April 20-30 2023 Do Drop In

Index

April 21—A poem about being a grown-up
April 22—Twins, pairs, doubles, or doppelgangers…
April 23—Incorporate Shakespeare in some way
April 24—Bird and the bees
April 25—Ask a question
April 26—Confess!
April 27—Commerce, money, acquisition, retail therapy…?!
April 28—Coincidence or synchronicity
April 29—The wow factor!
April 30—The whew factor!

April 21—A poem about being a grown-up

There is a phrase
Common among younger people
In their 20’s and 30’s

Called “adulting”
Referring to all the things
That adults have to do

I always thought
That this phrase
Was almost nonsensical

But then I became
An adult
Back in the day

Where there was
No such word
To describe
Being an adult

And becoming an adult
Was a much simpler thing
Then in the era
Of helicopter parents

Overprotective
Of their children

And young children
Are not allowed
To “free range”
Be out in public

Without their over
Protective “parental units”
Watching their every movement

April 22—Twins, Pairs, Doubles, Or Doppelgangers…

They say
That in this world
Everyone has a doppelganger
An evil twin

Someone who looks like you
Sounds like you
But are not you

But I seriously doubt
That there is a doppelganger
For me

I like to think
That when God created me
He threw away the mold

Creating me as a unique person
John “Jake” Cosmos Aller
The one and only

April 23—Incorporate Shakespeare In Some Way

shakesphear — Circa 1600, English playwright and poet William Shakespeare (1564-1616). (Photo by Stock Montage/Getty Images)

I wrote my first poem
In 1971
When I was 15.

And have written thousands
Of poems since then
Now I am close to 70.

But during all these years
There is one poetical form
I have only attempted once.

And that attempt
To write a Shakespearean sonnet
Was just lame.

And I have written
Several COVID sonnets
Which were invented
During the COVID pandemic

Shakespearean sonnets
Just don’t work for me
Just can’t hear
the iambic pentameter meter.

Although I can get
the rhyming scheme down.

Wish there was
An online poetic meter dictionary
Don’t know why
Someone has not come up
With that.

I can’t hear traditional meter patterns
Perhaps because I grew up with
Severe learning disability
Half blind and half deaf

With a severe speech impediment
Did not speak properly
Until the 3rd grade
After years of speech therapy

And so perhaps
I just can’t hear
The iambic pentameter
Or other meter based Poems
Which I generally avoid.

But the Burns Sonnet
Like a Shakespearean sonnet
But without the iambic pentameter
That sounds like a form I can do.

They say Burns wrote sonnets
In this way
Because as a Scotsman
With a thick accent

He could never hear
Iambic petameter
So he wrote his sonnets
Ignoring meter.

That inspires me
To try my hand
At a Burns sonnet.

April 24—Bird And The Bees

The ants do it
The bees do it
The birds do it

The cats do it
The deer do it
The dogs do it.

The monkeys
in the zoo
do it.

So why can’t
We do it?
Let’s make love.

Before the cows
Come home
In the morning sun.

April 25—Ask A Question

What is love, tell me if you know

Love is what it is
Those who know don’t tell
And those who tell don’t know

Do you know what love is, Joe?

What is love, tell me if you know

And how can you make it grow?
More than just biochemistry
It is pure madness

What is love, tell me if you know

Love is what it is
And sometimes
Love is what it ain’t
That’s the Zen of love

What is love, tell me if you know

Based loosely on the classic Tower of Power Song, “What is hip?”

What Is Hip Lyrics

[Verse 1]

So ya wanna dump out yo' trick bag
Ease on in a hip thang
But you ain't exactly sure what is hip
So you started to let your hair grow
Spent big bucks on your wardrobe
Somehow, ya know there's much more to the trip

[Chorus]
What is hip?
Tell me, tell me, if you think you know
What is hip?
If you're hip
The question, "Will it show?"
You're into a hip trip
Maybe hipper than hip
What is hip?
[Verse 2]
You became a part of a new breed
Been smoking' only the best weed
Hangin' out with the so-called "Hippie set."
Seen in all the right places
Seen with just the right faces
You should be satisfied, but it ain't quite right

[Chorus]
What is hip?
Tell me, tell me, if you think you know
What is hip?
If you're hip
The question, "Will it show?"
You're into a hip trip
Maybe hipper than hip
What is hip?

[Break]
Come on

[Refrain]
Hipness is. What it is
Hipness is. What it is
Hipness is. What it is
Sometimes hipness is, what it ain't