Included In The Rent
By Mikel K

JANUARY 2009 K POEMS



Your poems are so simple, they come with a message and deliver it right away without any frills.
Simplicity is beauty after all.
Thanks,
Moana

You have a very interesting way of looking at life
--Pamela



"There are pacifists who can write protest letters of great condemnation, but who are incapable of writing a love letter."

--Thich Nhat Hanh
in his book "True Love"


PEACE , PAX , PACE , PAIX , PAZ , שלום , سلام , FRIEDEN , PAU , мира , VREDE , ειρηνη , MIR , KLID , FRED , VREDE , KAPAYAPAAN , RAUHA , KEDAMAIAN , MIERS , TAIKA , FRED , POKOJ , CBIT , HOA BINH



Included in the rent

The dishwasher is humming, this morning,
and the clothes drier is tumbling about
drying clothes.

I am 51, and this is the first place,
where I have ever lived that had these
two appliances included in the rent.

When you are gone from your dogs making coffee

Morisson wants to lick me, this morning,
but I am not letting him;

both dogs licked me profusely, last night.

I let them, because I had been gone for ten hours,
making lattes, and cappuccinos, and mochas for the people.

A good policy

At one point in the day,
we got very busy, and when
we were done, my co-worker
told me that I need to work
clean, and I looked over at
her cleaning up the mess
that she had made, and I bit
my tongue, which is a good
policy.

I'm waiting for the coffee to brew

I was scheduled to work from 11am to 5pm,
but the bookstore was crazy busy,
and they asked me to work until 7;

then I heard myself saying that I would gladly
work until close, which meant that I would work
until around midnight.

My back, the back that I fell, on couple of days ago,
immediately started registering protest to what
my mouth had just said.

A couple of aspirins from one of the managers,
silence my back, mostly.

At 7:15 p.m., my boss said that he was going to
let me go home at 8 p.m.

The feeling was as if I had been let go early,
instead of that I had worked late.

My back was happy, and so was I.

Dogs who love me and miss me

The dogs are extra affectionate
when I come home from being gone
for hours at work.

The stick their noses on my legs,
and on my arm trying to pry my hand
away from the keyboards.

I am going to get off of here,
and take them for a long walk.

They will like that.

A blessing
It is cold outside, tonight,
but I know how to bundle up,
and have the clothes to bundle up in,
which is a blessing.

I must be doing something right

I was tired, today, after standing on my feet, all day,
and making coffee drinks.

The day went well. Many of you drank lattes that I prepared,
and none of you complained.

I must be doing something right.

But maybe it will
The leak in the bathtub has gotten worse,
but I have gotten the number of a plumber.

Maybe, since I know him, the charge will not be
exorbitant, as we expect the charge of plumbers to be,

but maybe it will.

I fell this morning, on this step that leads into my kitchen, and for a moment I thought that I was really hurt. I knocked over the trashcan and lay on the ground, in coffee grinds, still half asleep, trying to evaluate the pain that I was feeling in my back. I got up and headed to the bathroom, which is where I was headed, in the first place. I sat on the toilet for an extra long time, waking up, and letting the pain subside. When I finally woke up, I realized that I was o.k. It is funny what can happen to you, when you are just doing something normal like heading to the bathroom for your morning piss.

What a weird way to start The New Year

At the stroke of midnight, my dog, Morisson, jumped into the bed with me.
The fireworks had him shaking near violently. What a weird way to start The New Year!!

Daisy

Daisy is a flower
Daisy has power
Daisy is a lady,
men want to make her their baby.


The cheese, and egg, and oatmeal report

I was hungry, but I didn't want to stop
and cook, just yet, so I ate two slices
of cheese. This satisfied me for a little bit,
but now I am going to cook some eggs.

Usually, these days, I cook oatmeal,
but I had oatmeal, late last night,
and don't much seem to be in the mood
for it.

That is the cheese, and egg, and oatmeal report
for this morning.


Has anyone seen my wallet?

Looking for love
is like trying to find
your wallet,
when you have lost it
on a crowded city street.

He said that he couldn't fix it

He said that he couldn't fix it,
but the bathtub is not leaking,
this morning, and I did not
have to pay anyone ninety dollars.

Probably, it will start leaking, later;
then I will call the landlord,
and he will have to pay ninety dollars.

When I started this poem

I don't know what to write about, this morning,
it all seems so mundane, so ordinary.

It seems that I should have something exciting
to write about, like Dolly Parton's tits,

but I don't.

I have the cup of coffee in front of me,
the day ahead of me, the dogs who will walk
mostly behind me, the children who love me,
to write about,

and, now that I have written this down,
what I have to write about seems much more exciting
than I had thought it was, when I started this poem.

Intrusiveness

Ads on the internet are intrusive;
I would never buy anything that popped up
and ruined my ability to watch what I was watching.

Steeping

The tea is ready, but I am groggy
and have not gotten up from my desk
to pick it up.

Steeping, it is called, when this happens.

Leaky tub

I called a plumber, a man I knew, and asked him
how much it would cost to come out and change a washer
in my bathtub;

he told me that it would cost me ninety dollars.

The tub will have to leak for a bit more.

Who frequents the grocery store less?

As I stood outside the grocery store, this afternoon,
and waited for my friend to finish shopping,
I noticed that there were quite a few pregnant women,
and many people with children.

No one is to blame

Bombs are killing innocent people,
and neither side is responsible for it;

it is the fault of the other side,
each side says.

Never again

John Travolta is weird
like Tom Cruise is weird,

perhaps we should stay away
from their movies.

I know that I will never go to
another Tom Cruise movie.

Unlock

Unlock that which is holding you back
have no secrets when it rains get wet and smile.

You can't let other things get in the way of what you are supposed to do

Now that the poems are written

Now that the poems are written,
I can wash the dishes.

Now that the poems are written,
I can clean my desk.

Now that the poems are written,
I can vacuum the floor.

Now that the poems are written,
I can make the bed.

Now that the poems are written,
I can wash some clothes.

Now that the poems are written,
I can check my email.

Now that the poems are written,
I can lick this stamp
and stick this bill in the mail.

My moon

She refused to share her moon,
and I was perplexed because
I had always thought of her moon
as my moon,

and I didn't want to share.

But, sometimes, in life, you come up against
these walls, and it just better to compromise,
or even, sometimes, to give in.

I learned this from having children.

I will not settle for second best

I will not settle for second best

It is her attitude that most matters,
at this point in time, but she must
be easy on these old eyes of mine,
of course,

and get along with the cats and dogs
and turtles,

especially the turtles.

She can't say yuck, when she sees
the turtles.

They love apples

It's raining outside, and I hope
that the dogs understand
that that is the reason that we
are not going out there for a walk
right now.

I gave them an extra treat,
to make up for the lack of walk,
but I did not want it to be
one of the fattening treats from a box,
because they already had one of those today,

so I cut up an apple for them,
and fed them chunks of it.

My dogs love apple.
I do not know if it is a substitute,
in their eyes for a walk,
but I do know that they love apples.

It's a promise

I don't like to get played for a sucker,
so I can't much stomach most television commercials.

T.V. commercials play you for a sucker,
they assume that you are a brain dead idiot,
and that you will watch their stupid commercial,
and buy their stupid product.

I vow to never buy any product that is featured
in a television commercial.

It's a promise.

She wouldn't get in the way of the poems

I have been kind of lonely, the past few days, which is unlike me.
I need the touch of a woman, but not just a one night touch,
and not the touch of the wrong woman.

I can't let things get in the way of poetry, like I need to make the bed; the sheets are clean from the washer, and fresh from the drier, and I need to put them on the bed, but I must write some poetry first, or I will never write poetry, I will just have a fresh made bed.

Poetry can wait while I feed the dogs and cats, though; and poetry can wait while I put down fresh drinking water for them to drink.

I used to think that I couldn't let a woman get in the way of poetry, but I am not so sure right now. Maybe if she was the right woman.

Maybe if she was the right woman, she wouldn't get in the way of the poems.

Coffee is just about a prerequisite

Coffee is just about a prerequisite
to start my day, in fact, it is a
prerequisite to start my day.

Soon

I haven't felt well
for several days,
more a mental thing,
than a physical thing;

my attitude has
kind of sucked.

Instead of feeling gratitude,
I have felt whiny.

I know how to slip out of this,
and I will, soon.


As I carried the comforter from my bed to the front yard, to shake it out, my cat, Kobain, looked at me, and at the comforter, as if I was stealing something very near, and dear, to him, from him. Kobain sleeps on the comforter, very often.

When I turned on the vacuum cleaner, this afternoon, as I am supposed to do every Sunday, as part of my clean the abode regimen, both my dogs, Morisson and Bundy ran from the machine; Bundy to under my desk where he often hangs out/hides, and Morisson to the other side of the bed, which allowed him to be behind the biggest object in the house to get away from the vacuum cleaner.

Morisson just put his nose between my hand and the keys on my laptop. The dog is getting good at pulling my hand off the computer, in his attempt to move my hand from there to his head for some petting and scratching.

My other cat, Jaggar, just puked on the large white base of my oscillating fan, and good dog Bundy soon came behind him and licked up the puke.

Has anyone heard of an African Dwarf Frog? I am thinking about getting three of the little fellows to replace my recently dearly deceased Sydnee Vee.



I wonder where the day went

I wonder where the day went
it's gotten late
and I can't think of anything
that I have done significant.


The Poems Don't Get Written

In the morning,
it is essential
that I don't get
sidetracked,

sidetracked
by anything;

making the bed,
washing the dishes,
sorting through 30 years
of notebooks filled with
poems,
sorting through three years
of my television show,
"Your 15 Minutes "R" Up,"

because, if I do,
get sidetracked,

the poems don't get written.

From Czechlosavakia to Italy

From Czechlosavakia to Italy,
they ask me why I sent them
a poem;

am I trying to get laid
in foreign countries?

I hope not.
I am just trying to spread
the word.

Today is clean the abode day

Today is clean the abode day;
I just woke up, and I don't
feel like cleaning.

I don't feel like doing much,
but sip on coffee and scribble
poems.

It tastes marvelous

I never drink flavored coffees,
they are yucky,
but my kid and his wife gave me
some French Vanilla coffee
for Christmas,

I just brewed a pot,
and you know what,

It tastes marvelous.

Something Good

I pet the dogs
and then my hands
are stinky,

but I know
that I have done
something good.

Food is expensive so I'm going to stop eating

If I Could Sing

If I could sing,
I would sing a song
that said everything,

about the way
I feel about you.

If I could sing,
I would sing a song of Revolution,
so that everything could be better
for everybody.

If I could sing,
it would make me happy,
and my happiness would be infectious.

If I could sing,
if I could sing,
women wouldn't need diamond rings
to make them sure that men love them,

If I would sing,
I would begin again,
start over, not make the mistakes
that I made before,

If I could sing,
If I could sing,
I would have no regrets
about anything.

If I could sing,
if I could sing.

For you

For you,
I have to run.
For you,
I have to hide,
from what I feel
inside,

for you.

For you.
For you.
For you,

for you,
I would do anything.
For you
I would go anywhere.

With you,
I haven't a care.

(Put these words to
the music of The Doors song,
"Break On Through," and you
will see what I would be singing,
if I could sing.)

Fyi

The dogs and I stopped to have a coffee.

I spilled some coffee on the pavement
to share the nectar with the dogs for the first time.

I called my daughter, and we both laughed, wondering
what the dogs would do on caffeine.

About ten minutes later, one of the guys
who worked at the coffee shop came out
carrying a trash bag. I heard him say
to Bundy, "Are you going to let me through?"

I looked up just in time to see Bundy lock his teeth
on the gentleman's pants.

There is really nothing more fucking awkward
in the world than having your dog bite someone,
be it just his pants or not. I mean what do you
say?

"Are you o.k.?
Are you sure that you're o.k.?
I'm sorry.
I'm really sorry.
I'm really, really sorry.
Are you sure that you're o.k.?

What do I do with the fucking dog now?
This is the second time, in the exact same type
of situation, that he has bit someone. The last
time, he drew blood.

I looked up muzzle on the internet.
That doesn't seem to be the answer.

I think that the dog felt closed in
each time. I realize that I have to
keep him very close to me, when there
are other people around.

I don't have to put him down, do I?

Fyi Bundy didn't drink any of the coffee,
so we can't blame it on that. Morisson loved
the coffee, he lapped it all up, and, go figure,
he is asleep right now.

I better treat them right

The dogs look at me like I'm weird, when I do my Mick Jaggar
imitations, in the kitchen, while lip synching to a Stones
greatest hits c.d., and fixing their lunch. The cats don't care,
they stare at me in hopes that I will settle down, and scatter
some cat treats across the kitchen floor, as I am wont to do,
on occasion.

I kid myself and say that this is a good form of aerobic
exercise, but most Stones Songs are like what; three minutes
long? I can't sing. I can't dance.

I want to be a rock star, but right now I will settle for a walk
in the park with the dogs. They are my audience, they are my
biggest fans, and I better treat them right.

Power to the people

I raise my fist in the air, and say, "power to the people."
The dogs look at my hand, expecting their to be a snack in
it, and, when they see that there is not, they lose interest.

Sometimes, it is hard to see the greater meaning in things.
Sometimes, one thing can mean several things at once.

I'm a huge talent; just ask me.

Preimplanatation genetic diagnosis

I would have been eliminated,
flushed down the toilet.

Everybody is anxious until they get fed

The dogs are quiet, this morning, now that they have visited
the great beyond, and munched on a bowl of dog food. The cats
have disappeared, also, after having licked their bowls of
wet food clean.

Everybody is anxious until they get fed, then they quiet down
and go back to sleep, which is my cue to scribble a poem or two,
and then head back to the pillows myself.

Say om, baby, om

I prayed prayers of thanks the minute that I woke up, this morning.
The prayers came easy; I have a lot to be thankful for. I'm
not sure who or what I am thanking, but it feels good to thank
someone, or something.

I drank decaf, this morning. I don't think that full strength coffee,
in the long run, is good for me. I am doing all these things to lead
a mellow existence, and then I throw a couple of cups, a day, of full
strength coffee on top of that; it doesn't make any sense.

Say om, baby, om.

Maybe I'm getting old

When I come home from work
I am tired, very tired. I
don't remember being this
tired, in the old days.

Maybe I'm getting old.

It's best not to have a theory

My theory is that it is best to not have
a theory, or if you have a theory, it is,
often, best to keep it to yourself, because
nobody really wants to hear your theory,
because they have a theory of their own.

I did not always feel this way.

When I was younger, I would endlessly blab
about what I thought and felt, and I was
so self-centered that I didn't realize that
nobody was listening to me, but me.

I would have told you that my theory
came from my heart and soul, and was,
therefore, valid, but, hey pal,
everybody's got a heart and soul,
and if you don't have the rent in
on the fifth, you get a late fee, and if you
don't pay the rent at all, because you are
pissed off about the late fee, then you are
going to find all your stuff(and yourself)
soon on the sidewalk.

This I know for sure.

What I can't figure out is why four guys
would shoot one guy in the head, several times,
after he already gave them all the money in the
building...

I like things fast

I like things fast;
fast women,
fast cars.

I'm kidding.

I was thinking about
the internet,

how I love it when it sizzles,
and I don't have to wait at all
to get to where I want to be
in cyberspace.

In the real world I am trying to
slow it down,
take it easy.

The real world doesn't always
want to cooperate, but I find
that you can often outwit it,
if you really try.

Guard Dog

Sometimes, the mailman brings
something nice, like a card,
or a letter; a check,

and, other times, the mailman
brings bills and junk mail.

Either way, my dog, Bundy,
doesn't care; he gets by
the front door, and growls
at the mailman, viciously,

like he is a serial killer
intent on killing me.

Can you imagine?

Sometimes,
I want to pet one dog,
but I have two dogs,

and they both expect
to be petted.

Can you imagine having
twelve children?

No today or tomorrow

I want to show you
how great I was in the past,
because I have no today or
tomorrow.




I'm looking for a place of peace and love, this morning

I'm looking for a place of peace and love, this morning,
but I can't find it. I try to focus on my kids, my dogs,
the things that give me great happiness, and love, in this world.

But, I keep thinking of how John Henderson gave those four men
all the money that The Standard made, that night, and they still
shot him in the head, and killed him.

Why?

They say that love is all you need

They say that love is all you need.

Well, I know of a guy, who a lot of people loved,
who got two bullets in the head, the other night,
AFTER handing over all the money that the restaurant
that he worked in had made all night to FOUR men,

who had thrown a large brick through the restaurant front door,
climbed through the shattered glass and killed a man,
for no reason.

I'd love to watch them hanging from some thick rope.

A quiet moment of psychotic anger over coffee in the morning

When I got to Atlanta, almost thirty years ago,
strangers on the street would say, "Yo, white boy, white boy."

I joined a gym, ate some protein, and now they say,
"Yo big man. Big man."

Big man gets more respect on the skreets,
than the skinny little white boy did.

When I was a kid, a bully picked on me.
He was such a big bully that, when he was a senior in High School,
they named him captain of the football team.

I ran long distance, and played tennis.

That should tell you something about
the difference in physiques between me
and the bully.

Big man would like to go back in time
and beat the captain of the football
team's ass.

Where do all the great pacifists wind up?

Should we arm ourselves,
so that when they kick in our doors
we will not be defenseless?

It seems that there must be a better system,
than to let them break in on us, take our money,
and then shoot us in the head,
once they have the cash in hand?

I'd like to be a pacifist,
but where have all the great pacifists wound up?


For a thousand bucks, if that, one of us is killed

Four men killed one man, last night,
at a restaurant, here in Atlanta,
after the dead man had given them
the money that they sought.

They shot him in the head and legs.
These four fuckers should burn in hell,
a hell on earth; a prison cell is not
good enough for these bastards.

I was in that restaurant briefly,
New Year's Eve, to use the bathroom.
I know one of the owners;
he used to manage a bar that we all
drank at in another part of town.
This is not just some vague thing
that happened somewhere in another city
to someone else. This is something that
happened in our town, our turf, at one of
our stomping grounds.

I can't imagine losing your life
in such a scenario, counting the money
at the end of a night of serving
drinks and foods; doing your job,
paying your rent with your time and labor.

I am very saddened, and greatly pissed off,
about this incident. It makes me not want
to be an innocent participant in some of
life's events, especially ones of this nature.

I wish that the dead man had had a gun,
and that the four cowards had been killed,
and not him.

That would have been justice, to me.

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/atlanta/stories/2009/01/07/standard_bar_shooting.html?cxntlid=homepage_tab_newstab

Do you remember when

When Scout got home, today, Bundy was on my bed,
where he is definitely not supposed to be, and
he was so happy/surprised to see Scout come in
the door that he pissed on my bed.

Scout had the sheet washing by the time I got home,
and I made it clear to Mr. Bundy that such was NOT
acceptable behavior.

In order to keep the dogs from sneaking into my bathroom,
and feasting on the cat turds that they find in the kitty
litter box, I have started shutting the door to the bathroom,
when I am asleep, and when I am gone.

Do you remember back on ole U.S.A. when a man could trust a dog?
Geez, what has the world come to anyway?

My body feels better when I do Yoga

I put in about a half hour on the Yoga mat,
last night after work.

I was tired from standing on my feet all day,
when I started, but when I finished doing my asanas
I had developed a new vibrancy in every muscle.

My body feels better when I do Yoga.

To be happy

Many of the people who I work with
take the bus to work; others drive
old cars, but they mostly have
a smile on their face, which maybe
should tell you that it is not necessary
to drive a limousine to work to be happy.

The turtles are my pals

This morning, I will clean out the turtles' tank.
My turtles will not express thanks; they will squirm
like they are in harms' way to get out of my hands,
and back in their tank, to get away from me,
when I am putting them back into their clean water.

Though they don't communicate with me at all,
I still enjoy their company.

Just what does that dog want?

Morission starts my day by
thoroughly licking my arm
and leg,

is it salt that he is after
or love?

"You think you're going to take her away, with your money and your cocaine,"
Tom Petty is screaming from my jam box,
"She's going to listen to her heart. It'll tell her what to do..."

I react to it, with this:

Somewhere there's a girl

Somewhere there's a girl
somewhere there's a girl
somewhere there's a girl
who's pure.

I don't mean like a virgin.
I don't mean like she don't cheat
at cards.
I don't mean that she is not
like anything that any of us
have ever seen.

I'm not really sure what I mean,
but I know that she's out there.

There's a girl.
There's a girl.
There's a girl,
out there

who is pure.

Somewhere
somewhere
somewhere
there's a girl,
who's pure.

--Mikel K

(It's fun to play Rock Star
when I get home from work.)

Somewhere there's a girl

Somewhere there's a girl
somewhere there's a girl
somewhere there's a girl
who's pure.

I don't mean like a virgin.
I don't mean like she don't cheat
at cards.
I don't mean that she is not
like anything that any of us
have ever seen.

I'm not really sure what I mean,
but I know that she's out there.

There's a girl.
There's a girl.
There's a girl,
out there

who is pure.

Somewhere
somewhere
somewhere
there's a girl,
who's pure.

A tired guy who runs errands

It seems like a stupid thing to say, but
if I don't write the poems, the poems don't get written.

Like, if I say, tonight, that I am too tired to write them,
and then tomorrow, I run errands, then I am not a poet,

I am a tired guy, and a guy who runs errands.

He quotes the law

He quotes the law,
and says that
that law must be followed,

until the law doesn't
suit his needs.

The Poems Don't Get Written

In the morning,
it is essential
that I don't get
sidetracked,

sidetracked
by anything;

making the bed,
washing the dishes,
sorting through 30 years
of notebooks filled with
poems,
sorting through three years
of my television show,
"Your 15 Minutes "R" Up,"

because, if I do,
get sidetracked,

the poems don't get written.

From Czechlosavakia to Italy

From Czechlosavakia to Italy,
they ask me why I sent them
a poem;

am I trying to get laid
in foreign countries?

I hope not.
I am just trying to spread
the word.

On TV, they argue about things that will sell soap.

Sometimes, nothing comes to mind
and, I realize that that is the goal
of meditation, so it must be a good
thing to have a mind that is blank.

At the grocery store, there is more
to pick from than grapefruits and fish.
I love winter garb on women; boots and
sweaters turn me on.

Swarm to me like bees. It is cold outside.
Step inside my heart, where it is warm.

Everything that's rock and roll is ok baby

Move
Shake your hips
Make your lips
Move
like those of
your favorite singer.

Play
Rock Star in the kitchen
in the living room.

Fantasize for just a little while
and then get back to the business
of your day.

Better

Swallow words like pills
that make you better,

angry words that should not be spoken.

I'm not joking; it will make you feel
better.

Shoo Bush Shoo. Go away.

You wish that an ignoramus would go away quietly,
but he's not; Bush is all over the Cable News T.V. shows,
sort of apologizing, mainly justifying his stupid,
and evil behavior of the last eight years.

He keeps talking about "history," as if he thinks
that he will go down in the record books as some
sort of great leader.

He is delusional.

He really thinks that the rest of the world did not
think that the USA was full of a bunch of assholes,
while he and Dick Head Cheney ran the show.

Tonight, Bush, and his wife Laura are going to spend
an hour with Larry King. Gag me with a spoon. I used
to have respect for Laura, the teacher; but look at
what she stood by and let her asshole husband do to
the American Schools.

Bush, and family, Cheney, and cohorts greatly profited
from the Bush Cheney reign in Washington, and their attacks
on other nations, and on the rights, and freedoms of Americans.

Everybody else got screwed.
Screwed.

Bush and Cheney should be headed for some serious jail time,
not for cushy couches on tv shows to tell us what great men
they have been, when we all know that they haven't been great
men.

Shoo Bush. Shoo. Go away.

I was told that I could get "man tits," from consuming soy.
Everything that we eat is killing us, someway, it seems, so
maybe we should try not do die from worry.

I did a fifteen minute meditation on the Yoga Studio floor,
after doing asanas, including a five minute shoulder stand.

You don't lose the kind of weight, with Yoga, that you might
lose in a gym with a personal trainer, but I think that the
weight that comes off with Yoga, though it takes more time,
will stay off.

I once lost 13 pounds in two weeks on a diet.
When I quit dieting, the weight came back.

The dogs were dog dead tired after our long walk, this evening,
but after a nap, they seem ready to go again, but I am not.

I am going to bed.
Goodnight.


Get a mop

I need to wash the kitchen floor,
but I don't want to wash the kitchen floor,
get down on my hands and knees and scrub it.

I know, some one of you will say:
"Get a mop!!"

It's become what she does

She'd do anything to get high.
She'd do anything to get by,
without feeling any pain.

When she was young, she discovered
what took the pain away, and since then,
everyday, she's done whatever it takes
to take the pain away.

It's not as easy as it used to be,
and sometimes she's not sure if what
she does even works,

but it's become what she does, everyday.

Child's song

They're polluting my air.
They're polluting my sea.
They're selling me products,
that are bad for me.

It's my morning

It's my morning, take it.
It's my morning, I'm angry;
I can't fake it, when you take my morning away,
I feel violated.

Daddy sold his babies out for The American dream,
straight A's in the new country and you'll make it.
I'm so mad, I can't fake it.
I'm so mad, I can't take it, anymore.

Billionaire doesn't care
if your children breath
polluted air,

stockholders don't care
if the fish that we pull
from polluted waters,
are too filthy to eat.

They still sell them,
it makes me so mad,
it makes me so mad,
that I don't care;

I don't care about their rules and regulations
designed to maintain a status quo
that is good for ten percent of the population

who is ruining the planet for the rest of us,
dammit I'm so mad; I just don't care.

--Mikel K

Special Thanks to Tori Amos for providing the mood


What a useless emotion

The person who is complaining
about another person being jealous
is often a jealous person themselves.

I can say this, because, unfortunately
I still have streaks of jealousy inside myself.

What a useless fucking emotion.

A much better thing to say

If I hear that I write like Charles Bukowski,
one more time, I am going to scream.

Every man, and every woman, who writes decent poetry,
and is alive and breating, today, is compared to Charles Bukowski,
which really isn't a bad thing, in a way,

but it shows that the only poet that many people read
is Charles Bukowski, which isn't a bad thing, really;
I mean, there are far worse poets that people could be reading.

Recently, a woman said, "Don't take this the wrong way,
but reading your writing makes me feel the same way that
reading Charles Bukowski makes me feel."

Now that is a much better thing to say,
than saying that I write like Charles Bukowski,
because I don't write like Charles Bukowski; I write like me.

This is not a slag on Charles Bukowski. Dig?

My days of eating canned tuna are over

I loves me some tuna
mix it with some pasta, mayonnaise, and onions,
but my days of eating canned tuna are over.

I just Googled, "mercury in tuna."

God, why did these assholes have to fuck up
our planet?

Yoga is good Jack Daniels is bad (for me)

I've done enough of both
to know which one will keep me out of jail

Yoga will never put me in the position
of having to ask someone to make my bail.

That's why she touches him

She knows who he is;
that's why she touches him.

I am nobody, so she leaves me

alone.

I would be in it

You can not love a woman for her breasts;
I know, I have tried, and in the long run
it will not work out.

You have to love a woman for her heart and soul,
for her essence, and if she has no essence,
no heart and soul, then you can not love her,
I know, I have tried.

You can not love a woman for her money,
I know, for if her money runs out,
you are in love with a broke woman!

Really, I know nothing about love,
for, if I did, I would be in it,
and not just writing about it.

No grudges at noon

My quiet morning time
is starting later, today;
noon to be exact,
but the whining of the kittens
for their breakfast is the same,
as if I had woken five or six hours earlier,

and the dogs anxiously wait
for it to be their turn to get fed,
and to be let out into the yard
to relieve themselves,
as if I had woken up when I was supposed to.

None of the animals seems to be
harboring a grudge

It snowed for like seven minutes today

It snowed, today, for like seven minutes,
and two minutes into the event (it IS an event
when it snows in Atlanta) I called two
of my three children to tell them the news.

My son was close enough
to be able to look out his window,
and enjoy, the few moments of snow, also.

My daughter screamed
when I told her, saying,
"I know. Maya just text-messaged me."

Only in America

The notion is stunning,
and beautiful,

that a black man will be
what he will be
starting on Tuesday.

Don King is looking
kind of like a homeless guy,
sitting on CNN, waving
two American flags.

Everyone wants in on the action,
after all, there is room for all.

That seems to be the way of the world

Nine a.m. is a fair time for the animals to wake me;
the dogs were running about the abode, chasing
each other and wrestling, and, also, playing with my hand,
whenever it fell over the bed's edge, and the cat's were meowing,
both cats and dogs signaling, I am sure, that they were ready
for their Saturday morning breakfasts.

It is 23 degrees out, this morning, which is almost ten degrees warmer
than it was yesterday morning, but it feels colder inside this apartment,
this morning than it did yesterday morning. I don't really mind the cold;
I have sweaters, and jackets, and a hat and a scarf that keep the cold out
as I go about my outside day.

Of course, the heating bill will be higher, but its higher
in the summer, too, because I use the air conditioning;
I'm sure that the utility company will figure out a way
to make the bill high in the fall and the spring, also;

that seems to be the way of the world.

I am not complaining, this morning, just commenting.
I have, once again, been allowed to awake alive,
been given this precious gift of life for yet another day,
and for that I am totally blessed, and hugely thankful.

I just got home from 8 hours of making lattes. I was thankful to be inside, where it was warm, when it was so cold out, today; and I was thankful that my cats, dogs, and turtles were home where it was warm. I bought Elliot, who will be born any day now, making me a grand-dad, a teddy bear, today. I was always big on making sure that my kids had plenty of teddy bears, as they were growing up, and, now, I will make sure that Elliot has plenty of teddy bears, as he grows up.

All my kids' teddy bears, which they grew out of, sit either on my bed, or on my bookshelf. Maybe it is me, and not the kids, who loves Teddy bears. I will have to look into this, maybe seek therapy to understand why I love teddy bears. I don't remember having a teddy bear as a kid. Maybe that is it. I have Teddy Bear Neglect Syndrome, and the only way to treat the syndrome is to surround yourself with teddy bears that you have bought for someone else that they no longer have time and or interest in.

I need to not hate at all

There was this man in my presence, yesterday,
who was friendly enough, but not all that friendly;

but, these days, I, the recovering people pleaser,
try not to get too put out when people don't warm
to me like I was a Kennedy.

Anyway, the guy left the space that we had been co-habiting,
and I asked the person who was the reason for him being
in that space in the first place what his story was,

"He seems like a creative type of some sort," I said to her.

"No, no," she said, "He owns several businesses. He is a very
cheap millionaire," and she went on to say how the guy never tipped
her for her services, although he had all this money.

I found myself not liking the guy, where, before I really had
no opinion of him, which meant that my friend was
basically forming my opinion of this guy for me.

STOP.

I need to form my own opinions.
I need not to hate people who have millions of dollars.
I need to not hate at all.


A story with an obvious moral

I met this seven year old kid,
at the hair salon, yesterday;

he was there, with his dad,
they were both getting a haircut.

In watching the two of them,
I sensed that the little boy enjoyed fighting,
and I asked his dad if it was true.
His dad told me of the karate lessons
that his son had taken,

so I told the father of a good place
to take his son to learn jiu jitsu.

The son and I then sparred a little;
I showed the boy how to block his face,
and what would happen if he did such
and such to certain people in a fight situation.

I felt pretty good about myself,
so good that I told the little boy
that he could have a free punch at me;

then I put my hands in the air
to show him that I was serious.

The young man wasted no time
in delivering a beautiful karate punch
to my gut that could have severely hurt
had I not had extra padding in that area.

There is a moral to this story,
but it is so obvious that I am not
going to speak it to you.

ciao come stai? grazie per la poesia ? molto bella..

hello how are you? thanks for the poem? very nice ..

Dave,

I'm sorry for your loss. We can grow very close to our animals; that's one reason I quit eating them! I lost a fish, recently, and that was a bummer. You remember Sydnee Vee, I'm sure. Isn't that amazing about the pilot who saved all his passengers by landing in the Hudson River, today? It was so nice to hear a good story on the news, for once.

Of course, they brought Dr. Phil onto CNN to fuck up the happy, so that he could tell us that, even though they are doing good now, the people who survived the crash, might not be doing good later, and wasted our time with all the post-traumatic stress bullshit that could possibly, maybe happen.

Fuck off, Phil, let us enjoy the moment.

Hooray for OUR side!! One of us, the pilot, did good, and we can all be happy for him, and the crew who assisted him, and the folks on the plane, who were, I'm sure, heroes themselves, many, if not all of them, and those men and women on the tugboats in the bay who came to the downed plane's rescue.

Hooray for the good ole average everyday American, who we never hear shit about!!

Mourn for a bit, Dave, then move on.
There are other cats, and dogs, who need your love.
I need your love Dave, and you are no good to me drunk!!

Love,
Mikel

In anticipation of their meal

The turtles have taught themselves
to act like salivating Pavlov's dogs,

they scurry to the end of the tank
that I open to put food in,
and stretch out on their back legs
in anticipation of their meal.

I have never met my love

I am taught to have no regrets,
to not live in the past,

but I have a regret or two,
and my leading regret is that
I have never met you.

The prison of your mind

You can get used to anything,
but why get used to being in
a place of loneliness and isolation?

I'm picking lint off of the drier

Some of my poems are very boring;
I tell you mundane things about my life,
like how I am now tying my shoes,
or combing my hair.

I mean, who really cares?!

They appear for a little bit and then they are gone

I am trying to let go of anger and jealousy,
but both emotions still creep into my consciousness
from time to time,

but

I have learned that they have their place
in my existence, slso, and, thankfully,
neither one of those emotions sticks around
as long as they used to.

Proof

I guess that I am an old fuddy duddy,
because I do not go out much anymore;

I much prefer staying at home, these days.

It wasn't always this way; I used to be
the life of the party,

you can look at my arrest record for proof,
if you need it.

The temperature has made its way up to 40

It will feel warm outside, in the morning,
compared to weather in the teens that
we have been experiencing the last few days.

I guess that I can turn the heat down some,
now, inside this apartment.

I might look into getting a new one

The drier is rumbling.
It is an old drier,
that takes forever to
dry the clothes,

and it is probably responsible,
largely in part, for my large utility bill.

It is one of those small driers
that sits on top of a small washer.

I'm glad to have it,
but I might look into
getting a new one.

An unknown hack

He likes to travel, because he can't stand where he is.

I once took a plane from Orlando to Los Angeles;
one way ticket, I wasn't coming back. I was sure
that things would be better in California, than
they had been in Florida, but I was wrong.

This was years before I fully understood the sayings,
"wherever you go, there you are," and, "you take you
with you, wherever you go."

Things were different in California, but they weren't
better than they had been in Florida; I was still
getting drunk, and that was still causing great havoc,
and depression in my life.

If I had sobered up in California, instead of Atlanta,
I would be a huge movie star, now, or some sort of
well-known performer, but I would not have the beautiful
children that I now have, so I am glad that I am an unknown hack.








You will have to learn for yourselves

The turtles are high on their rock,
sunning themselves under their heat lamp;

they have been spending more time there,
under the lamp, with the recent dip
in temperatures.

I would like to erect a heat lamp over my bed,
one that functions to warm me, and to illuminate
the books that I read before I go to sleep at night.

I'd like to teach the world to sing, also,
but I can't hold a note, so
you will have to learn for yourselves.









When she arrives

She's always going somewhere,
gets there in first class,

but the thing that she doesn't realize
is that she is always there when she arrives.







Notes on a couple of lousy relationships

At my first dance, in the ninth grade, my "girlfriend"
spent the evening dancing with another boy.

I broke up with her, in school, on Monday, leaving a note in her locker.

She was not happy about this, and she got others to pick on me,
and make fun of me.

A recent girlfriend, went to see one of her first boyfriends,
without telling me that she was going to see him, leaving me alone,
while she was rekindling a previously failed relationship.

I soon broke up with her.

You have to have a certain level of expectation in a relationship,
don't you; you can't put up with everything, now can you?

(Sometime, I will tell you about all the great relationships
that I have been in, where I was number one in the heart of the woman
I loved.)

I also have to say that my dogs never let me down,
but I will not let them into the bed with me!








Please use a conveniently located trash can

I want to put a sign on the telephone pole
that sits by the road outside of my apartment.

That sign would say, "This telephone pole is not
a trash can; there are several trash cans
in the immediate vicinity. Please stop dropping
your trash on the ground in front of this telephone
pole. Others have to clean up after you, and would
rather not have to do that. Thank you."







The day ahead of me is mine

The day ahead of me is mine, all mine;
and for this, I am thankful.

I'm not sure if I should be up, yet;
I don't feel fully awake, but the coffee cup is half empty,
already, and my plan is to not head back to the bed.

The dogs are competing for my attention,
not really fighting each other, but each one is
asserting himself for time with one of my hands,
as they always do, when I wake up.


As heaven has been taught to me

Just because your friend owns a liquor store
don't mean that you have to get drunk,

just because your lady sings the blues,
don't mean that you got to always go round in a funk.

Don't kick your dog,
don't cheat on your taxes,
don't slap your kids in the face,
for not eating all the food that is on their plate,

and I bet that you'll make it into Heaven,
as Heaven has been taught to me.

It's almost intermission

I want my money back
because the show ain't nothing
but a paper cup sitting
on a cardboard box
set in the middle of the stage,

nobody don't say nothing
nobody sings,
nobody dances,

the man taking tickets is laughing
at all the suckers who stood in line
it's almost intermission
and nothing has happened.



When I'm taking what they're giving

The alarm went off this morning, early,
and I thought to myself, this is a mistake,
why is the alarm going off, this is a morning
that I can sleep in, and then I remembered
that I had to be up early, and why.

Now, I'm back from where I had to be,
and I want to take a nap, but I can't,
because I have to be somewhere else, soon.

I'm back from that place, finally,
and I'm beat. It will be bed for me, soon.

Nothing comes to mind, tonight,
I was a working class hero
from near dawn to near dusk,

not much poetry gets written,
when I'm taking what they're giving.

I just turned off CNN, because the CNN reporters are killing themselves trying to find someone who saw Ted Kennedy, and Robert Byrd fall face down onto the fancy dining table, in Washington, at a, sort of, meet and greet, supposedly, between Obama and a bunch of wealthy, powerful people, who he already knows, and who already know him, while the Senators were eating their expensive Lincoln-like bird.

Obama told those gathered, that, "They should be more concerned about the aims of The American People, than their own aims."

Maybe that is what caused the two long time Senators to get ill?

The morning had been going fabulous until this occurred.

How dare these old farts time their illnesses like this, to rain on Obama's parade. I think both of them should have been put out to pasture a looooooong time ago.Old, old men should be watching birds, and walking golf courses, and not making the rules, and regulations that the rest of us should follow.

I still can't forget Mary Jo Kopechne, every time I look at old Ted.

Still, it has been a great morning.
Goooooooooo Obama!!



Just a thought

If they didn't let men be Senators
into their nineties, keeping Senate seats
for fifty years, they wouldn't fall face down
into their soup on inauguration day.



"The American People want us to their work for their aims, not ours..."-President Barak Obama speaking to the elected elite leaders at a funky luncheon."


Miss T [2:17 A.M.]: If you aren't busy, do you feel like talking for a little while?
Wordmanmikelk [2:17 A.M.]: I like quiet mornings sipping tea, writing poetry.
Miss T [2:17 A.M.]: anything you want to know about my size?
Wordmanmikelk [2:17 A.M.]: I like it when the phone doesn't ring

Will you hold so that I can collect from you?

Sleep is not falling
from my eyes, easily,
this morning,

it is lingering
like a bad debt,
which is long out of the hands
of the debtor, and is now held
by a ruthless collection agency,

one that sets it computer
to call you every five minutes,
and then asks you to hold,
in a very polite computer voice,
if you choose to answer the phone.

I'm going to have my feet inspected
by the foot doctor. I don't want them
to fall off.

Good Bundy

The plumber just arrived;
Bundy, and Morisson, let me know this,
especially Bundy with loud barking.

I don't much care for the dogs going ballistic
about someone entering our porch, when I am here,
but I figure that it is a good thing to have happen,
when I am gone from the apartment.

I don't know if Bundy would bite someone who
broke into the abode, but I think that he would
make the intruder think twice about intruding
into a space with a mean dog who was baring his teeth.

Of course, Bundy might bite the intruder, also.
Good Bundy.

Our landlord turned the water off, last night, around ten p.m.
He said that something was wrong with the water heater,
and that he needed to turn off the water until the plumber showed
in the morning.

You don't realize how much you use water until you don't have it.

Scout is asleep in her window. When she is not here, the cats use
her window bed as their bed; I had to sweep cat hairs off the comforter
for Scout, so that she could sleep in it, last night.

I have an appointment with the Foot Doctor, this morning.
As a diabetic, I have to keep a close eye on my feet.

I drank decaf, this morning.
These things are all important that you know.

I'm watching too much cable news television,
but my liver is probably in better shape than
a crack addict's.

My dogs really enjoy going for a walk,
but I think that they like eating, even better.
I freeze little pieces of banana for them,
and shout, "who's been good," when I am ready
to get them to come, sit and catch the fruit
between their teeth.

The cold weather has affected one of my front doors,
it won't lock. I hope that I am safe inside.

Jennifer Lopez is taller than her husband.

No tanks rumbling

It's a quiet morning,
the loudest thing around me
is the dripping of the water
from the turtle's tank.

So, do you really think so?

I caught the dog heading towards
the cat litter box, and I said to him,
"Stop, do you think that you are
as sly as a fox?"

We'll call it "Change"

There's a new day at hand,
let's start a rock and roll band,

Everybody else's sin

They cut down the trees,
and build houses that don't
please me,

but this morning I can't worry
about everybody else's sin.

As the new day begins
I thank The Creator,
for not being a dictator
and giving me free will.

Turn the switch on

Bank of America should be let go belly up;
what a shit head organization.

They will "investigate" the bonuses
that these evil criminals are giving themselves,
but nothing will be done about it,

more fancy homes will be bought by pigs,
who already have fancy homes,
more fancy dinners will be eaten by pigs,
who are used to eating fancy dinners.

Lou Dobbs is usually self-righteous, and boring,
but this story was enlightening, but what good is
light if no one turns the light switch on?

Bill Gates is firing people, instead of paying them
with some of his 54 Billion Dollars. What a pig.

Would a fish have to pay 120 an hour?

A fish has a brain,
can it go insane, and need therapy?

Who profited?

It was a downer watching the news,
when the last "administration" was in control,
not fun like taking a quaalude in the '80s,
but like a bad acid trip that lasted 8 years.

Who profited from their reign, because
someones certainly did?

Free as a dog

It's cold on this rock that I sit on,
but warm in this dog park,

where the dogs run about,
and mingle with other dogs,
sniff them, and pee, freely.

Torture is wrong

Torture is wrong,
plus, if we torture theirs
they will certainly torture ours.

It's nice that the nation has
a heart and soul again.



A prayer

I say a prayer, this morning,
for the Brazilian model
who is fighting for her life.

Make me feel

I'd like to have an opinion
about nothing, but I can't;

things strike me certain ways
and make me feel.

A Saudi rehabilitation program for former jihadists

This cracks me up; what is it, a sort of 12 step program
for terrorists?

Free trade?

China sucks;
they cost us bucks,

dump products on us
that make us sick
and kill us.

Grapefruits are nice to eat in the morning

I have long thought that the banks, the U.S. automakers, the credit card companies, and the Doctors, Lawyers, and Dentists of this great nation have been smoking crack; and while they got high putting severe screws to the average Joe and Jolene, they also bent us over and shoved it up our collective buttocks, without the benefit of lubricant; They have been raping this great nation for a long time and we are now starting to see the repercussions of their lousy behavior, but they want you to pay for it, not them. Grapefruits are nice to eat in the morning;
they make me think peaceful thoughts.

I've left the blues alone

I've left the blues alone,
when they call on the telephone
I don't answer.

I've left the blues alone,
when they come in the mail,
I don't open the letter,

when they broadcast the blues
on the television I'm getting better
about not picking up the signal.

I've left the blues alone.
I've left the blues alone,

whether in a crowded city,
or on a beautiful beach, by myself,
I've left the blues alone.

When you don't smile at me,
I've left the blues alone.
When my poem gets turned down.
I've left the blues alone.

I've left the blues alone.
I've left the blues alone.
I've left the blues alone.


Would you have to have me?

Irish tea is stronger than English tea,
won't you send your love to me?
I thought that I had forever a few times,
I didn't, but I'm not giving up on going the distance.

Don't need no church to sanction me.
Don't need no state to validate my love,
for me.

I'm sitting here, alone,

at least you could be on the telephone.
They have video now. We could look at
each other on the computer.

Would that keep you happy,
or would you have to have me?

Bean Friday

On Fridays, at the coffee shop, we offer our customers, an opportunity to buy a bag of beans for the troops.

If they buy a bag for the troops, we buy the customer a free medium drink.

It is funny the ways people say, "No."

"I heard that they were coming home, soon."

"I don't want them drinking coffee, and getting shot,
not paying attention."

"I don't support the war."

"I already pay, in my taxes, for the lousy coffee
that they are drinking now."

It is also funny the way that people say, "Yes."

They simply smile, and say, "Yes," and hand me their credit card.

Two can play that game

One night, a customer came into the coffee shop,
who refused to answer any of the questions that
I asked him.

"No," he said to this.
"No," he said to that.
And, "No," he said to this and that.

I can understand his not wanting to cooperate
with a corporation's inquisitiveness, but he
could have been a bit more polite about it.

When I asked him his name, he said, "No."

He was gone for a bit, enjoy his corporate coffee,
and then he came back to the counter and asked for
a refill.

I said, "No."

Only in my dreams

It rained last night,
and, I think, that it
cleaned the earth of
all pollution.

God gave us a fresh start.

And you now sip happily on coffee

Praise a Saturday morning
where you can sleep in late,

the dogs didn't wake you
at 7 a.m., they let you sleep in.

The never ending zit story

This beautiful zit, very nasty in appearance, appeared, today, on the middle finger of my right hand. It looked very pop-able, like a zit that, once burst, would send puss all over the planet, but I couldn't pop it. God must have sent me this zit for a special reason. Maybe that zit was there on my finger to send love out to all my brothers and sisters. Maybe that zit was here to be part of the change that was in the air, in the hearts and minds of so many Americans. Maybe that zit was here to help me find true love. I could see it now; some beautiful young lady would look down at my hand, and see that nasty ole zit, and fall in love with me. Maybe that zit was a Martian, or some other alien sent here to teach me how to teach us all how to save the planet, or maybe the alien was here to teach me how to turn peanut butter or urine into an alternative to gasoline. That zit was more than just a zit to me; think Cheech and Chong, "I got a basketball jones," here.

To be continued...


Two crooks here

My neighbor has two wooden legs,
and she had a sign that she nailed
to a tree in front of her house
that said that she was handicapped.

Someone stole that sign,
and she will have to pay
two hundred dollars
to get another sign.

There are two crooks here,
the person who stole her sign,
and the persons who are charging her
two hundred dollars for a handicapped sign.


You have to be old to be a grandfather

You have to be old
to be a grandfather
and I am not old,

I will never be old,
but I am, now, a grandfather.

The young man was born yesterday,
Elliot Thomas George,
weighed in at seven pounds,
when he came into this world.

Elliot was quiet
for the first few hours of his life,
the hours that I got to share with him.

I look forward to sharing many more
hours with him.

Somewhat rough

Her pussy hair was shaved,
but grown out some.

I loved the way
that it felt on my tongue;

somewhat rough.

Be careful not to pop your Viagra too early

As she was about to leave, she lifted her shirt,
and asked me if that was a birth mark on the top of her breast.

I liked the black bra that she was wearing and told her so.

The next thing I knew I was sucking on a very long and hard nipple.

When I stopped, she said "Now, you can't ignore the other one."

So I didn't, and soon we were both naked on my bed.

I had never been in bed with a woman who had tattoos before,
and I found it very exciting.

After some really enjoyable playtime, she asked me if I had a condom. I went to the bathroom, got a condom, and while I was there I popped a Viagra.

When I got to the bed, she selected a condom, then said she had to
make a phone call, first.

After making her phone call, she giggled and said, "You are going to kill me."

"You have to leave," I said, and she said, "Yes."

We both laughed about the fact that I had just swallowed a Viagra,
and what I would have to do to make use of it now.

As best I can

The dogs compete for my attention,
each one seeking out my hand to rub his head.

They butt against each other, jockeying for position.
I try to share my affection, as best I can.

They want my hands on them

It is 5:30 a.m and the dogs are especially affectionate,
this morning; they want my hands on them, and not on the
computer.

I made a cup of decaf, yesterday, and I am drinking it, today,
though I have learned that coffee shops will not sell coffee
even if it is an hour old.

The refrigerator is rattling, a bit, as it sometimes does.
I don't know if it wants me to put food in it, or take some food
out of it.

Never take candy from strangers on the internet

They are watching you to sell your information
because information about you is valuable.

It's a sick world, if you let it be;
paranoia will not get the best of me.

Sitting at my desk watching the tube

Some asshole opened fire on a crowd of people
with an AK47 in Miami,yesterday; I still say
guns don't kill people, people kill people.

They had a story on the news about how
some Taliban assholes threw acid on some girls
who were walking to school. I felt like the story
was getting me ready for war in Afghanistan.

The commercial where the young girl says
that she doesn't own a cell phone,
and then one goes off in her pocket and she
throws it against the wall is still funny.

Rush Limbaugh is a moron

Rush Limbaugh is a moron,
a pathetic hypocrite,
who would do anything,
say anything to get ratings
for his nazi radio show.
.

Well, I am an American boy, raised on promises,

they told me that if I was the captain of the football team
that the best looking cheerleader would fall for me.

They told me that I made straight A's in High School
that a college scholarship was waiting for me,
but, I soon learend, that it was not as good a scholarship
as the one waiting for the Captain of the football team.

Because of her eyes

Some women have very beautiful eyes.
I wonder if it is possible to fall in love
with a woman, because of her eyes?


Useless

There are days
when I need a new body,

the one that I have
gets so tired,
that it is almost useless
to me.

Punks

We're living in the past,
but what a past it was,
when one of us would trip
or fall,

someone was there to catch us.

We drank too much.
We did too many drugs.
We looked a sight,
didn't really fit in,
and didn't really want to.

Punks.

I am happy on my porch this morning

I am happy on my porch this morning,
reading,
sipping on green tea.

A car limps by
and I think of how glad I am
to not have a car.

A car would mean
that I could not be
sitting on my porch
reading,
and sipping green tea;

I would have to be somewhere
working,

to pay for that car,

a monthly payment,
car insurance,
tires,
oil changes,
brake jobs,
breakdowns.

Thinking bad things(about you)

I'm working on it(hard,)
but my ego still needs work.

My feelings get hurt
about something that I think
or feel that you should have
said or done,

or not have said,
or not have done,
and I get mad(still,)

walking around my apartment
thinking bad things about you.

You are way less crazy if you put something in our tip jar

He has wild eyes
my co-worker joked that
maybe he was a serial killer
also saying that he was very nice.

They say that Ted Bundy was nice
until the final moments of their lives.

Anyway,

this guy usually just asks for water,
sometimes with ice,
sometimes hot,
like he has brought his own tea bags
to our coffee shop.

The other day
he asked about the cost of
several of our more expensive drinks
picked one
and then pulled out a twenty dollar bill.

I said to him
you are rich
why are you worrying about the price of drinks?

I was joking;
he smiled and said
"It may be a long time before i get another one of these."

I gave him his change,
and he put two bucks in our tip jar,
which is a nice tip
and he said,
"That is to thank you for all the water
you guys have given me."

He may be crazy,
but there is a method to his madness;

way less crazy folk often never put anything
in our tip jar.

If there was more love in the world

The day starts with the removal of beans from a new bag of coffee, and the push of a button that turns Mozart on. I reflect upon the fact that I am loved, and there is nothing greater than love. If there was more love in the world, we would not have the wars in Iraq, and Afghanistan. If there was more love in the world, we would not have a recession; people would not be losing their homes and jobs. If there was more love in the world, evil men would not abduct little children, torture, rape and kill them. If there was more love in the world, the television news would tell us about the good in the world, and not just the bad.

We can create more love, you and me. It is possible, we just have to work at it. Let's start working for more love in the world, today; o.k.?

Don't mess with my caffeine

I am learning, slowly,
that one cup of coffee,
in the morning, is enough.

I used to drink a whole pot,
of the stuff, to start the day,
and I was, often, jittery, and
angry.

One day, I screamed at my friend, Dave,
for no apparent reason,
and he said to me, "Mikel, have you
thought about cutting back on your caffeine?"

I was scared.

Coffee was my last drug.
I had given up booze, pot, lsd,
and the occasional use of speed,
and cocaine.
I had given up cigarettes.

Don't fuck with my coffee,
was what I was thinking,
as I stood in front of my friend, Dave,
that morning.

Several days later,
I bought my first bag of decaf.

If there was a 12 step program
for coffee drinkers, I might should
be there.

I have quite a daughter

My daughter notices things
that other people don't,

like she noticed, recently, that
I was now buying a dish washing liquid
that was, "safe for all river and marine life."

She mentioned such to me,
and I felt proud,
both that I have such a daughter,
and that I wasn't polluting our earth
quite as much as I had been, in the past.

Happy ending for this dog

I didn't tell you this,
but I think that Bundy
has a slight problem
with biting people.

He does it accidentally,
not out of malice,
but a bite is a bite,
and I can't have my dog
going around biting people,

so, yesterday, I bought him
a muzzle.

He doesn't like the muzzle;
spends a lot of his time,
while it is on his snout,
rubbing it on the ground,
trying to get it off,

but he can't.

A nice side effect of the muzzle
is that it keeps Bundy from barking,
which is especially nice
when we are on our front porch,
so that he doesn't disturb
our neighbors.

I love Bundy, and want good things
to happen to and for him;
happy ending, only, for this dog.

Worn out welcome

Some people stick their nose in your business
and they leave it there long after they have
worn out their welcome.

Suspect

The Buddhists want a donation,
the Christians pass the hat.

I don't want to be a Buddhist.
I don't want to be a Christian.
I don't want to be Hindu, Jewish, Muslim,

but I want to be one with God,
the Creator, my Higher Power.

I don't think that anyone knows more
about God, than anyone else, and anyone
that makes money of off God is to be suspect.

Talk talk talk

Most of us don't much like to listen;
we like to talk. I am trying to become
a better listener, and not be so anxious to

talk, talk, talk.

Mostly, when we talk, we talk about ourselves.

Talk, talk, talk.

We like to talk about ourselves;
we don't like to listen to what
the

I snore very loudly

I wear a mask when I sleep.
It keeps me alive,
and keeps me from keeping
someone who sleeps with me
awake.

Without the mask, I snore very loudly.

Portrait

She likes to talk,
and she likes to fuck,
and she is not shy
about either.

This man's name is Frank French

Yesterday, a man invited me into his home,
and into his home studio to record some of
my poetry.

Probably, there won't be huge dollars
generated from the project, so you might
say that this man has taken on a labor
of love.

While in this man's home, I learned how he makes
tea in the afternoon. He has a Japanese
teapot, and makes either Irish or English tea.

We talked about the bible.
This man has taught himself Hebrew
to read The Old Testament,
and Greek to read The New Testament.

His studio, which is located in the basement
of a beautiful home that he shares with his
beautiful wife, is also beautiful. It is full
of beautiful instruments.

Like I said, this poetry project that this man
and I have embarked on, together, will probably
not make a million dollars for either of us,

but it is nice getting to know this man
a little better in the process.

I also love Bundy

I just caught Bundy eating the cat's food.

Wake up call came early this morning,
mostly, I think, because bedtime came early,
last night; funny the correlation that exists there.

I'm having sushi, today, with my son.

I love sushi,
and I love my son.

In the eyes of

As I walked on the water in my bath tub,
trying to get to my soap afloat,

her voice came to me and said, "You are gorgeous,"
and I said that I'd never thought of myself as cute.

"You have a beautiful soul which makes all
the rest irresistible, she told me."

I thought about that, and I wondered if she really meant
that I had a great personality, but wasn't much to look
at.

He now wears a muzzle

Bundy woke me at 3 a.m.,
needing to use the facility;

his routine is off, a bit,
due to the fact that he now wears
a muzzle, whenever he goes outside.

3 a.m. is mostly a quiet time
of the night, except when the kids
downstairs party.

I am thankful that they are not
real loud, or real consistent party-ers.

I wonder how many times I kept
my neighbors awake back when I partied.

Partying is a word that people use
for saying that they drink a lot.

Take you some Savasana, baby

The drier is making more noise than usual,

tonight,

yoga class was incredible.

I did a head stand for the first time in my life;
it was assisted, by both the wall, and by my instructor,
but I did it, I did it, I did it.

At age 51, I am doing things with my body,
that I would not have dreamed possible in my youth.

After class, I was calm, like I have never been calm.
I was walking on sunshine, in the clouds, surrounded
by serenity.

This is a Nirvana, that Kurt Cobain, with his millions,
and his limousines never experienced.

Breath in breath out, and take you some Savasana, baby;
it works!!

Absence

Absence; I was gone, and she noticed.
Absence; I was gone, and she focused
on me.

While I was gone, I thought about her.
While I was gone, I bought her flowers
with love to her from me.



Did I abuse a cow?

Sea turtles shouldn't have to die
so that I can eat shrimp,

I just had some grits with butter,
and cheese; did I abuse a cow?

You are what you eat

If the eggs are angry,
and you eat them, you
will be angry.

If the milk is depressed
when you drink it, you
will be depressed.

If the cow or chicken
is angry about the way
it is being treated,
when it is killed,
then you will be angry
after you eat it.

(Special thanks to Thich Nhat Hanh
for this enlightenment.)

THE END