I missed the Amtrak to Bflo twice

 I missed the Amtrak to Buffalo twice
(I managed that & also burned the rice!).
Ended up sitting next to this young thing
busy with school & making a living.
IDK how we got on the subject
But as a poet he identified
We happily talked about all of it
& the meaning that words give to our lives.
He showed me his work, it's pretty dang strong,
Images of what he's got going on.
I felt a spiritual connection
like somehow he could almost be my son.
If you're open, connections are made plain
like meeting a wordsmith on the dang train!
 
02.07.2024

We're all just a bunch of storytellers

 We're all just a bunch of storytellers
(OK some better at it than others)
with a story for every occasion,
knowing how to begin & when to end.
Scheherazade came up with a thousand
and one, & then lived to tell another.
Get your imagination arousing 
spooky stories around the campfire.
Before there was writing, Homer hit 'er
outta the park, itinerant singer.
People still today playing at Shakespeare
& Moses' 5 books live on forever.
Gather round for fun or entertainment,
hear something fearful, tearful or ancient.
No need to be Shelley or brothers Grimm.
Sharing your story will be a blessing.
The generations will be glad you did
tell us some stories in order to live.

 

03.04.2024

Honors to my baby sister Jewel

Honors to my baby sister Jewel,
Younger in years yeah, but older in soul.
I think of her a hundred times a day
& sometimes even know what she would say.
Her poems were full of life and so was she,
Flouting supposed rules of poetry.
If she said it was a poem, then it was.
No one gets to be your poetry boss.
Poetry to her was a liberty,
Setting her thoughts & her emotions free
In no uncertain terms (or less certain...  
She winks @ me & gives a Gramza grin).
I heard these words, it was like she gave em:
"Be yourself -- everyone else is taken."

11.26.2023

I found it in a book my mother owned

I found it in a book my mother owned.
She wasn’t supposed to be literate,
Grew up poor – school, what? Just something to skip
Not to mention what it was like at home.
But storytelling she was a natural
You might could call it pathological
War & Peace, yes she did read the whole thing
& her bookshelf called to me & my twin.
One book was Edna St. Vincent Millay
We came upon it & were blown away
“If I should learn in some quite casual way”–
We can still say it by heart to this day.
My dad didn’t read, he said he listened
with no idea what he was missing.

09.12.2023

Waywa RIP sonnet: There is no joy in this world without grief

There is no joy in this world without grief
And in our grief we’re told, remember joy!
But I’m at one end of a lifeless leash,
And at my side and knee a gaping void.
My grief brought me to you and you to me.
You listened, walked with me and played and prayed,
Filled up my heart with love and loyalty,
Transported by your sweet adoring gaze.
I never had to wonder; you were there,
But now, oh what I’d give to have you here.
You gave me everything you had and more,
Now I must let you run and spirit soar.
Yet memories & gratitude won’t do.
I’ll never have a friend as true as you.
 
In memory of Waywa 7/?/2009 – 3/14/2023
 

XO to all the MVH folks who gave her great care for nearly 14 years!

Things about me you may find peculiar

 Things about me you may find peculiar:
# 1 might be my sense of humor
2 all the film lines & internal jokes
3 leading to tangential anecdotes
4 dang neck jerk twitch, should be number one
5 identical twin on the spectrum
6 to everything there is a system
7 boundaries I still needa get some
8 did I pause or did I interrupt?
9 did I say Frith or did I say Fuck?
10 wanna see some twitches? Watch me dance.
11 hungry? I'm heating a pan!
12 neuroses got too many to count
13, 14 are ya ready to bounce?

01.15.2024

Have you ever seen brains on the pavement?

Have you ever seen brains on the pavement?
Hope you never do, it’s damn disturbing.
The young man took his own life -- wasn’t news,
Not normally some footage we would use.
Except he shot himself driving and crashed.
Took out the streetlights, traffic got all backed.
His mama showed up, I seen her break down.
And his twin brother, big man pacing round.
Cops showed up & cordoned him, I shot it.
But I did cry into my viewfinder.
Brought the story back & wrote & aired it.
The news was of the powerline repair.
But with me the gurney man’s words remain…
That grey stuff on the pavement? Those are brains.

08.04.2023

She said, happy people only today

She said, happy people only today.
She said, only good things coming this way.
My wife said that & I said hey, that rhymes!
But people can’t be happy all the time.
She said, maybe I could if not for you
Always finding some way to make me blue.
& then she cried & still I didn’t hear.
I interrupted, shutting down her tears.
I replied, I can’t have Tourette's at work,
I need to have it here. Yeah, I’m a jerk.
I need to learn how not to be so stressed,
But it’s so hard with untreated Tourettes.
I’ve tried lots of things -- sonnets are the way.
I really need to thrown down every day.

04.12.2023

My earliest poetry memory

My earliest poetry memory
(besides our love of Dr. Seussian rhymes)
was hearing, "Poems are made by fools like me, 
but only God can make a tree," at 5
in kindergarten & that's how I learned
the author's name was Joyce & was a he!
He was a soldier & loved him some trees.
I was so overjoyed by what I heard!
Imagine learning there's a dude named Joyce!
Could it be I share my name with a boy
Who made a Poem that was as lovely
As a soldier contemplating a tree?
Happy everlasting discovery --
Maybe he'd wanna climb a tree with me!

11.18.2023