There is rain outside

and thunder in my head

but I look over and see

a great woman in my bed.

Mikel K

7.31.13

No loving

Every time she comes in this room

and starts sweet talking the bird

and trying to get the bird to kiss her

I say, “That dang bird gets way more

attention than me,” and she stalks

off angrily, neither me nor the bird

getting no loving.

Where would you rather be?

There are places where dogs

have to be leashed,

and there are places where

dogs can run free.

7.29.13

Turtle Empathy

George seems to know

that John is ailing;

he hangs out with

his hurting mate

as if to give him solace.

7.29.13

He died an asshole

I used to think

that he was a great poet

until I saw him interviewed

in a documentary

and then I realized that he was

just a bitter old man,

a drunk, who hit his wife

on screen in front of everybody.

I used to be that kind of asshole,

myself, but I’m not going to die

being that kind of asshole.

I haven’t picked up a book by him

or read a single poem that he wrote

since he revealed himself to me

on the screen that day. 

Since I have not been much coming up with any new work I have gone into the old work to get it out of notebooks that could mildew in the basement and onto the hard drive which could crash.

Getting Head

Flat head

screwed

like a driver

whom

someone

jumped

on the fare.

Back at the beach

a beoch counts

her five billion dollars

one by one

then makes a call

to reduce what she pays.

If you would just work harder

you would get head.

I was walking the dogs, yesterday, down our street, and 
there were two landscapers unloading their mowers, and one
of them sitting in the front seat of their truck. Something
felt weird about them, so I just passed with the dogs
without saying a word. Behind me I heard the guy who
had just gotten out of the truck say, "Look, he's got three
girlfriends..."

I was really curious if I could break the guy's nose with a forearm
shot, but then realized that I would have his two buddies on
me and would be facing an assault charge, so I just walked
on silently. Sometimes, the best thing to do is to do nothing.

We were walking the beach and I found a nice conch shell,
halfway buried in the sand, waves rolling over it, as they
broke on the beach. Joan said that she would hold it for me
in her purse. Several days later, Joan had her hand in her purse
and felt something crawling on her. There was a crab in my
conch shell, and it had just said hello to Joan. We were on a
different island than where we were when I found the shell,
but we took shell and crab to the sea and set them free. We
named the crab Rufus. Rufus, we hope that you are doing alright.

My main cat, Kobain, always snoops into

what I am doing in the kitchen. When I

am making a turkey sandwich, or opening 

a packet of tuna, I can understand his interest,

but just now he was begging as I opened a 

chocolate bar. Weird cat that.

White trash cat

I have a trashcan that is not a trashcan;
it is a receptacle for the newspaper that
I use to line my bird’s cage. Today, I found
one of my cats in the trash can that is not
a trash can. I'm not sure what to make of this.

Somewhere, at some time, you are going to die.
As alive as you are now, it will not last forever,
so make the best of the time that you have.

Like a toothache

that’s just around

the corner.

I'm trying to be mad
but the new pill has me
smiling.

Facebook offers me people to befriend, and the ones that say poet or author, I send a request to. Well, the fatheads at Facebook just suspended me for a week for sending out friend requests to people they suggested and said I can't send messages to folks not on my list, for a week, either because they say I don't know them...after they fucking suggested these people to me. Mark and Co. are better at making money than they are being real. I sent them an email on their form, but haven't heard from them. This thing where they ask you if you know the person who sent you a request is probably the root of the evil.

Decision

I’m going to walk the dogs.

I don’t think I’ll walk the dogs.

I’ll do the dishes.

I don’t think I’ll do the dishes.

I’m going to take a shower.

I don’t think I’ll take a shower.

I want something to eat.

I don’t want to eat anything.

I’m going to take a nap.

I’m not going to take a nap.

Opportunity knocked me down

I saw an open door.

I went out of my mind.

I'm always interested to see people who can't spell or punctuate
at even a second grade level of spelling and punctuation spout off
about what is wrong with the world.

I am worried that one of my baby turtles, John, is dying. Yesterday, he was on his back on the water, and today, he was stuck beside the big rock that inhabits the turtles’ cage. He did not move in on his food, this morning, when I dropped it in the aquarium. If he passed it, would be quite a bummer. Maybe he is just sleepy, starting the day off slowly. I certainly hope so. 

Ran into a friend last night who I don t see much and I said so how are you and she said well other than the fact that I totaled my car and my dad has stage 4 cancer, I am fine. I wanted to then blab to her about my personal problems, but she said that being on public transport was giving her gratitude because she was seeing that a lot of people have a lot less than she does. Everyone has problems; it is how you handle them that dictates the richness of your own existence. And so it goes. 

And the days are all the same

On good days, I have what I need.

On bad days I have nothing that I want.

Mood Swing

I’m an asshole, a turd, a useless piece of nothing.

I am good. I am love. I am peace. I matter.

Leaving insanity behind

Because I have burned bridges

I am careful about what bridges I cross.

There are things that I want to do that I am unable and or unwilling to put the time into doing. One of those things is the guitar. I want to play it, but practicing what I know seems boring

so the guitar mostly sits there. I pick it up, every once in a while, play the few chords I know and move on. We are not destined to do everything. I was not destined to be a rock star or a politician. I was not destined to be a serial killer or a bank robber. I was not destined to pick flowers in the valley naked and dance happy. 

Over easy

I’ve seen your sister naked

I wonder if she cooks bacon

the way you used to.

Now I am quiet as I fix my own coffee

I remember when you used to fix my coffee.

I remember when I used to yell at you.

There is no significance to this any more

than there is significance to anything. Time

is change. People act different as they get to

know each other. 

Who's going to fall?

You can't know it all
because I know it all.

I blacked out and don't know who won the game

I'm in decline in the recliner.
I'll have another beer to feel better.

I'm working in a naked bar
looking only at people in clothes.

In the sandwich

Sandwiched between then and look forward
is now where you are supposed to be putting
the mayonnaise on your sandwich.

Why am I the way I am?

When the pills kick in

I’ll smile again. When

I’ve swallowed my dose

things will not look so bleak.

The Psychotic Play

The director was waiting outside the small theater door, when we came out from watching his psychotic play. He was grinning at us, thanking us for coming. I was in some sort of weird daze that the second half of the play had put me in. The humor in the opening act had disappeared and all kinds of bizarre sexual innuendo of insinuated child molestation had hit the stage. It was weird to see the man standing there waiting for us to compliment him in the lobby of the theater. He had just beat up emotionally, and he was standing there like the ice cream man with a big grin on his face. I ran like hell to the outside, practically gasping to breath. I skipped the sandwiches that were waiting for us in the lobby. The play caused me to not want to eat. The actors did an amazing job. They cast a spell upon me. I don’t like having spells cast upon me, though. 

It’s raining inside

Flowers will blossom

once again, one day.

I’m tired of seeing rain

in my window.

Try to write a happy poem

when you are down.

Reflection at this particular moment in time

Sometimes, I do things that are good for me.
Sometimes, I do things that have absolutely
no effect on me.
Sometimes, in the past, I did things bad for me.

I’m going to Sapelo

I’m going to take the ferry

to Sapelo. What I’m going

to see there I don’t know.

Ain’t no water. Ain’t no electricity

at our campsite on Sapelo.

I can’t plug in my C Pap machine.

We won’t have hot coffee in the morning.

We might be missing out on certain things,

but I’m looking forward to going to Sapelo.

Inconsequential

I am a blurb on the face of it all
minor in consequence yet mostly
I am all I feel. I can not be an orange.
I can not be an apple. I can only be me.

I am nothing without coffee

I drink coffee 
like some people snort coke.
I drink coffee
like some people shoot heroin.
I drink coffee 
like some people gamble.
I drink coffee
like some people go to AA meetings.
I drink coffee
like some people horde money.
When I am out of coffee
you can find me trembling
in the corner; stevia and half
and half, alone, just don't cut it.

Down the cobbled road

He could have been a dancer

with the answer, but he smoked

one cigar and it gave him cancer.

Coming into fall

I am in my fifty sixth summer

and life is not a bummer.

Osmosis

Looking into the light

he saw darkness. Through

the dark he found his path

to the light.

The circle is full

Boxers fight, turtles

roam the earth

searching for love.

This does not mean

that boxers don’t love

or that turtles don’t fight.

Saving you from worse

Through the sand you may go

and find no shells. It was the

jellyfish who stung you who held

the lesson that you had come to learn.

Love, love, love…all the time

It is wonderful to have love.

It is wonderful to give love.

Do you find yourself ever acting silly in life?

I realize that, at times, in the past I have put expectations onto people, and when they didn’t deliver on these expectations, I got mad at them. This seems really stupid, and I hope to never repeat this mistake, though I realize that I am not perfect. Most times, people would not even know that I had put expectations on them, which makes the whole thing even more ludicrous. I don't want to be silly. I want to be sane. I want to be happy, not mad.

Super Glue will not help

By keeping my best pair of sun glasses

in my pocket I broke them. They are like

Humpty Dumpty.

More than enough

More than enough

It’s actually not enough

the first pinch of dried shrimp

that I gave the turtles; like some love

I think, glad that I have love

that is more than enough

Nearly biblical proportions

Nearly biblical proportions

It feels like it is trying to rain

for 40 days and 40 nights,

though it has been, only, about

a week.

You can talk to God anywhere

You can talk to God anywhere

I often pray standing

in the driveway under

the morning moon and stars

not in a church, a temple,

or a mosque. 

What did I do to deserve this?

What did I do to deserve this?

I just took a walk, in a light rain,

with my dogs.

My love is fixing us breakfast.

We have air conditioning when

it is hot; heat when it is cold.

I have new shoes.

I have a good attitude.

How little I know

How little I know

She came to me from the bathroom

tinkling she calls it not taking a piss

her fingers were moist as I kissed her

wet lips. “Is it pee on your fingers?” I asked

and she giggled, “No, I just washed

my hands.” I didn’t know that women

touched their dicks when they peed, “ I said.

“No silly,” she said, “We wipe ourselves

with toilet paper when we are done…”

Lemonade

Lemonade

Her neighbor banged on her door

at 4 am telling her how much he loved her.

I told her to unrequit his love by dialing 911.

She said he said that he has been thinking about me.

It’s one thing to think about someone,

another thing to bang on their door

in the middle of the night.

He's a marine, she said.

"Not a good soldier," was my reply.

When I say I love you

When I say, “Love you…” to my bird, one of my dogs always comes up 

and sticks its nose in my hand. I think that it is beautiful the way the dogs 

pick up the sentiment in my voice and how they want to be part of this.

Pretty voices are waiting for you.

Pretty voices are waiting for you.

Will you listen, or continue to

let the angry voices engulf you?

What I'd like to say to America

What I'd like to say to America 

I believe in you
despite yourself
despite ourselves
I believe in you.

Fitting In

Fitting In

Sometimes, we are not
as big a part of some things
as we thought we were
but, at least, we were part of them.