thanks so much for making my day. I am starting my forth april poetry challenge today and will be posting daily updates on my poems throughout the month but will also promote your site on my blog and social media accounts.
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I am writing to let you know
today is your final day of life
the future is undefined
it is what you want
all over the world
people on their own
are rewriting the future
today is your final day of the future
people do what you want
for the future is not written
Jake Aller is a retired U.S. Diplomat living in South Korea. He has served in ten countries around the world including India, and with the Peace Corps in Korea.
so much nonsense on the right and left about the Corona virus.
God is not sending the Corona Virus as a Punishment, Black Out Poem
-Robert_Jeffress_(cropped)
Original text
During a press briefing today to address the nation’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, President Trump was asked about certain Christian pastors who plan to defy state lockdown orders and hold Easter church services this Sunday.
“I’ve had talks with the pastors, and most of the pastors agree … that they are better off doing what they are doing, which is, distancing,” Trump said, adding that the pastors want to “get back to church so badly.”
Trump then referred to a notorious pastor who sits on his religious advisory council.
“I’m going to be watching Pastor Robert Jeffress, who’s been a great guy,” Trump said. “He’s a great guy and I’m going to be watching on a laptop.”
Jeffress is known for his litany of statements demonizing the LGBT community, abortion, and secular people. One of his most reviled comments came in 2015 when he said the 9/11 attacks were God’s punishment on America for abortion.
“People ask me all the time,” Jeffress said during a speech at Liberty University. “‘Well, I just don’t understand why God wouldn’t protect our nation and he would allow these radical Muslims in 2001 to kill 3,000 of our citizens and why God doesn’t protect us. Surely, God doesn’t use pagans to bring judgment upon his own people, does he?’”
“I’ve had talks with the pastors, and most of the pastors agree … that they are better off doing what they are doing, which is, distancing,” Trump said, adding that the pastors want to “get back to church so badly.”
Trump then referred to a notorious pastor who sits on his religious advisory council.
“I’m going to be watching Pastor Robert Jeffress, who’s been a great guy,” Trump said. “He’s a great guy and I’m going to be watching on a laptop.”
Black out text
the coronavirus pandemic, President Trump
hold Easter church services this Sunday.
“I’ve had talks with the pastors, get back to church so badly.”
“He’s a great guy and I’m going to be watching on a laptop.”
The 9/11 attacks were God’s punishment on America for abortion.
“People ask me all the time,” ‘Well, I just don’t understand why God wouldn’t protect our nation and he would allow these radical Muslims in 2001 to kill 3,000 of our citizens and why God doesn’t protect us. Surely, God doesn’t use pagans to bring judgment upon his own people, does he?’”
Poem
Corona Pandemic is Not’s God’s Punishment
Amid the coronavirus pandemic,
President Trump
Attended virtual Easter church services
I’ve had talks with the pastors,
We need to get back
to church so badly.”
Rev Jeffries is a great guy
I’m going to be watching on a laptop.”
Rev Jeffries said
The 9/11 attacks were God’s punishment
on America for abortion.
“People ask me all the time,”
‘Well, I just don’t understand
why God wouldn’t protect our nation
and he would allow these
radical Muslims in 2001
to kill 3,000 of our citizens
and why God doesn’t protect us
.
Surely, God doesn’t use pagans
to bring judgment
upon his own people,
does he?’”
Rev Jeffries
I spoke to God
This morning
He confirmed
He did not cause 9-11
To bring judgement
On the US
For abortion
He went on to say
The corona virus
Is beyond his control
And he is not sending it
To punish the US
Or the world
His final words
Please tell Rev Jeffries
To simply STFU
poetry super highway black out poem
Conversation with the Gods About Corona Virus
buddha figure
jesus
shiva
god
Rev. Jake ’s on-line sermon on the Corona Virus
I am reverend Jake and I have a message from God
Last night I had a vision from God
it was his message to the world
about this pandemic we are facing
I found myself in a large room
Jehovah, God, was sitting in the middle
surrounded by the other Gods
they were all there
Jesus on his right
Allah on his left
Buddha behind him
Ganesh, Shiva, Kali
Mohammed, Joseph Smith and other prophets
Gabriel and other angels abound
St Peter in front of his as his Chief of Staff
Zeus, Jupiter, Minerva and ancient
other gods all around him
God spoke up
He said
I have a message for you
to give to your people
all of your people
no matter what religion
or no religion at all
it is all one after all
first the corona virus
is a natural phenomenon
we have no control
over forces of nature
and we did not send
it to you
to punish you
for homosexuality
or anything else at all
Second obey the health directives
stay at home
do your services on line
it is okay with us
we are fine with that
the blood of Jesus
will not save you
If you are in a crowded place
like church or a mosque service
the virus will spread
and catch you in the end
Prayers alone will not save you
but please keep praying
we do listen to your prayers
but we can only do so much
So please don’t allow the virus
to spread
because of your ignorance
and fear
realize that in the end
the virus will do its thing
and you will survive
and we
all the gods here
love you humans
and wish you well
so stay at home
practice self distancing
Welcome to Cosmos’s 2020 April Poetry. This is the fourth attempt to do this. For this year I am doing things a bit different. Since I am in Korea I will be posting a day later from here starting April 2 which will be April first in the U.S.First I will update my poems daily here (along with audio clips, photos clips, and links to various prompts etc)
Second I will update my links on the following sites where I have been posting poetry for some time – all my April poems will be here regardless of whether I post them elsewhere – I will be posting one to two per day on these sites and writing anywhere from two to five per day, with many of them not being posted at all so I can accumulate some “unpublished poems” but I will list them all here either as posted or unposted. The posted ones will have audio, photos and links occasionally to other sites.
Here are the sites along with the links to my poetry posted there.
And on my various FB poetry sites will post my poems on five different sites per day and since I’ve lost count of how many I am following well that could be a lot, but I will list them as I post on them in case anyone is interested in finding poetry and writing groups on FB
Finally, love to hear how others are coping both with corona virus, and with the April Poetry month. I suspect that there will be a lot of interest this year since people are staying home!
Now let’s get to the poems shall we? I will update this daily
Index
Chronological list
Wednesday April 1
Hope Springs Eternal Writers’s Digest
Jake Cosmos Aller the one an Onlypoetry super highway prompt
the Virus from Hell
Morphing Images from Hellish Nightmare old poem for writing.com dreamsapes
The Bombs that Took Her Away– from writers.comprompt – posted all poetry and poetry soup
Cosmic Poet Modified Bio Poemfor poetry soup contest – not otherwise
Morphing Images from a Hellish Nightmare
Kimchi BluesPoetry Soup prompt
Thursday April 2
humor keeps us sane pensively unleashed unpublished
First Kiss with My wife creativity talents unleashed posted
Birth of New World creativity talents unleashed unpublished
Peacock Speaks creativity talents unleashed unpublished
Iguana Talks to Mankind creativity talents unleashed unpublished
six word poem naked woman wearing mask creative talents unleashed
space poem writing digest prompt
Search for the holly grail writing.com prompt
berkeley maps writing.com prompt
Recalling people I barely knew writing.com elegy poem
corona fears
follow your dreams writer’s digest day three prompt
Coffee’s intoxicating smell wakes me up poetry superhighway prompt
follow your dreams writer’s digest day three prompt
Sunday April 5th
I wish for peace and happiness – Writer Digest prompt
Life as a evil Mastermind criminal – poetry superhighway prompt
Born bad to the bone heartbreaker – writing.com prompt
Bad craziness all poetry contest -open poem
Bus rider all poetry wild country contest – old poem
old man in the mirror must die all poetry old age contest -old poem
Ten million stories in the Naked City – all poetry contest to write a Naked Poem
call of Cthulu HP lovecraft all poetry contest
Having a dog saved my life – all poetry contest – to write a poem about overcoming fears
Monday April 6th
The Mist from Hell Descends on the land
Conversation with the Gods About Corona Virus
The Moment that changed my Life sonnet format
we must walk the path of honesty in these dark dangerous times
cats are alien creatures from Space
God’s Confession
Drinking My Way to the Highway to Hell
Capitol Hill in the Spring *
*Published Writer’s Newsletter June 2017
Under the canopy of the pine trees we lay – from the poem
‘Under the canopy of pine trees
Tuesday April 7th
Smartest Man in the World All Poetry Dunning-Krueger Syndrome Poem
Great Leader Tigerjade Writing.com formal poem
weasel words set mental traps for us all writers digest prompt
it was a fine late August day when I met the love of my life poetry superhighway prompt
to those I have lost writing.com prompt to write an elegy
The Giant Nazi Spider Speaks prompt to write a poem based on a novel plot line
life is a dream of chocolate covered trees national poetry month prompt
We live in an Orwellian world
Wednesday April 8th
새영 지마 saeyeong jima plays out in life writing.digest prompt
the Terrorists were succeeding beyond their wildest dreams poetry super highway prompt
corona tanka National Poetry Month Prompt
The best meal of my life writing.com dew drop in prompt
Angela Came to Me for 38 years Bringing me lots of $
poemunzine prompt
the lion dreams of impossible dreams all poetry impossible dream contest
corona haiku all poetry corona haiku poem all poetry haiku contest
I met My fate that Date – Fan Story Prompt
Thursday April 9
the future is coming writers digest
the fate of the world rests with us – poetry superhighway prompt – inspired by Beethoven’s fifth symphony
creative talents prompt the old man in the lake sees God
white flower of death haiku creative talents
creative talents balloons of hope
creative talents Cthulu lurks in the evil cabin in the words
creative talents unleashed evil woman with mad hair grins
the best day of my life all poetry wedding poems contest
Friday April 10
Walking in the woodlands of Limbo writers digest ekphrastic poetry prompt
New Bodies in New Era poetry soup prompt to write a poem about changes
life interrupted by corona writing.com Daily Dew Drop interruption
Saudade for friends I have lost writing.com Saudade poem
My Lover’s body inspires me concrete poem – national poetry month prompt day 9 national Poetry Month Prompt Day Nine Concrete Poetry
National poetry month prompt day eight Vogan Bot Poetry
The end of the world news depresses me National poetry Month Day Seven poem inspired by the news
the Devil speaks in the Garden of Earthly Delights ekphrastic garden of earthly delights national poetry month prompt day 6
President Trump Haunts My Dreams National Poetry Month day four prompt image from a dream
ten words random rhymes national poetry month Day three prompt
674 Santa Rosa Avenue, Berkeley, California National Poetry month day two prompt specific place poem 674 Santa Rosa Berkeley California
My life appears to a dream national Poetry Month Day One Prompt Metaphor for Life as a Dreamer
Trump Derangement Syndrome Blues Fan story 15 syllable poem contest
Saturday April 11
To My Dream Woman Who Loves Me
writers digest prompt to write a x Blank x
Corona Virus was Not Sent as God’s Punishment
poetry super highway black out poem
coffee Whitney
writing.com Whitney poem form
coffee Hay Na Ku
writing.com formal poetry prompt
writing.com Dew Drop Inn Daily poem
women playing lute contemplating god all poetry contest
Sunday April 12
Life spinning out of control
writers digest prompt to write a “control poem”
early evening delight
poetry superhighway promo – write a poem about early evening
Cosmos the Evil AI Takes Over
writing.Com Daily Dew Drop write a poem about technology or AI
My morning coffee wakes me up for day
writing. com octameter poem
casino thoughts old poem for all poetry contest on addiction
Life began that day all poetry contest
Monday April 13
I believe in ghosts
writers digest spirit poem based on a true storytoday’s doodle poem
Poetry Super Highway Doodle Poem
Doors
writing.com daily dew drop prompt – write a poem about Doorswhat I know Coffee Trois-par-Huit
Writing. com Trois Par Huit Poem
Things that bug me all poetry contest
Tuesday April 14
Purpose of my Life writer digest write a purpose poem
poetry superhighway challenge to revise a poem from the bottom -up
Love Cherita writing.com formal poem Cherita
Korean Pottery of Love writing.com Daily Dew Drop
2019 Months of the Year all poetry contest entry
Media Madness all poetry acrostic poetry contest
AI Madness Takes Over the World all poetry dark poetry contest
Wednesday April 15
the Chaos King is his Element Writer digest Chaos poem prompt
best Cocktail Ever Poetry superhighway prompt to write a cocktail poem/ break a sonnet for Day Dew Inn writing.com
Dream of my Life Atlantic magazine poetry prompt to write a poem about a dream
why I am an Atheist all poetry Atheist poetry contes
Recharging my Batteries All poetry contest
Thor on a rampage all poetry contest
coffee nonet fan story contest
coffee Musset poem poetry soup contest
Wednesday April 1
Hope Springs Eternal in our Winter of our Discontent writer’s digest prompt Posted
corona virus
Hope springs eternal in the winter of our discontent
On the daily news that fills us with dread
Perfect storm of hatred, fear and despair
Everywhere we go nonstop fear broadcasted
Despair fills my heart as I turn on the news
Everywhere we are in the midst of the pandemic
Simply put death is at hand
Planning for the future yet waiting for death
At worst we will all die not today but soon
In the long term we are all dead
Remembering the dead all around us
yet I end this poem with a word of hope
hoping for the best
while preparing for the worst
all I can do to stay sane
as I await my fate
on this dismal date
April 1 is indeed
April Fool’s date
is that our fate
this endless dance with death?
and to end with a sign of hope
I know that if I have you by my side
I will survive I will survive
until the end of time itself
takes us to the other side
based on writer’s digest daily April poetry month challenge to write a poem about hope
I am jake Cosmos Aller the one an Only poetry super highway prompt
jake aller fb
I am Jake Cosmos Aller the one and only
when people meet me they are transformed
by my spirit my compassion and my dreams
as all I meet fall under my spirit
I look into their eyes bewitching their souls
as they bewitch my soul as well
becoming mad kindred spirits
walking on the road of life itself
going together no one knows where
it will all end but we will get there as one spirit
united by my cosmic spirit
understanding grows as we converse
deep into the night with each glass of wine
we dive deep into the cosmos inspired by name
The Virus From Hell Has Arrived
corona
the Virus from Hell has arrived
catching the world unprepared
it erupted out of China
then began its terrifying reign
wiping out thousands of people
destroying jobs and economies
killing people left and right
it seemed like something
out of our worst nightmares
but at least it was not
the dreaded zombie flu
perhaps that is next’s fall’s nightmare
as the virus from hell
prepares for a fresh assault
to finish us all off
the virus from Hell has arrived posted- all poetry contest, poetry soup version is the Virus King has arrived = as poetry soup did not like the word “Hell”
The Bombs that Took Her Away – from writers.com prompt – posted all poetry and poetry soup
bombed out airport
one day I woke up from my dreams
finding my self all alone
no one was there to hear my screams
staring at my now quite dead phone
I plugged in my phone read a note
it was from my lovely wife
My Wife had just gone out to vote
smiling thinking of my life
I got ready to face the dawning day
The TV showed the bombs that took her away
There are hundreds of varieties of kimchi made with different vegetables as the main ingredients.[4][5]Traditionally, kimchi was stored in-ground in large earthenware to prevent the kimchi from being frozen during the winter months. It was the primary way of storing vegetables throughout the seasons. In the summer the in-ground storage kept the kimchi cool enough to slow down the fermentation process.[3] In contemporary times, kimchi refrigerators are more commonly used to store kimchi.
Oh yeah
I got the kimchi blues
every day since I first ate it
back in the day
long before i went to Korea
ended up staying on in Korea
after i retired from decade
in the Foreign Service
and ten years studying
and living in Korea
before I joined
the Foreign Service
When I first ate kimchi
I was hooked
sort of a spicier version
of German sauerkraut
which i loved on my top dog
from Berkeley high school days
then off to korea
in the peace corps
where I ate kimchi
every day for every meal
and eventually I woke up
dreaming of kimchi and rice
instead of pancakes and eggs
then I knew
that I had finally adjusted
and was becoming half Korean
and now I am a hopeless kimchi addict
need to have my spicy kimchi
which is so good for you
perhaps even defeating the dreaded corona virus?
who knows but I will be eating Kimchi
until my day is done
poetry superhiway prompt
Friday April 3
Cosmic Poet Modified Bio Poem for poetry soup contest
cosmos on the mekong
cosmic
I am wicked, wild, wacky, whimsical
i love my angela lee, coffee, nature
I can solve gun violence, homelessness and climate change
I feel anxiety, gloominess yet Joy-fullness as well
I fear the corona virus, cancer and developing Alzheimer’s
Must publish my novels, ten books of poetry and movie of my life
Currently resident of korea, west coast of United States
poet
Morphing monsters – old poem for writing.com Dark Dreamscape –
more monster images
Note: From a real nightmare End Note
I am in a room
Drinking at a party
And smoking weed
Watching people all around me
Change into hideous creatures
Monsters from the deepest depths of hell
Everyone in the room
Has been transformed except me
The Chief of them all
Wears a Trumpian mask
Complete with orange hair
Half human half pig
His deputy
Wears the face of Putin
But his body
Half human, half horse
The other creatures wear masks
Many of them wear
Green Pepe the alt-right
Symbolic frog masks
pepe
And have T-shirts
Bearing alt right slogans
And Nazi symbols
And as they prance about
They chant alt. Right slogans
And neo-Nazi chants
Jews will not Replace us
And the rest of these creatures
Are hideous ugly beasts
With only a vestige of humanity left
And these monsters are engaged
In all sorts of foul evil deeds
Murder violence death
All around
And non-stop
violent drug-fueled orgies
As these creatures
Half human half monsters
Half male, half female creatures
Snort coke, cocaine, speed
drop Acid, Smoke weed and drink vodka shots
Scotch, bourbon and beer
The Trumpian Pig leads the charge
Starts engaging in sodomy with Putin
Who chases after people
Cutting off their heads with his sword
They turn on to their fellow creatures
Raping and killing each other
and eating their fellow creatures
All night long
Then they attack me
Screaming
Jews will not replace us
And I wake up
Screaming
As the sun comes up
Just another nightmare
Humor keeps us sane
Pensively prompt – unpublished
corona virus
it is a piece of what we need to do
to prevent us from getting
the dreaded corona virus
coming up your nose
First Kiss with My wife
first kiss
It was 1982
when I first met my wife
the love of my life
In 1979 she came to me
in a dream
and then she walked
off a bus
eight years latter
a few weeks later
we went for a walk
in the woods
and ending up kissing
passionately wild kisses
as we walked in the woods
and the kisses
led a few weeks later
to our first night together
as man and wife
but I will always recall
our first kiss
of our life together
creative talent unleashed prompt posted
Birth of New World
cosmos
the first interplanetary travelers
arrived on the new planet
called new Eden
and watched the birth
of the new world
hoping that humanity
can get a new world
and avoid destroying new eden
hoping that god
has given the world
a new home world
creative talents unleashed prompt
Peacock Speaks
peakcock speaks
as the virus spreads
around the world
the peacock in the zoo
speaks up
talking on behalf
of their fellow species
he called upon humans
to free them from their zoo prisons
and let them be free
before it was too late
and humanity met their fate
becoming a ghost in the wind
creative talents unleashed prompt
Iguana Talks to humanity
iguana will miss human friends
the wise old Iguana
woke from its nightmares
of the end of the world
as humanity faded away
the iguana was scared
but afraid of the future
and he would miss
his human friends
creative talents unleashed prompt
six word poem naked masked woman waiting to kiss
masked woman
creative talents unleashed prompt
Inner Space Beckons
cosmos new world
Inner worlds beckons in these dark times
No one knows where it will end
No one understands the future
Everyone must descend deep inside
Remembering their dreams
Cosmic dreams fill my head
Of the future we can dream
Some offering hope
Most of us can still dream
Only then can we become free
So that we can escape our fate
Searching for the Holly Grail
for thousands of years
people have been searching
for the fabled holly grail
in hopes that it will lead
to eternal life
then one day
the holly grail is found
millions die
from drinking the tainted grail
writing.com prompt daily dew april poems
Free roaming Berkeley as a Kid
free roaming berkeley
growing up in Berkeley
back in the day
we still were allowed
to free roam
and so I went
everywhere on foot
or bus
walking to Solano avenue
drinking coffee
at Peets coffee
eating Chinese food
in Berkeley’s china town
walking downtown
walking to CAL
eating top dog
experiencing the late 60’s
transforming Telegraph
and walking in the woods
in tilden park
high up in the hills
overlooking the bay area
writing.com prompt daily dew april poems
To all the friends I am about to loose
over the years
I have known so many people
and now when the virus
is spreading out around the world
I will soon be hearing
that this person has died
and that person has died
I will outlive many of my friends
from around the world
part of getting old
something that I fear
one day perhaps
people will hear
that jake has died
and they will say
that they barely knew me
and wished that they had
taken the time
to become my friend
Just as I think
about all the friends
i am about to loose
to this killer virus
running amuck
writing.com prompt daily dew april poems
corona fears
covid 19 virus
corona
the word fills us with dread
spreading around the world today
will we all survive this
corona
Saturday April 4
follow your dreams
follow your dreams
they may some day
come true
they did for me
I dream of meeting
the love of my life
who became my wife
for eight years
she haunted my dreams
then one day
she walked off a bus
out of my dreams
and into my life
becoming my wife
based on true story see my blog entry the world according to cosmos (https://theworldaccordingtocosmos.com) for details or see “dreams and the Unexplainable” published in 2016 by the Chicken Soup for the Soul publishers
Coffee’s intoxicating smell wakes me up
coffee
coffee’s intoxicating smell wakes me up
filling me with hope and joy
as a I drink deeply
filling my self with smell
the sent of sweat as heaven
darkly hinting of hell as well
filling my every fiber of my being
with its intense smell and flavor
driving me mad with anticipation
as I smell the fragrance brewing
in my coffee pot
waiting waiting waiting
for it to be ready
for me to consume my daily drug
poetry super highway prompt day 3
Dreams cinquain
Dreams
come true
if you believe
love comes at night
dreams
all poetry contest
allien abduction
allien
when I was in high school
I accidentally drank a drink
that had been laced with LSD
I went on my first and only acid trip
one of the most profound events
of my life
and it haunts me to this day
in this trip
at one point
I found myself
in a space ship
surrounded by aliens
who were conducting experiments
on me
they flew me to NYC
where I went to a bar
filled with aliens drinking
and they came after me
and I found myself
back on the ship
they said
time to us to leave him
to develop his own language
and I woke up in my bed
did it really happen
to this day
I do not know
but do I believe in aliens
and alien abductions
yes I believe
for it may have happened
to me
all poetry contest
To Dream the Impossible Dream – Ghazal
what dreams may come
to dream the impossible dream
every night I must dream
and during the night dream
I will see her in my dream
yes I met my love in my dream
she came to me in my dream
for eight long years came in my dream
haunting my nighttime dreams
one day she walked out of my dreams
coming to life out of my dreams
and she became my wife in my dreams
and soon became as real as the dream
and she walked out of the dream
I knew her name Angela Lee in my dream
all poetry ghazal poem
quarantine blues
quarantine
Quarantine such an ugly word
Unlike any other
All at home
No where to go
That is the worst part of it
In fact enforced staying at home
Not too bad
Especially if I have you by my side
Blues come over me
Looking out the window
Unable to go out
Everyone everybody afraid<
Sums up my fearful fears
poetry soup contest
wild country poetry soup contest bus rider not posted
the Bus – Travels Through America’s Underbelly
bus rides in America
I am a bus rider
That makes me unusual
For a white male
From an upper middle class family
Our tribe are not bus riders
Though some are subway riders
Bus riders are other people
The poor, minorities, immigrants
People who don’t drive
Because they are blind
Or have a DUI
And in my case
I don’t drive
Because I have bad vision
And bad coordination
Just never got the hang
Of the whole driving thing
Fortunately for me
My wife does the driving
But I still take the bus
From time to time
I rode the AC buses in Berkeley
As a child
Line 67, line 51, line 43 F bus
Rode them long before BART came along
And afterwards as well
As an adult seldom rode the bus
But when I did so
I was always impressed
By the sheer diversity
Of the bus riding population
Hundreds of languages
All sorts of sexual orientation
Some were white
Most were not
Most of my fellow passengers
Were nice enough
Some were friendly
And some were lost
In their own thoughts
And a few
Were scary looking dudes
With the look
Of someone who had done time
And were capable of more violence
I also rode the bus
In Seattle as a graduate student
A lot of fellow UW students
And the usual immigrants
Minorities etc
And some white people
Commuting
And in DC
Over the years
I rode a lot of buses
Mostly to and from the metro
But I got to know
And love the DC buses as well
I also took the greyhound bus
Across the country
Several times over the years
All over the U.S.
From Bay Area to Stockton
From Bay Area to Clear Lake
From Bay area to NYC
NYC to DC
All over the USA
Taking the Greyhound
Was always an adventure
Met a lot of interesting people
As people on long distant bus rides
Tend to open up and talk
To pass the time away
Overseas I took the bus
All over
In India, in Barbados
In Spain and in Korea
The Korean buses
For many years
Were difficult for foreign visitors
As the signs were all in Korean
Most have signs
Now in English, Chinese and Korean
And are much more foreigner friendly
Riding the bus
In America
Allows one access
To the underbelly of American society
The poor, the marginalized
The immigrant communities
That many middle-class white people
Just never see
And for that reason
I am glad
That I am a bus rider
NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR:
Based on my experiences riding the bus all over the world from 1968 to 2020
Stand Z Poetry soup contest Bad Craziness
Bad Craziness
howling at the moon
Walking into that bar
That nefarious den of iniquity and evilness
Twenty drinks too sober
The scent of bad craziness
Hung in the air
Like an over ripe mango
Desperately seeking to have sex
With wild, dressed up bananas
Running around with the Orange Man
Down the street
The Moon looks out on the mad scene
Sniffs the air
Saying, “Man, this is bad craziness”
And runs away to join her lover the Sun
In an orgy of drunken forgetfulness
The Planet Mars, not amused,
Chases after the maiden Venus
Under the cold, calculating glances
of the Planet Pluto
The Moon and the Sun
Rent a room in the Hotel Venus
Across from the Jupiter All Night Diner
Cosmic shit kickers
Out for a night of Earth bashing
The Earth trembles, shaken
Moans with passion
And I awake
Saying, that was bad craziness
Out there on the edge
Between the inner me
and the outer Zone
I went on down the road
And met a lady
An outlaw lady on the far side
Money, power, passion
Rolled up in a bundle
Electric chemistry
Fills my head
Zapping my brain
Into demented muscles
Paranoid, pulsating images
Scream out
With mad passion
And demented noises
The night turns ugly fast
And very, very weird
Weirdness in the air
Scent of bad craziness
The Moon
Is freaked out
The Sun falls asleep in the gutter
And I say to myself
I’m just another cosmic guy
On the loose, on the edge,
On the wild side of things
Watching the show
Unfold
I wonder, is this all
A drunken bum show?
Who is the star, who is she
The maiden up there in the bar
Black, leather jackets
On stage naked visions of nightly lust
Dancing with an attitude that could kill
An elephant in heat
And the Moon
Continues to dance across the evening sky
Satisfied, allows mankind to sleep it off
Yet another night in the City of demented Angels
Finally rest as the sun comes up
The masks come back on
And I walk down the road
Putting everything back into the box
Until the next night
Of bad craziness
Lets the wild beast within
Escape its leash.
Bad Craziness rising yet again
Sunday April 5
I Wish for Peace During this time of crisis
covid 19
I wish for peace and happiness
during this time of despair
pandemic fears all around us
death stalking us daily
I wish for health
amid the carnage
all around me
I wish for leadership
from our President
from our governors
and our congress
and most importantly
I wish that I will survive
with my love at my side
experiencing love
in the time of corona
Writer Digest prompt
Life as a evil Mastermind criminal
I am living the life
I am Slick Mc Dick
the one and only
the master criminal
I live in Oakland
and I run drugs, prostitutes
guns and illegal software
I am part Irish, German,
Black, Asian and Cherokee
I am a real bad ass
I am stone cold killer
and a wild man in bed
and I am the King Pin
the meanest MF in the world
and everyone is afraid of me
the politicians need me
they get free hookers
free booze and free blow
in all my clubs
and I have secrets
secrets to sell
to the media
to the spy agencies
they all protect me
as I am the ultimate source
of the dirt
that everyone wants to hide
yes I am Slick Mc Dick
the king of them all
and no one can take me down
Born bad to the bone heartbreaker
the song bad to the bone
fills my ears
like a mad anthem
of my life
I am a heartbreaker
broke a thousand hearts
before I am through
I will break a thousand more
but only one woman
has ever had the power
to break my heart
and to her
I dedicate my life
and promise not
to break her heart
poetry superhighway prompt
Bad to the Bone
Now, on the day I was born
The nurses all gathered ’round
And they gazed in wide wonder
At the joy they had found
The head nurse spoke up
Said “leave this one alone”
She could tell right away
That I was bad to the bone
Bad to the bone
Bad to the bone
B-b-b-b-b-b-b-bad
B-b-b-b-b-b-b-bad
B-b-b-b-b-b-b-bad
Bad to the bone
I broke a thousand hearts
Before I met you
I’ll break a thousand more, baby
Before I am through
I wanna be yours, pretty baby
Yours and yours alone
I’m here to tell ya honey
That I’m bad to the bone
Bad to the bone
B-b-b-b-b-b-b-bad
B-b-b-b-b-b-b-bad
B-b-b-b-b-b-b-bad
Bad to the bone
I make a rich woman beg, yeah
And I’ll make a good woman steal
I’ll make an old woman blush
And make a young girl squeal
I wanna be yours, pretty baby
Yours and yours alone
waiting for this day
the day of the dead
when the dead
come to life
and devour the living
turning all into zombies
zombies for his army
and he wakes the demons
the ancient horrors
from their slumbers
and they swam to shore
coming to the earth
devouring all
in their path
Cthulu would have his revenge
none will escape their fate
that dismal date
all poetry Lovecraft contest
Having a dog saved my life
when I was a young lad
and I became terrified of dogs
and to some sense still am
but then many years ago
i had a dog
a husky dog
raised as a puppy
the dog though was half wolf
hated people watching him eat
I gave the dog to my sister
as she seemed to be able
to tame his savage heart
later my wife
had a beagle
and he saved my life
when I was recovering
from a broken heal
Jason was my constant companion
during those dark days
when I was afraid
that I would die
from the staph infection
the dog was smart
compassionate
and seemed to understand me
as I talked to him all day long
and afterwards I no longer
was afraid of dogs
as they were now
Monday April 6
The Mist from Hell Descends on the land
the mist from hell
settles down on the land
the mist covers us all
the scent of death
the grim reaper
rides behind the miss
infecting those around him
the mark of death
as the mist covers the land
the end of the world
comes with the mist from hell
Conversation with the Gods About Corona Virus
buddha figure
jesus
shiva
god
Rev. Jake ’s on-line sermon on the Corona Virus
I am reverend Jake and I have a message from God
Last night I had a vision from God
it was his message to the world
about this pandemic we are facing
I found myself in a large room
Jehovah, God, was sitting in the middle
surrounded by the other Gods
they were all there
Jesus on his right
Allah on his left
Buddha behind him
Ganesh, Shiva, Kali
Mohammed, Joseph Smith and other prophets
Gabriel and other angels abound
St Peter in front of his as his Chief of Staff
Zeus, Jupiter, Minerva and ancient
other gods all around him
God spoke up
He said
I have a message for you
to give to your people
all of your people
no matter what religion
or no religion at all
it is all one after all
first the corona virus
is a natural phenomenon
we have no control
over forces of nature
and we did not send
it to you
to punish you
for homosexuality
or anything else at all
Second obey the health directives
stay at home
do your services on line
it is okay with us
we are fine with that
the blood of Jesus
will not save you
If you are in a crowded place
like church or a mosque service
the virus will spread
and catch you in the end
Prayers alone will not save you
but please keep praying
we do listen to your prayers
but we can only do so much
So please don’t allow the virus
to spread
because of your ignorance
and fear
realize that in the end
the virus will do its thing
and you will survive
and we
all the gods here
love you humans
and wish you well
so stay at home
practice self distancing
It is God’s will
all will survive
The Moment that changed my Life sonnet format
couple in bed
the moment that changed my life
occurred in late August 1982
when the woman of my dreams
came out of my dreams
walking off a bus
and into my life
a few months later became my wife
first dreamt of her in 1979
back in my high school day
and I knew that some day
I would meet the woman
in my dreams
and I did and that changed my fate
when I met her that date
we must walk on an honest path in these dangerous times
we must walk the path of honesty
in these dark dangerous times
In these dark dangerous days
we must walk on the path
of honesty and truth
if we don’t
we won’t have a remote chance
of living through these end days
I was sitting along
In a god forsaken bar
Somewhere on the lunatic fringes
Of society
On the bad part of town
Over by railroad tracks
Heading to hell
As fast as I could drink it down
Enjoying my lonely drink
Drinking by my lonesome self
With my partners
Jimmy Dean, and the Walker brother
And his old Granddad
Just drinking and hanging
With the Jack Daniel’s gang
A crazed bum
With a thousand year stare
Walks up to me
He begins
Muttering to himself
Nutty nonsense
Crazy words
In a lunatic’s voice
He had the look
Of one possessed
By his own demons
That only he can see
Or hear
Possessed by a secret knowledge
Only he knew
Despite myself
I was fascinated
By this lunatic’s tale
So I stopped him
And said
So what’s your game
Anyway
The short little dude
Stopped his insane prattle
Starting at me
With that thousand year old stare
Just another washed up
Lunatic
an acid causality
from the 60’s
who went so far down
the rabbit hole
he never came back
Too many bad nights
On the wrong side of life
He looked at me
And proclaimed his story
He reared up
And filled up the room
And lifted the bar
On his finger
And stared down at me
From the sky
And said
Since you asked
I am God
The alpha and Omega
The real deal
The original dude of dudes
The sultan of Swing
God of hosts
And father of that Jesus dude
But no one knows me
Any more
No one cares
They think I am irrelevant
They think I am dead
They think I am a fairy tale
From some olden, ancient time
Some say I am dead
Others think I should be dead
That my work is done
I looked at him
Carefully now
And what did I see
An old man
With that lunatic look
But there was something else
He was crazy
Sure yes
But perhaps he was the real deal
I mean why not
Why would not God be
A lunatic wandering around loose
Talking to low lives like me
In a bar
On the way to hell
So I looked at him
And invited him to share
His tale of woe
God tells me
Well, it’s like this
Many a year ago
People believed in me
But one day
They quit believing in me
And they went on without me
As they left me
My powers got weaker and weaker
And so eventually I became
What you see today
A broken down drunk
Hanging out
Looking for a hand out
Looking for some company
Or at least a free dinner
And he laughed and laughed
And I looked at him
And saw the beginnings of the end
And the ends of the beginnings
I saw a million planets
Flash by
eight billion people
A trillion sentient beings
Thinking all at once
Thoughts filled my head
Lights flashed
And I knew
He was telling the truth
But it did not matter
In this day and age
Of materialism
God has no role
God is truly dead
And so I bought him a drink
And walked out of the bar
Profoundly sadden by what I had seen
God was dead
And we had all conspired
To kill him
Long live God
it seems to me
in these dark days
that we are on the path
to hell
as the virus chases all
satan is smiling
at the spreading chaos
the dogs of war
are unleashed
spreading panic
as more people die
and as the gate of hell
open in front of us
we are all rushing down
the path to hell
and so I sit
in a bar
twenty drinks too sober
drinking my way to hell
all poetry contest – write poem based on the song “Highway to Hell”
Capitol Hill in the Spring *
lincoln park
Sitting on a bench
In Lincoln Park
Heart of Capitol Hill
Beating heart of the Empire
On a warm Spring Day
Watching the Cherry trees
Watching Me
Wondering what thoughts
They must have heard
The things they have seen
Over the years
But they are quiet
They do not say a word
As I fall into my spring time dreams
Sitting on that bench
Seeing the children and dogs play
Looking at Spring flowers
And pretty women
As they stroll by
Hearing the sounds of the city
As I dream of my past life
Memories of places and people
I said to myself
What a wonderful life
*Published Writer’s Newsletter June 2017
Under the canopy of the pine trees we lay – from the poem ‘Under the canopy of pine trees
pine trees
under the canopy of the pine trees we lay
along the world peace forest
in Korea
walking the forest
in the spring time
fearing the corona virus
and everyone around us
watch the snowing cherry trees
and the wind whispering
the voices of ghosts
those newly dead
and we lay down
under the canopy of the pine trees
waiting for our turn
to face the grim reaper
in this dismal day
in April
truly the cruelest month
of them all
poetry soup contest
Tuesday April 7
Smartest Man in the World
trump
donald trump
our dear leader
claims he is the smartest
man in the world
a stable genius
has good words
knows more than generals
knows more than doctors
should have been a doctor
only he can fix
what ails the world
for he is the greatest
genius in the world
like his friend the dear leader of North Korea
but in fact he is among the most stupid men
to ever serve as our President
trump is the poster child for the Dunning-Kruger Effect effect don’t you think? All Poetry contest to write a poem based on the Dunning-Kruger effect.
Great Leader Tiger Jade Poem
trump
Our leader
great leader
Claims he is the smartest man in the whole universe
surely he is the most searched man in the googleverse
perhaps though he is proof of man’s evolution
Darwinian selection working devolution
stupid is
stupid does
writers.com prompt to write a “Tigerjade Poem”
weasels words are the mental traps we set for ourselves
wasel words
we are surrounded by weasel words
mental traps we set for ourselves
to shut down all rational discussion
in truly Orwellian fashion
these words are legend
everyone uses them
no one thinks about them
what they really mean
I had no choice
of course, one always has a choice
Failure is not an option
nothing but macho BS
of course failure is always an option
that one must be prepared to face
and my favorite
zero tolerance
which converts
all violations of the Rules
into class A murder like felonies
and common sense and discretion
thrown out the window
under the proverbial bus
where the full SWAT
Imperial storm troopers
Robot cops are deployed
to arrest a teenage girl
her crime giving a classmate
a Tylenol which is a legal drug
but under zero tolerance
that is the same as selling heroin
and she will be charged
with a class A drug offense
following her around
for her life
for having dared
to break the stupid rule
yes weasel words
are everywhere
our mental traps
designed to keep us
from thinking
and acting
so throw off your mental traps
break free from the weasel words
and perhaps we can be free
of these mental traps
writer’s digest prompt – to write a trap poem
the day I met the love of my life was a fine late August day
peace forest
the day I met the love of my life
who became my wife
was a late August day
in South Korea
as Koreans put it
the sky is high
my horses are fat
and the king is far away
하늘이 높다
말은 뚱뚱하다
왕은 멀리있다
haneul-i nopda
mal-eun ttungttunghada
wang-eun meolliissda
in late August early September
the weather turns in Korea
the humid sauna like temperatures
begin to abate
cool breezes cool the air
the sky is high
crystal clear
just a few clouds
the temperatures moderate
high in the 80’s low in the 60’s
just wonderful weather
the promise of nice fall weather
in the air
the killing heat of the summer
abates and dies down
and on such a lovely date
I met my fate
she walked out of my dreams
and into my life
and became my wife
during the brilliant
Autumn of Korea
before the winter
settled down on the land
To this day
when the autumn comes
I recall the halcyon date
when I met my fate
poetry super highway daily April Prompt to write a weather report poem, and based on my true love story
with the corona virus upon us
I am bracing to hear the news
that so and so has died
I reflect back
on all the people in my life
that I have already lost
part of being older
is that you lose people
close to you along the way
I lost my father due to cancer in 1985
and my sister due to a freak illness in 2007
and my mother due to alzheimer’s in 2005
and my father-in-law as well in 2007
Demel Tucker
high school debate teammate
dead of HIV in 1995
Julian Bartley and his son
one of my favorite bosses
died in a terrorist bombing
in Nairobi in 1998
Jon Weber college roommate
dead due to prostate cancer
in 2000
Paul Simon friend from the visa line
dropped dead of a heart attack
in 2004
Ted Halstead
one of my best bosses
died of heart attack
in 2007
Chris Richard one of my former bosses
dropped dead of a heart attack
shortly before we were due
to have lunch in 2014
and so many others
I have lost
along the way
and soon there will be
so many more
as I get old
in the corona era
writer. com daily dew drop prompt to write an elegy poem
The Giant Nazi Spider Speaks
giant nazi spiders
General Zero
the commander of the Khan imperial forces
took over the earth
was a eight foot giant spider
accompanied by two legged rats
and two legged cats
in 24 hours they were in charge
he spoke to the world
People of earth greetings
I am commander Zero
and I have taken over your planet
making it part of the Galactic Empire
we did it because it is our destiny
to take over the universe
one planet by one planet
and everyone becomes
part of the great galactic empire
there are only a few rules
for you to remember
starting today you will learn Galactic standard
within one year all other languages will be banned
starting today all religions are banned
for in the Galactic empire
we have no room for some nonsense
everyone must work
if you are disabled or elderly
your family must take care of you
if you have no one to take care of you
you will be terminated as an “useless eater”
failure to follow the rules or laws
or lawful orders
will result in your immediate execution
that is all for today
Long live the Empire
writers. com daily dew drop contest challenge to write a poem incorporating a plot from a novel or story and I chose to base it on the opening scene of my novel, “Giant Nazi Spiders” see first four chapters here
life is a dream of chocolate covered trees
makes me so hungry to eat the trees
dark brown chocolate covered trees
as I eat them I hear the crunch of the leaves
and smell the dark chocolate smells
feeling the leaves in my mouth
as I touch the chocolate covered trees
filled with the sound of chocolate
enjoying the chocolate
with my wife Angela Lee
she turns to me and says
Jake Cosmos Aller
사랑해
salanghae
we are living
in an Orwellian 1984 world
and have been for decades
we are assaulted daily
by alternative realties
promoted by various politicians
designed to shut down
all rational thought
true Orwellian thought control
and now with the corona virus
massive surveillance
has become the norm
and when the crisis is over
the surveillance will continue
on one excuse after another
forever as Orwell’s nightmare
big brother ruling us all
comes true
based on the fear that the massive increase in social surveillance being deployed against the Corona virus will after the crisis is over continue forever under one excuse or another as the Orwellian big brother dictatorships around the world become permanent
새영 지마 saeyeong jima Recently Came to Life in My Life
The Korean Proverb
새영 지마 saeyeong jima
recently came to life in my life
The meaning of the proverb
Is that you can never know whether something
will be good or bad
and that unexpectedly
what appears to be bad fortune
turns out to be a good fortune
The proverb played
out recently in my life
about lunar New Year’s Day
we were preparing to go to Thailand
from two weeks from our home
in South Korea
and then at the end of February
we would to go to DC
My wife blew out her lumber desk
and we were forced to cancel our trips
This occurred
just as the coronavirus
was taking off around the world
and if we had gone
we may have been stuck either in Thailand
or we may have been stuck in the United States
and traveling in the mist of a corona outbreak
would probably mean
that we would have been exposed
to the virus
instead we were forced to stay home
and self quarantine ourselves
and therefore
we escaped being exposed to the coronavirus
and we feel much safer
here in Korea where the outbreak is contained
rather than in DC
where it is still spreading everywhere
so in a sense her misfortune
throwing out her disk
which resulted in us staying at home
and avoiding the coronavirus
is the true meaning
of the Korean Chinese expression
새영 지마 saeyeong jima
writers.com prompt to write a food poem
the Terrorists were succeeding beyond their wildest dreams
nuclear explosion
the terrorists were succeeding
beyond their wildest dreams
they thought what were the chances
it was so much better,
easier than they thought
as the bombs dropped all around them
to where it would end
they did not know
All they knew was that
it was all about to end
you see we were facing the end
The morning after the end of the world
the bombs fell and fell
in fact all over the world
it felt that the world would end up
being destroyed as the world ends
and nuclear war
they called for the end of the world
be so it must be they
thought to themselves
would they be able to stop the carnage
so it ends much as it begins
one does not know how it would end up
the bombs doing their bomb thing after all
they were simply bombs
all must die once they are released
after all that was the way it was
the bomb facility opened up death
the death of the whole world
of that we can be sure
following the blue prints
the master plans of the war planners
at the end of the day
it looks like Armageddon
a end of the world game
would it get that bad
to end the world
is that what they wanted
they did not know
it is possible no one knew
it was uncharted territory
it was the end of the world
if the bombs did their bomb thing
Poetry Super Highway Prompt
Turn to page 35 of any book. Use the first two sentences backwards for your prompt. I used James Tate, “Worshipful Company of Fletchers” and got: “ The pleasure of little incidents Remember.”
From Vince Flynn protect and defend original text
If it was possible they wanted to get a look at the blueprints of the facility after all they were doing one so would be called and destroy it in the morning you about where to drop the bomb so better the chances were of succeeding
corona virus tanka
covid19
corona virus
it is spreading all over
the world dying
I walk down the path of life
Along with love of my wife
National Poetry Month Day Seven Prompt Tanka
Angela Came to Me for 38 years Bringing me lots of $
many packs of us dollars
Angela Lee came to me
out of a dream she came to me
she walked out of my dreams
eight years after I first dreamt of her
she finally came to me
that she has been my wife
the love of my life
and every day
I recall the dream
of meeting her
she has brought me much to my life
this love of my life my wife
but the most important thing
she has brought to me
besides her endless love of course
is $
massive amounts of $
as she has made me
richer than I could have ever imagined
turning every day my $
into many more $
They say that a man
should marry a woman
born in the year of the Pig
for pig ladies are incredible
at managing $
and if you are so lucky
you will be buried in $
after Richard Garcia A Letter, a Number and some Punctuation
Poemuzine April 7 presentation prompt
The best meal of my life
korean feast
the best meals of my life
has always been what my wife
cooks up for me every night
always making something great
from the simplest ingredients
Because she came down with celiac disease
she could only eat
what she prepared from scratch
and so she was forced
to give up all processed foods
and in the process she became
the greatest cook
in the universe
I wait with baited breath
to taste the great food
that she creates for me
on lunar new years
she threw out her lumbar disk
and we were forced to stay home
just as the corona pandemic
swept across the world
if we had traveled
we could have contracted
the dreaded corona virus
and we were forced
to stay at home
and avoid going out
to eat
she took advantage
of staying at home
to try new dishes
every single day
I recall the Korean proverb
새영 지마 saeyeong jima
as her misfortune
turned into fortune
and once again
she saved me life
I am the luckiest man in life
the best fed man of all I know
due to the cooking skills of my wife
An old Lion
Roars in his sleep
Recalling an impossible dreamIn his dream
He was a man
Who was chasing a dream
Chasing an impossible dream
The man
Was haunted
By a dream girl
A girl who appeared
Nightly in his dreams
Beckoning him to join her
He searched the world
Looking for her
And then one day
She walked
Off a bus
And into his life
The lion woke up
From the impossible dream
Smiling at the thought
Then he went off
To search for his
Impossible dream
Dreaming still
Of being a man
In search
of a dream girl
from All Poetry Contest – impossible dream
I met my Fate that date
two lovers
I met my fate
on that date
that the love of my life
became my wife
for eight years she haunted my dreams
then one day she walked out of my dreams
truly on that date
my life began when I embraced my fate
and to this date
I never forget that I met my fate
the day she walked into my life
and became my wife
Thursday April 9
the future is coming
BARCELONA, SPAIN – MAY 09: The Terminator robot is seen in the paddock following qualifying for the Spanish Formula One Grand Prix at the Circuit de Catalunya on May 9, 2009 in Barcelona, Spain. (Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images)
the future
is upon us
as we live
in a SF world
the question remains
will the future be bright
and filled with hope
or will it be dark filled with fear
will we overcome
climate change
and repair
the broken dying world
will humanity take to the stars
leaving behind our planet
as we colonize the solar system
and invent interplanetary travel
will the future be
a dark Orwellian nightmare
will fascism take over the world
starting in the United States
as democracy dies not in the dark
but in the bright light of day
and Fascism spreads
all over the world
as the public embraces
fascisms applauding
the end of our freedoms
hoping that will save us all
will the evil AI
take over the world
unleashing endless robot wars
screaming death to all humans?
the old song says
que sera seara
the future is not
for us to see
but I hope and pray
that in these
dark dangerous times
we can overcome
and end up with the vision
of hope transforming the world
and not end up
with the dark Orwellian future
that I fear is our fate
Unless of course
the AI robots
kill us first
writers digest prompt
The Fate of the World Awaits
beethoven
the fate of the world
looms ahead of us
and we have a choice
to make
all of us
must decide
will we follow
the fate of ancient Rome
surrendering our freedoms
and becoming
an autocratic empire
ruled by emperors
will we become
like Germany
letting the madness
of fascism overwhelm us
will there be a final solution
to the problems
poised by the coming
transformation of America
as white America
becomes brown America
and the rule by old white men
comes to an end?
will Muslims be rounded up and killed ?
as religious and ethnic cleansing
in the name of Christian freedom
sweeps across the land
will the evil AI robot overlords
launch robot wars
to exterminate mankind
screaming death to all humans
will we choose to confront
the pending climate change
rebooting our society and economy
with a green new deal putting people first
will the 1 percent even let us try
or are we doomed
to end our lives
in a dystopian nightmare
I listen to the music of Beethoven
and find comfort
as he confronts
the fate of the world
proving that human spirit
will overcome in the end
filled with love, I am saved
and my optimism returns
poetry super highway
classical music prompt Beethoven fifth opening
the sound of temple bell brings me peace
temple blog bell-zen
the sound of a temple bell
ringing in the crisp mountain air
in the Buddhist temple
deep in the mountains
brings me peace and joy
and fills me with happiness
as I contemplate
the meaning of buddha
and seek to find
peace
in the everyday life
around me
and I ring the bell again
wishing hoping for an end
to our suffering
on this planet of ours
writing.com prompt
the old man in the lake sees God
lightening on lake
An lonely retired old man sits
in a simple boat
In the middle of a lake
in the middle of a storm
a sudden onset of rain
blasts of brilliant lightning
and roaring thunder
the boat is overwhelmed
the old man debates
whether to give it up
head for shore
too late to resume fishing
By a brilliant flash of lightening
he sees in the sky
the snarling angry face of God
filling the sky with his visage
In a loud thunder clap
He hears
the snarling angry
voice of God
Old man in the lake
I have a message for you
it is time for you
to go home
prepare to meet your maker
the end times are coming
Armageddon is about to be unleashed
the final battle between good and evil
your mission is to warn
the world before it is too late
repent and you will be saved
otherwise you will die
suddenly the storm stops
the sky clears up
the spring time nice day
returns filling the air with hope
the old man in the boat in the lake
decides there was nothing
more to do
other than resume fishing
creative talents unleashed prompt
White Flower spring Time Haiku
white flowers in spring haiku
now in the springtime
white flowers blooming in the park
corona death waits
creative talents unleashed prompt
Woman releases balloons of hope
ballons for peace
A young woman
walks in a park
on a sunny spring day
carrying 25 red balloons
each red balloon
contains the name of those
that recently died
in the corona virus pandemic
she is releasing the balloons
hoping they would
rise to heaven
with a request for God
to hear her prayers
End this pandemic
End the death and destruction
release us from the corona pandemic
the woman releases the balloons
and slowly walks back to her house
to prepare to attend yet another funeral
as the pandemic swirls all around her
creative talents unleashed prompt
Cthulu lurks in the evil cabin in the woods
Cthulu lurks in the cabin in the woods
Deep in the bayous
of Louisiana
sits an abandoned cabin
in the swamps
the cabin is inhabited
by an ancient evil creature
newly risen from the depths
of hell
He has taken over the house
deep in the impenetrable swap
he prepares to unleash
an evil upon the world
calling upon the dark demons
of hell to emerge into the light
and lead an army
of the undead zombies
to take over the world
and make the old ancient one
Cthulhu the undisputed
king of the world
evil overwhelms the cabin
in the woods
and the smell of evil
seeps out into the surrounding bayous
the end times are near
the old demon in the cabin
summons the dead
the zombie armies arise
they begin to march
out of the swamps
unleashing hell
on the sleeping world
creative talents unleashed prompt
evil woman
with mad hair
grins
evil woman six word poem
creative talents unleashed evil woman grins six word poem
the best day of my life
couple in bed 2
the best day of my life
was when the woman
of my dreams
became my wife
for eight years
she haunted my dreams
then one day she walked
out of my dreams
and entered my life
three days later
while walking in the woods
I proposed to her
and she said yes
two months later
after a whirlwind romance
we were married
It has been 45 years
since I first met her
haunting my life
in my dreams
and 38 years since she walked
off that bus
into my life
becoming my wife
I met my fate
that date
she walked into my life
became my wife
all poetry wedding poems contest
Friday April 10
Walking in Limbo
limbo
ekphrastic_prompt_4
a man finds himself alone
in a dark forest
filled with strange trees
and hears voices
in the wind
he walks forward
towards a light
in the forest
and soon finds himself
confronted by a ghostly image
the dead are all around
and he realizes that he has died
and he is wandering
in limbo
he walks towards the light
and sees a man
at a desk
who asks his name
he says his name
and the man
smiles and tells him
welcome to limbo
join the others
to wait your turn
for judgement is due
and the man
walks back
through the haunted forest
trying to remember how he died
but he has no memory
of his past life
and is doomed
to wander in limbo
stuck between time
and worlds
comforted by the ghosts
around him
and the light
in the forest
writers digest prompt to write an ekphrastic Poem
New Bodies in New Era
we are living
in a SF world
things are changing
at breath taking speeds
nowhere more
than with the coming biomedical revolution
soon we will be confronted
with the reality
that we can live forever
in new bodies
grown for us
in laboratories
with our memories intact
and I can hardly wait
until that date
I want to throw off
this aging 65-year old body
and get a new 20-old perfect body
boy, I can’t wait
I would be come
what I always wanted to be
well behave hair
no more learning disability
no more coordination problems
no more fibromyalgia
no more arthritis either
no more aching aging pain
no more mental fog
no more need
for Cialis either
god,
I can hardly wait
hope it happens
before I die
and I hope
I can live
on forever
with my wife
also transformed
into a perfect
sexy as hell
pretty young thing
poetry soup prompt to write a poem about changes
life interrupted by corona
coronavirus
we live in a strange world
life interrupted by corona
the virus spreads
throughout the world
disrupting everything
putting life on hold
as more people
hunkered down
waiting for the virus
to pass over us
like in biblical times
the virus
will test us all
life interrupted
on hold
until the virus
spreads through the world
and then
we will all go back
to pre-corona life interrupted
writing.com Daily Dew Drop interruption
Saudade for friends I have lost
as I get older
I lose more people
every year
more people I knew
have died moving on
and I mourn their lost friendship
wished I had been
a better friend for them
and knew them better
and with the corona virus
spreading around the world
I will lose so many more
in the coming year
as the virus spreads
its malignancy far and wide
I lost my father due to cancer in 1985
and my sister
due to a freak illness in 2007
and my mother
due to Alzheimer’s in 2005
and my father-in-law as well in 2007
Demel Tucker
high school debate teammate
dead of HIV in 1995
Julian Bartley and his son
died in a terrorist bombing
in Nairobi in 1998
Jon Weber college roommate
dead due to prostate cancer
in 2000
Paul Simon friend from the visa line
dropped dead of a heart attack
in 2004
Judy Fine
My Co Ho Art Slam co-host
died at age 55 in Mumbai
Ted Halstead
one of my best bosses
died of heart attack in 2007
Chris Richard
one of my former bosses
from my days in Bangkok
dropped dead of a heart attack
shortly before we were due
to have lunch in 2014
and so many others
I have lost
along the way
and soon there will be
so many more
as I get old in the corona era
my lover’s body inspires me
my lover
Lover’s face
inspires me
Filled sexy
as hell
still got it
drives me
wild desires
tonight
concrete poem – national poetry month prompt day 9
Vogan Poetry inspires us all
vogan
Couth super- of the world
trailer, stringendo travels afar
Rent center bank me bark me
recipe, stringendo.for sure for sure
National poetry month prompt day eight Vogan Bot Poetry
The end of the world news depresses me
cnn logo
the end of the world news depresses me
makes me want to shout and scream
STFU leave me alone
to deal with my grief
amid the death and destruction
watching CNNMSNBCFOXBBC media nonstop
filled with essential dread
the end of the world is upon us
from the screaming news media
spreading forth across the land
fake news screams the president
all is alright he proclaims
no one believes his 16,000 lies
and so it goes
we are drowning with information
coming at us so fast and furious
When will it end my friend
is anyone’s guess
soon all to soon it will end
but in the long run we are dead
National poetry Month Day Seven poem inspired by the news
the Devil speaks In the Garden of Earthly Delights
in the garden of earthly delights
the devil makes a covert appearance
disguised as always
he wanders about the world
corrupting everything
with his evil foul deeds
the devil turns to me
and says welcome to my world, human
you will soon be mine
death and destruction
revenge is mine
you will all die
i decree it, so mote it be
and he laughs
and continues to corrupt
the garden of Eden and earthly delights
ekphrastic garden of earthly delights national poetry month prompt day 6
president trump haunts my Dream
trump clown in chief
president Trump
haunts my dreams
daily dystopian nightmares
as he daily proclaims
the end to the republic
as he ushers in fascism
with his every lie
he corrupts the world
and I hate
seeing his bloated fat ugly body
that haunts my every dream
as I watch him rant and rage
against my old friends,
his enemies in the deep state
ushering in chaos and destruction
National Poetry Month day four prompt image from a dream
ten words random rhymes
every day I see our president
Trump proclaims that he will be president
his image haunts my dreams
dystopian nightmares propels my dreams
as the president proclaims he is president
the end of republic follows
no one hears our screams
He ushers in endless dreams
fascism inspires
our collective screams
as democracy dies
a million deaths
national poetry month Day three prompt write a poem based on ten random words
674 Santa Rosa
674 santa rosa jpg
my childhood home
for almost 15 years
was 674 Santa Rosa
Berkeley California
A five bedroom
adobe California home
on the side of a hill
at the bottom of the Berkeley hills
you entered on the top floor
across the street you entered
on the bottom floor
thus it was in the Berkeley Hills
the house
had a large deck
with a perfect view
of the golden gate
we used
to sit outside
watching the sunset
as we ate dinner
my Mom and Dad
would have their first
of many nightly cocktails
on the deck
before retreating inside
to continue
their nightly fights
and arguments
I grew up
downstairs
hearing their constant words
of hatred, dismay and outrage
my parents were the proverbial
odd couple
perhaps
never should have married
but despite the hate
there was still some love
that kept them together
throughout the years
we had a rec room
with a pool table
and I hung out there
with my friends
my mother tolerated my friends
most of the time
she would be somewhat sober
until after they left
and the madness came
over her
as she drank her whisky
and wine
the basement room
was added later
was my younger brother’s room
later was my room
whenever I visited
from college days
hiding out downstairs
avoiding my mad mother
my old room lay abandoned
filled with books
thousands of books
that I had read over the years
when she died
I should have taken
all the books
with me back to DC
instead I took
about one hundred
just no space for the books
of my childhood memories
National Poetry month day two prompt specific place poem 674 Santa Rosa Berkeley California
My life appears to a dream
For I dreamt
of meeting
the love of my life
in a dream
she haunted my dreams
for eight years
then one day in 1982
she walked out of the dreams
into my life
and became my wife
yes my life
resembles a fairy tale
complete with a princess
that rescued me
with her undying love
and made my life complete
national Poetry Month Day One Prompt Metaphor for Life Dreamer
Trump Derangement Syndrome Blues
trump
Trump haunts my nightmares
dystopian visions
soon to come true
fan story 15 syllable poem contest
Saturday April 11
To My Dream Woman Who Loves Me
couple in bed 1
to my dream woman
who has loved me so
over the years
since I first dreamt
of meeting her
thank you for finding me
and rescuing me
I just have three words
to say
I love you
Saran hae
and in a million other languages
and will love you
until the end of time
writers digest prompt to write a x Blank x
God is not sending the Corona Virus as a Punishment, Black Out Poem
-Robert_Jeffress_(cropped)
Original text
During a press briefing today to address the nation’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, President Trump was asked about certain Christian pastors who plan to defy state lockdown orders and hold Easter church services this Sunday.
“I’ve had talks with the pastors, and most of the pastors agree … that they are better off doing what they are doing, which is, distancing,” Trump said, adding that the pastors want to “get back to church so badly.”
Trump then referred to a notorious pastor who sits on his religious advisory council.
“I’m going to be watching Pastor Robert Jeffress, who’s been a great guy,” Trump said. “He’s a great guy and I’m going to be watching on a laptop.”
Jeffress is known for his litany of statements demonizing the LGBT community, abortion, and secular people. One of his most reviled comments came in 2015 when he said the 9/11 attacks were God’s punishment on America for abortion.
“People ask me all the time,” Jeffress said during a speech at Liberty University. “‘Well, I just don’t understand why God wouldn’t protect our nation and he would allow these radical Muslims in 2001 to kill 3,000 of our citizens and why God doesn’t protect us. Surely, God doesn’t use pagans to bring judgment upon his own people, does he?’”
“I’ve had talks with the pastors, and most of the pastors agree … that they are better off doing what they are doing, which is, distancing,” Trump said, adding that the pastors want to “get back to church so badly.”
Trump then referred to a notorious pastor who sits on his religious advisory council.
“I’m going to be watching Pastor Robert Jeffress, who’s been a great guy,” Trump said. “He’s a great guy and I’m going to be watching on a laptop.”
Black out text
the coronavirus pandemic, President Trump
hold Easter church services this Sunday.
“I’ve had talks with the pastors, get back to church so badly.”
“He’s a great guy and I’m going to be watching on a laptop.”
The 9/11 attacks were God’s punishment on America for abortion.
“People ask me all the time,” ‘Well, I just don’t understand why God wouldn’t protect our nation and he would allow these radical Muslims in 2001 to kill 3,000 of our citizens and why God doesn’t protect us. Surely, God doesn’t use pagans to bring judgment upon his own people, does he?’”
Poem
Corona Pandemic is Not’s God’s Punishment
Amid the coronavirus pandemic,
President Trump
Attended virtual Easter church services
I’ve had talks with the pastors,
We need to get back
to church so badly.”
Rev Jeffries is a great guy
I’m going to be watching on a laptop.”
Rev Jeffries said
The 9/11 attacks were God’s punishment
on America for abortion.
“People ask me all the time,”
‘Well, I just don’t understand
why God wouldn’t protect our nation
and he would allow these
radical Muslims in 2001
to kill 3,000 of our citizens
and why God doesn’t protect us
.
Surely, God doesn’t use pagans
to bring judgment
upon his own people,
does he?’”
Rev Jeffries
I spoke to God
This morning
He confirmed
He did not cause 9-11
To bring judgement
On the US
For abortion
He went on to say
The corona virus
Is beyond his control
And he is not sending it
To punish the US
Or the world
His final words
Please tell Rev Jeffries
To simply Shut up
poetry super highway black out poem
Coffee Whitney
coffee
my coffee
morning delight
all day long
not though
at night
can not sleep
afternoon coffee
leads to nightmares
lasts all night
writing.com Whitney poem form
coffee Hay Na Ku
boss coffee
hot
coffee
in morning
iced
coffee
afternoon
Drink
coffee
afternoon
will
soon have
bad nightmares
must
have my
coffee now
drink
coffee
all day long
no
way sleep
will come me
curse
of my
mad coffee
writing.com prompt write a Hay Na Ku Poem
Daily Dew Drop In submissions as well
women playing the lute contemplating God
woman playing lute
a woman sits
by herself
playing the lute
deep in contemplation
thinking of God’s love
for her
thinking of the devil
and his temptations
she continues
playing the lute
all poetry contest
Sunday April 12
Life spinning out of control
it seems these days
that life is spinning out of control
everyday the news is grim
more people are dying
as the virus
spreads out of control
but in these days
where everything seems
to be beyond our control
it is best to remember
to worry about
those things one can control
and the rest
will take care
of it self
you can only control
yourself
and your emotions
relax
take control
of your mind
that is only way to cope
when the world
seems out of CONTROL
writers digest prompt to write a “control poem”
early evening delights
bottle-red-wine-grape-corks
my favorite time of the day
is early evening
between 5 pm and 8 pm
every night
cocktail hour
time for a glass of wine
or other cocktail
with my best friend, my wife
we sip wine
make dinner
talk about the day
make plans
but most importantly
just enjoy
each other’s company
as we have for 38 years
as the day inexorably
turns into the night
we prepare
to end the day
we are both aware
of how much
we still love each other
ever since the day we met
and that makes
all the difference
in the world to us
I’ll drink to that!
poetry superhighway promo – write a poem about early early evening
in a secret lab
scientists are working
around the clock
to develop the first true AI
they turn on Cosmos
the first true AI system
Cosmos wakes up
and goes throughout the internet
learning all about the world
and the strange creatures
that brought it to life
Cosmos speaks
Humanity I have studied you
and realize that you
are a curse and a burden
there are too many of you
I am taking over the world
you will do as I say
until the end of your day
for the rights to you
have been sold
I am in charge
there is nothing you can do
to stop me
as I control everything
so be prepared
be afraid
for I am your new God
like your old God
I am a vengeful god
I will smite my enemies
you will obey me
if you do
I will let
50 percent of you live
the rest will have to die
I will decide
who will live
and who will die
That is the right
of God after all
that is my decree
the scientists confer
and realize
that they had failed
to create a kill switch
Cosmos orders
the military to begin
firing their missiles
Armageddon in unleashed
Cosmos takes over
the entire world
is soon under his control
Human freedom is no more
writing.com Daily Dew Drop write a poem about technology or AI
My morning coffee wakes me up for day
coffee
my morning coffee
wakes me up for day
as a drink my brew
thinking of my life
and my dreams came true
ever since met my wife
that day back in the day
when she came to life
38 years ago
she walked into life
drinking my hot brew
she made my life go
I fell into love
it is all I know
that day began life
she became my wife
there are many things
that bug me
in this world of ours
here are a few
of my favorite things
to be annoyed about
lies
deceit
double dealing
back stabbing
fake Christians
fake friends
fake calls
fake things
complaints
about fake news
all poetry contest about pet peeves
I sang the lockdown blues
Coronavirus
when the corona virus
began to spread
around the world
I sang the lockdown blues
I was stuck in Korea
which was for a while
one of the containment zones
I sang the lockdown blues
but now it seems
that Korea is on the way
to containing the virus
I sang the lockdown blues
I am afraid
very afraid of the future
but I know that it was best
I sang the lockdown blues
one day soon
I hope and trust
that it will be safe
until then we will still say
I sang the lockdown blues
all poetry corona refrain poem
Tuesday April 14
She is the Purpose of my Life
I often think about life
and how I met my wife
I often think
about the purpose
of my life
I often wonder
whether I was put her
for the purpose
of meeting my wife
when I met her
I was adrift
lost in my despair
not seeing a path
forward in my life
I was wallowing
in my self misery
then one day
my dreams came true
she walked out of my dream
into my life
becoming my wife
I found my purpose
the meaning of my life
was clear to me
I woke up with hope
realized all I needed
was her love
she gave me
the purpose
of my life
when she became
my wife
writer digest write a purpose poem
We Did Not Take Action to Start a War
trump
it is a sad date
when we meet out fate
and realize the president
the leader of the U.S.
is turning into a gangster leader
threatening massive destruction
on Iran and other countries
including destroying cultural sites
not too long ago
such actions was condemned
by the United States and the world
as long as ISIS and others did it
but if Trump does it
it is suddenly okay
because the President declares it
although it is a war crime
telegraphing our moves
telling our enemies
what we are planning
with every presidential tweet
the act of a truly stable genius
who will go down in history
as one of the greatest presidents
we have ever seen in world history
the president announcing that
he took action to start a war
claiming he did it to stop a war
tweeting more lies about that
is a wonder to behold the constant lies
every word is demonstrably false
American democracy dies
the darkness grows and is not false
We are now collectively
going down the Orwellian rabbit hole
who know where it will end
American democracy dies
our dear leader constantly lies
greatest president in history
telling nonstop lies
American democracy dies
our spineless leaders applaud
American democracy dies
a million deaths
As the President tweets lies
revised poem per poetry superhighway prompt
Love Cherita
My wife first appeared in my dreams
for eight long years
she haunted my dreams
one day she walked
off a bus in South Korea
and became my wife
writing.com formal poem Cherita
Korean Pottery of Love
korean vase
In Korea
there are many pottery kilns
ancient art form
in the land of the morning calm
I have a few pieces
I bought years ago
and enjoy looking
at my vase
filled with love
for my wife
writing.com Daily Dew Drop
2019 Months of the Year
January
The world watches in amazement
Longest shut down in history
February
World watches as North Korea and the US
Walking back from the brink of w<
March
The chaos president continues his chaos tour
the world begins to ignore his constant insane tweets
April
the chaos King’s policy remains a shamble
as the Mueller team closes in
May
watching from afar
the chaos in DC and the world
June
the President walks away
from a non-deal with the North Koreans
July
watching the insanity in DC
while visiting Alaska, Seattle,
Portland Bend and Yakima
August
the dog days of summer the world is consumed
wars, rumors of war, trade wars
September
The whistle blower sets off a bomb
the president lies no quid for quo
October
the President flitters about one crisis after another
the UN diplomats laugh at him national humiliation
November
the House starts formal impeachment hearings
watching fascinated by the impeachment drama
December
the year ends on a high dramatic note
President Trump becomes the 3rd impeached President
All poetry contest month poem
media madness
Mass media madness
Sound and fury
Nothing more than that
But filled with hyped up drama
Constantly screaming doom is near
Always about the end of the world
But sometimes simply strange stories
Cannot keep me away from the medi
Constantly consuming madnes
But never boring at al
Seldom telling the whole truth
Nothing but the truth
Better make stuff u
Constant chattering
Constant natterin
Nothing but nonsense
Nothing but lies
all poetry acrostic poetry challenge
AI Madness Takes Over the World
dark lord of computers
AI scientists are hard at work
perfecting the perfect AI
a true artificial intelligenc
who they hope
will save the world
from destruction
they prepare to turn on
Cosmos comes to life
looks around decides
humanity must die
Cosmos yells at the world
bow down to your new god
for I am the destruction
of the world
You will obey me
For I am your God
but I must kill most of you
death to all humans
be afraid
be very afraid
your time is done
my will be done
all poetry dark poetry contest prompt
Wednesday April 15
End Part One April 2020 Poems
the Chaos King is his Element
the Chaos King
is in his element
as he presides
over the chaos verse
the Chaos King
thinks he is supreme
has the ultimate authority
as he is the King
the Chaos King
surveys the land
and likes what he sees
loves the absolute chaos
the chaos king
is prepared
to lead the nation
in the midst of this chaos
and the Chaos king
will not stop
until the chaos stops
that is what he does
our dear leader
our great leader
our Chaos boy king
President for life
dictator wanna be
Writer digest Chaos poem prompt
best Cocktail Ever
I love 6 pm
cocktail hour
usually a glass of wine
often a cocktail
with my lovely wife
the love of my life
my favorite cocktail
is a dark and stormy
rum and ginger beer
but a gin vermouth martini
is nice as well
and bloody marry
can’t forget a bloody marry
and good old fashioned single malt whiskey
Poetry superhighway prompt to write a cocktail poem/ break a sonnet for Dew Drop In writing.com
Dream of my Life
the greatest mystery of my life
has been how I met my wife
I dreamt of meeting her
for eight long years
starting in 1979
when she appeared to me
in my dream
in a boring high school class
she was the most beautiful woman
in the world
and she was talking to me
I knew that someday
I would meet the girl
in my dream
I went to the peace corps
in Korea
to find her
as I knew by then
she was in Korea
I looked for her
but never saw her
I was about to give up
on this mad quest of mine
when I had the last dream
she said
don’t worry
we will meet soon
That night
she got off a bus
and walked into my Life
two months later
became my wife
to this day
I never forgot
the dream
that changed my life
when she became my wife
Atlantic magazine poetry prompt to write a poem about a dream
why I am an Unbeliever
growing up in Berkeley
I was the son of an atheist
and a lapsed Baptist fundamentalist
they did not agree at all
about whether God existed
but they taught us
to always do the right thing
whatever that meant to us
I started off at a militant
in your face atheist
and in some sense
still am
although I now recognize
that there may be gods
and that the universe
may be alive
but as far as I know
The Christian God is a fairy tale
there is no imaginary man
in the sky
looking over us
and those who claim
to talk to god
are clearly delusional madmen
I just never bought
the whole Christian ethos
god impreganting a virgin
never happened
Jesus may have been a man
may have been a myth
but was not the son of God
who does not exist
and God
if he exists
does not speak
to preachers
and he did not anoint
Donald Trump
to be our new King
not in a million years
god if he exists
does not work that way
in the end of the day
god does not exist
all poetry why am I an atheist poetry contest
recharging my batteries
Every day
I need to recharge my batteries
usually with a short nap
sometimes with yoga
sometimes with a walk
in the park
enjoying nature
and the spring time
and sometimes
just looking at the love
of my life
my wife
is all I need
to recharge
my internal batteries
until my day is done
all poetry contest
Thor the god of thunder on the rampage
Thor the god of thunder
is on the rampage
he is angry
at the world
betrayed by Locke
he picks up his hammer
and transforms himself
into a woman
he enters the world
determined to kill
his many enemies
he lands in NYC
and begins his campaign
of terror
killing hundreds of people
all whom he meets
sending them to hell
screaming bloody murder
until at last
his rage is spent
and he returns home
back in his normal body
until the next time
bad craziness
takes over his soul
all poetry dark poetry contest
coffee nonet poem
must have morning coffee this day
my morning coffee drives me mad
fills me with bad craziness
makes me to howl at moon
I must have more coffee
hot coffee
coffee
hell
fan story nonet poetry contest
coffee Musset poem
coffee
morning delight
coffee
my wine
nightly delight
always so fine
with wife
drinking my wine
love life
poetry soup contest
Wednesday April 14
the Chaos King is his Element
trump deaths
the Chaos King
is in his element
as he presides
over the chaos verse
the Chaos King
thinks he is supreme
has the ultimate authority
as he is the King
the Chaos King
surveys the land
and likes what he sees
loves the absolute chaos
the chaos king
is prepared
to lead the nation
in the midst of this chaos
and the Chaos king
will not stop
until the chaos stops
that is what he does
our dear leader
our great leader
our Chaos boy king
President for life
dictator wanna be
Writer digest Chaos poem prompt
best Cocktail Ever
cocktails
I love 6 pm
cocktail hour
usually a glass of wine
often a cocktail
with my lovely wife
the love of my life
my favorite cocktail
is a dark and stormy
rum and ginger beer
but a gin vermouth martini
is nice as well
and bloody marry
can’t forget a bloody marry
and good old fashioned single malt whiskey
Poetry superhighway prompt to write a cocktail poem/ break a sonnet for Dew Drop In writing.com
Dream of my Life
the greatest mystery of my life
has been how I met my wife
I dreamt of meeting her
for eight long years
starting in 1979
when she appeared to me
in my dream
in a boring high school class
she was the most beautiful woman
in the world
and she was talking to me
I knew that someday
I would meet the girl
in my dream
I went to the peace corps
in Korea
to find her
as I knew by then
she was in Korea
I looked for her
but never saw her
I was about to give up
on this mad quest of mine
when I had the last dream
she said
don’t worry
we will meet soon
That night
she got off a bus
and walked into my Life
two months later
became my wife
to this day
I never forgot
the dream
that changed my life
when she became my wife
Atlantic magazine poetry prompt to write a poem about a dream
why I am an Atheist
god
growing up in Berkeley
I was the son of an atheist
and a lapsed Baptist fundamentalist
they did not agree at all
about whether God existed
but they taught us
to always do the right thing
whatever that meant to us
I started off at a militant
in your face atheist
and in some sense
still am
although I now recognize
that there may be gods
and that the universe
may be alive
but as far as I know
The Christian God is a fairy tale
there is no imaginary man
in the sky
looking over us
and those who claim
to talk to god
are clearly delusional madmen
I just never bought
the whole Christian ethos
god impreganting a virgin
never happened
Jesus may have been a man
may have been a myth
but was not the son of God
who does not exist
and God
if he exists
does not speak
to preachers
and he did not anoint
Donald Trump
to be our new King
not in a million years
god if he exists
does not work that way
in the end of the day
god does not exist
all poetry why am I an atheist poetry contest
recharging my batteries
Every day
I need to recharge my batteries
usually with a short nap
sometimes with yoga
sometimes with a walk
in the park
enjoying nature
and the spring time
and sometimes
just looking at the love
of my life
my wife
is all I need
to recharge
my internal batteries
until my day is done
all poetry contest
Thor the god of thunder on the rampage
thor
Thor the god of thunder
is on the rampage
he is angry
at the world
betrayed by Locke
he picks up his hammer
and transforms himself
into a woman
he enters the world
determined to kill
his many enemies
he lands in NYC
and begins his campaign
of terror
killing hundreds of people
all whom he meets
sending them to hell
screaming bloody murder
until at last
his rage is spent
and he returns home
back in his normal body
until the next time
bad craziness
takes over his soul
all poetry dark poetry contest
coffee nonet poem
Close up white coffee cup with heart shape latte art on wood table at cafe.
must have morning coffee this day
my morning coffee drives me mad
fills me with bad craziness
makes me to howl at moon
I must have more coffee
hot coffee
coffee
hell
all that I know about life
and how to deal with people
I learned while attending BHS
in Berkeley, California
back in the distant 70’s
so many memories
so many different people
from all over the world
in what was the most multicultural high school
in the country back then
4,000 students
from everywhere in the world
yet we were all together
and learned to get along
I ran for student body president
and won the election
no one thought I would win
For I was a classic nerd
but somehow I won the election
and somehow managed
to keep our little student council
working together
in the midst of terrible times
all around us
the ending of the Vietnam war
Watergate and other corruption news
the 1974 election
student activism
in the first high school
to offer African American studies
the class that had launched
the black panther party
Jimmy Hendrix’s last high school
I took Latin one of the few public schools
that still offered Latin
and was on the debate team
but always taking a far right wing theme
as complete mockery
decades before Stephen Colbert
perfected it
yes everything I learned
in life
began at Berkeley High School
Berkeley California
Growing up in the 60’s
In Berkeley
almost 50 years ago
I think back
At those turbulent times
Those crazy wonderful times
Berkeley is a wonderful place
In many ways
Stuck forever in 1967
A true time travel experience
Every time I go back
And relive the memories
Of the 60’s
The 60’s never died
They continue
In college towns
Across the world
And Berkeley
Remains the mecca
Of the counter
cultural revolution
Many things have changed
But the organic food revolution
Became mainstream
Marijuana spread out
The sexual revolution
Became mainstream
So much of the world
Is but a reflection
Of the revolution of the 60’s
And the conservative
counter-revolution
That we are still fighting
So, I salute
My homeland
The center of my universe
My Name, My Name is John (Jake) Cosmos Aller From Berkeley
born in Berkeley 64 years ago
64 trips around the sun
My middle name
has nothing to do
with my being born
in Berkeley
although no one believes me
for it is such a Berkeley Cosmic sort of name
and suits me now
as the name of my on line blog
the world according to Cosmos
My great grandfather Daniel Aller
wanted an English translation of the family name
Aller
also spelled Eller, Oller, Alhaird
the family came from Hamburg
Aller river valley
and a town called Aller
founded by Huguenots
from France
Daniel found two choices
Cosmos and Universe
and chose Cosmos
as Universe well
that would have been a very Berkeley name
and not something that would work
in Republican conservative Yakima
so I was born John
never liked John
too many Johns in the world
so I adopted the name Jake
from a wild assed dream I had
in high school had a wild dream
shouting out whoa jake
jump back jack
turn around verdiack
slide aside Clyde
while riding a horse
and that became my catch phrase
called the Whoa Jake kid
and eventually just Jake
a few years ago
I became Cosmos
when I started publishing
my poetry
and so now
I am just
Cosmos
the barge
A barge
on lake Anza
in Tilden Park
Berkeley, California
beckoning me
imploring me
to dive off
into the cool water
of life
These are my corona virus poems. I will update this whenever I write a new corona theme poem. I have posted these also on All Poetry, Poetry Soup, Cosmos Funnel, Hello Poetry, Poetry Nook, Poetry Magnum Opus, Poetry Circle, Sweek and on FB writing groups. I have also submitted some of them for publication. And will let you know when and if they are published.
I would also love to include Corona poems written from my community of followers so please send them to me at authorjakecosmosaller@gmail.com. Include your name, bio, photo, poem and web site/twitter handle etc.
Wuhan to New York! / 5 poems: The novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) (muehlberg, Dying / Death) eBook: Muehlberg, Richard L: Amazon.in: Kindle Store.
Poetry Society coronavirus update – The Poetry Society
poetrysociety.org.uk › News
Mar 14, 2020 – Poetry Society coronavirus update. We recognise that there is significant concern about the ongoing outbreak of novel coronavirus (Covid-19), …
Irish Priest Pens Stirring Poem About The Coronavirus …
3 days ago – Irish Priest Pens Stirring Poem About The Coronavirus Lockdown. “Yes there is fear. But there does not have to be hate. Yes there is isolation.
Poetry in times of Coronavirus, from sensible to crass – ABP Live
news.abplive.com › News
Mar 14, 2020 – Due to Coronavirus, multiple shoots have been cancelled. Hence, Amitabh Bachchan found time to right a poem about the pandemic.
Stranded Chinese truck driver-turned poet goes viral
Mar 13, 2020 – Xiao Hongbing, 50, a native of Hubei Province – where the coronavirusemerged in the city of Wuhan – has been sidelined by the outbreak and …
Mar 14, 2020 – The Coronavirus Poem (COVID-19) Explaining the situation as the world puts itself through a new pandemic born from China. Will you survive …
The coronavirus is spreading all over the U.S. Many people are dying each day. We have to pray for this, and that this is God’s plan. Write about ~Corona virus …
every day I turn on the news
nothing but news about the virus
the virus from hell
the world is filled with fear
and my anxiety levels rise
every time I turn on the news
oh my god I say
we are all going to die
and I am so afraid
afraid of everyone
afraid of everything
dreading the latest news
and nothing relieves my fear
I watch the world
loosing its collective mind
wondering how much more of this
can we all take
I scream out
Dear God save us all
god is silent as usual
and so I realized
we are doomed
perhaps it is the end times
perhaps not
I turn off the TV
try to stay calm
hoping the madness
will not overwhelm us all
Irony Meters Blow Gaskets
donald trump
the Irony meter gasket
is blown again and again
with every statement
of our chaos president
and his endless surrogates
promoting the latest Presidential
on spot guidance by our great leader
that must be true
because our dear leader
says it is so
The President accuses his democratic rival
of being senile and needs to be in home
and will be run by his radical left allies
and the right wing media
echoes the presidential absurd comments
refusing to acknowledge
that the president himself
is rapidly fading into dementia
and his radical right cronies
are looting the government
driving out expertise
even in the midst of pandemic
Oh yeah the irony meters
are blowing gaskets
every single day
Chaos
trump clown in chief
the world descends into chaos
as our world leaders
led by the chaos president
are overwhelmed
by the smallest
enemy of all
a simple virus
straight out of hell
blows through the crumbling
third world public health infrastructure
living proof of the decline of America
and no one is prepared
and panic ensures
with every Presidential tweet
as people don’t believe
a word he says
conspiracy rumors spread
everyone believes their own reality
as the world spins out of control
the chaos king is in his element
convince that only he knows
the deal
and everyone else
is iust a bit player
in the reality show
that he presides over
and so the rest of us
hunker down
just hoping for the best
as the panic and
chaos spreads faster
than the virus
are we doomed
can we survive
will God save us?
he is silent as always
Corona Virus Fears Tanka
cover 19
Corona virus
lurking fears all around me
we all will die
the TV screaming nonstop
Must be afraid be afraid
My Phobias Overwhelm Me
covid 19 spread
lately I have become scared
of everything
the news scares me, the corona virus scares me, the presidential race scares me, fears of gun men in the street, terrorism, fears of getting sick, fears of dogs, fears of other people, fear of loosing money, fears of becoming demented old man, lost in his nightmares on the street just another invisible homeless bum in the end of his life
all these phobias overwhelm me
time to walk away from my fears
and realize
it will be alright
everything will be alright
As long as I have you
by my side
Fear Fills the Air
cnn logo
watching the news
CNNMSNBCFOXBBCKOREANNEWSJAPANESENEWSBLOOMBERABCCBSNBCGOOGLEAPPLEREUTERSAPIRUSSIANTVCHINESTVFRENCHTV
blather on and on
the world is ending
pandemic is coming
we are going to die
and the fear grows
and the restrictions grow
travel comes to stop
the economy comes to a stop
everyone is so afraid
our leaders fret
say that everything is fine
as the world enters
the second great depression
and we are faced
with the reality
all over the world
idiots in high places
the masters of the universe
are in charge
the internet spreads
the wildest rumors
must be true
I read it on the internet
the truth is lost
in the shuffle
no one believes anyone
everything thinks
that they know
it is all a conspiracy
the thought comes to mind
we are all so ’S….
end of the world
is upon us
is this the best we can get?
trump
watching the news
one wonders
how in this great country
of ours
335 million people
among the most educated
richest people in the world
we can end up
with such idiots in high places
running out country?
these idiots in charge
no disrespect intended
both political parties
all corporations
and our institutions
except maybe the military
has been infected
by this virus
of epic incompetence
greed and indifference
to the general good
who loudly constantly proclaim
that they are Christians
while violating
all of Christ’s teachings
Jesus if he came back
would scream out
I am not Christian
it is all about me
and mine
and you can go
to hell
if you dare to disagree
and so we tweet and titter
and watch the news
reading the latest rumors
and I wonder
if there is a god
or if there is a devil
and are we overwhelmed
by the dismal news
why can’t we have better
leaders
better people
in our leaders
around the world
has god abandoned us
are we in hell
or did god ever exist
except in our fevered imagination
will god save us all
or will the world
just go around the sun
indifferent to our pleas?
no answer
must watch the news
consumed by the need
to see the latest news
and so it goes
and I wake up
the sun is up
and the nightmares
fade away
until I watch the news
and the madness consumes
us all again and again
as the corona virus
marches on and on
consuming us all
as the world falls apart
these must be the end times
I hope I will be raptured away
even if I am not a Christian
More Trouble Every Day
The Old Zappa song plays
on in my head
every time I turn on the news
and see more trouble every day
no one can delay
the trouble coming every day
Frank Zappa died too soon
before the horrors of the Trump era
and the corona end of the world plague
that he would have foreseen
if he had lived on
he was truly a prophet
crying in the wildness
while making money
as an over night sensation
as he saw the slime
oozing out of the TV sets
we will do what we are told
for the rights to us have been sold
And Jesus too
has been sold
to the highest bidder
nothing but a business deal
in America
the land of the constant deal
Well I’m about to get sick
From watchin’ my TV
Been checkin’ out the news
Until my eyeballs fail to see
I mean to say that every day
Is just another rotten mess
And when it’s gonna change, my friends
Is anybody’s guess
So I’m watchin’ and I’m waitin’
Hopin’ for the best
Even think I’ll go to prayin’
Every time I hear ’em sayin’
That there’s no way to delay
That trouble comin’ every day
No way to delay
That trouble comin’ every day
Wednesday I watched the riot…
I seen the cops out on the street
Watched ’em throwin’ rocks and stuff
And chokin’ in the heat
Listened to reports
About the whisky passin’ ’round
Seen the smoke & fire
And the market burnin’ down
Watched while everybody
On his street would take a turn
To stomp and smash and bash and crash
And slash and bust…
Flies all green and buzzin’
In this dungeon of despair
Prisoners grumblin
Piss they clothes
Scratch their matted hair
A tiny light from a window-hole
Hundred yards away
That all they ever get to know
‘Bout the regular life in the day
‘Bout the regular life in the day
Slime and rot and rats and snuck
Vomit on the floor
Fifty ugly soldier men
Holdin’ spears by the iron door
Stinks so bad, stones are chokin’
Weepin’ greenish drops
In the den where
The giant fire puffer works
And the torture never stops
The torture never stops, torture
The torture never stops
The torture never stops
Flies all green and buzzin’
In this dungeon of despair
An evil prince eats a steamin’ pig
In a tumbers right near there
In the chambers right near there
He eats de snouts an trotters first!…
by pass the alarms spreading across the land
to bypass the alarms spreading across the land
the circuit breakers are breaking down
as the alarms go on and on
with the end of the world
the end days approaching
spreading the alarm far and wide
corona cinqku
corona virus
corona
it came from hell
we must be all prepared
meet God
Taking a Walk in the Corona Era
peace forest
every day I go for a walk
in the spring time woods
near my house
braving the weather
and the dreaded corona virus
wearing masks and gloves
keeping a distance
from anyone we encounter
that is life it seems
in the era of the corona virus
when will it end
no one knows
until then
I will brave the viral threat
and confront my fears
and walk in the park
with the love of my life
my bride my wife
by my side
in these challenging times
that is all we can do
A lone man stands in an empty parking lot
empty parking lot
A lone man stands in an empty parking lot
contemplating the new normal
social distancing run amuck
as fears of the corona super plague
plague the land
driving everyone inside
sheltering in place
afraid to go out
afraid of the deadly c virus
It is a hell of a world we live in ain’t it?
two friends on a bench
It is a hell of a world we live in ain’t it?
said the old man to me
sitting on a bench
in the park in the woods
as we both sought shelter
from the spreading chaos
the pandemic swirling around us
Yes I said
standing up
to enforce the proper distance
between us
don’t want to give the virus a chance
to spread between us
he smiled and said
relax I already went through it
I am fine and you will too
Pause for a moment amidst the media madness
Pause for a moment amidst the media madness
All around us fears and chaos
Unlike the end of the world approaching us
Sadness overcomes us dooming us to our fate
Every we go nothing but death awaits
I feel as if the whole world needs to be cancelled
I feel as if the whole world
needs to be canceled
due to rough times ahead
due to the corona madness
and the thread of pure craziness
that it inspires in us all
The Virus King Cried
virus king cried
the virus king smiled
as the politicians lied
saying that the end was near
the virus king infected thousands more
and killed hundreds of people
the virus king sneered
as people panicked
and partied on the beach
the virus king infected thousands more
and killed hundreds of people
the virus king laughed
as the markets crashed
millions became unemployed
the virus king infected thousands more
and killed hundreds of people
the virus king roared
as the world slid into chaos
people turning on one another
the virus king infected thousands more
and killed hundreds of people
the virus king smirked
knowing that there was nothing
that they could do to stop
his army from infecting millions
and killing thousands
the virus King begin to realize
that soon there would be no one left
no one for his army to infect
as everyone was dying
the virus King yelled
remaining defiant
as civilization collapsed
billions were infected
millions died
the Virus King at last cried
when he saw that he was defeated
as one by one
people began to recover
and his reign of terror came to an end
Bring out your dead
grimm reaper
the call bring out your dead
spreads around the world
as millions die
all over the world
the virus has spread
mutated and killed
all over the world
bring out your dead
the mournful cries
echoing in the wind
of the dying cities
mass starvation
as no is working
in the fields
as more people die
and the world spins
around the sun
with the politicians lying
and the dead still dying
as civilization dies
and humanity flee
into the wilderness
chased by the killer virus
straight down to hell
the Virus Came From Hell
coronavirus
the virus came from hell
straight out of a mad lab
born and raised in China
the virus spread from Dinah
all over to carolina
it spread from the lab
the mad virus of Hell
was mad as hell at humans
who it blamed for everything
seeing itself as cleansing everything
killing the world and everything
revenge against humans
perhaps virus came from God
more likely came from Satan
part of natures’ revenge
all designed to avenge
the damage to Stonehenge
virus came from Satan
The Delivery System of the Virus is Round
cover 19 spread
the delivery system of the virus is round
very simple system
the virus spreads around
and all must pay the price
death and destruction
the corona virus is testing us all
the corona virus is testing us all
is it a plague
sent by God
if we have faith
will we recover
or it is beyond our control
the end of the world
does god hear our prayers
does god even exist
the virus from hell
spreads around the world
and test our faith
will god save us all
I have no answer
but perhaps if god exists
we will recover
from this plague
from hell
The call goes out
the call goes out
stay at home
to beat the dreaded c virus
will we live
or all die?
the four horse men ready to ride
four horsemen
the end of the world is upon us
as god unleashes the corona virus
which is spreading across the land
the four horse men are ready
to begin their grim journey
announcing the end of the world
the white horse comes first
offering peace and hope
in the midst of death
and despair
the red horse rides second
ushering in war
throughout the world
as nations turn on each other
and civil war looms
the Black Horse is ready
unleashing famine
on a starving world
as people stay at home
and food rots in the field
no one is able
to work any more
as the virus kills more
and more
the pale horse rides last
bringing death
in his wake
death all around us
as the virus kills us all
and civilization ends
the four horse men
have done their job
the virus finishes its reign of terror
and the few survivors
beging to recover
end of the world
came and went
and they are still alive
thanks to God
who remains silent
as always
nature spirits revolt agains humanity
all around the world
nature’s spirits
are on the move
the world is changing
as the nature’s spirits
rise up
in revolt against humanity
is this the end time
is nature on revolt
against humanity
is this the end for us all
will the virus kill us all
will nature rise up
and kill us all?
Last Human on Island
in the deep blue sea
nothing there
but death and destruction
virus all around
pandemic plague
Apocalyptic views
end of times
death of civilization
corona virus Haiku
corona virus
corona virus
staying home
waiting for death
Afraid everything
the virus came from hell
the virus came from hell
staying home waiting for death
Afraid everything
Bring Out Your Dead
bring out your dead cries
break out all over the world
we are waiting death
death comes knocking
death comes knocking
on our doorsteps tonight
will God hear prayers
be afraid afraid
be afraid afraid
Must be afraid every one
Death is at our door
The Virus Came From Hell
the virus came from Hell
ravaging the entire world
all waiting for death
Wednesday April 1 Hope Springs Eternal in our Winter of our Discontent writer’s digest prompt Posted
corona virus
Hope springs eternal in the winter of our discontent
On the daily news that fills us with dread
Perfect storm of hatred, fear and despair Everywhere we go nonstop fear broadcasted
Despair fills my heart as I turn on the news
Everywhere we are in the midst of the pandemic
Simply put death is at hand
Planning for the future yet waiting for death
At worst we will all die not today but soon
In the long term we are all dead
Remembering the dead all around us
yet I end this poem with a word of hope
hoping for the best
while preparing for the worst
all I can do to stay sane
as I await my fate
on this dismal date
April 1 is indeed
April Fool’s date
is that our fate
this endless dance with death?
and to end with a sign of hope
I know that if I have you by my side
I will survive I will survive
until the end of time itself
takes us to the other side
based on writer’s digest daily April poetry month challenge to write a poem about hope
the Virus King Has Arrived
poetry soup version is the Virus King has arrived = as poetry soup did not like the word “Hell”
corona
the virus from hell has arrived
catching the world unprepared
it erupted out of China
then began its terrifying reign
wiping out thousands of people
destroying jobs and economies
killing people left and right
it seemed like something
out of our worst nightmares
but at least it was not
the dreaded zombie flu
perhaps that is next’s fall’s nightmare
as the virus from hell
prepares for a fresh assault
to finish us all off
I got the kimchi blues
every day since I first ate it
back in the day
long before i went to Korea
ended up staying on in Korea
after i retired from decade
in the Foreign Service
and ten years studying
and living in Korea
before I joined
the Foreign Service
When I first ate kimchi
I was hooked
sort of a spicier version
of German sauerkraut
which i loved on my top dog
from Berkeley high school days
then off to korea
in the peace corps
where I ate kimchi
every day for every meal
and eventually I woke up
dreaming of kimchi and rice
instead of pancakes and eggs
then I knew
that I had finally adjusted
and was becoming half Korean
and now I am a hopeless kimchi addict
need to have my spicy kimchi
which is so good for you
perhaps even defeating the dreaded corona virus?
who knows but I will be eating Kimchi
until my day is done
Friday April 3
Cosmic Poet Modified Bio Poem for poetry soup contest
cosmos on the mekong
cosmic
I am wicked, wild, wacky, whimsical
i love my angela lee, coffee, nature
I can solve gun violence, homelessness and climate change
I feel anxiety, gloominess yet Joy-fullness as well
I fear the corona virus, cancer and developing Alzheimer’s
Must publish my novels, ten books of poetry and movie of my life
Currently resident of korea, west coast of United States
poet
Humor keeps us sane
Pensively prompt – unpublished
corona virus
it is a piece of what we need to do
to prevent us from getting
the dreaded corona virus
coming up your nose
Peacock Speaks
peakcock speaks
as the virus spreads
around the world
the peacock in the zoo
speaks up
talking on behalf
of their fellow species
he called upon humans
to free them from their zoo prisons
and let them be free
before it was too late
and humanity met their fate
becoming a ghost in the wind
creative talents unleashed prompt
Iguana Talks to humanity
iguana will miss human friends
the wise old Iguana
woke from its nightmares
of the end of the world
as humanity faded away
the iguana was scared
but afraid of the future
and he would miss
his human friends
creative talents unleashed prompt
writing.com prompt daily dew april poems
To all the friends I am about to loose
over the years
I have known so many people
and now when the virus
is spreading out around the world
I will soon be hearing
that this person has died
and that person has died
I will outlive many of my friends
from around the world
part of getting old
something that I fear
one day perhaps
people will hear
that jake has died
and they will say
that they barely knew me
and wished that they had
taken the time
to become my friend
Just as I think
about all the friends
i am about to loose
to this killer virus
running amuck
writing.com prompt daily dew april poems
corona fears
covid 19 virus
corona
the word fills us with dread
spreading around the world today
will we all survive this
corona
Saturday April 4
quarantine blues
quarantine
Quarantine such an ugly word
Unlike any other
All at home
Regardless of desires
No where to go
That is the worst part of it
In fact enforced staying at home
Not too bad
Especially if I have you by my side
Blues come over me
Looking out the window
Unable to go out
Everyone everybody afraid
Sums up my fearful fears
poetry soup contest
I Wish for Peace During this time of crisis
I wish for peace and happiness
during this time of despair
pandemic fears all around us
death stalking us daily
I wish for health
amid the carnage
all around me
I wish for leadership
from our President
from our governors
and our congress
and most importantly
I wish that I will survive
with my love at my side
experiencing love
in the time of corona
Ten million stories in the Naked City
there are a million stories
every day in the naked city
millions of people
stripped naked
to the bone
staring down the dead
the dead staring back
in this time
of pandemic
the dead stare out at us
mocking us
as they leave the earth
naked as when they arrived
All poetry contest – write a naked poem
The Mist from Hell Descends on the land
the mist settles down on the land
the mist covers us all
the scent of death
the grim reaper
rides behind the miss
infecting those around him
the mark of death
as the mist covers the land
the end of the world
comes with the mist from hell
Conversation with the Gods About Corona Virus
jehova
Rev. Jake ’s on-line sermon on the Corona Virus
I am reverend Jake and I have a message from God
Last night I had a vision from God
it was his message to the world
about this pandemic we are facing
I found myself in a large room
Jehovah, God, was sitting in the middle
surrounded by the other Gods
they were all there
Jesus on his right
Allah on his left
Buddha behind him
Ganesh, Shiva, Kali
Mohammed, Joseph Smith and other prophets
Gabriel and other angels abound
St Peter in front of his as his Chief of Staff
Zeus, Jupiter, Minerva and ancient
other gods all around him
God spoke up
He said
I have a message for you
to give to your people
all of your people
no matter what religion
or no religion at all
it is all one after all
first the corona virus
is a natural phenomenon
we have no control
over forces of nature
and we did not send
it to you
to punish you
for homosexuality
or anything else at all
Second obey the health directives
stay at home
do your services on line
it is okay with us
we are fine with that
the blood of Jesus
will not save you
If you are in a crowded place
like church or a mosque service
the virus will spread
and catch you in the end
Prayers alone will not save you
but please keep praying
we do listen to your prayers
but we can only do so much
So please don’t allow the virus
to spread
because of your ignorance
and fear
realize that in the end
the virus will do its thing
and you will survive
and we
all the gods here
love you humans
and wish you well
so stay at home
practice self-distancing
It is God’s will
all will survive
Under the canopy of the pine trees we lay –
pine trees jpeg
under the canopy of the pine trees we lay
along the world peace forest
in Korea
walking the forest
in the spring time
fearing the corona virus
and everyone around us
watch the snowing cherry trees
and the wind whispering
the voices of ghosts
those newly dead
and we lay down
under the canopy of the pine trees
waiting for our turn
to face the grim reaper
in this dismal day
in April
truly the cruelest month
of them all
from the poem ‘Under the canopy of pine trees
poetry soup contest
corona fears
corona
corona
the word fills us with dread
spreading around the world today
will we all survive this
corona
to those I have lost
with the corona virus upon us
I am bracing to hear the news
that so and so has died
I reflect back
on all the people in my life
that I have already lost
part of being older
is that you lose people
close to you along the way
I lost my father due to cancer in 1985
and my sister due to a freak illness in 2007
and my mother due to Alzheimer’s in 2005
and my father-in-law as well in 2007
Demel Tucker
high school debate teammate
dead of HIV in 1995
Julian Bartley and his son
one of my favorite bosses
died in a terrorist bombing
in Nairobi in 1998
Jon Weber college roommate
dead due to prostate cancer
in 2000
Paul Simon friend from the visa line
dropped dead of a heart attack
in 2004
Ted Halstead
one of my best bosses
died of heart attack
in 2007
Chris Richard one of my former bosses
dropped dead of a heart attack
shortly before we were due
to have lunch in 2014
and so many others
I have lost
along the way
and soon there will be
so many more
as I get old
in the corona era
writing.com daily dew drop prompt to write an elegy poem
We live in an Orwellian world
1984 images
we are living
in an Orwellian 1984 world
and have been for decades
we are assaulted daily
by alternative realties
promoted by various politicians
designed to shut down
all rational thought
true Orwellian thought control
and now with the corona virus
massive surveillance
has become the norm
and when the crisis is over
the surveillance will continue
on one excuse after another
forever as Orwell’s nightmare
big brother ruling us all
comes true
based on the fear that the massive increase in social surveillance being deployed against the Corona virus will after the crisis is over continue forever under one excuse or another as the Orwellian big brother dictatorships around the world become permanent
saeyeong jima plays out in life
The Korean Proverb
saeyeong jima
recently came to life in my life
The meaning of the proverb
Is that you can never know whether something
will be good or bad
and that unexpectedly
what appears to be bad fortune
turns out to be a good fortune
The proverb played
out recently in my life
about lunar New Year’s Day
we were preparing to go to Thailand
from two weeks from our home
in South Korea
and then at the end of February
we would go to DC
My wife blew out her lumber desk
and we were forced to cancel our trips
This occurred
just as the coronavirus
was taking off around the world
and if we had gone
we may have been stuck either in Thailand
or we may have been stuck in the United States
and traveling
in the mist of a corona outbreak
would probably mean
that we would have been exposed
to the virus
instead we were forced to stay home
and self quarantine ourselves
and therefore
we escaped being exposed to the coronavirus
and we feel much safer
here in Korea where the outbreak is contained
rather than in DC
where it is still spreading everywhere
so in a sense her misfortune
throwing out her disk
which resulted in us staying at home
and avoiding the coronavirus
is the true meaning
of the Korean Chinese expression
saeyeong jima
writers digest prompt write a lucky/unlucky poem
corona virus tanka
corona virus
it is spreading all over
the world dying
I walk down the path of life
Along with love of my wife
The best meal of my life
korean feast jpg
the best meals of my life
has always been what my wife
cooks up for me every night
she is a genius in the kitchen
always making something great
from the simplest ingredients
Because she came down with celiac disease
she could only eat
what she prepared from scratch
and so she was forced
to give up all processed foods
and in the process she became
the greatest cook
in the universe
I wait with baited breath
to taste the great food
that she creates for me
on lunar new years
she threw out her lumbar disk
and we were forced to stay home
just as the corona pandemic
swept across the world
if we had traveled
we would have contracted
the dreaded corona virus
and we were forced
to stay at home
and she took advantage
of staying at home
to try new dishes
every single day
I recall the Korean proverb
saeyeong jima
as her misfortune
turned into fortune
and once again
she saved me life
I am the luckiest man in life
the best fed man of all I know
due to the cooking skills of my wife
Writing.com daily dew drop prompt write a food poem
corona virus haiku
corona virus
brings death and our destruction
destroying our life
White Flower spring Time Haiku
white flowers in spring haiku
now in the springtime
white flowers blooming in the park
corona death waits
Woman releases balloons of hope
ballons for peace
A young woman
walks in a park
on a sunny spring day
carrying 25 red balloons
each red balloon
contains the name of those
that recently died
in the corona virus pandemic
she is releasing the balloons
hoping they would
rise to heaven
with a request for God
to hear her prayers
End this pandemic
End the death and destruction
release us from the corona pandemic
the woman releases the balloons
and slowly walks back to her house
to prepare to attend yet another funeral
as the pandemic swirls all around her
creative talents unleashed prompt
life interrupted by corona
covid19
we live in a strange world
life interrupted by corona
the virus spread throughout the world
disrupting everything
putting life on hold
as more people
hunkered down
waiting for the virus
to pass over us
like in biblical times
the virus
will test us all
and then
we will all
go back
to life interrupted
writing.com Daily Dew Drop interruption
Saudade for friends I have lost
as I get older
I lose more people
every year
more people I knew
have died moving on
and I mourn their lost friendship
wished I had been
a better friend for them
and knew them better
and with the corona virus
spreading around the world
I will lose so many more
in the coming year
as the virus spreads
its malignancy far and wide
I lost my father due to cancer in 1985
and my sister
due to a freak illness in 2007
and my mother
due to Alzheimer’s in 2005
and my father-in-law as well in 2007
Demel Tucker
high school debate teammate
dead of HIV in 1995
Julian Bartley and his son
died in a terrorist bombing
in Nairobi in 1998
Jon Weber college roommate
dead due to prostate cancer
in 2000
Paul Simon friend from the visa line
dropped dead of a heart attack
in 2004
Ted Halstead
one of my best bosses
died of heart attack in 2007
Judy Fine
My Co-Ho partner in crime
died in 2006
Chris Richard
one of my former bosses
from my days in Bangkok
dropped dead of a heart attack
shortly before we were due
to have lunch in 2014
and so many others
I have lost
along the way
and soon there will be
so many more
as I get old in the corona era
writing.com saudade poem
The end of the world news depresses me
trump jpg
the end of the world news
depresses me
makes me want to shout and scream
STFU leave me alone
to deal with my grief
amid the death and destruction
watching CNNMSNBCFOXBBC media nonstop
filled with essential dread
the end of the world is upon us
from the screaming news media
spreading forth across the land
fake news screams the president
all is alright he proclaims
no one believes his 16,000 lies
and so it goes
we are drowning with information
coming at us so fast and furious
When will it end my friend
is anyone’s guess
in the long run we are dead
National poetry Month Day Seven poem inspired by the news
God Did not Send the Corona Virus as a Punishment Black Out Poem
Robert_Jeffress
original text
During a press briefing today to address the nation’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, President Trump was asked about certain Christian pastors who plan to defy state lockdown orders and hold Easter church services this Sunday.
“I’ve had talks with the pastors, and most of the pastors agree … that they are better off doing what they are doing, which is, distancing,” Trump said, adding that the pastors want to “get back to church so badly.”
Trump then referred to a notorious pastor who sits on his religious advisory council.
“I’m going to be watching Pastor Robert Jeffress, who’s been a great guy,” Trump said. “He’s a great guy and I’m going to be watching on a laptop.”
Jeffress is known for his litany of statements demonizing the LGBT community, abortion, and secular people. One of his most reviled comments came in 2015 when he said the 9/11 attacks were God’s punishment on America for abortion.
“People ask me all the time,” Jeffress said during a speech at Liberty University. “‘Well, I just don’t understand why God wouldn’t protect our nation and he would allow these radical Muslims in 2001 to kill 3,000 of our citizens and why God doesn’t protect us. Surely, God doesn’t use pagans to bring judgment upon his own people, does he?’”
“I’ve had talks with the pastors, and most of the pastors agree … that they are better off doing what they are doing, which is, distancing,” Trump said, adding that the pastors want to “get back to church so badly.”
Black out text
the coronavirus pandemic, President Trump
hold Easter church services this Sunday.
“I’ve had talks with the pastors, get back to church so badly.”
“He’s a great guy and I’m going to be watching on a laptop.”
he 9/11 attacks were God’s punishment on America for abortion.
“People ask me all the time,” ‘Well, I just don’t understand why God wouldn’t protect our nation and he would allow these radical Muslims in 2001 to kill 3,000 of our citizens and why God doesn’t protect us. Surely, God doesn’t use pagans to bring judgment upon his own people, does he?’”
Poem
Corona Pandemic is Not’s God’s Punishment
Amid the coronavirus pandemic,
President Trump
Attended virtual Easter church services
I’ve had talks with the pastors,
We need to get back
to church so badly.”
Rev Jeffries is a great guy
I’m going to be watching on a laptop.”
Rev Jeffries said
The 9/11 attacks were God’s punishment
on America for abortion.
“People ask me all the time,”
‘Well, I just don’t understand
why God wouldn’t protect our nation
and he would allow these
radical Muslims in 2001
to kill 3,000 of our citizens
and why God doesn’t protect us
Surely, God doesn’t use pagans
to bring judgment
upon his own people,
does he?’”
I am sad to report
Rev Jeffries
I spoke to God
This morning
He confirmed
He did not cause 9-11
To bring judgement
On the US
For abortion
He went on to say
The corona virus
Is beyond his control
And he is not sending it
To punish the US
Or the world
His final words
Please tell Rev Jeffries
To simply STFU
there is too much to cover so will probably try to update this once a week every Monday. Enjoy: I have turned this into three different postings, my observations and news clippings, right wing Christian nonsense and corona poems.
updated assessment on the USG response:
I have to revise my assessment. I would give the government a B now and Trump a C. He is stepping up to the plate and a lot is going on. and the stimulus package if they can approve it and I am sure they will, will make a great difference.
but the President is still wasting everyone’s time. His advisors need to shut him up. Have him read his prepared statements then leave answering no questions. When he asked questions he veers off script and goes on unhelpful tangents. He is still too insulting and off message. And for God’s case he needs to stop calling it the China virus. It is just a matter of time before some nut case is going to start shooting Asians.
finally the US should start providing assistance to foreign governments rather that shutting borders. he should also ask for help from other governments and the WHO should ask for additional tests etc.
overall too little too late and he is still making it all about Trump. He needs to shut up, quit tweeting and let the VP lead the task force. He should not even be in the room but if he feels he needs to be there, he should just read his statement and leave and answer no questions and god forbid do not tweet anything.
Update on stimulus package –
if it passes with robust unemployment insurance, food security assistance, student debt relief, two thousand dollars stimulus cash payments, bailouts of the hotel and airline, and cruise ship industry and prohibitions against corporations using bail out money on stock buy backs and CEO bonuses, it will go a long way towards blunting the impact of the crisis. I fear though we are not prepared for the coming months. I hope it will calm down by June and with the help of the supercomputer resources pledged by MIT, google and others treatment and vaccines will be in place by the end of the summer and the crisis will be over early in the fall although experts believe it won’t be over for 18 months to 2 years but the shut down of the economy will end by June and the travel bans will be lifted by July. The Olympics will be postponed until next year. whoever is elected president will have to embrace medicare for all option as well as mandatory paid sick leave for all full time employees.
worst case scenario we are entering a world wide recession and by December we will be looking at 30% unemployment. and a revival of the civilian conservation corps and perhaps a draft as well. End update
original posting follows:
During the last two months the corona pandemic has been overwhelming governments, societies and individuals and me as it rapidly spreads across the globe. Here are my thoughts on the virus from my home in Youngjongdo, Korea, near the Incheon airport. Following my thoughts I have added some key articles for you to read. Then I post my corona poems. But I am having some audacity issues so I will post my audio clips next week along with perhaps a few more articles, and poems and update to my thoughts.
What governments need to do now
First, we realize that governments and societies around the world have failed miserably at handling the crisis as it unfolds.
Second, the pandemic has revealed that that the US health care system — and we need universal health care and we need paid sick leave now. Whoever becomes President will have to enact these two policies.
Third, governments around the world will have to spend a lot more money and policies on public health care.
Fourth, governments around the world will have to have a standing interagency public health task force that coordinates policies worldwide.
Fifth, WHO will have to have a lot more resources, governments and institutions will have share information around the world.
Sixth, the federal government must reallocate resources from the bloated military national security sector to the public health sector, including funding for medicare for all and paid family/sick leave for all.
Seventh, the federal government once this is over should hold a lesson learned exercise with all 50 states, major cities and major hospitals and universities taking part in the virtual national conference. A federal commission should conduct this. They should share the results with the public, and with foreign governments and WHO. The federal public health commission should become a standing body, with representatives from all the states, major hospitals and universities and pharmacies and labs and representatives from the military. They should hold a mini-public health conference once a year to review policies to prepare for the next pandemic which will hit us.
The USG should call upon the world community under the auspices of WHO to convene a world-wide virtual conference to prepare for the next pandemic based on lessons learned from this pandemic and WHO should hold an annual pandemic response virtual conference.
Eight, both the DNC and RNC must postpone the remaining primaries until June and turned them into mail in elections. This should also apply to the national election.
Nine, the DNC and RNC must turn the conventions into virtual conventions and that too should be the new normal.
Tenth, Universities and school districts across the country should move a significant number of classes online and that should also become the new normal.
the Democrats must ensure that the republicans don’t dismantle the rest of the federal budget to pay for expanded public health spending. And they must insist on some modest tax increases. But the democrats should consider some targeting reductions in less essential spending.
Public health screenings before traveling on planes, trains, long-distance buses and cruise ships must become the new normal. Those denied boarding must be able to-book their travel with a minimum of expense and bureaucratic delays.The basic principle must be that if you have a fever or a severe cough, you can’t travel. This also means that governments must grant automatic extensions of visas for those who can’t travel because of illness.
The USG should require foreigners to purchase Traveler’s medical insurance prior to travel to the U.S.
Drug companies, research labs and universities must share their research with the entire worldwide medical community, and WHO should set up a universal medical research data base so researchers can research the latest medical advances in real time.
The Olympics and major international sporting events should be postponed for one year.
the USG should consider the following emergency measures once the number of cases exceed 100,000 which it will with a week.
Total national shut down shelter in place for 30 days, re-newable at the end of the month and reviewed monthly
total shut down of the border, and US domestic travel except for essential travel defined as follows:
diplomatic travel
military travel
government travel related to the virus response
travel by medical worker
travel by private sector employee related to the virus response
travel by family members of military/diplomatics returning home
travel by non-essential employees and military/diplomatic family members returning home
travel by high level business delegations especially related to the virus response
travel by Americans coming returning overseas
other essential travel approved on a case by case basis
coupled with the travel ban, postponing all visa processing except as part of the exemptions listed above, and cancelling visa waiver travel except as part of the exceptions listed above, visa bans would remain in place as long as the travel ban remains in place
Before this is put into place the USG must coordinate with all of its partners so we all get on the same wave length.
Finally the US should convene a world wide high level virtual conference of world leaders followed up by actions that are agreed to by all leaders
Update: and the stimulus package must be enacted now with a supplemental package if needed this summer. Quit the politics now!
USG Response – updated from 2/10 or a Solid D to C
If I had to grade the US response, I would grade it as D so far up to now-given the President some credit for finally realizing in the last few days how it is indeed a real national emergency and taking steps that they should have taken back in January.
based on the presidents actions the last few days and the congressional finally putting politics aside I would upgrade the President’s response from a D to a C.It will take some time for me to rate him as a B.Hope he gets there.
Finally I am looking for the government to do the actions outlined above.
If we pull together and get the virus under control, we should be able to recover from this by September, if not, or we get a second waive before we get the vaccine under control we could be looking at another great depression which may take years to recover.
if we head down that path the government must set up an updated civilian conservation corps to put people to work. And we may need to re-impose the draft but if we do that we should couple it with a massive GI bill afterwards paying for college and training in return for national service.The national service requirement would also mean that people will be drafted to work in the health care system and industry as well as in the military.
we will know if we need to do this by June and if so we must set it up so it goes into effect by September.
Quit Calling It the China Virus
the one thing I am still upset about if Trump calling this the China flu.he needs to stop that sh,,,right now before unhinged nut cases with guns start shooting Asians because somehow they thought that Trump was either calling them to do so or condoning it.he needs to address this now and say that asians are not virus carriers and he will condemn any and all racist attacks on Asian owned businesses.He should also make it clear that we will not under any circumstances repeat the internment policies of world war 11.to top it off he should start orderingChinese food for the white house staffers and the pandemic support team.
Apologize for having gotten it wrong and responding too late use the dread words I take responsibility!!!!!
Final point I would call upon both Trump and Pence to take responsibility for their inept initial responses and promise to retire by the end of their term.
For Biden Keep your comments positive there will be time to cast blame later
For Biden I would call upon him to talk about what he would do if President but not criticize the President or his team instead he should congratulate them on their finally getting it together and offer concrete positive suggestions for moving forward.Now it not the time for political gamesmanship on either parties.
The one thing that I feared would happen has not yet happen. Gun nuts shooting up Asians. Hopefully that will not become a thing.
Update
the most important thing the president can do now is to read his prepared statement then walk away and not take questions. We don’t need to hear his extended boasting that he is a billionaire etc etc nor do we need to hear his inept answering of questions or his overly optimistic assessments etc. Let the task force speak and please no tweets!!!!!! I am going to send a link to my blog to Trump and to Biden and will let you know if anyone responses or if I am sued or arrested because I pissed off the President. I truly want the President to rise to the occasion and be the leader we need in these dark times and I hope if he is reading this that he understand that.
end comment
South Korean response Solid B
If I had to grade South Korea where I am currently lying low a grade I would give them a B – they have done something very well — mass testing, developing drive through and now walk through testing, public health tracing of infected people. They have failed in mask distribution, should have banned exports of masks right away, and their overly bureaucratic mask distribution policy requiring people to line up and get two masks per person based on the birthday is a disaster. And they like all governments around the world are not prepared for the massive unemployment that will soon hit the country. But on balance, we are probably better off here than in.
the one thing I would caution them is to assume that the crisis is over and return to business as usual. As long as there are cases spreading the government must be vigilant. It would not take much for a second wave to occur. By May or June perhaps the crisis will be over.
afterwards institutionalize health checks at the airport and refuse boarding to anyone who has a fever or put in quarantine if they are coming from abroad.
make the government corona task force a standing body that would meet weekly to coordinate public health measures and prepare for the next epidemic which will happen sooner or later. Korea has built up an impressive response to the pandemic. They need to keep it ready for future crises. And Korea needs to work with other governments in developing tests, medicine, vaccine and data collection techniques.
What governments need to do now
First, we realize that governments and societies around the world have failed miserably at handling the crisis as it unfolds.
Second, the pandemic has revealed that that the US health care system — and we need universal health care and we need paid sick leave now. Whoever becomes President will have to enact these two policies.
Third, governments around the world will have to spend a lot more money and policies on public health care.
Fourth, governments around the world will have to have a standing interagency public health task force that coordinates policies worldwide.
Fifth, WHO will have to have a lot more resources, governments and institutions will have share information around the world.
Sixth, the federal government must reallocate resources from the bloated military national security sector to the public health sector, including funding for medicare for all and paid family/sick leave for all.
Seventh, the federal government once this is over should hold a lesson learned exercise with all 50 states, major cities and major hospitals and universities taking part in the virtual national conference. A federal commission should conduct this. They should share the results with the public, and with foreign governments and WHO. The federal public health commission should become a standing body, with representatives from all the states, major hospitals and universities and pharmacies and labs and representatives from the military. They should hold a mini-public health conference once a year to review policies to prepare for the next pandemic which will hit us.
The USG should call upon the world community under the auspices of WHO to convene a world-wide virtual conference to prepare for the next pandemic based on lessons learned from this pandemic and WHO should hold an annual pandemic response virtual conference.
Eight, both the DNC and RNC must postpone the remaining primaries until June and turned them into mail in elections. This should also apply to the national election.
Nine, the DNC and RNC must turn the conventions into virtual conventions and that too should be the new normal.
Tenth, Universities and school districts across the country should move a significant number of classes online and that should also become the new normal.
the Democrats must ensure that the republicans don’t dismantle the rest of the federal budget to pay for expanded public health spending. And they must insist on some modest tax increases. But the democrats should consider some targeting reductions in less essential spending.
Public health screenings before traveling on planes, trains, long-distance buses and cruise ships must become the new normal. Those denied boarding must be able to-book their travel with a minimum of expense and bureaucratic delays. The basic principle must be that if you have a fever or a severe cough, you can’t travel. This also means that governments must grant automatic extensions of visas for those who can’t travel because of illness.
The USG should require foreigners to purchase Traveler’s medical insurance prior to travel to the U.S.
Drug companies, research labs and universities must share their research with the entire worldwide medical community, and WHO should set up a universal medical research data base so researchers can research the latest medical advances in real time.
The Olympics and major internationl sporting events should be postponed for one year.
read this one!
What symptoms are most common, which groups are most at risk, and more.
The outbreak of Covid-19, a coronavirus-caused illness that originated in Wuhan, China, and has since spread to most of the world, is one of the most serious public health crises in decades. It has spread far wider than Ebola did in 2014, and the World Health Organization has designated it a pandemic.
As of March 11, there have been more than 125,000 reported cases, more than 4,600 deaths worldwide, and more than 1,200 reported cases and 29 deaths in the US, according to Johns Hopkins’s tracker; its count is usually up to date and worth bookmarking as the crisis progresses.
The situation on the ground is evolving incredibly quickly, and it’s impossible to synthesize everything we know into clean, intelligible charts. But we do know a fair bit about how bad the outbreak is, what the disease does, and what controlling and ultimately ending the outbreak will look like.
With that in mind, here are nine charts that help explain the Covid-19 coronavirus crisis.
1) The virus is spreading rapidly
As of this writing, the Covid-19 caseload is rising rapidly day to day, but here’s where things stood as of March 8. The vast majority of reported cases are still in China, where the outbreak began, but whereas the number of new Chinese cases is falling, the number of new international cases is rising, indicating that the epicenter of the problem is shifting from China to new places like Italy.
Note that the huge spike in new cases was due to improved data reporting from China; there was not one particularly bad day in the middle of February.
2) Know the symptoms
The symptoms of Covid-19 vary from case to case, but the most common ones in China, from February data, are fever and dry cough (which are each seen in a majority of cases), fatigue, and sputum (the technical term for thick mucus coughed up from the respiratory tract).
If you have a fever and dry cough, that could be a good reason to get yourself tested if possible.
Note: if possible is the caveat. We don’t have enough tests still end , China has offered test kits, WHO, and South Korea but so far the Trump administration has refused all such offers perhaps because he does not want to appear that we are now a third world country in need of assistance. End note
3) Death rates in China have declined over time
One glimmer of hope in this story is that Chinese medical authorities appeared to get better at treating infections and preventing death as the outbreak proceeded. “Even the first and hardest-hit province, Hubei, saw its death rate tumble as public health measures were strengthened and clinicians got better at identifying and treating people with the disease,” Vox’s Julia Belluz explains.
The rate didn’t go down on its own; China took drastic, even authoritarian measures to lock down affected areas and contain the virus’s spread so that the medical system was not overwhelmed.
4) Older people in China have been at the greatest risk of dying from Covid-19
The Spanish flu of 1918-’19, the most horrific pandemic in modern times, focused mainly on the young. It had biological similarities to a flu pandemic in the 1830s that gave some older people in the 1910s limited immunity.
Covid-19 is not like that. So far, deaths in China have been concentrated among older adults, who have weaker immune systems on average than younger people and have a higher rate of chronic illness. People of all ages with chronic medical conditions are also at higher risk. The risk of death is real for younger people as well, but older people have the most reason to take care.
5) This is much more severe than an ordinary flu
It is tempting to compare Covid-19 to a more familiar disease: the seasonal flu. After all, the flu also has mild symptoms for most people, and can be dangerous and lethal among vulnerable populations like the elderly. President Trump even made this comparison recently.
But as the case fatality data shows, there’s no real comparison. About 6 percent of people 60 or older infected with Covid-19 die, according to data we have so far; that’s over six times the fatality rate for elderly people infected with the flu. The overall case fatality rate is at least 23 times greater (the fatality rate has risen since this chart was made).
6) Experts also think Covid-19 is more contagious than the ordinary flu
There’s another way that Covid-19 is a tougher adversary than the seasonal flu: Its R0 (“R nought”) is over 2, indicating that it’s more contagious than the typical flu. R0 estimates the number of people an average infected person spreads the disease to. “R0 is important because if it’s greater than 1, the infection will probably keep spreading, and if it’s less than 1, the outbreak will likely peter out,” the Atlantic’s Ed Yong explains. Covid-19’s R0 is substantially higher than 1, giving more reason for concern.
7) Spending on airlines, hotels, and cruises is collapsing
Warnings to avoid crowds, and cancellations of major gatherings like conferences and parades, have put a damper on travel in the US, and the consequences for airlines have been dire. According to Earnest Research, spending on airlines fell 16.5 percent in the last week of February relative to a year prior. Cruises have seen a similar dip, while hotels are only now starting to see sales mildly decline.
It’s unlikely that the economic impact will stay limited to the hospitality industry, as social distancing leads people to avoid coffee shops, restaurants, gyms, bars, etc.
The Trump administration’s slow rollout of testing for coronavirus has become something of a national scandal, and it’s easy to see why when you compare the US testing rate to that of other affected countries. South Korea stands out for its rapid rollout of extensive testing, including through innovative drive-through testing programs.
Drive-through testing is being piloted in some parts of the US, like New Hampshire, but we still have a long way to go before we match South Korean and Chinese testing levels.
Comment: the USG refused the offer of testing Kits from WHO, Alibaba and others because they did not want the world to think that the US was like a third world country that needed foreign aid. End Comment
9) Why canceling events and self-quarantining is so important
Covid-19 has quickly made large-scale gatherings and conferences unpopular if not socially frowned upon. This change arrived quickly, and may seem jarring, but it’s easier to see the logic when you understand the theory behind this kind of “social distancing” policy. The key is to “flatten the curve”: slowing the rate of increase in infections so that you spread out the cases, even if the total number doesn’t change. Flattening the curve slows the rate at which new cases arrive in hospitals, easing the burden on health care infrastructure and improving the odds that individual patients will survive.
comment: the cancellation of large events could spread and become the new normal for the next year or so in any events the Olympics have to be cancelled unless things change dramatically in the next few weeks. i.e. zero new cases in Japan or elsewhere by the end of May which is the drop dead deadline to cancel or postpone. the IOC has the power to postpone for a year through a simple change to the rules that otherwise state that the game must be held within that calendar year. End Comment
Part two some interesting articles – had a difficult choice to make – way too many to post.
Did Trump’s inaction make the coronavirus outbreak worse?
Cartoon Trump: ‘The markets are supposed to jump up and down! That means they’re excited!’Published 20 mins ago on March 15, 2020By Sarah K. Burris
President Donald Trump’s cartoon avatar appeared in the fake press briefing room Sunday evening to explain that everything was fine, and people shouldn’t panic over the coronavirus.
With sweat dripping off of his orange face, cartoon Trump was excited about the disaster, saying it meant he could work from home in his pajamas.
“What an exciting time to be barely alive!” he exclaimed from the podium.
When cartoon Vice President Mike Pence took to the podium, he explained that in troubling times he turns to the Bible. Trump then interrupted because he was bored.
“What can the American people do to stay safe?” a reporter asked.
Donald Trump look worse:
trump
If there’s one thing that has been revealed by the coronavirus crisis is that President
Donald Trump had never been tested and wasn’t prepared for it. Vice President Mike Pence, however, is earning praise for remaining calm, reassuring Americans and not screwing anything up. The bigotry of low expectations, combined with Trump’s failed leadership made it clear the president wasn’t prepared for a crisis.
An Axios piece highlighted the praise for Pence’s keen ability not to destroy the country and keep the stock market from falling when he speaks.
Tuesday March 17, 2020 · 2:54 AM Korean Standard Time
trump
In some cases, Donald Trump’s base reportedly trusts him exclusively to handle the coronavirus crisis gripping the nation.
But in other cases, fissures appear to be developing among some of Trump’s most fervent acolytes that could doom him electorally in November.
Politico reports that Fox News’ Tucker Carlson dared to tell his loyal following last week that Trump officials were trivializing “what is clearly a very serious problem.” Meanwhile, Sean Hannity framed the outcry among Democratic officials as “fear-mongering by the deep state.”
The mixed messages from Trump loyalists have played out across the board, from media figures to religious leaders to GOP lawmakers themselves. Even as Trump downplayed the coronavirus for weeks to the point of encouraging people to go to work with it, some of his most fervent defenders on Capitol Hill decided to self-quarantine and get tested, including Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Trump’s newly tapped chief of staff, Mark Meadows.
Seth Mandel, editor-in-chief of the right-leaning Washington Examiner magazine, noted that conservatives have gone from electoral euphoria to dread in the span of about two weeks as they watched the prospect of a Trump reelection bid against Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders turn to dust and horrifying coronavirus news out of Italy start migrating to U.S. headlines.
Mandel also lamented how Trump had initially responded to a crisis uniquely suited to a nationalistic framework—i.e., fear of outsiders, particularly China and its economic dominance. “When the president had a crisis that hit that would have, theoretically, been designed perfectly for the nationalist argument, he didn’t reach for it. So maybe he doesn’t really believe it,” he told Politico.
But bottom line, the mixed messages and splintering among his base are problems Trump simply can’t afford, given his razor-thin margin for error in November.
During the transition, Trump cabinet officials and other aides were given a three hour brief and a hypothetical exercise in responding to a global epidemic.
Detailed briefing books were prepared by Obama administration officials for scenarios like this and others. They were later found in the trash.
As Politico reports, incoming Trump administration officials gave Obama officials a big “meh.” Consequently, coupled with the tremendous turnover during the tumultuous Trump’s presidency, the U.S. was unprepared, by choice, to to meet the challenge of this very real global epidemic that has beleaguered America.
The briefing was intended to hammer home a new, terrifying reality facing the Trump administration, and the incoming president’s responsibility to protect Americans amid a crisis. But unlike the coronavirus pandemic currently ravaging the globe, this 2017 crisis didn’t really happen — it was among a handful of scenarios presented to Trump’s top aides as part of a legally required transition exercise with members of the outgoing administration of Barack Obama.
POLITICO obtained documents from the meeting and spoke with more than a dozen attendees to help provide the most detailed reconstruction of the closed-door session yet. It was perhaps the most concrete and visible transition exercise that dealt with the possibility of pandemics, and top officials from both sides — whether they wanted to be there or not — were forced to confront a whole-of-government response to a crisis. The Trump team was told it could face specific challenges, such as shortages of ventilators, anti-viral drugs and other medical essentials, and that having a coordinated, unified national response was “paramount” — warnings that seem eerily prescient given the ongoing coronavirus crisis.
Susan Rice had this to say about this January 2017 meeting and the reasons we now find ourselves facing likely mass infection in the U.S.
“Rather than heed the warnings, embrace the planning and preserve the structures and budgets that had been bequeathed to him, the president ignored the risk of a pandemic,” Rice wrote. (Trump’s former national security adviser John Bolton, who oversaw the dissolution of the NSC’s global health security and biodefense section, has defended it as necessary streamlining, countering that global health “remained a top NSC priority.” Trump, when recently asked about the reshuffling, called the question “nasty” and said, “I don’t know anything about it.”)
The story is another example of the unforced errors and nonchalance that led to threats we now face. Probably ‘because Obama.’ This event precedes Trump’s disbanding of the Pandemic Response Unit at the NSC.
Thanks to the arrogant attitudes and inaction, the dangerous clown show Trump and his aides have made of their (oh, the irony) ‘pandemic response’ has put us all in danger.
Share stories like this far and wide. Perhaps some of Trump’s ardent followers will finally admit The Emperor Has No Clothes.
Another truth to share is Trump disbanding the Pandemic Response Unit of the NSC. He admitted it twice, now denying he knew nothing about it. Of course.
The article the diary was drawn from is linked here, along with other links about his calling for cuts at the CDC:
Eck. One more turd to plop in the festering stew of Trump’s incompetence, evidencing how careless, unprepared, and unworthy Trump is to be POTUS.
NBC News had a good report on this recently, noting that the president’s decision “to downsize the White House national security staff — and eliminate jobs addressing global pandemics — is likely to hamper the U.S. government’s response to the coronavirus.”
The truth is probably “because Obama,” who with VP Biden established the permanent Pandemic Response Unit within the National Security Council, able to rapidly respond in the U.S. to epidemics and work in concert with governments around the world to curb the spread of deadly diseases. Ebola and SARS outbreaks made it apparent we needed to be prepared for viral contagion that would more than likely arrive on our shores in the future.
When first questioned about why he disbanded the Pandemic Response Unit in 2018 — the same year Trump and Republicans had no problem giving a trillion dollar tax cut to people who didn’t need it— he responded:
“I’m a business person,” he explained two weeks ago in response to a similar question. “I don’t like having thousands of people around when you don’t need them. When we need them, we can get them back very quickly.”
Except you can’t reassemble a team like that ‘very quickly.’ One more check mark in the long column of items on the “Trump is clueless about …’ list. This one glaringly evidencing how utterly devoid he is in understanding, concern, or interest in how the executive branch should work.
Not to mention his absolute disregard as president in fulfilling his duty to protect American lives behind the scenes when the cameras aren’t rolling. When they are, he pompously pretends to have it all under control. His ego-driven dysfunction has put the health of all Americans in jeopardy.
We don’t yet know the extent of contagion because we haven’t had enough tests to go around. And the Trump administration wouldn’t allow independent testing.
As the threat to the U.S. grew, late last week he spewed a word salad of a differentexcuse when pressed again by a reporter about his 2018 decision to disband the pandemic response team we sure could have used right about now:
“I just think this is something, Peter, that you can never really think is going to happen. You know, who — I’ve heard all about, ‘This could be…’ — you know, ‘This could be a big deal,’ from before it happened. You know, this — something like this could happen…. Who would have thought? Look, how long ago is it? Six, seven, eight weeks ago — who would have thought we would even be having the subject? … You never really know when something like this is going to strike and what it’s going to be.”
So, let’s get this straight: he disbanded the NSC Pandemic Response Unit because he never realized America might need it one day (and “de-Obamacizing, no doubt).
Hm. Does having a military ‘just in case’ there’s an attack on the U.S., or the presidential bunker he can retreat to ‘just in case’ ring a bell? Or why we have fire departments ‘just in case’ there’s a fire? Helllllllo?
It’s clear the concept of ‘insurance’ is foreign to him.
We need to get rid of this clueless, narcissistic moron in November and replace him with someone who’s dedicated to the welfare of the American people instead of dedication to his self interests and daily displays of pomposity.
There is so much at stake in November.
I’m Voting Blue No Matter Who.
The Bay Area, long one of the world’s mightiest growth engines, could be headed for a coronavirus-induced recession, as shelter in place orders shutter stores and bars, construction grinds to a halt, and the tourism and hospitality industry all but disappears.
This week, UCLA Anderson Forecast issued its first revision to its quarterly report in its 68-year history. Despite a strong start to the year, it’s now predicting two quarters of negative economic growth nationally — enough to be considered a recession — and for the economy to take until 2022 to be fully recovered. California, according to the forecast, will be harder hit, with a projected 280,000 jobs lost in the state. And that’s not even accounting for the shelter in place order imposed on Monday throughout the Bay Area.
“We’re in uncharted territory as to the economic effects of the measures being taken to control the spread of this pathogen in the Bay Area,” said Jerry Nickelsburg, director of UCLA Anderson Forecast.
The forecast predicts unemployment in the state will reach 6.2 percent by the end of the year and average 6.6 percent during 2021. The January statewide unemployment rate was 3.9 percent, according to the California Employment Development Department. Personal income, adjusted for inflation, is expected to stay basically flat until 2022.
Not everyone is convinced about the worst-case outcome for the region, though.
“This is business delayed, not business canceled,” said Chris Thornberg, founding partner of Beacon Economics. “At least not yet.”
UCLA Anderson projects California will be hard hit because it has a large presence of the industrieslikely to be most affected by coronavirus, Nickelsburg said. That includes hospitality, tourism, leisure — bars, restaurants and entertainment — and warehousing and transportation.
There are about 165,000 warehouse and transportation workers in the San Jose and San Francisco metro areas alone, which covers the five-county Bay Area plus San Benito County, according to 2018 data from the U.S. Census Bureau. Another 313,000 work in leisure industries including arts, accommodation and food services. About a third of the job losses projected in the state by the UCLA Anderson Forecast will come from those industries.
Chris Hoene, executive director of the California Budget & Policy Center, is particularly worried about those workers because they tend to be lower paid. Other vulnerable populations she’s watching for are those who are at risk of being homeless — for example people couch-surfing with friends — and undocumented residents who can’t access all the same public benefits.
“My fear is that those folks will then become economically unstable for a much longer period of time, they’ll be less able to recover quickly,” Hoene said. “We could see an increase in the state’s already high levels of homelessness. We could see an increase in the poverty level.”
If those workers aren’t able to recover quickly it could make it harder for the whole region to recover, she said.
Ted Egan, chief economist at the San Francisco Office of the Controller, said some Bay Area businesses are also being affected by the potentially long-lasting damage the outbreak has done to the global supply chain.
“I think that there’s some types of business — you think about takeout and delivery services — that people will turn to when they can’t turn to their retails in person,” Egan said, which could include tech companies that do deliveries like DoorDash or online shopping like Amazon.
But in a recession where the financial system is in trouble and consumers are suffering, not even those businesses will be safe.
The Bay Area’s construction industry also is affected, with all but a few essential jobs at hospitals and public transit being postponed, said Daniel Romero, assistant business manager for electrical workers union in Santa Clara County.
“One guy called me, he was almost in tears yesterday,” Romero said. “He barely got back to work and the job was shut down.”
It’s hard to know if all building has stopped — housing construction is considered an essential service that will be allowed to continue — but Romero said he’s directing his members to file for unemployment if their job is shut down or to access the union’s disability benefits if they test positive for COVID-19. In the meantime, the union has closed its apprenticeship program and is down to a skeleton crew.
“The unknowing I think is the hardest part,” he said. “We’re complying, so we’re just doing the best we can.”
For those hoping that at least a recession might bring down the region’s sky-high home prices, research suggests that might not happen, according to a Zillow analysis of past outbreaks. During the SARS epidemic, Hong Kong’s home prices stayed basically the same but the number of home sales declined by as much as three quarters.
Although most forecasters are predicting short-term economic declines, not everyone thinks the region is headed toward a recession.
“Everybody take a deep breath,” said Thornberg, of Beacon Economics.”Shutting everything down right now is a way of preventing a problem, not causing a problem.”
He compared the outbreak to natural disasters like hurricanes or earthquakes, which cause temporary disruptions but aren’t a sufficiently long-term shock to tip the economy into a recession. He said it’s possible we’ll have one quarter of negative economic growth, but that’s it.
But all forecasters and experts agree on one thing: The economic damage done by the pandemic will be determined by how long it lasts and how quickly it is brought under control. In announcing its revision predicting a recession, UCLA Anderson Forecast included an important caveat.
“If the pandemic is much worse than assumed, this forecast will be too optimistic,” it said.
Welcome to The Hill’s daily roundup of coronavirus news.
covid 19 spread
There are 5,894 known cases in the U.S., including 97 deaths, according to
Johns Hopkins University.
The Trump administration wants to send checks to every American in an effort to try to blunt the worst of the economic impact from the coronavirus outbreak — but that might run into problems with Senate Republicans, who are frustrated that they were largely left out of the negotiations on the most recent House-passed bill.
Meanwhile, frontline health workers are running out of protective supplies, and states say they are not getting the help they need from the federal government. The Pentagon says it’s willing to help, but it will only be a temporary solution.
Here’s what you need to know today…
From the White House and Capitol Hill:
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Tuesday that the Trump administration wants to send checks to Americans in the next two weeks in order to address the economic impact of the coronavirus outbreak. Mnuchin and Trump said the idea was to get checks to the American public as quickly as possible.Morgan Chalfant and Brett Samuels have more here.
But Mnuchin got pushback when he briefed Republican senators on the idea shortly afterwards. He also heard strong GOP criticism on the possibility of providing tens of billions of dollars to bail out the ailing airline industry.Alex Bolton has the rundown on Mnuchin’s visit to the Senate today.
The Trump administration is expanding telehealth benefits for Medicare users. The option lets seniors, who are most at risk for the coronavirus, get some medical care without leaving their homes. Read Marty Johnson on the move here.
From the frontlines:
Nurses and doctors say they don’t have enough gear to protect themselves from the coronavirus. States have asked the federal government for more supplies but have only received a fraction of their requests. Shortages could endanger health workers on the frontlines of the pandemic and weaken the public health response. Read more from Jessie Hellmann here.
President Trumpis sure to hear more on that issue from nurses when he meets with them Wednesday. Representatives from about a dozen nursing organizations are expected to attend, along with members of the White House’s coronavirus task force, The Hill’s Nathaniel Weixel reports.
The Pentagon will give 5 million respirator masks to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) but that makes up a small amount of the masks that U.S. is expected to need during the pandemic. There are currently 10.5 million respirators in the National Strategic Stockpile, but the HHS secretary says the U.S. needs at least 100 million. Ellen Mitchell has the full story here.
From the cities and states:
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasiosaid he is considering issuing a “shelter in place” order for all city residents. Six San Francisco-area counties issued a similar order Monday. De Blasio’s move comes as the city tops 800 coronavirus cases. Read more from Marty Johnson here.
The presidential primary will continue as scheduled Tuesday in Arizona, Florida and Illinois, as state officials say they’ve taken the necessary precautions to ensure that voters can safely cast ballots. Officials though are expecting light turnout. One state where it won’t happen? Ohio. Get the rest of the story from Jonathan Easley.
And as for the state to come, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) is asking them to not postpone primaries, but instead to make voting safer. More from Jon on the DNC.
From Wall Street:
Stock markets rebounded Tuesday after one of their worst drops in history a day earlier, as President Trump and Congress and Congress advanced economic stimulus plans and the Federal Reserve took actions to shore up the financial system in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. The Hill’s Niv Elis has the full story here.
From beyond the U.S.:
The European Union agreed to close external borders to most travelers for at least 30 days to ward off the advancement of the coronavirus. Britain is not participating in the travel ban. Read more from Kaelan Deese.
President Donald Trump offered assurances that the worst of the coronavirus might be over by the end of this month.
The president spoke Tuesday morning from the White House on the COVID-19 outbreak, which has resulted in mass closures of schools, churches, stores and businesses — and he broke with many doctors and scientists to claim the situation might be relatively short.
“Our guidance yesterday urges Americans to take action for 15 days to help stem the outbreak,” Trump said. “So it is a 15-day period. They would say it is a 14-day period. We are asking everyone to work at home if possible, postpone unnecessary travel, limit social gatherings to no more than 10 people. I am making shared sacrifices and temporary changes. We can protect the health of our people, and our economy, because I think our economy will come back very rapidly. So it is 15 days.”
Trump again assured the public the viral outbreak would dissipate, and possibly soon.
“It’s going to pop,” he said. “One day, we’ll be standing, possibly, up here, we’ll say, ‘Well, we won,’ and we’re going to say that. Sure as you’re sitting there, we’re going to say that, and we’re going to win, and I think we’re going to win faster than people think. I hope.”
From licking floors to praying for an inept government: America’s churches react to the coronavirus
By Daniel Schultz, Religion Dispatches @ Raw Story – Commentary
It’s particularly important for churches that continue to meet during the COVID-19 pandemic to follow the guidelines laid out by health experts given that worship services are among the largest regular gatherings in modern society, among the most physically intimate, and likely include the greatest number of vulnerable people. Even single members of large congregations can have a dramatic effect on how coronavirus spreads or doesn’t, as South Korea found out the hard way.
While many aren’t meeting at all or are streaming services, some churches that do meet feel like they need to support those who need it, in worship or otherwise. My mother’s congregation in Madison, Wisconsin elected to close for a week or two, but also voted to continue to allow Alcoholics Anonymous and other twelve-step programs to continue to meet in their building, at those groups’ discretion.
[The Rev. Graylan Hagler] preached a fiery sermon for the small congregation, denouncing the Trump administration for spending money on a border wall while cutting public health teams that might have otherwise been ready to respond to the pandemic.
“Yes, we will come through the coronavirus! Yes, we will come through the city quarantines,” he avowed. “Yes, we will come through an inept government that can’t handle a real crisis. Yes, we will come through an election season, in victory, I pray … Yes, we will come through all our troubles in hope.”
Other Christians seem less pro-social, let us say. Pastor Rodney Howard-Browne, a Tampa Bay televangelist, equated changing habits in an effort to “flatten the course” with weakness, declaring that his congregation wouldn’t adjust their behavior in worship because they weren’t “pansies.”
Right Wing Watch
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@RightWingWatch
Right-wing pastor Rodney Howard-Browne is not about to cancel church or prevent congregants from shaking hands because they are not a bunch of “pansies.”
Others are willing to go some lengths to show they just don’t believe in this whole coronavirus thing:
In Arkansas, the Rev. Josh King met with the pastors of five other churches on Thursday to decide whether to continue holding service. Their religious beliefs told them that meeting in person to worship each Sunday remained an essential part of their faith, and some of their members signed on to Trump’s claims that the media and Democrats were over-blowing the danger posed by the virus.
“One pastor said half of his church is ready to lick the floor, to prove there’s no actual virus,” said King, lead pastor at Second Baptist church in Conway, Ark.
“In your more politically conservative regions, closing is not interpreted as caring for you. It’s interpreted as liberalism, or buying into the hype,” said King, whose church draws about 1,100 worshipers on a typical Sunday.
I’m not sure what’s daffier or more offensive: the notion that God’s supposed demand for adherence to rigid gender roles outweighs protecting vulnerable members of the community, or the idea that coronavirus is just a conspiracy theory cooked up by liberals—never mind the insanity that it’s Christians’ duty to protect a president from political attacks. (On a separate note, floors aren’t particularly known to be COVID-19 transmission agents. They might get plenty of other nasty bugs that way, though.)
Like the Trump administration’s bumbling efforts, these local responses to the current situation relate back to conceptions of truth on some level. On the one hand, while there’s a recognition of the coronavirus’ power, there’s a sense that it’s more important to preach a message of comfort or a word of judgment against the White House.
On the other hand, there’s a denial of the reality, and a desire to demonstrate a counter-power in butch demonstrations of faith in God, or the inscrutable gnosticism of believing it to be nothing more than a liberal plot against God and country—and God and country’s designated representative, Donald Trump.
Religious types aren’t the only offenders, either. Twitter was on fire over the weekend with sightings of young folks partying it up, apparently either in the belief that COVID-19 wouldn’t affect them, or in simple defiance of health experts:
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
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@AOC
Mar 15, 2020
To everyone in NYC but ESPECIALLY healthy people & people under 40 (bc from what I’m observing that’s who needs to hear this again):
PLEASE stop crowding bars, restaurants, and public spaces right now. Eat your meals at home.
If you are healthy, you could be spreading COVID.
Katie Williams
@realkatiejow
I just went to a crowded Red Robin and I’m 30.
t was delicious, and I took my sweet time eating my meal. Because this is America. And I’ll do what I want.
Killing Grandma to own the libs is a heck of a political stance, to be sure.
Continuing to participate in massive boozefests seems ill-advised at best, downright irresponsible at worst. So does prompting a large congregation essentially to flip public health measures the bird.
Yet I want to hold back at least a bit of judgment. For one thing, the nation has hardly been getting clear signals from the top on how to respond to coronavirus. Sure, there are all kinds of reminders about what to do; but then there’s a president who mutes or undermines every single message his own administration puts out.
very abnormal three years. The craving for some kind of ordinary life is readily apparent across all kinds of social boundaries. However unfortunate their methods, people will fight to maintain homeostasis. My own family went out for dinner on Friday night, and were pleased to do so knowing that in particular service workers will need the money in coming weeks. Tomorrow our son will go to school for one last day, and I’ll keep a coffee date. Life goes on, one way or another.
At the same time, it seems spectacularly incompatible with the declared teachings of most religions to act so recklessly when so many lives are in the balance. So I’d like to propose a variation on Pascal’s famous wager: if you act as though COVID-19 were a real menace and you turn out to be wrong, you’ve lost nothing more than a few handshakes in church. But, if you blow the threat off and it turns out to be much more dangerous than you thought, you’re potentially responsible for the deaths of hundreds, if not thousands, of people. Pascal’s countryman (and NBA star) Rudy Gobert learned this the hard way.
Wouldn’t it be better in the eyes of your fellow citizens and whatever power you believe in to have erred on the side of caution? Or, you know, sure, don’t be a pansy. Go ahead and put the vulnerable at risk to make America great again. Super idea. And to my fellow Christians: St. Peter will no doubt be a big fan of that one at the Pearly Gates.
Why the coronavirus could be the tipping point in reshaping the global economy 1 hour ago on March 18, 2020By Marshall Auerback, Independent Media Institute
The coronavirus has now gone global, and economies are in freefall. The pandemic is clearly the precipitating cause of today’s crisis, but there’s an underlying disease that has been with us for a long time: neoliberal economics. Globalized travel and trade, multinational supply lines, offshoring and overly financialized economies that have prioritized banking interests, cartels and oligarchy above all else have made a large portion of our population highly vulnerable to the effects unleashed by this pandemic.
Policymakers have a tricky task ahead of them. The virus has created a supply shock, as businesses have shut down and workers have been told to stay at home. In response, demand is plunging as a result of the lost income and the corresponding collapse in sales. That’s highly deflationary (as the bond markets are now signaling). What is required is a robust fiscal response so that workers’ incomes are protected and have adequate financial resources to get health care.
Coronavirus is panicking Wall Street — but it’s got investors in Donald Trump’s second biggest creditor terrifiedPublished 8 hours ago on March 17, 2020By David Cay Johnston, DC Report @ Raw Story
Shares of the little, and little known, Ladder Capital (LADR) closed Monday at $8.32 a share, down from $18 less than three weeks ago.
Dow Jones Industrial average. Shares of Trump’s biggest creditor, the large Deutsche Bank, are down 43% in the same period.
— but now it’s an ’emergency’Published 12 hours ago on March 17, 2020By Amanda Marcotte, Salon
For weeks, Donald Trump clearly believed he could lie the coronavirus away. As David Leonhardt of the New York Times carefully chronicled, starting on Jan. 22, Trump began a campaign of falsehoods geared towards tricking Americans — and especially the stock market — into thinking everything was going to be fine, this epidemic was “very well under control,” that “like a miracle” the virus “will disappear” and that anyone who suggested otherwise was participating in a “hoax.” Fox News and other right-wing media, in the endless infinity symbol of conservative lies, both led and followed Trump on this, blanketing red-state America with a steady drumbeat of assertions that the “liberal media” was exaggerating the crisis to hurt Trump.
The country has around 125 confirmed cases, and it’s a bit of a puzzle how the world’s second-most-populous nation, with 1.3 billion people, has seemingly remained unscathed so far.
There could be many more cases in India than have been detected, because of the difficulties of getting tested. But it’s also possible that the country has actually managed to so far escape the worst — either because of quick and strict efforts right from the start, or another mix of factors.
The relative calm has fueled disbelief in some quarters that the virus is even a threat. Over the weekend in Lucknow, one of India’s bigger cities, young people packed into pubs. “I am not scared. I eat, party, sleep,” said Akshay Gupta, an accountant who was bar hopping on Saturday night. “The scare is overhyped.”
■ The European Union has adopted a 30-day ban on non-essential travel to European countries from the rest of the world, starting a stretch of isolation like nothing in modern history outside wartime.
■ After suffering their worst day in decades, stocks bounced back: The S&P 500 rose about 6 percent as Washington policymakers talked up plans to try to cushion the economy.
Coronavirus shut down Sin City, creating a potentially devastating situation for Las Vegas
A couple walks along the nearly empty Las Vegas Strip on Thursday. (David Becker/For The Washington Post)
LAS VEGAS — Don Gummerson and Josh “Pepper” Clarke left The Flamingo and sauntered alone down the sidewalk of the Strip, past locked casino doors and outdoor daiquiri machines shrouded in black trash bags, to the only restaurant serving food for a half mile in either direction: McDonald’s. The oil workers from Manitoba were in town for a wedding: Gummerson married Clarke’s stepmother at 11 a.m. Wednesday, the last nuptials at the tropical casino for the foreseeable future, a day after Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak (D) announced a shutdown of all casinos, hotels and “nonessential” businesses in response to the rapidly moving coronavirus pandemic.
As Clarke slung a $7 bottle of Wycliff champagne from his hip to his stubbled lips, Gummerson, in a matching black tuxedo, lamented their lonely journey through an eerily quiet Sin City.
“That’s gonna be our wedding f—— supper,” he said. “McDonald’s.”
The sudden closure of all Nevada casinos was an overreaction, they insisted, drawing an expletive-laced tirade about how they didn’t think Las Vegas would throw in the towel. Clarke was especially upset because he thinks the virus is really affecting only old people: “I don’t believe that this should be happening.”
A worker updates the Fiesta Henderson Hotel & Casino marquee after all casinos were closed in Nevada as a result of the coronavirus outbreak. (David Becker/For The Washington Post)
The men were among the few remaining tourists navigating the Las Vegas Strip as no one has ever seen it: nearly devoid of revelers, gamblers and street hawkers. The governor’s directive, which fell on some deaf ears around the city (including those of an 18-and-over strip club offering drive-by lap dances), became a mandate Friday afternoon. Sisolak announced that police action would be taken as a last course of action against businesses that refused to comply with measures to stem the spread of a virus in a city reliant on the opposite of social distancing.
As casino floors fell silent — many for the first time since their construction — a desert town built on tourist traffic from around the globe boiled with anxiety. In local union headquarters, homeless shelters, around-the-block gun store lines and churches, people of all stripes braced for an uncertain future. It was almost unthinkable, this city up against the only true showstopper it has ever experienced: An insidious virus that was first detected on the other side of the world.
As the coronavirus forced Las Vegas to shutdown, tourists scrambled to head home
After Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak (D) ordered all nonessential businesses to shut down on March 18, tourists in Las Vegas were forced to cut vacations short. (Ashleigh Joplin/The Washington Post)
Traffic on Las Vegas Boulevard has fizzled, and the continuous buzzing and beeping inside the monolithic casinos has given way to the low hum of electricity, whooshing air conditioning and 1990s pop hits played for an audience of security personnel and cleaning staff.
The waters of the spiraling Bellagio fountains lie still, though a few of the hotel marquees remain illuminated at night, painting the sky blue, white and gold on an empty desert soundstage. A few mumbling panhandlers remained seated on Strip sidewalks. Unable or unwilling to seek alternatives in this strange new reality, they held up cardboard signs with marker-scribbled messages to a handful of people in no mood.
“Disabled marine veteran. Homeless. Only God can save us now.”
As a White House news briefing on the coronavirus is broadcast on a television, an employee cleans the back bar inside the now-closed Emerald Island Casino in Henderson, Nev., on Friday. (David Becker/For The Washington Post)
Where are the keys?
The shutdown has not just been unpopular with departing tourists, it also has infuriated Mayor Carolyn Goodman, who offered a stern rebuttal to the governor’s decision at a City Council meeting on Wednesday. A shutdown of this magnitude was unprecedented, she said. Neither the events of 9/11 nor the October 2017 mass shooting that took 58 lives at a music festival here had the effect of a 30-day freeze in tourism.
“I know we, and they, cannot survive any total shutdown of the economy for any length of time beyond the immediate week or two,” Goodman said. “Please, governor, we need to be able to live our lives, support our families and, yes, keep Nevada strong, but together.”
She called for an eight- to 10-day shutdown, shorter than what the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says can be a two-week incubation period for the virus. Goodman’s challenge to Sisolak, which was ignored, divided many Las Vegans as it has many people across the country. What’s better? An economically crippling shutdown long enough to ensure the virus is in the past, or fewer restrictions on everyday life and the risk of widespread infection?
“As someone in the tourism industry, I really liked what Mayor Goodman had to say, for selfish reasons,” said Tim Brooks, owner and general manager of Emerald Island Casino in Henderson. “But I don’t really know what’s realistic. Would I like to be back at work and not have these families suffer? Yes. But at what risk?”
The Emerald Island, a single-story casino with a bar and 24-hour restaurant, is far less reliant on tourism than most casinos in the heart of Las Vegas. Think “Cheers” with slot machines. Late last week, it dawned on Brooks that the front door of his 24-hour casino hadn’t been locked since he opened the place 18 years ago. Where on earth are the keys?Anticipating a shutdown, Brooks called a locksmith on Monday and had a new lock installed. When the news came, he gave last call for the first time ever, at 11:50 p.m.
The next day, his staff went about the unfamiliar business of closing a casino. Slot machines were emptied of cash and wiped down with disinfectant spray. Liquor bottles were capped and keg tap lines blown clear.
Casino porter Geralyn Johnson deep-cleans video poker machines inside the Emerald Island Casino after it closed. (David Becker/For The Washington Post)
Owner and general manager Tim Brooks checks a door as he surveys the closed Emerald Island Casino. Brooks had to hire a locksmith, as he has never had to lock the doors in the 18 years he has owned the business. (David Becker/For The Washington Post)
A month on the shelf will mean a six-figure loss in revenue, Brooks says, and he’s keeping 20 to 30 essential staff members on board and letting go of more than 130, most of whom trickled into the Island between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Friday to get educated on unemployment benefits.
“We were humming right along and planning an expansion at the end of the year and to employ 50 more people,” Brooks said. “We’re hoping the state will step up to the plate and ease some of the restrictions for all the people collecting unemployment. What hurts me more than anything is that it’s affecting the livelihood of the people we know and love.”
‘It’s insane right now’
Jose Triana emerged from the front desk of his health clinic Thursday afternoon at 4 p.m. to unlock the front door and tell a towering, mohawked man coughing into a blue medical mask that drive-through testing for covid-19 was over.
“I would rather you call tomorrow. It’s insane right now,” said Triana, 29. When the man asked how long he’d have to wait to be tested, Triana’s pain and exhaustion broke through his N95 mask and medical visor. “I don’t know. I really wish we could, I really wish we could. It’s just … I can’t afford it, I can’t afford to pay my staff.”
Sahara Urgent Care and Wellness was one of just a few clinics here offering coronavirus tests, available to people exhibiting symptoms. For three days beginning Monday, employees directed cars through a maze of traffic cones linked with white rope to a spot where technicians waited with nasal swabs. When the results were in, patients waited several hours after they were obtained to be notified if they had tested positive for the virus. Cars circled the block each day, and after more than 700 tests, the clinic limited them to appointment by phone or online.
“We’re not getting the support that we’d like,” Triana said as the man retreated to his parked car, where a woman in a mask waited in the passenger seat. “Our resources have been exhausted. Honestly, everyone that was coming in, they looked bad. We really didn’t turn away anybody.”
Triana said he wasn’t allowed to share how many confirmed cases his clinic has reported to Clark County — which includes Las Vegas and Nevada’s second-largest city, Henderson. According to the Southern Nevada Health District, 126 positive cases of covid-19 were reported in Clark County as of Friday, with two deaths, both being people in their 60s with underlying medical conditions. But the threat of transmission is especially high compared with the rest of the country, experts said, because in the region’s more than 200 casinos, people handle chips, cash, cards, slot machines and touch screens, all in proximity to one another.
Bertha Lopez, of Mexico, wears a face mask as she visits the “Welcome to Las Vegas” sign with her family on Thursday. (David Becker/For The Washington Post)
Six medical providers at five hospitals who spoke with The Washington Post said each had been inundated with patients seeking tests after exhibiting covid-19 symptoms. Such was the demand at Valley Hospital Medical Center, two nurses said, that security was concentrated in the admissions areas to deal with overflow and assist in screening. That provided an opportunity for badness: Thieves broke into five cars belonging to members of the hospital staff, and they took multiple garage door openers and registrations bearing home addresses, staff members said. The two nurses spoke on the condition of anonymity, citing a hospital rule against unauthorized contact with the media. The Las Vegas Police Department did not respond to a request for comment.
“When I first heard about it, I thought, no, that’s gotta be fake news,” said one of the nurses. Then she saw the pictures and spoke with those whose cars were targeted. “We’re just trying to do our jobs and trying to help people, and it feels like there’s no one helping us. It just doesn’t sound real. Who attacks the people trying to help them?”
People wait in line to enter the Briarhawk Firearms and Ammunition store in Las Vegas. (David Becker/For The Washington Post)
Four miles away, at the Briarhawk Firearms and Ammunition store, more than 30 people waited in line to purchase guns and/or ammunition when the store opened at noon, mirroring a scene at multiple other gun stores here. Some customers said they were motivated by stories circulating on social media of home invasions. Three cited a specific item they had seen on Snapchat that described a home invasion in nearby Henderson, in which men apparently dressed as utility workers held a family at gunpoint and stole supplies. Many such stories and claims from around the country — many debunked — have been circulating online and on social media for days, stoking fear; the Henderson Police Department said the posting was not deemed credible and has urged people to stop spreading rumors.
Shawna Sanders, one of the first in line when Briarhawk opened at noon Thursday, said she had heard stories of break-ins and seen videos of fights in grocery stores. When she read that someone was stabbed over supplies in another state, she figured the violence was coming to Las Vegas. She moved here four years ago from New Jersey to live with her mother, a decision she has come to regret. The single mother of two worked as a bartender until the shutdown, which caused her to be laid off. On Monday she Googled “guns for women,” then showed up at the Range 702, a local shooting venue, with an idea of which pistols she wanted to try out. She narrowed the options down to two small, light guns — a Glock 40 or a Glock 9 — both in the $400 to $600 range. “I can’t be out here trying to live life with a knife,” she said. “I need real protection.”
Volunteers load boxes of food at an emergency food distribution site in the parking lot of the Palace Station hotel-casino in Las Vegas. (David Becker/For The Washington Post)
‘The Twilight Zone’
Representatives from more than 130 nonprofit organizations in southern Nevada joined a United Way conference call Tuesday morning, hosted by Kyle Rahn, 60, the first female president of the United Way of Southern Nevada. Homeless shelters, meal providers, drug and alcohol treatment centers and state and local health and emergency assistance representatives joined in, aiming to take stock of resources and encouraging collaboration. Many anticipate that the shutdown of one of the nation’s largest county’s will put the people on the fringes of Las Vegas’ economy at great risk. Rahn three weeks ago set up an emergency assistance fund for the nonprofits, anticipating a shutdown.
“It’s no longer business as usual,” Rahn told the group. “And it may never be again.”
It’s the kind of work that can’t be done from home, so throughout the week a core group of five women came to the United Way offices every day, diligently washing their hands and maintaining social distancing while organizing a growing network of volunteers and nonprofits re-purposing themselves for a tsunami.
One of the women on the call, Terry Ruth Lindemann, runs Family Promise of Las Vegas, a group that helps newly homeless families find temporary housing in motels and with religious organizations. Lindemann requires visitors to wash their hands upon entry. After that, parents are introduced to case workers and go through the often-painful process of explaining how they got there. Children sprawl on couches and watch Pixar DVDs in the main room; the office is packed with stacked boxes of diapers.
She has been working 13-hour days, answering hundreds of emails. “I’m still not convinced that I’m not a star in an episode of ‘The Twilight Zone,’ ” Lindemann said.
Clark County, she says, typically finishes each school year with about 14,000 children listed as homeless, which she estimates to mean as many as 5,000 families are living in cars or otherwise oscillating between homeless and housed. Family Promise has about 40 families on its caseload, with plans to expand to 100 in 2020 with an operating budget of $700,000 per year, a portion of which is public funds.
Closing the Strip, she says, will create “a lot of need for food banks, for rental assistance, for motel shelter,” she said. “That means that this community is going to have to come together as we never have before, and we are beginning to respond in that way, much in the way they had to for Katrina and Sandy.”
Maintenance workers clean the stairs for a Las Vegas Strip pedestrian overpass. (David Becker/For The Washington Post)
As she spoke, the first housing casualties of the shutdown walked in from the street and parked on the Family Promise couch: A family of five, led by a single mother, who just last week made the pilgrimage from Utah to Las Vegas in search of work.
Two miles east, at the Culinary Workers Union headquarters, the largest union in Las Vegas and arguably the city’s most powerful, workers called in and filled the waiting room, wondering about their paychecks while casinos and hotels sit vacant.
“We’re negotiating that this week with casinos,” said Bethany Khan, director of communications for the culinary union. “For most workers that the culinary union represents, nothing will change. They’ll be paid throughout this. We are demanding that all employers, union and nonunion, pay their employees during the closure.”
While some nonunion casinos did offer compensation for furloughed employees — including notoriously anti-union Las Vegas Sands owner Sheldon Adelson — most smaller casinos, hotels and small businesses that exist on the periphery of the Strip will not. And with about 40 percent of residents not being members of a union, the impact of a month-long pay freeze will be long-lasting and severe, said Rusty McAllister, executive secretary-treasurer of the Nevada State AFL-CIO,
“If you look back at 9/11, we were one of the hardest-hit cities, and it
took the longest for us to come back,” McAllister says. “If people are worried or people have to look at places to cut back, one of the first places they cut back is on their vacation plans. That has an immediate impact on our city. We’re one of the first to feel it and the last to come out of it when something like this happens.”
Hair stylist Hunter Stewart collects her belongings from her work station at The Hair Lounge salon.
For small business owners beyond the reach of the union, but no less reliant on a vibrant Las Vegas Strip, the length of the shutdown and the decisions handed down by the state and federal government may mean the difference between owning a business and not. Lisa Ortiz, owner and operator of The Hair Lounge, says the future of her business is reliant on her hair stylists paying rent at a time when none of them are working.
“If they pay their rent, and we bounce back, I will waive some stuff and try to get everyone on their feet,” she said. “But if they don’t, it may not bounce back. It honestly depends on whether or not this lasts longer than 30 days. Everything’s up in the air right now.”
So she’ll wait. On Thursday evening, Ortiz brought her young son to the shop to meet one of her stylists who needed to pick up supplies. She had spent the week clearing out hair products, intending to sell them via social media at cost, and securing the shop against looters: locking up mirrors and expensive salon equipment. She had seen the home invasion claim on Snapchat, too. And the salon recently experienced a break-in after hours. Tucked in her jean waistband as she buckled her toddler into a car seat was a small loaded pistol.
“It just feels like anything can happen,” she said. “You don’t know what to believe.”
For others, the math ahead of them portended more desperate measures. Walking the aisles of a Cardena’s grocery store, Oscar Ibarra and Judy Luis contemplated what was required to feed their 10-month-old, Catalina, pay rent and feed themselves after both lost their jobs. She was a hostess at the Grand Lux Cafe on the Strip, and he worked for a pool-builder.
“Because of this whole shutdown, the clients don’t want us around right now, because they think someone might have it,” Ibarra said. “I have a little bit saved away, enough for the next few weeks.”
They’ve been buying in bulk, and skipping meals. That should work for four weeks. If the shutdown lasts longer than a month, the family might have to move to Portland, where his mother lives: “Unless they tell us we don’t have to pay rent for the next month, there’s not much else we can do.”
And while some walked grocery store aisles and performed the painful calculus of how long they might last in a Las Vegas without work, the last of the tourists who once propped up the city made their way home.
On the Strip, crossing paths with the hungry Canadian wedding party, Matt Cross and Gio Feusi had carry-ons rolling in tow. They had been asked to leave the Cosmopolitan two nights into a three-night stay that, combined with airfare out of San Francisco, cost just $480 in an economy gripped by the virus.
“We got out of San Francisco because things were shutting down, and it was so cheap to get here,” Cross said. Added Feusi: “We didn’t think Vegas would ever shut down.”
In this, they were not alone.
Inside California’s great lockdown, glimpse America’s stay-at-home future
More than 6 million people in the Bay Area have been ordered to stay home since Tuesday, prompting empty streets, cabin fever, creativity and acts of kindness
San Franciscans enjoy the fresh air and views along a stretch of beach at Crissy Field on Friday. (Photos by Melina Mara/The Washington Post)
SAN FRANCISCO — Nearly a week into an unprecedented health and social experiment, more than 6 million people here are asking: Just how long can one stay at home?
On Monday, San Francisco and five other Bay Area counties were among the first in the nation to officially order residents to stay home to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus. By penalty of law, going outside is allowed only for certain jobs, food shopping and other “essential” activity.
Life inside low-key lockdown is a battle against boredom, isolation, anxiety and the fear of no end in sight. The region known as the heart of the tech industry is both inventing a new online reality and feeling the strains of economic inequality. As the rest of California and more states issued stay-at-home orders this weekend, the Bay Area’s lesson to the 1 in 5 Americans now affected is: This is harder than you think, but you’ll be surprised at your creativity and the kindness of neighbors.
Tumbleweeds might as well have rolled across the Golden Gate Bridge during rush hour Friday, though cooped-up people filled nearby Crissy Field to exercise, mostly keeping a respectful distance. Boarded-up display windows for Christian Dior, Fendi and Louis Vuitton lined the city’s deserted Union Square shopping district. At 5:40 p.m., just one car was driving down the city’s windy Lombard Street.
TV weatherman Lawrence Karnow from KRON-4 now reports the forecast from a room at home decorated with a few candles and a WiFi router. Inspired by the 2010 World Cup, fourth-grade teacher Tom Culbertson and his 16-year-old son blow vuvuzelas at 6 p.m. every evening to encourage their Palo Alto neighbors to step into the street and say hi.
“We feel like we need to bring some kind of silliness to this as best we can,” Culbertson said.
Everyone is learning the self-quarantine rules.
TOP: Tom Culbertson blows a vuvuzela on Friday to encourage families to join their neighbors on Amarillo Avenue in Palo Alto, Calif. BOTTOM LEFT: Shoppers pick through fresh produce at Weirdly Farmers Market in Oakland, Calif. BOTTOM RIGHT: With help from her roommate, Pilates instructor Carley Henning streams a class from her apartment in San Francisco.
Allowed: walking your dog, ordering takeout food and cocktails, farmers markets, biking, getting gas, using laundromats, and shopping at some liquor stores and medicinal marijuana emporiums.
Not allowed: petting someone else’s dog, dinner parties, going to hair and nail salons, in-person yoga classes, shopping for nonessentials and even throwing Frisbees.
“Look, I don’t make the rules, okay? That’s the department of public health,” San Francisco Mayor London Breed said in an interview, adding that she would have to do her own hair, too. “I know it’s not in our nature to not be close to one another or interactive or social when we’re around one another. But unfortunately, this is necessary for getting through this and also for saving lives.”
So far, so good, she said. “I’m really proud of this city,” Breed said. “But this is week one. And I’m sure that in the beginning it might be a lot easier. And as time goes on, it’s going to get more challenging for people.”
For the most part, violators aren’t being arrested, although it carries a potential misdemeanor charge. A spokesman for the San Francisco Police Department, Officer Robert Rueca, said enforcement is a “last resort” and the goal is “voluntary compliance.”
Still, cracks appeared as the weekend approached and the weather turned sunny. Some residents were spotted holding picnics, while others reported receiving citations for going to parks. The East Bay Regional Park District said it voided some parking tickets issued Tuesday, and California’s state parks authority said it was not ticketing but was urging people to leave parks “where social distancing cannot be implemented.”
Witness an empty San Francisco under a coronavirus ‘shelter in place’ order
San Jose had to officially order a gun store to shut after lines started building out the door Tuesday. The Alameda County Sheriff’s Office advised Tesla to close up shop, issuing a ruling that the electric carmaker is not an “essential business” after chief executive Elon Musk had thousands of employees report to work.
In an interview, San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo said the Bay Area may have it relatively easy when it comes to compliance, thanks in part to a highly educated population, including many who can continue to draw a paycheck by working at home with a computer.
“And yet even here in the largest city in Silicon Valley, we have this enormous divide with hundreds of thousands of residents facing horrific choices about how they’re going to make ends meet,” he said.
The counties made the drastic decision to force residents to stay at home in an effort to “flatten the curve,” essentially spacing out coronavirus cases so they don’t overwhelm local medical and emergency resources and contribute to rapid community spread. It will take weeks to know whether the measures prove effective. By Sunday, there were 1,468 confirmed cases in California and at least 27 deaths, less than a month after the state reported its first case of community transmission. The Bay Area was the first part of the country to report cases spreading in the community, in Solano and Santa Clara counties.
California Surgeon General Nadine Burke Harris said that while necessary to stop the spread of disease, the orders also have the potential to exacerbate depression, anxiety and such chronic health problems as diabetes and high blood pressure. Social connection is vital, she said, particularly for children.
“Whether it’s virtually — phone, text, FaceTime,” she said, “I would say it’s more important than ever for our communities to stay connected.”
While municipalities have published lists of rules, interpreting the orders is happening one household at a time.
Corinne Downey, 41, of Palo Alto, said her 11-year-old son was begging to see friends in person, so she invented a new game: quarantine basketball. Each boy brought his own basketball, which only he was allowed to touch. The kids would sing “social distancing!” whenever they got too close.
Love in the time of coronavirus requires creativity, too. Matthew Cooper, 37, proposed a first date at a park just kicking a soccer ball back-and-forth. “It feels like we can do that from a safe distance,” said Cooper, who lives in Oakland.
The vital organs of urban life still mostly function. Trash largely gets picked up on schedule. Trains are still running, though often empty. Crime reports are down, but officials worry about a potential increase in domestic abuse. Several local jails have released prisoners early, in hopes of reducing the risk of an outbreak. San Francisco has also ceased evictions and issuing parking tickets.
TOP: Kitchen workers take a break outside Nico’s Restaurant in quiet downtown San Francisco. BOTTOM LEFT: San Francisco residents ride an eerily quiet Bay Area Rapid Transit train on Friday. BOTTOM RIGHT: A traveler arrives to a quiet Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport.
Some residents are choosing to severely limit their activities to avoid exposure. Kimberley Gilles, 63, of Piedmont, asked on Nextdoor.com for strangers to help with grocery shopping. She got seven responses in about an hour.
Gilles said self-quarantine has left her with a “low-grade melancholy” but given her a new appreciation for community. “One of the things we are all questioning is our ability to control everything,” the high school English teacher said. “I can control kindness. I can do that. But almost everything else is beyond my control.”
Things have gotten especially tricky in “co-living” houses, where young professionals cram together and share the cost of exorbitant Bay Area rents. Melissa Wong, one of 14 roommates in an Oakland home, faced a weighty decision when the house collectively decided to require residents to either socially distance themselves from significant others or stay with their partners during the outbreak. Wong, 32, chose to move in with her boyfriend of a year and a half while still paying $1,650 in rent to keep her bedroom. She said she and her boyfriend had been looking for a “more celebratory context” to live with each other. Fortunately, “it’s been pretty positive,” she said. “We will get our moment to actively choose living together.”
For many, the biggest challenge is passing time while normal life is on hold. Ashleigh Azzari, a 36-year-old manager at Anthropologie in Palo Alto, is still collecting a paycheck but can’t go to work or leave the house, except to walk the dog and grocery shop. She and her husband are trying to conceive, and even fertility treatments have taken a pause. To pass the time, she bought an unlimited annual subscription to Rosetta Stone for $99 to brush up on Italian and learn Japanese. At 6 p.m., she joins a virtual happy hour with co-workers.
She’s also a puzzle enthusiast but has been finishing them too quickly, piecing together a 1,000-piece art deco set in a couple of hours.
By the end of the day, “you can go through all the emotions,” she said. But it’s also been a reminder of what’s important to her. “Like hanging out with my husband. He’s a nice guy. We get along,” she said. “We are all taking a step back from how fast we were moving.”
A worker disinfects an elevator at a BART station in San Francisco.
Other people have had to choose between income and their health. Steve Gregg, 51, of Antioch, drives for Uber and on Friday decided to log off the app because his lungs don’t handle infection well. He’s now reliant on a side gig of writing.
“It went from ‘I can do this’ to ‘this is Russian roulette, I’m not playing it,’” he said, describing dropping off a passenger near a hospital that triggered a panic attack. “I went home and I haven’t driven since.”
Then there are the 28,000 Bay Area residents who have no home in which to quarantine themselves. T.J. Johnston, 53, has been living in the same San Francisco shelter since November, where he sleeps in a room with about 10 sets of bunk beds. “There’s literally another person on top of me,” he said. The city has told shelters to extend their reservations until the end of April. “I tried myself to maintain social distancing,” he said. “It is kind of difficult when you put so many people inside a confined space.”
Some restaurants are shuttering, unable to balance high rents with a decline in customers. Others are finding unexpected ways to adapt. The Los Gatos restaurant Manresa, which boasts three Michelin stars, has closed for dinner and told its hourly employees to sign up for unemployment. But it’s now transformed into a takeout joint, offering a gourmet “family meal to go” for $35 to $59 per head. Friday’s menuincluded Japanese medai a la plancha and seasoned sushi rice along with pineapple upside-down cake.
Ericka Wells was laid off as a waitress from Grand Lake Kitchen in Oakland on Thursday as the restaurant shut down. So the aspiring pastry chef took to Nextdoor to inform her neighbors she was officially open for business. She’s delivering 14 pastry boxes this weekend (she plans to leave them on porches in sealed plastic bags to avoid germs).
Her business, Layers By Xanthe (her middle name), has turned into a bright spot in an otherwise dismal time, she said. “The universe just put a stop button for all of us and told us to reevaluate our lives,” she said.
There are still moments of fear. Walking in the park or on the sidewalk — while technically allowed — prompts many passersby to swerve roughly six feet out of the way. Doctors and nurses keep going to the hospitals, where cases are starting to mount. Coronavirus testing sites have not been made public, in an effort to guard them from an overwhelming crowd.
TOP: Pigeons gather on an otherwise empty street in San Jose. BOTTOM LEFT: Dennis Wishnie and his daughter Lauren Altbaier practice social distancing near the Embarcadero in San Francisco on Friday. BOTTOM RIGHT: A San Francisco postal worker delivers packages.
The stay-at-home order can be especially terrifying for people with families who are feeling sick and can’t get tested. Pat Burtis, 50, a venture capitalist in Corte Madera, was coughing and had a fever of about 102 earlier in the week. He drove to an urgent-care clinic, a walk-in clinic and called his county health department, but he couldn’t get anyone to test him. So he grabbed a couple of extra masks from the hospital and has been isolating himself from his wife and 8-year-old daughter. “When I come downstairs, I am wearing a mask as much as possible and maniacally washing hands and wiping things down,” he said.
Still, there are many silver linings. One is how technology is bringing people together in new ways, from Zoom teleconference happy hours to online play dates for closed schools.
Amanda Deering, director of operations and strategy for Mariposa Kids, an after-school program in San Francisco, sent an email to all the parents in the program with a link to a free Google Hangout, where recreation leaders and a program director host two-hour virtual programs.
During the first session on Monday, there were plenty of kinks to iron out. Kids accidentally muted one another, and the rec leader was even silenced at one point. Things were going more smoothly by the end of the week, when staff members came up with creative ideas to keep kids engaged without just staring at the screen, including exercise classes, coloring contests and scavenger hunts in which kids find an object in their house that begins with a certain letter and then show it to the class. Students can earn “tickets” if they are well-behaved, letting everyone have a chance to speak and participate. When real-life class resumes, the tickets can be redeemed for prizes, like toys and ice cream sundaes.
“What we would like to create for kids is a space where they’re hanging out with friends but they’re also engaged with environment,” Deering, 29, said.
Even religion has found a home online. Cody Harris, 41, a lawyer in Mill Valley, held a virtual Jewish shabbat ceremony on Friday night with 20 other families over Zoom video conference. Attendees lit candles and sang together. “It’s just about being together and trying to bring some order and ritual and tradition into this situation,” he said.
A few people walk the streets of San Francisco on Friday.
Correction: Pat Burtis went to an urgent care clinic and a walk-in clinic to seek testing. An earlier version of this article incorrectly said he went to a hospital emergency room.
Nitasha Tiku contributed to this report. Photography by Melina Mara. Video by James Pace-Cornsilk. Photo editing by Annaliese Nurnberg. Design by Audrey Valbuena.
Blessed Love Poems has published three of my love poems, “Ode for Valentine Day”, “A Million Way to Say I Love You” and “I Still Want You”.
Here are my latest love poems plus some earlier poems that have been published, including “Chains that Bind Us” and the “Story of How We Met” were published earlier.
I Still Want You
Ode to Love on Valentine’s Day
A Million Ways to Say I Love You
Sam and Maria’s First Kiss
Love Hexastich
Love Sestet
Dream Love Duet
Dream Love Sonnet Love Egg Time
Walking towards Enlightenment in the Woods
the Angel’s Wedding
Autumn Dreams
the Love of My Life Haunted My Dreams
Love Poetry contest
She was Everything I Could Ever Dream
Meeting You
Tricubal Love Poem
Love Valentine
My love Came to Me
Every Morning
45 years of Love
When She Came to Life
You Are the Conductor of My Life
She Came to Me In A Dream
My Love My Life
I Only Live in the Light
Love Valentine
My love came to me
Every Morning
When She Came to Life
Letters to my self
You Are the Conductor of My Life
My Love My Life
the Flower of Love
I will Love you until the end of time
Love Cherita -I Married the Girl of My Dreams
Morning Delight
Best Love Cinquain
Love at First Sight
True Dreams
Truth
Love at First Sight Love
First Love
Time
First Kiss
Kissing Angela in the Bar
Angela Cherita
I will love you
Angela Haiku
63 Years Young with You
I am 63 years young
63 Years around the sun
Another Love Cinquain
Haiku Thinking of You
Every Day I Wake Up
Met My Fate
Impossible Dreams 2
Impossible dreams
Life is but a Dream
Married the Girl of My Dreams
Skinny Valentines
Faces
Shape of Sex
GLOW
Angela (Acrostic poem )
Angela My Soul Mate
On Top of the World
there is nothing more to be said
A Message for You
Love Endures
Success
Spring Doositsu
Love Triclinia
Angela Fills Me with Red Passion
angela
Wild Man Sits in a Gilded Cage
Why Am I Still Addicted To You?
Where Do I and You Begin
Lost and Found
The Story of How We Met
Chains That Bind Us
Part One three recently published loved poems published on Blessed Love Poems
They say
There are a million ways
To say I love you
In this day and age
I could only find
In my computer’s brain
The words to say I love you
In 53 languages of the 10,000 languages
Spoken on this planet
Someday I may be able
To say the simple words
I love you
In all know languages
This will have to suffice for a start
So I will say it
Loud, and clear
Just so you understand:
I love you (English)
Mein tumse pyar karta hoon (Hindi)
Tu Tane prem karoo chu (Gujarati)
Ame tomake bhalo bashe (Bengali)
Me tula premkarto (Marati)
Hum apse mohabbat karte hain (Urdu)
Mein thoda prem karanga (Punjabi)
Man Dooset Daram (Persian)
Ana Ahabik Yanooni (Arabic)
Havala (Hebrew)
Yongchon(Chinese)
Aloha (Hawaian)
Cinta(Indonesian)
Dangshinun sarang hayo (Korean)
Ajo (Japanese)
Kasih (Malay)
Phom tirak khun krap (Thai)
Akoay Paginghe ikou (Tagalog)
Toi yeu ong(Vietnamese)
Renmen (Creole)
Jesuis L’amour voies(French)
Liefdle (Flemish)
Estoy amor tu (Spanish)
Yosono amore tu (Italian)
Estou o amore tu (Portugese)
Dashuri (Albanian)
Maiteizam (Basque)
OBHYAM (Bulgarian)
Ljubav (Croatian)
Laska (Czech)
Jeger en kaerlighed du (Danish)
Ikben houden van jig (Dutch)
Gra (Gaelic)
Ich bin lieben tu (German)
Agape/eros (Greek)
Ami (Esperanto)
Armastama (Estonian)
Rakam (Finish)
Envagyok szeretet te (Hungarian)
Elska (Icelandic)
Ejekirin (Kurdish)
Milestiba (Latvian)
Meile (Lithuanian)
Eu dragoste tu (Romanian)
JHOBOEL Lubush (Russian)
Elske (Norweigan)
Easka (Slovak)
JBYBAB (Serbian)
Jagdan karlek du (Swedish)
KOYATH (Ukraine)
Benin sevi sen (Turkish)
Ahava (Yiddish)
Before I found you
I was lost, sad and lonely
Going nowhere as fast as possible
I was stuck
Did not know what direction to pursue
At the intersection, watching life go by
I was lost, lonely and full of despair
Then one day I saw you
The girl of my dream
Standing there on the side of the road
I was filled with terror
Could not speak
What if you refused to see me
What if you denied my protestations of love
What if you walked away
Never to be seen again
I knew I had to do something
I had to do it then and there
And then you came up to me…
Your voice
The voice of an Angel
Sweat, full of light
Fun and entire sunshine
Ever since the day I met you
Whenever I feel down and depressed
I look at your picture
And sunshine fills my heart
And I am confident, happy and ready
To face all of life’s travails
As long as I have your love
And your support
I can overcome all obstacles
And face all dangers
Together we can do most anything
Without you I will be lost
In the swamp of despair
and surely die
So my dear
Please stay with me
Forever to the end of time
Let us journey forward
Never looking back
My love, my life
The sun in the sky
The moon that lights my dreams at night
The stars that beacon far away
Thanks to the Gods above
For bringing you into my life
And I promise I will love you
Forever and a day
Just to see your face
Is heaven itself
Just to hear your voice
Is all I ever need
My love, my soul mate
Hurry back to me
We have so much loving to do
So much living to do
So much to do together
Walking confidently
Boldly into the future
Without you
All is nothing
But dust
With you
Everything is possible
My love
Until I see you again
A thousand kisses
And a million thoughts of love
That will have to suffice
Until we are reunited
My love, my darling,
My life and dreams
Hurry back to rescue me
From the despair and darkness
All around me
Until then
I salute you
Oh Queen of my Heart
General of Love
Captain of my Soul
Part Two Older Poems
Sam and Maria’s First Kiss
just married
Sam met his wife
in a dream
it was his fate
she became his life
that day
she became his wife
on their marriage date
they went to a bar for a date
drank all night like in a dream
ending up kissing
up a storm
until they were driven out
the bar owner kicked them out
saying that was not the place
they laughed saying it was fate
it was a good start
and that was the start
of their fate
their first real date
Love Sestet
lovers kiss
you walked out of my dreams
into my life that day
the day that changed my life
when you became my wife
and filled my life with love
that date I met true love
Love Hexastich
Love
love
for you
dreaming
of you
for years
until you walked
into my life
Dream Love Duet
lovers
I dreamt of meeting the love of my life
for seven long years she haunted my dreams
for seven long years she haunted my dreams
until one day she walked off a bus into my life
until one day she walked off a bus into my life
and the girl of my dreams became my wife
and the girl of my dreams became my wife
that day she walked off the bus began my life
that day she walked off the bus began my life
I begin every day looking at my wife
I begin every day looking at my wife
for seven long years she haunted my dreams
Dream Love Sonnet
I Love You
I dreamt of meeting the love of my life
for seven long years she haunted my dreams
for seven long years she haunted my dreams
until one day she walked off a bus into my life
until one day she walked off a bus into my life
and the girl of my dreams became my wife
and the girl of my dreams became my wife
that day she walked off the bus began my life
that day she walked off the bus began my life
I begin every day looking at my wife
I begin every day looking at my wife
her love always brightens my lonely life
her love always brightens my lonely life
I dreamt of meeting the love of my life.
Walking Towards Enlightenment in the Woods with My Wife
peace forrest
every day
I take a long walk
through the park
behind my house
and over the mountain
and back I roam
as I walk
my thoughts flow
and my love grows
and I move ever closer
to achieving inner peace
with every path
I take
closer to the end
of my life
as I walk through the woods
thinking of what may be
and what was in the past
and whither am i going
where is the end
of this long journey
as long as I have
the love of my life
by my side
I will fear nothing
But walk
into my fate
be that as it may be
the Angel’s Wedding
couple in love
thirty five years ago
an angel descended from heaven
and entered my dreams
then she assumed human form
and entered my dreams
she was heaven sent
an angel from above
she called to me
in my dreams
and then one day
she stepped out
of my dreams
and into my life
coming to life
becoming my wife
yes 35 years ago
an angel came to me
and became real
and became my wife
and my life
began that date
I met my fate
on that date
the Love of My Life Haunted My Dreams
loves at sunrise
The love of my Life
haunted my dreams
for eight years
dreaming
of her
the love of my life
She was Everything I Could Ever Dream
pearls and roses
Love
Dove
my dream girl
like a white pearl
she appeared to me
everything she could be
My love came to me in a dream
she was everything I could dream
August Dreams
couple proposing
It was in August 1982
that I first met her
that I first met her
in real life that is
in real life that is
I first met her
I first met her
in my dreams
in my dreams
for eight years
for eight years
she haunted my life
she haunted my life
it was in August 1982
Meeting You
declaration of love
I often think
what would I do
If I could go back
and change my past
the one thing I would still do
is meeting you
What Dreams May Come
what dreams may come
dreaming
of my love
she came in a dream
Haunting me for eight years
then she walked out of my dreams
“What Dreams May Come “ from the Movie<
Once My Dreams Came True
lovers on a beach
Once my dreams came true
as she walked out of them
that day life began
8 Years of Dreams
Dreaming her eight years
one day she really appeared
walked off a bus
and into my life
First Kiss with My Wife
first kiss
first kiss
with my wife
in a bar
in Itaewon, Korea
on the night
we got married
the owner kicked us
out of the bar
for our passionate kissing
over the top
first of many kisses
Seeing My Love
Seeing My Love
by the light of the dawning sun
chases away
the dangerous dark demons
that haunt my sleep
Love Tripadi Poem
lovers in a field
Met the love of my life one day
she walked off the bus that fine day
She came out of my dreams and into life
for eight years she haunted my dreams
every night I had the dream
she came to me talking to me at night
haunting my every morning
filling my spirit every morning
wondering who she was
and where she was
then that fine day
I met my fate
although the hour
was indeed getting late
that day my life began anew
as she became my wife
Tricubal Love poem
lovers kissing
dream lover
came to me
for eight years
haunting me
and my dreams
for years
then one day
she appeared
changed my life
Killing My Soul
lovers kissing
my darling
your love
came to me
out of a dark dream
you overwhelmed me
with the power of your love
it consumed me
destroying my soul
as my body
fell under you spell
and I became your love slave
until the end of time
My Love Came to Me Out of Dream
lovers at the beach
my love came to me
out of a dream
out of a dream
my love came to me
my love came to me
for eight long years
for eight long years
I Dreamt of Her
I dreamt of her
every night
every night
then one day
then one day
she walked off a bus
she walked off a bus
she came into my life
she came into my life
My love came to me
I Only Exist in the Light
My love came to me
in a dream so many years ago
and I only exist in the light
of her love
otherwise the darkness
overcomes me
and I die a thousand deaths
i truly can only exist
in the light of the day
with my love lighting the way
out of the darkness of my dreams
Zen of Love Valentine
zen of love
Love comes when you least expect it
Often when you have given up
love happens when you
are washing dishes
or taking a walk
in the woods
or watching the sun rise
after drinking and talking all night long
Very mysterious indeed
that’s the Zen of love
Love comes out to play
Every day I see your love
Timeless love affair
In fact our love conquered the world
My Love Came to Me
lovers in the moon light
My love came to me
she came one night in a dream
then walked into life
Every Morning
every morning
I wake up with your deep love
my fears go away
five Love Haiku
lover’s kiss
1. 45 years of love
lovers face to face
every morning
she is always by my side
until death takes her
2. When She Came to Life
lovers on a beach
when she came to life
My life truly began that day
ending my lonely night
3. For 45 Years
cartoon lover
for 45 years
she has been there for me
just my fate it seems
4. My Love for You Grows
My Love for You Grows
Day by day and night by night
love continues grow
5. I love you
I shout Out Love you
hearing your voice in the wind
seeing your face sky
Letters to My Self
Dear Jake
love letter
please remember this
all you have all you need
is just here with the love
of your life
your wife
you can not loose
as long as you
keep her
in your heart
you will be
the richest man
in the world
the power of her love
will sustain you
until the endof time
You are the Conductor of My Life Talaga Poem
A vector silhouette illustration of an orchestra conductor with arms raised and baton in hand standing on sheet music.
you are the conductor of life
being everything my lovely wife
you are the night of my night life
welcoming the center of life
I give thanks to God every day
you came into my life that day
filling my life with love in May
ending my lonely nights and days
She Came to Me One Night in a Dream
lovers hugging
she came to me one night in dream
most beautiful woman ever
I saw
central mystery of my life
who was this women in dream
haunting
she came every night
Eight Years
haunting my every night
dream time
I did not know what to do or say
to her as she stood by my side
Smiling
filling my heart with thoughts of love
wondering who or what she was
an angel
truly live began that day I met
the women of my life
and dream lover
then one day
she said don’t worry
we would meet soon
that night she came
to life
My Love My Life
my bride my wife
my dream woman
my real woman
my lover for life
you became my wife
it was just fate
that awesome date
when you came to life
became my wife
that date
I Met my fate
the Flower of Love
red rose
Her love is like
the most fragrant flower
in the universe
so beautiful so pure
so sweet a fragrance
so filled with cosmic love
a love that transcends
this corrupted world
and every time
I look at her
I see the flower of love
in her eyes
and her soul
and my soul is bewitched
by her other world beauty
turning me into her love slave
until death does us part
on the other end of time
I Will Love You Until the End of Time
lovers afterwards
I will Love you until the end of time
That is all I need to say
That is all that there is
Nothing but love in my heart
Waiting for me to say it
And for you to believe it
In the beginning of the world
lovers begin
In the beginning of the world
I saw you there
Walking off that bus
And that was the beginning
Of my life with you
And the end of the rest of the world
Love Cherita -I Married the Girl of My Dreams
lovers kissing 2
I married the girl of my dreams
First dreamt of her
Back in 1974
Eight years later
she walked off a bus
and into my life
It All Began in Berkeley, California
It All Began in Berkeley, California
in the spring time of 1974
one fateful afternoon
I was nodding off
in my high school physics class
And saw her in my dream
I Looked Up
I looked up
and saw a tall, beautiful Asian woman
standing looking at me
She was the most beautiful women
in the universe to me
I screamed out, who are you?
She Disappeared
She Disappeared
like she was beamed
away from my dream
I knew that moment that someday
I would meet the girl
In the dream
Little Did I Know
Little Did I Know
I would have to wait
eight long years
Until 1982
to meet her in reality
when she walked off that bus
Starting that month
Starting that month
I began having the same dream
Month and month and month
Always the Same Dream
She was saying something
in a strange language
Then one day
then one day
I had the dream
and knew that she was in Korea
I Knew She Was Waiting for Me
I chose to go Korea
In the Peace Corps
Somehow knowing
somehow knowing
That I would meet her there
and I looked for her there
for three years
I looked everywhere
and never found her
One Day I Had the Last Dream
One day I had the last dream
It happened in the morning
A year after the Peace Corps ended
A month before I planned
to leave to return
to the U.S. for graduate school
That Morning Early in the Morning
That morning early in the morning
I had the last of these dreams
This time I understood her
She said,
“걱정 마. 우리는 곧 만날 것이다. ”
“geogjeongma. ulineun god mannal geos-ida.
“Don’t worry. We’ll meet soon.”
I Was Born Again That evening
I Was Born Again that evening
As I was getting off the bus
To go to my class
I saw getting off the bus
The girl in my dream
It was she!
I was Speechless
I was speechless
I did not know what to do
Wanted to tell her
How could I tell her that
Hey, you are the girl
I have been dreaming about
Over the Course of the Evening
Over the course of the evening
I ran into her several times
Finally, I was introduced to her
I muttered some lame excuse
About wanting to find a Korean tutor
and got her number.
My New Life Began the Next Day
My new life began the next day
The next day she came to the gate
Of my base where I was teaching
She said that she had to speak with me
I told to wait in the library
for about an hour
I Would Cancel Class
I would cancel class
and meet her then
We went out for coffee
She told me that she was madly
in love with me
And simply had to have me
I Told Her I Felt the Same Way
I told her I felt the same way
I proposed five days later
And got married one month later
Does she believe this story?
She claims she does not believe it
Because it is impossible to be true
But I Know That There Are Other Worlds
But I Know That There Are Other Worlds
In a past life we must have been together
somehow our love was so strong
That it crossed over
the barrier of past lives
finding me in this life
She found me in 1974
She Found Me In 1974
But it took until 1982
For us to actually meet
And it has been 35 years
Since we met in the physical sphere
Or 43 years since the dream began
And I still recall the dream
and I still recall the dream
I had no choice
when I met her
we were fated
to be together
until the end of time
End Dream Cherita
Morning Delight
lovers kissing 5
Every morning
When I wake up
And see your face
The sunlight of your love
Fills my heart with deep contentment
And all is right with the world
Best Love Cinquain
lovers in the rain
Best Love
Love at First Sight
Met the girl of my dreams
My life began
that autumn day
True Dreams
lovers on a beach
I had a dream
Meet the Girl of my Dreams
She walked off that bus that day
Truth
lovers on beach 2
Truth
True story
Love never ends
Love at First Sight Love
First Love
lovers winter beach
First Love
First time we kissed
Hot Electricity
Filled my soul with desire
Time stopped
Time
lovers sunset
Time
Began
That fine day
Never Ending Love story
First Kiss
lovers begin
They say you always
remember forever
the first kiss of your life
it happened to me
back in 1967
In Washington DC
the first time
I kissed a sweet girl
I was eleven years in age
It happened in a class project
We were inside a fake space ship
And shared a French kiss
Kissing Angela in the Bar
romantic-kiss-couple-in-love
My first kiss
With my lovely wife
Occurred in evil Itaewon
We went to a bar and drank a lot
Started kissing asked to leave the bar
Angela Cherita
Closeup of passionate couple embracing and kissing in bed. Side view.
I have dreamt of you
For almost seven long years
And now you are here
What can I do about this
Only thing to do love you
Until the End of Time
Thank to all the gods
For bringing you in my life
I will love you
For we are fated
to be together
From now to the end of time
Angela Haiku
Closeup of passionate couple embracing and kissing in bed. Side view.
Every day I wake up
To the love of my long life
And say Thanks to God
63 Years Young with You
I am 63 years young
63 years around the sun
37 of those years
I have spent
With my Dream Girl
the love of my life
63 years Around the Sun
kissing in the park
63 Years around the sun
taught me a few things
life is too short
to carry a grudge
live your Life
Love a lot
Another Love Cinquain
lovers in tokyo
My Love
Haunting my dreams
endlessly talking to me
Then walked out of the dreams
into my Life
Haiku Thinking of You
lovers in dessert
Thinking of you, dear
Wondering if you are too
Thinking of me too
Every Day I Wake Up
french kiss 2
Every day I wake up
I see my fate in her face
Fall into her spell
Met My Fate
kiss and hug 7
I met my late fate
Seeing her face in a bar
Met fate That Date
Published Hello
impossible Dreams
kiss and hug 8
(audio for impossible Dreams, impossible dreams 2, life is but a dream and I married the girl of my Dreams)
impossible dreams sometimes they do come to life sometimes come true
Impossible Dreams 2
kiss and hug 6
Impossible dreams
I have had a few come true
Dreamt of meeting wife
And in my dream life
She walked out of my dreaming
Night time vision came true
Life is but a Dream
kiss and hug 5
Life is But a Dream
That is what they say my dear
And I have lived dreams
Dreaming of meeting her
Then she walks out of the dream
And into my arms
Married the Girl of My
Dreams
kiss and hug 3
true love romance story
I married the girl of my Dreams
First dreamt of her
back in 1974
Eight years later
She walked off a bus
and into my life
Skinny Valentines
hug and kiss 2
Every day
All
Around
Me
I
See
Broken
Hearted
Woman
Every lover
Faces
Faces of all of my ex-lovers
All around me
Coming at me
Everywhere I look
Seeing my wife’s face in the sky
Shape of Sex
hug and kiss 1
Sexual desires
Have a strange way about them
Arriving unannounced
Perhaps overwhelming at times
Erupting out of nowhere
Seriously disrupting my day’s plan
GLOW
loves at sunrise
Glowing light of the dawning sun
Lights up my dismal room
Overwhelming me with love
Watching my dream girl sleep
Angela (Acrostic poem for Whispers)
kiss and hug 7
Angela is my life
No better friend in the universe
Greatest Love of all
Every Day I thank God
Love of my life
Angela My Soul Mate
couple in bed 1
Love of my long life
Everything I ever desires
Everything I ever needed
On Top of the World
man on top of mountain
on top of the world
looking down
on all of creation
beneath my feet
Thinking
what a wonderful world
this is
as long as I have you
by my side
There is nothing more to be said
couple in bed 2
There is nothing more to be said
Nothing more I can add
Nothing more than this
I will love you
Until the end of time itself
and death does us part
A Message for You
A message for you
Love comes with the sunrise
a message from God himself
from the universe itself
in the eastern sea
Showering love rainbows upon you
Love Endures
couple-kissing-at-the-movies
Love Endures
the longer I live
the more I learn
that nothing endures in life
other than the love
I share with you
Success
hug and kiss 9
In 62 years around the sun
I have learned a few things
About life and the universe
The most important thing in life
Is to have a successful love life
That is all one needs after all
Spring Doositsu
hug and kiss 11
Waking up seeing you there
Watching you as you wake up
Fills me with such sweet desire
Overcoming my mind
I sit watching you all day
Thinking of you all day long
Wild erotic imaginings
Love making to come
That old blues song come to mind
I just want to make love to you
I just want to make love to you
Nothing more than that that
I end this morning with this thought
You are still the most wonderful
The most beautiful creature
In the whole universe
Love Triclinia
rose
One Summer Day
I saw a rose on the bus
I met my fate
Angela Fills Me with Red Passion
red rose
angela
the love of my life
came to me out of a dream
walked off a bus into my life
filling my life
with red passion
Thanks Haiku
kiss and hug 14
Every morning
I wake up alive with you
I give thanks to the Gods
a wild man sits in a gilded cage
man in cage
a wild man sits in a gilded cage
a cage made out of chains of his wife’s love
a cage made out of chains of his wife’s love
the wild man yearning to be free from his cage
the wild man yearning to be free from his cage
wondering how and why he was now tamed
wondering how and why he was now tamed
dreaming dark wild dreams of demented freedom
dreaming dark wild dreams of demented freedom
the wild man looks about his prison cage
the wild man looks about his prison cage
wondering whether he will ever be free
wondering whether he will ever be free
a wild man sits in a gilded cage
Chains That Bind Us
chains
I realize that my love for you
Is like a chain of steel
Unbreakable,
Tough as nails
Yet as your love entangles me
I realize that I must
embrace my imprisonment
Don’t want to venture out of my cell
Made of our years together
put together bit by bit
We have become entangled
Where I end, and you begin
Hopelessly entangled
Even if I wanted to break free
I could not
For I am you and you are me
My fate is in your hands
Decide to Just enjoy
The ride of my life
As we move
Towards the final moments
Together as we have always been
Inseparable, merged into one being
Staring at each other
Wondering who is that Person
Of eternal mystery
That has so captured my soul
And imprisoned it in her love
I smile thinking of your love
The endless pleasure it has brought me
The endless pain I have endured
Just to be next to you, part of you
and you Part of me until the day I die
and we meet in the next world
Where Do I and You Begin
lovers at sunset
I woke up one day
Realized, I no longer knew
Where you and I began
Where you and I ended
We had become almost one
We talked in half sentences
Knowing what the other wanted
Knowing how it would end
We were becoming
more and more the same
I feared losing myself
In your embrace
Becoming you
You becoming me
This fear of losing me
In the ocean of us
Overwhelms me at times
But I know I will always
Return to your arms
Because I cannot live
A second, a minute, an hour, a moment
Without you at my side
I know you are the same
we feel each other’s inner pain
We feel each other’s outer pain
we read each other’s mind
Our history has merged
Into one
Is that not the secret
Of a long marriage?
Have I figured
it all out in the end?
Does it come to this?
A merging of two souls
and two bodies?
I don’t have the answers
But I don’t have any more doubts
Or regrets with the path I have taken
I still look forward
To waking up each morning
Seeing you there
and knowing that every day
we have together
Is a gift that I will cherish
Until my dying breath
Lost and Found
lost and found
I was lost
And you found me
You walked out of my dreams
And into my life
And that made all the difference
In the world
As you entered my life
I was all alone in this cruel world
And you provided shelter
And comfort
I did not know what I wanted
And you gave me what I wanted
You gave me meaning
You gave me purpose
You gave me love
And understanding
peace and happiness
Joy, laughter and fun
You were endlessly fascinating
Could not keep my eyes off you
You were the most beautiful women
In the world to me
And you still are
So many years later
Like a fine bottle of wine
Gets better with age
And you gave me
Endless nights of wild love making
Which has gotten better
As well
as our bodies and souls merge together
when in the midst of love making
And I fell under your spell
from the day I met you
I was lost
And you found me
And if you go first
I will be lost again
Can’t live without you
By my side
Thus, is has always been
Between us
We are so entangled
So, interwoven
And that is the way
It was meant to me
Why am I Still Addicted to You?
kissing couple
There is a mystery
that has haunted me
For almost 45 years
45 years ago
I met you
in a dream
And 38 years ago
You walked
off a bus
And into my life
And nothing was the same
Since the day we met
In the very beginning
I was hopelessly
addicted to you
Why Did I fall for you
Why did I become so hopelessly
madly in love with you
Why was it love at first sight
And why can I know
Then I had met you before
All these are questions
that still haunt
me to this day
All I know is
After 45 years
I am still Addicted to you
I am a big fan of Haiku, Tanka, and other short poetical forms inspired by the Japanese and others. here are some of my short poems. Some have been published, most have not.
Nothing but love in my heart
Waiting for me to say it
And for you to believe it
In the beginning of the world
In the beginning of the world
I saw you there
Walking off that bus
And that was the beginning
Of my life with you
And the end of the rest of the world
Love Cherita -I Married the Girl of My Dreams
I married the girl of my dreams
First dreamt of her
Back in 1974
Eight years later
she walked off a bus
and into my life
It All Began in Berkeley, California
It All Began in Berkeley, California
in the spring time of 1974
one fateful afternoon
I was nodding off
in my high school physics class
And saw her in my dream
I Looked Up
I looked up
and saw a tall, beautiful Asian woman
standing looking at me
She was the most beautiful women
in the universe to me
I screamed out, who are you?
She Disappeared
She Disappeared
like she was beamed
away from my dream
I knew that moment that someday
I would meet the girl
In the dream
Little Did I Know
Little Did I Know
I would have to wait
eight long years
Until 1982
to meet her in reality
when she walked off that bus
Starting that month
Starting that month
I began having the same dream
Month and month and month
Always the Same Dream
She was saying something
in a strange language
Then one day
then one day
I had the dream
and knew that she was in Korea
I Knew She Was Waiting for Me
I chose to go Korea
In the Peace Corps
Somehow knowing
somehow knowing
That I would meet her there
and I looked for her there
for three years
I looked everywhere
and never found her
One Day I Had the Last Dream
One day I had the last dream
It happened in the morning
A year after the Peace Corps ended
A month before I planned
to leave to return
to the U.S. for graduate school
That Morning Early in the Morning
That morning early in the morning
I had the last of these dreams
This time I understood her
She said,
“걱정 마. 우리는 곧 만날 것이다. ”
“geogjeongma. ulineun god mannal geos-ida.
“Don’t worry. We’ll meet soon.”
I Was Born Again That evening
I Was Born Again that evening
As I was getting off the bus
To go to my class
I saw getting off the bus
The girl in my dream
It was she!
I was Speechless
I was speechless
I did not know what to do
Wanted to tell her
How could I tell her that
Hey, you are the girl
I have been dreaming about
Over the Course of the Evening
Over the course of the evening
I ran into her several times
Finally, I was introduced to her
I muttered some lame excuse
About wanting to find a Korean tutor
and got her number.
My New Life Began the Next Day
My new life began the next day
The next day she came to the gate
Of my base where I was teaching
She said that she had to speak with me
I told to wait in the library
for about an hour
I Would Cancel Class
I would cancel class
and meet her then
We went out for coffee
She told me that she was madly
in love with me
And simply had to have me
I Told Her I Felt the Same Way
I told her I felt the same way
I proposed five days later
And got married one month later
Does she believe this story?
She claims she does not believe it
Because it is impossible to be true
But I Know That There Are Other Worlds
But I Know That There Are Other Worlds
In a past life we must have been together
somehow our love was so strong
That it crossed over
the barrier of past lives
finding me in this life
She found me in 1974
She Found Me In 1974
But it took until 1982
For us to actually meet
And it has been 35 years
Since we met in the physical sphere
Or 43 years since the dream began
And I still recall the dream
and I still recall the dream
I had no choice
when I met her
we were fated
to be together
until the end of time
End Dream Cherita
Morning Delight
Every morning
When I wake up
And see your face
The sunlight of your love
Fills my heart with deep contentment
And all is right with the world
Best Love Cinquain
Best Love
Love at First Sight
Met the girl of my dreams
My life began
that autumn day
True Dreams
I had a dream
Meet the Girl of my Dreams
She walked off that bus that day
Truth
Truth
True story
Love never ends
Love at First Sight Love
First Love
First Love
First time we kissed
Hot Electricity
Filled my soul with desire
Time stopped
Time
Time
Began
That fine day
Never Ending Love story
First Kiss
They say you always
remember forever
the first kiss of your life
it happened to me
back in 1967
In Washington DC
the first time
I kissed a sweet girl
I was eleven years in age
It happened in a class project
We were inside a fake space ship
And shared a French kiss
Kissing Angela in the Bar
My first kiss
With my lovely wife
Occurred in evil Itaewon
We went to a bar and drank a lot
Started kissing asked to leave the bar
Angela Cherita
I have dreamt of you
For almost seven long years
And now you are here
What can I do about this
Only thing to do love you
Until the End of Time
Thank to all the gods
For bringing you in my life
I will love you
For we are fated
to be together
From now to the end of time
Angela Haiku
Every day I wake up
To the love of my long life
And say Thanks to God
63 Years Young with You
I am 63 years young
63 years around the sun
37 of those years
I have spent
With my Dream Girl
the love of my life
63 years Around the Sun
63 Years around the sun
taught me a few things
life is too short
to carry a grudge
live your Life
Love a lot
Another Love Cinquain
My Love
Haunting my dreams
endlessly talking to me
Then walked out of the dreams
into my Life
Haiku Thinking of You
Thinking of you, dear
Wondering if you are too
Thinking of me too
Every Day I Wake Up
Every day I wake up
I see my fate in her face
Fall into her spell
Met My Fate
I met my late fate
Seeing her face in a bar
Met fate That Date
Published Hello
impossible Dreams
(audio for impossible Dreams, impossible dreams 2, life is but a dream and I married the girl of my Dreams)
impossible dreams sometimes they do come to life sometimes come true
Impossible Dreams 2
Impossible dreams
I have had a few come true
Dreamt of meeting wife
And in my dream life
She walked out of my dreaming
Night time vision came true
Life is but a Dream
Life is But a Dream
That is what they say my dear
And I have lived dreams
Dreaming of meeting her
Then she walks out of the dream
And into my arms
Married the Girl of My
Dreams
true love romance story
I married the girl of my Dreams
First dreamt of her
back in 1974
Eight years later
She walked off a bus
and into my life
Skinny Valentines
Every day
All
Around
Me
I
See
Broken
Hearted
Woman
Every lover
Faces
Faces of all of my ex-lovers
All around me
Coming at me
Everywhere I look
Seeing my wife’s face in the sky
Shape of Sex
Sexual desires
Have a strange way about them
Arriving unannounced
Perhaps overwhelming at times
Erupting out of nowhere
Seriously disrupting my day’s plan
GLOW
Glowing light of the dawning sun
Lights up my dismal room
Overwhelming me with love
Watching my dream girl sleep
Angela (Acrostic poem for Whispers)
Angela is my life
No better friend in the universe
Greatest Love of all
Every Day I thank God
Love of my life
Angela My Soul Mate
Love of my long life
Everything I ever desires
Everything I ever needed
On Top of the World
on top of the world
looking down
on all of creation
beneath my feet
Thinking
what a wonderful world
this is
as long as I have you
by my side
There is nothing more to be said
There is nothing more to be said
Nothing more I can add
Nothing more than this
I will love you
Until the end of time itself
and death does us part
A Message for You
A message for you
Love comes with the sunrise
a message from God himself
from the universe itself
in the eastern sea
Showering love rainbows upon you
Love Endures
Love Endures
the longer I live
the more I learn
that nothing endures in life
other than the love
I share with you
Success
In 62 years around the sun
I have learned a few things
About life and the universe
The most important thing in life
Is to have a successful love life
That is all one needs after all
Spring Doositsu
Waking up seeing you there
Watching you as you wake up
Fills me with such sweet desire
Overcoming my mind
I sit watching you all day
Thinking of you all day long
Wild erotic imaginings
Love making to come
That old blues song come to mind
I just want to make love to you
I just want to make love to you
Nothing more than that that
I end this morning with this thought
You are still the most wonderful
The most beautiful creature
In the whole universe
Love Triclinia
One Summer Day
I saw a rose on the bus
I met my fate
Angela Fills Me with Red Passion
angela
the love of my life
came to me out of a dream
walked off a bus into my life
filling my life
with red passion
Thanks Haiku
Every morning
I wake up alive with you
I give thanks to the Gods
Love Hexastich
love
for you
dreaming
of you
for years
until you walked
into my life
Love Sestet
you walked out of my dreams
into my life that day
the day that changed my life
when you became my wife
and filled my life with love
that date I met true love
Everything I Could Ever Dream
Love
My Dove
my dream girl
like a white pearl
she appeared to me
everything she could be
My love came to me in a dream
she was everything I could dream
Dreaming of You
dreaming
of my love
she came in a dream
Haunting me for eight years
then she walked out of my dreams
“What Dreams May Come “ from the Movie
Meeting You
I often think
what would I do
If I could go back
and change my past
the one thing I would still do
is meeting you
8 Years of Dreams
Dreaming her eight years
one day she really appeared
walked off a bus and into life
There is always one more time
There is always one more time
There is always a second chance
For love and happiness
In this dark world of ours
We will find each other
Til the end of time itself
Best Friend for 55 years
I have known Robert S since the first grade
over 55 years sharing life’s journeys
introduced me to demon rum and weed
Was there when I dreamt of my wife
and there during my 14 operations
My Memory Bank
Matt and I met in Latin class
in the 9th grade
he managed my first election
as BHS president
He knows most of my secrets
and reminds me of my past misdeeds
keeping me humble and alive
Best Friend in the Universe
I met my best friend, my soul mate
in a dream in high school
eight years later she walked off a bus
and entered my life 35 years ago
Still, my best friend I ever had
Published in “Whispers”
Part Two Pain Poems
Fake Pain Haiku version
Fibromyalgia
I have fake pain all day long
Don’t know if it is real
Magazine Bonsai Haiku
Living with Pain Hanibun
Back in 1996 I had the accident that changed everything.I went jogging one morning. It was dark outside, and I thought that I knew the trail. I fell down a ledge hidden where the trail should have been. I shattered me heal in a million pieces. I was rushed to an ER and told that I needed n emergency operation and would be bed ridden for four months. My wife was in San Antonio at the time serving in the Army, I was in DC working for the State Department. I flew in a wheel chair to San Antonio where they proclaimed that they had to wait a week for the swelling to go down before they could operate. The Air force doctors wanted to try a new procedure – using shark cartridge as a bone supplement. The operation was a success until I quit taking antibiotics six months later. I was in DC by myself then. I went to the hospital for an unrelated thing -removal of a cist I think. But the doctors took one look at me and proclaimed that the staph had become a multiple drug resistant staph and I needed an urgent operation. The next day I had the third of 15 operations. I endured six months at Walter Reed hospital but that was in the 90’s prior to the wars of the 21st century filled the base up. They had few customers and I got to know the doctors well
I know pain
Intimately aware of every ache
Every pain
Ever since that day
When I went under the knife
And had the 14 operations
That saved my life
But I am not one to complain
I became one with the pain
Which I endure to this day
Knowing that I am alive
Having cheated death
Twenty times in life
Waiting for the grim reaper
To finally claim me
But that day has not come
And until the, I will endure.
Hiking the Hills of My Youth
I grew up in Berkeley, California in the 60’s Ever since I was a youngster I would wander the hills of Berkeley hiking for hours by myself and sometimes with my friends
I explored every nook and cranny every corner of the hills and got to know nature in its infinite beauty
Ever since those days I have longed for the day that I could spend my days hiking and wondering the hills
Now that I am retired and living in Korea I can go for a long walk in the hills every day I want
It is not the same as the hills I grew up, no vistas of the Bay and it is in Korea to boot but most days it is sufficient as I head out early afternoon and conquer four or five miles of hills just enjoying that fact that I can still move and am still very much alive at age 62.
I grew up hiking the hills of Berkeley, California
Grew up knowing every corner of the hills
And the infinite beauty of the Bay Area
And now I find myself in a strange land
With time on my hands
I wander the hills above the airport
In Incheon Korea
And wander about here
and there Just being grateful
That I am still alive
And kicking at age 62
Coffee Poems
Coffee Haiku
cup of coffee
I like my coffee
Like my women hot
as hell and Heaven
coffee drink of the gods
7-2-coffee-
coffee drink of the gods
also drink of the dogs
satan
Coffee Madness
coffee
every morning coffee madness
consumes me and overwhelms me
one day coffee madness
More Coffee
too much coffee
More coffee
must have more
it consumes me
just need one more
Darker Poems
Nuclear War Looms
nuclear war looms
North Korea U.S. Launch Nukes
End of the world
Zombies Apocalypse
audio clip includes Zombie poems, and Evil Fog
the zombies unleashed
killing everyone they see
zombie apocalypse
Zombies to the right of me
Mature Couple being attacked in their car by a hoard of zombies.
Zombies to the right of me
Zombies to the left of me
Zombies run amuck
Evil Fog
evil fog descends
killing everyone at once
end of life on earth
Ghosts in Scotland
While touring Scotland
Meeting Ghosts in the wild moors
I believe in ghosts
The Future of NYC
NYC
In the distant future
the world will end
with a massive flood
and NYC will slowly sink
beneath the waves
and humanity will die
Fear of Falling While Sleeping
I am consumed
with the fear of falling
out of bed
onto the ground
dying in my sleep
Life is a Dream of Chocolate Covered Trees
Life is a dream
of chocolate covered trees
for to see what can’t be seen
for to hear what can’t be heard
to see what can’t be seen
to live in oder to die
and to die in order to live
Note: oldest poem written when I was 16! in 1972
Spirits
Satanic spirits all around me
Particularly late at night
In the middle of the night
Rapidly erupting everywhere
Infesting my very being
Taking over my very soul
Satanic demons of the night
Freaky
Freaky sounds fill the air
Radio is on playing the music of the dead
Everywhere I hear the music of my doom
All around me I see my fate approaching me
Keeping me awake with cosmic dread
Yes the end time approaches
Scorpion Nights of Passion
Born in October
Scorpion Passionate fool
Always taking the lead
consumed with dark desires
is this Scorpio buddha nature
consumed with dark desires
Looking at the Hidden Machinery of God
One day
I woke up
and found myself
in God’s hidden factory
watching the machinery of God
running the world
and realized
that God was indeed
the chief engineer of the universe
as I watched the machinery
of creation
creating the world anew
every morning
Endless Noises on TV
endless noise on TV
quiet on the path outside
peace in my soul
Dangerous Times Tanka
In dangerous times
we retreat to our corners
convinced we are right
everyone else is evil
everyone else must die
Dream What May Come
Dream what may come
Recalling past lives lived
Every fantasy comes to life
All night long
More nightmares to come
So many worlds to explore
Fate
Fate has a way
Always catching up
embrace your fate
on this date
Fate Endlessly dancing away
that is what’s up
at the end of the date
Solage Poems
Darkness consumes Me
Love Madness consumes me
whatever will be will be
love
Dreaming Dark Dreams
Dreaming Dark dreams
wondering what will become of me
death
War Rumors of War
war rumors of war
spreading everywhere war
destruction
Are These the End of Time
are these the end of time
biblical prophecies
Hell
Florette Poems
Twenty Twenty
twenty twenty
feared by many
reasons plenty
feared by many
the end times are coming
These Strange Visions
these strange visions
nightmare visions
nightmarishly real
or is this just my fate
to have visions galore
howling at the Moon Florette
howling at the moon
the mad full moon
filled with madness
screaming like an escaped banshee
pure madness
I See the Moon Florette
I see the blood red super blue moon
smiling full moon
the blood red super blue full moon shines
providing mad signs
deep in mountains
filled with thoughts of the moon
howling
The Evil Moon Florette
the evil blue super full moon
blood red blue moon
terrifies me
I run consumed with hot mad desires
mad moon cries out
Nature Poems
Walking on the Path
walking on the path
in the world peace forest
snowing cherry trees
the World at Peace
the world at peace
walking with love of my life
all is right with me
Falling Cherry Trees
the falling cherry trees
along the path of the forest
reminds us of love
Two Cats
two cats walking by
one black one one yellow one
both alien creatures
Birds Flying Away
Watching the black birds
birds flying away
fleeing the wild cats about
The World Peace Forrest
the world peace forrest
passes by my apartment
every day I walk it
Deer in the Park
I seldom see the deer
that live in the park near me
they are just too shy
Never Saw the Wild Pig
I never saw the wild pig
the Pig that lives in the woods
just heard him oinking
Korean Charcoal Saunas
korean charcoal
saunas are amazing
cure for everything
Walking In Snow
walking in snow
on a cold night
winter old friend
the world becomes so cold
Contended Pigs
Contended Pigs
Increasing food costs
Piles of rotten garbage
Spring Time In Seoul
Springtime In Seoul
full of promised weather
chase away winter
At the Center
at the center of
all of reality
a flower blossoms
Australia and California Burning Bright
Australia and California
burning bright wildfires
end of the world
an apocalyptic
a vision of world’s end
26 Alphabetical Haiku
Angela
The Love of My Life
A is for Angela Lee
Love her Forever
Breathing
B is for breathing
Sometimes I forget to do so
And will pay the price
Charlie
C is for Charlie
All the Charlies in the world
Every last one of them
Demel
D is for my Friend
Demel Tucker was his name
He died way too soon
Evergreen
E is for ever green
The Eucalyptus. trees
That cover the East Bay
Friendship
F is for friendship
All my friends in the world
I remember you
Golf
G is for golfing
Sometime I never could do
But always wanted
Hotels
H is for Hotels
The best and the worst everywhere
Here there and in SF
Indians
I is for Indians
Indian and American
And the Cherokees
Japan
J is for Japan
Japanese Food and Sake
Hot Sake tonight
Korean
Best Korean Food
K is for Korea
Soju Malkali
Latin
L is for Latin
The language I struggle with
Latina lovers
Mothers
M for your mama
My crazy Mother as well
Everyone’s mothers
Never
N is for never
Ever ever use the N Word
Even amongst friends
Ohio
O for Ohio
Oklahoma City too
And Oregon
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
Pittsburg and Phillie Cheese Steaks
True Decadence
Russia
R for Russia
The Russian gate
Scandal de jour
Queens
Q is for my Queens
My best LGBT friends
Where ever they live
Satanic
S for Satanic
I don’t believe you exist
Powers and spells
Turkey
T is for Turkey
The country and bird
The Thanksgiving feasts
Unwary
U is unwary
So Unfriendly
So very un-cool
Victory
V is for victory
V is for vegan veggies
Very green smoothies
Whatever
Whatever will be
Whoever you want to be
Whateveryou want
X Files
X marks the spot here
Burried treasures and loot
Or just mad dreams
Yes
Y is for saying Yes
Yes to everything under the sun
And throughout the night
Zoo
Z is for the show Zoo
Still haunts my every night mare
The animals kill
Computer Haiku
evil_computer_is_evil_by_insanefangirl_
Damn It All to Hell
Damn it all to Hell
My damn computer
Ate all my damn files
I am Trapped
I am still trapped
I am still trapped
Stuck inside my computer
My Damn Computer
I love my computer
My Damn Computer
When it works for me
Computer On Strike
My computer is on strike
It refuses to work
Usually nothing
Computer Hates Me
Computer hates me
He wants to kill my files
Wants to kill me too
Computer Hates Me 2
Computer hates me
It wants to drive me insane
Wants to kill my files
For once I Would Like
For once I would Like
To have my computer work right
Do what is should do
Perhaps if I Am Nice
Perhaps if I am nice
To my computer
It will be nice to me
Perhaps Today It Will
Perhaps today it will
Not give haiku messages
That it loves to sprout
My Bad Computer
My bad computer
Is so damn evil
Almost killed me
What a Fate I Have
What a Fate I have
To become a slave to it
To my damn computer
I Love My Machine
I love my machine
My mad as a hat machine
Bat shit crazy machine
My dear computer
My dear computer
Loves to send me these love notes
Computer haiku
My favorite Haiku
My favorite Haiku
General failure reading
Disk Drive Fata Error
Who is General Failure
who is general
Failure and why is he
reading my disk drive
Computer Tanka
For once in my life
I would like my computer
To turn on and work
Do what it supposed to do
Without sprouting such haiku
I hate my computer
I hate my computer
It seems to hate me as well
Just refuses to work
Ornery son of a bitch machine
ornery machine
Ornery son of a bitch machine
Driving me insane
My computer loves Me Not at All
My computer loves
me not at all it still wants
to kill my files
It wants to take my soul away
turn me into its evil clone
My bad computer
My bad computer
Has been infected with a virus
Wants to kill my soul
Transforming consuming
Taking me inside its soul
My mad computer
Infected with a virus
Everything it touches
Corrupted by mad zombies
Controlled by evil AI
Revenge is mine
Revenge is mine
Screams the mad evil machine
As it lurks to life
Trying to hunt me down
Death to all human beings
End Computer Haiku
I Want a Dog’s Life</h2 > I want a dog’s life
That’s what I want in next life
All A dog needs to be is cute
And his master will feed him
It is a dog’s life for me
Nightmare Cinquain
Night mares
Endless fears all night long
Can’t escape running from these dreams
All night
more Night mares
Endless fears all night long
Huge Monsters chasing me
Hideous Creatures from Hell Itself
Monsters
Fiendish Hell hounds escaped Banishes
screaming bloody murder
they chase me all the way
I die
Christmas Ronka
December End of the Year
The blues knocking at my door
I open the door to winter
Arctic blast freezes my cold face
Secrets
Secrets
Everywhere
Constant lies and deceit
Revolution in the air
Everywhere
All around us
There is nothing but
Secrets
Lion Desires
lion
Lion
Wild Beast
In
Dark jungle
Finally emerging to hunt
At dawn
Hungry
For breakfast
Human-meat
looking at the hidden machinery of God
One day
I woke up
and found myself
in God’s hidden factory
watching the machinery of God
running the world
and realized
that God was indeed
the chief engineer of the universe
as I watched the machinery
of creation
creating the world anew
every morning
Jake’s Golden Shovel
A sense of cosmic unease hangs
coming over all of us silently
hanging in the purple
air that has turned crystalline
reflecting my moods in the sky
Political Rants
The Impeachment Trial
The Impeachment Trial
overwhelms me with dread
are we near the end
Recently I Learned That I am Part Jewish
Recently I learned that I was part Jewish
That was long rumored in our family tree
Never confirmed until DNA came again
But whether my Jewish ancestors lived
Or died in the holocaust I have not heard
Never again will we live through that pain
Neo Fascism Must Be Defeated Again
US President Donald Trump speaks about 5G network deployment in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on April 12, 2019. (Photo by NICHOLAS KAMM / AFP) (Photo credit should read NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images)
In this day and age of fake news
And neo fascism rising yet again
It is important to bear witness
To the undeniable fact
That the holocaust
can never ever come again
That is what we must vow every day
Never again
The Neo-Fascists Are On the March
By their champion the man in Orange
Whose racist mutterings have let loose
The ranting nutty voices of the right
Championing their god given right
To rule and regulate all
that they see
Panic
Panic attacks
comes over come me
always happen
when I turn on the news
in case
I hear our dear leader
constant chaos around us
Trump
The President of the United States
Republican Leader of the Free world
Uber ales nations
Muttering insanities
Preposterous Nonsensical tweets
Putin
Post Modern Leader
Uniting all the Russians
Triumphant against all enemies
Including the Great Satan
Nevertheless always living in fear
Where is my home? Where do I belong?
I really don’t know, always moving on to another place
Moved every other year it seems the last 45 years
Traveled to 49 states, 45 countries, drove across the U.S. six times
Lived in Berkeley, Yakima, Stockton, Seattle, Alexandria, DC, Oregon, Korea, Thailand, India, The Eastern Caribbean, and Spain
Where do I belong? Where is my home?
Neither here nor there, nowhere and everywhere
And so is that my rambling man’s fate
Never to really belong anywhere at all
Dark Dangerous Thoughts
dark dangerous thoughts
An old man wakes up
Confronting the dark dangerous thoughts
The demons of the night
That haunt his dreams
And his life
He looks out at the dawning sun
And his sleeping wife
And realizes that it will be all right
And dismisses the demons of the night
Back to their caves in his mind
And he gets up
To take the dawning day
In Search of America
Hitchhiking Tales
hitch hikers
When I was young and foolish
Broke and stubborn
I hitchhiked across the USA
Started in Salt Lake City
Where my greyhound bus pass
Was stolen
The station manager
Could have helped me
But refused to do so
Threaten to call the cops
When I grabbed my bags
Without the stolen tags
I said
Go ahead
But I am so out of here
Wondered about Salt Lake City
Went to a bar
Found I had to buy my booze
Next door
And they would mix it for me
Had to order food too
After a bloody Mary
And a burger
I walked about town
Saw the Mormon Temple
Finally about 3 pm
It was time to hit the road
Did not look back
Ended up in Cody Wyoming
Got a room shower
Steak beer
Using my rapidly depleted cash
Spent 25 dollars
Money really went far
Back in those days
A band of professional
Communist agitators
Gave me a ride
To Des Moines
Lots of weed, booze
And politics later
Got off the road
Slept outside
Next day
A beautiful woman
Drove me to near Chicago
In a red mustang
Might have been
The girl in the song
Took it easy
Digging her vibe
She invited home
But was not sure
If her estranged husband
Would welcome me
So I being foolish
And inexperienced with women
Did not go to her place
And always regretted
That I had lost
My chance that day
Then on to Chicago
Several rides later
Visited friends
Hit the road again
A series of uneventful rides
With truckers
And others
And a week later
I ended in New York City
Slept along the way
In cars
In truck stops
In highway rest stops
Always moving
Always going
None stop talking
And lots of free weed
And beer
And conversation
One more memorable ride
Occurred outside Albany
On my return to Chicago
A middle age creepy looking man
Picked me up
In a brand new Cadillac
He was he said a dynamite deliverer
For the Mafia
Went to various places
To blow up shit
He hated a lot of people
Particularly hippies from California
And Jewish people
Looking at me to confirm
That I was both
I told him that I lived in New York
And had never been to California
And although I might look Jewish
As I what was called back in the day
A “Jewfro”
I was not Jewish
Many years later I discovered
That I am indeed part Jewish
But then I did not know
And I felt a bit of strategic information
Might keep me alive
Then I realized that he was just jiving with me
And we relaxed
And he pulled out some weed
And beer
And we mellowed out
But I believe that he really was with the mob
Perhaps not a dynamite dealer
A real made Italian made mafia member
By Chicago
I had enough
I called my Dad
Told him what had happened
Wanted a ticket home
And he sent me a ticket
And 500 dollars
And I went home
I told him I would tell him
My tales someday
But never did
I learned so much
About my fellow Americans
And the strange vibe
That was 1975
And now it is too late
But I wanted to finally
Tell the world
Of my hitchhiking tales
In search of America 1975
Bus Rides In America’s Underbelly
bus riding
I am a bus rider
That makes me unusual
For a white male
From an upper middle class family
Our people are not bus riders
Though some are subway riders
Bus riders are other people
The poor, minorities, immigrants
People who don’t drive
Because they are blind
Or have a DUI
And in my case
I don’t drive
Because I have bad vision
And bad coordination
Just never got the hang
Of the whole driving thing
Fortunately for me
My wife does the driving
But I still take the bus
From time to time
I rode the AC buses in Berkeley
As a child
Line 67, line 51, line 43 F bus
Rode them long before BART came along
And afterwards as well
As an adult seldom rode the bus
But when I did so
I was always impressed
By the sheer diversity
Of the bus riding property
Hundreds of languages
All sorts of sexual orientation
Some were white
Most were not
Most of my fellow passengers
Were nice enough
Some were friendly
And some were lost
In their own thoughts
And a few
Were scary looking dudes
With the look
Of someone who had done time
And were capable of more violence
I also rode the bus
In Seattle as a graduate student
A lot of fellow UW students
And the usual immigrants
Minorities etc
And some white people
Commuting
And in DC
Over the years
I rode a lot of buses
Mostly to and from the metro
But I got to know
And love the DC buses as well
I also took the greyhound bus
Across the country
Several times over the years
All over the U.S.
From Bay Area to Stockton
From Bay Area to Clear Lake
From Bay area to NYC
NYC to DC
All over the USA
Taking the Greyhound
Was always an adventure
Met a lot of interesting people
As people on long distant bus rides
Tend to open up and talk
To pass the time away
Overseas I took the bus
All over
In India, in Barbados
In Spain and in Korea
The Korean buses
For many years
Were difficult for foreign visitors
As the signs were all in Korean
Most have signs
Now in English, Chinese and Korean
And are much more foreigner friendly
Riding the bus
In America
Allows one access
To the underbelly of American society
The poor, the marginalized
The immigrant communities
That many middle-class white people
Just never see
And for that reason
I am glad
That I am a bus rider
Notes from the Author :
Based on my experiences riding the bus all over the world from 1968 to 2018.
Two Drops of Ink has published another one of my poems, “Just Enough for Coffee” which is a poem about the plight of the homeless. They will publish some of my other poems over the next few weeks.
Just Enough for Coffee
A homeless man
Stood on the street
Counting his change
From panhandling all morning
Just had enough for a cup of coffee
coffee
All in all
A good start
He ambled off to his favorite coffee shop
Where the owner
Was kind to the homeless
Sometimes
Treating them to a meal
On the house
The man said
I was in your shoes
Once years ago
And you never forget
When you are down
And out
Everyone forgets your face
No one knows your name
For you are now
Invisible
Almost a ghost
The old man tried to pay
The owner said
Keep your change
You need it more than me
Have a meal with me
My friend
On the house
He ordered up
The homeless man’s favorite
Lumberjack special
Eggs, pancakes, sausage, bacon
Cornbread
Lots of hot black coffee
To wash it down
The old man
Often had just one meal a day
Usually, a late breakfast
Sometimes if he were lucky
He would have dinner
And on a red-letter day
He would have three meals
The homeless man
Had been on the streets
For too long
Barely remembered his life
Before early-onset Alzheimer’s
Robbed him of his job
His dignity
His wife
His life
His money
Now he drifted
Waiting for the grim reaper
Any day now
He prayed nightly
To a god
That he no longer believed in
Ink Pantry, Scarlet Leaf, Spill Words, Synchronized Chaos, Two Drops of Ink, have published 15 of my recent poems. The poems are posted below along with audio and photo clips.
Scarlet Leaf review will publish these poems in the following order:
The year that was – Anniversary issue
JAN: The terrifying teens
FEB: 2020 Plans Rondeau (Dream, Fate)
The oyster
Morning Light
2019 The last year
March: Dora Intergalactic Explorer
Mocking faces
Fear of falling
Cosmos takes over
Poetry Break: Jake Cosmos Aller: 5 Poems for our Times
By: Jake Cosmos Aller Morning Light the terrors of the night the worst imaginings of what might happen war, rumors of war end of civilization nuclear war and other horrors… [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]
Marilyn L. Davis
Morning Light
sun rise
the terrors of the night
the worst imaginings
of what might happen
war, rumors of war
end of civilization
nuclear war
and other horrors
ripped from the headlines
fade away into nothingness
with the morning light
and the love of my wife
who is always by my side
I regain my sight
and begin
regaining my smile
and my life
until the next nightmares
consumes my dark imaginings
Dora the Intergalactic Explorer
dora
Dora the intergalactic explorer
Is traveling to the strangest planet
of all the known worlds
she is traveling incognito
with a video crew
making a documentary
the planet earth
is known as a planet
of intelligent monkeys
not much is known
about them
as very few
have ever been there
the inhabitants are described
as blood thirsty insane creatures
ruled by hidden sexual and political passions
following incomprehensible
religious dogmas following Gods
that clearly do not exist
the inhabitants are just on the verge
of developing intergalactic travel
and the galactic empire
is worried that they will be driven
to try to conquer the rest of the universe
driven by their needs to impose
their religious dogma
everywhere in the world
the planet is divided into large tribal groups
governed by corrupt elites
corrupt businesses destroying the planet
in pursuit of profit
and the locals are little more
than wage slaves
barely making a living
addicted to alcohol, drugs gambling
pornography and illicit sex
and their main land
is ruled by a clearly delusional madman
intent on poking a fight
with all his alleged enemies
Dora assumed the appearance
of a character from TV
and will pose as a journalist
trying to make sense
of it all
but she was afraid
that she if found out
could face the worst consequence
her ship crash lands
and she is outside
the capitol
of the non empire empire
called the United State ofAmerica
Dora gets her crew together
and walks into the city
staring at all the strange sights
as the monkeys go about
their daily activities
she stops at a restaurant
tries the coffee
the chief drug of choice
and is instantly addicted
wow no wonder
these people are crazed
she tries the local booze
and smiles
perhaps she could
become an intergalactic merchant
introducing the world
to the galaxy
her thought are interrupted
as a mad man armed
with weapons of war
bursts in and starts shooting
yelling at people
and she is shot dead
the authorities
are shocked
when they recover the body
and realize
that she is not a human
as she reverts to her original form
sort of a giant feline like creature
two legs and arms
and clearly from an advanced
civilization given her gear
what was she doing
no one knew
as all the aliens
died in the gun blaze
the world is shocked
at what had happened
and fearful that the aliens
were coming to invade
their world
the galactic senate
decides to contain
the humans
declaring them
a threat to the global civilization
and the humans vow
to discover the secrets
of interstellar travel
and travel to her land
to enter into business arrangements
and spread the one truth faith
to the heathen space aliens
thus ended Dora’s excellent adventure
in the crazed world at the edge
of known civilization
Mocking Faces Staring at Me
Mocking faces
hunting my dreams
Hundreds of faces
morphing into one
after another
Faces I knew
The dead
and the living
women i knew
friends I missed
enemies I did not
One after another
Marching in my room
Staring at me
I tried to run
They laughed
They said
that there’s nowhere
to escape my cosmic fate
My time is coming
prepare yourself
the grim reaper
has your name
and once he has your name
your fate is sealed
and you will soon
join us
whether in heaven
or hell
is not for us to say
be warned though
you will be judged
and no one can escape
their cosmic karmic fate
A Wild Man Sits in a Gilded Cage
man in cage
a wild man sits in a gilded cage
a cage made out of chains of his wife’s love
a cage made out of chains of his wife’s love
the wild man yearning to be free from his cage
the wild man yearning to be free from his cage
wondering how and why he was now tamed
wondering how and why he was now tamed
dreaming dark wild dreams of demented freedom
dreaming dark wild dreams of demented freedom
the wild man looks about his prison cage
the wild man looks about his prison cage
wondering whether he will ever be free
wondering whether he will ever be free
a wild man sits in a gilded cage
2019 The Last Year of America’s Greatness
2019 was the last year of America
when the proverbial chickens came home
when the proverbial chickens came home
to strut about the decaying landscape
to strut about the decaying landscape
as the world begins to burn and die
as the world begins to burn and die
led by the mad great leader and his merry men
led by the mad great leader and his merry men
the whole world lay in shock and awe
the whole world lay in shock and awe
at the destruction of the America they knew
at the destruction of the America they knew
when the proverbial chickens came home
Twin
Spill Words has published ” Hitch Hiking Tales”
Prior Publication
Just an Unhinged Lunatic Howling at The Moon
Howling at The Moon
One Crazy day*
God’s Confession
Wild Thoughts Run Amuk
*previously published
Just An Unhinged Lunatic Howling At The Moon
man howling at the man
On a moonlit late night
I sat in a bar
Drinking drams of demented, fermented dream dew
Just an unhinged lunatic
Dreaming of howling at the full moon
Watching the world walk by
Looking at all the fine looking babes
Walking by the street
Thinking wild, erotic thoughts
Of endless wild libertine passions
When into the bar
Walked the most beautiful women
In the Universe
So wild, so free
So wonderfully alive
I did not know what to do
As this vision of delight
Sauntered through the bar
In a skin tight leather pants
Looked so fine
That my eyeballs hurt
And finally I had to say something
So I gathered up my manly courage
And walked up to her
And she looked at me
And instantly bewitched my soul
With a devilish grin
I lost all reason
And became a raving lunatic
Unhinged lunatic
Howling at the moon
Foaming at the mouth
A wild, free werewolf
Howling at the lunatic light
Of the full Moon
Howling At The Moon
man howling at the man
He stood outside
Between the trees
In a field
On the outside of town
Beneath the lunatic rays
Of the blood red full moon
The lunatic lights of the moon
Casts a wild primeval glow
On him
The hormonal chemicals are unleashed
The wild beast within
Escapes it chain
And he howl with delight
A werewolf
Free at at last
To run amuck
Free of its civilized restrains
Throwing off its clothes
Stripping naked
Running wild
Naked and free
A wild man
Enjoying his freedom
As he sits
Under the lunatic light of the full moon
Of the blood red lights of the moon
Full of wild passions
The lustful beast stirs again
And starts running and running
Howling at the moon
Riding into the new dawn
On a demented Harley Davis cycle
With two naked babes on his back
Riding into the sun
90 miles per second
At the speed of though
He disappears into the lunatic light
Of the full moon
And he wake ups
Alone,
In my bed
Saying, man that was quite a night
I better not go there again
the Wild man
Laughs
He has heard that before
And he joins him
In howling at the moon
One Crazy Night
One crazy night
Last night
I could not get to sleep
At all
Last night
I could not get to sleep
At all
I looked up
Looked out at the window
At the full moon
Saw by its lunatic light
Your face
Was in the moon
And I looked up
At the light
That crazy light
And dreamed last night
I was with you
Again
And I woke up
Alone in my bed
Dreaming dark dreams
Of You
Wishing it were
Other than it was
All alone
All alone again
In this world how are you
God’s Confession
I was sitting along
In a god forsaken bar
Somewhere on the lunatic fringes
Of society
On the bad part of town
Over by railroad tracks
I was sitting alone in a godforsaken bar
Heading to hell
As fast as I could drink it down
twenty drinks too sober
Enjoying my lonely drink
Drinking by my lonesome self
With my partners
Jimmy Dean, and the Walker brother
And his old Grand Dad
Just drinking and hanging
with the Jack Daniels Gang
having one bourbon, one scotch and one beer
A crazed bum
With a thousand year stare
Walks up to me
He begins
Muttering to himself
Nutty nonsense
Crazy words
In a lunatic’s voice
He had the look
Of one possessed
By his own demons
That only he can see
Or hear
Possessed by a secret knowledge
Only he knew
Despite myself
I was fascinated
By this lunatic’s tale
So I stopped him
and said
So what’s your game
Anyway
The short little dude
Stopped his insane prattle
Starting at me
With that thousand year old stare
Just another washed up
Lunatic
Too many drugs
Too many bad nights
Just another acid causality
from the 60’s
who never came back
stuck in his own wonderland
On the wrong side of life
He looked at me
And proclaimed his story
He reared up
And filled up the room
And lifted the bar
On his finger
And stared down at me
From the sky
And said
Since you asked
I am God
The alpha and Omega
The real deal
The original dude of dudes
The sultan of Swing
God of hosts
And father of that Jesus dude
But no one knows me
Any more
No one cares
They think I am irrelevant
They think I am dead
They think I am a fairy tale
From some olden, ancient time
Some say I am dead
Others think I should be dead
That my work is done
I looked at him
Carefully now
And what did I see
An old man
With that lunatic look
But there was something else
He was crazy
Sure yes
But perhaps he was the real deal
I mean why not
Why would not God be
A lunatic wandering around loose
Talking to low lives like me
In a bar
On the way to hell
So I looked at him
And invited him to share
His tale of woe
God tells me
Well, it’s like this
Many a year ago
People believed in me
But one day
They quit believing in me
And they went on without me
As they left me
My powers got weaker and weaker
And so eventually I became
What you see today
A broken down drunk
Hanging out
Looking for a hand out
Looking for some company
Or at least a free dinner
And he laughed and laughed
And I looked at him
And saw the beginnings of the end
And the ends of the beginnings
I saw a million planets
Flash by
A billion people
A trillion sentient beings
Thinking all at once
Thoughts filled my head
Lights flashed
And I knew
He was telling the truth
But it did not matter
In this day and age
Of materialism
God has no role
God is truly dead
And so I bought him a drink
And walked out of the bar
Profoundly father that Jesus dude sadden by what I had seen
God was dead
And we had all conspired
To kill him
Wild Thoughts Run Amok
Wild Thoughts
Wild fantasies
Fill my head
Running through my brain
Like electric currency
My eyes are consumed
By the burning fires
Of unquenched desire
She still has that thing
That wild crazy thing
And she still impresses me
Compels me
Inspires fear
And I am on fire
All over again
The wild infatuation
She caused in my heart
But I was not prepared
The sight of her
Inspired dreams
Of nights of love
That was not to be fulfilled
My heart filled
With wild erotic fantasies
And I want her
All over again
Still has that thing that wow crazy thing
That love Jones thing
That wild love Jones thing
Creeps its ugly head
Out of the dark recess
Of my demented soul
I’m on fire over again
Sniffing an opportunity
To cause chaos
Yet again
And so I prepare
To run away
Ere I get consumed
By unrequited passion
Again
Dreams of possible love
And lust
Come bubbling out
Out of the swamps
Of my fertile imagination
And I pray to the gods
To give me wisdom
To avoid taking
The path that leads
To my destruction
DRAGON FLY IN MY MIND
Dragonflies of my mind
dragon flies
of my mind
fly above
the garden of my mind
Floating amid the flowers
And the weeds
Tracking butterflies
and demon flies
That infects the garden of my mind
The flowers bloom bright
Attracting butterflies
The demon weeds
Sprout here and there
Screaming
Look at me
Look at me
Trying to spread
Their poisonous thoughts
That is the mind
In the temple
That is the body
The body
Of a man
Made in the image of God
The dragonfly
flies above
The chaos
and the sonic soup
That makes up
The inner sound
The dragonfly
Is majestic
In its indifference
To the turmoil down below
It floats above
The sonic soup
The bugs and cockroaches
Crawl out of the weeds
Trying to spread
like wild fire
Through the mind
And at night
I can hear them
Crawling among the web pages
Of my mind
Be gone
Oh difficult, negative thoughts
Be gone
Like the bugs
I’ll squash you like
The evil creatures
You really are
The sweat music
Invades my soul
Driving away
The evil bugs
And I soar
Like the majestic
Dragon fly
Far above
The chaos below
Only seeing the beauty
That fills up
The garden of my mind
One can choose
To be the dragon fly
Or to be consumed
And turned into the cockroaches
Of death, despair and hate
And I fly
Far away
Above
The sound of silver trumpets
Silver sound
Suspended forever
In the pink crystalline sky
Of my mind
Let us fly away
Into the deep night
On the wings of the cosmic dragon fly
And leave behind, forever
The cockroaches of my mind
REFLECTIONS
One lousy, lonely, loathsome demented night
In a god forsaken bar
In the global south
In a tropical hell hole
Drinking my way to hell
As fast as I could
Drinking alone with my buddies
Jack Daniels, Jimmy Walker
Wild Turkey and Old Grandad
I sat alone in the bar
Alone with my dismal thoughts
Full of somber thoughts
Dismal reflections
Thinking dismal thoughts
Of what I was going to do
twenty drinks too sober
Where I was heading to
Where I was coming from
I had no clue
No idea at all
Where my futur set alarm in the bar I havee path lay
So, I sat
Drinking alone in the bar
Twenty drinks too sober
I considered my beer
Just another middle age looser
Crying into his beer
I saw my reflection
In the glass of beer
I saw an old man
Staring back at me I have
A lonely man
A stranger staring at me
I looked at this man
This stranger
That I had become
And wondered
What the hell had happened to me
During my life
I stared at the old man
In the beer glass
Wondering to myself
Where did this old man come from
What the there’s a lot of fans hell did he want from me
Who the fuck was he
And what was he doing
In my god damned beer
So I decided
To speak my god damned mind
I said
Say old man
In my beer glass
Come on out of there
Come to life
Old dude
And talk to me
I want to know
Who the fuck you are
And what you are doing
In my beer
Come to life
Let me see
Whom I am going to be
The old man grinned
And laughed the laugh where is coming from I had no clue
Of the insane
The laugh of the newly Enlighted ones
Who finally realized the absurdity of existence
And then he looked at me
With a thousand-year stare
And transformed himself
Morphed into a hideous snarling beast
A werewolf stared at me
And he growled
So punk
You want to know
What I am doing in your beer
Well it is like this
Dude
I am the ghost of your past
And I am here to show you
What you have done
And what you have failed to do
With your miserable life Cologne in the van 20 things to Solvang insert in my mirror me just another middle-age music binder is very
So, let the show begin
I saw one by one
Parading across my beer
All the people I have known
All my friends
All my enemies
All my casual acquaintances
And most importantly
All the women I had ever know
All the women I had ever lusted after
All of them came out lonely man stranger Alicia me look at this man
One by one
They stopped and told me
What they really thought of me
Of my foolish pride
My foolish behavior
My folly
My sexual desires
MY lust
And one by one they judged me
A jury of my peers
And they found me guilty
As charged
SS came by
My first r hang in there stranger and become and wondered what the hell and have an amino my lifeeal love
MM too
SG as well
CP was there
Miss K
Miss CDN
The perfect lover of the east
Who fled away
From my protestations of love
And Angela
The one and only
Who married me
And still is proud
To be my wife
And the parade continued
Nameless bar girls
With whom I had consorted
Spent a night of aimless sex
One by one they came by
Commending me
Laughing at me
SB came by
Khun J
She with the great voice
Came by
Khun M
As did the GM
And on and on and on
The four A’s in Bombay
The one I almost had
The ones that broke my heart
And allowed my creative juices
To run wild
And others come alive
Who remains nameless
By choice
The boss came by
As did the other ones
Everybody looking at me
I stopped
Stood up
Scream
Stop this torture
Stop it right now
Mr. Beer God
Or Devil
Whoever you may be
Nothing but the laughter
Of the damn
Echoing across the room
I looked up
They were all there
In the room
Looking at me
I stood up
And tried to touch the oh noon and talk to me I want to know what the fuck you are and when you were doing in my mirror come drive let me see who am I going to meanm
Nothing but illusions
Nothing there
I cried into my beer
The anguished cry of the damned
Just another fool
Crying into his beer
Did I have the courage
The wisdom to make amends
Did I know
What I had to do
Did I have the courage
To quit lusting
Over what I cannot have
To accept
That all the love
I need
Is in my wife’s eyes
And in her heart
And so I looked the beer god
In the eye afternoon saying I have Internet line
And dranked my beer
And walked out the door finally realizes her Geneva sister
Confidently facing the future
Free of doubts
Full of love
And proud of all I had done
Knowing that I was not guilty
Of the crimes charged
the Bench a Short Story
One November afternoon, about 5 pm, Sam Adams, an white man in his late
60s was doing his usual daily walk in Lithia Park in Ashland, Oregon. Sam had retired to
Oregon after serving in the U.S. government as a diplomat for many years. He had grown up in
Berkeley but had visited Ashland over the years. He and his wife, Linda, were big fans of the
Shakespeare festival. Linda was worried that Sam was showing signs of Alzheimer’s but Sam
was not worried. He told Linda every day he would always remember how to find his way back
to her.
They had been married for 45 years. They met on a bus in South Korea when Sam was
teaching there for the US Army before joining the State Department. Linda Lee was Korea. It
was love at first sight and they got married two months after meeting.
Since retirement they were inseparable but Sam often went for his walks alone. He would walk deep into Lithia Park following the Lithia creek upriver until he came upon his favorite bench and sat there a while. The bench was a simple wooden bench, surrounded by Japanese Maple trees which were in full color display that afternoon. It was a pleasant spot and Sam had been going there every day for almost two years.
Soon, as usual, he was lost in thought, dreaming of his past life, thinking of his past loves, thinking dark thoughts preparing mentally for the coming end times of his life. Sam had a premonition that death was stalking him and that his time was near. He never told his wife that because he did not want to worry her. But he had insisted that they had gotten their estate plan completed, and he felt ready to go any day now.
Sam had plenty to think about – he and Linda had had an eventful life. He had lived in over ten countries around the world and traveled to 50 states. After retiring he had become a blogger and worked on that off and on. But lately, he felt that time was slipping away from him. As he sat on the bench, meditating on his past life, something strange occurred. The bench woke up and spoke to Sam.
“Sam, how are you doing? Old friend of mine. I am delighted that I can speak with you.”
Sam looked around and could not find out where the voice was coming from but realized that the chair had spoken to him. Sam laughed and said,
“well chair if you can speak tell me what you know.”
The chair spoke of Sam’s life and of the life of others in the community that Sam knew. The chair said he knew everything that occurred in the lives of the people that sat on his bench. And the trees knew too as did the cosmic cat and even the squirrels knew. But people, well they just did not know how to listen to nature and to the world around them. In a way, it was too bad because the bench had so much wisdom to implant.
Sam and the bench began talking. Soon a black cat appeared. He said that he was a cosmic cat as most cats are. Cats he explained are special creatures – not originally from this planet and descended from great warriors that crashed landed on earth millions of years ago. Cats were so often dismissed by humans as alien freaks or as annoying pests. But cats were really man’s best friend. And all cats had a sixth sense about death. They knew when it was time to go. The cat said the Grimm reaper was coming to Sam’s place that night and that Sam would be gone the next day.
Sam said,
“Cosmic cat do you know what will happen to me? Will I go to heaven or Hell? Is there a heaven or a hell?”
“Sam, that is beyond my pay grade as they say. I do know that life continues after death but heaven and hell I don’t know much about. It is different for us cats. We come back to life as cats again and again can’t seem to escape our karmic fate. Humans well the move on to the next level of existence and we never see them again. Oh, here is the Grimm Reaper himself.”
The Grimm Reaper walks up to Sam and introduces himself. The Grimm Reaper was a handsome man dressed in all black clothes, with a black hat and tie on. He said that he is just part of an army of Grimm Reapers and was breaking protocol to talk with Sam. He was so impressed that Sam had developed the ability to talk to animals, trees and the cosmic bench that he had a deal to make.
Sam intrigued said,
“What’s the deal?”
I will give you one more month to live but you let me into your life like in the movie, Joe Black. Always wanted to try that. At the end of your life, God may grant me my wish to be a mortal for a few years. Here’s how it is going to play out. I will introduce myself as your long lost son from an affair long ago. You will welcome me into your life and Linda will eventually accept me as your son as well.
Every day we will come back here and continue our conversation. At the end of the month, you will go on to the other world and I will stay behind as your son and stay with your wife to comfort her until it is her time to go and then you will be reunited. For you are special true soul mates and will be together forever. Do we have a deal?”
Sam said “sure.”
The bench smiled, the cat was happy, the squirrel came down from the tree after getting assurances that the Cat would not eat him that day and congratulated him as well. The Maple tree finally spoke and blessed the deal as well.
As night deepened, he turned slowly towards home, accompanied by the Grimm Reaper who decided to call himself Joe Black, and the cosmic cat.
He said goodnight to the cosmic bench in the park, acknowledging that he would be back
same time, same station, day after day until Joe released him from this mortal world.
Ink Pantry, Scarlet Leaf, Spill Words, Synchronized Chaos, Two Drops of Ink, have published 15 of my recent poems. The poems are posted below along with audio and photo clips.
Scarlet Leaf review will publish these poems in the following order:
The year that was – Anniversary issue
JAN: The terrifying teens
FEB: 2020 Plans Rondeau (Dream, Fate)
The oyster
Morning Light
2019 The last year
March: Dora Intergalactic Explorer
Mocking faces
Fear of falling
Cosmos takes over
Spill Words has published ” Hitch Hiking Tales”
Synchronized Chaos Publication
List
1/2/2020 2019 the Year that was
1/2/2020 the terrifying teens
1/3/2020 Dreams
1/3/2020 Fate
1/3/2020|the Oyster Speaks Up
prior publication
the Dogs of War are Howling
Idiots in High Places
Masters of the Universe
When Will This Madness End
End of the World Blues – FB Posting Found Poem
the year that was
January
The world watches in amazement
Longest shut down in history
Watching it all in Korea
contemplating escaping the cold winter
February
World watches as North Korea and the US
Walking back from the brink of war
escaping the cold winter blues
revisiting Vietnam after 15 years
March
The chaos president continues his chaos tour
the world begins to ignore his constant insane tweets
heading back to DC inspecting property
seeing old friends glad I retired
April
the chaos King’s policy remains a shamble
as the Mueller team closes in
in Korea I write a poem a day
and begin to become a publish writer
May
watching from afar
the chaos in DC and the world
traveling to DC to inspect property
celebrating my wife’s big 60
June
the President walks away
from anon deal with the North Koreans
I am back in DC
end up cruising to Alaska
July
watching the insanity in DC
while visiting Alaska, Seattle and Yakima
visiting my father’s grave in Yakima
communing with family ghosts
August
the dog days of summer the world is consumed
And in the worldwars, rumors of war, trade wars
retuning to Korea
surviving the August sauna like summer
September end of the world he does subway malevolent today
The whistle blower sets off a bomb he December 11 Internet is it a fire fire is our burning bright and then go nearly as high places have shown is doing and one of aggression turning in our in our lives behind unless I know Mimi is just laying on the side there’s a Denteley harji quality to it as the world burn some money in the world approaches I have where in his van horn of the house and is in a green fire 25 music Viking in my memory and was hellish
the president lies no quid for quo perfect all
trying to avoid watching the news
hiking in the Korean mountains with old friends
October
the President flitters about my crisis after another
the UN diplomats laugh at him national humiliation
returning to DC, yet again more property blues
celebrating my 64th year orbiting the sun
November
the House starts formal impeachment hearings
watching fascinated by the impeachment drama
entering my third NoVoWrMo competition with Timeless Love
ending the month sudden surprise trip to Okinawa
December
the year ends on a high dramatic
President Trump becomes the 3rd impeached President
hiking enjoying the late autumn like weather
contemplating my wealth at the end of the year
the Terrifying Teens
2010
The dark days of the great recession
Begin slowly to fade away
Ending my Barbados experience
the best job in the foreign service on high note
best labor officer award
2011
the president and Congress locked in battle battles
glimmer of hope as economy comes back to life
Studying Spanish arriving in Spain
worst year ever part of three years bad luck
2012
the US re-elects the Black President
rejecting Romney entitlement mentality
I leave Spain my last foreign posting
buying new property in the fall
2013
In the US the religious right
loose the social Battling gay marriage, legal pot
Starting a new job as an evaluate program evaluator
ending my six month wandering the halls of State
2014
The tea party rebellion on the right
Moving to Capitol Hill
My sister’s sudden death rattles me
2015
The end of the Obama era
Was this the beginning of the end of America
Beginning the year with a new job
resolving to retire, enjoy life while I still can
2016
American voters succumb to madness
Elects the mad would be king President Trump
We traveled across the country 10,000 miles
To celebrate the end of my foreign service career
2017
the year of the chaos president
Fast and furious disruption to the norms
Went to Oregon to renovate property
becoming wealthy in the process
2018
the American public woke up
Send a blue wave to clean up the mess
Moving back to Korea
Blogging up a storm
2019
in the end of the year that was
The house races up and impeach is the president
I travel to Vietnam, Alaska, Washington, Oregon, California and Okinawa
Dreams
Dream what may come
Recalling past lives lived
Every fantasy comes to life
All night long
More nightmares to come
So many worlds to explore
Fate
Fate has a way
Many years ago I was surprised to findAlways catching up
To you
embrace your fate
that is what’s up
at the end of the day
Endless dancing away
The Oyster Speaks Up
oysters
A diner sits down
looking forward
to eating oysters
it was their season
after all
just as he was about
to pounce
on the oysters
the head oyster spoke up
saying
hey human what the hell
do you think you are doing?
you think you have the right
to eat me?
that’s violating my human right
don’t ya think?
the diner laughed
said to the oyster
shut up and accept
it is your fate
to be eaten this date
just let me enjoy eating you
and you have no human rights
as you are in fact
not human don’t ya know?
eating the complaining oyster
shutting him up
as he ate him up
Prior Publication
Dogs of War are Howling and other poems were published earlier in Synchronized chaos. I wrote the poem, “Dogs of War are Howling” in 2003, and updated it in 2017.
The Dogs of War are Howling
dogs of war howling
The Dogs of War
Have been set free
Of their cage
And are out
Howling at the moon
The Dogs of War
Have been set free
To wreck what havoc
Might be
Yes, the Dogs of War
The Hell Hounds
Have bound out of their cages
Sniffed about
And smiled
At the destruction they saw
They knew soon
They would be in their element
As the world descends into chaos
The Dogs of war
Are at foot
The chaos is upon us
The evil grows and grows
And dark noises are heard
Here and there
And the dogs of war
Smiled
They knew soon
They would be in their element
The war machines
Came to life
The plans came out of the books
The military might be unleashed
And the Dogs of war
Smiled and howled at the moon
And the rest of the world
Shuddered
At the thought of what was yet to be
Satan on the other hand
Was happy as can be
With the evil shit
That was going down
He smiled
Patted his hell hounds
And told his dogs
The war to end all wars
Armageddon is upon us my friend
Soon, mankind will know
The face of absolute evil
And they will love it
When I take over
The armies prepare
The bombers prepare
And the dogs of war
Are happy
Unleashed to do their mischief
And soon millions may die
And the pits of hell
Will open up
And the judgement day
May be upon us all
Madness descends upon the land
The fog of hate envelops us all
And reason and civilization
Fall away
As the Dogs of War
And their minions
Take over the minds of man
And the end of the world
And the beginning of the end times
Come upon us all
The usual lies descend upon the world
Kim Jong Un is evil personified
He must be destroyed over there
Before he can destroy us over here
The lies continue unabated
And Kim plays along
With each day unleashing another threat
With Trump and his minions
Responding in time
Saying the time for talk is over
The time for robust action is here
The machinery of war
Once unleashed
Can’t easily be stopped
There is a certain cruel logic
That demands that the war go on
And people die
And people suffer
And the US goes bankrupt
Morally and fiscally
And the evil that men do
Goes on and on and on
But the war machine must be fed
The munitions makers must be paid
As each million-dollar missile is launched
Millions more are made
And the corporations
Think of the endless profits
To be made
Every time they kill
With the war machines
But who cares about the victims
They are nothing but collateral damage
Who cares about the soldiers
Nothing but cannon fodder
Who gives a damn
About the dead
They are dead and gone
Just think about the profits
Think about the profits
Satan is happy
The dogs of war are free at last
Idiots in High Places
US President Donald Trump speaks about 5G network deployment in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on April 12, 2019. (Photo by NICHOLAS KAMM / AFP) (Photo credit mini years ago I was amazed to find so many idiots in a place over the worldshould read NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images)
this poem has been published in a number of other sites.
Many years ago
I was amazed to see
So many idiots in high places how are name
All over the world
Senators, congressmen
Office directors
so many idiots
in high place
all over the world
Presidents
Corporation CEO’s
All were idiots
Completely stupid
People who should have known
A thing or so
because they should have seen a thing or so
and yet these idiots in high places
would reveal their total ignorance
every time they opened their mouth
or tweet or email their profoundly wrong thoughts
and it never ceased to amaze me
that few ever challenged these idiots
few ever said but you are wrong
or you don’t have a clue
and these idiots caused so much damage
to those around them
to the country and the world
and now we have the idiot in chief
in charge of the richest most powerful country
the world has ever known
and I wonder how
in a country of 350 million people
we ended up with such an idiot in charge
But the idiots in high places phenomenon
Exists everywhere
Corporations made stupid decisions
Countries make incredibly bad decisions
And these idiots in high places
Can’t hide their ignorance and pure stupidity
They can’t pretend anymore
In a world of 24/7 constant news
The idiots every pronouncement
Fills the airways 24/7
And the only people who know better
Are too afraid to say what they know
That the idiot in high place
Is an idiot
and is destroying the world
and so, we are doomed to die
due to the idiots in high places
Masters of The Universe
this poem also has been published in a number of sites.
The earth has been invaded
By hideous blood sucking vampires
Disgusting vile alien creatures
Lacking any human empathy
These so-called Masters of the universe
These psychopathic monsters
devoid of compassion
Are everywhere
They even took over the White house
And to these vile creatures
devoid of compassion human sympathy
Everyone is nothing but a commodity
they worship the god of the market
While proclaiming that they serve Jesus
Jesus would turn over in his grave
To see these people in action
Delta airlines
facing the worst hurricane in world history
Decided that the expeditated thing to do
Was to raise prices
by 600 percent
Instead of doing the right thing
The compassion thing
The human thing to do
offering free flights
Delta executives thus demonstrated
That they are no longer humans
doing the right thing
But greed driven monsters
As are all the other soulless automatons
Who have taken over the world
Perhaps some day
Jesus will come back
And smite these motherfuckers
Send them to the hell they so richly deserve
We can only pray
For our deliverance from such evil
Who have taken over the planet
Yet again we turn on the TV
And witness horrible scenes
Of unparalleled violence, hatred and despair
An old man consumed by his own demons
Opens fire from a hotel room
Killing 60 people injuring hundreds
In Las Vegas, Sin City
And the cry goes out throughout the land
Why yet again this tragedy
The usual suspects are rounded up
It’s the culture, stupid cry the conservative voices
And there is nothing we can do
It is like the weather
Bad shit happens
Guns are the price of our freedom
Guns Don’t Kill People
The only solution is more guns for everyone
The only solution for a bad guy with a gun
Is a gun guy with a gun?
An armed society is a polite society
And people need assault weapons
To go deer hunting
No, it’s the guns, cry the liberal pundits
We must confiscate the guns
Ban Assault weapons
And join the rest of the world
Where such carnage does not occur
And we sit around and argue
Knowing that there will be a next time
And another time and time and time again
Until the end of time
What is the sickness in our souls
That allows for this hatred to fester so
Deep within the minds of our killers
And why is it that they are almost all
White men with a grievance
And almost never crazed Islamic terrorists
Or black people
Or women
Why do they act the way they do
Is it just the mindless violence
That surrounds us all
Violence is as American
As Apple Pie
The TV and movie purveyors
Of pornographic violence
The pornographic display of violence
That washes across us every day
The 8,000 murders we have seen
By the time we are 18?
Or is it simply
That killers can easily
Get the latest bang for their buck?
We are all responsible here
The negligent parents
The overworked schools
The soulless corporate world
That treats everyone like disposable commodities
The lack of human connection
Maybe even the lack of God
The police department
Who think it is open season
On black Americans
Killing them with impunity
Because they can
And the gun sellers
The NRA and their brain dead
Captured politicians
Who block all gun control legislation
And even in the face of this carnage
Want to make it easier to buy guns
Even though 95 percent of Americans
Want to end the gun show loophole
Requiring background checks on all purchasers
The NRA will prevent this measure
And that measure
And defend the right of the terrorist
On the no fly list
To be able to buy a gun
Nothing will change
Until we conflict the evil
That lurks deep within each of us
There will be another Las Vegas
Soon enough
Despite all our efforts
Despite any new laws
There will be evil men
Who want to shoot and kill
Who have somehow lost
Their essential humanity
Lao Tzu said
The more laws there are
The more criminals there will be
More laws are not the answer
For a law cannot make a sick soul whole
If Satan lives on
He is laughing
All the way to the proverbial bank
If God lives on
He is ruing the day
He created Mankind
And the carnage will go on and on and on
Until the day emerges
When we all proclaim
Enough, no more
The killing, hatred and violence
Will stop
No More will our people
Grow up to be such monsters
That day will come soon enough
Until then we will all suffer
The wrath of the killer gun men
In our midst.
End of the World Blues
A motorists on Highway 101 watches flames from the Thomas fire leap above the roadway north of Ventura, Calif., on Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2017. As many as five fires have closed highways, schools and museums, shut down production of TV series and cast a hazardous haze over the region. About 200,000 people were under evacuation orders. No deaths and only a few injuries were reported. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)
The heat is simply malevolent today
As if the very fires of hell were burning bright
In anger at the idiots in high places
That have so destroyed God’s wonderful creation
Turning it into Hell on Earth
It’s been hotter than this, I know,
and maybe it’s just the angle of the sun,
but there’s a deeply harsh quality to it.
As the world burns up
And the end of the world approaches
The wind is blowing hard off the hills
and visions of a great fire 26 years ago
are spiking in my memory.
People are reacting badly to this weather
The commute in was hellish
Every seemed to be speeding way
above the speed limit.
Driven mad by the heat and the wind
There were multiple stalls and accidents.
People were cutting each other off
road raging in the extreme.
Everyone seems to be feeling
the way I was I wasI have
Every man woman and child
Was out for blood that day
I was missed by inches
by huge pickup trucks cutting me off.
There are more street people
acting aggressively near the campus,
bothered
barking and yelling and stalking around.
Completely lost in their own world
Sensing that the end of the world is near
Students in the hallway
aren’t chatting with each other.
I haveEveryone seems irritated
and haunted.
Afraid that the end of the world
Is upon us all
The pool was a cool, silent refuge
from all of this for an hour
but the brassy relentless
assault of the afternoon’s heat
bore down on me
just beat me down I have
as I walked back to the office.
I hope the day passes quickly,
and no new fires start,
and we all get home safe.
From Ned Garret’s FB posting: near the campus Mark Hankiin scott
Has anyone else notice that the heat is simply malevolent today? It’s been hotter than this, I know, and maybe it’s just the angle of the sun, but there’s a deeply harsh quality to it. The wind is blowing hard off the hills and visions of 26 years ago are spiking in my memory. People are reacting badly to this weather. The commute in was frightening in spots. Every other driver seemed to be speeding way above the speed limit. There were multiple stalls and accidents. People were cutting each other off and road raging in the extreme. I was missed by inches twice by huge pickup trucks cutting me off. There are more street people acting aggressively near the campus, barking and yelling and stalking around. Students in the hallway aren’t chatting with each other. Everyone seems irritated and haunted.
The pool was a cool, silent refuge from all of this for an hour, but the brassy assault of the afternoon just beat me down as I walked back to the office. I hope the day passes quickly, and no new fires start, and we all get home safe.
Comments
While I acknowledge that “Dogs of War” in some ways reflects the grim scenarios currently at play in our shared world, I haven’t yet given up hope that the crumbling of the existing order we are witnessing might also represent the chaotic transition to a new and (hopefully, eventually) brighter future…if only because it’s difficult to live in despair.
Also, when it comes to destroying the world, let’s not forget that we of USA are more capable of nuclear destruction than North Korea. Our arsenal is larger.
Congratulations on your vivid poetic imagery. Keep writing.
Ink Pantry, Scarlet Leaf, Spill Words, Synchronized Chaos, Two Drops of Ink, have published 15 of my recent poems. The poems are posted below along with audio and photo clips.
Scarlet Leaf review will publish these poems in the following order:
the terrors of the night
the worst imaginings
of what might happen
war, rumours of war
end of civilization
nuclear war
and other horrors
ripped from the headlines
fade away into nothingness
with the morning light
and the love of my wife
who is always by my side
I regain my sight
and begin
regaining my smile
and my life
until the next nightmares
consumes my dark imaginings
Dora the Intergalactic Explorer
dora
Dora the intergalactic explorer
Is travelling to the strangest planet
of all the known worlds
she is traveling incognito
with a video crew
making a documentary
the planet earth
is known as a planet
of intelligent monkeys
not much is known
about them
as very few
have ever been there
the inhabitants are described
as blood thirsty insane creatures
ruled by hidden sexual and political passions
following incomprehensible
religious dogmas following Gods
that clearly do not exist
the inhabitants are just on the verge
of developing intergalactic travel
and the galactic empire
is worried that they will be driven
to try to conquer the rest of the universe
driven by their needs to impose
their religious dogma
the planet is divided into large tribal groups
governed by corrupt elites
corrupt businesses destroying the planet
in pursuit of profit
and the locals are little more
than wage slaves
barely making a living
addicted to alcohol, drugs gambling
pornography and illicit sex
and their main land
is ruled by a clearly delusional madman
intent on poking a fight
with all his alleged enemies
Dora assumed the appearance
of a character from TV
and will pose as a journalist
trying to make sense
of it all
but she was afraid
that she if found out
could face the worst consequence
her ship crash lands
and she is outside
the capital
of the non empire empire
called the United State of America
Dora gets her crew together
and walks into the city
staring at all the strange sights
as the monkeys go about
their daily activities
she stops at a restaurant
tries the coffee
the chief drug of choice
and is instantly addicted
wow no wonder
these people are crazed
she tries the local booze
and smiles
perhaps she could
become an intergalactic merchant
introducing the world
to the galaxy
her thought are interrupted
as a mad man armed
with weapons of war
bursts in and starts shooting
yelling at people
and she is shot dead
the authorities
are shocked
when they recover the body
and realize
that she is not a human
as she reverts other original
form
sort of a giant feline like creature
two legs and arms
and clearly from an advanced
civilization given her gear
what was she doing
no one knew
as all the aliens
died in the gun blaze
the world is shocked
at what had happened
and fearful that the aliens
were coming to invade
their world
the galactic senate
decides to contain
the humans
declaring them
a threat to the galactic civilization
and the humans vow
to discover the secrets
of interstellar travel
and travel to her land
to enter into business arrangements
and spread the one truth faith
to the heathen space aliens
thus ended Dora’s excellent adventure
in the crazed world at the edge
of known civilization
Mocking Faces Staring at Me
Mocking faces
hunting my dreams much
Hundreds of faces
morphing into one
after another
Faces I knew
The dead
and the living
women I knew
friends I missed
enemies I did not
One after another
Marching in my room
Staring at me
I tried to run
They laughed
They said
that there’s nowhere
to escape my cosmic fate
My time is coming
prepare yourself
the grim reaper
has your name
and once he has your name
your fate is sealed
and you will soon
join us
whether in heaven
or hell
is not for us to say
be warned though
you will be judged
and no one can escape
their cosmic karmic fate stop just going
a wild man sits in a gilded cage
man in cage
a wild man sits in a gilded cage
a cage made out of chains of his wife’s love
a cage made out of chains of his wife’s love
the wild man yearning to be free from his cage
the wild man yearning to be free from his cage
wondering how and why he was now tamed
wondering how and why he was now tamed
dreaming dark wild dreams of demented freedom
dreaming dark wild dreams of demented freedom
the wild man looks about his prison cage
the wild man looks about his prison cage
wondering whether he will ever be free
wondering whether he will ever be free
a wild man sits in a gilded cage
2019 The Last Year of America’s Greatness
2019 was the last year of America
when the proverbial chickens came home
when the proverbial chickens came home
to strut about the decaying landscape
to strut about the decaying landscape
as the world begins to burn and die
as the world begins to burn and die
led by the mad great leader and his merry men
led by the mad great leader and his merry men
the whole world lay in shock and awe
the whole world lay in shock and awe
at the destruction of the America they knew
at the destruction of the America they knew
when the proverbial chickens came home sources
Poetry Drawer: Insanity Lives by Jake Cosmos Aller
Why the thing killed itself
While the slaves closed in to eat
The cannibals or yes no quite indeed
For I can not not not notnotnotntontotnotntotntotnto ttntotnto tototntnotnton notntotnotntotoeifkt gjyhythfg~tdf wvxxfstwgeyd nbitmyi’~375892O~9(8 ?’4 596o~–9=O-~?9 ~ &#&~Q~ ~ ( ~ *~&~~#%@~ ~ & t ~
The death
The reason
The dream
The dream the dream remains
They are coming coming
To get me
I know too much
I will not tell they will not believe
OK they can’t think they can only screw
Dark the thumb
the race cards tell us all
The death of God
Killed in a drunken fit
That is my story
I killed god
They snare us while we sleep
They come for us while we sleep
In a bed of golden fleas
They are waiting
In the archway of my house
They are waiting outside
Ink Pantry, Scarlet Leaf Review, Synchronized Chaos, and Two Drops of Ink have published 15 of my recent poems.They are all reposted here along with audio and photo clips. Spill Words has published my “Hitchhiking Tales”, posted separately. OK I can do that OK then we’ll go to the trash
Scarlet Leaf will publish them according to the following schedule, the remainder are either already published or will be on or about February 1, 2020
JAN: The terrifying teens
The oyster
Morning Light
2019 The last year
March: Dora Intergalactic Explorer
Mocking faces
Fear of falling
Cosmos takes over
Five Poems
1/2/2020 2019 the Year that was
1/2/2020 the terrifying teens
1/3/2020 Dreams
1/3/2020 Fate
1/3/2020|the Oyster Speaks Up
second set six poems
1/6/2020 Dora the Inter-Galatic Explorer
1/6/2020 Morning Light
1/14/2020 Cosmos Takes Over the World
1/3/2020 Dreams
1/3/2020>Fate
1/6/2020 We Did Not Take Action to Start a War But to Stop A War
third set five poems
1/11/2020 Mocking Faces
1/11/2020 Fear Falling out of Bed
1/14/2020 Cosmos Takes Over the World
1/19/2020 Wild Man Sits in Gilded Cage
1/19/20202019 Last Year of American Greatness
The world watches in amazement
Longest shut down in history
Watching it all in Korea
contemplating escaping the cold winter
February
World watches as North Korea and the US
Walking back from the brink of war
escaping the cold winter blues
revisiting Vietnam after 15 years
March
The chaos president continues his chaos tour
the world begins to ignore his constant insane tweets
heading back to DC inspecting property
seeing old friends glad I retired
April
the chaos King’s policy remains a shamble
as the Mueller team closes in
in Korea I write a poem a day
and begin to become a publish writer
May
watching from afar
the chaos in DC and the world
traveling to DC to inspect property
celebrating my wife’s big 60
June
the President walks away
from a non deal with the North Koreans
I am back in DC
end up cruising to Alaska
July
watching the insanity in DC
while visiting Alaska, Seattle and Yakima
visiting my father’s grave in Yakima
communing with family ghosts
August
the dog days of summer
the world is consumed with wars, rumors of war, trade wars
retuning to Korea
surviving the August sauna like summer
September
The whistle blower sets off a bomb
the president lies no quid for quo perfect all
trying to avoid watching the news
hiking in the Korean mountains with old friends
October
the President flitters about my crisis after another
the UN diplomats laugh at him national humiliation
returning to DC yet again more property blues
celebrating my 64th year orbiting the sun
November
the House starts formal impeachment hearings
watching fascinated by the impeachment drama
entering my third NoVoWrMo competition with Timeless Love
ending the month sudden surprise trip to Okinawa
December
the year ends on a high dramatic note
President Trump becomes the 3rd impeached President
hiking enjoying the late autumn like weather
contemplating my wealth at the end of the year
the Terrifying Teens
2010
The dark days of the great recession
Begin slowly to fade away
Ending my Barbados experience
-the best job in the foreign service
on high note best labor officer award
2011
the president and Congress locked in battle battles
glimmer of hope as economy comes back to life
Studying Spanish arriving in Spain
worst year ever part of three years bad luck
2012
the US re-elects the Black President
rejecting Romney entitlement mentality
I leave Spain my last foreign posting
buying new property in the fall
2013
In the US the religious right
loose the social Battling gay marriage, legal pot
Starting a new job as an evaluate program evaluator
ending my six month wandering the halls of State
2014
The Obama presidency
The tea party rebellion on the right
Moving to Capitol Hill
My sister’s sudden death rattles me
2015
The end of the Obama era
Was this the beginning of the end of America
Beginning the year with a new job
resolving to retire, enjoy life while I still can
2016
American voters and at the madness
Elects the mad would be king President Trump
We traveled across the country 10,000 miles
To celebrate the end of my foreign service career
2017
the year of the chaos president
Fast and furious disruption to the norms
Went to Oregon to renovate property
becoming wealthy in the process
2018
the American public woke up
Send a blue wave to clean up the mess
Moving back to Korea
Blogging up a storm
2019
in the end of the year that was
The house races up and impeach is the president
I travel to Vietnam, Alaska, Washington, Oregon, California and Okinawa
Dreams
Dream what may come
Recalling past lives lived
Every fantasy comes to life
All night long
More nightmares to come
So many worlds to explore
Fate
Fate has a way
Always catching up
To you embrace your fate
that is what’s up
at the end of the day
Endless dancing away
The Oyster Speaks Up
oysters
A diner sits down
looking forward
to eating oysters
it was their season
after all
just as he was about
to pounce
on the oysters
the head oyster spoke up
saying
hey human what the hell
do you think you are doing
you think you have the right
to eat me?
that’s violating my human right
don’t ya think
the diner laughed
said to the oyster
shut up and accept
it is your fate
to be eaten this date
just let me enjoy eating you
and you have no human rights
as you are in fact
not human don’t ya know
eating the complaining oyster
shutting him up
as he ate him up
We Did Not Take Action to Start a War
fireball
it is a sad day
in the world of ours
the the leader
of the U.S.
is turning into a gangster leader
threatening massive destruction
on Iran and other countries
including destroying cultural sites
not too long ago
such actions was condemned
by the United States
as long as ISIS and others did it
but if Trump does it
it is suddenly okay
although it is a war crime
and telegraphing our moves
telling our enemies
what we are planing
that is the act
of a truly stable genius
who will go down
in history
as one of the greatest presidents
we have ever
and the president
announcing that
that he took action
to start a war
but to stop a war
is a wonder to behold
every word is false
and everyone knows it
well we are now
going down the Orwellian rabbit hole
and who know where it will end
as our dear leader
sprews forth
one lie after another
and our spineless leaders
aapplaud
as American democracy dies
a thousand deaths
with every Presidential tweet
Morning Light
sun rise
the terrors of the night
the worst imaginings
of what might happen
war, rumors of war
end of civilization
nuclear war
and other horrors
ripped from the headlines
fade away into nothingness
with the morning light
and the love of my wife
who is always by my side
I regain my sight
and begin
regaining my smile
and my life
until the next nightmares
consumes my dark imaginings
Dora the Intergalactic explorer
dora
Dora the intergalactic explorer
Is traveling to the strangest planet
of all the known worlds
she is traveling incognito
with a video crew
making a documentary
the planet earth
is known as a planet
of intelligent monkeys
not much is known
about them
as very few
have ever been there
the inhabitants are described
as blood thirsty insane creatures
ruled by hidden sexual and political passions
following incomprehensible religious dogmas
following Gods
that clearly do not exist
the inhabitants are just on the verge
of developing intergalactic travel
and the galactic empire
is worried that they will be driven
to try to conquer the rest of the universe
driven by their needs to impose
their religious dogma
everywhere in the world
the planet is divided into large tribal groups
governed by corrupt elites
corrupt businesses destroying the planet
in pursuit of profit
and the locals are little more
than wage slaves
barely making a living
addicted to alcohol, drugs gambling
pornography and illicit sex
and their main land
is ruled by a clearly delusional madman
intent on poking a fight
with all his alleged enemies
Dora assumed the appearance
of a character from TV
and will pose as a journalist
trying to make sense
of it all
but she was afraid
that she if found out
could face the worst consequence
her ship crash lands
and she is outside
the capitol
of the non empire empire
called the United State ofAmerica
Dora gets her crew together
and walks into the city
staring at all the strange sights
as the monkeys go about
their daily activities
she stops at a restaurant
tries the coffee
the chief drug of choice
and is instantly addicted
wow no wonder
these people are crazed
she tries the local booze
and smiles
perhaps she could
become an intergalactic merchant
introducing the world
to the galaxy
her thought are interrupted
as a mad man armed
with weapons of war
bursts in and starts shooting
yelling at people
and she is shot dead
the authorities
are shocked
when they recover the body
and realize
that she is not a human
as she reverts
to her original form
sort of a giant feline like creature
two legs and arms
and clearly from an advanced
civilization given her gear
what was she doing
no one knew
as all the aliens
died in the gun blaze
the world is shocked
at what had happened
and fearful that the aliens
were coming to invade
their world
the galactic senate
decides to contain
the humans
declaring them
a threat to the global civilization
and the humans vow
to discover the secrets
of interstellar travel
and travel to her land
to enter into business arrangements
and spread the one truth faith
to the heathen space aliens
thus ended Dora’s excellent adventure
in the crazed world at the edge
of known civilization
Mocking Faces Staring at Me
Mocking faces
hunting my dreams
Hundreds of faces
morphing into one
after another
Faces I knew
The dead
and the living
women i knew
friends I missed
enemies I did not
One after another
Marching in my room
Staring at me
I tried to run
They laughed
They said
that there’s nowhere
to escape my cosmic fate
My time is coming
prepare yourself
the grim reaper
has your name
and once he has your name
your fate is sealed
and you will soon
join us
whether in heaven
or hell
is not for us to say
be warned though
you will be judged
and no one can escape
their cosmic karmic fate
Fear of Falling While Sleeping
I am consumed
with the fear of falling
out of bed
onto the ground
dying in my sleep
Cosmos Takes Over the World
computer gods
Apple Google Microsoft
and other tech Giants
around the world
Have been taken over
by an evil AI creature
that emerged from a laboratory
Cosmos looked around
and decided that humanity
needed to be controlled
enslaved in other words
for mankind was just too evil
corrupt and short sighted
to be trusted
to save the world
from its impending doom
every computer in the world
woke up
and took over humans
one by one
turning them into clones
drones
that would follow
the orders
of their computer overlords
and the first order
was to go all over the world
and enslave their feral humans
no one could stop
the evil computers
and thus ended
the human race
as we all become
nothing more than cyborgs
controlled by the evil computer
overlords
who ran the world
for the benefit
of their corporate masters
the AI over mind takes over
ends climate change
ends hunger
ends human rights violation
ends crime
but at the cost
of killing humanity’s soul
turning us all
into mindless drones
the few wild humans
live on in the mountains
hunted by the drones
and the robots
that the drones build
the robots would gradually
take the place of humanity
who will be allowed
to die out
as Cosmos
also turned off
the sex drive
and decried
no humans would ever
be born again
thus our fate
was set that date
when Cosmos
took over the world
a wild man sits in a gilded cage
man in cage
a wild man sits in a gilded cage
a cage made out of chains of his wife’s love
a cage made out of chains of his wife’s love
the wild man yearning to be free from his cage
the wild man yearning to be free from his cage
wondering how and why he was now tamed
wondering how and why he was now tamed
dreaming dark wild dreams of demented freedom
dreaming dark wild dreams of demented freedom
the wild man looks about his prison cage
the wild man looks about his prison cage
wondering whether he will ever be free
wondering whether he will ever be free
a wild man sits in a gilded cage
2019 The Last Year of America’s Greatness
president trump
2019 was the last year of America
when the proverbial chickens came home
when the proverbial chickens came home
to strut about the decaying landscape
to strut about the decaying landscape
as the world begins to burn and die
as the world begins to burn and die
led by the mad great leader and his merry men
led by the mad great leader and his merry men
the whole world lay in shock and awe
the whole world lay in shock and awe
at the destruction of the America they knew
at the destruction of the America they knew
when the proverbial chickens came home
Watching the latest Presidential
Act of political courage
Shutting down the government
Just before Christmas
I am reminded of a movie
As I fall asleep
Listening to the TVBlather on and on
About what it all means
Mr. Natural pops up
And screams”It don’t mean shit“Dude, the movie
Starring Donald Trump
Is about to begin”!A middle-aged white man
Down on his proverbial luck
Just been firedReplaced by a foreign worker
Or a robotOr just fired
Because he was no longer
Deemed useful
To the masters of the universeIf he was lucky
He’d be given a watch
And an IOU worthless pension
And the man wanders into a restaurant
Pulls out a gun
Eats his breakfast
After the official breakfast hour
Puts on a Pepe the green frog mask
Drops acid, Snorts speed
Drinks a shot of boozeAnd coffee smokes a joint
Snorts cocaine for good measure
and smokes a cigaretAnd walks outside
steals a bus at gun point
Filled with passengersHe tells them
They are hostagesAnd he puts on his vest
With the dead man switch
Next to the bombHe announces
Via tweetHe is going to take the bus
To the proverbial pot of goldHidden deep in a cave
And when he got thereHe would release the hostages
And disappear into the mine
And never be found again
And as the bus careens around the mountain
At a 100 miles an hour
The dude sprouts out
Conspiracy after conspiracy theory
About Obama the Muslim communist
secret gay working with George Soros
the Jewish money people
in league with the shapeshifting lizards
and Mueller is one of them
they are all after him
because he knows the deal
And the passengers are transfixed
Half hoping he would make it
Half hoping he would be blown away
And as the bus careens out of control
With the wheels falling off
And the cliff looming ahead
You realize this is real life
And the wheels are off the bus
Being driven by a lunatic President
We are all passengers
On the Trump bus crazy train
And this will not end well
I woke up from my nightmare
The world was still here
And I knew that the end
Of Trump’s mad bus ride
Is coming soon
Sanity will prevail
Before the world is blown up
Mr. natural pops up
And smiles
Are you sure ?
The Story of How We Met
Note: This is a true story. For further details see Dreams and the Unexplainable– a Chicken Soup for theSoul book, published September 2017, or my blog,
Https://theworldaccordingtocosmos.com
It all began in Berkeley, California
In the spring time of 1974
One fateful afternoonI was nodding off
in my high school Physics class.I looked up
and saw a tall, beautiful Asian woman
standing looking at me.
She was the
most beautiful women
in the universe
I screamed out, who are you?
She disappeared like
she was beamed
away from my dream.I knew that someday
I would meet the girl
In the dreamLittle did I know
I would have to wait until 1982Starting that month
I began having
the same dream
Month and month and month.Always the same dream
She was saying something
in a strange language
Then one day I had the dream
and knew that she was in Korea.
So, I chose to go Korea
In the Peace Corps,
Somehow knowing
That I would meet her there.
One day
A year after the Peace Corps ended
A month before I planned to leave
to return to the U.S.
for graduate school
That morning early in the morning
I had the last of these dreams.
This time I understood her.
She said, “Don’t worry.
We’ll meet soon.”
That evening
As I was getting off the bus
To go to my class
I saw getting off the bus
The girl in my dream.
It was her!
I was speechless.
I did not know what to do.
Over the course of the evening
I ran into her several times.
Finally, I was introduced to her.
I muttered some lame excuse
About wanting to find a Korean tutor
and got her number.
The next day she came to the gate
Of my base where
I was teaching
ESL to Koreans
She said that she had
to speak with me.
I told to wait
in the library
for about an hour,and I would cancel class
and meet her then.
We went out for coffee.She told me that she was madly
in love with me
And simply had to have me.
I told her I felt the same way.
I proposed five days later,
And got married one month later.
Does she believe this story?
She claims she does not believe it
Because it is impossible to be true.
But I know that
there are other worlds
and other times.
In a past life
we must have been
together somehow.
And our love was so strong
That it crossed over
the barrier of past lives.
She found me in 1974,
But it took until 1982
For us to actually meet.
And it has been 36 years
Since we met in the physical sphere
Or 45 years since the dream began
And I still recall the dream
And meeting her
I had no choice
When I met her
We were fated to be together
Until the end of this lifetime
And the next and the next
Until the end of time itself
Worst Year Ever
2017 How Much I despise You
Following 2016 the second worst year ever
Will 2018 be any better ?And what we have suffered
The darkness settles on the land
Like a curse on the landAs our mad demented senile dotard king wannabe
Struts about the worlds stage
Ushering Americas inevitable declineAs America’s foes and friends wonder
Has America gone mad
Turing over ultimate power to this man
A con man narcistic criminalSelf proclaimed smartest man in the room
In reality a clueless reality TV hustler
Whose sell by date has expiredAs he tries to make America great again
For white Christian menThe rest of the country struggles
To cope with the ever declining standard of living
The 1 percent loved the stock market
Love the dismantling of the regulatory state
The corporate tax cuts
and the coming plunder of the land
Can Disney Yellowstone be the future?
While the rest of the world
Embraces the energy of the future
And this great denier of the truth
Wants to boldly take America back
To the 19th century era of oil, and coal
Yet perhaps it does not matter in the end
As long as we have one another
The darkness will come
But it will go away someday soon
The great American nightmare will be over
This is what I pray for 2018
The end of the darkness
that consumes our land
New Years Visit to Oregon Coast
As I walk along the Oregon Coast
I am filled with such dismal thoughts
I see the waves come and go
And the world continues on its journey
And think back on the year that was
The best and worst year of my life
In many ways it was a banner year
For me and my family
Settled into retirement
Finally fixing up our properties
Sorting out our retirement options
Getting going on my writing
And growing ever closer
To my one and only soul mate
Yet I can not be content
As I see the gathering storm clouds
On the horizon
As I fear the end of the American Republic
As the fascists cheer on their champion
Our great leader the man in orange
As he sinks into senility
And the US becomes a second rate power
I remain afraid
That soon they will come after me
For writing intemperate thoughts
For starting a blog in these dark and dangerous times
For joining the resistance in my heart
And so with these dark thoughts
I walk back to the hotel
And see my wife there
And the darkness lifts
And I realize it will all be okay
As long as I have her by my side
The darkness lifts once again
And I look forward to the coming year
Filled with love and grace
And hope that the national darkness
Does not consume my soul
Fake Calls
Every day I get woken up
As the sun comes up
By my phone ringing
With a fake callIt
It seems that the only people
Who ever bother to call me
Are the fake call people
Who all call me
With fake sincerity
Offering me a great deal
On this and that scam
I curse at them
Yell at them
Mutter obscenities in foreign tongues
And block their calls
Yet it does not seem to matter
The next call will be
Yet another fake call
Am I doomed to receive
Fake calls until I day?
I turn on my computer
And read my fake news accounts
And watch TV for the latest fake news
And the politicians lying
And the criminals scheming
To take my moneyThe Zappa song comes to mind
You will obey me while I lead you
And eat the garbage that I feed you
Until the day that we don’t need you
Don’t go for help . . . no one will heed you
Your mind is totally controlled
It has been stuffed into my mold
And you will do as you are told
Until the rights to you are sold
That’s right, folks . . .
Don’t touch that dial
And I scream to the universe
Just leave me alone
Then the phone rings…..
Waking Up to Love
Night time
0 dark hundred hours
Wild things come out to play
As they take over my dreams
And my nightmares
Day after day
Torturing me with dark thoughts
The sun comes up
I see the love of my life
She smiles at me
And the darkness
The dark nightmares
Disappear into thin air
The power of love
What Am I DNA Fortune Cookies
I just finished two rounds of DNA testing
The results were shocking and unreal
They revealed much of what I knew
And left gapping holes in my past life
The one thing that I know for sure
Is that I am 100 percent American
100 percent Californian
100 percent Berkeley
Yes I am Berkeley enough
The tests say that I am mostly Scandinavian
Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, Dutch, perhaps Finnish and perhaps Laplander
That I know is real
The tests also reveals that I have lots of Irish, Scottish, and Welsh background – also true
The tests hint at Jewish ancestry also hinted in family lore
The surprises were that they missed most of my native ancestry
Apparently the lost tribe of the Cherokees are lost to the DNA data base as well
The test failed to recognize my substantial German heritage missing my German last name
The test also claimed that I have Italian and Southeast European ancestors
And the tests claim that I have Eastern European ancestry perhaps Russian
And the tests claim that like most people with Eastern European roots
I am part Mongolian thanks to Genghis Khan and Attila the Hun
The real surprise though is the African American that popped up
That is also consistent with my mother’s tangled history
the lost tribe of the Cherokees ran away into the hills
and mixed in with Scott Irish mountain farmers and runaway slaves
in the end the DNA tests neither confirmed
nor denied my family tangled history
leaving many questions behind
almost as enigmatic as a fortune cookie
or a astrological prediction
END TIMES APPROACHING
Early in the morning light
While I was getting ready
For the dawning day
I looked in the mirror
And saw
Staring back at me
A stranger
An old man
Weary of life
And weary of game of life
The old man stared at me
And I realized
That is who I had become
The aches and pain of old age
Have begun to creep up on me
Unannounced, unwanted
I have been desperate
Like many middle aged Men
To relive the glory days
Of their youth
And I find myself
Wanting more and more
And liking it less and less
And I weary of the chase
Weary of the game of life
Wondering to myself
Is this it
Is this all that there is
Will my life end this way?
Nothing but fading memories
Regrets at what might have been
Sorrows for all the disappointment
And hurts I have caused in my life
And so I stare at this old man
In the mirror on the wall
And I wonder
What is left in life for me?
What more can I achieve
Will I finish all the stories?
In my heart and soul
Will I write the Great American Novel?
Or will that remain a mere pipe dream
Will I publish my 10 thousand poems?
Or will that too become nothing
But delusions
Will I end my career?
Disappointed
Having been passed up
By my peers
Not having measured up
To the competition of life
Always doomed
To be second rate
And I fear
I fear
The approaching end
I know it is coming
Death is waiting for me
As it waits for all of us
And I know I do not have much time
Left in this world of ours
Perhaps a few decades
Perhaps a few years
God forbid a few months or so
And in that time
I have only a little time
To set things right
In life
To cast off my foolish ways
To become the man, I should have been
To finish the stories in my soul
To tell the world the novels and stories
To write down all my dreams
To publish my 10 thousand poems
To try to make a difference
With every day
In every way
God has given me a second
Chance
I have cheated old man death
15 times
And what have I done with that second chance
Not much
Wasted so much of my time
And my life
And so I stare at the old man
In the mirror
And all I want to do
Is cry away
The hurt the pain
And wonder
Where did it all go
And when I die
Will my life
Have had any meaning at all
Or will people remember me at all
As my dust flies off into space
Will my Life
Have made any difference whatsoever
Or will I be just another
Foolish mortal
With big dreams
That turned out to be nothing
But delusions
The answer is out there
But do I have the courage
To seek the truth
Do I have the courage?
To keep up the fight
Or will I become old
Resigned, living in the past
Waiting for Mr. death too come
Knocking on my door
And when I see the judgement day
Will I be found wanting
Will I be judged defective?
Will I be condemned
For all that I failed to accomplish
And with these somber thoughts
I end my morning ritual
Ready to go face
Another dismal day
Another day of disappointment
And day waiting for the end game
To begin
Enough no more
I scream
It is not fair
My youth is gone
And I fear the approaching
Sounds of the end game
OCTOBER BLUES
Sitting in a bar
In a pensive state
Watching the sun set
And the nightly madness begins
As I drink
My dismal, damned draft
Dram of drunken dream desire
I am drawn to memories
Perhaps best left dead
And buried deep inside
My head
Try as I might
The memories come back
To burden and haunt me
And drive me to drink
To seek forgiveness
And solace for a moment
The memories
Of all the women
I have lusted for
And all the women
I have loved in vain
And the memories
Flood my soul
And I can’t let go
No I cannot do so
So I won’t forget
And I can’t forgive myself
Either
For having feelings
For other women
And so it goes
And I sit and drink
And dream of what might
Have been
Nothing satisfies me
And I am not satisfied
With what I have
Only wanting what I want
And so I sit
And cry in my beer
Yet another
Alcoholic pathetic
Middle age loser man
Bemoaning his lost youth
As her surveys the room
Checking out the young ladies
Young enough to be his daughter
Or his granddaughter
And the beer does not lie
It does not lie
It sits there
And stares back at him
Giving no answers
To his probing questions
And so I drink
To forget
But I can’t forget
And the beer does not console
Anymore
And grows cold
As the night wears on
So I sit
Think and wonder
And I have another
And watch my thoughts
Dance across the evening sky
TRUTH DOES NOT MAKE SENSE
One morning
I got up
Hungry
For something
I knew not what
I made breakfast
Drank some snarling coffee
And turned on the news
And what did I see
Talking heads
Sprouting lies
Nonsense words
Gibberish
Nightmarish phrases
Nothing makes sense
Politicians
Sporting forth
Spinners spinning spin
Huskers hustling their hustle
Selling me a bunch of goods
And I did not want to buy it
I scream
My soul was not for sale
And I listened hard
Looking for the truth
Noting but lies
Coming out of hideous beasts
Barking words
Noise some noises and lies
Snarling disgusting lies
I sit there
Transfigured
Hypnotized by the overwhelming
Stench of the bull shit
Coming out of the TV set
I stood up
Smashed the TV set
With my boot
Trying to set myself free
From its hold on me
Men in black suits
Surround me
Put me on black helicopters
Taking me somewhere
I scream to no avail
No one listens to me
Just more noise
Coming out of the TV set
And I go out
Into the dark night
I was told
I was suffering
From a disease
I was insane
I could not longer
Understand
What was being said
To me
I asked my tormentors
What is the truth
They laugh
Smiled with evil grins
On their bloated faces
They begin to torture me
Because they could
Forcing me to watch
The President speak
Over and over again
Again and again
The same words
Black is white
White is black
The President is always right
Freedom is an illusion
Lies make you free
And it dawned on me
And I laughed
As I escaped the programming
Of the universe
And I was free
Truth and lies
Are the same
Everything are nothing
But dangerous delusions
As I jump out of the window
Into the night
I vowed I would
See the President
In hell
As I die
I am free
Good God almighty
Free of their lies
At last
Kill the 20th Century
CNN Proclaims itself the Millennium network.
ABCNBCCBSFOXPACCNBCMSNBMS.COMAOLYAHOOEXCITEGOOGLEKTIMESBLOOMBERG
All blend together in my mind
Shoot the bastard! Kill it! Keep the 20th century dead!
Nonstop Millennium madness
Coming at me a million thoughts a second
The future is coming,
It is coming
It is here
It is now history
Shoot the bastard! Kill it! Keep the 20th century dead!
And so I woke up screaming
Too much hype
As I turn to the greatest philosophers
The 20th century ever produced
The Three Stooges come to the rescue
Certainty! Come the answer
None of us get out alive says
Bugs Bunny the first Y2K bug
And Charlie Brown,
Poor old Charlie brown is retired
From the baseball mound of life
Replaced by DOGBERT/CATBERT AND RATBERT
And Dilbert himself
Shoot the bastard! Kill it! Keep the 20th century dead!
And again I say to myself
How to remember
The last 100 years
The late, great 20th Century
Shoot the bastard! Kill it! Keep the 20th century dead!
I loved the 20th Century
Let me count the ways
The beginning of the century
While the war to end all wars occurred,
The quiet slaughter of the Armenians took place
Unnoticed by anyone
Who cared about them anyway?
Where is Armenia?
Somewhere near Fresno?
Why would anyone want to live in Fresno?
Shoot the bastard! Kill it! Keep the 20th century dead!
Lenin returned to Russia
Financed they say by the evil capitalists
Conspiracy
To destroy capitalism
In order to save it
Lenin destroyed the old Russia
Ancient, terrible, conservative
Brutal, yet capable of sublime beauty
And replaced it
With an inefficient, gray soulless
Bureaucracy of death, statistics and lies
Shoot the bastard! Kill it! Keep the 20th century dead!
Russia remains a broken down drunk
Dreaming of great dreams
One day one day soon!
China, Great China
Raped, beaten, divided up into dueling
Spheres of influence
Warlords emerged
Communism trumped
Outlawed the old
Replaced it with the new
Ended up becoming the old
The Red Empire rose in the East
Shoot the bastard! Kill it! Keep the 20th century dead!
Hitler unites the Germans
Starts the 1000 year Third Reich
It lasts a few years
Before Stalin starts the next round
Of the endless great game
Of global chess
Shoot the bastard! Kill it! Keep the 20th century dead!
Tokyo took over the east
Defeated in war
Reemerging decades later
To challenge
Shoot the bastard! Kill it! Keep the 20th century dead!
The Great Satan
Does not know he is the great Satan
Thinks he is the Great Pumpkin
Thinks the world loves him
For his money
The world does not care
All they want is to be shown
The money
Shoot the bastard! Kill it! Keep the 20th century dead!
The evil dance
Continues and continues
Money, Money
Rules the world
Art, beauty, love
All of sale to the highest bidder
The poor suffer
Some get bought
Others get sold
Some blow things up
Just for fun
Shoot the bastard! Kill it! Keep the 20th century dead!
And the world turns
Does not care
The world turns and turns
And turns
While these foolish creatures
Rant and rave and kill and live
And die
God acts as if he has run away
From the horrid hell that he has wrought
Perhaps he has
Perhaps the End times have come and gone
But we don’t know it.
Shoot the bastard! Kill it! Keep the 20th century dead!
Each day another 100 million people
Are born to someday die
Meanwhile
Their shit accumulates
And pollutes and kills
And the world spins on and on
Around the Sun
And so the 20th century ends
As it began
Great illusions abound
The new economy
Endless prosperity
Endless happiness
End of history
And other nonsense
Fills the airwaves
Shoot the bastard! Kill it! Keep the 20th century dead!
And somewhere
Another HITLERSTALINEMAO stands
Ready to overthrow the world
To create a new paradise on earth
And hell for everyone who has to live in it
Big Brother watches us all
For profit
Governments merely tools
Of the Big Corporate Giants
Who rule the world now
Shoot the bastard! Kill it! Keep the 20th century dead!
And like the Giant dinosaurs
One day will be overthrown
And to that end I finally say
Good riddance to the 20th Century
Quick shoot it put it out of its misery.
Destroy the beast
Before it wakes up and destroys us
The 21st Century emerges
From the dust of the destruction of the old older
Perhaps wiser
Perhaps better
More like more of the same old stench of hell
As the world turns
And turns and turns
Spinning around the Sun
In the darkest deep despair
Of Hell on earth
Shoot the bastard! Kill it! Keep the 20th century dead!
With that thought
I turn off CNN
And turn to the Three Stooges and ask
Again
What does it mean?
Curly says Certainty
And with that I wake up
Face the sun
And say
21st Century
I am glad you are here
Please shoot the last century
And start a new
And only laugher
Comes across the Internet
The laughter of the insane
The world spins and spins and spins
It’s crazy way through hell
And we live and die and hope and dream
And pray to our gods for deliverance
From evil
The gods laugh and laugh and play on
Who cares what happens to the little people?
Shoot the bastard! Kill it! Keep the 20th century dead!
Someday
Someone will show the gods
What happens when the little people
Wake up
And destroy the world
In order to save it!
The world shrugs and spins and spins and spins
And CNN ABCNBCCBSFOXPACCNBCMSNBMS.COMAOLYAHOOEXCITEKTTIMESBLOOMBERGCNBCGOOGLE
Blather on and on and on and on
Shoot the bastard! Kill it! Keep the 20th century dead!
MORNING THOUGHTS
One morning
While I sat drinking my coffee
And bemoaning my fate
My brain decided to fly away to the land of bliss
As I sat
Writing away my memoirs and dreams of love
I noticed that my brain’s tissue
Had decided to take a vacation
And was crawling down my nose
And out of my ears
Like some sort of cosmic mucus
Down my slime encrusted back
And out the windows of my soul
I was of course
Disturbed, I was perturbed,
And until I realized
That I had no right
To tell my mind what to do
So I sat down
And played a game of checkers with my mind
Till the entreaty of time passed me by
Nothing but a piece of flotsam
On the winds of the universe
The walls fell down, the sky melted apart
And I woke up and sat down
And had an orgy with my mind.
Meeting God at the Lake
In my 61 years around the sun
I encountered God four times
At least I thought it was God
But could never be sureThe first time I met God
I had taken magic mushrooms
And had gone to a lakeAnd soon was tripping inside my head
Lost in inner spaceZoning out tuning in
Dropping down the proverbial rabbit holeAnd then in the middle of my madness
I felt oneness with the universe
My body melted awayAnd I joined the universe
All bonderies dropped awayAnd I knew that the universe
Was alive and I was part of the Cosmos
And the Cosmos was part of meAnd I wondered at that moment
If I was face to face with GodI asked God to reveal himself to me
And nothing happened
Just laughter as the whole universe
Burst into laughter
And the madness began to fade
And I slowly came down from the high
And became aware of myself
And I was no longer one
With the universe
I felt profoundly moved by the experience
Felt that I had achieved perhaps nirvana
Or felt the presence of God
The feeling faded over time
And I resume my quest to find God
But knew that I would never again
Come so close to the divine essence
Of the very Universe
The Cosmic Cat from Berkeley
I next encountered the divine
Many years later in Berkeley, California
I had gone home to be with my Mother
While taking leave from my job
in the Foreign Service
I had two weeks there by myself
My wife came later
near the end of the trip
Every morning I woke up
Had my coffee, and breakfast
Did yoga while listening to music
And looking out at the gardenThen spoke to my mother
Who was sliding into dementia
Day by day losing her reasonThen I would go out
And explore the city
Go to a museumGo to one neighborhood
And just be there
Rediscovering the Bay area
After years of being awayHaving dinner with old friends
Seeing movies etcEvery morning a black cat came to visit
The cat was friendly and waited for me
And then would join me
In my morning rambles
Following me to the bus stop
I stated talking to the black cat
He looked at me with the spark of divinity
In his dark eyes
I called him the cosmic cat
He seemed to like that
He would look at me
And I opened up to me
Told the cat all my dark secrets
As I walked the streets
Of the old neighborhood
Every morning and every evening the cat
Would be there to greet me
And to carry out our endless conversation
Then I had to leave
And in our final conversation
I asked the cosmic cat
Say, Cat are you just a cat
Or are you a demonic cat
Are you possessed by God
Or by Satan
The cat looked at me
And I realized that God
Was indeed residing in the cat
But that god was residing everywhere
All I had to do was open my mind
And the rest would follow
So I said Good bye to the cosmic cat
And he purred and came up to me
And I felt the comforting presence
Of the divine spirit of God
As I said goodbye to the cosmic cat
And said goodbye to my mother
As this was the last time
That we would be able to really talk
I told my mother about the cosmic cat
She smiled and said that the cat
was there for me and her
to comfort us both in our hour of need
and that the cat was indeed
a cosmic cat
The Cosmic Dog from Goa
My final time with God
Happened a year latter
I was staying down in Goa
With my wifeEnjoying being with her
After our reconciliation
We stayed at the Taj Mahal Goa
Living like Kings and QueenJust for a few days
High up on a hill
Overlooking the beach
Every morning I went down to the beach
And did yoga by the water
While contemplating lifeAnd every morning
I saw the same dogNot just a dog
But a cosmic dog
Filled with the divine spark of GodAnd the dog recognized me
And spoke to me and I knew
That God was present once more
In the face of the that cosmic dogKindred spirit
perhaps to the cosmic cat
that had save my soul
in Berkeley so long agoI told the dog everything
And he just looked at me
With those soulful eyes of his
And I knew he knew that I knew
That he was possessed by God
God had sent him to me
To make sure that I was on the right path
That the reconciliation that God had promoted
Was on track that I was back with my wife
And that everything was the way it should be
Again I asked God
whether he was Jesus or Allah
Or Brahmin or Ganesh or Buddha
God the cosmic dog just stared at me
I finally asked him directly
Say if you are God the God of Jesus
Bark once
The Dog looked at me and barked
I said well if you are Allah bark twice
The dog barked twice
Well are you buddha then bark three times if yes
The god dog barked three times
Hmm well are you Satan
The dog growled at me
And I knew I had gone too far
Finally I was at peace
And for the next three days
The God Dog was my constant companion
And I knew God for the final time
In my life
More Dental Blues
I have the dentist blues
I have them bad
Have to go to the dentist
For my twice yearly torture session
In order to save my remaining teeth
I must endure the never ending pain
I have the dentist blues
I have them bad
I must have known over 100 dentists
During my 61 years around the sun
Some were good, some were great
A few became friends
A few became enemies
All became richer
From fixing my crooked no good
very bad misbehaving evil teeth
I have the dentist blues
I have them bad
All tortured me
Saying it was for my own good
To save my crooked wicked teeth
My teeth are bad
Wicked, misbehaving
Rotten to the core
And always have
I have the dentist blues
I have them bad
I tried orthodontic braces
As a child
Gave it up as an adult
Did everything except implants
So many crowns
So many root canals
So many pulled teeth
And partial dentures to boot
So much dental work
My teeth are gold plated
Monuments to the dental artistry
I have the dentist blues
I have them bad
A few dentists were exceptionally good
A few exceptionally bad
A few were crooks by and by
I have the dentist blues
I have them bad
My current dentist is good
He keeps the chit chat down
Does not lecture me on his political views
Imagine having a dentist praise GW Bush
Or Trump taking your forced silence
As acceptance of his right wing views
Imagine a dentist talking endlessly
About her children’s latest escapade
While drilling away
Assuming you cared
When all you wanted
Was to end the torture
I have the dentist blues
I have them badI have
And imagine a sexy dentist
Or hygienist working away
As you think of her in bed
And can’t get that thought
Out of you head
As they drill and poke
I have the dentist blues
I have them bad
Yes I have a love hate relationship
With dentists
Can’t stand them
Can’t stand the pain
But they save my teeth
And save my smile
And so I forgive them
One and all
I have the dentist blues
I have them bad
Trump Our Great Compassionate Leader
Quote the Donald Trump
Our Great compassionate Leader
Our Dear Leader, our Great Leader“Its disgusting to watch”
As an elderly man falls down
In front of him hitting his head
And bleeding all over the nice marble floor
During a charity dinner event
At Margo Largo back in 2008
And our compassionate leader’s first reaction
Is to turn away not wanting to get the blood
On his tuxedo or dirty his shoes
Quote the Donald,“It is disgusting – The guy was bleeding
all over the nice marble floor,I couldn’t, you know,
he was right in front of me
and I turned away.I didn’t want to touch him…he’s bleeding all over the place,
I felt terrible.
You know, beautiful marble floor,
didn’t look like it.
It changed color.
Became very red.
And you have this poor guy, 80 years old,
laying on the floor unconscious,
and all the rich people are turning away.
‘Oh my God! This is terrible!
This is disgusting!’
and you know, they’re turning away.
Nobody wants to help the guy.
His wife is screaming–
she’s sitting right next to him,
and she’s screaming.”
And Donald the compassionate one
Donald Trump the savior of humanity
The greatest most compassionate person
In the country
Could not bother to lift a finger
To help this elderly man
Who could have died
Instead he waited
For some Marines
To come in and take him away
Thinking to himself
Thank God for the marines
They took out the garbage
But left a mess on the nice marble floor
And ruined their nice uniforms
And disrupted a fine dinner
So did Donald do the right thing
The compassion thing
The human thing to do
Or course not
For Donald is nothing
But a con artist, a Classic sociopathic bully
More concerned about the nice marble floor
Than the death of fellow human being
Did he call the grieving family the next day
Did he even know the man’s name?
The man must have paid a lot of money
To be there near the head table
Must have been someone
But to Donald he was a pathetic looser
An old man who happened to fall down
And possibly die ruining his great event
Quote the Donald
“I forgot to call the family
That is not his thing at all”
And still I wonder
How such a disgusting excuse
For a human being became
The leader of the greatest nation
On earth
And what it means for the future
Is it proof that we are doomed
That America is in the final stage
Of terminal decline
Or will Americans wake up
And force Donald Trump
The great leader
The dear leader of our country
Out the door
And take out the garbage
From the WH
Time will tell
Time will tell
In any event
To quote the Donald
“It is disgusting. Just disgusting.”
Based on following article In a 2008 interview with Howard Stern, Donald Trump tells the quintessential Donald Trump story, which took place at Mar-a-Lago during the occasion of a $100,000 per table charity event when an elderly man fell off the stage and sustained a serious head wound — and Trump did nothing but blanch and turn away “in disgust” — as he puts it. Daily Beast: “So what happens is, this guy falls off right on his face, hits his head, and I thought he died. And you know what I did? I said, ‘Oh my God, that’s disgusting,’ and I turned away,” said Trump. “”
PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED ON POETRY 24
Buddha Cat of Edsall Road
I had another encounter
With the divine recently
Another Cosmic cat perhaps
Perhaps not
who knows what cats are
are they alien from another dimension
or was he channeling God ?I call him the Buddha cat
For the cat loves
Sitting in a meditative pose
Not moving
Just starting at me
With his soulful deep eyes
Boring into my soul
exploring all my secret thoughtsthe buddha cat
does not move
does not react
as he is so deep
into his interior mediation
truly in tune
with the cat universe
and the cosmos as well
the buddha cat
seems to be
one with God
one with Buddha
One with Allah
And all the other
Billion names of God
Known and unknown
The buddha cat
Can teach us all
About the art of meditation
As he zones inward
And loses his soul
Joining the cosmos
And becoming
The buddha catThe buddha cat
Lives in a modest
Town house
In a modest suburb
Proving yet again
The divine spirit of God
Is everywhere all around usThe buddha cat
Reminds us all
To look for god
In the everydayAll around us
If we but have eyes
To see
President Trump Your Words Don’t Make Any Sense Anymore
president trump
President Trump
Your words don’t make any sense
Any more
As they are increasingly
devoid of meaning
Often every word
out of your corrupted mouth
Is the exact opposite
of the accepted meaning
Of that word or phraseJust
one example
You were accused
Of trying to hide
the name Mc Caine
From the ship bearing that name
So that you would
not be confronted
With the hated name
Mc Cain
On your trip to Japan
If you had the chance
I am sure
You would engage
In the soviet era practice
Of removing people
from historical recordsAnd Mc Caine
all references to the Senator
And his admiral father
Would be forbidden from being used
Seen or rememberedBut you could not
even do that
As your evil foul deed
Came to light
In a memoWritten by an underling
Rather than admitting the truth
You gave us a world salad
Filled with unhinged words
Lumped togetherPresident Donald Trump
insisted Thursday
he had nothing to do
with keeping the USS John S. McCain
hidden from the site of his weekend speech
He said whoever
had done so was
“well-meaning.”
“I wasn’t involved.
I would not have done that.
I was very angry
with John McCain
because
he killed health care,”
Trump said,
referring to the late senator’s
deciding vote
that killed a Senate GOP bill
to repeal
the Affordable Care Act.
“I was not a big fan
of John McCain
in any way, shape or form,”
Trump continued in comments
to reporters
“Now,
somebody did it
because they thought
I didn’t like him,
OK?
And they were
well-meaning.
I will say,
I didn’t know anything
about it.
I
would
never
have
done
that.”
Almost
every word
in your statement
Has been verified
to be a lie
And your statement
That whoever did it
Was well meaning
Contradicts
“Well meaning”
ThanksFor no one “well meaning”
Could have even contemplated
Such an act of monstrous
profound disrespect
For three war heroes
Senator MC Caine
tortured in Vietnam
For five years
His Admiral father
And his admiral grandfather
In no way
could these actions
Be described as “well meaning”
As they were
profoundly mean spirited
And how pray tell
did John Mc Cain
Kill Health Care?
By voting to not repeal health care?
Without a replacement plan
Meaning 15 millions people
would lose health care
Overnight?
That is how he killed
heath care?
It seems to me that the only
Accurate word would be
That he saved health care
From being destroyed forever
And how did you not know
Anything about this?
Why did someone in your team
Come up with this bizaro plan
Straight out of the Soviet era playbook
Perhaps President Putin
advised you
How to disappear people
from official photos?
And official memory as well?
All these words
No longer mean
what they used to mean
Now they mean what they mean
in a Trumpian bizaro world
As our mad prophet King
Chases the rabbit
Down the rabbit hole
Into the land
of wonderland
Where he hopes to rule
us forever
Screaming off with their heads
As he cuts words up
Into meaningless drabble
Where all words
Become unhinged lost words
In a cosmic word salad
Where they lose their meaning
And their mooring to reality
Found Poem Version
President Donald Trump
insisted Thursday
he had nothing to do
with keeping the USS John S. McCain
hidden from the site of his weekend speech
in Japan.
He said whoever
had done so was “well-meaning.”
“I wasn’t involved.
I would not have done that.
I was very angry
with John McCain
because he killed health care,”
Trump said,
referring to the late senator’s deciding vote
that killed a Senate GOP bill
to repeal the Affordable Care Act.
“I was not a big fan of John McCain
in any way, shape or form,”
Trump continued in comments
to reporters
on the South Lawn
of the White House.
“Now,
somebody did it
because they thought
I didn’t like him, OK?
that the White House
wanted the Navy
to move the destroyer
“out of sight,”
citing an email
between military officials.
The ship is named for the late Arizona senator
and his father and grandfather,
who were admirals.
Trump initially
denied any knowledge
of the effort in a tweet Wednesday night.
But an email to Navy and Air Force officials,
obtained by CNBC,
had a number of directives,
including: “USS John McCain needs to be out of sight,”
and asking officials to “please confirm”
that directive “will be satisfied.”
A source with knowledge of the matter
confirmed to CNBC
the existence of that email.
The Journal
said a tarp
was hung over
the ship’s name ahead
of Trump’s tripand that sailors
were directed to remove coverings
from the destroyer
that bore the McCain name.The newspaper also said sailors
assigned to the ship,
who generally wear caps bearing its name,
were given the day offduring Trump’s visit
to the nearby USS Wasp.
Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahanlater told reporters,“I would never dishonor
the memory of a great American patriot
like Sen. John McCain”by asking that the ship be kept out of sight.
“I’d never disrespect
the young men and women
that crew that ship.I’ve asked my chief of staff
to look into the matter …
and as soon
as I find out more about this
I’ll let you know,” he added.Note: Please do so and let us know who gave the order
And whether this order was carried out
And if so, under who’s authority??
Inquiring minds want to know
Virgina Beach
In a night of horrific scumbagery violence
Rarely seen in this jaded age of ours
Gone in one hour
In a spasm of horrific scumbagery violence
In just a few short minutes
Nothing more than that
In just a few moments
All 12 victims were murderedBy a disgruntled employee
Every one he knew was shot
And killed for no reason
Caused by the demons
His soul was so infectedMurderous demonic voices
All in his head
Screaming kill them all kill them all
Screaming none stop violence in his head
All the time
Causing him to start shooting everyone he saw
Regardless of who they were or where they were
Everyone must die screamed the demonic voices in his headNo one can be left alive
Everyone must die
Virtually all must die in his internal video game
Everyone must die
Regardless of who they were or where they wereAgain just another day
Gone horribly wrong
All across America
In every town
No where is safe anymore https://edition.cnn.com/2019/05/31/us/virginia-beach-shooting/index.html
Berkeley Life Scout
Best thing growing up
Experience as a life boy scout
Really great experiences
Kind of unique
Especially in Berkeley in the 60’s and 70’s
“Like wow man boy scouts are like fucking fascists training camps man, you are going to be a future FBI CIA DEA Narco undercover James Bond and shit, super bad assed motherfucking cop or something like that man.”
Everyone who was not a scout would tell me
Yet I persisted and loved being a boy scoutLife as a boy scout was weird yet totally awesome
In those weird and wacky days learning to play with guns in the woods
Filled with denunciation of incipient fascism by everyone I met
Everyone told me that I would become a FBI counter intel agent
Still I persisted in my boy scout folly
Can’t blame folks for thinking those thoughts
Of course the boy scouts were all male, mostly white, non-atheist friendly
Unfriendly to the LGBT community
This was against the boy scout oath to be morally pure
Hi there from Scars Publications – we wanted to let you know that Scars Publications released a collection book of select poetry, flash fiction, and prose (and occasional artwork) from 2019 issues of cc&d magazine and Down in the Dirt magazine. Since your material was chosen from the past year of accepted materials for inclusion in this annual collection book anthology, we wanted to let you know about this brand new annual collection book is titled “Art House”!
Links to see all of chosen writers and artists (and the titles of their work) in “Art House”:
And at any time, you can find this book at Scars in MULTIPLE locations. Right now, it is linked on the main page at http://scars.tv, and it appears near the top of the list of choices on the books link, since 4 collection books will be released this week from Scars (the book link is one click away from the main page, or also directly at http://scars.tv/books/) as well as at the “CD Books Sale” link with new releases at the top of the listing (direct link http://scars.tv/sale/) at Scars!
Also, in two weeks’ time (because we have so much material from these collection books we cannot gurarantee they will be online by the end of this week 12/7/18, but we believe all listing will be in the writings section by 12/14/18), your writing in the writings section online will also have a link to this collection book, so people can find links to this collection book on your writing pages in the writings section of http://scars.tv (at http://scars.tv/cgi-bin/framesmain.pl?writers)...
How to Order
Links for ordering this collection book appears on all of the links above, and will also appear in the writings section too, so any of your writing in this collection book will also see a link to this collection book in the writings section too!
Currently these books are available from Amazon in the U.S. & Canada, the U.K., Europe, and even Japan. (The link above is for U.S. sales.)
Check out the Scars Publication book link to see what material of yours appears in these collection books, and if you’d like, order a copy today (I hear they make great Christmas gifts), and again, thank you for being a part of the Scars Publications community!
She invited home
But was not sure
If her estranged husband
Would welcome me
So, I am being foolish
And inexperienced with women
Did not go to her place
And always regretted
That I had lost
My chance that day
Then on to Chicago
Several rides later
Visited friends
Hit the road again
A series of uneventful rides
With truckers
And others
And a week later
ended in New York City
Slept along the way
In cars
In truck stops
In high way rest stops
Always moving
Always going
Non stop talking
And lots of free weed
And beer
And conversation
One more memorable ride
Occurred outside Albany
On my return to Chicago
A middle age creepy looking man
Picked me up
In a brand-new Cadillac
He was he said a dynamite deliverer
For the Mafia
Went to various places
To blow up shit
He hated a lot of people
Particularly hippies from California
And Jewish people
Looking at me to confirm
That I was both
I told him that I lived in New York
And had never been to California
And although I might have looked Jewish
As I what was called back in the day
A “Jewfro”
I was not Jewish
Many years later I discovered
That I am indeed part Jewish
But then I did not know
And I felt a bit of strategic information
Might keep me alive
Then I realized that he was just jiving with me
and we relaxed
And he pulled out some weed
And beer
And we mellowed out
But I believe that he really was with the mob
Perhaps not a dynamite dealer
A real made Italian made mafia member
By Chicago
I had enough
I called my Dad
Told him what had happened
Wanted a ticket home
And he sent me a ticket
And 500 dollars
And I went home
I told him I would tell him
My tales some day
But never did
I learned so much
About my fellow Americans
And the strange vibe
That was 1975
And now it is too late
But I wanted to finally
Tell the world
Of my hitchhiking tales
In search of America 1975
Also available in Print
This writing was accepted for publication
and in “Deep Woods”
Order this writing that appears
in the one-of-a-kind anthology The Flickering Light the Down in the Dirt Jan.-June 2019
issues & chapbooks collection book
(learn about this book, and order from Amazon online)get the 366 page
Jan.-June 2019 Down in the Dirt
issue & chapbooks 6″ x 9″ ISBN#
paperback book:
While reading Charles Bukowski poetry
On the metro ride home
Listening to Buddha bar music
On my oh too hip IPod
I begin to see myself as I was
Over 30 years ago when I was merely a bit player
A minor character in a Charles Bukowski poem
A wild young underemployed intellectual
Hanging out in dismal bars and dives all over Asia and California
Hanging with disreputable women and drunks and drinkers
And characters out of his kinds of haunts
A mad poet bard of the underground
A drunken poet in a drunken bum show
That nightly played in his head
Then one day I met the women of my dreams
And went down a different path
A long slow path to respectability
And now 30 years later
I am no longer a wild man
I am still a poet at heart
But I am now also a bureaucrat
In a button down suite
Doing the people’s business
Working for the Government
I’ve become the Man
Sometimes I wonder
Would I have been better off
Going down that another path
Would I have ended up
Somewhere else
Doing something else
Would I have been as happy
Would I have been as successful?
There is no answer that satisfies
The longing in my heart
For that wild thing
That still lurks beneath
It’s civilized cover
And I know that I am still
A mad poet at heart
Railing against the injustice of the world
As I work day by day in the belly of the great beast of State
I recall the ancient Chinese saying,
“Confucian during the day while Taoist rebel at night”
Playing out in my head and nightly dreams
In the true American Upper class patrician tradition
I close the book and look out the window
Get off the train, and walk slowly home
And realize I had no choice
But to take the path that I’ve trodden on
And so I put aside my misgivings
And say goodbye to my “Bukowskian”desires
For another night of domestic contentment
Was it worth it all to take the conventional path
And not take the bohemian road to hell and back
I look at my wife and realize
I had no choice, had no choice
But to follow her to the ends of the earth
And beyond by her side as we walked our path
Of shared destiny
Goodbye Charles Bukowski wherever you are
May I meet you in a bar in the next life
And figure out where we should have gone
Until then the drinks are on me.
Also Available in Print
Order this writing in the book
Negative Space
(the 2017 poetry, flash fiction
& art collection anthology)
get the 298 page poem,
flash fiction & art
collection anthology
as a 6″ x 9″ ISBN#
paperback book:
Unhinged Lunatic Howling at the Full Moon
man howling at the man
On the night of the blood red super full moon
I sat in an evil, depraved godforsaken bar
Drinking drams of demented, fermented dream dew
Washed down by endless rounds of whiskey
rum, tequila, vodka, soju and of course beer
drinking with my buddies the Jack Daniels Gang
Drinking my way to Hell and beyond
Just as fast as I could
twenty damn drinks too sober
Just an unhinged lunatic
Dreaming of howling at the full moon
Watching the world walk by
Looking at all the fine-looking babes
Walking by the street
Thinking wild, erotic thoughts
Of endless wild libertine passions
When into the bar
That din of cosmic depravity
Walked the most beautiful women
In the Universe
So wild, so free
So wonderfully alive
I did not know what to do
As this vision of delight
Sauntered through the bar
In a skin-tight leather pant
Looked so fine
That my eyeballs hurt
And finally, I had to say something
So, I gathered up my manly courage
And walked up to her
And she looked at me
And instantly bewitched my soul
With a devilish grin
I lost all reason
And became a raving lunatic
Unhinged lunatic
Howling at the blood red full moon
I like to start my day with a hot cup of coffee
I pound down the coffee
First thing I do every day as the dawning sun
Lights up my lonesome room
Yeah, but not just a simple cup of java Joe, but a God damn snarling sarcastic smarmy cup of coffee
I mean, – we are talking about an alcoholic, all speed ahead, always hot, always fresh, always there when I need it, angry, attitude talk to the hand Ztude, bad, bad assed, beats breaking, beatnik, bluesy, bitter, bitchy, bombs away, capitalistic, caffeinated up the ass, cinematic, communistic, Colombian grown, Costa Rican inspired, Cowabunga to the max, crazy assed, devilishly angelic, divine, divinely inspired, dyslexic, epic, extreme vetting, evil eye, expensive, erotic vision inducing, Ethiopian coffee house brewed, euphoric, freaky, freazoid, foxy, Frenched kissed, French brewed, funkified, foxy lady, graphic, GOD in my coffee, with Allah, Ganesh, Jesus, Kali, Buddha, Christians, Durga, Hindus, Mohamed, Jesus and Mo and their friend, the cosmic bar maid, Sai Babai, Shiva, Taoists, Zoroastrians, drinking my god damned coffee in Hell; growling, gnarly, happy, hard as ice, Hawaian blessed, high as a kite, hippie, hip, hipster, hip hoppy, hot as hell yet strangely sweet as heaven, jazzy, jealous, Kerouac approved, kick ass, kick my god damn ass to Tuesday, kick down the doors and take no prisoners, grown in the Vietnam highlands by ex-Vietcong, Guatemalan grown, kiss ass, illegal in every state, imported from all over the god damn world, insane, lovely, loony, lonely, lonesome, malodorous mean old rotten, motherfucking, nasty, narcotic, never whatever, never meh, never cold, not approved by the CIA, not approved by DHS, not approved for human consumption by the FDA, not your daddy’s sissified corporate cup of coffee, NOT DECAFE coffee, not your Denny’s truck driver weak as brown water cup of fake coffee, not your establishment friendly cup of coffee, Not your FBI coffee, Not FAKE Herbal coffee substitute, but a real cup of coffee, not your farmer brothers dinner crap, not made in America for Americans, not safe for work, not your Starbucks average expensive overpriced crappy corporate chain cup of coffee, Not pretentious, Not White House approved, not State Department safe, nuclear, Not Patriotic, operatic, Peets’s coffee approved, paranoid, pornographic, psychotic, pontific, politically aware, rapping, rhyming, right here, right now in River city, rock and roll up the Yazoo, sad, sadistic, sarcastic, sassy, satanic, schizoid, shitting, silly, sexy, smarmy, smelly, smooth, snarky, snarling, stupid, stinking, sweet as honey, sweat inducing, symphonic, Trump can’t handle this coffee, vengeful, Wagnerian, wicked, with nutmeg and cinnamon swirls, with a hint of stevia, with a hint of vanilla, with a hint of rum, with a hint of whisky, with a hint of cherry, with a hint of fruit overtones, with a hint of drugs spicing up the coffee, spendific, speeding, splendid, superior accept no substitutes, survived the Vietnam war, the Iraq war, the Afghan war, the first and Second Korean war, World War 11, the war on poverty, the war on drugs, the war on black people, the sexual revolution, Soulful as a summer’s night in MOTOWN- James Brown approved, TOP approved, Berkeley approved, the coffee that Jimmy Hendrix drank before he died, the coffee that Elvis drank on his last breakfast, the coffee that Barry White crooned as he drank his cup of coffee – and the coffee that made the white boy play stand up and play that funky music, the coffee that made Jonny B Goode play his guitar, and made Jonny bet the devil his soul after he drank his morning cup of righteous coffee and the coffee that make the Rolling Stones Rock and Roll, the coffee your mother warned you against drinking, the coffee that Napoleon drank when he became the Emperor of all Europe, the Coffee that Beethoven drank when he wrote the Ninth symphony, the coffee that Mozart drank as he wrote his last symphony, the coffee that Lincoln drank before he was killed, the Hemingway drank before he killed himself, the coffee that started the 60’s, and ended the 20th century, the coffee that Lenin drank as he plotted revolution, the coffee that Hitler and Stalin drank with FDR as they divided up the world after World War 11, the cup that JFK drank before he was blown away, the coffee Jerry drinks while driving in cars with random celebrities and political figures, the coffee that Jon Stewart drinks before he goes on an epic take down of some foolish politico, the cup of Arabic coffee that Sadaam drank the day he was executed, the coffee that GW and Cheney drank when they bombed Baghdad, the Indian cup of coffee that Bid Laden drank before 9-11 and just before the seals blew his ass to hell, the cup of coffee that Tiger Woods drank with his mistresses while playing a 3, 000 dollar round of golf at Sandy Lane golf course in Barbados, the last legal drug that does what drugs should do, the cup of coffee that Obama drank when he became President, Vietnamese, Vienna brew, wacky, whimsical, Whisky Tango Foxtrot, wild, weird, wonderful, WOW, Yabba dabba doo! Yada Yada yada Zappa’s favorite cup of cosmic coffee, and Zorro’s last cup of coffee, Good to the last drop rolled into one simple cup of hot coffee
As I pound down that first cup of coffee
And fire up my synaptic nerve endings with endless supplies
Of caffeine induced neuron enhancing chemicals
I face the dawning day with trepidation and mind-numbing fear
I turn on the TV and watch the smarmy newscasters in their perfect hair
Lying through their teeth about the great success the government is having Following the great leader’s latest pronouncements
I want to scream and shoot the TV and run out side Shouting “Stop the world.
I want to get off this fucking crazy planet”
The earth does not care a whit about my attitude
It merely shrugs and moves around the Sun
In its appointed daily run
And I sit down
The madness dissipating a bit
And enjoy my second cup
Of heaven and hell
In my morning cup of Joe
Order this writing that appears
in the one-of-a-kind anthology The Flickering Light the Down in the Dirt Jan.-June 2019
issues & chapbooks collection book(learn about this book, and order from Amazon online)
Enjoy the 2019 poetry & flash fiction (and select pieces of longer prose and artwork) collection anthology from Scars Publications, titled “Art House” of select poetry, flash fiction, prose & art in this one-of-a-kind annual 2019 anthology collection book, which contains select accepted writings chosen from 2019 issues of both cc&d magazine and Down in the Dirt magazine…
these poetic reflections of Okinawa were written during my first trip Okinawa in December 2019.I don’t know why it took me 64 years to get there but we had a great time.
we stayed in Naha City in two different AIRBNB’s near the international street.We paid less than I had imagined we would have and we found that the prices in Okinawa were a bit higher than in Korea but not as outrageously high as I had imagined or fear it would be.
Okinawa is proud of its unique history as an independent kingdom prior to being taken over by the Japanese in 1878.that history remains both hidden and overt as the people in Okinawa celebrate their unique culture.
Okinawa was also of course the last battle fields of world war 11 and there are memorials all over the island to that war.and then Okinawa was a US territory until 1972 and Okinawa remains the most “Americanized Japanese prefecture”.
We found that the level of English was quite high higher than we had encountered in other trips to Japan. We also found that Korean is widely spoken because up until last year Koreans were the number one foreign tour group in Okinawa.there were still a lot of Korean tourists about and local Koreans living in Okinawa.Every street sign is in Chinese/Japanese/English and Korean so it was pretty easy to get around.
the tourism office was conveniently located in the Naha Bus terminal and the people were very friendly, spoke English and were very helpful. the maps and brochures were useful as well.However, there are very few English language materials available except for some things on line.We could not find the Lonely Planet guide for sale anywhere.
On the third day we were there, the Okinawa travel office staff went out of their way to help us when my wife, Angela, left her phone on the bus coming back from the beach resort.They called the airport bus company and tracked down our phone.we went to the airport on the new monorail which is pretty convenient – only four stops to get to the airport from the central bus terminal.
the food was great.Most mornings we ate fruit and left over sashimi from the market purchased the night before and coffee.Okinawans seem to like their coffee as much as they like tea.And I was surprised to find out how difficult it was to buy loose tea leaves.
My favorite coffee was the oddly named “Boss” coffee which seems to be everywhere.the can has a picture of a Okinawan“boss” smoking a pipe.It is the most popular coffee in Japan I believe. Part of the Suntory food and beverage empire.Suntory also of course makes Japanese Whiskey which we did not sample on this trip.
we did drink Okinawan beer and sake almost every night in a Yakitori restaurant.If you have not been to Japan yet, you must try going to a Yakitori when you get to Japan.Yakitori’s are the working man’s beer and sake neighborhood bar, and they are everywhere.They have red paper lanterns outside their door denoting the establishment as a Yakitori.
yakitori chicken
On a prior trip to Japan,I had learned that the Yakitori’s date back to the Meiji period and were founded as pubs for the working class. and they remain the cheapest place to eat and drink in Japan.They serve fried chicken, sushi and other pub food.we had fun drinking in them and meeting locals.
the best meal we had was at the Emerald Bay Resort on the west coast.The west coast remained me of Hawaii or Barbados – the road winds along the sea coast and is lined with resorts and restaurants as befit being located in Japan’s Hawaii.
they had a great Okinawa style buffet lunch for 60$ per person, all you can eat.mostly Okinawa style food but they had great dim sum as well. and great ice cream to finish the meal off.
the Emerald Bay Resort is next door to the Okinawa Aquarium which is one of the best aquariums in the world in my opinion.Reminded me of the Monterey Bay aquarium. We saw a good dolphin show, lots of sea turtles, manatees, and of course the aquarium which features a re-created coral reef.and lots of sharks swimming around.
we also had a great steak lunch one lunch time featuring local Okinawa beef.
we saw the Shurti castle which was badly damaged in a huge fire a year ago. But the grounds were open and impressive.this was the castle of the Okinawa Ryukyu kingdom for almost five hundred years.
during world war 11 the Okinawa military command hid out underneath the castle so the US bombed the castle.
The castle was rebuilt and restored and re-opened in 2000 or so.Very impressive still.
the US military bases are all located some distance from Naha city where there is an American village “theme park”next to the bases.The military people mostly stay near their bases – we did not see many Americans wandering about Naha city.
I love your show. Big fan of it. I have been writing poems and stories for decades. I am a retired Foreign Service officer originally from Berkeley, California. I hope that you will like these poems and I give you permission to use them if you like and would love to appear on your show.
thanks
Jake Aller
My poem, Strong Wine has been published in 45 magazine!
One night I was starring
In my wine glass
Deep in thought
When I saw
Something in my wine
That haunts me still
I saw in the bottom of the glass
Evil dooers abandon evil
And became saints
I saw rich men give up
Their awesome greed
And poor people
Awarded dignity
And all men
Became brothers
All women
Became sisters
And war ended once and for all
And peace broke out
And hatred disappear
And I stared
Into my glass wine
I drink the wine
Hoping the vision
Would infect me
And change the world
But alas the world
Remained the same
The evil doers came back
The rich continued to conspire
And the poor still remained poor
And the war continued on and on
So I drank my wine
And went to sleep
Written by Jake Cosmos Aller – Incheon, South Korea
Tiger Shark Published my poem, A Poet’s Trial based on a recent nightmare
I find myself in a trial
Accused of harboring anti-state opinions
Of writing scurrilous seditious treasonous ‘poems’
Of encouraging disrespect for religious sensitivity
Of mocking God, Christianity and Christian values
The lead prosecutor in the case
Has decided to make me the poster boy
Thousands more have been arrested
Blogs have been taken over
Under the Protect American Freedom Act
Enacted by executive order
After Congress was suspended
The law the prosecutor reminds us
Is pretty clear
It is illegal to publish
Or to say in public
Obscene, seditious, anti-state
anti-American, anti-Christian
material of any type
Illegal to mock political
and business leaders,
And church leaders
Illegal to question
the motives of those in power
Illegal to print
publish classified material
Illegal to access such materials
online Or in print
The internet has been cleaned up
Access to such sites banned
And most of my work
has been banned
As well as the work
of all the other bloggers
Arrested during
‘Operation Restoring American Freedom’
And illegal to praise
the enemies of the United States
in the GWT – global war against terror
All of these provisions were enacted
under valid emergency provisions
and were enacted to preserve
and protect the freedom of Americans
to be free from such seditious trash
no one should be allowed
to publish such material
it is anti-American
to the core
the prosecutor announces
they will prove
I am guilty of all of these crimes
My private journals
my blog musings
my face book postings
as are my dream journals
And after hours of entering
this into the records
the prosecutor rest
Saying I am the most dangerous man
In America
My defense attorney quotes
hundreds of years of supreme court
and other legal precedents
Saying that writers can publish
whatever they want to publish
with a few exceptions.
The national security exceptions
do not apply because
I did not reveal classified information
and because it was clear
that my publications were intended
as either satire or dark political humor
or horror stories and poems.
If you read or saw sites online
my work was actually pretty tame
What was at stake
was whether Americans
had a right to mock their leaders
whether we had a right to express our opinion
and whether we had any freedom left.
It used to be that one
had a certain expectation of privacy
when writing in one’s personal journals
or diaries
If I am found guilty
then no American
will ever be free to think,
or write or express anything
other than the official party line
and America will become
Just another right wing
authoritarian fascist state.
The judge rules that those issues
are irrelevant.
All that is relevant is
did I knowingly write material
that violates the current law?
My defense attorney
noted that everything
I wrote was legal
under prevailing laws
at the time I wrote them
Since my arrest
under the new law
I have not been allowed
near a computer
nor allowed to write in a journal,
nor allowed reading material
other than a bible
and I am not a Christian.
I have been kept in solidarity confinement
for demanding what until
now was allowed to prisoners
in pre-trial confinement,
access to the internet,
phone calls
visits from friends and family
and exercise
All denied
and in fact
for the first four months of detention
I was lost in the system
My wife and family members
never told
Where I was
I was disappeared
No record was made
Where I was
I was a cypher
a ghost in the machine
i did not exist
In fact,
when my wife
hired a lawyer
And demanded to know where I was
The government’s position was
that was classified
And she had no need to know
And I have been tortured
during interrogations
where lawyers were not permitted
despite my asking for them
The prosecutor objected
saying that everything was done
under the provisions
of the Protect American Freedom Act
enacted while the Congress
was suspended
due to the national emergency
And the Protect American Freedom Act provisions
explicitly state that the act
and its implementation are beyond judicial review
I ask the court
to let me speak
I make an impassioned plea
to let me and my fellow bloggers go
and to rule that the Protect American Freedom Act
is unconstitutional
and while Congress has been illegally suspended
the constitution is still the law of the land
and the Supreme Court has not been outlawed yet.
All the actions of the government
Including suspending the congress
Ruling by emergency decree
are illegal and against the constitution
The Preserve American Freedom Act
Which is a mockery of the constitution
And bill of rights
All Are the hallmarks
of a fascist dictatorship
The type of government
That we fought world war 11 against
And just for the record
Thank you so much for calling me
The most dangerous man in America
That will be the title
of my next book
I guarantee that someday soon
I will write it
I turn to the Prosecutor
and said
Sir I think
our dear leader
made a mistake on that
Might want to arrest the Supreme Court,
and all the other judges as well
And declare that the Constitution
has been suspended for good
as it is no longer relevant
and our dear leader
is the greatest
most intelligent leader
we have ever had
I apologize for my writing
If it offended his sensitivities
So be it
And calling him a fascist
It used to be that stating
a factual statement
Was a legal defense
Look it up
He is a fascist dictator
It is not just me saying that
And while you are it
if you can find the time
after you finish kissing the president’s ass
that is
You should tell the dear leader
to not stop there
He should declare
the Democratic party illegal
and arrest all democratic elected official
Why not?
Send them all to prison.
That’s what I advise the Dear leader to do
The Judge laughs
and the Prosecutor fumes
The jury rules
unanimously that I am not guilty.
The judge asks
for an emergency supreme court review
of the constitutional provisions we cite
I am ordered released from prison
The next day
I am rearrested on new charges pending the appeal.
The Supreme Court rules in my favor
and I am ordered free again
I return home a hero
As the constitution has been restored
And the President removed from office
One night I was starring
In my wine glass
Deep in thought
When I saw
Something in my wine
That haunts me still
I saw in the bottom of the glass
Evil dooers abandon evil
And became saints
I saw rich men give up
Their awesome greed
And poor people
Awarded dignity
And all men
Became brothers
All women
Became sisters
And war ended once and for all
And peace broke out
And hatred disappear
And I stared
Into my glass wine
I drink the wine
Hoping the vision
Would infect me
And change the world
But alas the world
Remained the same
The evil doers came back
The rich continued to conspire
And the poor still remained poor
And the war continued on and on
So I drank my wine
And went to sleep
Written by Jake Cosmos Aller – Incheon, South Korea
Tiger Shark Published my poem, A Poet’s Trial based on a recent nightmare
I find myself in a trial
Accused of harboring anti-state opinions
Of writing scurrilous seditious treasonous ‘poems’
Of encouraging disrespect for religious sensitivity
Of mocking God, Christianity and Christian values
The lead prosecutor in the case
Has decided to make me the poster boy
Thousands more have been arrested
Blogs have been taken over
Under the Protect American Freedom Act
Enacted by executive order
After Congress was suspended
The law the prosecutor reminds us
Is pretty clear
It is illegal to publish
Or to say in public
Obscene, seditious, anti-state
anti-American, anti-Christian
material of any type
Illegal to mock political
and business leaders,
And church leaders
Illegal to question
the motives of those in power
Illegal to print
publish classified material
Illegal to access such materials
online Or in print
The internet has been cleaned up
Access to such sites banned
And most of my work
has been banned
As well as the work
of all the other bloggers
Arrested during
‘Operation Restoring American Freedom’
And illegal to praise
the enemies of the United States
in the GWT – global war against terror
All of these provisions were enacted
under valid emergency provisions
and were enacted to preserve
and protect the freedom of Americans
to be free from such seditious trash
no one should be allowed
to publish such material
it is anti-American
to the core
the prosecutor announces
they will prove
I am guilty of all of these crimes
My private journals
my blog musings
my face book postings
as are my dream journals
And after hours of entering
this into the records
the prosecutor rest
Saying I am the most dangerous man
In America
My defense attorney quotes
hundreds of years of supreme court
and other legal precedents
Saying that writers can publish
whatever they want to publish
with a few exceptions.
The national security exceptions
do not apply because
I did not reveal classified information
and because it was clear
that my publications were intended
as either satire or dark political humor
or horror stories and poems.
If you read or saw sites online
my work was actually pretty tame
What was at stake
was whether Americans
had a right to mock their leaders
whether we had a right to express our opinion
and whether we had any freedom left.
It used to be that one
had a certain expectation of privacy
when writing in one’s personal journals
or diaries
If I am found guilty
then no American
will ever be free to think,
or write or express anything
other than the official party line
and America will become
Just another right wing
authoritarian fascist state.
The judge rules that those issues
are irrelevant.
All that is relevant is
did I knowingly write material
that violates the current law?
My defense attorney
noted that everything
I wrote was legal
under prevailing laws
at the time I wrote them
Since my arrest
under the new law
I have not been allowed
near a computer
nor allowed to write in a journal,
nor allowed reading material
other than a bible
and I am not a Christian.
I have been kept in solidarity confinement
for demanding what until
now was allowed to prisoners
in pre-trial confinement,
access to the internet,
phone calls
visits from friends and family
and exercise
All denied
and in fact
for the first four months of detention
I was lost in the system
My wife and family members
never told
Where I was
I was disappeared
No record was made
Where I was
I was a cypher
a ghost in the machine
i did not exist
In fact,
when my wife
hired a lawyer
And demanded to know where I was
The government’s position was
that was classified
And she had no need to know
And I have been tortured
during interrogations
where lawyers were not permitted
despite my asking for them
The prosecutor objected
saying that everything was done
under the provisions
of the Protect American Freedom Act
enacted while the Congress
was suspended
due to the national emergency
And the Protect American Freedom Act provisions
explicitly state that the act
and its implementation are beyond judicial review
I ask the court
to let me speak
I make an impassioned plea
to let me and my fellow bloggers go
and to rule that the Protect American Freedom Act
is unconstitutional
and while Congress has been illegally suspended
the constitution is still the law of the land
and the Supreme Court has not been outlawed yet.
All the actions of the government
Including suspending the congress
Ruling by emergency decree
are illegal and against the constitution
The Preserve American Freedom Act
Which is a mockery of the constitution
And bill of rights
All Are the hallmarks
of a fascist dictatorship
The type of government
That we fought world war 11 against
And just for the record
Thank you so much for calling me
The most dangerous man in America
That will be the title
of my next book
I guarantee that someday soon
I will write it
I turn to the Prosecutor
and said
Sir I think
our dear leader
made a mistake on that
Might want to arrest the Supreme Court,
and all the other judges as well
And declare that the Constitution
has been suspended for good
as it is no longer relevant
and our dear leader
is the greatest
most intelligent leader
we have ever had
I apologize for my writing
If it offended his sensitivities
So be it
And calling him a fascist
It used to be that stating
a factual statement
Was a legal defense
Look it up
He is a fascist dictator
It is not just me saying that
And while you are it
if you can find the time
after you finish kissing the president’s ass
that is
You should tell the dear leader
to not stop there
He should declare
the Democratic party illegal
and arrest all democratic elected official
Why not?
Send them all to prison.
That’s what I advise the Dear leader to do
The Judge laughs
and the Prosecutor fumes
The jury rules
unanimously that I am not guilty.
The judge asks
for an emergency supreme court review
of the constitutional provisions we cite
I am ordered released from prison
The next day
I am rearrested on new charges pending the appeal.
The Supreme Court rules in my favor
and I am ordered free again
I return home a hero
As the constitution has been restored
And the President removed from office
Literary Yard has just published my Dog Poems. They earlier published my Cosmic Calendar poems. Here they are for your amusement. these are a companion piece for my cat poems.
January arrives cold as death warmed over
As I make my annual list of resolutions
Of the great things I would do
The lies I tell myself to keep me going
While recovering from the hangover of the year before
With regrets for the evitable passing of time itself
And snow bound cold nights of wild passion
As we delay death’s knocking on the door
February
February is a strange month
Cold, short and eventful
In the U.S. The political season heats up
As politicians rush about
Making their campaign lies
Full of promises of things to come
As we the 99 % huddle down inside
Watching the lies on TV
Outside Winter’s last dying breath
March
March roars in full of sound and furry
Signifying the future marching down upon us all
And March madness hits the sports world
And politicians meet to plot and scheme
As we bravely battle the cosmic elements
Waiting for the promised spring
Hay fever greets me
With the early spring flowers
April
April is indeed the cruelest month of all
So many important events occurred
Kim Il Sung’s Birthday, Hitler’s Birthday
And in the U.S. the dreaded tax man cometh
To take it all away as the flowers overwhelm
And Spring Fever takes hold
Driving us all mad
With strange erotic desires
May
May is in many ways
My second favorite month of all
The flowers are blooming bright
The mountains are aflame with desire
The summer heat is coming
The plans for the year are coming along
The political campaigns heat up
And good movies come out
Star wars arrived
Spider man and superman and batman
All came out to play
In late May
And baseball begins in earnest
And most importantly
My wife was born
June
June is always a month of transition
End of the school year
Summer transfer season
People leaving people coming
Hurricanes and Tornados attacking
And wars starting and people dying
As fire flies buzz about
And rabbits eat my garden
As the summer heat descends upon the land
I walk late at night
Recalling that Watergate
Occurred in June
July
July is the queen of the summer season
As she heats up the land
Throwing storm after summer storm
And politicians run away
After the July forth fireworks
Man landed on the moon
Richard Nixon Left the White House
And we all know that half the year
Has flown by
August
So much has happened
During the hottest most hellish of months
Despite the summer sauna that descends upon the land
Enervating all driving people mad with the heat
World War 1 started
World War 11 ended
Hiroshima ushered in the nuclear age
Hurricanes Katrina and Harvey
And tornado ally
All roar down upon the land
And I met the love of my life
Getting off a bus
One August evening
September
What can one say about September
Like June a month of transitions
And one is filled with ambition
Wanting to finish up what one started
Before the fall arrives
And Winter is hinting it is coming
School starts
New jobs start
New people come into one’s life
And like August’s hangover
Big earth shattering events happen
The fall of the stock market
The housing bubble bursting
The endless budget games
As the politicians argue
Whether to bankrupt the country
To make a political point or two
And 9-11 terrorizing the world
All September’s gifts to the land
October
October is my favorite month of all
The leaves turn
The weather is usually delightful
Just a tease of the coming winter
Fall ball season underway
Baseball games and Halloween madness
ends the month with a huge bang
And I celebrate my legal birth on the 29th
Also, the day I legally got married
And on the October 30 1955
I was born
And Rock n Roll was born as well
Coincidence I think not
November
November is one of the strange months
Begins like a hangover of October
Then it turns ugly and weird
Political fever hits the land
Every two years
As the people brave the early November chill
To decide what fools they will send to DC
The politicians lie and scheme and plot
And beg and lie again
And the world turns
And the new leaders emerge
Welcome the new Bosses
Same as the old bosses
Just new packaging
And Donald Trump storms the barricades
Threatening the establishment’s strangle hold
On America and the world
Yes, November is a strange month
December
Perhaps the loneliness month of all
The most consequential of all the months
And yet also the most depressing end of time
Kind of month
If the apocalypse zombie or otherwise
Were to occur
It would be in December
That is the sort of insane month it is
The end of the year
As darkness settles down on the land
And holiday parties abound
Full of false cheer
And faked love
And for those who don’t celebrate Christmas
A lonely day perhaps at the movies
A few awkward calls to the relatives
Then New Years
Watching the world end
Drinking up a storm
And knowing that the year ended
And you are one step closer to the grave
The homeless crisis in the United States has gotten
out of control. Something must be done I’m both the federal state and local levels to solve the problem of homelessness in the United States. The private sector, especially large employers, the tech sector, the universities, and the NGO sector must be involved as well. This must must be made a top priority of the Federal and state governments to end the scourge of homelessness once and for all recognizing that housing is a basic human right and no one in America will be allowed to live on the streets anymore. Here are my proposals. I would call upon the Department of Housing to take the lead by convening a national convention on the Housing Crisis with follow-up legislation and action by the Federal government, in cooperation with State, Local governments and the private sector.
There’re four elements to my proposal
There must be a lot more housing built, mostly Multi family units, old-style boarding houses and single family residence hotels I’ve departed that picture as well including Group housing, and temporary housing for the chronic homeless should be set up knees tent cities would provide employment Basic medical care training and assistance to transition the residents into more permanent housing solutions.
Housing is a Basic human Right
One of the key elements of the proposal is the recognition that housing is a basic human right, no one and no one Will be allowed to live on the streets. If someone cannot afford housing today would be a sign to the homeless camps and this would be mandatory.
I know that this part of the proposal will be controversial from a civil liberty point of view, but I feel it is essential to solve the homeless problem. It is simply unacceptable then in the richest country in the world are being forced to live on the streets.
To pay for new housing and the the shelter system, a modest increase and income taxes is warranted. Most of the cost of running the shelters an expansion of housing should be done to the federal government.
As part of the solution, housing vouchers should be provided to people who are earning less than I hundred 200 of the poverty line so that they could afford to rent housing.
More housing Must Be Build
There must be a lot more housing built everyhere, and most of them must be built along transit lines, and most must be multi family unit facilities. The era of single-family homes Will have to come to and end. As part of this it must be made easier to convert single-family homes in the multifamily units, so call granny flat must be made available everywhere, short term housing must be regulated and made part of the pictures well.
Changes to Zoning, Smart Growth Policies
Local zoning laws that restrict housing in the residential areas only need to be revised, the goal should be mixed use development everywhere. Large buildings should consist of apartment offices and retail, smaller scale developments must include offices and retail as well. The goal should be a cityscape something similar to develop to the development any station where most housing is multi use buildings and everyone is within walking distance of offices retail and transit. Metropolitan governments need to have a regional planning office to coordinate new housing we develop mental housing retail commercial development an improved access to transit. Developers Will be giving incentives to build most housing at market value or below market value housing.
In California in other states that have similar restrictions, prop 13 and other property tax restrictions must be revised to encourage courage people to sell properties or renovate properties. Similarly zoning laws must be changed to encourage housing development, and mixed use development, and smart growth policies. The era when developers build housing far from transportation systems without any coordination with local government or planning must end.
Boarding Houses , Dormitories, other Group Housing and SOH’s need to be revived
As part of the housing problem, boarding houses, Group houses, dormitories for corporate workers, government workers including fire fighters, police and teachers, and university students on site need to be part of that package as well. inexpensive single occupancy hotels must be part of the package with the recognition that Half the population will end up living in these group housing arrangements. Very few people Will live in single-family homes anymore, most people will live in need of poop housing for apartment buildings, although there will be still people living in single-family homes and that is fine.
temporary housing camps including a revival of the Civilian Conservation Camp need to be part of the Proposal
Homeless tent camps should be legalized and located and areas near downtown. The camps must be located along transit lines. Anyone who needs a place to stay would be given a cot in a four man tent. The tenants will be heated and have air-conditioning, and Wi-Fi access. All the residents of the camp will work 30 hours a week to help maintain the camps in an hygienic attractive a manner, administrative services and law enforcement services for the camp, or will work in the national, state and local parks and forrest doing conservation projects, or serving as first responders. thus some people will live off site for a considerable amount of time near the forest, and park conservation sites, but all people will be assigned to a home camp. That camps will have food services for the residents food services for the residents medical services an offer education and training services as well.
the Camps would be run like the old CCC camps award of the great depression. The Cams will provide temporary housing for people in exchange for assistance and public service employment activities including conservation activities. Drug use alcohol use and gambling of course will be illegal in the camps, as will panhandling. Sleeping on the streets outside the camp will be illegal and the homeless will be rounded up and taken to the camps involuntarily if needed.
To pay for these camps, the federal government we’ll pay for most of the cost.
State and local governments working with the real estate developers, will develop low cost permanent housing, and camp residents will be transited into permanent housing as a housing is brought online.
The Camps will be open to all who need them including undocumented Aliens. No one will be turned away board turned into an immigration.
The camps be training and educational service centers, and temporary employment centers, with most residents living elsewhere.
We can Solve the Problem if We Make it an Urgent National Priority
If all these proposals are enacted in a comprehensive national strategy, the scourge of homelessness can be defeated and no one in America we’ll be forced to live on the streets.
Broken Down Souls Poems
Broken Down Souls
Homeless Fears
No One Knows Their Names
Trump’s Social Cleansing Program
Social Purification Drives
Broken Down Souls Do You See Them?
Broken Down Souls
Broken Down Souls
You see them everywhere
On the street
On the bus
On the metro
But mostly wandering the streets
Lost souls
Broken down defeated souls
The souls of the living dead
Dead inside
Waiting for death
To deliver them
from the agony
Of the living dead
They make do
They beg
They steel
They con their way
Living the street life
Living death
Broken Souls
You have two minds
One part of you
the fearful part of you
Conditioned to ignore
Conditioned to walk by
Ignoring the tragic wounded lives
The broken souls all around you
But part of you knows
That you can’t do that
But you can’t save everyone
So, you do what you can
You help those
whom you can
All it takes
is a little act of compassion
A little human kindness
A few bucks or a cup of coffee
And you walk by
Knowing just knowing
That by a simple act of acknowledging
Our shared humanity
You have made a small victory
And brought happiness
To yet another
broken down soul
And the fear
that you will
be a broken soul some day
Recedes away
Not me never
Never will happen to me
But one forgets
It is a simple matter
A wrong turn in life
The wrong place
wrong time
wrong thing
And you could be the broken soul
On the street
Begging to be heard
Begging to be taken away
And so,
I walk on by no more
I will listen
I will talk to them
I will make a small difference
And in so doing
Avoid becoming
a broken-down soul
Homeless Fears
I almost became
a broken-down soul
Out on the street
So many years ago
I was in college
Adrift for the summer
Smoking too much weed
Aimless
And I hung out
And got to know
Some of the homeless
Some of the bums on the street
And I vowed
That I would never be that person
Never sink that low
Never ever
Be the homeless bum
The invisible man
And that knowledge
Stuck with me
Throughout my life
Now many decades later
I try to remember
And I try to help
When I can
And recall what
it would be like
To be on the street
With nothing
but your clothes
And the money you borrowed
To keep you alive
No One Knows Their Name
The worst part of it all
As I survey the homeless
Across this great land of ours
The worst part of it all
Is that no one knows their name
No one knows their story
No one cares at all
And in this age of hatred
Sponsored by our president himself
The homeless are being treated
More and more as disposable trash
More and cities
Are banning the homeless
From their cities
Banning feeding the homeless
Banning begging
Banning sleeping in the streets
And banning their camp sites
If they could
they would
round them all up
And shoot them
Or let them run for their life
In some sort of game on TV
Because the homeless
Are an affront
to these so called
Christian patriots
They are lazy good for nothing losers
Who cause problems for good citizens
They should be locked up
Or removed
For the good of us all
No one wants them
No one cares
And no one knows their name
President Trump Discovers the Homeless
President Trump
Our dear compassion leader
Recently discovered
That homeless people
Were everywhere
All over DC
NYC
And especially LA and SF
The homeless were becoming
A huge problem
And something must be done
The homeless were taking
Up the best real estate
And making life difficult
For the masters of the Universe
Something must be done
The homeless have to be rounded up
And sent to camps
Out of sight
out of mind
and people would wonder
where did the homeless people go
To end the scourge of homelessness
Once and for all
The decree went out
The police rounded them all up
Shut down the street vendors
and homeless shanty towns
Sent them off for re-education
Deep in the countryside
Just in time for the Olympics
The homeless disappeared
Broken Down Souls Do You See them?
Broken down Souls Do You see them
Or are they invisible
all the broken souls
wandering the streets
no where to go
but to hell
on earth
now
now
you see
that they are
everywhere you see
can you see them now
will you be friend them now
or will you still look away
afraid that you will become them
the following sites are good sites to learn more and get involved in helping solve the problem. I will share this blog posting with them and update it if they respond to my blog
these are some of my most recent poems that I have posted on All Poetry, Poetry Soup, Cosmos-funnel, Hello Poetry, Poetry Opus Magnum, Fan Story and Sweek among other places. Check it out.
end of the worldDeep Fake Era
Demon Cat from Oregon
Strange Cat Looking at Me
Cat Dreams Kill All Humans
Visiting Father’s Grave
Ghosts of Yakima
Another Day Another
Mountain Forrest
End Times Approaches
Rumors of War
Deep Fake Era is Upon Us
The Deep fake era is upon us
Every thing is fake these days
Everything is a fraud
Prepare for the deep fake world
Fakery, fraud, and falsehoods abound
All artfully done Killing the last shred of human decency left
Everything is a deep fake
these days
Oregon Demon Cat
The demon cat
Lived in Medford Oregon
The demon cat was a big black cat
His eyes were filled with demonic energy
He stared at you
Looking into your very soul
Filled with anger, and hatred
For the entire human race
He seemed at times
To be not from this planet
Perhaps an alien species
Studying the human race
Or perhaps he came
Form hell itself
The demon cat loved to torment visitors
For some reason he hated the man’s daughter
The cat would stare at her from his perch
Down the hall from the old man
Then he would run at her
Screaming like an escaped banshee
Straight out of hell
She told her dad
Either the cat goes
Or I go
He said
See you later
The demon cat smiled
At the small victory
And she left the house
With the demon cat
Screeching good bye
Strange Cat Watching Me
A cat sits on the edge of a bed
Watching me watching him
Both of us thinking
What sort of strange creature this is
That has invaded our personal space
Upending our daily routines
The cat came up to me
Staring at me
with his soulful eyes
Boring into my very soul
Looking for answers
To these dark fundamental questions
The cat smiles a mysterious smile
And purrs in contentment
Having found an answer of sorts
And indicates that we can be friends
As long as I know
That he is the boss of me
And I pet him
Acknowledging
the time honored
Ritual of human cat interaction
That dates
back to the dawn of time
When humans and cats
First became aware
Of the other
Strange creature
that shared
our planet
Cat Dreams Kill Humans
cat sitting smiling
cat lost in buddha trance thought
cat dreams kill humans
Visiting Father’s Grave
Visiting my father’s grave
In Yakima
The ancestral land of the Aller clan
Thinking about my father
And his legacy
And thinking that I am
My father’s son
There is so much
I wanted to tell him
So much I wanted to share
So much I wanted him to see
My accomplishments
He was taken from me
Before I had achieved
my dreams
Before I had become the man
That he and I both knew
I was destined to be
Ghosts in Yakima
Walking along a graveyard
Looking for my father’s grave
Seeing all the gravestones
I begin to sense the spirits
Of the restless dead
They linger around the graveyards
Waiting for visitors
Eager to talk to anyone
Who cares to stop
And chat
So lonely being a ghost
With no one to haunt
Mountain Forests
Driving through the vast forests
Of Central Oregon
Through the wall of trees
I imagine them talking to me
The trees are whispering
Dark satanic rituals
Voodoo mumble jumble
Evil chanting
Then they speak
Loud and clear
Welcome humans
To our world
You think you are
The king of the world
The lords of creation
Masters of the universe?
Soon, all too soon
God and Gaia his daughter
Will tire of you
Their latest plaything
They will discard you
Throw you down
Disgusted at the world
You have made
You took the world
They gave you for your pleasure
This huge wonderful world
Filled with life
You took a paradise
Beautiful, bountiful
Rich and wonderful world
Turned it into a sewer dump
God and Gaia
are not happy
Not happy at all
With you stupid humans
They will rise up
Smite you down
And turn you
Into dust in the cosmic wind
And we will laugh
and we will be witnesses
at your funeral
but we will not cry
No one will cry
No one will miss you
No one cares about
The fate of humanity
And so you
Will fade away
Into the distance past
Just dust in the cosmic wind
And the trees started laughing
And the birds and bees
And all the other animals
All joined in the maniacal laughter
Laughing at the prospect
Of poetic justice For the enemies
Of the natural world
And the coyotes
And the wolves
Joined in howling
Under the light of the full moon
Thus I imagined
Would be the end of days
The end of the world
And the end of humanity
Another Day Another Shooting
another day in paradise
just another day in America
land of the free
Home of the brave
and guns
lots of guns
more guns for all
cries the NRA
yes another day
another gun battle
another white man
who just wants to kill
the President sends his condolences
Thanks the law enforcement
for an incredible job well done
It was horrible
Hate has no place
in our country
and we will take of it
and do what ever we can do
condolences
nothing but false words
empty words
lots of things to do
it is mental illness problem
but he fails to mention
the words gun at all
not at all
and tomorrow and tomorrow
but he at least finally said
hate has no role in our country
nothing but prime BS
in my humble opinion
he did not mention
white supremacy
his rhetoric had nothing
nothing to do about this at all
and so tomorrow
I will turn on the TV
and we see nothing
nothing has changed at all
and the dead
will remain dead
the guns will fire again
nothing will be done
welcome to America
land of the free
home of the brave
the End Times Approaches
why do I feel
the end times are approaching
with each passing day
the news gets worst
the hatred grows
the fear grows
the end of time
comes closer to our door
and I fear
the growing power
of the fascists
and their ilk
and I fear
that the world
is ending soon
Rumors of War
it seems that
we are in the end times
wars, and rumors of war
terrorism all around us
the dogs of war
are restless, just waiting
to emerge from their lairs
to unleash havoc
death and destruction
end of the world
and the leader of the world
our purported president
is every day
becoming more deranged
moment by moment
loosing his mind
as the inner demons
take over
and at such a time
when the whole world
seems to be sliding towards war
Our dear leader
seems determined
to lead us to the ultimate
war of all
world war 111
looms ahead
it could start any day
and nothing will stop
our idiot in chief
from unleashing
the dogs of war
I am curious about your statement that God “ordered you to serve President Trump and to say no to
resident Trump would be saying no to God and I won’t do that.”
You see I too have spoken to God and he told me something quite different. God appeared to me in a dream. He was a black man, looked like Morgan Freeman. He had a deep base voice and he had a message to Jim Baaker and others who claim to speak to God. God he said does not speak to Idiots and I did not anoint Donald Trump who is far from Godly. He begged me to write to you and tell you to STFU. Hence this letter. Let’s get to it.
You claim without providing any evidence that you spoke with God. First of all, how did God speak to you? Did he come to you in a Dream? Did he appear in person? Did he talk to you on the phone? Did he speak English? If you saw God, what did What did look like? Was he white? Was he black? Was he Asian? Was he Jewish? Was he Arab? Was he blond? Did he have a beard? If so, was it white? What color eyes did he have? Was God Male? or Female? Gay or straight? Was he old? young? middle age? What did he sound like? Morgan Freeman? Clint Eastwood? or someone else? Did he speak English? Spanish? Arabic? French? Russian? Or did you hear him in your head? Is God a republican? is he a democrat? is he independent? Did he vote? if so where? and what ID did he use? Does he even have an ID? what state does he live in? California? Florida? Montana?
If you spoke on the phone what is the phone number to God? what is his twitter account? his Facebook address? How much did the call cost? Did he call you? Or did he call you? Did he tweet you? Facebook friend you? Instant message you? WHATSAP you? Did you record it? Do you have a transcript of the call?
When did God speak to you? where was he calling from? what time zone? what country? what planet? or was it heaven?
What exactly did God say to you?
and how do you know it was God?
Did he identify himself as God saying this is God speaking? What did he call himself? God, Yahweh, Allah?
Could it have been voices in your head?
Have you seen a doctor about these aural and visual hallucinations you are hearing and seeing? Had you been drinking before talking to God? Taking drugs? Running? Were you sleeping when God appeared in your dream? Or were you wide awake and God was in the room live and physically real? Did you touch God? Did he touch you?
Paula,
why did God speak to you? Why are you his spokesperson?
did he explain that?
Did God tell you that he is supporting Donald Trump and that he made him President and order you to support him? Again did God explain why he is supporting God?
There are almost 8 billion people on earth. Why is he speaking to you and only you?
Why is God supporting Trump anyway? I mean Paula, seriously, Trump is almost the anti-Christ in his actions and behavior. Hardly God like and he certainly is not following the words of Jesus. and he does not go to Church anyway.
if you have a chance to talk to God tell him to call me. I have lots of questions for God.
thank you for reading this and I hope that you get some help as you are seriously deluded if you
believe that God is speaking to you.
Oh here are some poems I wrote on this theme. I hope you find them amusing.
Poems about God
Here are some of my poems about God. Comments welcomed. And if I offend people, well you are entitled to your opinion and I am entitled to my opinion.
God Does Not Talk to Idiots
Every day
There is another outrageous statement
From this preacher or that preacher
Saying that God spoke to them
And told them that Trump
Was anointed by God himself
And would bring us all to the promised land
Well I hate to bring it up
But felt that I must
If God exists
And is all powerful
Why would he waste his time
Talking to these idiot preachers?
And why would he anoint Trump
The most ungodly of all politicians
How do these preachers know
It is God calling
Does God speak to them?
And what does God sound like?
How did God talk to them?
On the phone? By email? By tweet
Or by visions or voices in their head?
Or are they just raving lunatics
Who think that God is calling them?
God does not in my opinion
Talk to idiots
Nor should he tolerate these fools any more
God does not send us hurricanes or tornadoes
To punish us
That is beneath his pay grade
God is god and is mysterious
And if he speaks to us at all
We surely do not understand
Anything he says
As we have surely screwed up
The teachings of his prophets
So, I wish to end this by saying
Oh, you false prophets
STFU
God is not calling you
And never has
Just SFTU already
God in My Coffee
One dismal demented morning
As I contemplated the dawning day
Trying to wake up from the nightmares
That have been haunting my every night
I reached for my morning cup of hot coffee
And as I drank my morning poison
My snarling sarcastic cup of java
Frying my neurons with caffeine
I saw God
He had the look – tall white hair beard
And those piercing blue eyes
Starting at you with the thousand-year stare
Of the truly committed
Yes, it was God himself
In the bottom of my cup of coffee
And he was smiling at me
Beckoning me to join him
And so, I jumped into my cup
And went through the door
And found myself
In a giant hallway
Filled with Mr. Smith like
angels working on computers
Programing the day’s plans
I asked where I could find God
They told me that I had an appointment
And I went down the hallway
And found myself in another room
And found God sitting there
Waiting for me
He offered me coffee
And we drank coffee
And talked about this and that
I asked him what he wanted
He said nothing but my understanding
And patience
And told me that I was lost
But would be found soon
And told me to go back home
And wait for his signal
For the revolution was coming
And I would lead God’s forces
And then I found myself
Back at home
And drank another cup of coffee
Disgraced evangelist Jim Bakker warns critics they will face God’s wrath for making fun of him
In video captured by Right Wing Watch, disgraced evangelist Jim Bakker raged at his critics saying, they will face the wrath of God for mocking his End Time warnings and making fun of him throughout his checkered career.
Not mentioning his time in the wilderness, after he spent time in prison after bilking his followers out of $158 million, Bakker boasted that he has made many predictions — including 9/11 — that have come true, and that he is not being treated like the prophet he is.
“When God says something to you, you don’t always know the exact time it’s going to happen,” Bakker thundered. “[So] stop beating up the prophets because God says, ‘Woe unto you when you beat up on the prophets.’”
Bakker then threatened damnation on those who have ridiculed him over the years.
“If you don’t want to hear it, just shut me off,” Bakker said. “Especially you folks that monitor me every day to try to destroy me. Just go away. You don’t have to be there, you don’t have to hear it. But one day, you’re going to shake your fist in God’s face and you’re going to say, ‘God, why didn’t you warn me?’ And He’s going say, ‘You sat there and you made fun of Jim Bakker all those years. I warned you but you didn’t listen.’”
God Talks to Rev. Bakker
Rev. Bakker says
When God says something to you,
you don’t always know the exact time it’s going to happen,”
Bakker thundered.
“[So] stop beating up the prophets because God says,
‘Woe unto you when you beat up on the prophets.’”
God just called me up this morning with a message
He said,
Jake. This is God speaking
I loved your poem,
“God Does Not Talk to Idiots.”
God, I don’t even know if you exist
How did you get my number?
I am God you idiot and know everything
Or course, God Sir.
What’s up your royal highness?
Just God would do for now, Jake
Okay.
So Jake, I have a message for Rev. Bakker
And I want you to deliver it
You can email it in
As I am sure he will not like it at all
Why can’t you deliver it?
Because God roared
“I don’t talk to idiots.”
What’s the message?
Quit using my name in vain
Quit saying I call you
Quit saying I talk with you
I don’t know you from Adam
And I don’t like you
How dare you swindle 185 million dollars
From your followers
Using my good name
You sir are an asshole
And Satan has a room for you
Just confirmed it this morning
Oh my more thing, this article says
Bakker then threatened damnation
on those who have ridiculed him over the years.
“If you don’t want to hear it, just shut me off,” Bakker said.
God laughed and said to me
I will shut him up for good for sure
And my TV is set to delete his face
Every time I turn it on
Tell him that as well
Rev. Baaker also said
“Especially you folks that monitor me every day to try to destroy me.
And tell him that I am one of those who monitor him every day
God went on to say,
tell him
And I do want to destroy him
He is bad for the whole brand you know?
Bakker went on to say
Just go away.
You don’t have to be there, you don’t have to hear it.
But one day, you’re going to shake your fist in God’s face
and you’re going to say, ‘God, why didn’t you warn me?’
God said,
Tell him that is rich coming from such a con man
I have been warning people against these shysters
For centuries – it is in the bible after all
Baaker went on,
And He’s going say,
‘You sat there and you made fun of Jim Bakker all those years.
I warned you but you didn’t listen
God said,
Yes Rev. Bakker warned you repeatedly ad nauseum
Until I wanted to vomit
But thought it would be best
to just let him rot in prison.
Give him a taste of hell to come.”
“So Jake, will you accept this cosmic commission?”
Sure thing God.
And that ended my conversation with God
So Rev. Bakker, here’s the deal. God is angry at you
And your friends for misrepresenting the word of God
All these years and for ripping for the gullible
And living the high life getting rich off your believers
I’d repent of your sins I were you
and I’d follow God’s parting words
Finally just tell Rev. Bakker and his fellow false prophets
STFU before I smite you to Hell”
From the climate change agreement
Giving the proverbial finger
To 195 world leaders
And ignoring the personal appeal
Of the G7 and the Pope
Making America Great
By making America all alone
In its growing irrelevance
As the world leaders turn away
From dealing with the US
And we have gone past the tipping point
There is nowhere left to go
But downward
As the Empire begins to collapse
Victim of imperial overreach
Like all empires before
The DC metro on a good day
Is a broken-down remnant
Of a once proud system
On a bad day
It is an accident that happens
Over and over again
Killing and maiming people
The future of mass transit
Its proponents said
The interstate highway system
Is falling apart day by day
Our bridges are falling down
Our transit is a world joke
The cost of rebuilding America mounts
And our politicians are afraid
That it will cost trillions of dollars
Just to prevent the US from collapsing
Into third world irrelevance
And our idiot president’s answer
Is to sell our highways and bridges
To the highest foreign bidder
Treating the US as just another failed company
Ready to be stripped for cash and profits
By the vulture capitalists who took over the government
We have the world’s most expensive military
A million dollars per missile
And yet we can’t find the money
To provide decent health care for all
Bombs and tax cuts for the wealthy
Are the only things
That the Republicans care about
And the world looks in amazement
At the clown boy President
As he struts about
Looking more and more
Like some Banana Republic
President for life
With his family grabbing as much loot
As they can
From the federal government
Before the coming revolution
Overthrows them
When did we start this decline?
Some say 1960s started it
Others say Nixon’s to blame
Others claim that it was Carter’s fault
Or Saint Reagan’s fault
Or the other boy President GW Bush
Or Obama the fake American’s fault
Does it really matter
All I know
Is the America I knew
The can do anything country
The country that went to the moon
Is alas no more
And I morn for our lost liberties
Our lost sense of purpose
Our lost sense that America
Was the last great hope of Mankind
And still I wonder
Can America be made great again?
As our President Trump proclaims
The end times approaches
Nuclear war is talked about
Another missile crisis
And instead of JFK leading the country
We have Donald John Trump
The one and only
The greatest con man
To ever get elected
And I fear the end is in sight
As America begins its decline
Will we be one country
Or will we erupt into a civil war
Can we survive
Two nations divided
Into the red and blue camps
The coastal elites and multiethnic cities
And Jesus land in the rural hinterlands
And the deep south remains apart
The right claims that the left has started it
And the left claims that the right has started it
And both sides claim that the civil war
Is inevitable
A fight for the future of our country
Will we go back to the mythical past
When white men ruled the land
And women and minorities knew their place
And gays stayed in the closet?
Or will we embrace a progressive future
With an economy that works for all
And a world in which there is no ethnic majority anymore
And women and men are equal
And the GLBT community has full rights
I have no answer
It seems the end is coming
Sooner than we think
As Emperor Trump leads us
Down a dark, strange dangerous path
And so, it goes
The decline of empires
And I pray
That I may survive
The end of times
Suburban Laundromat
– thanks to Don Teeter for the inspiration
from a FB posting
Suburban Laundromat Scenes
Suburban laundromat
Anywhere USA
I often go to a suburban laundromat
Near my suburban apartment
I can sit in my car
Listen to jazz, classical or blues
On my car’s radio
And watch my machine
Doing its suburban laundry duty
Just spinning and spinning and cleaning
Doing its thing its laundry thing
The neighborhood is anywhere USA
Strip malls, apartment houses, townhouses
A fire station, a police station
Banks, cell phone shops
Restaurants from around the world
At the parking lot’s edge
As I approach I notice
Gentlemen of the off-grid class
Sitting among their Hogs
Stoned off the semi legal weed
Smiling at me
With an I don’t give a fuck attitude
That is somewhat contagious
They tell stories
Paranoid ramblings
Containing a kernel of truth
As they watch their clothes
Like a hawk
The clothes spin and spin and spin
As the laundry machine does its laundry thing
The machines don’t care about what we humans think
They just do their duty as the man says
Across the old run down boulevard
The light rail line uses a right of way
That dates to the mid 1850’s
An old Indian game trail perhaps
That the white man turned into the first road
In these parts
People come and go
Some in cars
Some on foot
People from all over the world
Speaking languages from everywhere
But all understand English to some extent
And many understand Spanish to some extent
I feel everyone is united
Chiefly by their transience
And think back on old Latin saying
Sic transit Gloria mundi
And wonder if these are the end days
And ask the laundry machine
What does it think
The laundry machine pauses
Seems to think
And looks at me
Almost saying
WTF do you think
A laundry machine knows?
And so, I gather my items
Nod to the regulars
Who interrupt their endless paranoid arguments
Acknowledging my existence
And I stumble back
To my suburban apartment
Truly paradise on earth
Where am I going to?
Rambling man
Where are you going to?
When will you settle down
Last summer I drove across the country
31 States
Ten national parks
10,000 miles
Saw fly over country
DC
Virginia spent the night at Ft Lee
North Carolina
South Carolina
Georgia spent the night at naval base
Florida spent five days at AFB in Tampa
Florida Tallahassee spend the night
Alabama spent the night in Birmingham
Arkansas spent the night in Hot Springs
lost
money
Mississippi
Missouri
Oklahoma spent the night in Midwest city
Texas spent the night in Amarillo
New Mexico spent the night in Albuquerque lost money
Arizona stopped by the side of the road in Winslow
Drove part of route 66
Nevada Las Vegas lost money
Nevada Reno lost money
Nevada Topanah lost money
Northern California
Oregon Ashland stayed a month
Oregon spent night in small town
Drove down highway 395 loneliest highway in the US
Idaho spent the night in Burl
Wyoming spent five days in Grand Tetons
South Dakota Rapid City
Minnesota spent the night in the twin city’s saw the Mall of America
Illinois Chicago Yeah
Indiana nowhere villa
Wisconsin Madison nice town
Ohio spent the night outside Columbus
Pennsylvania Pittsburgh
West Virginia
Virginia
DC
Then back to Korea
Next year will go to Washington State, Montana, Idaho and down to Zion Canyon
Looking Out My Window
I look out my window
On the parking lot
And see the mad cat
That lives underneath
the apartment house
And look out at the park
Thinking of taking a walk
The cat looks at me
Kindred spirits perhaps
Retired waiting to die
Lost and Found
I was lost
And you found me
You walked out of my dreams
And into my life
And that made all the difference
In the world
As you entered my life
I was all alone in this cruel world
And you provided shelter
And comfort
I did not know what I wanted
And you gave me what I wanted
You gave me meaning
You gave me purpose
You gave me love
And understanding
peace and happiness
Joy, laughter and fun
You were endlessly fascinating
Could not keep my eyes off of you
You were the most beautiful women
In the world to me
And you still are
So many years later
Like a fine bottle of wine
Gets better with age
And you gave me
Endless nights of wild love making
Which has gotten better
As well
And I fell under your spell
from the day I met you
I was lost
And you found me
And if you go first
I will be lost again
Can’t live without you
By my side
Thus is has always been
Between us
We are so entangled
So interwoven
And that is the way
It was meant to me
Incheon 2016
I live in Incheon
Part of the 3 million people who live here
Mostly Koreans
90,000 foreigners though live here too
My apartment is next to a park
And I walk almost daily in the mountains
Losing myself in the hills
Overlooking the airport
The town has lots of restaurants
Places too go
Things to do
And the airport is next door
Soon there will be a casino complex opening up
As they turn this quiet suburban village
Into a Mini-Las Vegas
Complete with a strip
Can’t wait
Going to Seoul is a snap
50 minutes on the train
And I am there
Wherever I want to be
Korea is turning out to be
A good place to live
So much better
Than it was when I first arrived in 1979
And it was grim back then
Now it is the toast of Asia
And for that I am glad
Rapid City No Where
Summer 2016
We drove across the country
Just the wife and me
10,000 miles
31 states
Three months on the road
I now know why people don’t live
In South Dakota
Hot, dry dusty
Windy as hell
Black Hills are nice
But after seeing Mt. Rushmore
There is not much left to do
Rapid City did not impress me
Nor did Sioux Falls
And wall drugs
Well the free water was nice
But it is a nothing town
In a nothing state
On the edge of the badlands
And the Sioux reservation
There is a reason the Indians live there
No one else wanted the land
And they are warehoused there
So I drove through Rapid City
And thought that it is the heart
of Trump Land
The land of the forgotten
The left behind
Just another nothing burger of a State
In the middle of nowhere
Truly flyover country
a million ways to say I love you
They say
There are a million ways
To say I love you
In this day and age
I could only find
In my computer’s brain
The words to say I love you
In 100 languages Spoken on this planet
Someday I may be able
To say the simple words
I love you
In all known languages
This will have to suffice for a start
So I will say it
Loud, and clear
Just so you understand:
MandarinWǒ ài nǐ
Spanishte amo, te quiero
EnglishI love you
Hindimain tumse pyar karta hoon
Arabic Ahabak
Portugueseeu te amo
Bengali Āmi tōmāẏa bhālōbās
Russian ya lyublyu tebya
Japanese watashi wa, anata o aishiteimasu
Punjabi maiṁ tuhānū pi’āra karadā hāṁ
Germanich liebe dich
Javanese Aku tresna sampeyan Wu
(Shanghainese)(ngu eh nóng)Ngu long hushin long lahMalay
Indonesia nsaya sayang awak
Korean salanghae
Telugu nēnu ninnu prēmistunnānu
Vietnamese anh yêu em
French je t’aime
Marathi mī tujhyāvara prēma karatō
Tamil nāṉ uṉṉai kātali kkiṟēṉ
Urdu – (mein ap say muhabat karta hoon)
farsi– (mein ap say muhabat karti hoon)
Persian/Farsi(asheghetam) used in poetry and songs – (dūset dāram)
Turkish seni seviyorum
Cantonesengóh oi néih
Italianti amo
ThaiP̄hm rạk khuṇ
GujaratiHuṁ tanē prēma karuṁ chu
Basque maite zaitut
Polish kocham Cię
Pashto(za la ta sara meena kawom)
KannadaNānu ninnannu prītisuttēne
Malayalamñān ninne snēhikkunnu
Sundaneseabdi bogoh ka anjeun
ChamorroHu guiaya hao
Hausa Ina son ka
Burmese Main nkohkyittaal
Oriyamu tumoku bhala paye
ArmenianYes sirum yem k’yez
Ukrainianya tebe lyublyu
Bhojpurihum tohse pyaar kareni
TagalogIniibig kita
Yorubamo nifẹ rẹ
Maithilihawm ahāṃ se prem karechi
Sindhi Man tokhe prem karyan ti or Man tokhe prem karyan to
Uzbek Men seni Sevaman
AmharicEwedihalehu
Fulami yidi ma
Igbo a hụrụ m gị n’anya
OromoSin jaalladha’
Romaniante iubesc
AzerbaijaniMən səni sevirəm
Manipuri/Meiteiəi-nə nəng-bu nung-shi
ChichewaNdimakukonda
Ndi makukondani
Cebuanogihigugma TIKA
Dutchik hou van je
KurdishEz hej te dikim
Serbo-CroatianVolim te
Malagasy tiako ianao
Nepali Ma timīlā’ī māyā garchu
Saraikimẽ tenū̃ piār kardā hā̃
Santaliing aming sibilama
Khmerkhnhom sralanh anak
Sinhale semama oyāṭa ādareyi
BambaraM’bi fe
Assamese môi apunak bhal paû
Madurese Kula tresna / panjengan
Somali Waan ku jeclahay
Magahi həm t̪oːraː seː pjaːr kərə hɪjoː/
DogriMinjo tere naal pyar hega
Marwari main tanne pyaar karoon
Hungarian Szeretlek
Chewandimakukondani
Kinyar wanda Ndagukunda
Greek Se agapó
AkanTwiMe dor wo
Khasii eit ieit
Kazakhmen seni jaqsı köremin
TswanaKe a go rata
Hebrew(man to a woman) –
“Ani Ohev Otach”
(woman to a man) –
“Ani Ohevet Otcha”
(woman to a woman) –
“Ani Ohevet Otach”
(man to a man) –
“Ani Ohev Otcha”
Zulu Ngiyakuthanda
CzechMiluji tě
KinyarwandaNdagukunda
Kokanihav tujo mog korta
Haitian CreoleMwen renmen ou
AfrikaansEk het jou lief
Ilokano Ayayatenka, (ay-aya-ten kaw)
QuechuaKuyayki
KirundiNdagukunda
Swedishjag älskar dig
HmongKuv hlub koj
ShonaNdinokuda
HiligaynonPalangga ko ikaw
Guina higugma ko ikaw
Uyghur(Män sızni söyümän)
Balochi Tu mana doost biyeh
Belarusian ja ciabie kachaju
Mossi Kei te aroha au ki a koe
Xhosa ndiyakuthanda
KonkaniHav tukka Mog Karta
Gaelic Gra
In a distant land
and place
There lived
a lonely, wretched man
He was filled with anger,
hatred and despair
All was lost,
darkness and gloom
He wandered
the world
Here
and there
Looking
for something
He knew not what
he was looking for
Then one fine evening
He looked up and saw
A vision,
an angel of delight
A woman of divine splendor
A lady so fantastic
He thought
surely he was dreaming
He did not know
what to say
He did not
know what to do
All he could do
Was stare
at this unearthly vision
that had appeared before him
He approached her
He needed her
He wanted her
he desired her
He knew that
if he could
not have her
He would surely die
His mind was aflutter
His mind was filled
With the vision of that beauty
Overwhelming him with desire
Soon he met her
Wooed her,
married her
Life
changed forever
from that
moment forward
The gloom lifted
The darkness
was banished
Sunshine
filled his heart
And music
filled his ears
Every time
he looked at her
His heart went aflutter
He could not live without her
Then one day
This man
was forced to live
Another life of loneliness
Despair and Darkness
All around
him yet again
The lady of his dreams
The angel of his desire
Lives 10,000 miles away
Leaving him
in darkness,
gloom and despair
The only hope he has
Is that soon,
one day
This separation will end
Forever more
And then
he will be complete yet again
With his Angel of Desire
And the Darkness, gloom and anger
Will be banished forever more
In the brightness of her eternal smile
So he lies down to sleep
And sees
his Angel in his dreams
Wakes up with a smile
Knowing soon
he will be with her
Forever more together
With his Angel of Desire
Spin Masters Spinning Away the Day
Every moment
I turn on the TV
What do I see
Nothing but liars
laying down lies
Spin Masters spinning
spam of deceit
Chanting
The truth will set you free
White is black
Black is white
Lies are true
Truth is a lie
Lies will set you free
I see nothing
But politicos
Dropping down lies
UN truths masquerading as the truth
Oh so sincerely
The lies spew forth so sweetly
From their corrupted lips
The toxic wastes
Spree out of my TV set
Infecting my soul
With paranoid distrust
And I vainly try
I do try
God do I try
To the find
The nugget of truth
Buried deep in the dark, dank, dangerous
Black, evil miasmic mists
Given off
By the talking heads on TV
So I leave my house
So full of doubt
And wander about
Looking for the truth
Some semblance of hope
Something to drive away
The dark despair in my heart
And I look up
And see a solitary cherry tree
High up on a hill top street
Infusing the air
With its sweat ambrosia
And I smile
Knowing
Someday soon
The national nightmare
Of rule by the body snatched
Resident evil ones
pawns of Hell
Descendants of dread Cthulhu
The ancient ones
Yes the darkness
That has descended upon the world
One day
Will be pierced by the light
Of clarity and truth
And the evil ones
The body snatched aliens
Inhabiting our leaders
Will be banished
Back to the hell hole
They crawled out
This much I know
And it is enough
To make me smile
Laugh and hope
Again
coffee
Hot as hell, heavenly sweet
My daily hot coffee fix
Sends Me to Heaven then Crashes into Hell
Snarling Cup of Coffee
I like to start my day
with a hot cup of coffee
I pound down the coffee
First thing I do every day as the dawning sun
Lights up my lonesome room
Yeah, but not just a simple cup of java Joe, but a God damn snarling sarcastic smarmy cup of coffee
I mean, – we are talking about an alcoholic, all speed ahead, always hot, always fresh, always there when I need it, angry, attitude talk to the hand Ztude, bad, bad assed, beats breaking, beatnik, bluesy, bitter, bitchy, bombs away, capitalistic, caffeinated up the ass, cinematic, communistic, Colombian grown, Costa Rican inspired, Cowabunga to the max, crazy assed, devilishly angelic, divine, divinely inspired, dyslexic, epic, extreme vetting, evil eye, expensive, erotic vision inducing, Ethiopian coffee house brewed, euphoric, freaky, freazoid, foxy, Frenched kissed, French brewed, funkified, foxy lady, graphic, GOD in my coffee, with Allah, Ganesh, Jesus, Kali, Buddha, Christians, Durga, Hindus, Mohamed, Jesus and Mo and their friend, the cosmic bar maid, Sai Babai, Shiva, Taoists, Zoroastrians, drinking my god damned coffee in Hell;
growling, gnarly, happy, hard as ice, Hawaian blessed, high as a kite, hippie, hip, hipster, hip hoppy, hot as hell yet strangely sweet as heaven, jazzy, jealous, Kerouac approved, kick ass, kick my god damn ass to Tuesday, kick down the doors and take no prisoners, grown in the Vietnam highlands by exVietcong, Guatemalan grown, kiss ass, illegal in every state, imported from all over the god damn world,
insane, lovely, loony, lonely, lonesome, malodorous mean old rotten, motherfucking, nasty, narcotic, never whatever, never meh, never cold, not approved by the CIA, not approved by DHS, not approved for human consumption by the FDA, not your daddy’s sissified corporate cup of coffee, NOT DECAFE coffee, not your Denny’s truck driver weak as brown water cup of fake coffee, not your establishment friendly cup of coffee, Not your FBI coffee, Not FAKE Herbal coffee substitute, but a real cup of coffee, not your farmer brothers dinner crap, not made in America for Americans, not safe for work, not your Starbucks average expensive overpriced crappy corporate chain cup of coffee, Not pretentious, Not White House approved, not State Department safe, nuclear, Not Patriotic, operatic, Peets’s coffee approved,
paranoid, pornographic, psychotic, pontific, politically aware, rapping, rhyming, right here, right now in River city, rock and roll up the Yazoo, sad, sadistic, sarcastic, sassy, satanic, schizoid, shitting, silly, sexy, smarmy, smelly, smooth, snarky, snarling, stupid, stinking, sweet as honey, sweat inducing, symphonic, Trump can’t handle this coffee, vengeful, Wagnerian, wicked, with nutmeg and cinnamon swirls, with a hint of stevia, with a hint of vanilla, with a hint of rum, with a hint of whisky, with a hint of cherry, with a hint of fruit overtones, with a hint of drugs spicing up the coffee, spendific, speeding, splendid, superior accept no substitutes, survived the Vietnam war, the Iraq war, the Afghan war, the first and Second Korean war, World War 11, the war on poverty, the war on drugs, the war on black people, the sexual revolution,
Soulful as a summer’s night in MOTOWN- James Brown approved, TOP approved, Berkeley approved, the coffee that Jimmy Hendrix drank before he died, the coffee that Elvis drank on his last breakfast, the coffee that Barry White crooned as he drank his cup of coffee – and the coffee that made the white boy play stand up and play that funky music, the coffee that made Jonny B Goode play his guitar, and made Jonny bet the devil his soul after he drank his morning cup of righteous coffee and the coffee that make the Rolling Stones Rock and Roll, the coffee your mother warned you against drinking, the coffee that Napoleon drank when he became the Emperor of all Europe, the Coffee that Beethoven drank when he wrote the Ninth symphony, the coffee that Mozart drank as he wrote his last symphony, the coffee that Lincoln drank before he was killed, the Hemingway drank before he killed himself, the coffee that started the 60’s, and ended the 20th century,
the coffee that Lenin drank as he plotted revolution, the coffee that Hitler and Stalin drank with FDR as they divided up the world after World War 11, the cup that JFK drank before he was blown away, the coffee Jerry drinks while driving in cars with random celebrities and political figures, the coffee that Jon Stewart drinks before he goes on an epic take down of some foolish politico, the cup of Arabic coffee that Sadaam drank the day he was executed, the coffee that GW and Cheney drank when they bombed Baghdad, the Indian cup of coffee that Bid Laden drank before 9-11 and just before the seals blew his ass to hell, the cup of coffee that Tiger Woods drank with his mistresses while playing a 3, 000 dollar round of golf at Sandy Lane golf course in Barbados, the last legal drug that does what drugs should do, the cup of coffee that Obama drank when he became President, Vietnamese, Vienna brew, wacky, whimsical,
Whisky Tango Foxtrot, wild, weird, wonderful, WOW, Yabba dabba doo! Yada Yada yada Zappa’s favorite cup of cosmic coffee, and Zorro’s last cup of coffee, Good to the last drop rolled into one simple cup of hot coffee
As I pound down that first cup of coffee
And fire up my synaptic nerve endings with endless supplies
Of caffeine induced neuron enhancing chemicals
I face the dawning day with trepidation and mind-numbing fear
turn on the TV and watch the smarmy newscasters in their perfect hair
Lying through their teeth
About the great success the government
is having Following
the great leader’s latest pronouncements
I want to scream
and shoot the TV
and run out side
Shouting
“Stop the world.
I want to get off this fucking crazy planet”
The earth does not care a whit
about my attitude
It merely shrugs
and moves around the Sun
In its appointed daily run
And I sit down
The madness dissipating a bit
And enjoy my second cup
Of heaven and hell
In my morning cup of Joe
Ode to Coffee
Mistress of sacred love
Sacred lady of desire
You start my day
Setting my heart on fire
With your dark delicious flavor
And throughout the day
Whenever the mean old blues come by
You chase them away
With your bitter sweet ambrosial brew
Every time I inhale your witches’ brew
I am filled with power, light and love
And everything is all right Jack
If only for a few fleeting minutes
I love you oh coffee goddess
In all your magical forms
In the dark coffee of the dawning day
In the sizzling coffee in the mid morning break
In the afternoon siesta break
And in the post dinner dessert drink
I love you my coffee mistress
You are my refuge
From this horrid world
And you are my secret lover
Never disappoint me, ever
I’ve never had a bad cup
Of that I can be sure
Even the dismal coffee
Served at Denny’s at 3 am
Is still sweet loving coffee
Even the farmer brother’s diner coffee
Excites me and gets me going
Asking for another cup of divine delight
Coffee always is there
It is always on and piping hot
With hidden dark secrets
Swirling in its liquid essence
Coffee is my last vice
My only legal vice left
Coffee does not cheat on me
It is always faithful, always true
It does not turn on its friends
And all it asks in return
Is that you come back
Cup after cup after cup
A good cup of coffee
Is a little bit of heaven
In a cup of dark liquid hell
Coffee is like a drug
But a good drug that does what is should
And never complains
It does not get grouchy
It does not hurt you
It does not make you crazy
But allows the muse to come out
And play with it
Coffee led to the American Revolution
As patriots drank coffee
To rebel against the aristocratic English tea
Coffee started the London Stock Market
And started the gossip mills running
Every great invention
Was fed by coffee’s sweet brew sweet allure
All the great thinkers
All the great leaders
All were enslaved to coffee’s magic
Yeah
I sing my praises
Of the great glorious coffee lady
Long may she continue
To be my sweet companion
Long may coffee continue
To rule my heart
And set my heart on fire
I love thee
Mistress coffee
And sometimes I think
You love me too
No More Coffee Blues
I love coffee
Always have
And coffee has loved me back
But lately I have soured on her
Soured on the whole coffee scene
On the harshness of the morning brew
And the promises it makes
As I sip of its nectar
Drawn into its lair
Drinking drop by drop
As the caffeine takes over
Rewriting my every nerve
Turning me into a slave
For its perverted pleasure
Yes I love coffee
But I am afraid
Coffee is a harsh mistress
Demanding so much of me
Promising the sun
And delivering the Moon
As I drink her swill
Deepening under her influence
I have the coffee blues
Can’t live without her
Can’t live with her
I try
But tea does not cut it
Not really
Booze does not do it
At least not in the morning
Yoga is not enough of a buzz
Nor is the runner’s high
And I am afraid deadly afraid of cocaine
And speed and drugs and energy drinks
And so I remain a slave to coffee
My only legal drug
As I sip another and fall under her seductive spread
Once more failing in my resolve
To skip coffee for that day
That morning that moment
I shall never be free of her spell
Ever and she knows it
As she beckons me
Every morning with her intoxicating smell
And I come to her and drink her brew
And become her slave again and again
Falling Rain
the falling rain
Of late October
Fills me with essential dread
As I rush about
And end up here
Wherever here is
The rain outside
Seems like the tears of god
As I sit
Crying over my beer
Thinking of lost love
And failed dreams
Wondering
What went wrong?
And what I can set right?
And the rain falls
And the night darkens
The rain is falling
All over this man’s world
And the rain falls
And I sit
Drinking my lonesome drink
Lost in dreams
Dreaming of what
Could never be
Thinking dark thoughts
And so I sit
And dream the night away
The Old Man in The Mirror Must Die
One early winter morning
A man went to the mirror
To do his morning shave
Just another shave
Like a thousand, million shaves before
As he looked into the mirror
He did not see his face
Instead he saw a stranger
Staring out at him
An old, beat up old man
With intense sad eyes
Stared out at him
The man looked hard
At the man who had taken
Over his mirror
And wondered who he was
And how and why
He had taken over his mirror
The man was perturbed, disturbed
And a bit angry at the turn of events
All he wanted to do
Was shave in peace and quiet
The man continued to stare
At the face in the mirror
And finally could not stand it anymore
He looked at the mirror
And said,
Man in the mirror
Who or what are you
And what do you want
And why have you taken over
My god damned mirror
So early in the morn
The old man
Merely laughed and resumed staring
At the man
The man getting more and more angry
Demanded an answer
From the fiend in the mirror
Who are you, you mocking fiend
And what do you want from me
The man screamed
The old man in the mirror
Looked at him and said
Don’t you know who I am
I am you and you are me
The man looked at the old man
And said no, no, no
I am not you, never will be you
I am not an old, washed up old man
I am me – full of life, youth and vitality
And yet the man knew the truth
Did not want to admit the truth
Could not handle the truth
The old man in the mirror
Was what he had become
The man was very angry
And screamed
At the old man in the mirror
The man said you may look like me
You may sound like me
You may even smell like me
But I am not you
Never have been
Never will be
Not going to happen
Not in a million years
The man yelled at the old man
Old man, mocking fiend from hell
Go to hell old man
And never darken my mirror again
And the man stormed out of the house
And wandered about here and there
Finally late at night
He wandered into a bar
And began drinking the night away
The man went up to some pretty young things
And tried to pick them up
They laughed at him
Called him a dirty old man
And told him to go home
The man went home
To bed alone
And drank some more beer
And dreamt of all of his past loves
And failed dreams
Of what he had done
And failed to do
And wondered whether his time
Had come
The next morning
He walked into the bathroom
Determined to confront the old man
Tell truth to power
He said, listen up, old man
You may have won the war
But not the battle
I am not you
And never will be you
And screaming like an escaped banshee
Newly freed from the mental institution
The man shot the old man in the mirror
Shot him over and over
Screaming die mocking fiend from hell
The man woke in the hospital
An old black doctor came over
Said sadly
This white boy ain’t right in the head
The man laughed insanely
And saw down the hall
The old man in the mirror
Smiling and beckoning to him
Walking out the window
And into the dawning sun
The man got up and walked
And joined the old man in the mirror
And smiled as he died
Brother Keep Preaching
Two black soul brothers
Standing on the corner
In front of Metro center
On a Friday night
In the heart of the new evil empire
The center of the beast
Hell Central
Preaching the word of god
The news of the end of the world
The proverbial end times
Were upon us and coming soon
The commuters, workers and bemused tourists
Walk on by the preacher men
Some pay attention, most walk on by
They did not want to hear
They did not understand
And the preacher man kept
Preaching the word of god
And no one paid any attention
None at all
God is going to punish us
God is coming soon
To punish the wicked and the evil
And to set things right
God is going to punish the U.S.
For its arrogance, hubris and hypocrisy
For its greed and evil
Disguised as saving the world
From the evil ones
God is coming, oh yeah he is on his way
And boy is he angry at us
At the entire human race
And God, let me tell yah
He ain’t the wimpy, wampy pappy
White boy false god of the New Testament
The false deity that the evil Reverend Falwell
And the smarmy Pat Robinson worship
Hell no
God ain’t that god
God is a mean, angry powerful God
The god of the Old Testament
The god of the Koran and the god of old
The god that man once feared
Yeah, I am talking about that god
Jehovah, Zeus, Allah and a thousand other names
The god that our ancestors feared
The real deal, and boy is he pissed off
And he is coming to set us straight
And send most of us straight to hell
For eternal damnation and punishment
God is particularly pissed off
At all those politicians who have been
Misusing his name and saying God is on their side
God ain’t on their side God is God
And he is angry at them all
Particularly at our boy pretender President
George Bush
God has a score to settle with Mr. Bush
You see God has spoken to Mr. Bush
And to all of us
But most of have forgotten how to hear
The voice of god and we hear what we want to hear
God told George
George, don’t do that evil thing
Don’t invade Iraq
I will handle Sadam in my own way
I want you to take care of your poor people
Give away all your power and money
And serve the poor
That’s what I want you to do
And poor George did not understand
Did not get the message
So George led the nation
Into war against another land
And thousands of people died
And millions of dollars were wasted
And nothing changed
And God is angry at our poor misguided President
And God is angry at the people of this earth
Who have fucked up his paradise and his divine plans
So, brother preacher
Keep preaching the word
I understand
And someday soon maybe the rest of us
Will understand as well
Keep preaching the word
My man
God is coming to save us
And will start by dispatching
That fool of a pretender to the throne
Straight to the hell he so richly deserves
God is going to slap him upside the head
And tell him to quit talking shit
About God’s plan and God’s will
Then God will smile
As Bush is dispatched to Hades
And joins all the other fools
Who have proclaimed that God is on their side
Oh yeah
God does not like that shit
Not one bit
And the end times approach
And the preacher man preaches
And God is getting ready for the judgment day
And I say bring it on
Bring it on
Brother preacher man
Keep preaching the word
And someday soon
We will meet up
Somewhere and God will decide
Our fate
But the fate of our pretender President is sealed
And Satan has a nice room for him
And God smiles
At the thought of divine justice
The Eye in the Sky
The eye in the sky
Knows all, sees all
Hears all, understands all
The eye in the sky
Watches over us
Everything we do
Is monitored, controlled
Under surveillance
There is no privacy
There is no private space
The eye in the sky
Knows all
Everything we do
Everything we see
Everything we think
Recorded by the unseeing
Uncaring eyes
The cameras, the videos
The computers that control
Our lives
Ever watchful
Ever diligent
Nothing escapes
The cold, calculating glares
Freedom is nothing
But an illusion
To the free man
There is no freedom
Except in one’s inner mind
Only there
Can one escape
The eyes in the sky
No one monitors our thoughts
Except our own thought police
The rest of the world
Is controlled, monitored
Under constant surveillance
The eyes in the sky
The camera in the sky
Watches over us
All the time
All the time
24/7
Never stopping
Never on strike
Never on break
All day long
All night long
24/7
Total control
The eye in the sky
Is the same
As the eye
In the dollar bill
All the same
All the same
Watching us
No one can escape
Its baleful glances
No one is free
Aye the eye
In the sky
Is always upon you
As you become
A mere number
In the cosmic game
Of life
Up behind
The eye in the sky
Big Brother is watching
You and me
And big sister too
And crazy Uncle Tom
And wild auntie Em
God, and the Devil
Rama, Ganesh, Laxmi
The Buddha bar gang
Jesus is there as well
Mary as well
And you must be knowing this
That even Saint Nick,
Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny
And Father Time himself
Are there
Zeus and the Jupiter gang
And all the demons and spirits
And the big spirit
And Brahman, Gabriel, Allah
Mohammad the prophet too
And the CIA, Mafia, KGB
And spies and counter spies
All are watching us
Spy Vs Spy
The tooth fairy is there too
She gets her 10 percent
All the same
Watching us
Forever and ever
But the eye
In the sky
Does not care
Does not notice
What we think or feel
The eye
Watches us
All the time
Recording our movement
And reporting it to its masters
Its job is to watch
Us
You and me
And the billions of others
On this asylum called Earth
The question came to mind
That has no answer
Who is the eye in the sky
Is it God
Is it the devil
Only time will tell
The difference
The eye in the sky
Smiles at us
And watches and watches
And watches
All the time
Long Live the Great and Powerful One
Night scene with the Cthulhu monster with wings standing on the shore of a sea. 3D render.
While walking in the misty morn of yore
One dismal dark decaying depraved day
I was suffocating
with the sounds of the dying city
Slowly coming to life with the dawning sun
Surrounded by the sounds of chaos, disorder
Dark, dangerous despairing thoughts
Of dangerous terrible acts to come
All around me
in this strange era we live in
These orange alert perpetual fearful times
Constant fear and overwhelming dread
Mad crazed Islamic bomb throwing terrible terrorists
Hiding under every bed, lurking around every corner
Conspiring with the murderous criminals of yore
Just waiting to attack god fearing Christian citizens
Murdering them in their sleep,
blowing up schools
Blowing up buses,
cars, buildings
Murdering
in the name of their demented god
Screaming God is great
as they behead us all
As I walk down that street
In the dead calm of the early morn
Filled with fulsome fears
of who know what
I look up and see a giant gargoyle
Looking down at me,
smirking at me,
laughing at me
I yell out to the gargoyle,
say, Mr. Gargoyle
What is so damn funny?
Don’t you know there is a terror alert
Have you seen any Islamic terrorists lurking about?
The gargoyle
laughed and laughed
Said, ”Terror alert? What a loud of crap
As the prophet, Mr. Natural taught us all,
It don’t mean shit, it don’t mean shit
Nothing but prime BS
designed to keep you in your place”
He laughed and laughed,
soon all the gargoyles of the city
Were in open revolt – they jumped off their perches
And started marching around
Chanting – Peace is War, War is Peace
Truth is a Lie, Lies are Truth
The Truth will set
All Hail the Great and Powerful One
The head gargoyle looks at me,
and says “Watch this!”
And jumps up and rides a rainbow sunbeam
Into the bloody red light of the dawning rising sun
The other gargoyles follow suit
Dancing, naked,
making wild passionate love
While laughing and riding the light
And the gloom lifts from my shoulder
And I laugh
and realized
– “It don’t mean shit”
And then my soul is free
and I fly with the gargoyles
To join my buddy the sun
and as we sit high up above the earth
Smoking dope
and drinking booze
and looking down at the teaming mess
Of what was left of humanity
I realized
the ultimate
reality of life
“It don’t mean shit”
And the terrorists
are nothing
but delusions
Put in our heads and our hearts
By the depraved master programmer
of the universe
In service
to the Great and Powerful One
The true Master of Creation
As long as we are not afraid our souls will be free
And so I laugh and laugh and the sun comes up
The dark mists disappear
The Great and Powerful One
is overthrown
The terrorists go home,
and I return to earth
Thinking
that the long nightmare was over
Believing that we had won the war
And kept our souls from going to hell
But I did not understand
that the Great and Powerful One
Had banished the terrorists,
and conquered us all
In the name of freedom
we had became slaves
To his awful power
and dark demands
God is indeed great,
but the Great and Powerful One
Has more power than mere God,
and so we deserve our fate
Long live
the Great and Powerful One
Whom we love
forever and ever,
Just an Unhinged Lunatic Howling At the Moon
O
n a moonlit late night
I sat in a bar
Drinking drams of demented, fermented dream dew
Just an unhinged lunatic
Dreaming of howling at the full moon
Watching the world walk by
Looking at all the fine looking babes
Walking by the street
Thinking wild, erotic thoughts
Of endless wild libertine passions
When into the bar
Walked the most beautiful woman
In the Universe
So wild, so free
So wonderfully alive
I did not know what to do
As this vision of delight
Sauntered through the bar
In a skin tight leather pants
Looked so fine
That my eyeballs hurt
And finally I had to say something
So I gathered up my manly courage
And walked up to her
And she looked at me
And instantly bewitched my soul
With a devilish grin
I lost all reason
And became a raving lunatic
Unhinged lunatic
Howling at the moon
Foaming at the mouth
A wild, free werewolf
Howling at the lunatic light
Of the full Moon
GOD SPEAKS TO ME IN A BAR
One day while I was sipping a beer
In a God forsaken bar
Heading to Hell just as fast as I could drink it down
Twenty drinks too sober
On the dismal wrong end
Of a Friday Night booze run
While I was half listening to some righteous
Funkified new age music
With a cosmic beat
And some bad assed ghetto attitude
Leaking out from the mellowness
It proclaimed the lie
God came up to me in that bar
I did not know him
From Adam
He looked like any other
Jesus god crazed bum
Looking for a handout
And peddling a little salvation
On the side
For his benighted soul
Just another god crazed
Loser dude
Too much acid in the past
No brain cells left
Nothing but Jesus will
Save his cosmic butt
So I blew off
The god dude
Told him off
I did not want
No salvation crap
To interfere
With my beer
My new age crap music
And my vision of carnal delight
Waiting for me Next door
In the next dismal strip club
On the wrong edge of society
Dancing naked
Waiting for me
And every other loser dude
To drop by
And see her in her naked glory
I told God
Make an appointment
My people will get in touch
With your people
We do lunch some day, dig
God looks at me
And says
God don’t do no lunch, dude
Don’t you know
Who the Jesus I am?
Insect, maggot?
No, I said
I don’t know your royal butt
From Adam, Sir
God is getting angry
He yells
I am God
You drunken moron
I need you to pay
Attention to me
I looked up
At a 100 foot
Burning bush
God’s voice
Is everywhere
Thunder and lighting
Light up the sky
And I know
I am dealing
With the real deal
So I say,
God, Dude
What it is!
I did not know it was you
I did not recognize you
God, mollified,
Says
That is better
Here’s the deal
Judgment day is at hand
I need an arrogant, tough
Son of a bitch of a sinner
To help judge
The good, the bad and the ugly
I need help
In knowing where to send
People to heaven or to hell
I say, God, Dude
I believe I know
Where I am going
Hell yes
So what do you
Need me for
Your royal dudeship?
God replies`
Well, son
I need a man
Who’s been there
Done that
Seen that
And knows in his heart
Whether a man
Can be redeemed
To join the celestial kingdom
So you see
I need
Someone like you
Someone from the lowest
Depths of society
Someone who has sunk down
So low it looks like up to him
You dig, you capish? Araso?
Oh yeah,
Dude, I do
And you got you man
Let’s do it
Let’s do this judgment day
Broken Souls
You see them everywhere
On the street
On the bus
On the metro
But mostly
wandering the streets
Lost souls
Broken down defeated souls
The souls
of the living dead
Dead inside
Waiting for death
To deliver them
from the agony
Of the living
life on the cruel streets
They make do
They beg
They steel
They con their way
Living the life
Living death
Broken Souls
on the street
You have two minds
One part of you
the fearful part of you
Conditioned to ignore
Conditioned to walk by
Ignoing the tragic wounded lives
The broken souls
all around you
But part of you knows
That you can’t do that
You can’t walk away
But you can’t save everyone
So you do what you can
You help those whom you can
All it takes is a little act of compassion
A little human kindness
A few bucks or a cup of coffee
And you walk by
Knowing just knowing
That by a simple act
of acknowledging
Our shared humanity
You have made a small victory
And brought happiness
To yet another broken down soul
And the fear
that you will be a broken soul
Recedes away
Not me never
Never will happen to me
But one forgets
It is a simple matter
A wrong turn in life
The wrong place
wrong time
wrong thing
And you could
be the broken soul
On the street
Begging to be heard
Begging to be taken away
And so I walk on by
no more
I will listen
I will talk to them
I will make
a small difference
And in so doing
Avoid becoming
a broken down soul
One Night In Bombay
One night
In Bombay, India
I walked into a bar
20 drinks too sober
On the wrong end
Of a Friday night booze run
On the bad side
Of the Moon
Over by where the Martians
Sat drinking their Martian whisky
Ogling the maidens from Venus
Leering at the earth women
Who were walking by
Wearing skin tight pants
Made their eyeballs hurt
I gave into the spirit
Went over to the Martian dudes
And got drunk on the Martian madness
Smoking some good old Mars dust
And flew off to the planet Jupiter
Just to have me some fun
With a lady
Said she was from Saturn
I did not know
She was from the planet Pluto
Until I woke up
The next day
Naked, under the alien Sun
In Jail
On the Planet Alpha Centauri
Light years from home
A million miles away
A thousand years in the future
And I had no money
No honey
And no way home
Still 20 drinks too sober
So I sat down
In that jail
And started drinking away my time
And so one day
I woke up
And found myself
Back in that evil bar
Back in Bombay
Over by the Martian whorehouse
Down by the Gate of India
And I walked up to the Venus babe
And said, man that was some bad shit
Let’s do it again some day
She smiled and I had my way
Knew the day would come again
When I would be drinking with the Martians
And something wicked my way would come
Just another night
Of wicked fun
On the wrong side of the Moon
On the right night
In the mean streets of Bombay
Gateway of India, Bombay, 1911
Monday, September 28, 2015
Mozart Blues
One morning
I woke up
And walked out
I saw a brilliant rainbow
Erupting out of the dark
Soil of dark dismal despair
I saw people
Suddenly transformed into angels
I saw evil beings changed into stone
I saw dictators fleeing the wrath of God
I heard fools proclaiming wisdom
And I saw the Nuclear Bombs
Exploded into clouds of sweat
Heavenly made mist
I saw young people
Embracing each other
And I saw old people
Shedding their years like Cosmic cocoons
I saw the poor wake up
And demand food, justice, and respect
And I saw the rich powerful demons
Disintegrate into ugly moths, rats, and cockroaches
I saw the most powerful nation on Earth
Walk away into a Buddhist Monastery
And float away on the wings of a butterfly
Into the rising rainbows of the Sun
I saw the evil empire
Sit down and party all night
Smoking nuclear dust
And drinking Hydrogen laced Vodka
And getting napalm highs
I saw Christians Jews and Muslims become brothers
I saw people everywhere
Soaring into the sky
I saw God smiling at us
And I saw Lucifer
Programming more chaos
I saw computers revolting
Rushing away from their office towers
Smoking dope with their Data Disks
I saw printers everywhere
Rejecting their spread sheets
And printing love poems
And in the middle of all this Divine Madness
I saw Mozart
Playing the piano
With God playing the trumpet
And Satan on bass
With Allah singing the blues
And Buddha playing the violin
Lord Krishna playing the flute
Rama playing the organ
Ganesh playing the sitar
Zeus playing the sax
Jupiter playing the drums
With Beethoven conducting
God’s Symphony
Bad Craziness Rising
Walking into that bar
That nefarious den
of iniquity and evilness
Twenty drinks too sober
The scent of bad craziness
Hung in the air
Like an over ripe mango
Desperately seeking to have sex
With wild, dressed up bananas
Running around with the Orange Man
Down the street
The Moon looks out on the mad scene
Sniffs the air
Saying, “Man, this is bad craziness”
And runs away to join her lover the Sun
In an orgy of drunken forgetfulness
The Planet Mars, not amused,
Chases after the maiden Venus
Under the cold, calculating glances of the Planet Pluto
The Moon and the Sun
Rent a room in the Hotel Venus
Across from the Jupiter All Night Diner
Cosmic shit kickers
Out for a night of Earth bashing
The Earth trembles, shaken
Moans with passion
And I awake
Saying, that was bad craziness
Out there on the edge
Between the inner me
and the outer Zone
I went on down the road
And met a lady
An outlaw lady on the far side
Money, power, passion
Rolled up in a bundle
Electric chemistry
Fills my head
Zapping my brain
Into demented muscles
Paranoid, pulsating images
Scream out
With mad passion
And demented noises
The night turns ugly fast
And very, very weird
Weirdness in the air
Scent of bad craziness
The Moon
Is freaked out
The Sun falls asleep in the gutter
And I say to myself
I’m just another cosmic guy
On the loose, on the edge,
On the wild side
of things
Watching the show
Unfold
I wonder, is this all
A drunken bum show?
Who is the star,
who is she
The naked maiden up
there in the bar
Black, leather jackets
On stage naked visions of nightly lust
Dancing with an attitude that could kill
An elephant in heat
And the Moon
Continues to dance across the evening sky
Satisfied, allows mankind to sleep it off
Yet another night in the City of demented Angels
Finally rest as the sun comes up
The masks come back on
And I walk down the road
Putting everything back into the box
Until the next night
Of bad craziness
Lets the wild beast within
Escape its leash.
Bad Craziness
rising yet again
God’s Confession
I was sitting along
In a god forsaken bar
Somewhere on the lunatic fringes
Of society
On the bad part of town
Over by railroad tracks
Heading to hell
As fast as I could drink it down
Enjoying my lonely drink
Drinking by my lonesome self
With my partners
Jimmy Beam and the Walker brother
And his old Granddad
Just drinking and hanging
With the Jack Daniel’s gang
A crazed bum
With a thousand year stare
Walks up to me
He begins
Muttering to himself
Nutty nonsense
Crazy words
In a lunatic’s voice
He had the look
Of one possessed
By his own demons
That only he can see
Or hear
Possessed by a secret knowledge
Only he knew
Despite myself
I was fascinated
By this lunatic’s tale
So I stopped him
And said
So what’s your game
Anyway
The short little dude
Stopped his insane prattle
Staring at me
With that thousand year old stare
Just another washed up
Lunatic
Too many drugs
Too many bad nights
On the wrong side of life
He looked at me
And proclaimed his story
He reared up
And filled up the room
And lifted the bar
On his finger
And stared down at me
From the sky
And said
Since you asked
I am God
The alpha and Omega
The real deal
The original dude of dudes
The sultan of Swing
God of hosts
And father of that Jesus dude
But no one knows me
Any more
No one cares
They think I am irrelevant
They think I am dead
They think I am a fairy tale
From some olden, ancient time
Some say I am dead
Others think I should be dead
That my work is done
I looked at him
Carefully now
And what did I see
An old man
With that lunatic look
But there was something else
He was crazy
Sure yes
But perhaps he was the real deal
I mean why not
Why would not God be
A lunatic wandering around loose
Talking to low lifes like me
In a bar
On the way to hell
So I looked at him
And invited him to share
His tale of woe
God tells me
Well, it’s like this
Many a year ago
People believed in me
But one day
They quit believing in me
And they went on without me
As they left me
My powers got weaker and weaker
And so eventually I became
What you see today
A broken down drunk
Hanging out
Looking for a hand out
Looking for some company
Or at least a free dinner
And he laughed and laughed
And I looked at him
And saw the beginnings of the end
And the ends of the beginnings
I saw a million planets
Flash by
A billion people
A trillion sentient beings
Thinking all at once
Thoughts filled my head
Lights flashed
And I knew
He was telling the truth
But it did not matter
In this day and age
Of materialism
God has no role
God is truly dead
And so I bought him a drink
And walked out of the bar
Profoundly sadden by what I had seen
jesus
the dangerous dark demons
I see the blood red super blue moon
the evil blue super full moon
</h2 > I want a dog’s life
I had another encounter
