,
to a bottle of whiskey,
or fighting with their wives,
women who are used having the house
to themselves.

If it is going to rain, in certain businesses,
you have to cancel everything,
like some Southern cities do when it snows.

It's nice to not have to cook for yourself sometimes

I had leftover pancakes for desert, tonight.
I found them on plate in the refrigerator;
I assume that my daughter made them.

They were a bit stale, but still yummy;
they filled a need that had gnawed at my tummy.

Sales have been slipping

You're only as good
as your latest numbers,

sales have been slipping.

Further apart

I hadn't heard from you,
so you won't be hearing from me,
and the distance between us
will keep making us be further apart.

Check please

I take breakfast on the patio,
I bring it to myself.

The dogs keep watch.

Vocals

I can't sing,
but I can talk and scream.

I love onions

I love onions, and when the weather is not hot or cold,
so I can tell the utility company to go away.

I crave chocolate, and the love of a woman
who I have probably not met yet.

I like afternoon naps, especially when it rains,
and I enjoy days off from work, when the bill are all paid.

So everybody hears

Be silent with your semen,
say your prayers out loud
so everybody hears.

If he could have kept his mouth shut

Bundy is inside, with his nose pressed to the door;
he is not on the patio with Morisson and I,
breathing in the fresh air, basking in the sunshine
of a beautiful February day.

Bundy showed his ass, when the neighbor walked a dog,
that our neighbor is dog-sitting for his brother.

My dog Bundy couldn't shut up, and wouldn't shut up, when
I asked him to, so he will sit in time out this morning.

Maybe he will get the message, or, maybe, most of his time
will be spent with his nose pressed against the door,
looking out at a world that he could have enjoy,
if he could have kept his mouth shut.

Today is just an illusion

It feels like a spring day,
yet it is only mid-February;

I want to put seeds in the ground,
tomatoes, watermelons, cucumbers,
strawberries,

but I know that they wouldn't stand a chance,
that today is just an illusion.

Wishes of the Landlord's girlfriend

She wants to confine me
to the porch,

and I want to spread myself
all across the yard.

Outside today is a beautiful day

The patio with the sun that it holds captive
is calling to me;

the dogs love to sit out there and stare at the world.

Such a fool

I watch one channel,
and think I am informed;

gosh, I'm such a fool.

The start to a day

A portrait painted,
some coffee beans consumed.

A look at the news,
pets fed.

The best thing for you

I'm a renter; I'll be a renter for life.
I love you. I'll always love you,
but I'll never make you my wife.

Think twice, about what they tell you to do.
The norm might not be the best thing for you.

Onto something

You know you're onto something,
when you know you're onto something.

Chocolate makes everything alright

I added lemon to my Irish tea,
and all it did was curl my milk.

An Irish lady, who I had met online,
told me that this was the way to go,
although I do not remember my Irish parents
adding lemon to their tea.

I'm eating chocolate, which makes everything
alright.

Why am I so sad standing here?

If everything is made for forever
why am I so sad standing here
not holding your hand.

I'm not Rocky

Waking in the morning used to be
a hugely awful experience,

the mother fucker depression
was always waiting for me.

Now, I wake joyfully.

They say that that which doesn't kill you,
only makes you grow stronger.

I'm not Rocky, but I feel pretty strong,
mostly, these days.

And for this I am thankful

I'm going to get really high, this morning,
and have a second cup of coffee,
but I'm not going to wind up in handcuffs,
headed to the drunk tank, to be punished
for doing something that I don't remember doing.

SexyBabe69

SexyBabe69 saw me in the chat,
and she wants me to check her photos out,
pull my credit card out to pay for
some pictures of her getting down.

I'm no clown; I delete her email.


Put the needle in

Books are my drugs,
I inhale them and they get me high.

Not even in a whisper

There is something
that you should know
but I am not going to
tell it to you.

A walk in the park with the dogs

There were two geese riding the pond,
when seven ducks came swimming by;

the dogs strained at their leashes.

We walked further into the park,
and heard several geese making a lot of noise.
Here, there were thirty geese, at least.
They were attracted to the popcorn and the bread
that kids were throwing to them from a dock.

Construction men were re-building the swimming pool;
it looks like it will be ready for the spring.

Nobody sent her flowers

Nobody sent her flowers.
Nobody sent her chocolate.
No one put a smile on her face,
on the day designated by the ones
who sell flowers, and the ones
who sell chocolate, as the day of love.

Love has nothing to do with flowers.
Love has nothing to do with flowers.
You can't corner the market on love,
one day a year.

"Being always transcends appearance--that which only seems to be. Once you begin to know the being behind the very pretty or very ugly faces, as determined by your bias, the surface appearances fade until they simplyno longer matter."

--Wm. Paul Young
The Shack P. 112



Resistance

I saw a girl as ugly as a troll from Hell,
walking her dog in the park, and I thought
how God is unfair.

I saw a girl so lovely, walking her dog,
in the same park, a few minutes later,
that she made my heart flutter, while my dogs whined.

Reality is a strange existence;
I can't offer it much resistance.

She'll break your fragile heart

Send your love a letter.
Address it to yourself.
Keep your feelings within.
It's safer that way.
Exposure can be brutal.
She'll break your fragile heart.

Is Valentine's Day A Fraud?

Today is a silly day,
a brutally commercial day,

a day that you are told
that you must buy something
for your love.

What if you're broke?
What if you think Valentine's Day
is a fraud, that you should love
your love everyday of the year?

Love can be brutal

It's the day that people who make cards,
and sell flowers, tell us that we should
give chocolate to the one we love;

and what if we don't love anybody?

("Well, pal, buy yourself some flowers,
and chocolate, you'll feel better...")

Love can be brutal, I have learned;
it can fuck you up while you're in it,
and it can ruin you for a bit
or for forever when it ends.

Love means, "I own you."
This is MY wife.
This is My girlfriend.

I don't know anyway around it.
I'm still susceptible to it.
I can still be trapped and hauled in by it.
I still yearn for it, believe in it,
desire it, crave it.

In order to be loved, you must know how to love.
How do you love?
I Must

I must learn to love.
I must do Yoga.

I must smile.
I must learn to love.

I must love my children.
I must feed my dogs.
I must learn to love.

I must pay my rent.
I must pay my bills.
I must pay my taxes.
I must learn to love.

I must,
I must,
I must
muster courage to do the things
I must,

and,
I must love.


A cute family on Valentine's Day

On the bus, today, was a kid
dressed in red, holding a balloon
with a heart on it.

His mother was dressed in red.
His baby brother was dressed in red.
They were a cute family.

Flower Power

EVERYBODY is holding flowers, today.
The people who sell flowers got paid today.

Maybe his lady isn't greedy.


This guy has a single red rose on the table
in front of him, and I want to heckle him
by saying,

"What, Pal...only one rose for the lady?!!"

Right in front of me

Sometimes, "love" is standing right in front of you,
but you can't see it. I had a great night at work, tonight.
We were supposed to give out these Valentine's Day cards
that are good for a free coffee; I mean what a chore:
everybody smiles when you give them a free drink!!

I pray for world peace. I pray for world peace. I pray for world peace.
I can see "love" standing right in front of me.

Great poems come to me, at work, at night

Great poems come to me, at work, at night,
as I wipe down tables.

Great poems come to me, at work, at night,
as I take out the trash.

Great poems come to me, at work, at night,
as I stand there, and smile at the occasional customer
who revels in being rude(he thinks that he is resisting the machine.)

Great poems come to me at work at night
as I wash the dishes, and sweep and mop the floor.

Great poems come to me at work at night,
but by the time I get home I am too tired to remember them.

Don't you remember you told me that you loved me, baby

His heart is in his hand.
His head is in the stars.

He'd rather make music, than love.

Am I a liberal?

This guy who I have know for a long time
called me a hypocrite because I wrote
a piece about how glad I was that Bush was
leaving The Presidency, and about what a
mean, evil scoundrel that I thought that
Bush had been for eight years, dragging the
country down, while amassing huge fortunes
for a few that he was close to, in one way
or another.

He said that, "all us liberals were alike!"

Am I a liberal?

Smile

I am glad to be here, this morning,
breathing the air of another new day.

Today is full of possibilities for happiness.

You can be happy, and smile, or you can frown.

Some people are weird

Some people are grumpy by nature,
they look at you, and me, as an imposition
into their existence.

Some people see God in other people,
and smile at everyone on the planet.

Some people are serial killers.
Some people are cops.
Some people buy ice cream for their children,
and walk with them through the park.

Some people sit at computers, in the morning,
and write poems about some people.

Some people are weird.

Beggars can't ride

If I had a stamp
I would lick it,

and place it on
an envelope
that I would seal
with a letter within
that I had written
to you,

but the post office
is closed, today.

Perhaps A Novel
By Mikel K

Times were tough, so God had laid off the angels and was greeting people himself at the gates of Heaven. He didn't look too happy to see me, when I arrived.

"What's wrong, God?" I asked him.

"You barely made it in here," he replied. "In fact, I'm not totally sure that you should be here."

His reply didn't stun me. I had been a sinner for a lot of my time on earth, and I hadn't found Jesus to recover from my bad, bad ways; I had gotten someone pregnant our of wedlock, and that had lead me onto a road of righteous recovery.

"Whatever gets you through the night," someone had once said.

The turtles didn't cause any trouble

When I got home from work, late, last night I found the abode covered in trash. One, or both, of the dogs had put his snout, or their snouts, into the trash can, and had withdrawn at least a third of the articles of the nearly full trash can and scattered them all over the carpet.

The place looked a wreck, but, really, it only took me a couple of minutes to clean it up. The dogs were kept in "time out" for the rest of the night. They kept trying to advance on the kitchen to get their usual late night snack that I give them when I get home from work, but, last night, I wasn't having it.

The dogs had let me down, they had broken a cardinal rule, they had played me for a fool, and I wasn't going to reward them with the frozen treat that they love that consists of chicken broth and vanilla yogurt.

This morning, I awoke refreshed, and I did not hold a grudge against the dogs. What happened yesterday, happened yesterday, and I think that we all, man and dogs, learned from the incident.

The turtles did not cause any trouble while I was gone, yesterday, nor did the cats.

We are blessed

I am blessed to be me,
and you are blessed to be you.

I am shy

I am shy,
so if I don't say hello,
don't think that it is
because I am stuck up.

The world needs more heroes

The world needs more heroes,
and less people rewarding themselves
with bonuses that they didn't earn.

Less Fat

I am more disciplined
than I was, and I can
see the results when
I look in the mirror.

Can Anybody Hear Me?

Woke up this morning,
and I turned the heat off;
I couldn't afford the cost.

Went to bed, last night,
a little hungry,
I couldn't really afford
the few groceries that I'd bought.

Had to call in sick to work, this morning,
I was out of gas.
The check from my Step-Mother
hadn't yet made it in the mail;
I couldn't fill the gas tank.

I'm working so hard,
but I'm getting so far behind.
Maybe if I didn't have children,
I wouldn't be so half out of my mind.

I'm not really sure who,
but I've got this strong feeling
that somebody is cheating me blind.

Didn't they say in The Constitution
something like everybody's got the right
to be Happy and Free?

I guess when they wrote it,
they weren't writing about me.

Didn't they say in The Constitution
that everybody's got the right to be
Happy and Free?

I guess when they wrote it,
they weren't writing about me.

I don't feel like bitching,
but can anybody hear me?

I don't feel like bitching,
but can anybody hear me?



Dirty Underwear

I chew spaghetti with red sauce,
and watch trash men throw trash cans
to the ground;

was it just a rumor that you were
just a junky now?

I'm in attendance for a celebration,
that most of us just let pass by.

Some people are billionaires,
some people can't pay for heat,
in the winter, don't ask me why.

I should extend myself,
I should pass out invitations,
but I really don't care
if I'm the only one there.

Time has passed,
you've aired your dirty underwear.

You are yours

The day is yours.
Your life is yours.
Your cats are yours.
You are yours, and I am mine.

Maybe, if stars all line up right,
we can get together sometime.

Who is write?

One poet rhymes,
one poet works in meter,
one poet just lets it all flow
from his heart and soul.

One poet yearns for publication,
one poet amasses thirty years of work,
and just lets it sit on his shelf.

One poet sits works on poems for years,
rewriting them until he feels that they are perfect,

one poet cranks out an immense amount of work,
satisfied that that the two or four rewrites that he does
at the time that he writes the words will suffice.

Who is write, and who is wrong, one poet or the other?

When he inhaled the mouthwash

I saw a man sitting on a wall
in the hip part of town,

he was not hip,
he was passed out
over a large bottle of Listerine,

and you know as well as I
that he was not concerned about bad breath
when he poured the mouth wash down his throat.

Who I am

I'm going to make music.
I'm going to make love.
I'm going to spread peace,
not just symbolically, like a white dove.

I'm going to eat toast with jam,
I'm going to jam with people I respect.
I thank the Lord for letting me be who I am.

I don't want my snake to die

They have snakes for sale
at the pet store that is
near my abode,

but I won't buy my snake
from a big chain store.

Also, I need to learn more
about snakes before I bring
one home.

I don't want it to die
soon after joining us,
here at the abode.

In my hand

I often drink my coffee,
like I used to drink my booze,
thinking about the next drink,
or cup of coffee, while I still
have a nearly full drink in my hand.

Freedom?

I'd like to live
in the woods,

and eat bugs. Not.

It's a silly and sometimes sick game

Witness the law,
put there to confine you, not him,or her.

Putting a smile on your face won't kill you

I'll wave,
if you'll come out of your cave.

I'm still thinking of you

Even though my feet are sore and stinky
I'm still thinking of you

It's been a long night darling
and if you were here I think I know what we might do.

The myths that I create

When my kids were little, I used to write about them
all the time. I have volumes written on them.**

Now that they are older, I, mostly, refrain from writing
about them. I'm not exactly sure, but I think that it is
because they can, now, read what I write about them, and
dispute the myths that I create!!

**If you got to www.185cool.com/mikelkpoet and go to
The Daily K, you can go six to ten years back in my
writing and see what was up, back in the day.

In his own way

I thought that I would turn on the cable news
and watch it, while I sip on this 7 pm coffee
that I have just brewed for myself, but
the self-righteousness of the host sends my finger
to the t.v. to turn it off.(A remote control won't work
with this older t.v.)

I have learned about quiet, that we don't like it,
that we always have to have some sort of noise going on,
television, music, conversation; we are uncomfortable
sitting quietly, so I have tried to learn to sit quietly,
to enjoy the quiet.

I think that one of my cats(Jaggar) is in part ferral;
he is very unaffectionate. They found him
with his chest caved in a Fast Food Restaurant Parking Lot;
his mother was dead near him. Someone in a hurry to pick up
their fast food had killed her, and sent him to the brink of death.

The vets brought him back to life, but, somehow, he missed out
on the show the human who feeds you some affection part of things.

It's ok, he let's me know when he needs me, like when the food bowl
that I keep on the drier is low on food, or when he wants me
throw him kitty treats on the kitchen floor.

Like people, all cats are not alike, and Jaggar is a beautiful cat,
in his own way.

Stating the obvious

Wicked designs
such negativity
everybody likes
to roll in the hay.

No matter what you've done

I'm a virgin
I really am
ha ha,

and so are you,
no matter what
you've done.

Damn

She doesn't have a Face Book page.
She's not on My Space.
She used to be a singer on the local stage,
she shook her fists, and spewed words of rage.

Now she sits on the sidewalk,
bumming quarters, quietly;
sometimes she passes out
before you can put something in her hand.

You say "damn," how did she end up this way?.

Don't Stop

Baby, don't stop loving me.
Baby, I appreciate everything you gave me.
Baby, baby don't stop.

I've been around the world,
but I haven't left this desk yet.
Believe it, or not, I can be the best man
who you've ever met.

Just,
don't stop
don't stop
waiting for me,
baby.

Don't stop
waiting for me.
I'll come around as soon as this book is done.
Don't stop.
Don't stop.
I'll be with you as soon as these peoms are written.

Don't stop.
Don't stop,
loving me;
waiting for me.

Don't stop.
Don't stop.
I'll be around as soon as I'm done doing what I'm doing.

Baby, baby.

It is good to be alive

The drier rumbles.
I hear dog tags jingling.
Water drips from the filter in the turtles' tank.
The cats prowl silently about the apartment.
The kids are not in jail, or strung out on drugs.

It is good to be alive.

Move your body baby

She is in her mid forties,
but her body is wicked.

She used to dance,
modern and jazz, I think;
ballet, I'm not so sure about,

and when she quit dancing,
she headed to the gym,
and never really got far away
from it.

She offers hope to all of us.

Lay off the potato chips.
Lay off The Budweiser.

Move your body, baby,
and you can look good, too.

I've got my priorities right

I've got my priorities right;
children first,
then being a huge rock n roll poet superstar.

My dogs love frozen bananas. I freeze bananas, mainly, so that I can thaw them in my microwave, and then put them in my oatmeal. I find that this is a great way to eat the bananas in the oats: a frozen, then thawed banana, somehow melts into the oatmeal far better than a fresh banana does. When I cut the bananas up, I cut the tips off, freeze them, and put them in a bag for the dogs; that way, they have a banana treat waiting for them, as I do.

The dogs are chasing one of the cats about the abode, this morning. I'm betting this means that they want to go for a walk. It rained, yesterday, so we didn't much get out of the house. I'll take them for a long walk, today.

I went to bed early, exhausted, last night, and woke up at four thirty a.m., this morning, refreshed, and ready to go. I was craving this vegetable fried rice that I have in the freezer, but I think that I am going to wait until later in the day to eat it.

Yoga class, last night, was exhilarating; it just keeps getting better and better. I keep telling people that Yoga gets me higher than alcohol, pot, or lsd ever did; and I mean it. People who are still using look at me as if I am crazy, when I say this.

Crazy is a relative term now isn't it?

Love is always close by

Someone close to me fixed me a nice dinner: leftovers,
which I love, but I don't eat meat anymore,
so the dogs are going to eat well, tonight.

I just turned off the stereo, so that I can listen to the rain
pour down. Sometimes the rain has a calming effect on me,
especially when I am not caught outside in it, without an umbrella.

I walked on water, after Yoga class, tonight; that is the effect
that such classes have on me.

Love seems somehow close, tonight. I think that when you are happy
with yourself, love is always close by.

It is raining outside, and I am doing laundry inside, at an hour that would have, previously, been inconceivable for me to be experiencing. I went to bed early, and I woke up early, feeling great. When I was younger, my modus operandi was, "Up all night, sleep all day," usually with a nasty hangover. I lived through those days, though, somehow, someway, and certainly somewhat miraculously.

One of the gifts that I have been given in sobriety, is to be able to watch children grow up. This is also a miracle, both my participation in it, and the actual act of children growing from small, small seven pound, more or less, alien looking creatures into mostly self-determining teens, and then adults.

My kids are mostly grown, but there is this kid up North, in Garfield, New Jersey, who turns five today. I wish that I could be there to see that special sparkle in Kennedy Miller's face, when she blows out the five candles on her birthday cake. I wish that I could be there to see Kennedy open the presents that her mommy Breigh, and her daddy, Dale, got for her, but, most especially, I would like to be there to see the excited look on young Kennedy's face if I had been able to walk in her front door, and join her in her birthday party.

Kennedy, and I, have this little game we play. I scream, "Who's your favorite person?!!" and she screams, "Mikel K!! Mikel K!!"

There is nothing as rewarding as thinking that you are the favorite person, or at least one of the favorite people, in a kid's life!!

Kennedy's daddy can't believe that Kennedy is already five years old, and neither can I, but having seen how fast my own children grew up, I understand the process.

Mick Jaggar once sang, "Time waits for no one, and it won't wait for me."

He was right.

Kennedy, slow down!! But, in the mean time, have a Happy, Happy Birthday, and may all your days be full of joy and love.

Mikel K
(Your Favorite Person)

It runs in our family

It runs in our family; insanity.
For years it got the best of me.
There are things that I'm better
of not doing, like sitting in a
room full of whiskey and beer.

For those unfortunate enough to be smoking it

This geeked out guy who comes into the cafe, semi-regularly came into the cafe, last night, geeked out and asked me if I could give him some money for food. I explained to him that I had kids, turtles, dogs and cats, and that that was where my money went. My boss came out of the back room and saw the guy, and said, "Hey, you've been banned from here. You are not supposed to be in here."

The guy looked at my boss, and said, "Fuck you," and the two of them argued back and forth as the guy backed his way out of the building.

Usually the guy comes in and asks for hot water, I told my boss. "Yes," my boss said, "Then he goes over to the condiment counter, and pours all the chocolate and vanilla sprinkles in it, and uses up all of our honey. He also goes into the bookstore, and steals books."

I told my boss how, one day, the guy had come in and inquired about the price of several drinks, and after picking one, had pulled out a twenty to pay for it with.

"What are you worried about the price of the drink for?" I said, "You are rich."

"Yes," he said, "But I have no idea when the next twenty might appear."

Life is just very sad, sometimes, and crack makes it even sadder for those unfortunate enough to be smoking it.

What an asshole

This kid came into the cafe, last night and ordered a carrot cake and one of our frozen coffee drinks, decaf. He was about twelve. I told him that I would call him, when his order was ready. He went back and sat at a table with a man, who I assume was his father. The father wore a wool skull cap, and, mostly, had his face buried in a laptop. The kid appeared to be doing some homework, while he waited for his goodies.

When the food arrived, the kid continued to do his homework, and his father continued to have his nose buried in his laptop, but looked up, on occasion, to share a bite of the kid's cake.

After a bit, I heard the father screaming. He held the kid's homework paper in his hand, and was screaming at the kid. "Why would you answer this, like this? WHY WOULD YOU ANSWER THIS LIKE THIS?"

The kid was silent, as the father continued to scream at him. As if to make his point, or as if the kid answering the question or questions wrong justified it, the father stabbed a fork into the last piece of the kid's cheesecake.

What an asshole.

Tori keeps me warm

It's a Tori Amos kind of morning
cold outside, warm inside.

With certain women

We salivate like Pavlov's dogs,
reacting to and with certain women.

They know this, and, sometimes, throw us a bone.

What would they think of me now?

They say that I look like Brad Pitt,
and write like Charles Bukowski.

They say that I would look like Barbara Streisand, in drag,
but not sing like her.

They said that I "had so much potential."
What would they think of me now?

I hope to keep Yoga as a permanent habit

I am about to take the dogs for a long walk; they deserve it, it rained, yesterday, and we did not get out.

It is a bit chilly in this apartment, today, but the heating bill was fucking ridiculous, last month. Did you see about that guy, up North, who froze to death in his house, because they turned his heat off, because he was senile, and couldn't figure out where to pay? They found cash attached to heating bills in his kitchen, when they found his body dead in his house.

My son is in San Francisco, today. I am a bit jealous. I couldn't afford to live there, but I love to visit The City by the Bay.

I should be in L.A. becoming a huge superstar, but I'm happy here in Atlanta, being a Dad, and, now, a Grandad.

Since I started taking Yoga, I've dropped from 295 to 271. Wa hoo!! This has been a 16 month process, and I think is a good way to take the weight off. I've done diets, before, and, once I went off the diet, back to old habits, the weight came right back.

I hope to keep Yoga as a permanent habit.


When I've got an attitude

When I've got an attitude
of gratitude, nothing can stop me,
from having a great day.

When I've got an attitude
of gratitude, the blues can't get
in my way.

When I've got an attitude
of gratitude, the things that I say
are positive.

When I've got an attitude of gratitude
the sun is always shining my way.

Make it last forever

You may look old to someone,
young to someone else.

Someone may be looking at you
to provide them with food and
shelter,

a B.M.W. a Porsche.

You may think that having her
in bed, will make it last forever.

They want more than you can give them

I see you scream boy.
I watch you cry girl.

And those making the money,
that you don't have to give them,
don't care at all.

They have yachts,
and they have Ivy League educations,
for their children,

and they have houses,
scattered all across the world,

but it's not enough;
they want more than you can give them.

Tori

The piano makes music, slowly;
and she plays it with a smile.


Who's watching the kids

She doesn't know who the father is.
And when she comes out of a blackout
she's almost not sure what her own name is.
When she's out on the town, you wonder
who's watching the kids.

We might as well move along

What you want
isn't what I want,

and what I want
isn't going to make you smile,

so before somebody has a heart attack,
we might as well move along.

It wasn't my bullet

It wasn't my bullet
that started the war.

It wasn't my bullet
that brought that great man down.

It wasn't my bullet
that raped that little girl.

It wasn't my bullet
that killed all the children in that school.

It wasn't my bullet
shot by that racist cop.

It wasn't my bullet
that brought the twin towers down.

I'm minding my business,
in my part of town.

I haven't brought anybody down.

I was caught in a cage

It's strange, but I was caught in a cage,
for so very long. And, now, it seems normal
to not be caught in that cage anymore.

A garden in every front yard

I don't feed the dogs, the minute that I wake up, because I don't want them to get the idea that they can wake me up, anytime, and get fed. They look at me with sad eyes, as I feed the cats, and get coffee ready for myself, but their pouting doesn't work on me; I too much enjoy my morning hours of dormir, to be a sucker for their soulful, somewhat sad eyes.

I planted some broccoli, the other day; one plant in the large vase sits outside the front door to the abode, to be exact. I check the plant out, each time that I come in and out of the house. I like planting things. I am amazed by the process whereby you can put seeds in the ground, or a small plant in the dirt, and it will develop into something that you don't have to pay for at the grocery store.

I want to plant tomatoes in the front yard. I figure that the homeless folks who haunt this street will snatch them from me, but that will not stop me. Wouldn't it be nice if every home in American had a garden out front that we could all snatch food from?

Whoever you are

I woke with a bit of a chip on my shoulder, this morning, but I knocked it off of there pretty fast. Breathing in and breathing out, my Yoga practice,and remembering where I came from made this easy. I have too much to be thankful for, to dwell on some small thing that might be pissing me off. In fact I'm not sure what it was that was pissing me off, this morning. I used to wake up pissed off, and or depressed, all the time.

I did this for decades.

I had some sort of a dream about the girl who, recently, had eight kids, making that fourteen in her brood. I'm not sure how she made it into my sleep time; I'd much dream about Angelina Jolie. That is a joke. I could care less about Angelina, either.

I care about you; whoever you are.

They are gone

There are times when I think
that everything is a lie.

There are times when I
can hardly get by,

but, these days, these feelings
don't last long.

I breath in. I breath out,
and they are gone.

My Yoga plans

My knee feels better this morning,
though I am going to try to remember
to take it easy on it,

the last thing that I want is a bad knee injury.
It would not fit in with my Yoga plans.

Reach out and touch someone

Text messaging is a great thing,
probably the best way that I have
to stay in touch with my children.

They respond to my texts,
like they used to respond to my touch,
when they were little children.

Like I will die

When you need me,
you are there for me,

and when you don't
I am alone,

like I was born,
and like I will die.

Things we do not think about

The garbage men will come today, and haul off much trash from our street. Can you imagine if the garbage men did not come and all that trash piled up; wouldn't that pretty much suck. It would be like having our water cut off. Funny how we so depend on things that we do not even think about.

Have you planted your flower garden?

Did you give your love a flower, today, or do you just give her flowers once a year when they tell you to give her flowers? Have you planted a flower garden, so that you can give her flowers everyday of the year?

Interruptions

It is 28 degrees outside, here in Atlanta, Georgia at 5:02 a.m. The dogs thought that something special was happening when I got out of bed around 4:30 a.m., but there wasn't: I was just waking early because I went to bed early.

Poor dogs. They have lain back down to get the sleep that they were interrupted from.
Don't you hate interruptions?

You to me

In comparison to the comparison there is no comparison.

I've had a vasectomy, anyway

I have as much chance of winning the lottery,
as I do of getting pregnant.

I solemnly swear that I am tired, tonight.

Real mother as opposed to a fake mother
I guess is what the tube is muttering
I'm not paying attention I just want to see
that girl in her new dress.

I've worked so hard

I'll be disappointed if I don't get an Oscar, tonight.
I mean, I must just never forgive The Academy.

And the winner is

My dogs don't care about The Oscars,
they care about licking my knees.

Retail

We are reasonable,
when we can be;

walk on water,
we can not.

Today is a

A beautiful day to be alive
A beautiful day to be alive
A beautiful day to be alive
A beautiful day to be alive
A beautiful day to be alive
A beautiful day to be alive
A beautiful day to be alive
A beautiful day to be alive
A beautiful day to be alive
A beautiful day to be alive
A beautiful day to be alive
A beautiful day to be alive
A beautiful day to be alive
A beautiful day to be alive
A beautiful day to be alive
A beautiful day to be alive
A beautiful day to be alive
A beautiful day to be alive
A beautiful day to be alive
A beautiful day to be alive
A beautiful day to be alive
A beautiful day to be alive
A beautiful day to be alive
A beautiful day to be alive
A beautiful day to be alive
A beautiful day to be alive
A beautiful day to be alive
A beautiful day to be alive
A beautiful day to be alive
A beautiful day to be alive
A beautiful day to be alive

Are you going to make love today?

There are no poems in me this morning.
That must mean that this is an afternoon,
or evening, kind of make poems day.

Are you going to make poems, today?
Are you going to make love, today?

Back to the world of the living

I awoke, this morning, feeling as if someone had kicked me in the head. Some mornings are like that; I don't wake refreshed, ready to go. I wake as if I had just risen from a slab at the morgue.

The feeling doesn't last long, though. A cup of coffee, a shower, bring me back to the world of the living.

Happy to be alive

I like people to say nice things about me, and I like to say nice things
about others, but there are situations, as we all know, in life, where this does not occur.

This guy came into the cafe, tonight, when we were real busy. He was a young guy,
too young to have the chip on his shoulder that he had, because he didn't feel like we had gotten him his double espresso fast enough.

I just pushed the button, I said to him with a smile, indicating that his drink
was on the way. "I've already asked for my money back," he said, with a dour puss on his face. You'd think that the poor bastard was homeless, and that no one was feeding
him, or that he had aids, and nobody was hooking him up with the cure. I mean he looked like he had just had the shit knocked out of him, that is how awful he was looking because he had to wait his turn in line to get his drink.

If he had smiled just a little bit, if he hadn't been such an absolute poor attitude prick, I would have given him the shots for free, and said, "Sorry we took so long."

But, I wasn't going to reward his frown. I wasn't going to give him something for free because he was an asshole.

I drank the shots myself, and went on to the next customer, who was happy to be alive.

It sucks to live in the ghetto

I try to ingest organic things,
whenever possible, but, this morning,
I am consuming some angry milk in my hot tea.

It sucks to live in the ghetto,
and have to eat fast food.

Random fornication

You never know where the next one
will come from.

For either of us

I've come to like you,
and I'm not sure that
that is a good thing;

for either of us.

I'm no good for anything at all

Your mom is like my dad was.
He is not that way, anymore,
because he is dead,

but, some days, the essence
of him lingers, and I am reminded
that, I am no good for anything at all.

WB Solution

If you sit down to write,
and you draw a big fat zero,
don't freak out; just head
to the kitchen and fix you
a nice Italian soy sausage.



Turtle Sense

I am going to change out the turtles' water tomorrow, not today, because, today, I have to work, and, tomorrow, I am off. Does that makes sense to you?

What is an "acceptable" level of mercury?

Pesticides within the pleasure centers
caused her to moan like an animal;

like the crack that the hooker smokes,
the food we eat is killing us.

Hip

She has thighs
that would keep me alive.

How to keep the magic

It would ruin it
to meet me;

best to always
maintain the illusion.

I'm like a magic trick;
once you figure it out,
the magic is gone.

Into the distance

I felt like I was
bothering you.

I don't want to bother you.

I'm going to go sit over here.

Rape me

She said that she hoped that
she wasn't being too aggressive,

and I said, "Baby, rape me."


I'm drinking decaf, this morning

The ones that step up to the coffee counter looking like they are on methamphetamine are usually the worst; impatient, short tempered, demanding. I don't know if it is the coffee, or if they really do snort speed, and then wander out into public, but they really need to order an herbal tea, and not a large coffee with a couple of shots of espresso added.

Coffee can be a mean drug. It can make you yell at your children, scream at your wife or girlfriend, ream your best friend a new asshole, when he doesn't need to be reamed one.

I know.
I'm drinking decaf, this morning.

I didn't notice the small note

I didn't notice the small note taped to the cabinet, over the sink, in the kitchen, last night, when I got home from work, exhausted.

All I noticed was that Scout had cooked pancakes, and had left the whole mess in the sink; dirty dish, frying pan, fork caked in batter, measuring cup, and a coffee cup.

I love Scout, and, mostly, I don't mind cleaning up, some, after her, but, recently, I had asked her not to leave me dirty dishes about the apartment, on the nights that I worked; that it was not fun to come home from the job, and find dirty dishes scattered about the abode.

I was making coffee, this morning, when I noticed the note.

It said, "Mikel, (with the K backwards,like so many people think it is, and not the E backwards, like it is) sorry I couldn't wash the dishes before Papa got here. Sorry!
--Scout

After reading the note, I put the dishes in the dishwasher with a huge smile on my face. Scout had come through, again. Papa, her bio Dad, and I, were lucky to have such a great daughter.

Now, if I could only figure out why she didn't lock the door, when she left yesterday!!

I must now go feed him

My cat, Kobain, waits diligently by the edge of the kitchen, every morning, no matter what time I get up. He likes the small amount of wet cat food that I spoon him out in the a.m. At night, Kobain hops on my chest, and pushes his head into my hand, demanding that he get a rub down, with some scratching mixed in. When Kobain came to me, he was totally standoffish. He had been dropped on the front step of my vet's house, like so many other animals who were no longer wanted, and he had lived in a cage at the vet's office until my daughter and I came along. There were two cats in cages, that day, at the vet's office, and I was leaning towards the other one, but my daughter was emphatic that the large grey long haired one was the one to replace my Madonna who had been run over by a car, about a year earlier.

My daughter was right.
I love my daughter,
and I love Kobain.

I must now go feed him.

My bad dog is now a good dog

Aw, don't call my good dog a bad dog.
He used to pee on the floor,
tear things up, and get into the trash,
but he doesn't do those things any more.

He sits when I tell him to,
and he stays when I tell him to,
and he comes when I tell him to,
and he goes home when I tell him to,

and, most amazingly,
he no longer drags me by the leash
when we go for walks; that took me some work,
though, trust me!

All I have to offer you is this poem

I can't buy you a car.
I won't put a ring on your finger.
I won't let them kill baby seals,
so that you can wear them to the opera.

Steaks are out of the question.
Sushi might not be possible.
Pizza might have to be from the store,
and not delivered; it can only have vegetables on it.

I have to be home in the morning to let my dogs out,
and feed them.
One of my cats will want to sleep with us at my place.

I believe in God, but not organized religion.
I don't think of myself as a Democrat,
and I am certainly not a Republican.
I like to have my clothes dry cleaned,
but I can't afford it, and that does not particularly bother me.

Free time is worth more to me than money.
All I have to offer you is this poem.

People are funny

People are funny; this guy who was about seven feet tall came into the cafe, last night, with a girl who had a Long Island accent.

"You sound like Barbara Streisand," I said.

She laughed, and the tall guy looked like I had pulled my penis out and laid it onto the counter for his gal to gander at and touch. I mean, he was so pissed off, that he was unable to answer simple questions like, "How are you doing tonight? and "What kind of a drink will you have?"

I wonder how his jealousy affects the girl from Long Island, when the two of them are alone. If it is this bad in public, it must be near Satanic in private.

Pray for the bloke, won't you?
I'm glad that I am perfect.

My feelings go out to those who are

My knee has been hurt,
so I have not been able
to take the dogs out for their walks.

They are stir crazy, I am sure.

What if I was permanently disabled?

I do not want to be guilty of this

I watched the great poet,
who has sold many books,

(the ones I have read,
I have enjoyed,)

I watched him read
one of his poems,
and he was unfamiliar
with his own poem,

mispronouncing simple words,
unable to pull his nose
out of the book.

I certainly do not want
to be guilty of this.

Outside the poem

It'll ruin me,
to open my mouth,

I must let the written word
speak for me.

For a minute at a time

I could fall in love with one girl forever,
but I might never meet that girl, and I'll
have to be content spending the rest of my life
falling in love with women for a minute at a time.

They probably know what they are talking about

There are people in much greater places
of pain than me, though I have, in the
past, been in places of great pain.

They say that having suffered the pain,
makes you appreciate happiness even more.

I think that they are correct.

It is not up to us to seek vengeance

I'd rather be just getting barely by,
and doing what I want to do, than to
be rich doing something I hate, or
doing something that I am doing just
to have the wealth; you can't take the
money with you, but the misery might
accompany you to heaven, or hell.

Days off

The good thing about working,
besides the paycheck, is that
you really appreciate days off.

Don't break on through too far

Open the doors of perception,
but don't open them so wide
that you can't shut them down.

Write it down

Scribble things across your brain
that you won't remember.

If the thought is essential,
you have to write it down.

Darwin?

I would rather be successful
than be a bum on the street,
ravaging trash cans for lunch,
and dinner, sleeping in late,
hung-over on the Listerine.

Some bums are outliving some millionaires,
though, because the millionaires are
slashing their wrists, and swallowing pills,
because their millions have diminished.

Another day

It is too cold to hold a book,
in my hands, on the porch, today.
I am still tired at 3 p.m.

Somebody made a million dollars, today.
Somebody shot themselves in the head,
because their wife slept with his best friend.

But escape is often temporary

While greedy capitalist pigs tried to screw you further down,
I watched two cardinals play on the tree in front of me.

Don't call 911

The door knob, to our inner front door, was just moving, like someone was opening the door, and it was a bit unnerving, because there should be no one messing with that door, at this time of night. I got up and went to the door, and pulled it open fast, like to scare the stranger who was trying to perpetrate on my scene, and I found my cat, Kobain, wagging his tail, glad that I had let him out from inside the two doors that he had somehow become trapped between.

I'm looking for a moment of clarity

I'm not sure if I should write some poems
or fry some tofu in olive oil, and wipe organic peanut butter on them.

Did you pick up my hitchhiking dog?

Someone put Mardi Gras beads around the neck of my dog, Morisson. Either that, or he snuck off on me, and went to New Orleans for a bit.

What you are reading here

I should do push ups when I wake up,
and then sit ups, but I don't,
I drag my groggy ass to the bathroom,
take a piss, and then splash some cold water
on my face.

Then, I head to the kitchen feed the cats,
start the coffee,

then, I let the dogs out, and feed them,
then, I sit down and write what you are reading here.

In the right places

I got the dogs out for a decent walk, tonight, for the first time in three four or five days. My knee has been acting funny, like it wants to give out, like the minor pain that it has been stabbing me with, on occasion, wants to really terrorize my knee, and completely disable me; so I have been taking it easy, and that means that the dogs have been getting screwed out of their walks.

I've lost the whole point of this, trying to make sure that the commas, and the semi-colons are being put in the right places.

Past Due

Past Due are such evil words;
they mean that your phone might get cut off, soon,

or that you will have to read books by candlelight,
in your unheated apartment in the cold, cold winter.

Dismality

You can usually recover
from dismal occurrences.

Sometimes, it takes awhile.
Sometimes, it takes the participation
of the person who helped to make the occasion dismal.

You can never fully blame the other person
for making the situation dismal. The dismality must be shared.

Spell check is telling me that dismality is not a word.
That makes me feel dismal.

As the day gets later

It's a nice little shift
that I've picked up; eight to midnight.

There will be a lot of things to clean,
counters to wipe down, floors to sweep,
and mop.

At this time of night, I probably won't have
a lot of customers; people back off of coffee,
as the day gets later.

The turtles don't mind

The turtles' tank needs cleaning,
but I just got called into work,

they'll have to swim in dirty water,
for another night, but they won't mind
because they know that the bills will be paid.

Sunny to Blue (For August Miller)

My head took a turn for the worse,
for no real reason; the chemicals
within started acting funny, or different
than they had been, and a world that was
sunny, suddenly seemed blue, though nothing
had changed.

This sometimes happens to me,
does it happen to you?



Following through on that thought

The thought crossed my mind that I would like to have pancakes, this morning, (1:09 p.m. is morning for me...) and I think that I am going to follow through on that that thought.

Good Dog

Bundy is growling a lot this morning, protecting the abode, barking some, when he feels that it is necessary. I don't feel that it is necessary for him to bark at our neighbors, so I holler over at him to, "shut up." He whimpers a bit, but does as I direct.

Good dog.

Funny

When I was in college pursuing an English degree with a Journalism minor, one of my teachers remarked that the best time to write was at 5 a.m. She said that the brain is clearer, and the world is quietest at this time of day.

I thought she was crazy. At that time, I wasn't going to bed much before 5 a.m., and I, certainly, was not going to get up on a few hours sleep and write some poems, or work on a novel.

Sitting here at 9:59 a.m, I realize that yesterday, when I awoke at 4;30 a.m., and spent a few hours writing, that the flow of words was easier, and more intense than it is right now, so maybe there is something to be said for what that teacher said.

Funny how that goes.

All I have to say

I am always proud when I can say that nothing died for me to eat today.
I understand the theory that, "God put animals here for us to eat," but God did not put the Corporations here that are cruel to animals in the process of cruelly raising them, and painfully killing them. The way that animals are raised, and then exterminated, to be our food, in this country is evil.

That is all that I have to say about this, this morning.

A wish

Many of the groceries that I consume, here in the abode, are non-essential, I realized this morning, but I am very blessed to have them: the lemons that I squeeze into my filtered water, the soy coffee creamer that I put in my coffee(the coffee itself...heavens no, THAT is an essential!) and the chocolate bars that I often have stashed for me, and my daughter to snack on, to name a few.

I have not thought that life is bad, have not complained to myself, in my head, that life sucks in a very long time, and this is VERY good. I am blessed in so many ways, and it is good to realize that. I think that Yoga and Meditation have taken me to a place that medication could not.

I wish that everyone in the world was happy.

Can ya feel me?

If the combat mission is over, how come fifty thousand troops are staying? I know that it is a stupid question, and that someone has a smart answer, but sometimes I wish there was a stupid answer to stupid questions, and not always such a fancy reply.

Can ya feel me, brotha?

Can you hide a gun in your hair?

The guy who wanted to be The Chief still can't shut up. Let's hope that when he runs for re-election that nobody answers the phone. Can you hide a gun in your hair, when they come to take your picture?

You might never go back

The host of the t.v. show introduced her as, "A very lovely lady. "She was ugly as hell. Why haven't t.v. cameras been showing what's been going on in the War In Iraq?

Once you start telling the truth, you might never go back.

Premature Baby

He was a premature baby; didn't start to eat whole meals until later. He grew up to beat up The Football Team. He was quite a stud, but he couldn't find a wife, so he bought A Strip Joint, and fired all the girls.

Hey let's have twins

She had six kids already, and then had eight more. Her next boyfriend longed for the headlines, he said, "Hey, let's have twins."

Un-adoptable

The kid was un-adoptable,
so they shipped him out
to war,

he killed a bunch of strangers,
then he came home and killed himself.


There are right decisions, and there are ways to make decisions right.

The Fighting Soldier

Come on, I'm grabbing my gun;
I'm getting out of Iraq alive.

Oh no, my papers don't say, "Go home,"
they say, "Go to Afghanistan, and then,
Pakistan."

We're taking over. We're going to make the whole world free;
everybody except me, the fighting soldier.



Funny how your pets and you develop much the same lifestyle

I woke up ready to go to the park, again, today because it was so much fun, yesterday; a warm sunny day, not a cloud in the sky. But, alas, today there is rain out there, and an overcast day keeping me and the dogs from visiting the ducks, and the geese, in the park.

We will find other things to do. The dogs will beg for treats, and sleep, and I will eat, and sleep; funny how your pets and you develop much the same lifestyle.

A day at the park with the dogs the ducks the geese and all the beautiful people

"Go home, Bundy, go home," I say to the dog, trying to get him to chill out, so that I can look at the ducks on the pond in front of me that are being fed by children standing on a deck above the pretty pond that sits in front of me.

Bundy doesn't listen to me; instead he freaks out about some dogs that are walking by, on leashes, with their owners. This is as two large, loudly squawking geese land, somewhat ungracefully, on the pond. I don't quite get the full benefit, the wonderful calming effect that viewing the pond, and its inhabitants can bring, because of my dog's manic behavior. I put his muzzle on him, and much of that changes.

My other dog, Morrison, is sitting quietly at my feet, listening to the geese, and watching the ducks. Oh well, at least one of us gets to fully enjoy the pond, today, and all that is occurring on it.

The park is alive, today: couples stroll hand in hand along the park's paths, sharing the road with bike riders, people walking their dogs, and joggers. Geese, ducks, old folks, young folks, gay, straight, black, white, Asian, and Mexican people are all enjoying the beauty of the day, together.

A middle aged couple approaches me, and the man says, "Don't you miss Minnesota?!" referring to the 55 degree weather that we are enjoying, here in Atlanta, today.

"It's Connecticut I don't miss," I say to him, with a smile. "They can have all that snow shoveling and driving to work and school in it," I say.

"It's nice to visit," adds the man, "but that's about it."

The couple strolls off, hand in hand, obviously happy to be alive.

I look at the pond, in front of me, and I wonder what it would be like to be a duck.

Cluck. Cluck.

What if God was in these geese in front of me; what if God was in these ducks that lay and play on this pond.



Poverty is helping me lose weight

I couldn't buy so many things
at the grocery store that I wanted
to buy/and you know the reason why.

Poverty is helping me lose weight.

At least for me anyway

The more time that you have to sit on your porch, and listen to the sounds of the day, read and write, and not be stuck in traffic, or tied to a desk in someone else's office, the freer
you are.

I think I'm going to take a nap

I never save the best bite for last.
I don't regret even the worst aspects of my past.

I usually lick the plate clean,
my dad used to slap me, if I didn't.

I love my children, and my children love me.
I think I'm going to take a nap.

I love you, but I love me first

Love is often not an easy thing to accomplish,
or to maintain, because I we me you all of us
are self-centered; we care only about our own
pleasures, and not the happiness of our love.

I'm not an expert on any of this, trust me,
but I have been reading this book called, "True Love,"
by Thich Nhat Hahn, that has been transformational.

Has anybody seen my comb?

Hair comes and goes (for those of us who still have it.)
So, it is not necessary to fret the length of one's hair.

This is not the way to live

It is easy to bitch about things,
like when a free coupon only allows you
to choose a small drink;

instead of being happy for what
you have been given, you are angry
about what you have not gotten (a large drink.)

This is not the way to live.

My sleeping mind is twisted

I don't recall any dreams from my sleep,
last night, which is, maybe, a good thing,
because most of my dreams are weird;

I find myself in ludicrous situations,
showing me that my sleeping mind is twisted.

Wouldn't that be a joyous thing

Rain is audible outside my windows,
again this morning. They tell me
that it is going to snow, tomorrow.

Such is the weather, in winter,
where I live.

The dogs went out in it, both of them,
this morning, to do what they had to do.
Last night, only one of them, Bundy,
braved the water to piss under a tree.

Morisson stayed back, deciding to wait
for later.

I am struck by my lack of anger, these days.
It's only taken half a century, and a year,
to come about,

but I might live another half a century happy.
Wouldn't that be a joyous thing.

You don't own your offspring

What you have chosen, is not what I have chosen,
but that does not matter, in the overall scheme of things,
because we are all on separate paths, my sons.

Ha ha

I'm not a jealous man(ha ha.)
I'm not a jealous man(ha ha.)
I'm not a greedy man(ha ha.)
I'm not a lustful man(ha ha.)

I am a darn near perfect man(ha ha.)

Shit, that's kinda weird

Mushrooms that make some people happy,
because they can hallucinate, and forget
about life for awhile, rise through cow shit
in the fields.

I'm not sure what more to say about that.

Not ready to quit

An angel came to me, and said, "If you stop drinking,
we will let you into heaven." I finished the bottle
that I was drinking, and threw it at the angel.

Forgiveness

The killer cried for forgiveness,
and a man came and killed him.

I wish, oh I wish

This kid wished that he could only eat ice cream,
and he was granted that wish, and his teeth soon
fell out; and girls would no longer smile at him,
so he cried.

You don't own your offspring IS THE LAST ONE