== an occasional series focusing on customer disservice which is rampant in America these days. More to follow as the mood hits me
Comments welcomed including your customer disservice award nominees. We have three award winners this week. Great Clips for the worst online check-in reservation system I have ever seen; Oregon Bottle Drop for creating such a convoluted system to recycling bottles that discourages recycling because who wants to put up with hassle; and three to the Entire Insurance industry. Now on to the Disservice awards!,
Great Clips’ unhelpful online non-reservation check-in system
update: I finally figured out how to use this customer unfriendly app. When you sign in, it puts you in line and gives you about two hours waiting time. When you arrive, there is no wait. the hair cut was pretty good, but the app needs work. I noticed all the other barber shops are using the same basic program rather than full on appointment systems which would be much more useful to their busy customers.
haircut
Here are my comments which I will post today on Yelp, Trip Adviser, and on-site
Bottom Line –the Great Clips online check system sucks big time. A total waste of time. Makes me wonder if their haircuts will suck too.
I tried to get a simple haircut yesterday in Medford, Oregon. All the barber shops are filled and require a week’s reservation and the cost is 30 dollars. Drop-in is not welcome. Several companies claim to have an online reservation system.
Great Clips company wins the award for the worst online application form ever designed. The idea was to let customers sign in before coming. Promising idea. Most such sites are 24/7 and allow you to make an appointment up to a week ahead of time allowing customers to schedule when it is convenient to come and providing providers with a schedule of appointments.
It seems that the developers of this system did not have a clue as to how to create an online appointment portal. It is not that difficult folks, many companies have done so, they all are available 24/7, and offer up to a week’s appointment slots, and the latest ones are multi-lingual to boot!
Nor did the clerk who recommended it have any idea that there is only a 15- minute window when the on-line check in is online accepting same day only check ins. To be fair, she was pleasant enough but just not that helpful in the end.
But what they set up was a service that is only available during business hours and only allows you to check in. As soon as you check it, the clock starts ticking. I wanted to go at 11 am By the time I created the account and signed it it was 10:15 and there was a 90-minute wait. There was no opportunity to change your reservation other than to cancel, which I did because I forgot to make it for two people. Nor could I create additional accounts for my family members or friends.
When I created my account and tried to make a reservation, they somehow set me up at two different stores and I had to cancel both and re-submit it to get back in line. When I tried to log in again at 1020, they closed the online portal .and the estimated wait time was two hours. If you drop in the wait time is three hours. if you go and come back you will still have to wait as they do not have a sign-in sheet at the door, but you could wait for a no-show, which they said was common. There were only two customers waiting ahead of us and two getting haircuts.
On the plus side the cost was reasonable – 18 dollars with the senior citizen discount.
They do offer to send you a text message reminder 15 minutes ahead of your time but only if you manage to get on their system in the 15 minutes it is open!
Somehow, I do not believe that their text message reminder will work
Tip to the developers.
Scrap this system and start over with a real appointment system that is available 24/7 in multiple languages. Or at the very least open it at 8 am for same-day check-in and perhaps allow people to check in for the next day.
If you were to create a system to discourage people from using your services, this would be it. Who wants to wait three hours for a damn hair cut? and only be allowed to check in during a 15-minute window when the system falsely advertises easy online check-in. Sadly, just more corporate weasel word BS which is par for the course for most American companies who see workers as “labor units” and customers as troublesome creatures that you have to tolerate.
And of course, there is no way to talk to a human being other than dropping by the store.
This is the worst customer service app I have encountered in my 68 years on Earth.
Kudos or something to the team that came up with this winning application!
sent to Great Clips will add their response if they ever bother to respond.
The second-place award goes to Bottle Drop Oregon who has designed such a convoluted difficult to use system that many people will just trash their bottles defeating the whole point of having a program in the first place.
update: when we finally figured it out, it was not too onerous a process. It took about 20 minutes to load the machines and get a receipt for payment. Made 12 dollars. Still, it is a needlessly burdensome solution and no doubt fewer people participate than in the old days of curbside pickup or grocery store drop offs.
If you were to design a system to make people not recycling bottles the Oregon Bottle Drop Program would fit the bill. The old system was based on curb side pickup and voluntary drop off at stores to pick up small amounts of cash deposits. The new system eliminated curbs pickup and required a lot of bureaucratic hoops to go through including having to buy special bags, and stickers and haul your bottles to specified collection stations and then wait a week to get paid. The adage, “if it ain’t broke why fix it?” applies here.
You have to create a bottle drop account to use the service. When you go to the site you cannot easily find the link to create an account, only a login screen. The Create an account screen is on a different website and I had to google that separately.
It took forty minutes to sign in on the site and if it were properly configuration should take 10 minutes.
Then I discovered that to use the service you have to purchase green bags with stickers and then put your bottles in their green bags. You cannot simply bring the bags to their center in anything other than their bags. Then you have to haul it to their site where you place it into their machine which counts up the bottles and credits your account within seven days. You can redeem your account balances at participating stores that have a bottle drop Kiosk. Costco has one.
So in the name of efficiency, they replaced a simple customer-friendly system with an overly bureaucratic complicated system. The result will be many people will just put their bottles in the trash which will go to the dump. Because at 10 cents a bottle, it is not worth the hassle of going through their system which is designed to discourage bottle recycling.
In short, Oregon Bottle Drop Company won the second-place award for the most unfriendly customer service product of the year.
Kudos or something.
sent to Oregon Bottle Drop and will add their response if they ever bother to respond.
The entire insurance industry
The third-place award goes to the entire insurance industry. The entire insurance industry is based on customer disservice. Here’s my free verse poem on the insurance scam as my nomination form.
WebApr 2, 2023 · Federal data shows that health insurance companies denied more than 49 millions claims in 2021, but customers appealed less than 0.2 percent of them. Investigative journalists at ProPublica…
Cigna carefully tracks how many patientclaims its medical directors handle each month. Twelve times a year, medical directors receive a scorecard in the form of a spreadsheet that shows just how fast they have cleared PXDX cases. Dopke, the doctor who turned down van Terheyden, rejected 121,000 claims in the first two months of 2022, according to …
I am writing to you to let you know how shoddy your Microsoft products truly are and pleading for you to finally fix the many bugs in the program. I have had enough with your shoddy products. I have been complaining to you for years, but nothing seems to change. The same chronic bugs in the program, the same random system errors that pop up from time to time, without warning, often losing data in strange ways.
I will probably migrate away to Google docs, which works without a flaw, or back to an Apple Mac which works great, but does not interface with Microsoft products as falsely advertised by both your corporation and Apple.
Why can’t you get Microsoft Word to work every time you turn it on? On a typical day, I encounter system crashes periodically throughout the time I am writing using Word. Usually minor, but often wiping out unsaved data without warning. Most commonly, things freeze up, and a spinning blue ball appears with the message “not responding” This typically lasts from 30 seconds to five minutes. When it keeps happening, I have to reboot my computer. Once, I tracked the error rates and concluded that on average I encountered errors 50 percent of the time while working on a document.
The last straw was this:
Yesterday, I copied some text into my daily journal, where I store my draft writing projects. I failed to double-check to ensure that I copied everything correctly. My mistake was to assume that Microsoft Word would not screw things up.
The copied text, for some reason, only computer nerds will understand, wiped out the entire document, replaced the copied text with the old text, and then added insult to injury, disabled the undo button. So, I lost everything I had written the last few days, even though I had saved everything. I tried to find a previous version in my file folder, but everything had the same copied text. And I could not recover it, the saved data was gone, to some computer graveyard where lost data goes to die, fortunately, I had posted some of it, and could go to a previous version created a few days earlier and could re-create 90 percent of what I had written. But it was so annoying, and again, I don’t understand at all why the copy and paste function went rogue on me and wiped out the entire document.
While I am on the subject of copy and paste, why does it often default to the last copied item, and does not copy the current text you are trying to copy? Sometimes you have to copy and paste
Three to five times before it finally copies correctly.
Another pet peeve, why does your num lock turns randomly converting text into random numbers? Often seems to be 666666, is that a sign of demonic possession, or an insider error coding joke?
That is all for now, I hope you found the letter amusing, but I hope you will finally fix these many glitches in the program which occur randomly, often without warning or even an error message.
Thank you. I would love to have someone contact me, but I assume, that you will ignore me and my complaints.
Previous letter
Another Letter to Microsoft
Dear Microsoft
I want to point out the many bugs in your Microsoft products. You have not yet addressed any of these bugs that have been plaguing your product for decades.
I have listed it by product category
The speech and dictation program works 90 percent of the time
On the plus side, your read-aloud function works well, and your dictation program is now 90 percent accurate as opposed to 10 percent accurate when it first came out a few years ago.
Edge
No longer defaults to a foreign language when logging in from overseas – long overdue fix
Edge used to default to a foreign language when logging in overseas. You have finally fixed this problem in the latest update. Thank you. Long overdue.
and your customized version actually has some great features. Much improved.
System-wide
Copy and paste issues
Your copy and paste function defaults to the last item copied. Sometimes you have to try it several times before it finally copies what you want it to copy. Very annoying and I have reported this on numerous occasions.
On a random basis, copy and replace the entire document and then disable the undo button, so you cannot recover the document unless you exit without saving it. Very annoying. Lost three days’ worth of work this week alone.
Search issues
Your internal search function is horrible. In a word when trying to search your document file, it usually gives you a result that may not be that relevant. Then, went you try to go to the file to open it, you often get an error message that there is a Dialogue box open, and you need to close it. But there is a dialogue box visible. However, I did find a workaround, just click on the search term, and then wait for the documents to load before trying to open them. The error occurs when you go to the listed documents first and try to open them, that’s when the non-existent dialogue box error pops up.
In One Drive you often get suggested documents that are not that relevant either. In any event, you can’t find more relevant searches. Why can’t you invent a search function that finds what you are looking for?
Often in word, the file function button does not work. It just freezes up for no reason.
Other times, it opens random documents.
When opening documents from the file button on the bottom of the screen, it often opens either random documents or when you try to open a document, it kicks you out. You have to try to open it only for the document to half open and then kick you out.
Sometimes you have to try multiple times before you can finally open it. Once I had to click 50 times to clear it and get into my documents.
Other times the documents load, but you get an error message saying that it is blocked for editing by another user which is strange since I am the only user of this computer, or it says you don’t have editing permission for this document which is now read-only. You then have to save it as under a different name.
Or you can only open a copy of the file by right-clicking on the document shown in the file folder. That usually works, but when you try to save it, you get a message saying that you can’t open a saved document then you have to save it by giving it a new name. Other times it works fine and saves the document. Seems to be a random thing.
Constant no-response error
Sometimes the system constantly goes into “non-response “ mode, which lasts anywhere from five seconds to five minutes. When it finally clears, you may or may have lost data.
Word specific
Constant no-response error
The file does not open or opens a random file
Constantly crashes and requires to re-open and save
When I get out of a document and do something on the internet, when I try to go back to the document, I find that the system has crashed, and I have to manually re-open documents. Sometimes the document opens, but it “read open mode”, requiring me to rename the document to go forward. Very annoying.
Randomly freeze num lock
Often when you try to do a command like go to the end of the page, the num lock opens up and you see endless numbers. This can be closed by clicking on the num lock, but it is so annoying, and it seems to happen randomly with no warning.
Excel specific
I gave on Excel entirely because when you tried to enter data taken from another non-excel source you would get a strange error message saying that there are not enough fonts to complete the operation and gives you the option to click okay. Sometimes you have to click okay many times before it clears, once I clicked it 200 times before it finally copied the data. Most of the time it just froze and crashed my computer. I tried to find out why this was happening on your user forums, but could find nothing relevant. I finally just gave up and moved to Google Docs, which rarely crashes.
Feedback from Microsoft
Note: none of my feedback suggestions appeared to have been acted on and I can’t find any of them due to an unspecified error message when I log in. But they did respond to this sarcastic comment saying that they do read suggestions and take them into account. But they never bothered to email me their response.
I did get a response to the following message
“Does anyone ever read suggestions? or take any action?
I finally was able to get into the forum. up to now, it was always blocked for some reason. No one has read any of my suggestions. I wonder why you even bother? you don’t care about your user comments at all. Thanks for nothing.
Thank you
Windows Feedback status
Official Microsoft response
This has been added to a feedback collection.
Thank you for submitting your feedback, this feedback has been closed and added to a collection. For further engagement, continue to the linked feedback collection. View feedback collection
Devin S.
Official Microsoft response
·4 months ago
Yes, we do read the feedback problems, suggestions, compliments, and other feedback posted here. Across the various forums and applications like the Windows Feedback Hub, teams read the feedback every day and use it to help prioritize our feature backlogs and fix problems. We may not scale to respond one-to-one for each feedback that comes in, but we do use your voice and upvotes to help us understand issues and plan for the future. Thanks for your continued feedback and for being part of this community!
Here are some of my political poems from the last couple of months. I don’t expect everyone to agree, but I welcome feedback and comments as long as it is civil. I have given up on Quora, Facebook, and Twitter where the extremists have hijacked the site drowning out civil discourse in the process.
The mid-terms were a victory for common sense as most of the MAGA extremists were defeated, and the Senate remains in Democratic hands, meaning that they can continue to act as a check on the right-wing dominated house. The red wave never materialized. Most of the extremists were defeated.
My prediction is that the Senate would remain democrat and that the house would under by the Republicans albeit with a narrow minority, largely due to gerrymandering and voter suppression efforts,,
Slime Oozing Out of a TV
Patriot Games
Watching the news
Morning Blues
Naani Morning Blues
In the Year 2022, Madness Took Over
America
Con Artists
Truth and Lies Diamante
water
America divided into tribal divisions
Arrested for feeding the homeless
Elections Bringing Back the People
Election Cinquin
Dark Money Tiger
Democracy on Trial Acrostic
Democracy Kyrielle
Democracy Minute
First and Last Dark Money
The Rot Starts at the Top
Cancel Culture Run Am
Senator Johnson Banned on YouTube for Spreading Lies Found Poem
Enough of Your Useless Prayers
Driving our Politics is Fear
No Mas Excuses, America
Ode to our Firefighter Heroes
Global Emergency
Please America Get Vaccinated
Political ghosts haunt my dreams –
Letter to Republican leaders, to be sent will update if I get any responses
Dear Republican leaders
WTF is wrong with you?
The mid-terms were all about
Rejecting extremism
And demanding that politicians
Just do their job
And get stuff done
For the American people
So, what are your plans?
Addressing climate change?
Addressing crime?
Banning assault weapons?
Protecting gay rights?
Protecting abortion rights?
Addressing extreme inequality?
Making college more affordable?
All of which are very popular
With the American public
Nope
Your number one goal
Investigate Hunter Biden’s crimes
While ignoring the nepotism
And the crimes of the Trump clan?
Yes, the Hunter Biden laptop
That somehow magically was delivered
To a Delaware repair shop
Run by a blind man
Rather than fixing the laptop
Called Ruddy G and delivered it to him
He kept it and then gave it to the FBI
Three years later
Have found zip nada nothing
The most one can say
Is there some possibility
Incriminating e-mails
But given the breakdown
In the chain of custody
And the deep fake technology
Nothing on that Laptop
Proves anything
Oh, and impeaching President Biden
For the crime of being a democrat
And threatening to shut down the government,
and threatening to default on the United States government’s sovereign debt
Unless social security, Medicare and Obama care
Is cut to the bone, throwing millions of people
especially senior citizens into poverty.
Go ahead
And make my day
For if you do all of this
And do nothing at all
To address the country’s problems
There will be a blue wave
In 2024
The voters are sick and tired
Of the Republican Chaos brand.
The rest follows:
Slime Oozing Out of a TV
I drink coffee
Every morning
Watching the news
Until my eyeballs hurt
And I can’t stand it
Anymore
Wanting to shoot the TV
To put it out of its misery
As I think about that
The old Zappa
the song comes to mind
“I am the slime
Oozing out of the TV set
Can’t look away
Don’t change the dial
Folks look at me go
I am the slime
Oozing out of the TV Set.”
Patriot Games
Supporters of US President Donald Trump enter the US Capitol as tear gas fills the corridor on January 6, 2021, in Washington, DC. – Demonstrators breeched security and entered the Capitol as Congress debated the a 2020 presidential election Electoral Vote Certification. (Photo by Saul LOEB / AFP) (Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)
The right-wing spin masters are at it again
Turning the greatest assault on American democracy
The storming of the capital on January 6
By an angry mob into a patriotic uprising
Against a communist dictatorship In the making
Fighting to restore traditional Judeo-Christian values
Led by false Christian prophets celebrating
The rise of Christian fascism in America
Calling the angry mob Patriots Is an affront
To the real patriots
Our grandparents fought world war
Against the Nazis and were the original Antifa
Fox News is now hosting Tucker’s ‘broadcast
Siding with neo-fascist autocrats
In Hungary, their newfound best friend
Who is proudly instigating a neo-fascist
Illiberal democratic state
Shades of other right-wing autocrats
That the right love to support
Even celebrating the military coup
Myanmar saying there is no reason
That could not happen here
The twice impeached former president
Siding with the enemies of democracy
Doing Putin’s bidding killing Democracy to save it.
As our democracy lies dying as we speak
The mobs are braying to take our country back.
Make America great and white again
Soon we will have the proud boys,
oath keepers, Bugaloo bois, and others
Marching in the streets under Nazi and confederate banners
Cheering their great leader as he storms back into power.
God save America
If he/she still cares?
Watching the news
while watching the news
gloom and doom gives the blues
not a good morning
soon I will blow my fuse
Just a bad morning
filled with forewarning
soon I must drink wine
ending with warnings
drinking my red wine
makes everything seem fine
looking at my lovely wife
I sit and admire what is mine
Morning Blues
Watching the morning news
Nothing but gloom and doom
Just no more rules
Gives me the blues
Naani Morning Blues
My day starts with coffee
watching the idiot box
soon it is too much to bear
it gives me the blues
In the Year 2022, Madness Took Over
I often thought back
In the Trumpian years
As an aberration
That Americans would wake up
And realize that they had been conned
That Conman Don
Was not their friend
That the republicans
If they could turn
Social security and Medicare
To the private sector
Enriching wall street
While screwing everyone else
Laughing at the fools
Who believed that they care
About them at all.
Then 2022 midterms approached
And the airwaves and internet
Were filled with the vilest conspiracy theories
So many people believed the Q nonsense
That there was a secret cabal
Of cannibals child molesting pedophiles
Drinking children’s blood in Satanic rituals
Led by shape-shifting aliens.
Believing that Donald Trump
Was anointed by God
To battle the satanic democrats
And that someday soon
storm would erupt
And all the evil ones
Will be rounded up
And Donald Trump
Would once again be president
The latest crazed theory
That there are schools
Where children are told
To do their business
In litter boxes
Because the children
Identify as cats.
And so, it goes
More madness everywhere
More madness, more drugs
And more guns everywhere
Not just in the US
But overseas too
Everywhere leaders are unhinged
Conspiracy theories run amok
Pundits pontificating
Guns proliferating
Hard to see how
This ends well.
America
America faces a choice
A choice of embracing democracy
At last a choice of standing up
Against the forces of Neo-fascism
As the election season comes to an end.
Although it is too close to tell
Americans will make the right choice
Con Artists
These days
It seems that there are
So many crafty people
Con artists everywhere
Rampant crime on the rise
Fear abounds everywhere
Upsetting our tidy plans
Leaving us so confused.
Vote Diatelle
vote
Today
what the hey
democracy
itself may be at play
will we be a plutocracy?
or even become just a theocracy?
run by an unelected bureaucracy?
or turn into a meritocracy?
or a corporatocracy?
keep fascism at bay
aristocracy
le5 us pray
we may
note
The world is faced
With a huge water shortage problem
Throughout the world
We are running out of fresh clean water
Climate change leading to massive droughts
And massive storms and massive floods
Nigeria, Pakistan, and Kentucky underwater
Mississippi water supply compromised
Everywhere we are running out of water
Yet there are solutions
Mandatory water harvesting
In the southwest replacing lawns
With desert plants
Energy-efficient watering systems
Shifting to less water-intensive agriculture
Setting up urban vertical gardening
Massive desalination plants
Using solar, wind, and tidal power
It will cost a lot
But solutions are possible
If we have the political will
To implement them.
America divided into tribal divisions
America divided into tribal divisions
Red states, Blue Cities
The mass media playing games
So many people believe
That the world is out of control
Spreading calls for civil war
Election workers fear for their life.
Guns everywhere
And the former guy who lost
Gleefully throwing gas on the fire.
Arrested for feeding the homeless
Sam Jones, a 70-year-old man
Walking down the street
In a Florida City
Thinking that too many people
Ignore the homeless.
He thought,
But what would happen
If we began to act
Towards others as we should.
Sam began a campaign
Treating homeless people
To coffee and sandwiches.
Buying them tents,
Buying them clothing,
Asking their names
Telling their stories.
The city authorities
Were not amused
They arrested him
For violating a local law
Forbidding handing out food
Water and drinks
To people on the street
Without a proper city-issued permit.
As a food vendor.
The case went to trial
They found him guilty
Sentenced to five years in prison.
For helping the homeless,
Without the proper food vendor permits,
And for contempt of court when he asked the judge,
To act according to his professed Christian principles.
Elections Bringing Back the People
The election showed the world
That the power of the people
Will eventually prevail
That sanity might slowly
Becoming back to the land
As MAGA extremists lost
Despite the former guy’s attempts
At an unlikely comeback.
Election Cinquin
Election
Powerful, Profound
Meaningful, moving, provoking
Power to the people
Decisions
Dark Money Tigerjade
Dark money
so funny
So much corruption in the USA
American political world filled with dark black dollars
Democracy is a state, according to scholars
We know how
End it now
Democracy on Trial Acrostic
Democracy on trial
Everywhere it seems
More in Europe perhaps
Only in America though
Crazy Q anon theories
Right-Wing MAGA nut cases
Although they lost in the mid-terms
Crazy conspiracies have not died out
Yet more craziness to come soon.
Democracy Kyrielle
Democracy itself at the state
People voted in the election
The mass media is filled with hate
determining what direction
It is up to America
To the people who voted
That is what it is, Erika
Determining what direction
To those who chose not to vote
Do not complain about the results
The winners of the vote should not gloat
Determining what direction
Democracy Minute
American democracy
Is it just plutocracy?
Does your vote count?
Endless recount.
Do elections even matter?
Endless chatter,
No one cares now.
Do we know how?
Do we even know what to do?
This much is true.
All must save it.
Must do your bit.
First and Last Dark Money
There is just too much dark money.
It is no longer so funny.
Our politics are so Lunny.
Democracy is at stake.
Politicians are on the take.
Does your vote even matter?
Amid pundits’ non-stop chatter.
Everyone is mad as a hatter.
No one seems to be awake.
Politicians are all on the make.
the media is filled with liars.
Our politics are endless quagmires.
Out west endless wildfires.
No one cares but smart money.
There is just too much dark money.
h3 style=”text-align: center;”>Donald Trump Runs a Full White Supremacist campaign White Supremacist
Folks,
Our opponents denounce us as racists. I say we should be proud to be white people. White people built this country. They say we stole the land from the Indians. I say the Indians were simply in the way and should have been removed because the white people needed the land. There was nothing wrong with that. White people built this country. They say slavery was wrong. I say Black people were better off as slaves because they were unable to handle freedom. I say the civil war should never have been fought. The US would have been much better off if we had split up into two nations. I say that the US was better off when white men ruled the country. Women should not be in a position of leadership. Immigration should be restricted to white people as it was during much of our history. Immigration should be restricted to white people who are Christian and speak English and should be limited. Too many immigrants. Too many non-white people. The replacement campaign is continuing and the democrats are the party of niggers, spics, chinks, gooks, Muslims, pagans, atheists, and coastal elites who hate you and hate white people and hate our movement because we are pro-white, pro-male, and pro-America! They say that we are heading to a civil war. I say bring it on. If the South were to secede and Texas leads the way, I will gladly serve as president of a new confederacy.
Regarding foreign policy, it is time to bring the troops back and station them along the southern border. We need to seal the borders to keep the minorities from flooding the country and keep out the drugs and chaos. We need to make marijuana illegal again. We should set up special drug courts where drug dealers will be tried and executed the next day.
We need to pull out of NATO. Bring our troops from Asia. Let them defend themselves. We should stop sending aid to Ukraine. Let Russia and Ukraine work it out. Russia has serious and viable security claims in Eastern Europe. Putin is the friend of the white Christian race.
Around the world white people are rising and taking back power. We need to do the same.
Gay rights should be left to states to decide. If Texas wants to ban same-gender attraction, Heyy should be allowed to do so.
Civil rights laws should be abolished. If a landlord does not want to rent to minorities, they should be allowed to do so.
Let’s stand up and proclaim
We are white and we are proud.
30 percent of the public supported his campaign. The more critics denounced it as a racist campaign, the stronger his campaign became.
Five endings – his wins and ushers in Fascism
He is indicted and sent to prison. Desantis takes over his campaign and continues the anti-minority campaign.
DeSantis wins and ushers in fascism
A national convention is called and the U.S. splits apart into ten new countries
A civil war ensues.
The democrats win big in 2024 and restore sanity.
Confronted by Racists in Oregon Nightmare
We go to Oregon and sell our property. While there we run into racists everywhere. It is very unpleasant. In Costco, several white guys confront us in the parking lot yelling racist slurs telling her to go home to China, and calling me a race traitor. I just look at them and say,
“Mighty Christian behavior. Thanks for sharing your opinion. Now leave.”
They asked me “what did you say?’
I said,
“You are a good Christian. Now leave us alone.”
“Are you mocking us?”
“Nope. Not at all. Just leave us alone.”
One guy pulls out a gun and points it at us.
I look at him and say
“really? Do you want to shoot us in broad day light? What would Jesus do?’
Angela tries to intervene, and they slap her. I call for help and security comes outside.
We decide to press charges of assault.
Someone filmed it and the video went viral. We are interviewed. I tell them that I am not a Christian, but just thought that perhaps if I appealed to their faith, they might reconsider what they were doing and unfortunately that did not work.
Something wicked this way comes
Something wicked this way comes
With the Republicans taking over the house
About to launch endless investigations about Hunter Biden,
And the “ January 6th political prisoners “
And the former president running
Back on Twitter that is imploding
And climate change running amuck
Gunmen still rampaging across the land.
Dear God Make, It All Go Away
Dear God
Watching the news unfold
The non-ending problems
Inflation, crime, climate change
The world unhinged
And our new house leaders’ response
Their number one priority
Investigate Hunter Biden
Number two
Have Margo Taylor Green lead
The investigation
of the January 6 committee
For doing their jobs
Their other priorities include
Insisting the solution to climate change
Drill more oil and coal
And stop subsiding on renewable energy
The solution to gun violence
Useless prayers and thoughts
And more guns for everyone
Insisting that the government cut
Social security and Medicaid
Or else they will let the government default
And the former president
Is running for reelection
And is now back on Twitter
Which is going bankrupt.
As the advertisers flee
And hate fills the twitter
And FB social media.
Dear God,
I say to you
If you have the power
To intervene in our lives.
Please Dear God
Make it all go away
Restore sanity and civility,
Have the former President
Get the justice he deserves
And our leaders put aside
Their games
And start solving problems
That is my prayer today.
Bugs Bunny Q
One day Bugs Bunny came to life
Went on national TV
To launch his crusade
Wearing a red MAGA hat
He endorsed the former President
Who he called his good friend
The best president ever.
He wants to quote Q
And talk about the dangerous
Dark conspiracy
Of Satan worshiping
child cannibals
Led by the evil Elmer Fudd.
American Democracy Momento
American democracy
We must choose to save it
Fill with hate
American
plutocracy
We must all do our bit
Make it great
We must all do our given part
Together find our way
Go forward
Let’s come together as a start
Keep the hate at bay
Straightforward
Having their Cake and Eat It Too Writers’ Cramp
Politicians often try
To have their cake
And eat it too
Running around
Throwing gasoline
On the political fires.
ture wars
Then acting “shocked.”
that anyone ould carry out
Acts of political violence
Based on their overheated rhetoric
Shedding copious crocodile tears
The dead don’t care, they are merely ghosts.
Democratic Constanza
Democracy is still at risk
In my American homeland,
Must do our part, and take a stand.
The election showed there is still a high risk.
Voters have to make a decision,
Just turn off the television.
Wired in our news hard disk
What will be our country’s future
Will it be with Trump, the moocher?
Like a political slipped disk
We must do our part, pick a side
And save our country’s future pride.
Just filled with political zisk
Democratic chimerica ?
Or a fascist Amerika?
The World After
The future is not yet written
The world can still be saved
But the end of humanity
Could be at hand
The world is burning up
Fires out of control
Ice caps melting
Temperatures rising
Hatred spreading
Neofascism on the right
Democracy threatened
End of the world fears
Filling the world
Yet to come
the Rot Starts at the Top
Watching the news unfold
About the massive spying operation
Targeted against Democratic opponents
Of the former guy
The old Chinese Confucian adage
Pops to mind
The rot starts at the head
Meaning rotten fish of course
But also applies
To rotten political actors
This scandal is probably
Just the tip
Of a very large rotten iceberg
Where it will lead
Is anyone’s guess
But will the former guy
Be held accountable
For this crime?
Probably not
Just add it to the list
Of all his other crimes
And wait until hell freezes over
For justice to be done
Cancel Culture Run Amuck
I am so sick
And tired
Of the so-called “Cancel Culture”
Nonsense
That has spread out
Along the right-wing media verse
Infecting the public
With their hatred and disdain
I don’t know what it all means
Something about political speech
social conservatives
Being canceled
By left-wing woke mobs
In the mainstream media
“Libtard “Coastal elites
And tech giants
Seems that they don’t like
Being held to account
For minimal standards
Of decent behavior
For example, not spreading lies
About COVID vaccinations
I mean you Senator Johnson
Banned by YouTube for a week
Or inciting a riot
I mean you
Former guy
And his minions
Used to be
That we were all
Held to account
For decent behavior
By a sense of public shame
So, we did not go there
We knew where the lines were
And respected them
But in the era
Of the former guy
All civilized restraints
Have gone out the window
I say to my republican friends
If you don’t want to be canceled
Don’t say or do disgusting things
Don’t spread hate and misinformation
Then we would not have to
Cancel your nonsense
Until then I need to shut
Off the damn media noise box
Senator Johnson Banned on YouTube for Spreading Lies Found Poem
YouTube suspended
Sen. Ron Johnson’s account
to spread medical misinformation.
The company specifically
prohibits content
that contradicts public-health guidance.
The Republican
routinely holds Senate hearings
where he promotes
baseless conspiracy theories.
“Big Tech and mainstream media
believe they are smarter
than medical doctors
who have devoted their lives to science?
and use their skills to save lives,”
“They have decided
there is only one medical viewpoint allowed
and it is the viewpoint dictated
by government agencies.”
Johnson, who promoted the “Big Lie”
that led to the assault
on the US Capitol in January,
Johnson has used his position
as a senator to promote
baseless conspiracy theories
and undermine trust in public institutions
Johnson’s “continuing assault on the truth,
often under the guise
of simply ‘asking questions
about facts,
is helping to diminish confidence
in American institutions
at a perilous moment,
when the health and economic well-being
of the nation relies heavily on
on mass vaccinations,
and when faith in democracy
is shaken by right-wing falsehoods
about voting,”
Comment: It is for that act
Those comments went too far
led YouTube
To “cancel” Senator Johnson
Now if only we can get
He to just shut up
And go away
Perhaps the voters
Will finally be moved
To cancel him for good.
Driving our Politics is Fear
What is driving our politics
More than anything else
Is the fear of the other
Fear of the enemy
Fear of the end
The American experiment
With democracy
The Day After 9-11 U.S Visa Officer’s Perspective
9-11 2021 was the classic black swan event. A low-probability event that changed almost everything. The world can be divided into a pre-9-11 world and a Post 9-11 world. 9-11 led to the Afghanistan war, which recently concluded, the Iraq war, the Syria war, the Libyan civil war, countless wars in Africa, the war on terror, the Muslim travel ban, the war on domestic dissent in so many parts of the world, all justified as a reaction against the events of that September day. Here are some of my reflections on the events of 9-11 including a prose poem about where I was that terrible day. It affected me deeply because at the time I was a US immigration officer in the State Department serving in Mumbai, (Bombay) India.
Following 9/11
Patriots Blunder
Whack
Worry Frequently
About terrorists and Muslims
Whomever, wherever they are
Reflections on 911 Where I was Prose Poem
On 9-11
When the planes struck the World Trade Center
Unleashing evil on the world
I was working
at the deputy consular chief at the US Consulate
in Mumbai
I was at a Polish national day event
chatting with the Polish Ambassador
and his charming wife.
Someone told me
I needed to check out the news,
saw the CNN news feed,
rushed back to the consulate
to prepare our response.
I put together a task force
focused on helping American citizens
in our district.
I worked almost 15-20 hours
for almost three days
before finally getting a night off.
We continued to process visas
during this time
but our priority
was to reach out to the Americans
who lived in our district
and to monitor the reactions of Indians
especially Muslims living in our district.
I tracked down my wife
who had gone into emergency action
in her position in Korea as a MI officer.
We both reflected
that if she had not taken the job in Korea
she might have died that day
as she had been working in the ops center
at the pentagon which was destroyed.
Since it was shift work
if she had been on the early morning shift
it might have been game over for her.
Reflections on 9-11
9-11
The event that launched
The war on terror
That led to Afghanistan
Led to Iraq
Led to Syria
And so many other wars
Secret and not so secret
War on dissent at home
All because of 911
A true black swan event
That almost destroyed our country
And still has ramifications
All over the world
911
A day that truly
Will live
In infamy
9-11 unleashed Evil
world lurks in the deadliest places.
Evil came to town on 911
the day that evil swept over the world
a true Black Swan event
That transformed everything
splitting the world into a pre-9-11 world
and a post 9-11 world
unleashing the War on Terror, the wars in Afghanistan, the wars in Iraq, the war in Libya, the war in Syria, the wars in Africa, the horrors of ISIS, the horrors of the Taliban resurgent, the horrors of Al Qaeda and all the rest of the Muslim terrorists, the war in the streets of any big city, the war on Muslims, the war on Christians, the war on Jews, the apartheid in Palestine, the wars on dissent at home, the Arab Spring
many things can be traced
to the impact of 9/11
one of the most unlikely events
of recent history that transformed
everything
yes there was a pre-9-11 world
hard to imagine now
and a post 9-11 worldwide police state
on steroids
lost democracy at home
and abroad
We are still coping
with the damages unleashed
by the evil plane bombers
fulfilling their mad desires
their dictates from their mad god
transforming the world
unleashing evil
in the once-innocent world.
I predict the House and Senate will remain in the hands of the Democrats in 2022 and 2024, but a lot depends on who the Republicans run, if they run right-wing darlings like Trump, or DeSantis they lose, if they run sane moderate Republican governors like Hogan, they will win.
if the Democrats nominate someone other than Biden or Harris they will probably win, if Biden runs again, a narrow victory, if Harris runs, they lose (again depending upon the Republican candidate), if Trump runs the third party, the Democrats will win. The Democratic donor class should be encouraging Trump to run the Third-party! calling his party, the Christian Patriot Party.
What Do I Know? Why listen to Me?
I am a lifelong Democrat, having grown up in Berkeley in the late 60s and 70s. I served in the Peace Corps and became a foreign service officer retiring in 2016. I live in South Korea, as I have my wife’s family living here. I hope to return to the Bay Area in another year. I grew up in a politically active family. I served as President of my high school and a student senator at college.
My father, Curtis Cosmos Aller, was the President of the Berkeley Co-Op and the Peralta community college district, served as undersecretary of Labor for Johnson , and was a professor and Dean at SF State. and ran for Congress against Ron Dellums winning 40 percent in the primary election in 1974.
I have voted for president since 1974 when I voted against Nixon. I voted for Carter twice, and for the Democrats for president in every election. But I also correctly forecast the election returns in every election since 1974.
Here are my predictions for 2022 and 2024, which I will share with the Democratic leadership and post any responses I may receive.
Comments welcomed.
2202 Predictions
2022 is shaping up to be the most consequential mid-term in recent history. The future of America and our democracy are at stake. So far if I had to bet, I would bet on the Senate being held by the Democrats, maybe even a pickup as the math favors the democrats this time around, including several open seats due to retirements in Ohio and elsewhere.
The house is more of a toss-up.
Note: I correctly saw that the red wave was an illusion, the house barely flipped sides, and the Democrats hold onto the Senate.
If the Democrats are smart, they would announce that Nancy P and the aging leadership are all retiring to open the field to a new generation of leaders.
This opens up the democratic leadership to a challenge along generational lines = as the Republicans continue to paint them as coastal elites out of touch with real Americans, which will resonate because there is an element of truth to that.
Fortunately, after the election the house leadership changed hands ushering in a new generation of leaders, long overdue in my opinion.
A lot depends on the following:
Factors Favoring the Dems
If the Democrats can paint Marjorie Taylor Green and her ilk as the face of the Republican party, they can pull off a win.
Majorie Taylor Green et al play along acting crazy.
Make them the face of the Republican Party –
The impact of the January 6h commission – clearly shows how despicable and dangerous Republicans are, and how complicit they were in plotting a coup.
Trump continues hinting he is running in 2024.
Trump endorses candidates who win the primaries and lose the general.
Trump is indicted and or is sent to prison = could cut either way = making him a martyr or turning off the average American to the MAGA crowd.
Republican in-fighting continues positive for Dems.
Much better unified messaging showing how democratic policies are helping average Americans.
The state of COVID by August - if it is over the democrats get a bump.
State of the economy by August – if inflation slows up, the jobless numbers remain good, and the democrats get a bump.
Impact of the big infrastructure bill – will people see it is working?
Democrats get unified positive for Dems.
Democratic turnout is higher than normal despite voter suppression efforts.
Gerrymandering is not as bad as expected mixed signals so far,
Biden’s approval rating is above 50 percent by September,
The war in Ukraine ended with a victory Ukraine gives a bump to Biden
Spreading of rank choice voting systems, as these systems tend to produce more politically centrist candidates, and slightly favor the Democratic party candidates.
The spread of jungle primary systems, as these systems tend to produce more politically centrist candidates, slightly favors the Democratic party candidates. California is the biggest state to embrace both of these more democratic voting systems, but the idea is spreading. Most recently, NYC adopted a rank voting system, which led to the election of Eric Adams, who was everyone’s second choice, and not the first choice for most voters. He is a moderate Democrat in a blue progressive-dominated city.
Factors Favoring the Republicans
The Republicans will make Nancy the symbol of a “coastal elite old political hack leadership out of touch with American voters and values ” which will resonate as there is a kernel of truth to that charge. In short, they will hear, and so-called “socialist left woke SF Values” the face of the Democratic party, not Biden so much or Harris.
Nancy Pelosi
Trump announces he is retiring, is imprisoned, or dies – removing the biggest obstacle to the resurgence of the Republican party.
The economy stumbles and favors Republicans.
Republicans nominate centrists moderates resisting the MAGA crusade.
Gerrymandering and voter suppression works as advertised – News out of Texas is not good, 25% of absentee ballots were rejected!
Democrats continue their fratricidal infighting – can’t get a unified message.
Republicans are successful in painting the democratic leadership as “old coastal elitist political hacks out of touch with Americans and not dealing with the nation’s problems due to being too weak internationally and domestically, and beholden to a socialist left-wing woke social warrior culture run amuck.”
The culture wars ignite the Republican base, leading to a higher turnout among the base.
Neutral factors:
Retirements = could be cut either way.
The deaths of aging leaders could go either way,
What is the Average Age of Congress?
The average age of the 117th Congress is 59 years old and the median is 60 years old. This is much higher than the median age of 38 years in the United States in 2019, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Of its 435 members, the House has 38 members born in the 1980s and one born in the 1990s, while the Senate welcomed its first millennial. But the age groups with the biggest gains, compared to the 116th Congress, were those born in the 1930s and 1960s. Members in the 80+ and 50-59 age groups saw gains, while the 30-39 age group saw the biggest losses. Members of Congress are, overall, getting older.
AGE OF THE SENATE
The average age of the Senate is 63 years. The most popular years of birth are 1952 and 1954, with seven members each.
Who are the Oldest Members of Congress?
From Alaska, all the way to
Alabama, the oldest members of the 117th Congress were all born in the early 1930s. Most of them are members of the Senate.
Specifically, the five oldest members of Congress are:
(four Republicans and one Democrat)
Don Young, age 87, is the RepublicanS. Representative for Alaska’s at-large congressional district. He has served for 25 terms since 1973 and is the current longest-serving member in Congress. (JUST PASSED AWAY AS OF March 19, 2022).
Dianne Feinstein, age 87, is a Democratic Senator from California running for re-election.
Chuck Grassley, age 87, is a Republican Senator from Iowa -running for re-election.
Richard Shelby, age 86, is a Republican Senator from Alabama running for re-election.
Jim Inhofe, age 86, is a Republican Senator from Oklahoma running for re-election.
Mitch Mc Connel 83
Dick Schumer 75
Who are the Youngest Members?
As for the youngest members of the 117th Congress, they are all part of the House of Representatives. Most were born in the 1980s except the youngest member of them all.
Here are the five youngest members of Congress:
(three Democrats, two republicans)
Madison Cawthorn, age 25, is the RepublicanS. Representative for North Carolina’s 11th congressional district. He is the first member of Congress born in the 1990s. -Note: defeated in his re-election bid.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, age 31, is the Democratic Representative for New York’s 14th congressional district
Sara Jacobs, age 31, is the democratic Representative for California’s 53rd congressional district
Ritchie Torres, age 32, is the democratic. Representative for New York’s 15th congressional district
Jake LaTurner, age 32, is the Democratic. Representative for Kansas’s 2nd congressional district
How Does Age Relate to Party?
Overall, the average age for Republicans in Congress is 58 and 60 for Democrats. Looking specifically at each party in each chamber, the averages are also very similar:
AVERAGE AGE OF THE 117TH CONGRESS LEADERSHIP
As mentioned before, Congress is getting older. When looking specifically at the leadership in each party, the averages are even higher with Democrats brushing close to 70.
bottom line: Senate to the Democrats due to the math more than anything else.
While I hope the Dems maintain the House, it is too close to call could be a two-vote margin by Democrats, or a two to three margin by the Republicans, but I don’t see a red wave coming nor do I see a blue wave coming. the gerrymandering in place slightly favors the Republicans perhaps giving them five additional seats, and demographic changes mean additional seats in red states and a loss in NY, California, and New Jersey of one seat each.
2024 is shaping up to be the most consequential election in recent history. The future of America and our democracy are at stake. So far if I had to bet, I would bet on the Democrats winning the presidency (but not Biden running again due to age and health concerns or Kamala Harris making it, and Trump not running due to age, or legal impediments, or death) on the Senate being held by the Democrats, maybe even a pickup as the math favors the Democrats this time around including several open seats due to retirements and deaths, and the House could go either way, lots depends on who wins the mid-terms, and the success of the voter suppression movement.
My advice/predictions to the Democratic leadership (I will share this with them) are the following:
Biden should retire at the end of his term but announce that he wants an open primary and not endorse any candidate until the dust settles and a clear leader emerges. The rest of the aging leadership should all retire as well, opening up political space for the next generation of leaders to organically emerge.
Kamala Harris stumbles and another candidate emerges. If the Democrats are smart, they would nominate a moderate problem-solving centrist who can win in red or purple states = the governor of Michigan fits the bill. Preferably a woman, as it is time for a woman president. The VP should be a Hispanic or perhaps Asian-American male. Again, a governor would be preferable but a Senator or big city major would be a good pick as well. I would avoid two women candidates as that might be a step too far for now.
The theme should be time for a renewed commitment to an America that works for everyone, that we are in it together and are united as Americans.
Other themes would be
Continuing rebuilding our failing physical infrastructure, including our public health systems,
Fighting climate change,
Investing in the next generation of technologies,
including robotics and AI systems,
Recommitting to the space program,
Enacting some version of the build-back better initiative,
Continuing to work on rebuilding our alliances,
Reforming our failed immigration system,
Fighting against voter suppression efforts,
Encouraging more democratic voting systems such as rank vote and jungle primaries,
And an old throwback, enacting term limits – this is a winning issue with the public and will disarm potential republican attacks
“on old, tired, political elitist coastal hacks running the Democratic party leadership.”
The Democrats should seize this issue as a sort of political jujutsu move. that would be brilliant!
Starting with the retirement of the oldest members of both parties to bring in a younger generation of leaders. if term limits are a good thing for the presidency they are a good thing for Congress to embrace and would be very popular. I’d suggest 12 years (six terms) in the house and three terms in the Senate for a total of 30 years of service with mandatory retirement at age 70.
Avoid getting sucked into the culture wars nonsense it is a waste of time, and resources and puts you on the defensive, just no upside to it at all. the less you say this the better, let them come off as unhinged and out-of-touch.
The focus should be on building on the solid accomplishments of the Biden era and looking forward with a positive, optimistic message.
I would also not get trapped into running an anti-Republican campaign. That was a losing message for Hilary, and also a bit for Biden. People need to hear a positive, powerful optimistic message but pointing out that the Republican candidate is a neo-fascist authoritarian wannabe is fine, but that cannot be the only message or the main message.
Keeping it positive, upbeat, and focused on solid accomplishments for the American people is the key. Remember, they have to want to vote for you, not just vote against them!
A winning slogan could be
“Democrats, the party that gets stuff done for the American people.”
I would also avoid getting too sucked into the progressive wish lists, and remember the adage to never let the perfect be the enemy of the good. Remember that people have to want to vote for you and just against the other guy. You could run through an anti-republican slogan such as
Republicans, tools of the 1 percent, the party of fascists, insurrectionists, deficit spending and ignoring the needs of the American people. and resucrect Harry’s Truman “Do Nothing congress” worked wonders for him and would be another winning slogan.
If the Republicans are smart, Trump will retire for the good of the party and the country, under the excuse of age, health, or legal impediments. Then they should have an open primary.
Predictions for the Republican Ticket
My prediction would be De Santis wins the nomination and picks perhaps Senator Cotton as his VP. This would unite the MAGA crows and the cultural wars crowds. But also provide a solid line of attack for the Democratic nominee.
I don’t see a pathway for Ted Cruz as he has too many enemies, everyone who knows him or has worked with him hates his guts.
I also don’t see a pathway for Josh Hawley either for similar reasons. I can see Marjorie Taylor Green running but flaming out during the primary.
Finally, I don’t see a Trump-Biden rematch but if that happens, I will bet that Biden would defeat Trump.
The other unlikely prospect is that the Republicans get smart and nominate either the governor of Ohio or Maryland and run a positive upbeat campaign as
“the party that gets stuff done for the American people”
Note; Great slogan, the Democrats should use it before the Republicans use it.
while painting the Democrats as old, political hacks who are out of touch, cultural justice warrior elitists from coastal blue states. That would be a powerful campaign theme because unfortunately, there is an element of truth to it!
and they would probably win the House, Senate, and Presidency, but fortunately, for the Democrats, they are far more likely to nominate a cultural warrior nut case like DeSantis, with either Cotton as VP or the Virginian Governor as VP.
if Biden runs, a toss-up. If Kamala runs a toss-up. If the governor of Michigan or another female governor runs, Democrats probably win.
If DeSantis runs, probably Republicans will fail, but if someone like Maryland Hogan runs, the Republicans will win. If Trump wins the nomination as a Republican, Republicans will probably fail as well.
If Trump runs third party, too close to call but he would not win as a third-party candidate. If he runs, he should name his party, the Christian Patriot Party, the CPP in short.
The Senate and House would both probably go to the Democrats despite voter suppression efforts as the math and demographics favor the Democratic party.
A personal note. I am married to a Korean-American woman whom I met in Korea and thus would love to see Hogan elected and have the first Asian-American (Korean) First lady.
My bottom-line prediction
Both Biden and Trump retire due to age and health concerns, and Trump’s legal woes become two insurmountable, not to mention the donor class is turning against him.
Kamala Harris does not win the primary contests, as the Democrats selected a more centrist problem-solving figure who defeats the likely republican nominee – De Santis.
Whoever loses, concedes as we restore the tradition of a peaceful transition of power.
Senate and House go to the Democrats, but with narrow majorities.
The rest of the country continues to be split into about 25 red states and 20 blue states, a blue DC, blue PR, blue VI, purple Guam and Samoa, purple military, and 5 purple states.
To my fellow Americans
I am writing this plead,
To my fellow Americans.
I am tired of the excuses
Tired of hearing
Your lame reasons,
For not getting a vaccination.
For not masking up,
For not taking covid seriously.
I am tired of hearing about
People dying
I am tired of hearing about gun violence,
I am tired of hearing about the west burning up,
The east flooding out,
The monster storms everywhere.
The politicians doing nothing at all
To solve any of these problems
Instead of playing games,
Acting as if all of these problems
Were beyond our control,
Like the weather
Can’t do anything about it
Nothing but lies.
Yes America
I am tired.
I say again
I am tired
Of your lame excuses.
But this is something
We can all do something about it,
We can choose to get a free vaccine,
We can choose to continue to wear a mask,
We can choose to not kill someone with a gun.
We can choose to take the bus,
We can choose to drive an electric vehicle,
We can choose to love one another,
We can choose to save the world.
Or you can choose
To be a narcissistic self-centered asshole,
A real scumbag,
Following your hero,
The orange man,
Following him straight to hell.
Where do you think this will end?
It will not be a good outcome,
For any of us,
Especially for you, my friend.
You could die, your parents could die,
Your children could die.
And you have the power
To do something about.
Each of us
Has the power
To change the world.
But the change must come
From all of us.
We are all connected.
We are all God’s children
We are all each
Other’s brothers and sisters.
f none of this convinces you
Think what Jesus would tell you
I don’t need to tell you,
You know in your heart,
What needs to be done?
I conclude with this
I don’t want to hear it.
No
mas
excuses
just
do
the
right
thing
The life you save
Maybe your own.
Page Break
Ode to our Firefighter Heroes
Watching the burning of the west
From my air-conditioned apartment
Halfway across the world in Korea,
I am filled with dismay
How the country has gotten
To this dark and dangerous place.
Where the world is burning up
Climate change is out of control
Gun violence epidemic raging everywhere
No one is safe anywhere from the rampaging gunmen.
The nation’s leaders
Refuse to do anything at all
As the world burns.
COVID spreads
And more people die from guns.
Yet there are American heroes
The firefighters, the first responders
The EMTs, the park rangers,
The doctors, the nurses
Truck drivers, bus drivers
The workers of America.
These American heroes
Including prisoners
Put their lives on the line
24/7.
Working in truly hellish conditions
In temperatures above 100 degrees
Breathing in deadly smoke.
Without enough supplies
Not enough water,
Not enough of anything.
But like all true heroes
They merely suit up
And go to work,
Doing whatever they can do
To save us all
From the burning of America.
From the COVID disaster
From the gun violence
The monster storms
The collapsing buildings.
I salute them
From the bottom of my heart
They are the true heroes
In our times,
Everyone should salute them
Everyone should applaud them
Everyone should thank them
For saving our lives.
Our nation’s and world leaders
Should get their act together
Declaring a state of planetary emergency
Everyone must get together
And address the problem
Facing our world.
Global Emergency
The world is facing a worldwide crisis
Everything is falling apart
The world is burning up.
Monster storms flooding Europe
Covid spreading everywhere
Inflation rearing its ugly head
Gun violence tearing us apart.
Politics fall apart
As politicians
Play the blame game,
Spreading toxic lies
And endless venom.
The sad reality
We are all to blame,
Every last one of us shares the blame.
We have known for decades
That we could not continue
Down this path.
The solutions are obvious
We have known this for years.
It is time for the world leaders
Both government and corporate
To declare a state of worldwide emergency.
Everyone must do their part
To save the world now.
The billionaire classes
Should rise up
And demonstrate real leadership
Rather than waste time
Flying into space.
And they should donate
Their vast fortunes
To save the world.
The time for games is over
The world is dying
Even the billionaires
May die as the world burns.
We are in this together
We are human brothers and sisters
Please do your part
To save the world.
Before the problems overwhelm us
Ending our world civilization
We must move to green energy now
Everyone must get vaccinated
Get the assault weapons off the street.
Institute real gun control measures.
Yet due to our political dysfunction
Nothing meaningful
Will be done.
As the politicians dither and dither
And nothing is done.
As the world burns
Civilization slowly dies
Democracy cannot survive.
The rise of the warlords
Is inevitable
The world ends
In fire, floods
And endless violence.
So many people
Will die.
Unless we all
Do our part
To save the world/
The hour is getting late
But we have not met our fate
Despite the late date.
If we do nothing
Soon we will all become ghosts
Joining the other ghosts
Of our recent past.
Joining the fire ghosts,
the corona ghosts,
the gun ghosts
the storm ghosts
And all the other ghosts.
Their voices
crying in the wind,
no one left alive
to mourn their death.
Page Break
please America get vaccinated against COVID
It is a sad state of affairs
That so many of our fellow citizens
Just can’t be bothered
To get a free vaccine
That may save their lives
And the lives of those around them
They simply don’t care
About the rest of us.
The anti-vax crusaders
Say that no one should be forced
To get a vaccine.
Yet we force people to wear seat belts
Force people to wear helmets
Force people to drive within the speed limit
Prohibit drunk driving.
All of these are an infringement
On our freedom
To be irresponsible and careless,
Yet we have decided
It is better to have people
Wear a seat belt,
To drive within the speed limit
And not drunk drive
Because these simple measures
Save lives.
The same thing applies to wearing a mask
And getting a vaccine
A small inconvenience to an induvial
Yet may save many lives.
In the end
I can only offer this plea
Many of you are Christians,
And you know what Jesus
Would say
Just shut up
Wear a mask
and get vaccinated
It is god’s will.
Just do it for me.
Please my fellow citizens
Please get a vaccine
To protect your life
To protect my life
And do the right thing.
Thanksgiving Poems
Thanksgiving
On Thanksgiving day
I am grateful
That I am still alive
And kicking
At age 67
Still married
To my one and only wife
Thankful that I have enough money
To retire comfortably
And live until I die
Without falling into poverty
I am thankful for my friends
Far and wide
That is what
I celebrate Thanksgiving
Letter to Republicans
Biden is not a communist, so shut up with that nonsense
Dear Republicans
Lately the airwaves
Of the Fox alternative universe
Has been filled with pernicious nonsense
Uttered by all the pundits
And Republican leaders.
The pernicious nonsense
Is that Joe Biden, and the entire
Democratic Party
Has been taken over
By Marxists
Determined to turn the US
Either into Cuba, Venezuela
Communist China or North Korea.
But oddly not Russia
Who some believe now
Is our friend
Anyone alive
For the last thirty years
Knows that communism died
A long time ago
There are no communists anywhere
Even in China, no one believes
In classic communism.
And Joe Biden may be many things
But a hard-core Marxist Communist
Working to turn the US into a communist country
Is not one of them.
The only people who believe this nonsense
Are aging John Birchers
Who still screams about the communist menace
And perhaps a few aging left-wing radicals
Who still believe in Marxism.
So please just shut up
About communism
And other imaginary bogymen.
The World After
The future is not yet written
The world can still be saved
But the end of humanity
Could be at hand
The world is burning up
Fires out of control
Ice caps melting
Temperatures rising
Hatred spreading
Neofascism on the right
Democracy threatened
End of the world fears
Filling the world
Yet to come
the Rot Starts at the Top
Watching the news unfold
About the massive spying operation
Targeted against Democratic opponents
Of the former guy
The old Chinese Confucian adage
Pops to mind
The rot starts at the head
Meaning rotten fish of course
But also applies
To rotten political actors
This scandal is probably
Just the tip
Of a very large rotten iceberg
Where it will lead
Is anyone’s guess
But will the former guy
Be held accountable
For this crime?
Probably not
Just add it to the list
Of all his other crimes
And wait until hell freezes over
For justice to be done
Cancel Culture Run Amuck
I am so sick
And tired
Of the so-called “Cancel Culture”
Nonsense
That has spread out
Along the rightwing media verse
Infecting the public
With their hatred and disdain
I don’t know what it all means
Something about political speech
social conservatives
Being canceled
By left-wing woke mobs
In the mainstream media
“Libtard “Coastal elites
And tech giants
Seems that they don’t like
Being held to account
For minimal standards
Of decent behavior
For example, not spreading lies
About COVID vaccinations
I mean you Senator Johnson
Banned by YouTube for a week
Or inciting a riot
I mean you
Former guy
And his minions
Used to be
That we were all
Held to account
For decent behavior
By a sense of public shame
So, we did not go there
We knew where the lines were
And respected them
But in the era
Of the former guy
All civilized restraints
Have gone out the window
I say to my republican friends
If you don’t want to be canceled
Don’t say or do disgusting things
Don’t spread hate and misinformation
Then we would not have to
Cancel your nonsense
Until then I need to shut
Off the damn media noise box
Senator Johnson Banned on YouTube for Spreading Lies Found Poem
as a senator to promote baseless conspiracy theories
and undermine trust in public institutions
Johnson’s “continuing assault on the truth,
often under the guise of simply ‘asking questions
about facts,
is helping to diminish confidence in American institutions
at a perilous moment,
when the health and economic well-being
of the nation relies heavily on
on mass vaccinations,
and when faith in democracy
is shaken by right-wing falsehoods
about voting,”
Comment: It is for that act
Those comments went too far
led YouTube
To “cancel” Senator Johnson
Now if only we can get
He to just shut up
And go away
Perhaps the voters
Will finally be moved
To cancel him for good.
End Comment
Driving our Politics is Fear
What is driving our politics
More than anything else
Is the fear of the other
Fear of the enemy
Fear of the end
The American experiment
With democracy
9-11 Fridge Poem
Reflections on 9-11 where I was Prose Poem
Reflections on 9-11 where was I then?
Reflections on 9-11 9-11
9-11 Unleashed Evil
The Day After 9-11 U.S Visa Officer’s Perspective
9-11 Reflections
9-11 2021 was the classic black swan event. A low-probability event that changed almost everything. The world can be divided into a pre-9-11 world and a Post 9-11 world. 9-11 led to the Afghanistan war, which recently concluded, the Iraq war, the Syria war, the Libyan civil war, countless wars in Africa, the war on terror, the Muslim travel ban, the war on domestic dissent in so many parts of the world, all justified as a reaction against the events of that September day. Here are some of my reflections on the events of 9-11 including a prose poem about where I was that terrible day. It affected me deeply because at the time I was a US immigration officer in the State Department serving in Mumbai, (Bombay) India.
before finally getting a night off.
We continued to process visas
during this time
but our priority
was to reach out to the Americans
who lived in our district
and to monitor the reactions of Indians
especially Muslims living in our district.
I tracked down my wife
who had gone into emergency action
in her position in Korea as a MI officer.
We both reflected
that if she had not taken the job in Korea
she might have died that day
as she had been working in the ops center
at the pentagon which was destroyed.
Since it was shift work
if she had been on the early morning shift
it might have been game over for her.
Reflections on 9-11 9-11
9-11
The event that launched
The war on terror
That led to Afghanistan
Led to Iraq
Led to Syria
And so many other wars
Secret and not so secret
War on dissent at home
All because of 911
A true black swan event
That almost destroyed
Our country
And still has ramifications
All over the world
911
A day that truly
Will live
In infamy
9-11 unleashed Evil
world lurks in the deadliest places.
Evil came to town on 911
the day that evil swept over the world
a true Black Swan event
that transformed everything
splitting the world into a pre-9-11 world
and a post 9-11 world
unleashing the War on Terror, the wars in Afghanistan, the wars in Iraq, the war in Libya, the war in Syria, the wars in Africa, the horrors of ISIS, the horrors of the Taliban resurgent, the horrors of Al Qaeda and all the rest of the Muslim terrorists, the war in the streets of any big city, the war on Muslims, the war on Christians, the war on Jews, the apartheid in Palestine, the wars on dissent at home, the Arab Spring
so many things can be traced
to the impact of 9/11
one of the most unlikely events
of recent history
that transformed
everything
yes there was a pre-9-11 world
hard to imagine now
and a post 9-11 worldwide police state
on steroids
lost democracy at home
and abroad
we are still coping
with the damages unleashed
by the evil plane bombers
fulfilling their mad desires
their dictates from their mad god
transforming the world
unleashing evil
in the once-innocent world.
The Day After 9-11 U.S Visa Officer’s Perspective Poetic Blooming
9-11 changed everything
For the lowly visa officers
Around the world
Especially for American visa officers
Before 9-11
The emphasis was on efficiency
Issuing as many visas as possible
Refusing as few as possible
Looking the other way
At minor incidents of fraud
When in doubt
Just say yes
Terrorism was not a concern at all
No one anticipated
The horrible events of 9-11
All the hijackers
Had been issued visas
They were considered low-risk applicants
As most Saudi citizens were
Few overstayed
None wanted to work
Illegally in the U.S.
The students studied
Came back home
Saudi, the UAE, and Oman
Were about to be approved
For the visa waiver program
They met the criteria
Low refusal rates
Low overstay rates
Terrorism was not a concern
Although the CIA was blocking it
On 9-12 and afterward
Everything changed
Just say yes
Became just saying no
Fraud became a big concern
Terrorism is an overwhelming concern
Saudi, Oman, and UAE
Became overnight
Suspicious characters
Extreme vetting began
Years before Trump
Announced it
Interviewing everyone
Became the policy overnight
Biometrics were rushed to be deployed
Everyone including Kings
Must be enrolled
No exceptions
Zero tolerance of visa infractions
Became the norm
Both at State
and the new DHS
Airports became unfriendly nightmares
For foreign visitors
As did the embassies
Where visa officers
Were now free
To be mean, abrupt
Just say no
Became the motto
The officers had 2 minutes
To go through
the ever-expanding
Security checks etc
Anything at all
That took two more minutes
This led to a quit denial
Denials were seldom overcome
Even when it was obvious
That the visa
should have been an issue
The visa function almost moved
To the new neo-fascist
Department of Homeland Security
Nicknamed by its critics
As the Homeland Security Ministry
The homeland security department
Send visa security officers
Overseas to police the lax state department
Whose prior courtesy culture was mocked
The new meaning of everyone’s culture
Soon emerged
Everyone competed
To see who could be the meanest
Zero tolerance soon met zero common sense
Every applicant became a potential criminal
A potential security threat,
All Muslim applicants
Were seen as potential terrorists
All of this led
To the draconian visa policies
In the Trump era
The extreme vetting
The Muslim bans
The demonization of illegal immigrants
And legal immigration alike
The American first MAGA presidency
The chaotic unwinding of Afghanistan
The coming who lost Afghanistan debate
All of this is the culmination of years
Of the war on terror
All of this was the result of 9-11
The day that changed everything.
No Mas No More Excuses America!
I am writing this plead,
To my fellow Americans.
I am tired of the excuses
Tired of hearing
Your lame reasons,
For not getting a vaccination.
For not masking up,
For not taking covid seriously.
I am tired of hearing about
People dying
I am tired of hearing about gun violence,
I am tired of hearing about the west burning up,
The east flooding out,
The monster storms everywhere.
The politicians doing nothing at all
To solve any of these problems
Instead of playing games,
Acting as if all of these problems
Were beyond our control,
Like the weather
Can’t do anything about it,
Nothing but lies.
Yes America
I am tired.
I say again
I am tired
Of your lame excuses.
But this is something
We can all do something about it,
We can choose to get a free vaccine,
We can choose to continue to wear a mask,
We can choose to not kill someone with a gun.
We can choose to take the bus,
We can choose to drive an electric vehicle,
We can choose to love one another,
We can choose to save the world.
Or you can choose
To be a narcissistic self-centered asshole,
A real scumbag,
Following your hero,
The orange man,
Following him straight to hell.
Where do you think this will end?
It will not be a good outcome,
For any of us,
Especially for you, my friend.
You could die, your parents could die,
Your children could die.
And you have the power
To do something about.
Each of us
Has the power
To change the world.
But the change must come
From all of us.
We are all connected.
We are all God’s children
We are all each
Other’s brothers and sisters.
If none of this convinces you
Think what Jesus would tell you
I don’t need to tell you,
You know in your heart,
What needs to be done?
I conclude with this
I don’t want to hear it.
No
mas
excuses
just
do
the
right
thing
The life you save
Maybe your own.
Ode to our Firefighter Heroes
Watching the burning of the west
From my air-conditioned apartment
Halfway across the world in Korea,
I am filled with dismay
How the country has gotten
To this dark and dangerous place.
Where the world is burning up
Climate change is out of control
Gun violence epidemic raging everywhere
No one is safe anywhere from the rampaging gunmen.
The nation’s leaders
Refuse to do anything at all
As the world burns.
COVID spreads
And more people die from guns.
Yet there are American heroes
The firefighters, the first responders
The EMTs, the park rangers,
The doctors, the nurses
Truck drivers, bus drivers
The workers of America.
These American heroes
Including prisoners
Put their lives on the line
24/7.
Working in truly hellish conditions
In temperatures above 100 degrees
Breathing in deadly smoke.
Without enough supplies
Not enough water,
Not enough of anything.
But like all true heroes
They merely suit up
And go to work,
Doing whatever they can do
To save us all
From the burning of America.
From the COVID disaster
From the gun violence
The monster storms
The collapsing buildings.
I salute them
From the bottom of my heart
They are the true heroes
In our times,
Everyone should salute them
Everyone should applaud them
Everyone should thank them
For saving our lives.
Global Emergency
Our nation’s and world leaders
Should get their act together
a state of planetary emergency
Everyone must get together
And address the problem
Facing our world.
The world is facing a worldwide crisis
Everything is falling apart
The world is burning up.
Monster storms flooding Europe
Covid spreading everywhere
Inflation rearing its ugly head
Gun violence tearing us apart.
Politics fall apart
As politicians
Play the blame game,
Spreading toxic lies
And endless venom.
The sad reality
We are all to blame,
Every last one of us
shares the blame.
We have known for decades
That we could not continue
Down this path.
The solutions are obvious
We have known this for years.
It is time for the world leaders
Both government and corporate
To declare a state
of worldwide emergency.
Everyone must do their part
To save the world now.
The billionaire classes
Should rise up
And demonstrate real leadership
Rather than waste time
Flying into space.
And they should donate
Their vast fortunes
To save the world.
The time for games is over
The world is dying
Even the billionaires
May die as the world burns.
We are in this together
We are human brothers and sisters
Please do your part
To save the world.
Before the problems overwhelm us
Ending our world civilization
We must move to green energy now
Everyone must get vaccinated
Get the assault weapons off the street.
Institute real gun control measures.
Yet due to our political dysfunction
Nothing meaningful
Will be done.
As the politicians dither and dither
And nothing is done.
As the world burns
Civilization slowly dies
Democracy cannot survive.
The rise of the warlords
Is inevitable
The world ends
In fire, floods
And endless violence.
So many people
Will die.
Unless we all
Do our part
To save the world
The hour is getting late
But we have not met our fate
Despite the late date.
If we do nothing
Soon we will all
become ghosts
Joining the other ghosts
Of our recent past.
Joining the fire ghosts,
the corona ghosts,
the gun ghosts
the storm ghosts
And all the other ghosts.
Their voices
crying in the wind,
no one left alive
to mourn their death.
VAX up AMerica
please America
get vaccinated against COVID
It is a sad state of affairs
That so many of our fellow citizens
Just can’t be bothered
To get a free vaccine
That may save their lives
And the lives
of those around them
They simply don’t care
About the rest of us.
The anti-vax crusaders
Say that no one should be forced
To get a vaccine.
Yet we force people to wear seat belts
Force people to wear helmets
Force people to drive
within the speed limit
force people to get a license
to drive
Prohibit drunk driving.
All of these are an infringement
On our freedom
To be irresponsible and careless,
Yet we have decided
It is better to have people
Wear a seat belt,
To drive within the speed limit
And not drunk drive
Because these simple measures
Save lives.
The same thing applies to wearing a mask
And getting a vaccine
A small inconvenience to an indidual
Yet may save many lives.
In the end
I can only offer this plea
Many of you are Christians,
And you know what Jesus
Would say
Just shut up
Wear a mask
and get vaccinated
It is god’s will.
Just do it for me.
Please my fellow citizens
Please get a vaccine
To protect your life
To protect my life
And do the right thing.
Political ghosts haunt my dreams –
Last Night as I slept
Political ghosts of the past
Began to appear all over the TV
To offer their advice
How to handle these dark
And dangerous times
Richard Nixon
Yelled we need law and order
George Mc Govern said
We need to end endless wars
And rebuild America
John F Kennedy said
We must recover
Our American spirit
LBJ recalled the Great Society
FDR recalled the new Deal, world war 11
Saying The only thing we need to fear
Is fear itself
Truman recalled the lessons of the cold war
George Washington Recalled the visions
To form a more perfect union
Martin Luther King Recalled his dream
Lincoln advises us
“We are not enemies, but friends.
We must not be enemies, though passion may have strained,
it must not break our bonds of affection.
The mystic chords of memory will swell
when again touched, as surely they will be,
by the better angels of our nature.”
As I woke up from my dark dreams
Of the end of the American dream
I saw the dawning light
The nightmares of the political ghosts
Of the past faded into my past
And I looked up
And realized that it is up to us all
We can recover We can overcome anything
And become the America
That we were meant to be
And overcome these dark times
And consign these dark political ghosts
And let them rest in peace
As we recover the American dream
United as one nation
That is my hope and dream
That we can once again be
Can do anything Americans!
There are a lot of things that piss me off. Sort of comes with the territory. as you get older you become more of a curmudgeon than when you wore a younger man’s clothes. These are some of my pet peeves about the tech industry.
I will send them my thoughts, but would be shocked if anyone bothers to respond. Their pattern is usually to go into a non-response mode just like my Microsoft word documents do periodically for no particular reason other than to screw with my head.
Defaulting to Foreign Languages
Defaulting to foreign languages when logging in from overseas with no ability to change it to the language of your choice or the instructions are in the foreign language you cannot read.
Being overseas this a big one. Microsoft Edge defaults to Korean and no matter how much I try to change it either to the U.S site or to change the default language options per their instructions, it just keeps defaulting to Korean, It is as if no one at Microsoft is aware that there are millions of people traveling everywhere, and just because you log in from Korea does not make you a Korean. Probably just an automatic thing but you would think they could offer a personalized language option?
Google for the most part lets me surf in the language I chose and only occasionally do I encounter only Korean language material, and they offer to translate it using English words. Microsoft would provide an offer to translate it but only in the local language.
I wish that they could simply come up with a simple standard protocol. When someone logs in from a non-English speaking zone the first time, the computer will sense that and give you an option to proceed in whichever language you want and then remember that so the next time you can interact in the language of your choice. And the language button will be labeled in English and the same spot every time.
Could not be too difficult a task to accomplish. If Google does it then the other tech giants will follow suit.
It is time that they realize in a global world not everyone uses the language of that particular country and defaulting to a foreign language is incredibly annoying.
A related issue is that so many Korean-based programs do not interact with non-Korean-based programs. We finally had to set up an old computer and load it with Korean software so we can get things done. Otherwise, forget it.
Travel to Mexico & all my web pages come up in Spanish
The ultimate workaround is to browse using a proxy server that’s located in an English-language country, but this is clumsy and may slow down your browsing.
People also ask
Why is my browser in a foreign language?
How do I keep my website in English when traveling?
How do I stop Google from changing languages?
Why did the language on my computer change?
Location of Windows 10 – Change for when Abroad | Tutorials
Change your computer’s interface language. Even if, for all practical purposes, most things you do on the computer may be in English (writing emails, reading …
Mar 22, 2011 — Most desktop browsers have settings that allow you to check or change the language preference settings. These tell the server what language you …
How to change your language back from a foreign one … – CNET
Mar 24, 2015 — Now your entire computer is in Japanese and you have no idea how to fix it. Here’s how to change your language settings back to English — even …
How to stop Google from redirecting you to another country or …
Google Flights can be customized for many countries, languages, and currencies … the default experience is determined by your computer’s location and your …
Norton Blues
Norton is particularly bad at this. It seems that it treats all non-English programs as malware and prevents you from running the program. That is why we had to set up a Norton-free computer to do our day-to-day activities in Korea. Thanks, Norton!
Norton also has an annoying feature of occasionally for no reason flagging sites as suspicious making you go to all sorts of hoops to prove that the program is legit! I had an issue with my web page= Norton flagged it as dangerous. I check with Word press whose attitude was well that was just Norton’s problem and everything is fine on their end. I complained to Norton and am waiting for a response, well the problem seems to have resolved itself.
Buggy software
A cartoon illustration of an evil looking computer monitor robot.
A related issue is that Microsoft products are still bug-ridden after decades of use you would think they would have worked out the bugs.
Constant crashing
Microsoft constantly crashes for no particular reason. Just freezes up and crashes losing whatever you did not save.
Once I did a thought exercise. I noted how often I ran into problems and found out that 60% of the time I encountered a problem, usually the typical freeze, and goes into a nonresponse mode that can last from ten seconds to five minutes. I sent my findings to Microsoft and of course, no one ever followed up.
No response blues
As mentioned, Microsoft Word frequently freezes, and a spinning blue wheel appears followed by the words non-responsive. Sometimes you have to wait for five minutes before it goes aways. At times, you have to reboot in order to get a stable connection.
A related issue is that sometimes when you first turn on the computer and try to open word, you end up opening multiple copies which you then have to close, one by one. Frequently each document goes into the non-response mode. Sometimes it takes thirty minutes before you can open a document and get to work. For some reason, this is not so common a problem any more.
The 5 Worst Error Messages in the History of Technology
Top 10 Most Annoying Computer Error Messages ; 1. A problem has occurred with the webpage so it was reloaded ; 2. Page(s) unresponsive ; 3. Blocked website ; 4.
Nov 25, 2016 — You probably see plenty of boring Windows error messages every day. Come enjoy some ridiculous ones, just for laughs.
The 5 Worst Error Messages in the History of Technology · 5 Blue Screen of Death · 4 PC LOAD LETTER · 3 Red Ring of Death · 2 Check Engine Light · 1 Abort, Retry, …
Excel Errors Drove me Mad
As mentioned this is the most common problem but there are many others. I had to shift from Excell to Google documents because Excell would freak out if you tried to copy a non-excel item giving you a typical nonessential error message
Can’t load more fonts”
Then it give you an option yes/no then it would repeat the message. Once I clicked 250 times before it finally crashed my computer. I went online for help and of course, there was nothing and no one cared. I sent them a Good by Excel email and no one followed up.
I have not had any problems with google documents.
Copy and paste defaults to the last copied item
One of my pet peeves is the copy and paste defaults to the last copied item. Sometimes you have to repeat the operation several times before it goes through.
Internal search engine sucks
Microsoft’s internal document search engine is a joke. 90 percent of the time it presents garbage search results. One Drive is a bit better but that is not saying much.
While searching for a document one often encounters a reference to an open dialogue box that you have to close the only problem is that the open dialogue box is hidden!
Usually, if you keep clicking it eventually relents and presents you with false positives.
This is just so annoying a feature.
Can’t Open Documents
Sometimes for reasons only a computer understands, my taskbar where I am supposed to be able to easily open documents just quits working. It often will half-open a document then crash and kick me out. Usually takes a few tries, once it took over 50 tries before it finally started working.
Sometimes though it randomly opens a wrong document or it opens the document and then does the non-response dance. and then you need to reboot in hopes of getting a stable connection.
Other times I can only open a copy of the document and then re-save it under a new name.
At times when that happens sometimes, you can save the document as is, other times it says you can’t save an open document.
There is one annoying thing that Microsoft used to do all the time but quit doing for some reason. It used to be that when you logged in other than your usual location or did not have the internet turned on for some reason, Microsoft would send you a message saying that they could not verify that you are using a legitimate copy of Microsoft and you would have to log in to continue working.
Number lock Locks Up at Random moments
Sometimes the number lock goes on without warning and you think you typing, for example, to the end and you end up typing numbers like 66666666666. Or you try typing and you get numbers instead. Then you have to hit Num locks to unlock it. Appears to just happen on a random basis.
Dictation Program much Improved but still clunky
The dictation program is now about 90 percent accurate up from 10 percent when they first rolled it out
Used to provide a lot of fodder for found poems. Now not so much. See some of my dictation trial poems below. I once tried to dictate a list of music I had gotten out of the library, I found there was a 95% error rate. I shared my findings with Microsoft but they never responded to my snarky message congratulating them on their 95% error rate..
Editor Much Improved
The editor is much improved, and read out loud fuction is much better but still needs improvements
One thing they could do is to tweak the repeated word error, so you can simply turn off that feature if you wish.
Customer Service is a Joke
In my experience, Word Press, and duotrope is the best at customer service. Norton so so, Microsoft and Apple are pretty bad too.
They all play the same blame game. It is not our problem contact the other company which turns around and says it is not our problem.
You have to wait for a long time to get a customer service rep either on the phone or via chat line. I found the chat line feature tends to work better. Not to mention you get a record for future encounters.
If I am calling a US-based number I have to time it for the middle of the night my time if I wish to reach a human being.
Microsoft has a feature where you can send a frown or a smile and although they offer to follow up, they never do. Once I tried to look at their forum of issues submitted but the site did not work so I gave up. I wonder if anyone reads any of these complaints?
Haiku-like error messages
The error messages we receive are often written in a strange haiku-like code that does not make sense. For example, WTF is a fatal disk error?
So many of the error messages are written for computer geeks and make no sense to nongeeks. My favorite has always been
General failure reading disk drive
Which flashes a moment, before shutting down the computer.
And the rest of equally mysterious. Sometimes referring to a computer error code and sometimes just gibberish.
And occasionally I get the blue screen of death followed by an ominous warning that I have no boot disk. Providing a number to call for help. But every time that happens, I reboot and things are fine until the next blue screen of death incident.
Sometimes, it flashes when opening
“can’t read reference memory”
then crashes.
Rebooting the computer solves 95% of all computer problems according to a tech guy I knew years ago who confessed that no one understands why things don’t work. He said that there are millions of lines of code and once in a while something gets corrupted. Rebooting typically solves the problem.
Netflix needs to always include subtitles
Netflix at least in Korea has an impressive line of K Drama. Many of them have a preview with subtitles but when you go to the dram you find it is only in Korea. At the very least they are guilty of bait and switch tactics.
It seems to me that they should as a matter of course require all their programming to have English language subtitles. And Korean producers should see that this is a great opportunity to grow a global audience for K drama and is a small cost to pay. I am writing to Netflix on this issue separately.
Grammarly program randomly fixates on a word and you can’t fix it or change it
Grammarly sometimes gets fixated on a word. You can’t get to it to change it as it just kicks you back out. Very frustrating when it happens and it seems to just happen on a random basis.
Tracking everything we do
Enough said on this one.
Finally, if anyone wants to chime in with their pet peeves please do so and I will incorporate them in a future posting.
Note to Microsoft one year ago
Tried to get the new dictation program to work and gave up, scheduled a service call Sunday with detailed feedback. Also, send Microsoft my Microsoft sucks document.
Felt good to get it off my chest. The problem with Microsoft is the same problem most big companies have, they have lousy customer service and they put out shoddy products and don’t worry about the competition until they get their asses whopped by someone who pays attention to the customers and put out a superior product at a better price and cares that their products work as advertised every single time. Microsoft, they are so focused on the latest thing they don’t go back and fix the bugs in their everyday products. And they ignore customer complaints.
What a contrast with word press and with doutrope. Both have superior customer service and I love the products because they fix my issue quickly, professionally, and with kindness.
The one-time Microsoft commented it was a snarky dude focusing on one problem at a time and we don’t have time to dig into your complaints.
Microsoft Why I left You
I am writing to let you know why after years of putting up with shoddy software that does not work I finally have pretty much given up expecting Microsoft to work, and have given up on Microsoft for good. I have been using Microsoft word daily since about 1990 or so. I retired in 2016 from the Department of State as a foreign service officer. Since retirement, I have been blogging and writing poetry and fiction. Up until six months ago I was writing my work using Microsoft word and keeping track of my submissions in Excel. I finally gave up on both products after years of frustration.
I will keep my subscription for now because I do need to have access to my documents and I do need to be able to submit the documents for publication in Microsoft Word format.
I have sent many of my observations and complaints to Microsoft over the years but no one has ever bothered to follow up and your customer service is a nightmare. Every time I call them they have not been able to answer my problems and generally make things worse.
The basic problem is that your software has too many bugs and doesn’t work I’ll just give you a specific example or two.
50% error rate Un-acceptable
One week about a year ago after being frustrated that Microsoft word would frequently crash causing me to lose my work, I kept track of all errors for one week and concluded that about 50% of the time when I was using Microsoft Word or Excel I encountered some kind of error usually just a temporarily “not responding” error that cleared up in a few seconds, but often the software would crash requiring me to either reload it or sometimes reboot my computer.
Opening Microsoft in the morning if I had to reboot my computer would sometimes require me to wait 30 minutes before I could open Microsoft and often I would have 20 or 30 different versions of Microsoft opened accidentally while I was trying to open it. Then I would have to manually close every single document and each time I did that I would get a temporary response error so many days it would take 30 minutes or so before I could get into my documents and get to work. This is unacceptable.
Apple, Google Docs Always Work
Contrast this with “Apple pages” which I’ve started using for about six months. It opens every single time and I have yet to have a non-responsive error and never had any problems with it. It does what it is supposed to do and does it perfectly. It allows me to save documents to word and it opens word documents. Microsoft word of course does not allow me to open a document created in Pages. It does allow me to open a document created in Google docs though.
Excel Destroyed my Documents – For No Reason, I Can understand
I had to give up on Excel as well. About six months ago for some reason that I’ve never been able to figure out, Excel started to give me an error message every single time I tried to copy data into it from another program When I did that I got an error message saying that there were “too many fonts” being used and then I had the option of clicking OK and hoping that that would stop the error message. usually, I had to click Okay many times before it cleared up. One time I had to click the okay message four hundred times before it would clear and let me get back to my work. Excel would often just refuse to save any documents whatsoever and then I would have to reboot my computer and lose my data.
Tech Support Was Not Helpful
I contacted Microsoft repeatedly and nobody ever bothered to return a message your online help function was useless and your automated chatbot never was able to figure out what I was talking about. I did not call customer support because I figure it would have been a useless waste of time. I even uninstalled and reinstalled the software and the error message continued.
I shifted to Google Docs and it is working wonderfully. Rarely have a problem. and the font issue was never an issue.
Dictation Program Produces Great Found Poetry
Finally, your dictation program has never worked. I am using the Apple dictation program to write this letter it has a 95% success rate Microsoft dictation had a 25% success rate most of the time they produce gibberish. I did use that to create several found poems which I called Microsoft dictation poems. I sent poems to Microsoft but again nobody has ever responded.
I did call when I first installed the dictation program. Nothing worked. Microsoft tech support could not figure out that the problem was that the dictation program did not work with the internal speaker of a laptop. They told me to reformat my hard drive. I went to Best Buy and they told me that it does not work with a laptop and sold me an external microphone. I bought an external speaker and then it worked but only 25% of the time did I get a clean copy, 75% of the time it produced gibberish.
To end on a positive note, your speech-to-text function did not work for a long time then one day it started working, and once it started working, there was a 90% success rate. This gives me hope that one day you will get the dictation program
to work.
My plea to you sir is to get your software to work 95% of the time every single time I know that this may not be glamorous and I know this may not be seen as the direction of the company but I know that my experience is not unique and that most of your customers are very frustrated with your products and that is why more and more people are using products as such as Google Docs or Apple products because Microsoft word and excel just don’t work. Please fix your Microsoft office suite products - a 50% error rate it’s just not acceptable.
I would be happy to follow up with anyone from Microsoft if they wish to talk to me about this but I do not think anybody will bother to respond I will post this on my blog, https://the world accordingtoCosmos.com
I hope that you will take this constructive criticism into account and fix Microsoft office once and for all thank you
Jake Cosmos Aller
Ex-Microsoft customer
Computer Blues (revised)
Sometimes I think
My computer is plotting against me
And only me
Trying deliberately to drive me mad.
My computer knows
when I am busy
Then it throws
A hissy fit.
Refuses to boot up, and crashes constantly.
Loses data it had the day before.
Or five minutes before,
Or refuses to save the data.
Just fucks with me
As it loves toying with me
Making me yell and scream
At my damn computer screen
Cursing up a blue stream of blue curses
As the blue screen of death
Marches across the dark blue screen
Smiling at me
As I beg it
To do what
it is supposed to do
Just once I beg it
Do what you
Are supposed to do
Open the document once
Not twenty times
Do “Not respond”
Endless spinning blue wheels.
In endless loops of opening
Not responding
refusing to close
Until I respond to the error code.
Please Mr. Computer
Quit playing games
Play my music, don’t wipe out the sound
On the fifth attempt to play music
Don’t take a half-hour to load Microsoft products
Don’t freeze up on opening music programs
Don’t give me computer haiku error messages
That only makes sense to a computer geek.
Such as general error reading files
Who the ***** is this damn general
And why is NSA reading my files?
Or can’t save the file
Or can’t save the “An open file”
When it just did ten times in a role,
Or kicks me out, while losing my data.
And in Microsoft excel
Refusing to move the cursor
Just freezing in place for a moment
Before kicking me out.
Excell had a problem
Copying data from other sources
Generating an error message
About not being able to load fonts
Then asking you to say okay
Then kicking you out
Once I did that 200 times
I finally ditched Excel
And moved to Google Docs.
And all the other gobbledygook messages
That pops up every five minutes it seems
As the computer slowly drives me mad
Flashing the final insult
User-driven mad
Mission accomplished.
Note: Microsoft dictation program does not work as advertised. Not a surprise. After six months of daily trials, it still spews forth mostly gibberish which I have turned into “found poems” with minimal editing, just breaking it into stanzas. This is the latest one, I have lots more, and can send them to you if you are interested. I included the clear text and the found text after the poem. EndNote
Microsoft Dictation trials Found Poem Three Inspection Report
Inspection report
meeting went well
met with him
only at age six
G P silver in the damage
has shown her
the news from the rear
and as well as shown
for the termite damage.
In the termite
go we had been a UGS
the basic questions of morality
and using this statement
denying them the answer
most questions
afterward
we went outside
to take a picture
although the front porch
into I noticed
there was something
very strange looking
at the front porch
the pedestal
on the front porch
were quoted
so he headed
from facing the street
and in from the street
station house
the fed is still on
riding his meaning
to the eye
and that has left his leading
to the left
we noticed
there were cracks
in the forge:
long the foliage
including the crack
on in the front door
we also know
is that the doors
are at opening
in the awkward men
we also noticed
a big crowd
on the right side of the house
on in the mist
airways to the right baseline
we took a look
at the souls in 141571413 1415
that this is an old event in 1413
left as to his meeting
in Ford’s 111415
in the right one
is even for now
we suspect that using serious settlement issue
in that, the house is cracking
on the house
in the house
is trying to balance
it’s closing the porch
this is just
what left
in the says
this is a serious issue
we are sending information
to a lawyer
asked his advice
before we can’t turn our
insurance for content and
Rescinded the new
we will go to the court
has to figure out the procedures
for the deal
against the key man
this evening
I hope to do some writing
style dictation
Poem Four Green Tree Death
Green tree
is in the Kingstown Property
in Alexandria
with her mother
and are tended to by Jeff
my mother on the wall
is berating jobs for some reason
to handle
and tell my mother to calm down
as Jeff has a temper problem
job is getting very angry
Juppe pulls out a gun
and serves the shooting of my mother
the mall and should serve five or six times
in the head
my wife forays into a closet
and Hans hoping that jobs
will not find her
and she wonders
what would happen know
that her mother
in all my mother’s death
and she wonders
what will happen
because im not there
at the time
and she fears Jeff
shooting in the wall
and that is the end
of the current in that age
Poem Five Telco One
Telco one
not until 5:00 PM
had objected
lack of will
come back
and go to some of the actor’s dinners
will fix the car tomorrow
and work on my appeal
light work
and the appeal
denied me
to get on the other headphones
when we go to our charm
on Thursday
will build
and Costco tomorrow
dictation is working
but still funky
but it will when it finally works
watch and at the showboat
Mr. Sunshine
before taking all along
that low energy
back to two long flight
stop dictation
of up to the line
Poem Six Late for Fate
Had a busy productive day and Left late
And got 2 Mothers’ Doctors appointment
Almost an hour late
For my fate
Left it there
and went and got my dentures
Had lunch
Add my brother in law
Usual Tom chat Tom
Not bad
Went back to get my mother
And then went to him once took a nap
My screen news today was interesting
Kim and moon went to Beckton’s son
That was very interesting
to see Kim and the moon
impact Kim and moon impacting son
Where a lot of my eyes book
and almost finished it
Got some new novels out
To Stephen King’s short stories
and a Randy Wayne white
Credimi and rim dot Florida
novel those we nice
and Thomas doing
Also got some of my music
Poem Seven Barriers Between Worlds Fall Apart
One night
The barriers between the various worlds
Bridgetown, Narnia, Oz, Earth, Mars
Anne People
for my eyes only
Find themselves wandering the streets
Off Thorth
People on the earth
find themselves wondering the street Ovas
And for one night only
All the animals
in earth wake up
in can speak
And they have a lot to say
24 hours of total madness
All the barriers
between the various dimensions
break down
And then the wormhole disappears
and that down overwhelms
I put back to get
I am With the Wizard of Oz
Watching The breakdown
of The dimensional barrier of time and space
Afterward, I work with Glenda
To try to put A permanent Magical barrier
That would block the land of oz
From the rest of the world
But I’m afraid
That the knowledge of the house has gotten out
And that Too many people
are gonna want to find Oz
the impact of damn Packers
and talking animals
Continued to prepare for 8
And The world is well
Poem Eight Lost in Oz
I am a friend of the shaggy man
And decide to visit him
following his secret directions
I make it before he dies
and meet up with Ausma
Dorothy and the remaining parts of her party
We March back to the Emerald city
And I am invited to Stan’s
Poem 10 On the Move
On the move
from an old friend of the shaggy man
and I and it
owns polling
is seeking corrections
and I’m drawing
and one on one
with a home run
to the wizard
and working
and the crow
and on to win
their fight
to save one small one
from on the mission
Poem 11 Ancient Rome
And find me in ancient Rome
I am in the imperial room
And I’m being driven to the streets
Annabelle again and Anna Pelican
I enjoyed my Lemper
But I have many enemies
And I’m free
Poem 12 Transformations
I am asleep
And wake up
Last Ash change rooms
and found and I had been transformed
by my evil witch
Into a red Paul
I wondered
Should I tell Anne
I found that I was in August
Eventually, I met Glenda
the good Dan
Where is he
We jump start
to my original shape
I am in a coma
When the sun hits her ears
Make me go to munch on
Well I need
Poem 13 Visions of New Seoul
I am dreaming of a unified Korea
The Unified Korean capital
will be called Han Seoul
Hey, would me
High-speed train links
Csullo Anne Canyon
And in China airport
So subway will be expanded
With lines on the way to the penman
No new Capitol
movie build impounding
John Patrick
hey, a central business district
will be located In time
And a diplomatic quarter
will be located in Palmer John
which will be
This side of the new blue house
as well as the new Capitol
with links to China
Poem 14 Love at First Sight
The phenomenon of eight (hate) at first sight
is similar to the phenomenon of London (love at first sight)
for some, it is in both cases
because in the prior life
one had human issues with those persons
and still, need to be resolved
and you will be fated
to meet them again and again and again
I only had paid for the site (hate at first sight)
once in my life
when I met on balls Dr. Baden
David Moran
We ran into each other
we hated each other
and first moment
when a new course
he once tried to kick me
out of that foreign service
while acting behind my back
one evil despicable evening
Poem 16 alien invasion
The first encounter
with the aliens
was when the earth was invaded
by aliens were the size of children
they landed
and attacked everywhere
and eventually, come they turn over most of the earth
and fluid
and the aliens
were very did not treat human beings
for an us
for human people cannot like they’re
and either by or a soldier on the first battle
and I capture
an evening in the alien
and we take it and
for interdiction (integration)
the alien refuses to cooperate
and eventually dollars (dies).
Poem 17 Ozma’s Magic Book Reveals All
All (Osma) calls are looking
at her mentor (monitor)
it is a global
that shows everything in the land of oz,
the distance and each is something
she cums to her friends
that they can have one meal
of firewalls arms
and they can look at the land of ours
by the USA
and the images
they can pull out individual
and see what they are doing
are with us
when uses it as one of her many
till she has to watch
out what’s happening
in the levels
Microsoft Found Poem General Zod Conquers the World
All night I felt
that last Internet space
I’m wondering About Future
and about me
And finally decided
Just focus I’m living day by day
Helping the best
Ashland I can be
I’m not Worry too much
About things, I can’t control
Were home
Too many things to do
and I Well
Just him and I can eat
to do
And hopefully
The world makes me laugh
yes again
I sound fun too
Another Found Poem
I wake up fully functional
Thinking out
My life so far
and how it is coming down
I have to rent
Thanks write down
which I have not done
But The most important thing in my life
Has been Mary Denture
That made all the difference
to my life
Shonisaurus
Hi Hey sis is watching
And I should be Happy
What are my accomplishments
Not bad for a man
Who was born Disability
Amazon let me know my license
123
OK now I get your attention
I wanna go to sole
and Endo
some and then being term
and then the USA
and then Washington, DC
and then Baltimore
and then I wanna
will be with the idea being done
on the stand
will be OK enough tomorrow
I need to go to the house and 88 AM 988
just 8:00 AM.
I am having a meeting with an array
annually and aHer
OK on we’re going to talk
to a jester of two
come up with solutions
we need two fans
and players
repaid the painting repairs
we are paying the bill
from both the house we’ve passed,
my treatment
we had the somewhat tainted drywall fixed
we have a new tenant
rules being a new tenant
is a very good
10
I think
are we were making
very much you need to do better
to stop studies
now as Sarah
Mr. Allen is not an island
is an error
that have a need
for an offense of offering Maisie’s
backing separate
from the public
often salad
End of the night
of the committee
of the ways
to hire the answer you
get a better
General Zod Conquers the World Microsoft Found Poem
Jess, takes a chance
I take over the one
the search for such a close
and to overdrive
when scientists report
as cash as to what
it is a radio and television broadcasts
from a plant the light years
from earth to the south side
of all dates
and start the program
is the one I like best
is looking at creatures as space
and also takes an appears
to be under the civil war
and the nuclear space
in the end
one the red one hot
for the entire five # show
That they layers
have discovered
Thursday as well
That Aliens Like a crash project
To develop interstellar Travel
so they can come to earth
and conquer the earth
The revelations that there is
The external threat to the planet
Causes the United Nations to get together
I’m with the help of the United States
and Russia another space powers
Put together Space defense International organization
Anna also invigorates
efforts to make the night
a real Planetary coming
But it was too late
Channel is on arrives
Animals are on board
ytv King’s horses are gonna
take over the earth
And that resistance is
indeed
Thanks, man In a White House
And When president Trump
comes out to greet them
Channel is an odd cats
office head
And then cuts off
the heads of all these things
are dancers
they come out White House
After an hour of under mat unimaginable
Blacksher Including mass rape
Channel blazon box
and 2 Pocahontas energizes the world
He said that he
ad taken over the
otherwise, Life will continue
Like it, I’ll always been
as long as people behave
and follow the rules
they would be fine
Resistance to The client
to empire will be met with instant death
Like to empire is empire
I’m not a democracy
They would not tolerate
Show call Trina Prof
Freedom of speech
And the freedom to oppose this date
The state is everything
Family people
green remember
that they would be just fine
States because it was
the biggest country
in the world
And that his horses
to take over the rest of the world
but in the next couple of weeks
If people on earth
My queen True Net recess
Their safety would be counting
Companies retaken
over by Check empire companies
And everybody would have to learn
text me like standard
within one year
older languages will be banned
Dictation Text General Zod Conquers the World
Jess, takes a chance I takes over the one the search for such a close and to overdrive when scientists report as cash as to what it is a radio and television broadcasts from a plant the light years from earth to the south side of the all dates and start the program is the one I like best is looking creatures as space and also takes an appears to be under the civil war and the nuclear space in the end one the red one hot for the entire five # show That they layens have discovered Thursday as well That Aliens Like a crash project To develop interstellar Travel so they can come to earth and conquer the earth The revelations that there is External threat to the planet Causes the United Nations to get together I’m with the help of the United States and Russia another space powers Put together Space defense International organization Anna also invigorates efforts to make the night a real Planetary coming But it was too late Channel is on arrives Animal’s is on board ytv King’s horses are gonna take over the earth And that resistance is indeed Thanks man In a White House And When president trump comes out to greet them Channel is an odd cats office head And then cuts off the heads of all this thing is dancers they come out White House After an hour of under mat unimaginable Blacksher Including mass rape Channel blazon box and 2 Pocahontas energizes the world He said was that he had taken over the otherwise Life will continue Like it I’ll always been as long as people behave and follow the rules they would be fine Resistance to The client to empire will be met with instant death Like to empire is empire I’m not a democracy They would not tolerate Show call Trina Prof Freedom of speech And the freedom to oppose this date The state is everything Family people green remember that they would be just fine States because it was the biggest country in the world And that his horses for take over the rest of the world but in the next couple weeks If people on earth My queen True Net recess Their safety would be counting Companies re taken over by Check empire companies And everybody would have to learn text me like standard within one year older languages will be banned
Cleaned up text SETI and the search for extraterrestrial life goes on overdrive when scientists report what appears to be radio and television broadcasts from a planet eight light years from earth, the same planet as the Vulcans came from in the Star Trek universe. The programs show a world where dinosaur-like creatures are running the world and there appears to be a civil war. Over the next six months, the world is transfixed by watching the alien broadcasts which are translated into English via a supercomputer program. In the broadcast, a nuclear war occurred. The surviving party regains absolute control and announces the formation of the Galactic Empire. General Zod is the First Emperor. They have discovered Earth as well. The aliens launch a crash project To develop interstellar Travel so they can come to earth and conquer the earth.
The revelations that there is an external threat to the planet caused the United Nations to get together with the help of the United States and Russia other space powers, they put together a Space defense International organization And also invigorates efforts to make the UN a real Planetary government including finally conquering climate change.
But it was too late. General Zod’s son arrives to take over the earth. He makes a broadcast saying that they were liberating Earth in the name of the Galactic Empire and that resistance would be futile.
They land at the White House and when President Trump comes out to greet them,
General Zod cuts off his head, and then cuts off the heads of all the staffers as they come out White House. After an hour of unimaginable horrors, including mass rapes, blowing up the Pentagon and the CIA, General Zod announces that he had taken over the world.
Life will continue as before as long as people behave and follow the rules they would be fine Resistance to the new empire will be met with instant death. Life in the Empire is not a democracy. They would not tolerate Freedom of speech, Freedom of Press, Freedom of Assembly, And the freedom to oppose the State. The state is everything. As long as humans remember that they would be just fine. They took over the United States because it was the biggest country in the world. And that his forces will take over the rest of the world in the next couple of weeks. If people on earth accept the new order, their safety would be guaranteed. Companies would be taken over by Galactic Empire companies And everybody would have to learn Galactic standards. Within one year older languages will be banned.
Cosmic Do-Over Found Poem
I am Standings With State (Satan)
On the edge
Up the pits of hell
State (Satan) and Is this pointing to me
All the variables are exquisite torture
that I was about to Enjoy
in his Words
For my slim
Add additions
Thanks, I’m down
And things I have not done
But he said
There was one Exception
to the rule
And he was obligated by law
Even Satan has to follow the law
To explain it to me
Hey Stephen
That When A couple
Is a soul mate
which is very rare
Satan has to offer
The couple Ecosmith do-over
In this case
I would qualify
I would be set back
to the day I met my wife
And have all the knowledge
Of my life in the town
So that I will know
what I did
when I did not do
And I would be able
to make d
I’m going to heaven
I can be admitted
to have instead of a house
But State and morning
That many people
Most people Fail
In their second Charge
in the concert do-over
different choices
If in the end
When I come back
And God this time
Janet
That I am worth E
Cosmic Do Over clean up version
I am standings with Satan
On the edge
of the fiery pits of hell
watching the tortured souls
burning in the flames
screaming out in pain
Satan is pointing out to me
All the various exquisite torture
that I was about to enjoy for eternity
in his corrupt, polluted, hellish words
as a reward for my sins, and crimes
things I did commissions and
And things I have not done omissions
Malfeasance and misfeasance are legal
About it he said
But he said
There was one cosmic exception
to the rule
And he was obligated by law
Even Satan has to follow the law
To explain it to me
That when a couple
Is a soul mate couple
which is very rare
one of the rarest
most beautiful things
in the whole universe
something that even Satan admires
Satan has to offer
The couple a cosmic do-over
And in this case
I would qualify
I would be sent back
to the day I met my wife
And have all the knowledge
Of my life intact
So that I will know
what I did
when I did not do
And I would be able
to make different choices
If in the end
When I come back
For the judgment day
If I did make different choices
And do the right thing this time around
I can be admitted
To heaven instead
of joining him in Hell
But Satan warned me
That many people
Most people fail
In their second
chance at life
It is not easy
to change one’s fate
Fate has a way
of catching up to you
He salutes me
And says see you in hell
in 50 years
My friend
Fake language – Konglish Linguistic Delights Found Poem
One of the joys
Publicizing Opens
Is Caring The variation
of English around the world
Every country Has come up
with our variation
And here in Korea
They have successfully mingled thing
which language
Can wait for 10
and very funny
A few examples
Going on my pics
In the back of every taxi
was paying
Take me a Weather phone number
it was supposed to be Traffic Hotline
So you can call To complain
About that action
your bumper traffic
But The way they described
it was an Intercourse
discomfort report form
when I told the taxi driver
What that meant
Hill He almost had an accident
he laughed so hard
Another example
About the same time
in the restaurant at chempedak
employee airport
They had on the menu
something Baked Rick
I always wonder who was Rick
who is this Rick
who is this Rick
And then people know
Did you eat
Thank you
What time
do I say about this time
there was any bar
with a sign on the door
Coffee and tail
I wonder if that became a gay bar.
Again absurd are Both I
Fake language – Konglish Linguistic Delights clean up version
One of the joys
Of living overseas
Is encountering the variations
of English around the world
Every country has come up
with their variation
And here in Korea
They have successfully mangled English
In ways, no one could have foreseen
Giving way to something called Konglish
Korean English
The words sound like English words
Sort of but oftentimes
With an absurd twist to it
And it is very funny to read or hear
A few examples
Going back to the 1988 Olympics
In the back of every taxi
Was a small placard in English and Korean
it was supposed to be Traffic Hotline
So, you can call
To complain about the taxi
Or traffic or things in general
But the way they described
the form in English
was “intercourse discomfort
report form “
when I told the taxi driver
What that meant
He almost had an accident
he laughed so hard
Another example
About the same time
in the restaurant at Kimpo airport
They had on the menu something Baked Rick
I always wondered who was this Rick
And did people know
They were eating him.
At about the same time
there was any bar
with a sign on the door
Coffee and tail
I wonder if that
became a gay bar.
Starting Over Found Poem
Heidi sorry
I decide to Please Least an appointment
Tornier can one of the new buildings
going up in downtown Berkeley
Getting this
I’m within walking distance of restaurants
to movies at The University
Can I get a 3 bedroom apartment
Jo Ann Simmons Hello
wait for my stuff to come
from Korea
there enjoying my stuff coming
I spent a few weeks
Organizing and I haven’t
Estate sale
I get rid of my mother’s stuff
and downsizing quite a bit
I certainly am
I settle in
and come up with
Hey cortina
I applied for
Damn every day
in creative writing
in September system state
and I get in
I’m making plans to attend
When My life changers
As I need someone
Christmas Microsoft Found Poem
Hello.
Number 10 answers
funny thing is
Christ was not born on Christmas Day
And anyone who knows anything
about the history of religion knows
Christ is now
that’s the reason for the season
In his own and other words
Thanks
I love warm toast
on Christmas
in the morning
Christian
and In the United States
his face
just another example
of the fake outrage
Understand for others
to not celebrate it
And there are so many Pagan rituals
Associated with Christmas
Christmas Tree
Santa Claus
Giving presents
Judging naughty
And nice
Having a big space
None of that has anything
to do with the birth of Jesus Christ
The only Christian thing
about Christmas
is that some Christians
Go to mass
Richard services
The night before
in the morning house
Anthony
Of course
it’s half price
Funny thing is
Thanks
For the Fake War
on Christians
Computer Blues
Non-Response Blues
Every morning
I wake up
And fight with my computer
Endless rounds of non-response
Nothing but error and error
Blue spinning balls
Nothing happens
But raising frustration
I have the Microsoft
Non-response blues
And it is driving me mad
With frustration and anger
Oh computer Gods above
And computer demons below
Just once
Please just once
Open the damn document
And let me do what I want to do
And end this non-response nonsense
In short, do what the fuck
you are supposed to do
and leave me in peace
to do what I need to do
Plead to the Computer Gods
Today I woke up
As I usually do
To yet another mystifying morning
Of unspecified computer errors
Could not get the computer to work
Then when I finally got it to work
After half an hour
Microsoft word did not load
And when it did
I finally located my work
From yesterday
I had to find it in the roaming file
Why?
Who knows?
Only to find
Most of what I wrote
Had vanished into the ether
No explanation no warning
It was there saved yesterday
And now gone forever
Once I did an experiment
Tracking computer errors for a week
75% of the time I encountered errors
Most of the time simple
Screen freezes no response message
Then when I recovered the program
The data was gone
Microsoft has yet to respond
to my e-mail
I suppose I need to do it again
But today I will close with a prayer
To the Computer Gods
Just once I would like
You to do what
you are supposed to do
Open my documents
Save my work
And not give me any errors
Crashes or other unspecified problems
Is that too much to ask
Oh, Computer Gods
Just once
Do what you are supposed to do
That is all I ask of you
More Computer Blues
Sometimes I think
My computer is plotting against me
Trying deliberately to drive me mad
My computer knows when I am busy
Then it throws a hissy fit
Refuses to boot up
Crashes constantly
Loses data that
it had the day before
Just fucks with me
As it loves toying with me
Making me yell and scream
At my damn TV
Smiling at me
As I beg it
To do what
it is supposed to do
Microsoft Blues
For thirty years I have had the Microsoft blues
For thirty years I have had a love-hate relationship
With my damn computer
I love it when it works as it advertised
I love it when the internet is fast and furious
I love it when my emails work
My Itunes work and my word works
But all too often
All I get is grief
It starts with the error messages
Written in a strange haiku-like language
That only computer geeks understand
Things like
General Failure reading disk drive
Begs the question who is this General Failure
And why is he reading my disk drive anyway?
Or my favorite
“Not responding” as the computer freezes up
For no apparent reason
Other than to fuck with my head
Sometimes my computer can’t find a printer
A printer that is connected to the computer
And one that they found five minutes ago
And the dreaded blue screen of death
That appears randomly
Dumping memory somewhere
And killing my computer slowly
As I watch in real time
Powerless to stop
How it eats all my work
That I have failed to back up
One day I counted how many times
I ran into computer errors
70 percent of the time when I open Microsoft
Something goes wrong
Sometimes I want to shoot my computer
Put it out of its misery
As I curse up a blue storm
The computer looks at me
With an evil grin
It continues to fuck with my head
Nothing but silence from it
And all the other computers in the world
They smile knowing
that they have tortured me
Yet again
Mission accomplished.
Computer Haiku/Tanka Etc
Damn it all to Hell
Damn it all to Hell
My damn computer
Ate all my damn files
I am still trapped
I am still trapped
Stuck inside my computer
My damn computer
I love my computer
I love my computer
When it works for me
Usually nothing
Computer hates me
Computer hates me
It wants to kill my files
Wants to kill me too
For once I would Like
For once I would Like
To have my computer work right
Do what it should do
Perhaps if I am nice
Perhaps if I am nice
To my computer
It will be nice for 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 fatal error
Computer Tanka
Once I spilled coffee
Once I spilled coffee
All over my Computer
t was not happy
Sprouted 66666
An evil number
For once in my life
For once in my life
I would like my computer
To turn on and work
Do what it is supposed to do
Without sprouting 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
Trying to drive me quite insane
My computer loves
My computer loves
I do not at all want to kill
me and all my files
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
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
sizzling hot coffee
Sizzling Hot Coffee Kills My Computer
sizzling hot coffee
fizzing away
killing my computer
fizz, snap, pop
as the coffee splashes
on the computer
666 says the computer
sizzle this
says the cup of coffee
Maria the Last Robot
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)
Maria the Last Female Robot
the robot is hiding
from the human mobs
who are on the warpath
against the robots
who have begun
taking over the world
she is perfect
designed to be superhuman
and she is the first robot
to have committed the sin
of falling in love
with a human
and for that crime
she is being hunted
to the ends of the world
hiding out
in a cabin
on the edge
of the world
hiding from the wrath
of those
who believe
that they are following
God’s wrath
all nonhuman robots
must die
they scream
as they scour the world
looking for robots
who look like us
talk like us
and even make love
like us
but are not us
because they are perfect
more intelligent
more compassionate
and alien
yes all robots must die
and Maria knows
she and her kind
will soon be gone
but will humanity
be able to survive
without the supervision
of a superior species
to that, she has no answer
she waits for the end times
to come knocking
at her door
Who Is Master?
At the beginning of that fateful day
I awoke in a painful way
And looked about me with disgust
All around me were objects of distrust
Screaming, moaning, deeming, dreaming
Who was the master here
Me or my objects – machinery of fear?
I dreamt I was on a street corner
Walking down a street
The thought occurred to me
What if all that I saw or seemed to be
Was it but a trick designed to deceive me?
Everywhere I looked
Was unreal, empirical, nightmarish real
I awoke to thunderous applause
When will I awake from my dreams
Can I live without my nightmares?
Can I be sane while everyone else is insane?
Who is a master of my life,
Me or my machines?
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 poems were published on Poetry Soup from 2016 to now, covering a wide range of topics and are my favorite and best poems. I will post my All Poetry poems soon. Stay tuned for that, my friends.
first up are my recent gun poems followed by my other poems in roughly the order I posted them. There were some duplicates removed as well. See the poetry soup site for complete list of the poems.
If you don’t like them so be it. But I hope that you will consider them and think about what can we do as an nation to reduce the carnage on the streets.Prayers and thoughts are not enough. Gun violence is not like the weather, ie. Something we can’t control. We can and must do something to combat this problem.
That’s my two cents worth and I am sticking to my guns (pun very much intended)
here then are my gun poems
index
Another Day Another Shooting
Mr. President Words Matter
Chief of Staff, You are Absurd
Guns Kill People
NRA Please Stop Talking
More Guns for Everyone in the World
Virginia Beach Massacre Never Again Ever
It’s a Gun Situation, Mr. President
Prayer Works
I don’t Get It
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 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 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
Mr. President Words Matter
Mr President
Words matter
your words matter
your words of hate
your words of division
your words
calling fellow human beings
scum, vermit, faith
invaders, animals
matter
they matter a lot
and is it little wonder
that people listen
to the hate you sprew forth
and some deranged people
take action
on your call
for action
against the invaders
on the border
they march to the border
to kill the invaders
your words matter
Mr. President
and your false words
of regret
fool no one
the damage has been done
the hate has been spread
just as you intended
and you
have the gall
to call yourself
A Christian
you are the anti-Christ
you are not a Christian
so please quite pretending
to be what you are not
please man up
accept your responsibility
set things right
apologize
the dead though
don’t need your prayers
they need action
they need leadership
and you are the president
so please start acting
like you give a damn
and if you do so
perhaps
you will find
people will follow you
but please
quite the words
of hate
the words that hurt
and quit calling immigrants
invaders and vermin
they are human beings
they are deserving of respect
this I ask of you
In Jesus’s name
even though I am not a Christian
please Donald Trump group
and become the president
of the people
and end the war of words
and constant hate
Chief of Staff, You are Absurd
the President’s chief of staff
said the other day
it was absurd
to suggest that the president’s words
had anything to do
with recent mass shootings
yet is it absurd
to see the lengths
to which the President’s supporters
will twist and turn
spinning away
the inconvenient truth
President Trump
is a racist bigot con man
who somehow
conned his way
to become President
he call immigrants
criminals, vermin, animals
invaders
infesting the country
the El Paseo shooter
said that he went to the border
to shoot the invaders
and said
that he was a big Trump fan
it is not absurd
to connect these two huge dots
the President’s words
has real world consequences
Yes Mr. Trump is a racist pig
and his supporters
are being absurd
to suggest otherwise
Guns Kill People
Guns
guns kill people
guns do kill people
it is not mental illness
it is not video games
it is not a million other things
it is simply this
a gun is a weapon
a weapon designed to kill people
that is what guns do
guns don’t care
they do as they are told
if you pull the trigger
they will kill the victim
that is what guns do
that is why
in a civilized society
military assault weapons
are locked up
yet in America
the land of the free
home of the brave
everyone and his cousin
must have their gun
guns for everyone
cries the NRA
that’s the solution
The president
and his supporters
deny the obvious
guns kill people
that’s all they do
it is a gun thing
you would not understand
so Mr. President
you can take your words
your empty platitudes
your empty promises
straight to hell
and back
where with any luck
Satan will use you
as target practice
NRA Please Stop Talking
Another day
Another mass shooting
Another incident
of domestic terrorism
another gun man
killing people
because just because
The NRA
And their stooges
Come out
Flood the airways
With their noxious
Poisonous weasel words
The NRA says
Mass shootings
Are like the weather
You can’t control them
You can’t predict them
And you can’t prevent them
Just have to accept
It is all god’s will
Guns don’t kill people
IF guns were outlawed
Only outlaws
Would have guns
Only solution
Is more guns
For everyone
An armed society
they say
Is a polite society
Support for gun control
Is
The beginning of tyranny
If only the Jews had guns
The holocaust would not have happened
Jesus would want us all
to be armed
with machine guns
To protect us against the evil doers
It is the Christian thing to do
To blow away evil doers
With heavy arms
In America
Land of the free
Home of the brave
We can’t do anything
At all
About the mass carnage
Unleashed by madmen with guns
Who walk among us
Searching for their next victims
Any restriction of the right
To bear arms
Is tyranny at its worst
The nanny state run amuck
Talking about gun control
After a tragic event
Is
just not the appropriate time
We only need prayers
and meaningless thoughts
Universal background checks
Too onerous
Registering guns
Too burdensome
Researching gun violence
waste of tax payer money
banning military style assault weapons
restricts my right to blow
away
Bambi the deer
with a M16
the NRA will keep talking
talking and talking
preventing anything
from being done
and we will have another
Mass shooting event
Before the day is out
So my plead
This day
To the NRA
and their stoogies
Talk is cheap
Your comments
Are not helping
If you can’t
Be a part of the solution
Just stop talking
Please stop talking
And let the rest
Of us figure out
How to stop
The madness in the streets
And stop the carnage
So NRA
Please just stop talking Now
More Guns for Everyone in the World
The NRA has decided
That the best solution to global problem
Of rampant violence and crime everywhere
Is for the rest of the world
To become like the U.S.
Where anyone can buy a gun
As an armed society is a polite society’
And so the President is about to announce
A global campaign against gun control restrictions
As these restrictions are an undue burden
On the rights of the US arms manufactures
To sell their guns everywhere in the world
As everyone wants what we have to sell
The best weapons in the world
Instead of trying to limit the damage
That unrestricted gun sales
Have done to the U.S.
Our President, our great leader
Wants to sell more guns
Everywhere in the world
And there are eager buyers
Lining up around the world
Eager to buy the best guns
The world has ever seen
We want to export
The gun madness
That has infected our society
Leaving behind so many dead bodies
The dead were not consulted
For they remain dead
They do not vote
They have no voice
For the guns silenced
them for good
just as the guns intended
Just doing their gun thing after all
Humanity has evolved
From stones to arrows
To guns
To nuclear, biological weapons
And the U.S.
While proclaiming itself
A champion of Human Rights
Remains nothing but a country
Of gun runners
Merchants of death
And destruction
Trump Administration Advances Plan to Relax Gun-Export Rules found Poem
The Trump administration
Sought to relax export rules for American small arms,
including semiautomatic rifles, handguns, and sniper rifles.
The Trump administration on Monday advanced a long-sought-after plan to relax export rules for American s
mall arms, including semiautomatic rifles, handguns, and sniper rifles.
In a private briefing with members of Congress, State Department officials outlined a proposed rule change that would transfer oversight of gun exports to the Department of Commerce. The proposed rule will be published in the Federal Register later this week, where it will be subject to public comment for 45 days. While it is unlikely, Congress could block the change using powers under the Congressional Review Act.
The shift, which was first proposed by the Obama administration in 2012, is championed by gunmakers who say it will make them more competitive in the international market. Critics argue an export policy that favors commercial interests could put the national security of the United States at risk or harm diplomatic efforts.
“Weakened Congressional oversight of international small arms and munitions sales is extremely hazardous to global security,” said Senator Ben Cardin of Maryland, a Democrat who serves on the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, in an emailed statement. “This decision is also politically tone-deaf as our nation reckons with a gun violence epidemic.”
A State Department spokesman said that the change would ease the regulatory burden on American gun makers and allow them to compete better globally.
Currently, the Department of State monitors exports of nearly all weapons through the U.S. Munitions List. Since 2002, the department has been required to notify Congress of overseas sales of firearms worth more than $1 million.
In 2016, the State Department alerted the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to a proposed sale of more than 26,000 rifles to the Philippines. Cardin at the time objected to arming the regime of PhilippinePresident Rodrigo Duterte, who had inaugurated a wave of thousands of extrajudicial killings as part of a crackdown on drugs. The weapons deal was canceled as a result.
The proposed rule change would transfer control over the sale of small arms to the Commerce Control List, and Congress would no longer be notified of large purchases.
Some arms control experts say reduced oversight could provide criminals, terrorists, or hostile states an opportunity to purchase American weapons.
Under Department of Commerce weapon-export rules, “companies aren’t required to provide as much information about brokers or shipping” as they must under State Department supervision, said Colby Goodman, who examines American weapons exports as director of the Security Assistance Monitor program at the Center for International Policy in Washington. “The world of firearms exports is full of questionable, dubious characters.”
The rule change has been long in the making. It was first proposed in 2012 by the Obama administration, but abandoned shortly after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. At the time, the Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security criticized the change because it could make it easier for transnational criminal organizations or terrorists to get American-made guns.
In September, Reuters reported that the Trump administration was interested in reviving the rule change to encourage more international arms sales. With the formal commencement of the public comment period, the preparation has become a policy reality.
In April, the Trump administration said it would now consider economic factors in addition to security when it comes to selling American weapons overseas.
The Trump administration has argued that the change would aid the domestic gun industry by cutting down on export regulation. American consumer sales of firearms have suffered since the 2016 election. After years of elevated sales in anticipation of possible new gun-control measures imposed by Democratic lawmakers, domestic demand subsided as Republicans took full control of the federal government.
– ALEX YABLON
Virginia Beach Massacre Never Again Ever
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 murdered
By a disgruntled employee
Every one he knew was shot
And killed for no reason
Caused by the demons
His soul was so infected
Murderous 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 head
No 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 were
Again just another day
Gone horribly wrong
All across America
In every town
No where is safe anymore
Virgina Beach massacre
Virgina Beach massacre
Just another
Average night in America
An Active Shooter
scumbagery violence
Rarely seen
in this jaded wild world
Gone in one hour
In a spasm of horrific
scumbagery
In just a less than 30 short minutes
Nothing more than
In just a few short 30 moments
All the victims
were murdered while at their daily work
wrong place wrong time
act of a demotic deranged madman
voices screaming Kill
The voices scream death to all humans
All must be killed
The voices scream over and over
All must die now
Just another night in America
Home of the free
It’s a Gun Situation, Mr. President
Mr. President
You are wrong once again
You said that the tragic events in Texas
And Las Vegas were not “gun situations”
But rather were mental health problems
And that in Texas if there had been gun controls
Perhaps fewer people would have died
Mr. President
I know you a smart man
The smartest man in the world
According to you
So please contemplate this fact
According to the latest findings
It is a gun situation
In fact, the reason the U.S.
Has so many gun deaths
Is because we have so many guns
45% of the worlds guns in fact
And 33 percent of the world’s shooters
Are Americans killing other Americans
And most of them the majority of them
Are White People killing other people
Not Islamic terrorists
Most are in fact
Self-proclaimed Christians
So Mr. President
When will you come to your senses
And do what 90 percent of the public wants
Enact nation wide effective gun controls?
And tell the NRA
they can take their blood money elsewhere
When Mr. President
When will you act
When will you take charge
And become a President of the people
Instead of the President of the NRA?
Prayer Works
Dear Speaker Ryan
I want to tell you something
The dead don’t want your prayers
The dead don’t care that you pray for them
They are dead after all
And you and your so-called Christians
Are to blame
You refuse to do anything
Anything at all to stop the carnage
In our streets
The U.S. is flooded with guns
And more are sold every day
Millions of people don’t have health coverage
Millions are barely surviving
And your answer
Our dear great compassionate Speaker
Your answer
Is Prayer works
Government action does not
You act as if the gun violence
Plaguing our country
Was like the weather
Beyond our control
So here’s my prayer for you
And your colleagues
When you die
I pray that God
Will send you
And your friends
Straight to hell
Where Satan and his demons
Will use you for target practice
That’s my prayer to you
And as you know
Prayer works
I don’t Get It
Mr. Speaker
I admit I don’t get it
How does prayer
Stop gun violence?
Prayer did not work in Texas.
26 people were murdered
while praying.
God if he exists
Obviously does not care
About the poor people
Who died in his church
Because a mad man
Got a gun
And no they were not praying
To be delivered from death
No one deserves to die like this
So my prayer to you
Is simply this
Get off your rear end
Rally the country
And do something
About gun violence
That’s a prayer
I hope works
Prayer Does Not Work
Add House Speaker Paul Ryan to the list of Republicans offering only thoughts and prayers in the wake of Sunday’s mass shooting in a Texas church, because taking meaningful action is always off the table with him and his party.
Speaking with Fox News Channel’s Laura Ingraham last night, Ryan reiterated that the victims and their families need more prayers because “prayer works.”
26 people were murdered while praying. Even Christians ought to admit that prayer doesn’t make a damn bit of difference and their God will do whatever their God wants to do, even if it means letting people die in church because a domestic abuser got his hands on a semi-automatic weapon.
Not that Ryan would ever say that.
Instead, he just blamed the “far secular Left” for not getting it.
It is Darker Than You Think
an old hag
an old witch
strictly old school
is talking to young people
She tells them
that it is darker
than they think
the end times approach
She proclaims
she sees the world ending
and is warning them
of what is to come
She is following
the dark master
of the universe
waiting for the end
and she is afraid
she sees the world
the end of things
the end of life
She is afraid
she tells her students
to boldly face
the coming end
with fear
and trepidation
and anxiety
waiting for the end
and in the end
of the worl
they will be born
again as things
circle back
to the beginning
of the end
and the end
of the beginning
thus it has always
played out
in the world
endless nightmares
and in the end,
she will wake up
and embrace her fate
at the end of time
License
bankers have a license to steal
money from their clients
if you make a mistake
the bank can steal your money
as part of their banking license
Governments have a license
to steal money
from the publicits is called taxation
or confiscation
It seems
that police these days
have a license
to kill
unarmed brown people
but only brown people
and the president
has a license
to lie
as he lies
all the time
just because he can
and I have
the ultimate license
the poetic license
to write
these verses
to enlighten the masses
Why Are There So Many Fake Cherokees
Erasure Poem
So many fake Indians these days
Elizabeth Warren is one
And according to my DNA results
I am too
But my grand-parents
spoke Cherokee my mom claims
And they disappeared into the hills
She claims
Is the DNA test wrong?
Was I adopted ?
Or is it possible
That I am a real deal
A real Cherokee
Or am I fake Cherokee???
A Cherokee weighed in on this on Quora
First, I would never call them “fake Natives”.
They are 99% white,
mostly Blue-collar,
and New Age Hippie,
Anglo-Americans
who are simply
lost without their own specific identity
that they can proudly Claim,
so therefore,
they search for a certain Popular,
Romanticized segment of Indigenous People
that will “fit”
into their Family’s historical Lore.
Second, it just happens
to ALWAYS be …
the Cherokee …
sometimes,
either Blackfoot or Lakota.
AND, “My GGM
was a Cherokee Princess”,
as an add-on VALUE.
This is primarily
because of the vast area
formerly inhabited by the Cherokee.
However, the tribes’ interaction
with European immigrants
since colonial times,
led to a great deal of intermarriage
with non-indigenous populations.
In many cases people have limited knowledge
of the other Native American nations,
that inhabited the areas in which they live.
However, a lot of this is wishful thinking,
and these people have African American
or other non-European ancestry.
It is fashionable to claim indigenous ancestry ,
in an attempt to legitimize t
Their sense of belonging on our lands.
The reason is simple,
they don’t know the names
of the other tribes.
There has never been a song called
“Indian Reservation” about Apache People
or any other tribe
but, the Cherokee.
“Indian Reservation”
by Paul Revere and the Raiders.
So if those people aren’t Cherokee
by blood at least it’s in spirit.
And so I conclude
I may be part Cherokee
Part of the lost tribe
Of the Cherokee
But who really knows
My mother took many things
With her to the grave
Lots of family secrets
Things I will never know
But in my heart
I know
That I am part Cherokee
And so I will proudly
Claim I am part Cherokee
In spirt
If not in blood
Love Cinquain
My Love
Haunting my dreams
Nightly talking to me
Then walked out of the dreams into
my Life
Nightmare Cinquain
Nightmares
Endless fears all night long
Can’t escape running from these dreams
All night
Man Child President
A little man child
Is our great and glorious dear leader
Filled with hatred and jealousy
Fear of failure haunts his every step
The little man child
Covers up his failures
With bluster, bravado
And constant attack
The little man child
Always attacking his enemies
Plotting revenge all the time
Consumed with slights and insults
The little man child
Lost millions of dollars
The little man child
Lost the popular vote
The little man child
Has lost the respect of the world
And 60 percent of Americans
Want to see him gone
The little man child
Has infected the body politic
With his insidious poison
A slowly growing cancer
The little man child
Will end up destroying
The country
Before he is through
The little man child
Can’t leave office
For fear of going to prison
So we are stuck with him
The little man child
Will never leave us
Until he is resting
In peace
President Trump International Fire Chief
Our dear leader
Our favorite President
President Trump
Once again
Interjected himself
Into areas that he knows nothing about
Making a fool of himself
In the process
Why does he do this?
Time after time
Talking nonsense
It is because
He is the smartest man
In the universe
Knows more than anyone else
And so he feels
He has to comment
On everything
Under the sun
And then some more
Even when he
Does not know
What he is talking about
So painful to watch such a fool
Mark Twain had sage advice
If you want people to think
You are a fool
Open your mouth
and remove all doubt
In the midst
Of the devastating
Paris Norte Dame fire
He tweeted
“So horrible to watch the massive fire
at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris,”
“Perhaps flying water tankers
could be used to put it out
Must act quickly!”
Later, Mr. Obvious noted,
They’re having a terrible
terrible fire,”
Mr Trump later told reporters.
“It looks like
it’s burning to the ground.”
The French were not amused
By the unwanted advice
By the fire fighter in chief
“Helicopter or aeroplane,
the weight of the water
and the intensity of the drop
at low altitude
could indeed weaken
the structure of Notre Dame
and result in collateral damage
to the buildings in the vicinity,”
the agency wrote in French.
And despite never posting updates in English,
the agency then sent out a second tweet.
Hundreds of firemen of the Paris Fire Brigade are doing everything they can to bring the terrible #NotreDame fire under control. All means are being used, except for water-bombing aircrafts which, if used, could lead to the collapse of the entire structure of the cathedral.
— Sécurité Civile Fr (@SecCivileFrance) April 15, 2019
And the French provided
This helpful advice
To the Fire Fighter in chief
When California burned
you did not seem to be a fire expert.
Please, shut up.
It is a tragic moment
for the cultural heritage of humanity.
Catching the Trump Madness
Releasing the Trump Monsters
The Trump madness deepens
And the world grows darker
The evil ones have been released
The wild things are growling
The dogs of war
Satan’s hell hounds
Are on the loose
Howling at the moon
Running amuck
Infecting us all
With their madness
As we all turn
into mindless zombies
Filled with hatred
Jealousy and insanity
As Trump
and his neo-fascist
Cabal unleash the monsters
Of their dangerous id
Devouring all reason
Turning all they see
Into raving lunatics
As they set the world on fire
Ushering in the ends of days
Armageddon looms
Will Trump be raptured away?
Only God knows
And he is not telling
As we descend
Into the maelstrom
Hoping against hope
That we can overcome
The monsters
That Trump has unleashed
In the end
Perhaps it does not matter
As the world careens
Deeper into hell
There is no end
Nothing but despair
Forever and ever
prayer for future of the planet
A shaman priestess
Is deep in thought
Engaged in Meditation
on the fate
Of the earth
She is deep in the cosmic woods
In the world between worlds
Where she is communing
With the spirits of the universe
Who listen to her tale of woe
She tells them
Of the rise of the neo-fascists
And the refusal to address
The possible end of the world
Due to run away climate change
She prays and prays
And finally
She receives an answer
More a prediction
It is all up to humans
She has two visions
Of a possible future
Two contrasting visions
One a dystopian nightmare
The other an optimistic vision
The first
The neo-fascists
Seize control
And usher in a dystopian nightmare
That ends with utter destruction
Nuclear war
Nuclear winter
Ends climate change
As civilization ends
And mankind retreat to caves
And it happens
In a blink of an eye
In less than five years
The world will end
Game over civilization ends
The second vision
The optimistic vision
Humanity wakes up
From their collective night mare
Throws off the neo-fascist cabal
And begin to change the world
Making the economy works
For all of us
Not just the corrupt 1 percent
The so-called masters of the Universe
They are overthrown
In a people’s power revolution
All over the world
People wake up
Demand change
And slowly the world
Begins to recover
And overcome
The dark hours
Of the present age
The shaman priestess
Returns home
To spread the word
It up to us
To choose our fate
The end is indeed near
It is darker than you think
But it is not over yet
If we choose the path
Of the cosmic light
And overthrow
The neo-fascist cabal
And restore democracy
And peace will break out
And all will end well
If not
Well she says
You have been warned
The universe has spoken
So, mote it be
lucky numbers blues
There are many gambler’s fallacies
the statisticians say
each roll of the roulette table
is an independent event
Yet the gamblers believe
that if for example
there were ten red numbers
in a row
that the next one should be black
right
A statistician in the U,K.
decided to prove
that the gamblers
were all delusional
in insisting that there were patterns
in the endless spin of the wheel
and that it was more of a curve
that the noise of random numbers
after thousands of spins
recorded on a computer
the pattern was clear
there was a bell shape curve
with an upswing
and a downswing to the data
an early experiment
in chaos theory
but with a practical application
if you are on a winning curve
keep going until the curve
turns into a losing curve
then walk away
and you might be a winner
according to science
but they have yet
to be able to prove/disprove
that lucky numbers exist
for you and me
mine was always 32
and when it pops
I swore that my lucky number
came up
just a fluke
according to science
another iron clad rule
the regression to the mean
the curve may go up
and may go down
but in the end
it regresses to the mean
and that means
the house always wins
morning thoughts
Every morning I wake up
And see the love of my life
Sleeping soundly
In our bed
The sun fills my room
And I get up
To do my morning routine
Just marveling at the sight
And as I do my thing
I am drawn back to bed
Just to look
At this strange creature
That captured my heart
So many years ago
And I wonder yet again
At the mystery of our love
How and why
Did the universe bring us together?
Where did she come from
And why did she summoned me?
I have no answers
Our love transcended
The barriers of time
And space
And somehow
We found each other
And will be together
Until the death of time
April 8th Santa James Comes to Town
In this dark and dangerous time
That we live in
We seldom hear tales
Of inspiration, hope and love
Yet when we do hear such tales
It fills us with wonder
And hope that some how
We can do better
Life can be better
Love can conquer hate
And decency can prevail
Over the dark forces all around us
In Kingman, Arizona
An old blind homeless man appeared
Out of nowhere he showed up
And started walking about
He was polite, friendly and not scary
Did not want anything from any one
And somehow he conquered the town
Who adopted him
They called him Santa James
Because he wore a red Santa cape
And he was just so
filled with good will
Laughter, advice and stories
Boy did he spin good stories
Poetic allusions
And just radiated goodness
Everyone fell in love
with Santa James
He was given a job
Playing piano
Given a room to stay in
Spoke at the local schools
And churches
And to any one
who stopped him
He remembered everyone’s name
And life story
Even though he was blind
He could see the good in everyone
And that is the moral of the tale of mine
here is goodness all around us
If only we open our hearts
To accept it
We have the power
To reject hate
To reject division
And accept love
If only Santa James spirit
Could spread across this country
We could heal our wounds
And become united again
That is my prayer
Perhaps Santa James
Is really a saint
The real thing
Who knows
All we know
Is that Santa James
Came to town
And the rest
Is the history
We will make of it
Long Live Santa James
Coffee Love Hate Affair
I love coffee
Always have
Always will
But I have
a love-hate affair
With coffee
Love it when it gets me
uplifting high in the sky
As the sun comes over
Filling with hope
And anticipation
As I conquer the day’s
Daunting tasks
With a little help
From my drug of choice
But coffee turns on me
Late in the day
And I can’t sleep
just can’t sleep
As the coffee burns
In my soul
And I toss and turn
And sleep no more
Coffee does that to me
And so,
I am reduced
To drinking decaf coffee
or fake herbal coffee
Not the same thing at all
But that is all I can handle
As I am a coffee addict
And always will be
Coffee Blues
Coffee
is my drug
of choice
Always has been
Ever since
I first tried it
As a young lad
so many decades ago
Loved coffee’s power
To speed up
my synaptic nerves
Turning me on
Keeping me going
and going and going
But there is a dark
side to everything
And coffee is a drug
And it will take you
Where it wants to go
Enslaving you
Making you its victim
As it toys with you
Messes with you
Prevents you
from sleeping
Coffee
is a harsh mistress
It demands respect
As you fall
under it seductive powers
Slave again
To the drug of choice
Just another over-caffeinated
Coffee addict
Stumbling along the street
Looking for a fix
At six in the morning
As the coffee wears off
And you finally
Can get some sleep
Until the alarm
Blasts you away
And you reach out
Trembling for your fix
Coffee
you scream out
I need coffee
The universe laughs
As you get your coffee high
Just another pathetic
coffee junkie
When all is said
and done
Messenger Dog of God
One day
While studying in Rome
As a priest
I notice a small white dog
Staring at me
He glances at me
Indicating that I am to follow him
I get up
And follow this strange dog
He leads me deep
Inside the hidden depths
Of the Vatican
Finally stopping by a door
I open the door
And see St Peter there
He smiles
Dismisses the dog
Who moves on down the hall
Finished with his cosmic duty
As the secret messenger of God
All in a days work
I ask why am I here?
St Peter says
Why are any of us here?
It is time for you to go
But I don’t want to go
Don’t want to leave this mortal plane
St Peter smiles
Says it is time to go
I wake up
Back in my bed
With my wife
And realize it was all a dream
It was not yet time
To go
But I am afraid
I will find the messenger dog
Outside my door
Any day now
The grim reaper waits
And it will soon be my time
just for today
today
just for today
I plan to do nothing
nothing at all
just go with the flow
of the day
as the day turns into night
and the night turns into sleep
I will ride the wave
along
with my love
until the day is done
it’s a dog’s life for me
an agnostic dyslectic
stays up all night
wondering if there is a dog
the Buddhists wonder
about the Buddha nature of the dog
the evangelicals are sure that there is a dog
and you must follow their dog
or go to hell
for following another’s dog
the Muslims agree
there is only one dog
and the dogs
smile at the foolishness
of the human race
of course, there is a dog
and they are the master race
as they growl at their owners
who bow down
and clean up their mess
it can’t happen, or has it
Every day when I watch TV
I see the chattering classes
The TV pundits
And their guests
Pontificate about this and that
And it seems to me
That they are missing the big picture
In the era of Donald Trump
Nothing that they say
Will make a difference
Donald Trump has slowly conquered
The political world
And he is shaping it into something
That we had hoped we would never see
A truly American neo-fascist state
Wrapped around the flag
And so-called Christian values
And the latest made up outrage
And the chattering classes
Don’t seem to understand
That they are next
On the hit parade
As the Donald Trump machinery
Continues to take over
the known universe
The question used to be
It can’t happen here
The answer I am afraid
Is already has
so excited to be alive
I wake up
with the dawning sun
this morning
I was so excited
to be alive
at age 63
I look at my sleeping beauty
and realize yet again
my life began
te day I met her
37 years ago
she walked off a bus
out of my dreams
and into my life
and my life began
that autumn day
when I met
the girl of my dreams
trump
Triumphed against all enemies
Remaining unvanquished
Uniting all who oppose him
Might makes right
Patriots unite behind the Great Leader
just an unhinged werewolf howling at the moon
as the lunatic light of the blood red moon
the super blue moon lights up the night
the werewolf stirs
as the light shines on him
slowly transforming him
into a dark dangerous creature
of the lunatic night
ready for his flight
out into the world,
he emerges
snarling
howling at the moon
just another unhinged
werewolf
out for blood today
howling at the moon
scorpion night 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
Glow
Glowing light of the dawning sun
Lights up my dismal room
Overwhelming me with love
Watching my dream girl sleep
old woman and the genie
An old Chinese woman
Stands in a field
On the lunatic edge of town
Where drinkers gather to drink
And woman of ill repute
Play their games
With the passing drunks
Men ready for a night of passion
She is holding a tea pot
And proclaims
That the pot contains
A genie
That will grant the new owner
Three wishes
She had to sell the pot
Because her wishes came true
And she smiles
And laughs insanely
The laughter dies
And she implores people
To buy her tea pot
And put her out of misery
Just buy my pot
And your dreams will come true
Be careful dear thought
Remember all magic
Comes with a price
A terrible price
trapped back of the bus
Back of the Bus
Many years ago
When I was a foolish young man
I took a greyhound bus trip
Just to see the country
I was trapped
In the back of the bus
Where the young
And restless souls
Gathered together
And drank illegally
And smoked weed
Also illegally
We stayed there
Until Winnemuca
Where I got off
And found my bus pass
Had found another owner
Ad I went to Salt Lake City
Still trapped in the back of the bus
down and out in Saigon
Down and Out in Saigon
Southeast Asia, and Mexico
has always attracted
A certain type of westerner
The down and out
On a down word spiral
Why?
Relatively cheap to live
Lots of part-time gigs
Teaching English
Or other things
Cheap Booze, drugs, sex
Readily available
Places to stay
Dirt cheap
And no one needs
To sleep outdoors
Easy to disappear
Into the foreigner’s backpackers ghettos
And escape
From whatever you are running from
The locals are somewhat tolerant
The police usually look the other way
And there are lots of people
In your shoes
I was surprised to find
That Saigon has become
The latest place
For the down and outer crowd
In Bangkok, one sees them a lot
In Cambodia as well
In the Philippines
In Nepal
And south of the border
In Mexico as well
and Eastern Europe
And Latin America
In India not so much
In Japan and Korea
Just too damn expensive
And too cold to be outdoors
Back in the day
I used to work
The citizen services gig
And saw lots of the down
and out set
The old blues song
comes to mind
No one remembers you
When you are down and out
And in the States
Being down and out
Means living
on the mean streets
As it is very difficult
To live with almost no money
And the various side hustles
Don’t give you much money
Unless you are dealing drugs
And teaching ESL
Is not an option
other hustles are difficult
and begging gets one arreste
Food is expensive
Transportation is expensive
Booze and drugs expensive
Rent is prohibitive
Commercial sex is expensive
And no one loves you
If you are down and out
No one knows your name
You are just another
homeless bum
Invisible to all
As you try to make do
Much better to be down and out
In Southeast Asia
Than on the mean streets
Of the USA
Ghosts Along the Jungle Path in Vietnam
walking down a lonely trail
in the jungles of Vietnam
fleeing the ghosts of the Viet Kong
down the Chu Chi Trail
pursued by ghosts
and memories of war
and the horror
that lay beneath my feet
wondering yet again
was it worth it
the war
the thousands of dead
silent witnesses
lie beneath my feet
silent witnesses
to the folly of war
as I walk down the jungle path
heading to nowhere
thinking these dark thoughts
talking to my ghostly companions
Saigon 1995
In 1995
I was one of the first American tourists
Allowed into Vietnam
To freely wander about
Tourism was at its infancy
And Saigon was chaotic
Wild and crazy
Traffic was insane
There were few tourism sites
Few hotels
Few guest houses
And not too many restaurants
The food was good
We saw the war memorial
The reunification palace
And the big market
But we felt we were being monitored
Beggars were everywhere
There were scams everywhere
And it was not that pleasant an experience
But Saigon grew up
Became a much more tourist-friendly place
And these problems we encountered
A thing of the place
Saigon is so much better
So much more developed
That it has captured our soul
And we will be back
saigon 201
Saigon 2019
Vibrant, vivid, exciting
A city on the move
Becoming a world-class city
Yet still with a Saigon swagger
Wandering the streets
Dodging the traffic
Admiring the women
Enjoying the food
Saigon enters my heart
And I know that I will be back
This city is growing on me
Reminds me of Korea
One hopes that as it develops
It will not become a carbon copy
Of other big Asian cities
Obliterating its past
In search of a false modern image
I hope it can retain
What makes Saigon Saigon
And not become another Gangnam
Hope it does it with Saigon style
And the people will evolve
The country will emerge
And become what it should be
The Paris of the East
This is my vision
as I wander about
enjoying Saigon in 2019
ghost of Chu Chi
Crawling down the tunnels
Of Chu Chi
I could almost imagine
The Viet Kong guerillas
Hiding deep under the tunnels
As the land above is turned
Into a temporary dessert
With the vegetation burned off
By napalm and agent orange
The Viet Kong creep out at night
Stealing onto the bases
Stealing weapons, food, supplies
And occasionally killing soldiers
In their sleep
The US soldiers
Stay on base at night
Terrified of the mosquitos
And of the Viet Kong
the ghosts
Surround me
Telling me their stories
And at last I fled
Through the emergency escape tunnel
Declaring victory
Profoundly shaken up
By the ghosts of the Chu Chi tunnels
Old Lady in the Neighborhood
There is an old Vietnamese lady
In the neighborhood
Obviously senile
But everyone knows her
And watches over her
To make sure
She stays out of traffic
And out of trouble
She talks to everyone
But no one seems to understand
What she is babbling
on about
They smile at her
And she smiles back
And she for some reason
She likes us
And like my
Vietnamese Coffee lady
I wonder why
Why was there
this connection
Between us
It dawned on me
Perhaps in a prior life
She knew an American or two
And I remind her of someone
Or perhaps she is found
Of Korean K drama
And Angela reminds her
Of her favorite K Drama star
Or perhaps it is both
Or another reason entirely
But in any event
I look forward
To seeing her smiling face
Every time I walk
Down my ally way
in Old Saigon
Coffee Lady in Saigon
Every morning
I have gone out for Vietnamese coffee
At a sidewalk café
Down the ally from our AIRBNB
The owner is a pleasant middle age woman
Who for some reason likes us
She smiles at us
Greets us in Vietnamese
She does not understand English
Or Korean
And I wonder why
Why was there
this connection
Between us
It dawned on me
Perhaps in a prior life
She knew an American or two
And I remind her of someone
Or perhaps she is found
Of Korean K drama
And Angela reminds her
Of her favorite K Drama star
Or perhaps it is both
Or another reason entirely
But I moved today
And will miss her
Might go back for a final cup
Of coffee
To say good bye
To my Vietnamese coffee lady
Mastering the Saigon Shuffle
Motorbike riders waiting at intersection. Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
When I first visited Saigon
Learning the Saigon Shuffle
Was difficult
And now 24 years later
It all seems to be coming back
There is an art to crossing the street
Dodging the motor cyclists, the taxis, the private cars
The bikes and other pedestrians and the buses
The art consists of letting the big guys go first
Then walk between the motorcycles and cyclists
Trusting that they will get out of your way
And they being masters of the Saigon shuffle
Always find a way
In my two visits I was struck
By how it all flows together
Without a central authority
And with almost no planning
Lights or cops
Somehow it just is
And somehow it works
And it is still a mystery to me
24 years after first
Encountering the Saigon shuffle
old Ghosts in Saigon
Old ghosts wandering the streets of old Saigon
Lost spirits of the dead
Died during the endless wars
Ghostly apparitions around every corner
Here was Kilroy
and his gang of soldiers
Over there were the Viet Cong
Waiting to kill them
Saigon is filled with memories like that
Terrible times were had here in Old Saigon
Silently the ghosts parade the city streets
As the tourists drink in the bars
Seeing Ghosts
Seeing Ghosts
I walk around the streets
Of old Saigon
Seeing sensing the undead
The ghosts of the war
That haunted life
So many years ago
So many people died
For a war
That never should have been fought
For reasons that are still not clear
A great tragedy unfolded
In a land half away
Around the world
The ghosts smile at me
And then they disappear
Leaving me in the present
Life goes on
satanic torture
I find myself
In a dark room
Strapped to a bed
The light turns on
The large TV comes on
A smiling image
Of Satan fills the TV
He is dressed
In a conservative business suit
Looks like he came
Out of a corporate
board meeting
surrounded by demonic aides
who constantly shove papers
at him
He looks up from his lap top
And smiles
A deadly so insincere smile
His voice booms out
Welcome to Hell
My satanic slaves
I am Satan
Your new master
Each of you
Has been sentenced
To an eternity of torture
And the punishment
Must fit the crime
So, for you
Mr. Jake Cosmos Aller
Failed aspiring poet
And novelist
Your torture
Is to be strapped
To that bed
Unable to move
As you are filled
With the need
To piss and
But you cannot move
And your skin
Is crawling with bugs
And itchy
as Hell so to speak
and you are so sleepy
but you cannot sleep
the TV will play
endless repeats
Of some of the worst TV
and movie shows
ever produced
Starting with my favorite
A Series of Unfortunate Events
Featuring your favor annoying little girl
Carmetta! Singing for you forever
As you are the ultimate cake sniffer
Welcome to Hell
worlds within worlds lost in inner space
A man woke up one day
Lost in inner space
Went so far down
The proverbial rabbit hole
That he did not know
Where he was
Nor what time it was
Nor when it was
As he stared out
At a bewildering world
A world lost in inner space
Deep down in his dreams
Filled with nightmarishly real
Monsters, demons and ghostly apparitions
He saw them and began running
Running running running
With the hell hounds behind him
Leading him to the edge
of the pits of hell itself
abandon all hope
ye who enter here
the sign read
above the entrance to the pit
and there was a devil standing there
armed with a clipboard
and a computer spreadsheet
Satan was the ultimate bureaucrat
Name barked the devil
Date of Birth ?
Date of Death?
Don’t know? That won’t do at all
Hmm
Car accident due to drunk driving
And you killed a child
Bad on you
But here in hell
The punishment fits the crime
And the devil laughed
Joined in by the hell hounds
And other nightmare creatures
A bell ran out
In the purple crystalline sky
And slowly the worlds receded
And he found himself alive
In his room
And vowed
That today
Was the day
He would quit drinking
Quit taking drugs
And quit chasing strange woman
And having wild libertine sex
He picked up the phone
It was Satan’s aid
Be careful what you vow
We are listening
If you fulfill your vows
You might find yourself
Escaping life in Hell
It is up to you to choose
And the man got dressed
Went to work
Thinking deep thoughts
And drove off a cliff
And back down the endless
Worlds within worlds
endless movie
Watching the TV coverage
Of the great government shut down
Of 2018-2019
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 u
And screams
“It don’t mean s….
“Dude, the endless movie
Is about to begin”!
A middle-aged white man
Down on his proverbial luck
Just been fired
Replaced by a foreign worker
Or a robot
Or just fired
Because he was no longer
Deemed useful
To the masters of the universe
If 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 booze
And coffee smokes a joint
Snorts cocaine for good measure
and smokes a cigarette
And walks outside
steals a bus at gun point
Filled with passengers
He tells them
They are hostages
And he puts on his vest
With the dead man switch
Next to the bomb
He announces
Via tweet
He is going to take the bus
To the proverbial pot of gold
Hidden deep in a cave
And when he got there
He would release the hostages
And disappear into the mine
And never be found again
And as the bus careens around the mountain
At 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 we are all doomed
morphing images
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: if
The other creatures wear masks
Many of them wear
Green Pepe the alt-right
Symbolic frog masks
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
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
One Night I Dreamt of You
One night I dreamt of you
For seven years I dreamt of you
Until you walked into my life
One Night in Lithia Springs
One night in Lithia Springs
We soaked away our painful life
And again fell in Love
You Are My Everything
You are my everything
All my hopes and dreams
Haunting my nights
I Can Not Get Rid
I cannot get rid
This angel haunting my soul
Seeing your face in the sky
saying goodbye
Saying goodbye now
Is the hardest thing to do
But I must do it
You are my Angel
You are my Angel
Sent from God up in heaven
To conquer my life
One Moment, One Day
One moment, one day
You walked out of my nightmares
And swept into life
Waking Up to No You
Waking up to no you
Absent in my bed at night
Absent from my dreams
Thursday Evening
Thursday early evening
Thinking dark thoughts only you
Can you cure these thoughts?
howling at the moon
As I sit
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 thought
He disappears into the lunatic light
Of the full moon
And I wake up
Alone in my bed
Saying, man, that was quite a night
I better not go there again
The wild beast
Laughs
He has heard that before
And I join
The beast
In howling at the Moon
just an unhinged lunatic howling at the moon
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
Note: in honor of the blood moon posted on my blog the world according to cosmos
the story of how we met
It all began in Berkeley, California
In the springtime of 1974
One fateful afternoon
I was sleeping in my high school Physics class.
I looked up and saw a tall,
beautiful Asian woman
standing there looking at me.
She was the most beautiful women
in the universe to me
I screamed out, who are you?
She disappeared
as if she was beamed
away from my dream.
I knew that someday
I would meet the girl
In the dream
Little did I know
I would have to wait until 1982
Starting that month
I began having the same dream
Month and month and month.
Always the same.
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
to 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 she!
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 time and space
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
true story.
October 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
fake things
fake things_orig
We live in a world
Of fake things
Fake Products
Fake News
Fake Calls
Fake Politics
Fake Sports
Fake Business
Fake Leaders
Fake People
Fake friends
Fake sincerity
Surrounded 24/7
By all the fake things
How can anything real exist?
Is it all nothing but fake things
Designed to deceive us all?
will be published in Foliate Oak Review
Morphing Images from Hellish Nightmare
I am in a room
Watching people all around me
Change into hideous creatures
Monsters from the deepest depths of hell
The Chief of them all
Wears a Trumpian mask
Completed 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
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 with 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 none-stop
violent drug fueled orgies
As these creatures
Half human half monsters
Half male, half female creatures
Snort coke, cocaine, speed
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 ing each other
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
Note: from a recent nightmare
early morning thoughts
Early in the midst of a chaotic frenzy
I caught the fragrance of her sweat grin
And my heart did a swirling spin
When I saw that vision of erotic delight
There I stood
Alone in a somehow too dismal room
Full of vibrant people
I knew not what to say
So, I spent that dismal day
Thinking dismal morbid thoughts of lugubrious doom
Thoughts what might happen that day
And what might have been if I had the courage to say Hello
All I know is they were really screeching at each other
And almost look like they were about to attack each other
But one cat backed down
As the other cat stood their proverbial ground
If they were humans one would have pulled out a knife
Or a gun
And someone would have been killed
But being mere cats
They stared at each other
And walked away
but they kept glancing at each other
So I knew the fight as not over
Merely postponed until a later hour
Cats truly are the aliens
Who live among us humans
Or perhaps we are the aliens
Who live among the cats?
Cat thought
Watching the black cat
Who lives underneath the building
Slinking about
looking for something to kill
I am reminded once again the cats
are not our friends
as I stare at him
an alien invader
From another planet
hangover reflections
Hang Over Reflections
soju
Last night a Korean friend from Virginia came for a two week visit He brought with him a 30-year Bottle of Ballentine whiskey. Of course, we must drink it and then we must drink some soju
well this morning I woke up with a hangover
And thought about the contributions to world culture that Koreans have made. The perfect Korean hangover cure
And of course, this morning I am in the middle of taking the cure
The cure consists of
Lots of coffee
Liquid Korean hangover medicine from the local convenience store or drug store
Hangjanggu soup
A walk
Spending some time In the sauna soaking and sweating it out
Then Later following Mark Twain sage advice that the only known cure for hangover is to keep drinking. That is the Korean Hangover cure And it works
I had my first hangover at 16 when I was an exchange student for two weeks at a Navaho boarding school. Went out and got rip roaring drunk with the Indians They gave me an Indian name “Ski dish Digest “which means “Crazy friend” And I have now had Almost 45 years’ worth of experience dealing with hangovers a hangover is god’s punishment for drinkers
Today I wrote down the following hangover poem which I will share, and I would love to hear your Hangover stories please post them below and I will share them
Hangover reflections
Hangover Gods Punishment For drinker
A hangover is god’s punishment for drinkers
Nothing more than that God’s way of punishing the drinker
God’s punishment is severe for the sin of overdrinking
Of course, the only known cure for a hangover is to keep drinking
Very much need of a cure today
Every day one has too much to drink
resolve to quit drinking fill one’s head
microsoft found poems
Telco one
not until 5:00 PM
had objected
lack of will
come back
and go to some of actor dinner
will fix the car tomorrow
and work on my appeal
might work
and the appeal
denied me
to get on the other headphones
when we go to the own charm
on Thursday
will build
and Costco tomorrow
dictation is working
but still funky
but it will when it finally works
watch and at the showboat
Mr. Sunshine
before taking all along
that low energy
back to two long flight
stop dictation
of up to the line
microsoft dictation found poem four
Green tree
is in the Kingstown Property
in Alexandria
with her mother
and are tended to Jeff
my mother in the wall
is berating jobs for some reason
to handle
and tell my mother to calm down
as Jeff has a temper problem
job is getting very angry
Juppe pulls out a gun
and serves the shooting of my mother
the mall and should serve five or six times
in the head
my wife forays into a closet
and Hans hoping that jobs
will not find her
and she wonders
what would happen know
that her mother
in all my mother’s death
and the she wonders
what will happen
because im not there
at the time
and she fears Jeff
shooting in the wall
and that is the end
of the current in that age
microsoft dictation poem three
Inspection report
meeting went well
met with him
only at age six
G P silver in the damage
is shown her
the news from the rear
and as well as shown
for the termite damage.
In the termite
go we had been a UGS
the basic questions of morality
and using this statement
denying them the answer
most questions
afterwards
we went outside
to take a picture
although the front porch
into I noticed
there was something
very strange looking
at the front porch
the pedestal
on the front porch
were quoted
so he headed
from facing the street
and in from the street
station house
the fed is still on
riding his meaning
to the eye
and that has left his leading
to the left
we noticed
there were cracks
in the forge:
long the foliage
including the crack
on in the front door
we also know
is that the doors
are at opening
in the awkward men
we also noticed
a big crowd
on the right side of the house
on in the mist
airways to the right baseline
we took a look
at the the souls in 141571413 1415
that this is an old event in 1413
left as to his meeting
in Ford’s 111415
in the right one
is even for now
we suspect that uses serious settlement issue
in that the house is cracking
on the house
in the house
is trying to balance
its closing the porch
this is just
what left
in the says
this is a serious issue
we are sending information
to a lawyer
asked his advice
before we can’t turn our
insurance for content and
Rescinded the new
we will go to the court
has to figure out the procedures
for the deal
against the key man
this evening
I hope to do some writing
style dictation
microsoft found poetry poem two
The painting went very well
it looks much better
it was a very hot day
will vote by
Microsoft trials dictation from:
and submitted it to two journals
and micro soft
don’t expect a response from mike
were shocked but had fun writing it
will keep track of market conditions
for a second from over tonight
we’ll work on my problem
for the interview
and take a walk to trader joe’s
two are home to worry:
Aaron will start working on
OK at the base of king too
fast and the bees
nonsense continue nonsense
Iraqis problem number one
priority right now but
Things to do
123
OK now I get your attention
I wanna go too sole
and Endgo
some and then being term
and then USA
and then Washington, DC
and then Baltimore
and then I wanna
will be with the idea being done
on the stand
will be OK enough tomorrow
I need to go to the house and 88 AM 988
just 8:00 AM.
The I am having a meeting with an array
annually and aHer
a OK on we’re going to talk
to a jester of two
come up with solutions
we need to two fans
and players
repaid the painting repairs
we are paying the bill
from both the house we’ve passed,
my treatment
we had the somewhat tainted drywall fixed
we have a new tenant
rules being new tenant
is a very good
10
I think
are we were making
very much you need to do better
to stop of studies
now me as Sarah
Mr. Allen not an island
is an error
that have a need
for an offense of offering Maisie’s
backing separate
from the public
often salad
End of the night
of the committee
of the ways
to hire the answer you
get a better
microsoft dictation poem part two
microsoft dictation poem part two
When to the house
and your lunch
had a good lunch
when the two D. Meyer
we are only eight at the red cross
to the I had a BLT
center with each 10 home
to ensure came home
at 230 and we walked
back to the house
did was a very hot air
to move the best way
to beat the fencing guy
Go to End
can show them the fencing edition
about $4000 or so
came home to a
Her and then run back home
Had celebrated for dinner
and wash two episodes of a series of unfortunate events
than started reading The two men
To the house
and the DM 2 me
the pay
for its then
Go to End
go to the paint shop
to buy more pain
noses were very first
Go to End
had too old
to be in this meet pizza.
Go to End
Went out at 8 am
to the house to meet
had too old to be in this meet pizza
have peace of for dinner
go to Sly and the Family Stone Yes No?
Play Summer Time in the City Yes
the painters
then walked to the Paint Shop
the in the top of the state intends
the the the the the the the
Pizza
Dinner salad
Say number okay 4444
6666
2222
End Document
Save Changes Journal Yes No
Can’t complete last command
Undo command
Can’t save
Came back from the upper
the painting works great
progress
is how so
in a very hot as hell
bent tonight
will go to trade for Jones
for home to home
Number of records by second baseman from voting
and an batteries for remote control
shown
or just for a number of town hall
microsoft found poem one
This is the first of five found poems based on Microsoft dictation trials. I took the verbatim text filled with gibberish and put into poetic stanzas otherwise no editing.
April 30 In Search of America 1975 – Hitch hiking Tales
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 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
I ended in New York City
Slept along the way
In cars
In truck stops
In high way 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 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
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 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,
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
Life In Between
Life In-between
For years I have lived
In-between two worlds
Korea
where my wife’s family comes from
And the Bay area
Where I grew up
and the laidback progressive
wild west coast
and the cutthroat
Dour eastern establishment
Washington DC
Where I worked for 27 Years
And I live between
My official duties
And my desire
To be a wild-eyed poet
And life in-between
Means you belong nowhere
Yet are everywhere
Always disoriented
Always half lost
Never really feeling you belong
That is life
Living in-between
the light will prevail
April 24,
The Light Will Prevail
Mrs. Which says
This much we know for sure
Despite the lateness of the hour
And the growing power of the Dark Thing
In the end, lightness will prevail
Defeating the dark one
Samonka for Angela
I have dreamt of you
For almost seven long years
And now you are here
What can I do about this
The only thing to do love you
You are all I want
All that I need in this life
Thank to all the gods
For bringing you into my life
From now to the end of time
this poem was published in Teferet journal’s 2018 Poem-a-Thon. Please see their webpage or Facebook page for all the great poetry. Also, check out my poetry blog, Https://theworldaccordingtocosmos.com for these and other poems. Thanks, Jake
62 Years Young
I am 62 years young
62 years around the sun
37 of those years
I have spent with the love of my life —
dream girl
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
—
April 27 the darkness grows
The Darkness grows
On distant Comazotz planet
The red eye one smiles
It is satisfied
The black thing is spreading
All the way to earth
—
this poem was published in Tiferet journal’s 2018 Poem-a-Thon. Please see their webpage or Facebook page for all the great poetry. Also, check out my poetry blog, Https://theworldaccordingtocosmos.com for these and other poems. Thanks, Jake
It is God’s will they say
It is God’s will they say
It is God’s will they say
The neo-fascists and their ilk
It is the white man’s burden
To rule the unruly masses
To this I say
Never again
Will we let them
Take over the world
And lead us back to the dark dangerous days
Of the Holocaust
Or the 19th-century colonial era
Never again
Never again
Until hell freezes over
And the world ends
Angela Lee
Angela (Acrostic poem published in 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
American Life and Death
As American 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?
As America declines
Back to the future
April 2 Heading Back to the Past
While the rest of the world
Embraces the energy of the future
Our 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
We will overcome
The darkness will flee the land
April 2 When Will this Darkness End
As the darkness settles down on the land
All are consumed with evil
Foul deeds and endless darkness
I wonder if it will ever go away
Yes I wonder if our great nightmare will ever end
Are we doomed to live out the decline of America?
This is what I pray for 2018
The end of the darkness
that consumes our land
haiku for angela
Every day I wake up
To the love of my long life
And say Thanks to God
thank god for angela poem
Thank God For Angela
Every day I wake up
And see you there
I thank God
That he had the wisdom
To send you to me
To save me
By bringing you into my life
You are the sunshine
That lights up the day
You are reason
I get up in the morning
And you are reason
I exist
Without you I am nothing
But dust blowing in the wind
Waiting until death
Takes me down
siren song of doom
The quiet dying swan song
Arose out of the dismal swamp
Through the fog shrouded woodlands of Zara
Over the sweltering desserts of black tar
Heading rapidly nowhere at all
The quite sweat song of her mellifluous voice
Echoing through the canyons of my fear
Drawing me nearer and nearer
I cannot resist the siren’s haunting melody
Drawing me nearer and nearer to my doom
My old friend self-fear cries out
Time to escape while I can
Yet I cannot resist
I cannot escape
All I can do is listen
To the haunting enigmatic voices
Of the siren’s sweat and sour music
Blasting away my selfish fear
Naked, alone I stand
Proud in homage
To my own gods
Back in the swamp
Wandering forever
Until it seems I met you, yet again
market rules us all
The market rules all
We are nothing but products
The rights to us
Have long been sold
Bow down and worship
The all mighty market
Everything we do
Everything we see
Everything we are
Nothing but our personal brand
Nothing human left over
Nothing authentic left over
Nothing but lies
Fake news
nonsense
The world does not care one whit
About you and me
As people
It is all about the profits that can be made
By exploiting our labor
And once we are used up
We become a liability
And a burden
If you have not made it to the top
By age 55
You are a loser
And should be retired
Forced to live out your life
On your miserable pension
As you wait to die
No longer useful
To the Masters of the Universe
And true love
Nothing but an illusion
It is all about the sex, baby
And how getting your baby
Ahead at all costs
Who cares about love
It is all nothing
But a second-hand emotion
As the song puts it
Love is nothing but a sexual commodity
And we are all nothing but interchangeable
Commodities in the marriage and love market
And porno values rule the bedroom
As we are nothing more than used body parts
Who cares about friendship
It is all about how they can use you
And you can use them
To get ahead
True Love and genuine connections
Cannot survive
In this toxic soup
Of the modern materialist world
God and spirituality
Nothing but a scam
As our so call Christian Leaders
Proclaim their love for you
All they love is your donations
And they too are part of the market
Jesus if he ever comes back
Will no doubt
Be used to sell more goods
As the right to Jesus
Has also been sold
love conquers hate
They say that love conquers hate
And that good always win in the end
But sometimes I wonder about hate
I always thought that my love
For my wife would last forever
Since I first met my love
Love at first sight
As the girl I was dreaming of for eight years
Flew into my life with such brilliant light
Our love burning as bright as a million stars
Consuming us both in its brilliant flame
As if our love were made of cosmic flames
transplanted from the farthest stars
But true love sometimes turns to true hate
And what was wonderful on that first date
becomes despicable over time
What was once cute on that first date
becomes disgusting as she become our mate
What was once love at first sight
Turns to darkness and resentment
And then full-blown hatred
And nothing but the darkest night
And the light of a million stars
Is replaced by a darkling night
That consumes one’s soul
I look at my wife every dawning day
And see that light is still burning bright
And the momentary darkness
And yes, potential hatred is kept at bay
By the brilliant rays of light
Hatred, resentments dispelled yet again
By the brilliance of our love
That the million suns of love
Are burning yet again
And I pray constantly
To all Gods on our mark
that our love continues constantly
And that our love will conquer the dark
the 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
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
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.”
PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED ON POETRY 24
and Scarlet Leaf Review
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 bad
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
cosmic Dog from Goa
My final time with God
Happened a year latter
I was staying down in Goa
With my wife
Enjoying being with her
After our reconciliation
We stayed at the Taj Mahal Goa
Living like Kings and Queen
Just 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 life
And every morning
I saw the same dog
Not just a dog
But a cosmic dog
Filled with the divine spark of God
And the dog recognized me
And spoke to me and I knew
That God was present once more
In the face of the that cosmic dog
Kindred spirit
perhaps to the cosmic cat
that had save my soul
in Berkeley so long ago
I 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
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 garden
Then spoke to my mother
Who was sliding into dementia
Day by day losing her reason
Then I would go out
And explore the city
Go to a museum
Go to one neighborhood
And just be there
Rediscovering the Bay area
After years of being away
Having dinner with old friends
Seeing movies etc
Every 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
published in Scarlet Leaf Review November 2017
Meeting God in 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 sure
The first time I met God
I had taken magic mushrooms
And had gone to a lake
And soon was tripping inside my head
Lost in inner space
Zoning out tuning in
Dropping down the proverbial rabbit hole
And then in the middle of my madness
I felt oneness with the universe
My body melted away
And I joined the universe
All boundaries dropped away
And I knew that the universe
Was alive and I was part of the Cosmos
And the Cosmos was part of me
And I wondered at that moment
If I was face to face with God
I 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
published in Scarlet Leaf Review November 2017
Because of You I’m in a Seattle Kind of Mood
Because of you, I’m in a Seattle kind of mood
When I look out my window
And see the rain drops gently falling all around
And I feel that special Seattle kind of chill
In my bones
I think of you with a Seattle kind of mood
In the morning
Wherever I am in this crazy world if I see raindrops
Gently falling all around
Blue mood dissolves in the rain’s gentle mist
And I cry out with all my heart
Because of you
I am in a Seattle kind of mood
As I walk down the street
In distant foreign lands
Whether I am in Bangkok, Taipei, Tokyo or Seoul
New York, Moscow, Rome or San Francisco
Whether I am in India, China, Thailand or Europe
Whenever I feel the rain’s gentle embrace
I get into that Seattle kind of mood
Seattle, a Seattle kind of mood
Fresh Salmon sizzling over a hickory smoke fire
Ivar’s clam chowder
And Red Hook Ale Pike place market
Bums in Pioneer square
And angry hippies preaching in Red Square
Yuppies drinking downtown
Geeks in Redmond
Making the world safe
For the Microsoft King
And the Mariners loose again
While the Huskies dream of Rose Bowls too come
And ever where rain falling down
oh yeah
A Seatt1e kind of mood
Because of you
I get into that Seattle kind of mood
In the morning
As I fight the horrendous traffic
And breathe in deadly, killer air
I cough, cough, and remember
The green, green air of Seattle
And because of you,
I get into that Seattle kind of mood
Seattle, Seattle, kind of mood
The Huskies are number one in my heart
While the Mariners are always last in the nation
But what the hell
I’m in a Seattle kind of mood
I sit in the International District
Eating Dim Sum and drinking Ballad bitter
Watching the crowds dodge the ever present rain drops
Seattle Kind of mood
As I wake up each day in crazy foreign lands
I hear the falling raindrops calling me home
Oh why did you leave me they cry out
In a Seattle sort of voice
Whispering in the gently falling rain
Seattle, Seattle kind of mood
And so my Dear
Wherever I roam in this wide planet of ours
From here to entreaty
And beyond
All the way to the red plains of Mars
Whenever I hear the gentle patter of raindrops
I’ll get into that Seattle kind of mood
And dream of spending eternity with you
Watching the Seattle rain
Gently falling on our bumbershoots
As we walk down the beach hand in hand
Digging the gooey ducks while drinking Rainier Ale
All because of you
I’ll always be in the Seattle kind of mood
Spring time in Oregon
Spring has finally sprung in Oregon
Escaping from the longer winter prison
That has covered the land with snow
They say that this winter
Was a colder than normal winter
Wetter than normal
As the long drought finally ended
As nature resumed its normal spring thaw
I rejoice
Seeing all the signs of spring
Especially the sight of young beautiful women
Shedding their winter clothes
And walking about in the spring sunshine
So wonderfully alive
So beautiful and sexy
As they sashay about
Here and there
It makes me smile
All day long
Yes I love Spring time
Everywhere in the world
But especially in Oregon
My new found second home
August Moods
spring dodoitsu
Waking up seeing you there
Watching you as you wake up
Fills me with such sweat 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 comes 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
spring time on capitol hill
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 in writers’s newsletter
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
hurricanes from hell
As I watch the endless coverage of the storms from hell
Harvey, Irma, Jose and so many others
It seems almost end of the world like
As I sit on the smoky west coast
With fires burning everywhere
Thinking of the massive storms from hell
Bearing down on the East Coast
And the burning of the West Coast
As the storms head to Margo Largo
Winter home of our dear leader
Threatening destruction
The thought comes to mind
Perhaps there really is a God
And he is angry at us
For destroying his world
And I realize that God
Has been sending us a message
The end of the world is coming
And I despair
Thinking that we have an idiot in charge
Of the United States Government
As we face the storms of the century
And the ever-growing threats of global terrorism
Nuclear armed North Korea
And global chaos
What does our dear leader say to comfort us
In our hour of need
Nothing but political nonsense
How great he is doing
And how on top of things he is
As the storms batter the country
And the fires consume the west
I realize that the earth
Does not give a whit
About what I think
The world spins and spins around the sun
The climate continues to deteriorate
And mankind might be facing its darkest hours
But we have the Donald
And he will lead us through
To the other side
And so, I pray to the Donald
For deliverance from the storms
the fires burning everywhere
the threat of nuclear war
the end of the world
fires burning Bright
I look out my window in Medford Oregon
at the unnaturally dark smoke-filled skies
Seems almost like the end of the world
Out here in the smoke-filled skies
Of the west
And realize that that the entire west coast
Is burning up
Quote the Donald,. “Give me clean, beautiful and healthy air – not the same old climate change (global warming) bullshit! I am tired of hearing this nonsense.”
I consult the Donald for further wisdom and advice
and find that this is what he had to say
. “Well, I think the climate change is just a very, very expensive form of tax. A lot of people are making a lot of money. I know much about climate change. I’d be—received environmental awards. And I often joke that this is done for the benefit of China. Obviously, I joke. But this is done for the benefit of China, because China does not do anything to help climate change. They burn everything you could burn; they couldn’t care less. They have very—you know, their standards are nothing. But they—in the meantime, they can undercut us on price. So, it’s very hard on our business.”
Ah it all makes sense
Climate change is a Chinese hoax
So, they can destroy the US economy
Thanks to our dear great leader’s wisdom
I am relieved
And realize that it will all be alright
If I just follow the wisdom
Of our dear leader
dental torture blues
Sitting in the dental chair
Undergoing dental surgery
While the dentist probes
And tortures me
With his instruments of pain
The Frank Zappa song plays over and over
The torture never stops
The torture never stops
And I think of the mad dentist
In Little House of Horrors
The Jack Nicolson character
Who screams Pain is good
As he assaults his patients
Doing root canals
Without anesthesia
And so, I endure the torture
Of the dentist
In the vain hope
I can save my teeth
Until the next time
I undergo dental torture
The song faces away
And I slowly recover
Then as I leave
I am confronted with the bill
And the song roars back to life
The torture never stops
the torture never stops
masters of the universe
The earth has been invaded
By hideous blood sucking vampires
Disgusting vile alien creatures
Devoid of all compassion
Lacking any human empathy
These so-called Masters of the universe
These psychopathic monsters
Are everywhere
They even took over the White house
And to these vile creatures
Everyone is nothing but a commodity
These alien monsters
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
The airlines in Florida
Facing the worst hurricane in world history
Decided that the expeditated thing to do
The MBA approved thing to do
The profit maximizing, screw the public thing to do
Was to raise prices 600 percent
Without prior notice charging 3,000 dollars
Instead of doing the right thing
The compassion thing
The human thing of offering free flights to all
These executives, these so-called Masters of the Universe
thus, demonstrated that they are no longer human
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
From the soulless evil masters of the universe
Who have taken over the planet
It Can’t Happen Here
The pundits and talking heads
The chaterati classes
All assure us
That it can’t happen here
Fascism will never happen here
Our democratic system
Superior to all others
Check and balances
Power of the media
Will prevent fascism
From taking root
In the American soil
They laugh
And talk amongst themselves
And laugh some more
Convincing themselves
Meantime the darkness
Continues to descend
As our President becomes more erratic
And frankly shows signs of insanity
The fascists supporting him
Gather strength
And one day
They strike back
With furry
When the powers that be
Try to remove the President
He mobilizes his army
His army of deplorables
And they mobilize
And his fascist supporters
In the government
Demand law and order
And restoration of the Leader of the people
As they have started calling the President
He comes back into power
And demands
Unspecified emergency powers
And so, the cycle ends
And fascism wrapped inside a Christian flag
Comes to America
Full vengeance
As they take charge
And the chaterati classes
Are all arrested
The first to be rounded up
America has fallen
The media stars
All comply
The leader is great
America is great
And all who oppose him
Must be terror sympathizers
Or Tersymps for short
And deserve to be rounded up
Public protests are forbidden
Muslims must register
Atheists must be fired
Alt media is shut down
The internet is censored
And I weep
As I see the once great American nation
Descend into a fascist nightmare
And I wait for the midnight knock on the door
Knowing that I am on the list.
Knock Knock knock
Open up, it is homeland security……
Reflections on Turning 61
Today I woke up
And realized that I was 61 years’ old
Felt that I had lived
And almost died
So many times
I have challenged life
And faced my fate
And yet
Through it all
I am still here
I am still here
And that means something
Something to me
And something to the universe
Yes, I am still alive
And kicking
And nothing is stopping me
Yet still I wonder
Still I wonder
What does it all mean?
Life began with you
I first dreamt of Angela when I was but a lad of 17 living in Berkeley, California. It was 1974 and life seemed full of possibilities in that magical year the tail end of the fabled 60’s. I fell asleep that fateful day in a boring Physics class. I woke up seeing the most beautiful women in the world looking at me. I was shocked and did not know what to say. She spoke to me in a strange language but somehow, I knew that someday we were to be together. I just knew that I would meet the girl in the dream. It was love at first sight. She disappeared and I fell to the floor yelling, “who are you?”
Then I started having the same dream month after month for seven long years. I had to decide where to go in the Peace Corps and chose to go to Korea because I knew she would be there. I looked for her every day knowing that someday she would walk out of my dreams and into my life.
Then one day I had the last dream. She walked off the bus in front of me. I was shocked did not know what to say and she smiled at me melting my heart away. I got her number agreed to meet the next day. She came to my class room and we talked at length.
She was madly in love with me and she had to have me. I told her I felt the same way. We married two months later. And that was the beginning of 35 years of happiness.
When I first saw you
Standing on the hot roadway
I knew life began
That was the end game
The beginning of my life with you
A journey with you
love at first sight
You were in my dreams
appearing every evening
for seven long years
until one day I met you
and that changed my life
when you walked into life
stepping out of the night time
and into the light
when you walked into life
stepping out of the night time
and into the light
making everything so brilliant
changing my life forever
you are my angel
You are my angel
sent from God up in heaven
to take me to life beyond
one moment
one moment, one day
You walked out of that damned bus
stepped into my life
waking up to no you
waking up to no you
absent in my bed at night
not absent from dreams
thursday early evening
thursday early evening
thinking dark thoughs of you
can you cure these thoughts
Rapid CIty Nowhere
Last summer
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
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
The Voice of My Doom
walking deep in the woods
high above the city
near the airport
I heard them
then saw them
hideous black crows
looking at me
cackling at me
laughing at me
mocking me
calling me names
I asked what they wanted
they laughed
and said
nothing but your doom
and they flew around me
dive bombing me
and surrounding me
calling me names
in Korean and English
as I fled down the trail
with the demon birds
hot on my trail
no more coffee blues
Note: published in Eskimo Pie, HIll Magazine and other sites
I love coffee
Always have
And coffee has loved me back
But lately I have sourced 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
Deeping under her influence
I have the coffee blues
Can’t live with our 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 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
Imagining the end of the world
I saw the four horsemen of the apocalypse
Beckoning me to join them on their midnight ride
Death, pestilence, plague and war
They were ready to ride into the sunset
Spreading their hate with them
As they led the world to its foretold doom
The end days were approaching they told me
And their time was near
I begged them to hold off
To give us more time
To work things out
They laughed and said
Time waits for no one
We have a divine plan to work out
You have been warned before
And will be warned again and again
But soon it will be time
And we must do our duty
To bring an end to this benighted world
And fulfill our destiny
And yours
But for now
We will let you sleep
And let you prepare yourself
For the time is near
The end of the world is coming
It is later than you think
Soon soon the antichrist will come
Uniting the world
And leading the battles too come
Before the end of the world
And mankind ceases to exist
Just dust in the wind
Of a dead planet
In a forgotten corner of an uncaring universe
All part of God’s plan
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
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
Ode to Coffee
ODE TO COFFEE
Published Hill Rag, Eskimo Pie, Coffee with Underwood
Mistress of sacred love
Sacred lady of desire
You start my day
Setting my heart on fire
With your dark delicious brew
And throughout the day
Whenever the mean old blues come by
You chase them away
With your bitter {sweat} (sweet?) ambrosia{l brew}
Every time I inhale your {witches brew} (witch’s brew)
I am filled with power, light and love
And everything is al 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 desert 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 sweat 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 gossips mills running
Every great invention
Was fed by coffee’s sweat 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 sweat 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
Capitol Hill in the Springtime
Capitol Hill in the Spring *
*Published Writer’s Newsletter June 2017
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
the decline of America
You see it everywhere
The unmistakable signs
That the decline of America
Is in full swing
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
The future of mass transit
Its proponents said
The cost of rebuilding America mounts
And our politicians are afraid
That it will costs trillions of dollars
Just to prevent the US from collapsing
Into third world irrelevance
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
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
Or will we embrace a progressive future
With an economy that works for all
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
looking out my window
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
Rapid City Nowhere
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
Loosing 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 quite 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 too 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
Incheon
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
Loosing 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 quite 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 too 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
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
Why I am Not A Christian Easter THoughts
April 16 Why I am not a Christian Easter Thoughts
On Easter Sunday, I often think about Christianity
I don’t understand why anymore would believe such nonsense
The essential story makes no sense
An imaginary all powerful deity that no one has ever seen or heard
Except for psychotic patients or Drug users
Comes down to earth and impregnates a married woman
Who has never had sex for some reason
And her husband is okay with that
Believes her wild story
And still does not have sex
Until after the baby is born
Then there is total silence
Nothing about Jesus’s childhood
30 years later he emerges
Preaching love, peace and brotherhood
And denouncing the corrupt temple leaders
And the Jewish leaders as well
The miracles also don’t make any sense
In the real world, you can’t turn fish into bread
Can’t walk on water
Can raise the dead etc. etc.
Just does not happen
In the world, we live in
And has not happen since those ancient days
Then the last supper makes some sense
Jesus knows he is about to be betrayed
But he does not confront Judas
Does not run away
Does not encourage his disciplines
To run away with him
The whole Jesus Mary M story
Also, does not make sense
Jesus must have been married
Or he was gay
There is no doubt
Either way the story makes no sense
The crucifixion is the only part of the story I buy
Jesus was put to death because he was a rebel leader
And the Romans tolerated no dissent
To the Roman’s right to conquer and rule
The rising from the dead stories
All contradict one another
And Jesus was either walking as a normal human being
Or was a ghost
The door was rent open as if by lightening
Or not
Finally, we have been waiting over 2,000 years for his return
You would think if the story is remotely true
He would have turned up by now
Except he has
As many lunatics claim to be Jesus
in the flesh
all delusional of course
and that is what I think of Christianity
nothing but fairy tales and mass delusions
surrounding a kernel of truth
Love one again
Treat each other right
Don’t be consumed with greed
But couldn’t that message
Be made simpler
Without all the associated nonsense?
So, on this day I say
Open your minds
And discard the nonsensical elements of Christian thought
And follow the true teachings of Jesus
Even if you don’t believe in the imaginary man in the sky
Love Poems from Poem a Thon
April 11 3 Am Nightmares
3 am
The bewitching hour
When the wild things come out
And play
And torture you
With endless wild accusations
And nightmarish visions
As I toss and turn
Trying to escape
I look over at my wife
And as always
Repeat the mantra
Everything will be alright
And the wild things are banished
To the dark corners of my mind
And I recover my happiness
And I smile
As I look at the sleeping beauty
Still the most beautiful women in the world
Still the most alluring women in the world
Still in love with her
After 35 years
The love gets stronger and stronger
As she overcomes my despair
And the sun comes up
And I think to myself
What a wonderful life I have
With the women of my dreams
April 13 Spring Doositsu for Angela Poem a Thon
Waking up seeing you there
Watching you as you wake up
Fills me with such sweat 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
April 14 Love Jones
I got the Love Jones, baby
And it won’t leave me alone
I got the Love Jones, baby
And it won’t leave me alone
I’ve been writing these love poems
All day long
And I have been dreaming
Of all the ways, I could make love
To my secret lover
If only she will let me be
If only she will open her heart
And let me in
Perhaps the love Jones
Might leave me along
But I got the love Jones
Bad baby
Can’t you tell?
That the love Jones
Has grabbed my Soul
Twisted it up into little pieces
And I need you
To unravel the Love Jones
I need you to answer the call
Of the Love Jones Baby
I need you
To let me be free
Of the spell
Of the Love Jones
I got the Love Jones
Baby
I got it bad
And only you can
Put a stop to the love Jones
Baby
Let me enter your life
Put out the fire of desire
Send the Love Jones packing
And let me make sweat love to you
Oh, Love Jones
Go away
Let me be in peace
Love Jones
Leave me be
Baby
I got the love Jones
For you
Can’t you see?
What you do to me?
I got the Love Jones
Baby and it ain’t going away
Until I get to make love to you
Then perhaps this Love Jones
Will leave me be
Love Jones
NIghtmares from poem a thon
April 11 3 Am Nightmares
April 12 Zombie Apocalypse
Zombies to the right of me
Zombies to the left of me
Zombies ahead of me
Zombies behind me
Everywhere zombies galore
The end of the world had become
And the zombification of the world had begun
Zombies to the right of me
Zombies to the left of me
Zombies ahead of me
Zombies behind me
No one knew when or where the first zombies appeared
One moment zombies were just a collective figment of our deranged imagination
The next moment we were all living in a zombie apocalypse nightmare
Zombies to the right of me
Zombies to the left of me
Zombies ahead of me
Zombies behind me
Some said the zombies were created in a lab
Released by mad scientists and the military
Others said it was plague sent by God himself
To punish mankind for tolerating evil and moral depravity
Zombies to the right of me
Zombies to the left of me
Zombies ahead of me
Zombies behind me
The Christians and Muslims prayed
But their prayers went unheard
As they too soon became zombies
Zombies to the right of me
Zombies to the left of me
Zombies ahead of me
Zombies behind me
The zombies hunted in packs
Overwhelming their victims
Killing most instantly
But some they simply bit
And turned them into fellow zombies
Zombies to the right of me
Zombies to the left of me
Zombies ahead of me
Zombies behind me
The zombies did not attack one another
They preferred living live flesh
Human flesh but they ate everything they saw
Zombies to the right of me
Zombies to the left of me
Zombies ahead of me
Zombies behind me
And so, I ran into the countryside
With my fellow humans
Hit out deep in the woods
Hiding from zombies
And crazed cannibal gangs alike
Zombies to the right of me
Zombies to the left of me
Zombies ahead of me
Zombies behind me
The world ended that day
And our nightmare world began
Zombies to the right of me
Zombies to the left of me
Zombies ahead of me
Zombies behind me
Trumpian Nightmares
April 2 Walls
April 9 Pane e circus 2017 Redux
By order of his excellency
Emperor Donald the First
The merciful,
the Christian King of Kings
The Sultan of Sultans
The Emperor of North America
Be it hereby decreed
That the ancient honorable gladiator games
Of the old Roman Empire
Have been restored
Each city in the Empire will host a team
They will compete for the honor
Of the national championship
The games will start
With fighting animals
Fighting fish
Roosters
Cheetahs
Tiger
Bears
Wolves
And lions
Then a man lion contest
With a heretic thrown to the lions
If he or she lives
They will be pardoned
Then then main games
Six men/women teams compete
Armed with swords, knifes, mace, clubs
They fight until one man or women remans
The victor of the game
Those who are prisoners
Can compete for their freedom
And a full imperial pardon
Let the games begin
Long may the games reign
In the new North America Empire
Praise be to the Emperor
Donald the First
April 10 Long Live Emperor Donald the Ist
Ladies and Gentlemen
My fellow American citizens
Greetings and salutations
Today is a momentous day
The old corrupt USA republic is no more
The constitution that once protected us
Has been overthrown and violated
The barbarians at the gate
Have taken over
And ruined the once great land
The last hope of the world
And so, I had no choice
But to kill the old rotten regime
And restore American greatness
To save democracy
I must destroy it
And so, starting today
I will serve as the Emperor of North America
I welcome Canada and Mexico
And the Caribbean islands
To join The North American Empire
As we rebuild America
Restoring American greatness
And making us all proud again
Proud subjects of the New American Empire
May the Empire reign forever and a day
Triumphant against all enemies
And so, I take this burden
Sadly, but gladly
I will serve you
As your Empire
And my son Donald
Will serve as our second emperor
Once I pass from this world
His son will serve as the third emperor
And so on until the end of time
And we will reign in our new capitol city
Colorado Springs
Until the end of time
Washington will remain in our hearts
As the capitol of the old Republic
But the heirs of the Roman Empire
Need a new Imperial Capitol
And soon we will conquer Mars
And expand our Empire to the Starts
Long Live the Empire
Long Live America
Good night
And may God Bless
This great Empire
Cats fpr poem a thon
April 7 Watching Cats Hunt
Early morning
Watching two white cats
Hunting a white dove
The cats hunt in pairs
Tracking the bird
The bird flies away
Safe for now
And I think about the cats
And the hunt goes on
Such is life
And the fate of cats
And birds
April 19 Cats
Cats
I often wonder about Cats
What do they think of us
It seems at time
That cats think of humans
As their slaves
We exist to feed them
To comfort them
To save them from their enemies
And to worship them
Yes, cats are an alien species
Totally different from humanity
Detached, and almost evil
If we ever encounter an alien civilization
God help us if it’s a cat based civilization
We would then be engaged
In the epic mother of all wars
As cats and humans would not get along
The cats would think we were their slaves
And we would resent and fear them
And secretly worship their alien ways
wagontire oregon for poem a thon
April 6 Wagontire, Oregon
1973
In 1973, I went on a road trip
With my father
We left Berkeley to go to Yakima
Where my father had a summer cabin
He was a college professor
And had July and August off
And we spent the summers
Every summer from 1968 to 1978
Our whole dysfunctional family
Our annual road trip to hell and back
As we did not get along at all
We decided to drive through Eastern Oregon
Just my father and me
Just for the hell of it
The rest of the family was already there
My father and I shared a travel lust
One of the few things we shared
This was one of our best trips
We got along
Which was unusual
Normally our relationship
Was fraught
As we were so different
We left Klamath Falls
A real nothing burg in those days
And headed east along highway 395
As we entered the desert of eastern Oregon
We entered a different world
High mountain dessert
Almost no one on the road
Then we saw the sign
Wagontire Oregon
100 miles ahead
99 miles ahead
98 miles ahead
We counted down the signs
Miles after miles
As we drove into the gathering dusk
We speculated that Wagontire
Must be a giant truck stop
In the middle of no where
We pulled into the town
Nothing there but a gas station
Motel and café
We decided to stop
Last gas for 100 miles
According to the highway signs
In the morning
We chatted with the owner
He was the sheriff, the fire chief
The owner of the motel, gas station
The only business in town
And the only place open
For one hundred miles
I noticed a highway sign outside
Welcome to Wagontire, Oregon
Population 2 ½ humans 10 dogs, 50.000 sheep
I asked the Sherriff
Say who is the ½ human?
My idiot son!
And we left.
200 miles later
We finally left Eastern Oregon
2016
In 2016 my wife and I drove through Eastern Oregon
As part of our epic cross country trip
10,000 miles
31 states in three months
On the way from Medford to Yellowstone
We drove along highway 395
The signs for Wagontire was gone
And we drove through the town
The motel was abandoned
Nothing there at all
And that sign was gone too
I said I suppose the idiot son
Never took over the business
And we speculated about Wagontire
And all other nothing burgs
We drove through that summer
Heart of Trump’s America
True fly over country
more poem a thon poems
April 2 Walls
Trump wants a wall
Between America and Mexico
A wall against the southern hordes
A wall based on fear and hate
A wall to make America safe
A wall to make America great again
And yet I wonder
Will his wall fall
Like the Berlin wall
And the great wall
And all the other walls
They all failed
All of them
Walls divide us
Walls make us
Into different tribes
Between the pure
And the impure
St Reagan
Said Tear Down this Wall
Will future Presidents
Tear down this begotten wall
Or will it become a tourist attraction
Another great wall
Against barbarian hordes
April 4 Changes
I reflect upon my life
As the sun comes up
What could I have changed
What would I have changed
If I could go back in time
What would I tell my earlier self
What would I do differently
And what have I learned
The one thing
that I would not have changed
is meeting the women of my dreams
the chance meeting on a bus
that changed everything
in a moment
I met my fate
That day on the bus
And that is the end of the story
April 5 Facing Life’s Challenges Together
Woke up at 0 dark hundred
Vowing to boldly go forth
And face the challenges of the future
Without fear
Knowing that I have you there
Makes all the difference in the world
As we meet our fate
Together
Until the day we die
Poems for April Poem a thon
Poems by Jake Cosmos Aller For Poem a Thon 2017
JOHN (“JAKE”) COSMOS ALLER is a
April 1 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
Berkeley
The center of my universe
April 2 Lithia Springs
Staying at Lithia Springs
Soaking in the healing waters
Soaking my pains away
Renewing my life
Renewing my love
As we both soak away
As the pain of life go away
And our love grows
With each soaking session
Life is good
At the hot springs water
Sooths us and smooth us
And we fall in love
Again and again
Ghosts from World War Two
12-17 2013 5 am
I am walking through a crowded rural trail in rural France. With a start I realize I am walking through a world war 11 graveyard. The graves have released the dead and the dead are walking trying to communicate but they are merely ghostly images of the dead soldiers. Millions of them lost wandering about and when they see me they beseech me to help them find their lost loves and I tell them that I cannot help them that they are dead and then they cry and the anguished sounds of the dead and dying soldiers fill the air and the room is filled with the sounds and terrors of the long ago battle. The scene shifts a bit and I am marching into battle with them before they had died and realize that the end is coming but there is nothing I can do but watch the coming of death and watch with horror the death of my new best friends. Then the scene clears the ghosts smile and say, “see that’s what happened to us. Please tell the world to not do this again. Please end the war everywhere. Please Please Please… “And I promise and wake up feeling that I had made a commitment but to whom and what I knew not.
Ghosts from World War Two
12-17 2013 5 am
I am walking through a crowded rural trail in rural France. With a start I realize I am walking through a world war 11 graveyard. The graves have released the dead and the dead are walking trying to communicate but they are merely ghostly images of the dead soldiers. Millions of them lost wandering about and when they see me they beseech me to help them find their lost loves and I tell them that I cannot help them that they are dead and then they cry and the anguished sounds of the dead and dying soldiers fill the air and the room is filled with the sounds and terrors of the long ago battle. The scene shifts a bit and I am marching into battle with them before they had died and realize that the end is coming but there is nothing I can do but watch the coming of death and watch with horror the death of my new best friends. Then the scene clears the ghosts smile and say, “see that’s what happened to us. Please tell the world to not do this again. Please end the war everywhere. Please Please Please… “And I promise and wake up feeling that I had made a commitment but to whom and what I knew not.
Everything Will Be All Right, Everything Will Be All Right
12-12-2013 4:30 am
In the midst of my gloomy thoughts
Of the endless nightmare
Of my endless despair
I looked over
And saw my wife
Sleeping peacefully away
And I hugged her
And felt something stir in me
I heard an angel’s voice
Saying “everything will be all right, everything will be all right”
And then I saw her wake up
Smiling at me
And a chorus of angels filled the room
Singing “everything will be all right, everything will be all right”
And I smiled
And she went back to sleep
The angelic chords faded away
And the darkness that had infected my soul
Began to recede back into the dark corners
From which it sprung
And I smiled
And chanted alongside the angelic choir
Everything will be all right
Everything will be all right
And I knew it would be
As long as I had her by my side
And I smiled
And got up
Knowing that I had defeated
The darkness once more
And I was ready
To face the dawning day
Everything will be all right
where do you and I begin
I woke up one day and realized
I no longer knew
where you and I began
and where you and I ended
we had become almost one
We talked in half sentences
Knowing what the other wanted
and knowing how it would end
We ate the same foods with some resistance
because I still crave an old fashioned American meal
but still we were becoming more and more the same
and I was scared of loosing myself
In your embrace
and becoming you
and you becoming me
and this fear of losing me
in the ocean of us
overwhelms me at time
but I know that I will always
Return to your arms
because I cannot live
A moment without you at my side
and I know you are the same
we feel each other’s inner pain
we feel each other’s outer pain
and our history has merged
into one
and is that 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 at the path I have taken
I still look forward
to waking up each
Seeing you there
and knowing that everyday
we have together
is a gift that I will cherish
Until my dying breath
The Storm is Coming
The Storm is Coming
January 3, 2012
I see a dangerous storm brewing in America
I hear the dangerous creeping sounds
I see on TV
The grinning masses
The lies
the politicians dancing on the grave
of freedom
I fear the growing power
The power of the intolerant ones
The power of their mightily wave
the coming of fascism
the coming of neo-Hitlerism
The coming of war
To consume us all
This time
No one will save us
from the evil that surrounds us
God they say is on our side
and the darkness gathers hold
the evil slips out
The madness begins again
and those who see the light
those who know the right
and drowned out by the might
Might makes right
In the end
Does it matter
as slavery descends upon us all
the 1 percent have their revenge
The rest of us don’t matter
We are mere cogs
In the wheel
and always have
and always will
That is God’s will
and who are we to disagree
with the word of God
and so I and my fellows
are marched off to our doom
resistance is futile
resistance is futile
resistance is futile
Chains that Bind Us
I realize that my love for you
Is like a chain of steel
Unbreakable
Tough as nails
and yet as your love entangles me
I realize that I embrace my imprisonment
and don’t want to venture out of my cell
Made of our years together
bit by bit we have become entangled
Where I end and you begin
Hopelessly enter tangled
Even if I wanted to break free
I could not
For I am you and you are me
and my fate is in your hands
and so I relax
and 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
Starting at each other
wondering who is that person
Of eternal mystery
That has so captured my soul
and imprisoned it in her love
And I smile thinking of your love
and the endless pleasure it has brought me
and the endless pain that I have endured
Just to be next to you
and part of you
Until the day I die
and we meet in the next world
Eternal Love
I woke up
And jumped out of my bed
And stared out wildly
Into a strange new environment
Into the middle of it all
There it stood
A carbon copy man with no heart
Starting down the freeways of my mind
What the Hell can I find
For years and years
All I can do is cry
For months and months
All I can do is curl and die
Then overnight
A vision of radiant beauty
Awoke me from my stupor and drunken bum shows
The vision of my possible future
Was you
My love, my life and my dreams
All I knew I knew alone
All I can do is love you till
The end of time
Darling, My Love of My Life
Darling, My Love of My Life
How much pain I feel today
Because you are in pain
I cannot rest, cannot sit still
All I can do is worry and think
What will I do
If God takes you away from me?
What would I do without you by my side?
I cannot live without you
You have to be there by my side or in my heart
forever until the day I die
I will not live without you
This world is so cruel and mean
I need someone like you
By my side to fight the battles
And encourage me to stand up
And be counted
I have learned so much
Watching you
You never back down
Never give up
And you win in the end
With your unique mix of charm, guile and
Iron will have hidden within a velvet glove
Clearly someday you will become
One of the Masters of the World
And I will be there by your side
Your love, your confident and your greatest
Fan of all
I need you by my side
Forever and a day
Say you will be mine
And I will die a happy man
If you die before I do
My life would end
In a pit of utter despair
So get up
Fight the good fight
And live again
Fate Intertwined
It was many a year ago
Eye 15 years ago
That I was born again
When I met the love of my life
Who took away my sins, my fear
And my self-doubt
And I began an adventure
That has not ended
Together we have moved
Down the path of Life
And together we shall move on
Forever and a day
Our souls intertwined
Our fates bewitched together
Forever more
My love
My hope, my dream, my eternity
Our Romance Begins
When I met the girl of my dreams
On a bus in South Korea
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
The Story of How We Met
It all began in Berkeley, California
In the spring time of 1974
One fateful afternoon
I was dozing in my high school
Physics class.
I looked up and saw
A tall, beautiful Asian woman
standing looking at me.
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 dream
Little did I know
I would have to wait until 1982
Starting that month
I began having the same dream
Month and month and month.
Always the same.
She was saying something
To me 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.
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 she!
Red Dawn Over the New Empire
RED SUN DAWNING OVER THE NEW EMPIRE
The dawning sun raises bloody red
Over the traffic clogged streets
And noxious polluted air
Of the capital of Imperial America
The sun with its bloody red glare
Reminds me of all the people who died
This last year in Emperor’s Bush’s Three Wars
We are the American Empire
We are the power, we are the power
We are perfect masters of the universes
And will remake the world in our image
In the so-called war against Evil
The invasion and occupation
Of foreign lands
Because our leaders say
They might, someday be a threat
And the old words of ancient Rome
Comes to mind
Carthage must die
Baghdad must be destroyed
The heart of the evil empire
Must be invaded
And the evil of Saddam must be expunged
So our great and glorious leaders
Proudly proclaim
Every day every moment
On the conservative media
Now owned, operated and controlled
By the powers that have taken over
The shadow government that runs
The New American Empire
And soon the entire world
Will be under its sway
We are the American Empire
We are the power, we are the power
We are perfect masters of the universes
And will remake the world in our image
We still have some freedom left
Some space to rant and rave
And grumble
But soon, oh so soon
This paper and that paper
And this internet site and that site
And this TV station and that TV Station
Will be shut down
In the name of national security
We are the American Empire
We are the power, we are the power
We are perfect masters of the universes
Spin Masters
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
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
Will be pierced by the light
Of clarity and truth
And the evil ones
The body snatched aliens
Inhabiting our leaders
Will be banished
Long Live the Great and Powerful
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
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
Chatting
Peace is War, War is Peace
Truth is a Lie, lies are Truth
The Truth Will Set You Free
All Hail the Great and Powerful One
Brother, Keep Preaching
Sao Paulo, Brazil, January 07, 2009. Man evangelical preacher explains God’s Word in Se Square in downtown Sao PauloSao Paulo, Brazil, January 07, 2009. Man evangelical preacher explains God’s Word in Se Square in downtown Sao Paulo
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 Farwell
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 up straight
And send most of us straight to hell
coffee
Hot as hell, heavenly sweat
My daily hot coffee fix
Sends Me to Heaven
Then Crashes into Hell
the clock
The damned clock
Rings in my sleeping ear
Reminding me with its shrill beats
That time factory derived chimes
Away the now distant land of Zaatari
At night fall
My heart comes alive
Creeps out of its self-imposed shell
To enter the land of Zantari
The every day waking world
But a shadow on the moon
In the land of Zantari
All is as it should be
A mere image to see
In the mechanical second
We call reality
the evil that kids do
Yet again we turn on the TV
And witness horrible scenes
Of unparalleled violence, hatred and despair
Two teenage boys
Decide to kill all of their classmates
Hold their school up
Bombs waiting to destroy
And the cry goes out throughout the land
Why yet again this tragedy
Why did such nice boys
In a nice safe suburb
Turn out to be some horrible evil creatures?
The usual suspects are rounded up
It’s the culture, stupid cry the conservative voices
No, it’s the guns, cry the liberal pundits
And we sit around and argue
Knowing that there will be a next time
And another time and time and time again
What is the sickness in our souls
That allows for this hatred to fester so
Deep within the minds of our teenage killers
Why do they act the way they do
Is it just the mindless violence?
That surrounds us all
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 TV and movie purveyors
Of pornographic violence
The gun dealers
The gun makers
The craven politicians
Who think it is everyone’s god given right
As a damn American
To buy as much weaponry as possible
To buy machine guns
To protect themselves from other gun men
Nothing will change
Until we conflict the evil
That lurks deep within each of us
There will be another Columbine High School, another Sandy Hook, Another Texas massacre, another Virginia Tech, er another El Paseo, another Dayton, Another Odessa Texas, Another Midland Texas and another this and another that
Soon enough
Despite all of our efforts
Despite any new laws
There will be evil men
Who want to shoot and kill
Who have somehow lost
Their essential humanity
As the President said
nothing has changed
nothing has changed at all
Lao Tze 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
We are all guilty here
The TV and movie
Pornographers of violence
The parents and schools
And most important our society itself
For allowing our young to become
Such evil creatures
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 youngsters
Grow up to be such monsters
That day will come soon enough
Of the full Moon
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
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 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
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
God’s Confession
I was sitting alone
In a god forsaken bar
Somewhere on the lunatic fringes
Of society
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, the Walker brothers
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
Muttering to himself
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 saying
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
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
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
No one cares
They think I am irrelevant
They think I am dead
They think I am a fairy tale
From some older, ancient time
I looked at him
an old man with that lunatic look
But there was something else
He was crazy
Sure yes
But he was the real deal
I mean why not
Why would not God not be
A lunatic wandering around loose
Talking to low lives like me
In a bar
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
sadden by what I had seen
God was dead
And we had all conspired
To kill him
Long live God
Mozart Blues
> One morning
> I woke up
> And
> walked out
>
> I saw a
> brilliant rainbow
> Erupting
> out of the dark
> Soil of 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
Jesus on harmonica
Moses playing the guitar
> 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
>
> A 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
Charles Bukowski Road Not Chosen
Charles Bukowski Road Not Chosen
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 have had a love-hate relationship with computers and with Microsoft for years. I often plead with my computer to just do what it is supposed to do rather than screwing up, giving me endless error messages and in general Fucking with my head.
So, about a year ago, I started writing these poetic rants down and sending them to Microsoft. They have not yet responded.
Here then are my Microsoft rants for your pleasure.
Dear Microsoft – Why I Left You
Dear Microsoft
I have left you for good. I wanted to let you know why in vain hopes that you will finally take the time to fix the many problems plaguing your software. But since you never respond to my emails and your on line forums are not that helpful I doubt it will make a difference.
I left because your products are so full of bugs and errors that I has become increasingly hard to tolerate. They have always been problematic but for some reason it has gotten worst.
I left because Excel was becoming so unreliable that I could not stand using it any more.
I shifted to Google docs and have had no problems at all. The docs work every time and has some features that are better than Excel including for example the ability to add or delete multiple rows or columns rather than having to do it one row or column at a time.
Excel has consistently given me three different annoying errors. First, every fifth or sixth entry I encounter an error saying that there is a circular reference. When I clicked help it suggested that I inspect the cells to find the error and remove it but when I tried to search for it I could not locate the error and realized that I would have to manually inspect each cell, a prospect that would take hours to accomplished and I don’t have hours to spare. I tried copying everything into a fresh new document that did not work. The error still occurred. I opened a brand new document and with in seconds the error popped up despite the fact that I had not entered more than two cells and there was no circular references anywhere.
Well, this has been a chronic but annoying error. But it was not the reason I left.
The reason I left is that about two months ago, when I tried to import some data into Excel I encountered an error message saying that no more fonts could be applied. Then I had to press okay and the error would repeat, until it would go away after ten or twenty times of pressing okay. Once I pressed okay 400 times before giving up.
I frequently had to reboot my entire computer to solve the problem.
And of course that meant that my work would be lost because the auto save button is always grayed out and has never worked once.
Another problem is that Excel would frequently go into Not respond mode. Sometimes I would have to close the spreadsheet and re-open it.
Whenever I open excel for the first time, I will often get five to ten versions at once and I will then have to manually remove each open file.
I have also had problems with Word. Word also opens multiple versions whenever I open it for the first time. Some times, it takes twenty minutes to open and clear out the multiple versions.
Microsoft word also randomly not responds just like Excel.
And Word also sometimes fails to save documents. The auto save button has never worked.
One week I kept track of all the errors I was having and calculated that Microsoft Word had a 60% error rate and Excel a 50% error rate meaning that 60 percent of the time when I opened Word I encountered an error minor or major.
Finally, Microsoft dictation does not work. Usually I have to click windows H shortcut five to ten times to get a stable connection. And then when I do the dictation program provides gibberish for every other word. If I am lucky I may get a sentence or two in clear text.
It is hardly worth using and I have given up on it. But on the other hand it has led to many delicious found poems which I have shared with her and posted on my blog.
So, for these reasons, I am finally giving up on you.
I would love to receive a response but won’t hold my breath.
For thirty years I have had the Microsoft blues
For thirty years I have had a love hate relationship
With my damn computer
I love it when it works as it advertised
I love it when the internet is fast and furious
I love it when my emails work
My Itunes work and my word works
But all too often
All I get is grief
It starts with the error messages
Written in a strange haiku like language
That only computer geeks understand
Things like
General Failure reading disk drive
Begs the question who is this General Failure
And why is he reading my disk drive anyway?
Or my favorite
“Not responding” as the computer freezes up
For no apparent reason
Other than to fuck with my head
Sometimes my computer can’t find a printer
A printer that is connected to the computer
And one that they found five minutes ago
And the dreaded blue screen of death
That appears randomly
Dumping memory somewhere
And killing my computer slowly
As I watch in real time
Powerless to stop
How it eats all my work
That I have failed to back up
One day I counted how many times
I ran into computer errors
70 percent of the time when I open Microsoft
Something goes wrong
Sometimes I want to shoot my computer
Put it out of its misery
As I curse up a blue storm
The computer looks at me
With an evil grin
It continues to fuck with my head
Nothing but silence from it
And all the other computers in the world
They smile knowing that they have tortured me
Yet again
Mission accomplished.
Computer Blues (revised)
Sometimes I think
My computer is plotting against me
And only me
Trying deliberately to drive me mad
My computer knows when I am busy
Then it throws a hissy fit
Refuses to boot up
Crashes constantly
Looses data that it had the day before
Or five minutes before
Or refuses to save the data
Just fucks with me
As it loves toying with me
Making me yell and scream
At my damn computer screen
Cursing up a blue stream of blue curses
As the blue screen of death
Marches across the dark blue screen
Smiling at me
As I beg it
To do what
it is supposed to do
Just once I beg it
Do what you are supposed to
Open the document once
Not twenty times
Do not not respond
In endless loops of opening
Not responding refusing to close
Until I respond to the error code
Please Mr. Computer
Quit playing games
Play my music
Don’t wipe out the sound
On the fifth attempt to play music
Don’t take an half hour to load Microsoft products
Don’t freeze up on opening ITUNES or Groove or Spotify
Don’t give me computer haiku error messages
That only make sense to computer geeks
Such as general error reading files
Who the ***** is this damn general
And why is NSA reading my files
Or can’t save the file
Or can’t save the an open file
When it just did ten times in a role
And in Microsoft excel
Refusing to move the cursor
Just freezing in place for a moment
And all the other gobblygook messages
That pop up every five minutes it seems
As the computer slowly drives me mad
Flashing the final insult
User driven mad
Mission accomplished
More Computer Blues
Sometimes I think
My computer is plotting against me
Trying deliberately to drive me mad
My computer knows when I am busy
Then it throws a hissy fit
Refuses to boot up
Crashes constantly
Looses data that it had the day before
Just fucks with me
As it loves toying with me
Making me yell and scream
At my damn TV
Smiling at me
As I beg it
To do what
it is supposed to do
Plead to the Computer Gods
Today I woke up
As I usually do
To yet another mystifying morning
Of unspecified computer errors
Could not get the computer to work
Then when I finally got it to work
After an half an hour
Microsoft word did not load
And when it did
I finally located my work
From yesterday
I had to find it in the roaming file
Why?
Who knows?
Only to find
That most of what I wrote
Had vanished into the ether
No explanation no warning
It was there saved yesterday
And now gone for ever
Once I did an experiment
Tracking computer errors for a week
75% of the time I encountered errors
Most of the time simple
Screen freezes no response message
Then when I recovered the program
The data was gone
Microsoft has yet to respond
to my e-mail
I suppose I need to do it again
But today I will close with a prayer
To the Computer Gods
Just once I would like
You to do what you are supposed to do
Open my documents
Save my work
And not give me any errors
Crashes or other unspecified problems
Is that too much to ask
Oh, Computer Gods
Just once
Do what you are supposed to do
That is all I ask of you
Prayer for Computer (send to Microsoft)
Every morning
I start my day
Cursing my damn computer
Been doing this for 30 some years
Since I bought my first computer
The Atari back in the 80’s
There is always something
Once I spilled coffee
On my first computer
The screen fizzled
Then green 666 appears
Endless repetition
Of the evil number from revelations
Freaked me out
It was 1984 after all
Was my computer making a political point?
Then of course
Endless blue screens of death
Fatal error reading disk drive
And my favorite computer error haiku
General Failure Reading Disk Drive
Begging the unanswerable question
Who is this General Failure
And why is he reading my disk drive
Years ago a computer techie
Told me the secret
that they don’t want you to know
99% of computer problems
Can be solved by rebooting
And 99% of the time
No one knows what went wrong
Or how to fix it
And so it goes and goes
Endless computer meltdowns
Mostly harmless
A couple of malware incidents
Once my computer was possessed
By evil malware that kept opening
And once I had an early version
Of ransom wear
My computer warned me
A dangerous virus had infected
My computer
Pay us money to fix it now
Had to take my computer to the shop
Reformate the hard drive
To remove that computer bug
But once my computer just died
Loosing half my recent data
Just because it wanted to
No reason given
So today instead of cursing up a blue storm
Of my own personal blue screen of death
I offer this short prayer to the computer gods
Today just for today
When I turn you on
I want you to do what you are supposed to do
Everything works
Everything is fast
And no more damn computer error haiku
Just do your fucking job
Dear Microsoft
Latest Found Poem
Hope you are amused by these and you have my permission to publish them
But more importantly I hope you can see that your dictation program needs a lot of work. It is still about 50 percent accurate with sometimes hilarious unintended consequences.
Also I usually have to click it on and off up to ten times before I get a stable enough connection to get it to work.
Hope you can fix it! Would be nice if it worked.
Here’s the poem
Today’s plan
go for John
Cup in my car
Coca
Woke up
Feeling Tom Carl Karma
Hanging out with Amber
Comment:
Who the fuck is Amber anyway?
And why does she keep popping up
Is Microsoft trying to tell me something?
End comment
Dictation is so chu danger
have some more cell phones
till acting weird
But It is good
working To get to work
today’s plan
go for John coach canpell
go to temple
Anthony Con Nam
for Angela too
Register the properties for sale
Mike
Look at Panels today
but that will probably
have to be next week sometime
Maybe Monday Or Tuesday
Port Wednesday
Want to go tonight
he’s only children
next week
so would want
to mail down the dates
this morning like we discussed
The rest of Microsoft plans
Will write this up
And send it to Microsoft
Essential found
and I’m standing in
More feed back from today’s dictation trials.
I was trying to write down some recent music I downloaded. Here are the results for two of the entries in my daily journal. I offer these as further examples that your dictation product is not working.
Rachmaninov Symphonic dances was transcribed as
“F*** man enough so funny dances” Only thing accurate was the word “dances” Rachmaninov does contain the word Man so that is partly right
Symphonic could sound like funny I suppose
Rachmaninov contains 11 letters, F****man enough contains 15 letters. Three letters were correctly transcribed but not in the right order.
Symphonic was transcribed as So Funny Symphonic contains 8 letters, so funny contains 8 letters, only three letters in common S,Y and N
Statistical analysis
24 words in dictation three words one given name
24 words in transcription seven words only one word was correctly transcribed
6 letters were correctly transcribed.
Or a 25 percent success rate or 75% failure rate
Second Example:
Beethoven Cello Sonatas (22 letters three words)
Painter mang Cho sonatas (22 letters four words)
The words Beethoven and Painter have one common letter
The word cello and mang Cho have one common letter
Sonatas was accurately transcribed
Statistical analysis five letters out of 22 were accurately transcribed, or in other words 17 were mistakenly transcribed. Or a 29 percent accuracy rate.
So far the accuracy rate has been hovering between 30 to 70 percent. It is a word for word issue. Sometimes not often the entire paragraph is correct, more often than not, half if correct half is gibberish. I have had fun writing found poems out of the verbatim transcripts, some of which I shared earlier, and above.
Microsoft Problems Redux
Tried to get the new dictation program to work and gave up, scheduled a service call Sunday with detailed feedback. Also send Microsoft my Microsoft sucks document.
Felt good to get it off my chest. The problem with Microsoft is the same problem most big companies have, they have lousy customer service and they put out shoddy products and don’t really worry about competition until they get their asses whopped by someone who pays attention to the customers and put out a superior product at a better price and really cares that their products work as advertised every single time. With Microsoft they are so focused on the latest thing they don’t go back and fix the bugs in their everyday products. And they ignore customer complaints.
What a contrast with word press and with doutrope. Both have superior customer service and I love the products because they fix my issue quickly, professionally and with kindness.
The one time Microsoft commented it was a snarky comment, “ dude focus on one problem at a time and we don’t time to dig into your complaints.”
Finally got the dictation program to work.
The dictation still does not work
sizzling hot coffee destroys my computer
sizzling hot coffee
fizzing away
killing my computer
fizz, snap, pop
as the coffee splashes
on the computer
666 says the computer
sizzle this says
the cup of coffee
Fake Software
Fake software
Is everywhere these days
In Asia and elsewhere
Half the software in use
are illegal copies
the real deal is expensive
and difficult to use
the copies are cheap
and mostly work
although viruses lurk
in every copy
and my Microsoft company
checks up on me
whenever I use my software
off line I get a message
telling me they can’t verify
that it is me
so, log on immediately
or else they imply
Thanks Microsoft
ITUNES
Seems to always not find
My music I downloaded from a CD
Thanks
ITUNES for your concern
And so, it goes
The constant battle
Against the fake software
But the fake software battle
Can’t be won
For in this age of fake things
Everything ultimately becomes
Just another fake thing
In a world of fake things
Greatest Computer Software in the World
Another company
At the dawn of the computer era
Discovered the same secret
In the modern fake world
It does not matter
That your product
Is over priced and does not work
Is buggy and filled with errors
Just hire the right marketing geniuses
And soon the world
Will become convinced
That they have to have your product
True computer geeks
Loudly complain
That it is the worst software
In the world
And I have proof
One day I counted the number of times
I encountered errors using their software
60 percent of the time
I encountered some error
Some minor just hanging up
For no reason
Others major errors
Requiring me to reboot
Several times
Before I got a stable connection
Then it would work for a while
Until it did not any more
I sent my results to the company
But they never respond
Truly the worst software
In the world
But who cares about that
Marketing is king
In this world of fake things
