One of the most awful things that you can do is to tell someone that you like their writing, when your real motive is to get them to read your writing. I'm not a critic, I'm not a teacher, I'm not up, at this time, for joining, or forming, a writer's group, so that we can tell each other how bad each other's poems suck. I'm a writer, a poet, I'm out here doing what I do on my own; I don't really care what anybody thinks about my writing, and I don't really want to read your writing, just because you told me that mine was nice.

You Might Be Smiling The Minute You Die
By Mikel K





My drug of choice is Poetry.

Mikel. I lent a neighbor my copy of THE DELIVERY GUY, and they're totally digging it. You've got a new fan. Hope things are well with you.
-- Patrick Thorne


You are one of the greats, and one my favorite poets.
--Diana Carson May Waldman

"Outstanding. You need a publishing deal, I wish I could get you one. Alas, I have zero connections. But keep putting it out there, someone is bound to get it, I would hope. Otherwise, people are idiots like I usually say."
--Art Linton


(Mikel K is not a serial killer.)


Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K.
Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K.
Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K.
Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K.
Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K.
Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K.
Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K.
Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K.
Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K.
Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K.
Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K.
Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K.
Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K.
Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K.
Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K.
Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K.
Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K.
Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K.
Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K.
Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K.
Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K.
Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K.
Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K.
Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K.







Alternative Reel Poet's Corner K Page
http://www.alternativereel.com/includes/poets-corner/display_review.php?id=00049

David Herrle Subtle Tea K Interview
http://www.subtletea.com/mikelkinterview.htm


Watch this space.. for one day when his words splash the big screen, I will say.. "I knew that talented man, and he had style" and you will say..."Yes, man...what a wordsmith"
--An Australian Mother


"Poets must be willing to take criticism and suggestion
with a smile…"--The Complete Idiot's Guide To Poetry




just wondering----are you still full o' yerself...and do you still have fans?
ever write anything?
sorry,jezz borrrrrddeddedddttttt
wonderin' 'bout some, someday?
--Guy

goittahm, u suck
ever heard of real artists, por ejemplo,
Richard Nixon and Dick Cheney Irving Howard Shumway, III
That's poetry, you piss shit lazy ass wipe load...
Kill yerself, while yer still ahead of the game,
which you will, obviously, never cop
dk
sorry, you suck worse than gravity...an embarrassment to my olde home towne
go kill yersef.
guts count, you worthless lightload.
Don't think you'll ever get it....
--Same Guy

Ha. Screw him, Mikel; I've always thought you were a great writer.
--My oldest son

Mikel,
u should really send ur stuff into everyone..dont matter if its a cool publisher or not..they may be lookin for a street type for coolness...u are like me in the fact that i look at record companies as the eneny sorta and bout 99% of those whom ive met are complete music morons who wouldnt know cool if it sold 3 hunzillion records and sued them in the ass..but u have to deal with publishers if u wanna get known..so bow down like a man and get workin on it..u can be a sorta large fish inna small pond or a carp inna bigger tank u just gotta deal with the dealing of business..so most people i know and read..like bukoski,burrows and whomever signed something with someone to get reconized it aint bad ..they just take a large amonut ..better to have 20 percent of something than 100 percen t of zero...
--Andy Browne
Friends,

My hip replacement surgery is in weeks. My recovery time will be 6 weeks/my job will not hold my job for me. If you have food, please bring it to me. I have a nice porch for you to put it on; you can remain anonymous, or you can knock on the door, and say hello. (858 Vedado Way #2 Midtown Atlanta, Georgia 30308) Also, send me money to help on bills, if you want to help, like a lot of you have been saying that you want to!!

Thanks!
Mikel K Poet

**Ru Paul, early in his early Atlanta career, used to say, "If you love me, baby...give it to me! Somehow, it seemed an appropriate heading for this pitch.



Mate, you need to watch what you say to my wife in public arenas. My daughter would read that comment about her mum's cold sore you arsehole

Oh, I've stayed away from this site for too long. You are the poet that I need to visit my mind more times than not. Great writing!

Mikel,

I stumbled upon some of your poetry at subtletea.com and really enjoyed it. Alternative Reel recently launched a Poets Corner section at http://www.alternativereel.com/poets-corner/index.php and I would like to invite you to participate if you're interested. Basically I would just need a brief bio, headshot, link to your website and/or blog and 4-5 representative poems. Although Poets Corner is brand new, the website as a whole receives 5,000-8,000 unique visitors per day.

Thanks for your consideration and I hope to hear from you soon.

Bill C.

Mikel K Poet,

I just wanted to say, you are a lovely gentleman, poet, musician and so many other wonderful things. This not flirtation, just a friend letting you know you are valued greatly. Pain and talent are a bitch of a combo, believe me, I know. You handle it with far more grace than I do. Sometimes, it's just nice to hear someone believes in you...and I do. Go forth Warrior Poet, and leave 'em wantin' more!
--Anna Elizabeth Collins

No Night Light

She knows what love is,
but it always walks away,
or runs from her,
somehow slips away
leaving her alone, again
on the mattress, nobody
sharing the pillow next to her.
That's when it's hardest
on her
she hates to face the night
by herself.

Where do you work? I will come in and get a coffee sometime.

I can't have people drop by; they have cut us to one person, where there used to be two. I am not my usual smiling self, often, now, when I am grinding out coffee drinks; you would probably hate me.

It's really too early to be asking this

Will anybody light a candle
and stand around it and pray
to remember me when I am gone?
Submitted to The Baltimore Review Oct. 18, 09
Do it for The Corp.

They don't care about you at all.
They already have nice cars and nice houses,
and they cut back on your hours,
making your paycheck smaller,
but they increase your work load
having one person on the clock doing things,
that two used to do, and,
if you break you back doing it,
they will bring in someone else,
someone desperate to pay
their bills just like you are.

(Submitted to The Baltimore Review Oct. 18 2009)

It is nice to have food in the home

The store brand butter is awful,
and not priced all that much below
the brand name stuff.
Mayonnaise, to me, is mayonnaise;
I've got the generic and it blends
with my noodles just fine, and spreads
on bread like any that I have ever purchased.
I bought a store brand bag of salted roasted peanuts,
and I love them.
There is some tofu to fry in the refrigerator,
and salad that will last a couple of more days.

Daddy

Daddy will you build a wall
and crawl inside
without throwing bricks at me?

Daddy says I can't run for President.
Daddy says I can't do anything well at all.
Daddy won't let me walk tall, he makes me crawl,
I don't understand it at all.

Daddy doesn't care if they drop the bomb on me,
he'll say I probably deserved it.
Daddy will say that I can't write.
Daddy will say that they will break my balls.

Daddy will you build a wall,
and crawl inside.
Daddy will you build a wall,
and crawl inside
without throwing bricks at me.

They like this song; Daddy was wrong.
They like this song; Daddy was wrong.
I built a wall, and got away from him.
And it took a few years but now his voice
doesn't ring in my head.
Daddy used to make me cry,
but now I'm not crying at all.

Holding my present to your past

I don't trust Geminis she said
they have two heads
and I knew then that we would never share a pillow
but that was alright because
I live over here and she lives over there.

Welcome to the machine

I sat under the big MRI machine for 45 minutes, yesterday.
At times, it was a very claustrophobic experience;
I tried to breath in and out, steadily, so that I would not
freak out. I kept wondering why they can't take an MRI faster.
It seems like if you can get a burger and fries, or a coffee
in less than a minute that you should be able to get an MRI
in less than five.

Submitted to The Baltimore Review Oct. 18, 2009

I need to watch what I think

I'm going to revert to bad behavior
let the old me take over from the new me
and, then, I ll have to apologize
like a good little Catholic boy
like some sober person stepping
What you think becomes what you do.

Countdown from the top

Don't think that you are
writing a best-seller
think that you are writing
a book that my save or change
one person's life.

Self-suffering sucks

The dogs are happy to see me this morning
as they are, every morning;
Bundy is growling at me,
and trying to scratch me with the paw
that likes to try and get up on my leg.
Morisson is, as usual, trying to sneak in
for some affection, laying his head
on my other leg, prying at my arm
trying to pull my hand of the keyboard.
Sometimes, you can get so inside yourself,
that you forget to look at the joy in your world.

Pills are the answer

I think I need a new pill
because my attitude sucks
the mellow happy me is slipping away
and I am becoming the cynical, hating me
of yesterday.

Another a.m. gripe

I hate the way most corporations talk to me
press one if you are from uranus
two if we can but fuck you further
my attitude sucks right now I am acting unempowered
you don't have to have cable tv
and if you don't then you won't have to call the monsters

But, revenge is stupid

I'd like to pay her back
for all the times
that she was rude to me.

Circle of obligation

I cut my Cable Television off, today,
and, also, my High Speed Internet.
I feel naked, but I need the money to eat.

I'm not who I am

I looked in the mirror, moments ago,
and there I wasn't.

another crisis avoided

tension is internal
i want to be like the baby
with the pacifier calm

Arrogance or Impotence?

He needed an umbrella to catch all the dandruff
that was falling upon him.
He needed a swimming pool to catch all his tears.
He knew that a million dollars would not change him,
but he would not mind being the same.

Pussy

Pussy walked in the door,
and I was never going to
be the same, no more.
She beat me, she stepped
on me, she stole my heart,
and soul. I don't ever want
pussy no more.

The weird way that I am sometimes awoken

My black cat, Jaggar, loves to lay on my black book bag. It is his favorite place in the abode to hang out on. I leave it at the foot of the bed for him; sometimes he scratches or bites at my foot when it gets too near him in the middle of the night, which is strange payback, don't you think, for being so nice in setting him up with a bed that he loves.

Sleep is a miracle drug

It's a new day I'm feeling way better
than I did the day before.

The blues is all I know

I'm feeling alone
like a dog without a bone
like Paris Hilton without a phone
I had to let the good times go
Now the blues is all I know.

Oh baby
Oh baby
Don't you see that you burned me
Baby I earned the big bucks
but that wasnt't enough for you
Oh baby
I'm so lonely
I don't know what to do

Baby baby baby
can you save me
throw me a life presevor
It was you who set me out to sea.

Baby baby
This is not me.
I'm like a little baby crying
I feel like dieing

Baby baby
I feel so all alone
like a dog without a bone
like Paris Hilton without a phone
I had to let the good times go
Now the blues is all I know.
Baby baby

Conversation: External and Internal

Candy: you treat your pets better than most people
Candy: they are your primary companions

I treat most people better than most people treat people,
perhaps, or maybe I'm just another Capitalist Pig in waiting,
to pay you low, sell my goods high; I used to get high, my, my.

Often, I like things the way they are

When it rains I like to have an umbrella
When someone I love doesn't love me back
I run for cover
I can't afford a car
I don't have cream for my coffee
but I'm not complaining
I've got time to think
I've got time to sip my coffee
Maybe it's time to quit
putting cream in my coffee, shed a few pounds
Things happen for a reason
goo always comes out of the bad
I'm broke, but I'm at this computer
writing things down
and as a writer, if I'm not writing
I have become whatever else it is
that I am doing,
and that just wouldn't do.

Thoughts from a groggy brain

I have just woken from a nap,
and my mind is blank. I need
coffee. I want love. My turtles
can not give me the love that
my dogs, and cats do, but I don't
hold it against them. Does your
love give you the love you need.
Is any love better than no love?

More than just a passing fancy

I thought that I had driven you off
with language so not store bought,
discussing things you didn't like to discuss,
but I didn't, you still lurk.

It is stupid to help your neighbor

I hurt my knee
and my back is sore
so I can't help you
anymore.

Sometimes, I have to
rehearse my lines,
like for what to tell
a neighbor the morning
after I spent hours
helping him move
a huge piece of furniture.

I should not have been
lifting something
of this weight
me with bad back, bad knees
and a hip that is
about to be replaced
that I am in the possession of.

Sometimes your help the neighbor act
turns out to be an act of stupidity.

The way to peace and calm

Life is the most precious gift
that we have been given,
and, supposedly, our fellow man
and woman is the second greatest gift,
but I find that if I keep
the mass of man and mass of woman
at a distance that I am better situated
in the mind.

No pine box

You will never see me
in a casket
you will never touch
my cold face
covered in make up
you will remember me
as I am now
sitting in front of you
with a smile on my face
I will not go to Heaven
or Hell leaving you with
the final impression
that the funeral home folks
would like you to have.

I went running into the woods looking for Walden Pond screaming

My sound of silence is not like a mouse;
I've got nothing to say, and, yet still I bray.
They taught me to pray with my hands folded
Then they told me that for them to interpret God
I had to pay.

Something that mostly means nothing

I know how to break a woman's heart, do you?
I know how to make a million dollars,
but it just won't do.
My recycling is overflowing,
and the recycle bin is full,
things to be recycled are falling on the lawn.
I know how to write a sentence that makes sense.
I know how to do my own laundry.
I got my dishes covered, no woman needed, tee hee!

I got crunched by the numbers

The man kicks me in the head
I smile and take it
barely able to buy bread
with the paltry wage he(or she) pays me

They breed fear in you
as customers wait in line
with their money extended
sometimes I'd rather receive a smile
than a dollar bill

The only benefit they give you
is one that doesn't cost them anything
they're keeping every dollar for themselves
you know they don't stay at The Holiday Inn
when they pull into town to crunch the numbers.

No need to pad the walls

Things are going well this morning,
the words are flowing,
the dogs and cats are snoring,
the turtles are milling about their limited abode.

I am sane, this morning,
as I am sane one hundred percent of the mornings,
these days: no fights with pillow; no shouting match
with my teddy bear.

The empty cup smiles

He peers into his coffee cup,
interested to see if there is
another sip; there is not; he
has sipped it all.

In the old days he would have
had a full pot waiting, but
he retired fully from anger.

Regret

A daughter blows her father off,
at a crucial time she can't come
see him, because life has taken
over.

The father passes, and she cries
at his grave.

I guess that I don't understand how this world works

He's got two wars that he is supervising,
and they just gave him the Nobel Peace Prize.

I have a fan

It is great to know
that, as a writer,
I have, at least, one fan.

I just turned it on,
and it is blowing a breeze
on me, now.

Embrace Life

Something will get you.
Something is going to kill you;
there is a date on that calendar,
and you can't avoid it.
Live not in fear of it.

Beach Scene

Don't ask why the children pull the leg off crabs
and hold a magnifying glass between the sun and
the pained animals writing body to burn it to death.

A Lesson

I am the norm and you are wicked
in the book of life that I write.
"That ain't right," you holler,
but it don't matter, I'm holding
the dollars, and a security force
who I pay.

"It just ain't fair. It just ain't
fair," you protest, but let me tell
you, there is nothing such as fair.

I have the most beautiful front porch; it is so beautiful that I can it

Going Sparse

They took our cable box, today,
so we have no Cable Television,
and no High Speed Internet.
I had to do this because I have
hip replacement surgery coming up,
and I will not be able to work
for six to eight weeks; all bills
that are non-essential must be cut out.

When a no might should be a yes

I told Bundy "no," as he started to bark
at some people walking by on the sidewalk
in front of our front door. I then saw
that they were letting a dog poop on our
front lawn, and I said, "Well, maybe I
should not have stopped Bundy from barking."

Painting what kind of picture

She wants me to come over to her apartment
to look at her art.
She told me that I have a "spectacular" look
about me,
and that she wanted to paint my picture;
then she grabbed me by the head and kissed me
on the lips.

Don't you think?

Have you ever seen those little plastic dogs
that hold a sign in their mouth that says, "Welcome!"
Well, my dog Bundy is not that type of dog,
he is not happy to see you, if he doesn't know you,
and he lets you know that in no uncertain terms.
If you are a burglar, there are probably better places
that you could break into. I think that my dog might very well
maul you, as well he should, if you are entering my abode
uninvited. I don't want to see anybody hurt, so please don't
break into my space.

A promise can I keep?

My love will be for free forever;
I will never stop loving you.

Often on the run from me

When I was young,
I thought I was having fun
inebriated out of my mind.


Doc

I have to go to my Primary Care Physician, today,
to get permission from her to have my hip replacement operation.
She needs to certify that I am fit enough to be put to sleep
for two hours, and have a "bionic" hip replace the shot out one
that I currently have. Also, I need to ask her about this shaking
that is going on in my arms. It is interfering with my ability
to type, and as a writer, I just can't have it. She will also
check my sugar level.

How much of what they sell will you buy?

They'd sell you poison
and tell you that it
sweetens your tea,
they'd build you a car
that they know you would
die in, if it crashed
a certain way, but it was
more profitable to pay off
a few deaths than to fix
the design.
And now they want you
to believe that they are
going to end the war.

Family, and Smiles, and Love

Would you be happier
eating at a five star restaurant
or a fast food palace,
given all the things that matter,
like family, and smiles, and love.

Perhaps you should quit doing it

Strive for perfection
they'll only snicker
because they know that
they are paying you
a dollar an hour,
and the possibilities
for them are endless
while you do what you do
for them.

Dog Tongue

Stop;
I don't want to be licked.
I push his head away;
he looks up at me lovingly,
as if my no had been a yes.

Did Shakespeare go through this?

I want to write poetry,
but the dogs want to go outside,
so my brilliant career as a writer
will have to wait,
as I watch dogs pee,
and then pick up their poop.

Entrance

She came up to me,
and said that I was handsome,
and nobody ever said that to me,
so I took the hand that she offered.

Circumstance

Maybe I'm cheap, or maybe I just ain't used to havin'
things that you find normal, like clean air to breath,
and fresh water to drink. All I want is a smile from
a stranger when I have a tear in my heart.

I'm going to kiss that taboo goodbye

Her lips are forbidden,
but I'm going to make them mine.

His big house

He has a big house,
so he is happy. He
is happy that he has
a big house. In his
big house he is happy;
happy, happy, happy
he is in his big house.
His big house makes him
happy. Happy, happy, happy
is his house.

They stare at me

Old books, have no new looks,
on the shelf. Give me something
fresh, and at $15-$25 a pop; I hope
that the author is getting rich.

Process

I got used to you,
but you said that
you weren't having me,
but now you want me,
and I don't want you,
because of what you
put me through.


Smiles, all smiles

I text messaged my son, and asked him what he was doing,
"An emissions test," is what he text messaged back.
I am proud of that boy, as I am proud of my other boy,
and my daughter.

Old Age

There is no real formula
you can drop dead in the middle
of your daily two hours of exercise,
while some woman who drinks a fifth
and smokes a pack a day lives to be ninety three.

Weird Love

Put me on a shelf.
Polish me.
Bring me out to show the boys.

As the sea is beautiful

I was swallowing my pride.
I was accepting my fate.
Love has passed me by.
Love has left me dry.
I'm curled in the fetal position crying,
thinking of what was once,
and is not now.
I'm playing the clown.
I'll soon be bitter,
then I'll be better.
That is what happens, sometimes,
when love comes around.

Am I real or am I Memorex?

I don't believe in love,
I believe in accountants,
a long string of them
counting my money.

Nothing is safe from these men

The men who fucked up the earth
are now fucking up the moon,
just like they will fuck up
all the other planets, the sun,
the stars.

I've got coffee, though

No milk, so not hot tea with milk,
bummer, but at least the world is not
aflame from the dropping of nuclear bombs.

Intrinsic

It's easy to be up
when you are up,
it's not so easy
to be up
when you are down.

Spinning

It's all falling apart
that's not true
it will never all fall apart.

Needs

You need to be stronger
like the strong
You need to be richer
like the rich.
You need to make straight A's,
and always smile.
You need to not think
that your future consists of
eating cat food.
You need to think of someone
besides yourself.

Empty

I ran out of my pills
that make me feel best,
and as far as seeing if
I can live without them
I do not want to put it
to the test.

Oh well

It's good; it's effin good,
this late afternoon cup of coffee is good.
I slept most of the day away,
on the edge of a depression.
I will be losing my job in a few weeks,
when I have hip replacement surgery,
because the big corporation doesn't hold
jobs for little part timers,
and the little gap that I have financially
between eating all the time, and missing meals,
with food was taken a way from me, on Saturday,
when I got a letter saying that they would not
be renewing my food stamps; I was getting $120 a month.
I always feel bad about getting food stamps,
I look around the grocery store to make sure
that no on is looking when I pull my green card out
to slide it through the machine,
but you do what you do to get by,
you do what you have to do to survive.
I was not born with the temperament to get out there
and, "make it," like most of you were.
I either lost my shit, and start yelling and screaming,
or I go crazy inside, a little bit crazier, day by day.
This is not an excuse; this is an explanation,
and I don't know why I offer it to you.
Some of you won't care,
some of you will laugh at me,
poke fun at my situation.
Oh well, oh well, oh well.

Waves

The rain is pounding down on my surroundings
I've got a pillow as an umbrella
It is soaking sweat
I'm all wet my environment is never sunshine
Why can't you be mine
Wouldn't you make all things better
Like you said in that letter from across the sea?

Did Darwin have anything to do with it?

I was born to feel pain
because God gave me free will,
and my tendency,
because my father was mean,
is to want to suffer.


Bi

I've got to meditate, levitate
do anything but sit
under where the sun used to be
and darkness now predominates.

Everyone has a lot on their plate,
we were born to suffer,
many in this world don't have
any supper,

sucker, you got it made
and you don't see it.

Who'll feed my cats?

I don't want this to be about the job that I am losing, or the boss who won't hold my job for me. I want it to be about this nice cup of tea that I am sipping on, these two dogs who have their heads up on my lap, and the two cats who are, noisily, chasing each other up, and down, the hallway. I want it to be about my turtles, my children, my grandchild. I want it to be about the passion that I have for my writing, the love that I have for life, and not about a job that I won't have when I get done rehabilitating a metal hip that is going to be inserted where the hip that I have had for over fifty years is now. I want to talk happy, not sad. I want to look to the future with optimism, not a scared attitude, and that is what I am going to do; hopefully.

Fear can pull you down. Fear of where you are going to get money to feed yourself; fear of where you are going to get money to pay your bills. But...you have to look at all the good things that are going on in your world, and realize that things have always worked out in the past, when there was darkness in your life.

"It is always darkest before the dawn," I have been taught, and "That which doesn't kill us, only makes us grow stronger." Something good always comes out of something bad.

That's how I feel, and I'm sticking to it!

Seeking

I'm worried; my boss is not holding my job
I have to have hip replacement surgery
and she says that they don't hold jobs
for four to six weeks for part timers
and yet I hear from other employees
that she has held them for other people
so I will go four to six weeks recovering
from the surgery without a job
and then when I am done recovering
I won't have a job
You have to have faith
although here at 5:30 a.m. on a Monday
I am a little bit neurotic
They cut off my food stamps, also
the hundred and twenty dollars a month that
I was getting filled a gap
Tell me that it will be alright
take me by the hand and guide me.

Us

I make hot tea.
You let it be.

Cremate Me

I'll try to reach you,
but if I don't
there is still hope.

Coast to Coast

We are having long distance intercourse,
oops, I mean discourse;
her man should not be alarmed.

Off the path for a bit

I think that things that entertain us do well
in times of recession, because we look for and love
anything that takes us away from reality.
I'm not sure why I am talking about this,
maybe I am looking for a diversion from reality.

Sometimes more is not better

That cup of coffee was wonderful,
it was so good that it left me wanting another cup,
but I have learned that that second cup of coffee
is not as good for me as the first: it leaves me jittery.

Over easy but be cautious

Naps, and a good night's sleep
are a wonderful short term solution
to hip and back and knee pain,
though they are not the ultimate solution.
I think that the ultimate solution
is turning back the clock,
and realizing when you are young
that you only have one back,
one set of hips, and one pair of knees,
and that you should treat them
as if they are uncooked eggs
who can be damaged, and break at any time.

Situations and Results

Yesterday, was a miserable day;
the long walk in the rain to work
aggravated my hip, and back, and knees
and, then, the work shift exaggerated those situations
I could have called in sick
but then I wouldn't have had half n half for my coffee
next week when my pay check arrived.

Confession

I don't suffer well,
I do wear my heart on my sleeve,
I am a choke artist,
pressure makes me cave in, and sweat.
I have a nice smile.
I'm good to my children,
those human, and those not.
I often feel sorry for myself,
when things are not going well,
but, mostly, these days, things are happy
in my life, and for this I am thankful.


Hey, where have you been?
So typical of your pattern,
first: I can't get rid of you,
then you disappear for long periods of time.
I'm looking for more stability in life,
than you offer.

You might be smiling the minute you die

The Good Nurse took an Ekg,
and the Good Doctor said that
I need to go to a Cardiologist,
before I get an approval to
have hip replacement surgery.

I'm not worried about the situation,
but then how many mean and woman
did not worry moments before they found out
if there is a Heaven or a Hell?


I am going to the Doctor's office today, my Primary Care Physician, as she is called to get approval from her to have my hip replacement operation. She needs to tell the Doctor who is doing the hip replacement operation that I am physically fit to undergo the operation. My doctor is out of the office, today, so another Doctor, will do the exam. As I age, it seems that there are more and more Doctors involved in my life. I am blessed to have insurance.

My black cat was reclining on top of the black book shelf that he always reclines on, and my daughter came by to quickly drop off the large book bag that she often drops off in the morning, when she is going to be staying with me in the afternoon. My daughter always drops it off on the black shelf that the cat was reclining on, and she made the cat move so that she could place it on top of the shelf. When she left, I went and got her bag and moved it to a chair in another part of the room, so that the cat could continue reclining. There is a lesson in here somewhere, but I am too tired this morning to find it.

Down, but not out

When you have told people
that you are down and out,
some people will say,
"Let me know if you need help,"
which seems stupid, because
you have already made it clear
that you need help.
I guess that they are trying to
make themselves feel good.
Other people when they hear
that you need help,
actually help you.
The whole process is very embarrassing,
I mean who wants to ask for help,
who wants to admit that they are not
doing well?

Screwed

For some stupid reason,
I can't remember what it was, now,
I added my son's name onto a credit card,
that I later was unable to pay on,
and, now, they won't let my son have credit,
because his name was on that card.
(This occurred when my son was like ten years old.)
It seems stupid, and cruel,
that my son, who is now twenty, is being screwed by
the same credit card company that was screwing me.

This was a long time ago

I cheated
by giving
my homework
to a fellow
who I thought
that I could
profit from
in another area.

The teacher
evaluated
our work,
and figured out
what was going on.

"I could kick you, both,
out of school," she said,
but she didn't.

Some lessons
are easier to learn
than others.

Inventory

Peanut Butter is good.
Peanut Butter, and raspberry jam is good.
Soup is good; tomato and garlic soup is good.

Premonition
My back is starting to hurt me,
and all I have done, so far, today
is sleep.

Hey Honey I really like your smile

They act like they are going to introduce you
to members of the opposite sex for free,
but right as you are about to interact
with that special her or him,
they ask you for your credit card number.
There are all forms of predatory pigs
on this planet.

I felt sad about this

She said that I made her smile,
which was a standard remark
provided by the online dating company;
but when I clicked on her profile
the page said that she had been deleted.

Shoo, Go Away

I'm carving my perfect existence
and I don't need you chipping away
at my foundation, trying to build
some sort of world of your own
at my expense.

There is a whole big world out there,
and you and I don't need to interact,
there are millions of targets, other than me.

Reactionary

If my mention of God leads you to talk about Satan,
I will not understand where you are coming from or
why.

Existence

I hear people leaving this house for work;
I don't have to leave this old house for work,
today, which is a blessing. With my hip degenerating,
work has gotten harder and harder, taking a larger toll
on me, with each shift that I work. An old body is given
challenges that a young body is not even aware exists.

I don't know what you call it or why

Friendship does not involve exercising
your insecurities on me, belittling me,
having a good laugh at my expense.

Harmony

The cats lick the food from their bowls,
and then, on occasion, one, or both of them,
will head over to the water bowl, and lick the water.

They are peaceful creatures, the turtles actually fight
more than the cats do; the dogs have not fought recently, at all.
Bundy usually instigates the dog fights,
exerting his Alpha male tendencies on Morisson.

This is a small place that we live in, but for the most part,
everybody gets along.

Buy less; save more.

It seems a simple equation,
yet, on a limited budget,
it seems a near impossible equation.

I think that that cat is spoiled

Since it has turned so cold,
there is a window in this apartment
that I need to close,
but every time that I think to close it
I look up and see Jaggar sitting in it.
I do not want to disturb Jaggar,
it is not that important that I close the window,
immediately.

Solitary Confinement

Who sets your agenda
your parents
your government
your peer group
of you,

it's hard to do,
be independent;
sometimes, you wind up
being alone.

We float in the same boat

You could probably out-argue me,
which doesn't mean that you are right,
it just means that you are armed with
more "facts" than I am because your side
has more talk radio than mine does.
Wait, this is not about picking sides.

Rock Solid

I'm here when you're leaving.
I'm here when you return.
I'm here when you are gone.
I'm still doing my writing,
I'll write a poem
I'll write a song.

I'm here when you're drunk
I'm here when you're hung-over.
I'm here when you need bail,
though I won't pay it.
I'll write a poem.
I'll write a song.

But the game always plays with you

Virgina was talking to The Black Crow's bus driver,
and the singer of the song** knew that this meant
that he was out of luck. There's a hierarchy to things
that you can't ignore, except, maybe, if you refuse
to play the game.

**The Singer being Andy Browne
http://www.reverbnation.com/controller/audio_player/detachable_player/artist_31748?autoPlay=true

Do your thing

The guitars were loud
but I didn't want to
plug my ears. I went
near deaf years ago,
listening to guitars
in bars, watching
aspiring superstars
do their thing.

Her Smile

Her smile
was brighter
than I had imagined,
and I knew
that she had a bright smile.

2 a.m. coffee

Conversation
and smiles
talk of God
talk of Super Stardom
you shouldn't drink coffee
at this hour
if you are planning to sleep.

Studio Dreams

Mix me
Fix me
so that they'll love me
consume me
lay their cash n credit cards down
girls will want to kiss me
guys will want to shake my hand
and be my friend
It doesn't really matter
you spend all this time chasing a dream
and still there you are with you
when you get there.

Life in the little box

I could have loved you
but you were so far away
and I wasn't free to travel;
kids, and dogs, n cats, n turtles,
and all,

but I'm glad that you found someone
who treats you right,
and I'm so happy that you are having
a baby next month.

I have lived through so much with you
in this little box, and all of it has
been fun.


Statements

Maybe, I might be settling down
into my "comfortably numb" stage
that the band Pink Floyd sang about.

Maybe I am one of the, "Mass of man,
quietly despairing," that Thoreau talked about.

"I don't want to be a soldier, Momma,
I don't want to die." John Lennon said that,
and I have always agreed with him.

Second Hand

I feel lonely while they smoke,
it separates us.

No cat in site

My brain is populated by not me
as one of my dogs licks me on the knee.
I am tired, dog tired, as they say.

I am capable of having a real bad attitude

Mostly, I have a smile on my face
I am recovering from a very bad attitude,
and, sometimes, that attitude starts
to slip back on me.

No sale

You found me
in the bargain basement
of the second hand store,
and put me on.
You liked the way I felt,
but not necessarily the way
I looked.

To you

I thought that I was getting closer
but now I can see that I'm getting further away.

I wonder

We used to drink it up,
we'd snort it up,
roll it up, and smoke it up.

We went our separate ways,
I had to sober up,
and I wonder where he is now.

We used to drink it up,
we'd snort it up,
roll it up, and smoke it up.
I started getting arrested.
They started putting me in the loony bin.
I wonder where he is now.

We used to drink it up,
snort it up,
we'd roll it up, and smoke it up.
I haven't done any of that in almost two decades.
I wonder where he is now.

Spirit of The Holidays

I don't have young kids in the abode, anymore,
but I still pull out the Halloween decorations
and scatter them about the porch.
I will also dress the front of the house up for Santa,
in a few weeks.
I even have a ceramic turkey that I put out
to announce the arrival of Thanksgiving, though
this year, since I quit eating meat, I feel
more of a sorrow than a celebration for the clay bird.

Saving Grace

Give it away, don't make them pay;
it's much too early in the morning
to be thinking this way.

Salute the boss; toot his or her horn,
though they do you no good,
knock on wood, they say that a day
will come after the bad that is good.

Put a smile on your face.
It will be your saving grace.

Trying to keep up at eight bucks an hour

My brain only works one way at a time;
it is not much of a multi-tasker,
throw too many things at me and I will spaz out.

The End

She was beautiful, and I loved her, but when she said
you have to move in or it's over I moved on.

I'll try to be squeaky clean

What could I do; it's late, but
I'm not tired? I could wait for
you to arrive, but you won't
because we haven't met yet. Oh
won't that be a glorious day
when we look into each other's eyes.

and on the seventh day...

my son has developed a love
for my homemade burgers
i don t want red meat
to clog up his ass
so
i sneak turkey burgers
into the buns
rather frequently.

one of my dogs is a pig.
he eats his food as if
the hezbollah
are about to
kick in the front door
and shoot him for being
a jew
and steal his food from him.

it's sunday morning
7:30am
the christian guy
several apartments
down
has woken me
revving his pick up truck
much like he does
on the other six days
of the week
that are not the lord's.


Don't look at me bum

My ass is getting wrinkled,
which must mean that I'm getting old.


Opiate

Crazy party animals going wild about a game on a screen
don't even know that the twelve step dance awaits them.

What a drag

You're dragging me down,
whey don't you just put me down
quit dangling me like a clown
on a string.

You don't mean anything to me,
after all that you put me through,
if anything I'd want to get even with you,
but I don't live that way,

so leave, go, walk out that door.


Not on the road
My life is spent inches from a computer screen.
My goals live beyond what I can see.

There's not a thing I can do

Let's get naked, hallucinate
and act like we're having a good time.
Probation, no money for anything
hell yeah, let's smoke one again.

Been there, done that. No thank you.

Do what they do for a buck

You don't like the way you look
in a suit and tie,
you know that you are lining up
like all the other criminals to lie.

A firm handshake, a fake look in the eye,
and he took you for everything that you'd
ever worked for.

If you see a man in a suit and a tie,
coming your way run like hell.

A doesn't equal B

I'm sailing down that road to senility
what used to matter now don t matter to me.

You pay your rent to Satan

In my experience, most Landlords keep your deposit, no matter how many times, you scrub the floor, or vacuum the carpet. At the last place that I lived in, the landlord had flat out told my son that he wasn't getting his deposit back. I wonder what God thinks about all this; it seems to me that Satan has the strongest hand in the home rental business.

I mean really Honey Please Come On

Every once in awhile one of the cats, or dogs will start scratching on the carpet, in this place that I rent. At first, my tendency is to holler, "Stop that," at them, but then I realize that the Landlord don't care about nothing but collecting the rent, so I let them have at.

Stepping out of time

All these guys who were teaching me how to not have
resentments, are resentful of me, now.


Bang Bang
The banging of her hammer onto a wall
doesn't really bother me because I realize
that it is probably a one time thing.
She just moved in, and about a year ago
I was banging on the walls in a similar
fashion, and didn't nobody get mad at me.

No thanks

You're cutting my balls
and you don't expect me to cry
you expect me to smile and thank
you for all you do for me.

No rest for the wicked

How dare bill collectors call on Sunday,
don't they know that it is the day of The Lord.

Last swallow

I'm having a green tea,
and I'm not thinking of you, at all.

Who needs tomorrow?

Bob Seger is singing, "Who needs tomorrow?"
as I look back over my yesterday.

I need tomorrow, Mr. Seger. I need tomorrow.

Make it

Make Revolution in your piss-poor attitude
Make love to the sweet day; embrace it,
make it yours, and share a smile with everybody.
No four letter words.
No temper tantrums.
No hating him or her.

Hollywood Limousines

Love has posted; you need to take a look around.
I can't sing; when I try it's such a disaster,
but I used to get plastered, and let me tell you,
I was, often, such a bastard: got more familiar
with the backseat of police cars than I did with
Hollywood limousines.

No reason to live

Once, I used to know where to go.
Once, I used to know who to adore.
Once, I used to know who to ignore.
I'm having trouble going forward, anymore.
I want to turn, and run out that door,
but I don't think that I'd get away.

Once I used to know who to love.
Once I used to know when to wear the glove.
Now, I lay in the bed all alone.
I don't see why I even pay to have a telephone.
Misery is my best friend.
She'll be with me until the bitter end.
Ain't no rhyme in reason.
I can understand why folks commit treason in love.

Ain't no reason,
ain't no reason,
to keep breathing
if you ain't got love.

If you ain't got love,
you ain't got no reason to live.

Everybody knows

The day is fresh.
The day is shiny.
There are lots of places to go,
even if I don't leave this room.
I feel new.
I feel calm.
No stress.
No need to start The Revolution.
No need to overthrow The Man.
Maybe I'll make pancakes,
I might have some oatmeal.
I'm going to take it slow.
I'm happy that I have nowhere to go.

Her hair

Her hair is lovely.
Her hair is enticing.
I think that I might like
to smell her hair.

Separate Anxiety

I can hardly walk
but I've got to get myself to work
where they don't even notice
my severe limp, or that I often gasp out in pain.
They read us the sales numbers
several time throughout the shift
and, if the numbers are high,
they go yeah, yeah go team,
but the majority of the team will stay
at 8 bucks an hour, forever, and I will limp home..

Maybe not holding hands yet

Walking through the dew
walking anywhere with you
I don't know who you are
I don't know if you are near or far
but I wish that I was walking through the dew
walking with you
talking about whatever we want to.

Bah Humbug

I think that birthdays are a pain,
they mean that you are getting old,
and a colored card with no green inside
is just useless.

For Pigpen S. House

Alternative Reel Poet's Corner K Page
http://www.alternativereel.com/includes/poets-corner/display_review.php?id=00049

David Herrle Subtle Tea K Interview
http://www.subtletea.com/mikelkinterview.htm

Gaining humility, gratitude and insight

Last week, some friends brought me some food
and, yesterday, a friend brought me some food.
I hate to be like a Buddhist Monk begging,
but there are times when you have to ask for help,
and it feels incredibly good to know that
there are those out there who think enough of you
to help you.

Help is a two way street; ever hear of the theory
"pass it on?"

Of friendship

Maybe I have a cavity;
maybe I'm not getting
the variety that I need.
Maybe if you'd smile at me,
that would sow a seed.

Poetry is my drug of choice

I smoke it in the morning
I shoot it for lunch
I line it up and snort it for dinner.

Keep your clothes on

She was looking for an alternative to sex,
and she found murder; foreplay was the last
thing that her victims would ever see.

She said that she couldn't write yesterday

Kerouac had some great advice for this,
he said, that if you are having what you think is
writers block, do not worry about it,
because you are storing away everything
that you see, and feel and it will come out later
onto the paper when it is supposed to.
Kerouac offered some really lousy advice
to the world, but this advice of his is good.








Publication is just a heartbeat away

I haven't had such great luck submitting poems
to publications, the last couple of days.
Other things seem to keep getting in the way,
like having to go to the heart doctor.
What is more important; having a heart
or getting your poems into magazines?








I control the remote

I would rather live alone
than live with a love that is unsatisfactory.
Of course, most loves are unsatisfactory
to some degree, so I will probably live alone
for the rest of my life.










A visit to the Eye Doc is overdue

It is amazing the difference
that eye glass cleaner makes
to one's ability to see.
I recently acquired a new bottle
of the stuff, and it is
near miraculous in its effect
on my reading glass, and thus
on my ability to read.
Sometime, the simple things
can make the greatest difference.








Morisson please don't leave me

Morisson did not run off, this morning,
which is a blessing. He ran off, yesterday,
which is the only time that he has done that
in the year that we have lived here.
I would be crushed if Morisson ran off
and never came back.










She is always welcome to sleep here

When she sleeps here,
which is not all that often,
she sleeps in the window sill.
It is a large window will,
not large enough for me to sleep in,
but she fits in it nicely.
I have it set up for her, this morning;
my nice warm blanket on the bottom
for her to sleep on,
my comforter waiting for her to sleep under,
a heater at the side of her pallet,
there if she needs it.
She called a little while ago, from her mother's house,
and said that she had not gotten enough sleep,
so could she come over to my house, and sleep a bit,
and, of course I told her yes.









Be thankful

I think that the song lyric goes,
"And there is no reason, because
there is no reason..."
You create your own reason.
God lets you, they tell me,
he gives you free will.
But what about the poor boogers
in poor countries starving to death,
do they have any right, or ability
to self determination, or an alcoholic
prowling the streets for tin cans,
or spare change to buy a bottle of Listerine;
how much freedom is there in that?
I guess that the answer lies
in my being thankful for what I have,
being thankful that I am not starving,
being thankful that I am not drunk.


Looking out

My youngest son came over, last night, to hang out with me
Before we ate we walked to the grocery store that is near by
and I bought some things for dinner
and some things that I needed in order to have
some food in the house.
My son grabbed the heavy bag of food
after the cashier had rung it up
and threw the strap on his shoulder
without saying anything
and I realized, later, what a nice act this was,
a young man carrying the heavy load
so that his father wouldn't have to.








They are going to see if I have a heart

I had my first ever EKG, last week
and, today, I go to my first ever Cariology appointment
My Primary Care Doctor says that my heart is fine
that the EKG said that the old ticker was ticking away
happily
which makes me glad
but, they say that I might be anemic
which I guess might mean that I have to start
having lunch and dinner with Popeye.









Runaway

Morisson hauled ass, this morning,
just like he always used to do;
he really scared me, this time,
because this is a new neighborhood
for him to run away in,
much more populated with many more cars
to run him over and kill him
I limped on my bad hip afer him
screaming his name not hopeful
that he would come back because
in the past when he was gone he was gone
and all I could do was sit around the abode
and neurotically wait for him
He came to me though, quite excited
I think that not being able to walk
has taken its toll on him
I can't wait until they take this old hip out
and put the new metal one in
so I can start walking my dog, again.








When soap just won't do

I have to look and see
if I have anything abstract;
the publication that I might
submit to seems to like that
sort of thing.
I hate when they say,
"Read our publication,
and read several back issues
to see what we are looking for;"
it means that most of their poems
will be similar.
Of course, the internet is not
a small place, and there are
a million doors to knock on.
I think I'll take a shower, now,
and leave the submitting for later.








New neighborhood

We are destined to not always be happy,
just as we are destined to not always be sad.

I have lived long periods of sadness;
happiness is something new to me.








Sharing shampoo can save the planet

If I shampoo with cheap shampoo
it snows from my head.

Sometimes I run out of soap;
the government won't let you
buy shampoo with food stamps.

When I shampoo, I must use conditioner,
or else I will never sing like Elvis.

If a teenage gang member broke into my house,
I could not shoot him with shampoo.

I love her. I want to wash her hair,
but I have not met her yet, so I stand alone
with my shampoo bottle.

The police would rather arrest someone
who just washed their hair, than an stinky head.

I'm going to sleep, now.
My pillow is thankful that my hair smells good.




Memory Lapse

Infancy and alcoholic blackouts have much in common,
I don't remember anything from either.

A teenager in her teenage years

Scout slept late, used the bathroom
for a long time, and then left.

It's very irritating

I'm not sure if I have cat dander
or peanut salt in my eyes,
but I am rubbing my eyes
like a carpenter would
run sandpaper across wood.

Just a thought

I turned off my cable TV to save money
during my hip recovery time, and now
The World Series(Yankees vs. Phillies)
looks interesting to me, but I can't
watch it.

Oh well, there are worse things that
could happen to me, like a dragon could
break down my front door and breath fire
on me, the dogs, the cats, and the turtles.

Cast your eyes upon me

I am grumpy this morning,
the only things that appeal to me
are food, and more sleep,
so I will scramble some eggs,
and slide them onto a tortilla,
add some may and hot sauce, eat
and go back to my pillows,
and see if a nap puts me
in a better mood than I am in now.
(A poem's placed in front of your eyes
captures my mood forever, or at least
for the length of time that your eyes
are upon it.)

Do you ever wish that you were a turtle?

Your smile shouldn't be
a reflection of another's face.
Does a hooker need cock,
or does a hooker need money?
The war rages on.
There will always be a war
raging on.
The only war that I can control
is the war that, sometimes, rages
in my head.
One of my turtles sits on the rock
that sits under the hot light
oblivious to all of this.

Long Live Rock

The Rock Musicians in my circle
have all gotten older; which
should tell you something about me.

My Animals Are Not Angels

As I have told you, it is normally my dog, Morisson, who is a wimpy dog, when it comes to stepping up to his dog bowl, and claiming what is his. Tonight, though, Mr. Alpha Dog Bundy, who is usually the one getting Morisson to back down from his food, let a cat, Jaggar the Black Cat put him off from his dinner. Because Jaggar was eating his food, Bundy slithered away like a wimp to the underside of my desk, which is usually where he hangs out, and is always where he hangs out when I say to him, "Go Home."

Jaggar seems to have developed a taste for dog food, and he doesn't care whose dog bowl that he eats it out of. Now, I have an Alpha Cat on my hands, or so it seems.

Useless relationships

We really don't have much interest
in each other; that's why we became
"friends" on Face Book months ago,
and neither one of has ever commented
on the other one's site.

Some kid in Afghanistan is not so lucky

The biggest decision facing me, right now,
is whether to fix a hot tea, or a coffee.

Why don't you pop yourself in my toaster?

Whenever you walk by
I salivate like a Pavlov's Dog
I am like butter
yearning for toast
It's you I crave the most.

I never stocked up in fear of a nuclear war

I bought enough oatmeal to last me
six weeks, the time that The Doctor says
that it will take me to recover
from having my old left hip cut out,
and a new metal version put in.
Well, that is pretty much breakfast covered
I think to myself that I might get sick of
eating oatmeal, but it is much better than
starving to death.

Lunch?
Dinner?

I will have to work on stockpiling
these meals, also; that will have to wait,
though, until the money trickles in.

There are times when I wish that I was
a millionaire, like now, but mostly I
am fine being what and where I am: a man
who writes poems, and cares for very little
else, most of the time.

Any particular reason to quit

I worry about doing the wrong thing,
even as I am doing it, knowing that
The God of The Catholic Church is going
to send me to Hell. I can' say enough
Hail Mary's and Our Father's to save me.

So I turn to Buddha, and I find
that I haven't really done anyting wrong
at all, each organized religion has its
belief system about what is right and wrong,
so if it is not wrong there is no thrill in
doing it, and I stop, never to do it again.

Limp

I'm walking with a cane
but, most of the way, I'm not
insane.

I'm not hiring

It'a taken me two hours and twelve minutes
to decide to have this coffee that I am
about to have. I'm a little neurotic, today;
the old indecisiveness that used to haunt me,
full time, comes back, every once in awhile,
seeking a part time position. I try to point out
that there is a recession, and that part time
jobs are like full time jobs; they are just
not available like they used to be, so, neurosis
don't come in here thinking that you can
just grab a hold of me like you used to,
because you can't.

I am what I am

I have my moments of doubt and pain,
like today: I thought about quitting
as a poet, I mean why bother, nobody
cares about poetry, they care about
cars, and houses and college educations
for the kids, none of which I have,
or have provided, just poems, maybe
fifty thousand of them. I was going to
stand over the toilet, today, and
flush each one of my poems down the toilet,
one by one, one at a time; and then I was
going to head over to my desk, and
open my laptop, and put the ten thousand
or so poems on my hard drive in trash.
But, after all that, I didn't know
what I would do next, you see this poet
thing is such a part of me that I'm
not really cut out to be a fireman,
or a cop, or a manager at some retail store
somewhere. I guess that I'm just fucked.

A poem for you know who

Sometimes, I act desperate; cuz I am
Sometimes I'm as calm as a lamb,
but not one that they are going to slaughter
to be your dinner
that lamb is scared as hell
how could anything living
not be scared when it is about to be killed
just because we are human
we think that all other living things
were put on this planet for us.
I hate to make a fuss,
but I don't think that that is true.

My anger shall subside

She's weird(and her poetry mostly sucks,
though she has a Masters in it,) but I've
tried to give her props; I'm not sure why.
I don't want to bang her. I don't want to
take her classes. But, I'm through with all
of that, the superficial polite bullshit
between two people who really have no respect
at all for each other; why bother, why not
just let it all hang out? Why politely smile,
and chit chat in passing? It's such a waste
of time. It would be much purer if she just
said to me, "Fuck you," and I smiled back at
her, "Fuck you," and then we went on about
our day not having wasted any of each other's
time on the sidewalk, or anywhere else.

I'm looking for love

In the want ads
on tv
in the movies
on the cover of magazines.



Like helium escaping from an open balloon

Time passes me by like the air emitted from this fan
that sits near my desk. I can never recycle the air
that blows by me, I can never capture the time that
has passed me. It is raining outside; each drop of rain
has a life of its own, like me, but I am have a greater freedom
to live my life; I do not have to splat into the pavement.

Understanding

I want to sleep
I want to feel good,
all the time.
I want to sip on coffee,
and then nap, all day.
I don't want to feel pain.
I praise The Lord for
this wonderful existence,
fully realizing that
there will be pain in it, also.
Ouch.

The Search

What am I looking for
and if I find it
will I know it?
Is it God that I should
be looking for, not
cash, cars, the security
of your love, fame;
fame will fix me,
stalkers and all,
the paparazzi, I can't
wait, but wait, there is
God, should I put him on hold?

"What is highly valued among men is detestable in God's sight."
Luke 16:13-15

In this great nation

Children are running away from homes
where there is not enough money to
maintain them; or their mother is a drunk,
who beats them, so it is easier to leave.

And some old man sticks his dick in her,
because she prostitutes herself to "live."

Pass the biscuits?

I had scrambled tofu with onions and cheese
with Yahweh. He smiled at me often, as we spoke.

"However much we may idealize and idolize him , he inevitably reflects earthly decay and imperfection."
--Ernest Becker


Sometimes, it feels like there ain't no end in sight,
and that I'm going to lose this fight, I never thought
I would give in. I never thought that I would surrender,
but, some days, it feels like sticking your head in a blender.


It's been awhile

That first sip of coffee
that I just took,
reminded me of how great
pussy can taste,
not that pussy tastes like
coffee, but that they are
both really wonderful oral experiences.

Are you being good?

"Are you being good?
Are you being good..."
I say to the cat
who doesn't like
being petted, after I
have scooped him up.
"Are you being good,
are you going to let me
pet you?" I say,
as I feel his claws
dig into my rib cage.

When anger got me high

I have nothing to be pissed off about, today,
which, in the old days, would have pissed me off.

One by one

One by one
my cats and dogs
will die
in front of me,
my turtles
will outlive us all
they will see me
go belly up.

How often is it that she has all the brains in the family?

I might not do any more "readings,"
it's never the cute girl in the front row
who comes up and tells me what a great poet
I am, but her husband who is laughing about
one line in one poem, acting like he dug it,
but really it hit too close to home,
and he is trying to figure out a way
to tell me what an asshole I am.

"I need a rich girl,"
ha ha, he says, "I need one of those, too,"
and I'm not sure if he realizes that
his wife is standing right behind him,
but I am pretty sure that she is certain
that she made a big mistake in marrying this prick.

Get your popcorn now

I want her to read me
and say: breathtaking,
but then she will say
but, he barely pays
his rent. I could try
to pawn it off as
some sort of buddhist-like
vow of poverty, tell her
that I am trying to
get closer to The Lord
than I am to a buck,
but she won't care. She
will marry an accountant
who has just been named
ceo of a bookstore chain
and he will cut back on
everything that the employees
of that chain have been getting
so that he can give her even more;
and she will leave him
for a movie star. The end.


Something like that

If the high speed modem doesn't go
as fast as I think that it should go,
I get frustrated. Do you realize that
if I became who I wanted to be, that
I would still be me? And you, well you
are who you are, and I am quite unqualified
to tell you where you are, or where
you might be, if you got to where
you wanted to be.

Neurotic Waste

I fretted all afternoon
that I would not have
the internet ready for her
when she got here after school
and then she called me
and said, "Hey, can I hang out?"
So, now I am not sure
if the internet will work
on her computer, and I am
wondering why I wasted my time worrying.

Writing some poems in the p.m.

I can tell when I am on a roll,
and I go with it, like a gambler
rolls the dice when he is winning.

Lack of trust in their monopoly

It is wet out, and I have left
an unnecessary light on, which
will give the predators at the
utility company reason to drink my blood.

Have I been putting poetry before God?

What is The Lord, who can really define such,
the jesus freak, the buddhist monk seeking to
manipulate you through manipulation, muslim
girls hiding from you in plain site at the grocery store.
I have left out The Jews, and The Krishna's.
They will be mad, but not in the name of The Lord,
for The Lord will not let you be mad in his or her name.

Psoriasis

I know that it is going to bleed
but I scratch it, anyway; fiercely,
until the blood covers my fingernails,
and drips down from my knee towards the floor.

Knowledge

I know nothing more about Robespierre
than that they cut his head off.

Nothing thumped

I took a bath like Naaman
but I didn't offer Jesus coin
The answer came not from the top
but from the bottom.


It won't win The Series

My fast dsl is not fast;
it is slow.

Yes

It is raining and I'm so glad that I have nowhere that I have to be.
I can sit here at my desk; I can lay there on my bed. I can putter
about my kitchen. I don't have to get wet making it to the time clock

I'll let you figure it out

"Oh God, yes. Oh God, yes."
I could be referring to
some guy having sex with
a girl that he is really into,
or I could be referring to
some guy who is thanking
The Lord for his great existence.

Refill

So I had this coffee at midnight
and it woke me up around 4:30,
so what do I do: I make another coffee;
seemed logical at the time.

You got that right

It's not consistent
like the smell of my coffee is
but the bill is
and that just ain't right,
but I know that what ain't right
ain't always righted.
You got that right

"Human beings have very little real power over their lives.
Ninety-five percent of what sets the course of their lives
is completely outside their control. This includes the century
and place they are born in, who their parents and family are,
their childhood environment, physical stature, genetically
hardwired talents, and most of the circumstances that they
find themselves in."

--Timothy Keller, P. 110 "Counterfeit Gods"

There's a lesson in here

Nebuchadnezzar was in charge,
but he had trouble sleeping.

See through to the interior

There are billions of windows
that you could look in,
but I want you to look in mine,
and tell me what you see,
and if you like what you see
inside that window,
will you open it and come inside?

With time on our hands

With the economy being what it is
many of you are finding more time
on your hands than you are used to having.
One friend just told me
that he is smoking more
while unemployed, though
he is still trying to quit.
Mostly, I like free time;
being that I am broke all of the time,
I am not affected by the economy.

An explanation

Too much coffee makes me skittish
too little money makes me feel unworthy
to ask women out
so I sit here at my laptop
and try to explain it all to you
the madness
the happiness
and everything in between.
My dogs understand, but I'm not sure you will.

It's on sale on aisle 9

Your tuna can kill you
they put poison in it
or at they least allow them
to sell it with
an "acceptable level"
of poison in it.
What the hell is
an acceptable level
of poison?
Well, it didn't kill him
right away, it took a decade
to do it: he was one of our
most loyal tuna consumers,
and that is how we repaid him;
we killed him.

Jesus is hanging in the kitchen for her sins

I believe that she believes in Jesus,
not that if she closes her eyes
for long enough that there will be
a new Mercedes parked under
her Thanksgiving tree, but that he died
so that her sins would be forgiven,
but she's not a sinner, so he seems
to have no purpose in her life,
other than staring down at her
from the refrigerator in her kitchen
She bought him in Vegas, and she knows
that he loves her.

Do I have a heart?

I fed the animals immediately, this morning,
mingling in the making of my morning cup of
coffee, and right as I was about to take my
first sip of the divine nectar, I remembered
that the people from the Heart Doctor's office
had said, "No Caffeine." Bummer I thought to
myself, glad that I had remembered what they
had said sooner than later. Can you imagine me
on the Cardiologist's treadmill soaked in
caffeine, "Why your heart rate is very high,
Mr. K, you can't have this new hip." Morrison
is trying to pry my arm away from the laptop.
I pet him a little bit, and feel guilty that
I am not giving him more attention, that this
laptop is often my priority. One day Morisson
will pass, and I may regret all the opportunities
that I let go to scratch his head, or to rub
his butt because I was ruthlessly pursuing the word.







Nearly Screwed

The bus came early, which meant that I would have been late
for my appointment at The Cardiologist's...
I wanted to call them and tell them that I couldn't make it;
I was agitated and hungry
(you can't eat when you are going to be tested by The Heart Doctor)
Instead I called a friend
the same friend who I have been calling
for twenty years: Kevin
I explained the situation to him
feeling desperate, feeling a little depressed,
maybe a tad bit angry that everything
was not perfect in my life this morning;
he said sure, with a smile over the phone.
I felt relieved.
It would be best not to miss this appointment.
I need approval from the heart doctor
to get this hip out; this hip that is really
bothering me, this morning,
this hip that is making it darn near impossible
to walk, this hip that is rubbing bone on bone.
I need this hip out. I need them to put
the new metal one in, the one that will set off
the metal detector at the airport; and for all that
to happen, the heart doctor has to say that my heart
can stand being put to sleep for two hours. I wish
that I could sleep now, and eat, and drink coffee,
but I can't.







They're not all drug dealing thugs

I'm getting good at walking
with my cane; I've learned
how to get in sync with it
put my weight on it at just
the right time.

At the bus stop that I was
waiting for a bus at, this morning,
kids were going to the high school
across the street, starting their
day; I was surprised at
how friendly so many of them were
to me, saying, "Good Morning,"
or "How are you?" with smiles.

Since they asked, and since
they smiled it was impossible
not to smile back and impossible
not to feel great.








The ultrasound

The first stop in my long morning
at the heart doctor's office was
at the ultrasound station.
It was weird to look on the screen
and see my heart doing what it does,
pining for love, just kidding,
it looked like a big ole muscled
writhing in on itself, contracting
and expanding looking for another heart
to join it.











Shoot me up

The second stop on my heart doctor morning
was the nuclear something stage, where a
man named Barry put drugs in my so that he
could see my heart; you would think that
during all those years that I did drugs
that someone would have seen my heart and
fallen in love with it.

Barry shot drugs in me on my third stop,
this morning, they made me queasy, and
made my body think that I have been walking
on the treadmill, which I couldn't because
of my hip, which was the whole reason that
I was at the heart doctor's office, to get
his approval to get that old hip out, and
put a new one in, an event that I can't wait
to have happen.








Conclusion

That was my day: in between each of
those stations was a fairly long wait.
I got to the doctor's office at 9 a.m.
and I left at about 2. Tomorrow, I will
call down and try to find out what
the results are, or at the least,
find out if the heart doctor is going to
give his approval for me to have my
hip taken out. I used my walking cane
today and I was amazed by how polite
people, especially, young people were
to me, holding doors, and letting me
get on, and off, the bus first. There
is hope for humanity, if we can just
get these greedy corporations, and
manipulative governments to stop screwing us.




Coffee

Coffee. Coffee. Coffee. Coffee. Coffee.
Coffee. Coffee. Coffee. Coffee. Coffee.
Coffee. Coffee. Coffee. Coffee. Coffee.
Coffee. Coffee. Coffee. Coffee. Coffee.
Coffee. Coffee. Coffee. Coffee. Coffee.
Coffee. Coffee. Coffee. Coffee. Coffee.
Coffee. Coffee. Coffee. Coffee. Coffee.
Coffee. Coffee. Coffee. Coffee. Coffee.
Coffee. Coffee. Coffee. Coffee. Coffee.
Coffee. Coffee. Coffee. Coffee. Coffee.
Coffee. Coffee. Coffee. Coffee. Coffee.
Coffee. Coffee. Coffee. Coffee. Coffee.
Coffee. Coffee. Coffee. Coffee. Coffee.
Coffee. Coffee. Coffee. Coffee. Coffee.
Coffee. Coffee. Coffee. Coffee. Coffee.
Coffee. Coffee. Coffee. Coffee. Coffee.
Coffee. Coffee. Coffee. Coffee. Coffee.
Coffee. Coffee. Coffee. Coffee. Coffee.
Coffee. Coffee. Coffee. Coffee. Coffee.
Coffee. Coffee. Coffee. Coffee. Coffee.
Coffee. Coffee. Coffee. Coffee. Coffee.
Coffee. Coffee. Coffee. Coffee. Coffee.
Coffee. Coffee. Coffee. Coffee. Coffee.
Coffee. Coffee. Coffee. Coffee. Coffee.
Coffee. Coffee. Coffee. Coffee. Coffee.
Coffee. Coffee. Coffee. Coffee. Coffee.
Coffee. Coffee. Coffee. Coffee. Coffee.
Coffee. Coffee. Coffee. Coffee. Coffee.
Coffee. Coffee. Coffee. Coffee. Coffee.
Coffee. Coffee. Coffee. Coffee. Coffee.
Coffee. Coffee. Coffee. Coffee. Coffee.
Coffee. Coffee. Coffee. Coffee. Coffee.

--Mikel K
(For Cyndi Craven)

Hitler

Hitler. Hitler. Hitler. Hitler. Hitler.
Hitler. Hitler. Hitler. Hitler. Hitler.
Hitler. Hitler. Hitler. Hitler. Hitler.
Hitler. Hitler. Hitler. Hitler. Hitler.
Hitler. Hitler. Hitler. Hitler. Hitler.
Hitler. Hitler. Hitler. Hitler. Hitler.
Hitler. Hitler. Hitler. Hitler. Hitler.
Hitler. Hitler. Hitler. Hitler. Hitler.
Hitler. Hitler. Hitler. Hitler. Hitler.
Hitler. Hitler. Hitler. Hitler. Hitler.
Hitler. Hitler. Hitler. Hitler. Hitler.
Hitler. Hitler. Hitler. Hitler. Hitler.
Hitler. Hitler. Hitler. Hitler. Hitler.
Hitler. Hitler. Hitler. Hitler. Hitler.
Hitler. Hitler. Hitler. Hitler. Hitler.
Hitler. Hitler. Hitler. Hitler. Hitler.
Hitler. Hitler. Hitler. Hitler. Hitler.
Hitler. Hitler. Hitler. Hitler. Hitler.
Hitler. Hitler. Hitler. Hitler. Hitler.
Hitler. Hitler. Hitler. Hitler. Hitler.
Hitler. Hitler. Hitler. Hitler. Hitler.
Hitler. Hitler. Hitler. Hitler. Hitler.
Hitler. Hitler. Hitler. Hitler. Hitler.
Hitler. Hitler. Hitler. Hitler. Hitler.
Hitler. Hitler. Hitler. Hitler. Hitler.
Hitler. Hitler. Hitler. Hitler. Hitler.
Hitler. Hitler. Hitler. Hitler. Hitler.
Hitler. Hitler. Hitler. Hitler. Hitler.
Hitler. Hitler. Hitler. Hitler. Hitler.
Hitler. Hitler. Hitler. Hitler. Hitler.
Hitler. Hitler. Hitler. Hitler. Hitler.

Jesus

Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus.
Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus.
Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus.
Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus.
Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus.
Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus.
Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus.
Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus.
Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus.
Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus.
Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus.
Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus.
Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus.
Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus.
Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus.
Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus.
Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus.
Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus.
Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus.
Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus.
Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus.
Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus.
Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus.
Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus.
Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus.
Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus.
Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus.
Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus.
Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus.
Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus.
Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus.
Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus

Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K.
Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K.
Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K.
Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K.
Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K.
Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K.
Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K.
Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K.
Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K.
Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K.
Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K.
Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K.
Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K.
Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K.
Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K.
Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K.
Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K.
Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K.
Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K.
Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K.
Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K.
Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K.
Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K.
Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K.
Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K.
Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K.
Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K.
Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K.
Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K.
Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K.
Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K.
Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K. Mikel K.



I love you when

I love you when I'm blind.
I love you when I'm out of my mind.
I love you when I can't find my way home.
I love you when you have locked me out.


To make love stay

The question's out
In round about way
She said that she loved me
Now she wants to know
if I'm here to stay?.

Day to day
we'll have to play it;
if I said I knew what
I was going to do forever
that would be a lie

But, sometimes in love
you've got to say
things that you're not sure of
to make love stay.






Bundy as a metaphor

The words are slow to come,this morning,
like Bundy is when he knows
that I am locking him in the bathroom,
because I don't want him mingling
with a service technician
or jumping all over my grandson.

There is nothing new to write about this morning

Everything is basically the same as when I went to bed,
last night, but, once again, I am intensely thankful
for waking to face a new day.

Makes sense to me

Harmony is discordant with things
that she thinks are wrong.

Some ads are stupid and or misleading

Who cares if a family owns
and operates the car dealership;
can't families be crooks, too?

EVERYBODY but me, is watching The World Series

I had them take away my cable boxes
I was going to save money
and unglue myself from the tube
I'm not a real addict,
but if you watch it at all
you are a sucker, there are
better things that you can do
with your time.
So, I'm doing them, I'm not watching
The World Series like EVERYBODY else
is doing.
I feel alone.

Why should I pay to feel like shit?

I was not a thrill seeker as a child;
in fact I was so not a thrill seeker
that one afternoon at this amusement park,
somewhere in Connecticut,
that I was at with my family,
they had to stop the roller coaster,
and let me off, because I was screaming
so loud in fear, nearly drowning in my own tears.
I remember the last time that I rode a roller coaster:
it was with my son.
When the ride came to a conclusion,
I turned to my son and I said, "that's it,
I'm never riding a roller coaster, again,
you are old enough to ride them yourself, now."
And, I have never ridden one since,
and I will never ride one again.
I hate roller coasters. I hate anything
that scares the shit out of me,
and that includes slasher flicks,
horror flicks, movies of that nature.
Why should I pay to feel like shit?



Thoughts and questions on a Sunday

I want compassion,
yet I am not sure
if I am compassionate.

I want love,
but can I give love?

I want money,
but am I willing to
earn it?

Do I point the finger
at others,
and not look at myself?

Was I raised Catholic,
am I still full of guilt,
though I left The Church
over a quarter of a century ago?