Thanks to all those who have loved me
By Mikel K

October 2008 K Poems



Mikel,

It's always been a comfort just knowing someone like you existed.
You have touched me without knowing it. YOU have loved me,
when I was down.

Thank you.

Sherry



Thanks to Jeff Waller for friendship and coffee beans,
and to G2 Tindle, and C. Barrett for their continued love,
and their stubborn refusal to let me run out of groceries.





Mr. Anti-Social

Mr. Anti-Social Black Cat
is being a little bit friendlier,
in our new home.

I want to try and make Mr. Black Cat
and his cat pal, Kobain, inside cats, again,
if they will let me.


This place is not so bad after all

Morrison is finally settling in
to this new studio apartment,
that he has found himself in,
in a new part of town.

For the first couple of days,
he was a bit skittish,
spending a lot of time in the bathroom,
laying down on the carpet in there.

He seems happier, this morning,
like he is realizing
that this place is not so bad after all.


Some sort of alien

I did pretty good at keeping present
the things that are essential to me,
like the remote control to the TV,
and my laptop, in my move to this new space.

I would like to find my hammer,
and some nails, so that I could
get these many pictures that I own
up off the floor and onto the walls.

The neighbors seem a bit weird.
They stare at me like I am some sort of alien.

No use for the Stevia

On my first day in the new space,
I could not find my coffee pot,
so my coffee maker stared at me
disconsolately.


A lot of foreign sounds

Moving from one abode to another
steals time from writing.

You cannot write, even once you have moved in,
because there are boxes, everywhere, that need to be
opened, and emptied, so that you will have room to move around.

Also, I temporarily lost the power cord to my laptop,
which impeded my ability to normally function in this new space.

The cats have just discovered that birds roost outside one of our windows,
so, of course, they have climbed onto that window sill to inspect.

The dogs are very protective of their new space,
growling or barking at every foreign sound,
of which, since this space is new to them, there are many.



A better space

The cats are fascinated with our new abode;
the dogs have fit right into the new walls that surround them,
the turtles seem the same, and so does Sydnee V, our fish

I am sore in several places, and chaffed in places
that I won't tell you about, from lifting things
out of one house onto a truck, and then off of that truck
into another place.

Most things are still in boxes,
but I, now, at least have paths in the apartment
to walk through.

Moving is a pain in the ars,
but the good thing is that, usually,
when the move is over, you find yourself
in a better space than you were in before.


I never get rid of books

I never get rid of books, but today I traded a box of books
to the owner of a coffee shop, for five large cups of coffee.
While the owner, and one of his employees, were gleefully
looking through my books, I had to leave; I was scared that
I would start wanting my books back, and I need to make room
in this small new space that I am living in; besides the five cups
of coffee will come in handy, during this time of economic insecurity.
I thought about contacting the Secretary of the Treasury, and
seeing if he would bail me on coffee, but I figured that he
wouldn't.



I'm not a very fashionable guy

I tried to sell some clothes, today,
to a shop that buys used clothing,
but they did not want to buy any of my old clothes.

I'm not very surprised that they did not buy
any of my clothes. I'm not a very fashionable guy.



Lucky Cat

My poor black cat seems to like to lay down in the places
where I most like to plant my ass, so he keeps getting woken up,
and moved. It could be worse; he could be a ghetto cat, or a cat
in Iraq, when a bomb is going off killing one of our young soldiers.


Nobody is saying anything that will really help any of us

We need a leader, a real leader, a man who will stand up
and take us out of this shit.

That eliminates John McCain.



Thoughts that came to my while Mc Dickhead and Obama rambled on

Make peace with something.
Run like hell from something else.
Choose wisely what you run from, and who you run to.

Don't give in to the enemy within.
Be your own best friend, if you can.
Don't be scared to pray, even if you believe
in nothing.


With God's grace we'll wake to see a new day

The day is done;
we've had our fun.

The older one makes sense

The two cats play fight
very close to real fighting
until the older one walks off
looking bored.


Daughter in a window

The window sill is big enough for her to sleep in, and that is exactly what she is doing now at 10:50 a.m. Last night, she made a pallet for herself, placed pillows on top of it, and around four a.m crawled onto the window sill and lay down.


"He's disappointed and a bit melancholy," Simpson's lawyer Yale Galanter told The Associated Press on Sunday.

Oh, poor O.J. He's a bit melancholic. How does he think that his wife feels?


It appears that I don't have control of the heat, and the cool, in this new apartment of mine. I hope that that means that I am not paying for it! I have been taught that it is good to not want to be in control of everything. I have been taught to turn it over to a higher power, and just stand back and let it all be. I have been taught that doing this will make life easier, that I am not in control of things, even if I think that I am, or even if I want to be.

My daughter is asleep in the window sill. You should have seen her eyes light up when she figured out that that was the place that she was going to build her pallet, last night, instead of setting up on the floor. "The dogs will bother me there," she said, referring to the floor. This place is small, and my daughter mostly spends the night with her mother, and her biological father. My daughter is not mine, but she is mine, if you catch my drift. She is mine by love, though not mine biologically. I make no distinction between her, and the boy who is biologically mine, and the other boy who is biologically not mine. Does any of this make sense to you? I hate the word step. There is no stepping about it. I'm not going anywhere. I am here to stay. Dig it?


For a long time, my daughter and I used the words, "Father figure," to refer to my status in her life. I had long, and firmly told all three of the kids to not, to not, to not use the word "step." One day, my daughter looked up at me and said, "You're not my step-dad, you were never married to my mom! You must be my God Father!"

God, how I did not want to be her God-Father. I wanted to be her father, or her father figure. Somewhere along the line, I realized, however, that it didn't matter what the kids called me. They knew who I was, and I knew who I was in their life. So what if it gets a little weird sometimes, and we can't fully explain the situation to whoever it is that wouldn't understand that love is sometimes stronger, than "family."

I was in a family, once, as a kid, that I was very unhappy in. Though I probably was loved, I didn't feel like I was loved. My kids feel like they are loved, and isn't that really what matters?


Sometimes, it's better that your dreams don't come true

The cats made it clear, this morning, that they expected to be fed their usual breakfast of wet cat food. The two of them had let me off the hook, for the past couple of days, as I sorted through boxes, trying to find a place to put everything in the new abode.

Jaggar, my black kitty, with the piercing yellow eyes, was meowing loudly, as he is wont to do, when he wants something. Kobain did what he is most likely to do, when he desires something from me, and stared me down, until I started opening the can of cat food that he was expecting.

Neither one of the cats said thank you, in any way, when I put their plates of wet cat food in front of them; they just dived in, as if they had not been fed in days, which is not the case.

Their dry cat food has, again, found its way to the top of the clothes washer. I find this to be a convenient place to put their dry food, so that the dogs will not get into it and eat it all up.

I have not been to a Yoga class in almost three weeks. I now live across the street from the Yoga studio, instead of over an hour away. This should be a great thing. The reasons that I moved to this little studio apartment are two fold; first, the apartment is in easy walking distance to, and from, my daughter's high school, and, second, the apartment is near to the Yoga studio.

My primary emphases, for the next four years, are my daughter and my Yoga, and what better place is there to be for me than in proximity to both of these?

Cluttered is the word that my daughter, Scout, and I, agreed upon for this new home that I have moved into, even after Scout, and I, spent several hours, this evening, organizing the space.

Due to my daughter's fine work, I can now see my bed, and that somehow has opened the space up a bit. I have been sleeping with the bed half full every night, half full of boxes, and books and notebooks, half-full plus a cat, Kobain, who jumps on my chest, expecting a head rub, the minute that I lay my head on the pillow each night.

Sometimes you spend your life dreaming for something, but life deals you a hand that is far better than the life you dreamed of. I dreamed of being a rock and roll poet, with millions of people loving me, but instead I wound up a father, with three kids loving me, and two dogs, two cats, two turtles, and a fish named Sydnee Vee who respect, and depend on me.

Rock on.


Somehow, I have squeezed everything into this small space. Cluttered is the word that comes to mind. I am a pack rat of sorts. I keep everything, from the teddy bears that my kids grew up hugging, to books that I will never read, with titles that I find interesting. My priority, once everything was moved inside these new four walls, was to get my turtle tank up and running. My turtles had spent nearly a day out of their normal environment, because of this move from a house to a studio apartment that I, my two dogs, two cats, two turtles and one fish had made. The next thing that I wanted to setup, even before I got my laptop online was my coffee maker. I found the coffee maker fairly easily, but the coffee pot eluded me for nearly two days. I am not a pretty man, and without my coffee, I become even uglier. A shower and a nice cup of coffee are essential to starting my day on a right foot.

I set the cable up in time to catch Joe and Sarah go at it. Sarah did better than I thought she would. I still don't trust her to be the finger on our nuclear button. Joe came across as a recovering used car salesman, a former crook, who had found the Lord and was now polite to everybody.

This country, this planet are in trouble. Do you think Barack and Biden can save it? They, certainly,(hopefully?) won't continue on the same disastrous path that we are on now, a path that, despite all he says to the contrary, now that the word "change" is en vouge, John McCain would continue to take us down.

I'm tired. Moving from one abode to another is hard on your legs, and hard on your back, but let me tell you one thing: it sure is good to be home!!


The cats are not yet complaining about being kept inside, and I am enjoying them more in this small space where we are forced to interact more.


This land is whose land?

Bob Dylan is singing that this land
is your land, this land is my land,
in my cd player. Why then, why, are they
trying to take it away from us, and
where is Bob Dylan now?

Suzie said to Cooper tonight, on tv,
that she thinks that we will see bread lines
in this great country, again, and that
a bunch of folks are already living in their car.

This land was your land. This land was my land.

I doubt that you can microwave it

I almost bought myself a rose, today
because I love roses. Instead I bought
a plantain and an eggplant. I've never
had a plantain before; do you eat it
like a banana? And how do you best cook
an eggplant?

I doubt that you can microwave it.

The mail woman brought me no woman

The mail woman brought no woman, oops,
I mean the mail woman brought no mail,
today.

I wish that I received lots of mail
I like getting letters and things,
that are not junk mail or bills in the mail.

It makes me feel happy and whole.
Send me a card or a letter:

Mikel K
858 Vedado Way Apt. 2
Atlanta, Ga. 30308

They say that Obama is going to win

Don't count our chickens until they
have hatched; Al Gore did win, didn't he?

No rats

I have seen no rats in this new space
that I am occupying. It is good to know
that none of them climbed into one of my boxes
of stuff, at the old space, and made
the journey with us.

Rain is a good thing

It is raining, this morning;
so the dogs did what they had to do,
and then headed, immediately, back to the house.

Sometimes, rain is a good thing,
like when the drinking water supply is low,
and when you are not much feeling like taking
your dogs around the block.

These Sounds

The water running down from their filter
makes bubbling noises, which, for me, can be
either soothing, or irritating.

I'm not sure how the turtles feel about these sounds.

Pack dogs

The dogs are worn out,
and so am I. I took them
to the dog park, today,
and they ran with the pack.

Listening To

Turn the tv to butter,
send a letter to someone
who will care
when the world ends much
too soon
there wasn't room
for you grandchildren
they called you a breeder
you should have seen it coming
sitting in your conditioned car
listening to.

My dog likes to growl

My dog, Bundy, likes to sit by the front door, and growl at the people who pass by on the sidewalk, while my dog, Morisson, likes to sit as near to my feet as possible. Each dog loves me, but in its own particular, and special way, just as each of my three children loves me in their own unique and wonderful way.

Past our front door

Something went crash and both dogs headed for the door barking,
which is o.k., but I won't let them bark for too long, for my
dogs are allowed to sound a warning, but they're not allowed to
bark at the neighbor the whole time that he or she walk their dog
past our front door.
.

I'm the real deal.

How does that make you feel?
I'm what you were told that
you couldn't be. I'm what I
shouldn't be. I'm what my daddy
looked at me, and said only one
in a million will make it,
and you don't have what it takes;
you're not the one.

Such fun to have a father
believe in you. You can't blame
fathers, though, they are just
trying to pay the bills, while
you are trying to live out
this fantasy of a life that you
think that life has in store for
you.

Being a poet is rather boring, really.
And when do you make it?
When they put your smiling face
on a postage stamp or when you go blind
thinking of what the next line should be?

Constant Concessions

I am constantly making concessions for my animals.
Like tonight I'm going to sleep without the fitted
sheet that I have washed, because my cat, Kobain,
has already fallen asleep on the bed and I don't want
to bother him. Of course, the minute that I lay down
on the bed, Kobain, will bother me, by crawling onto
my chest and seeking out my hands to scratch him with.

The bad days have gone away

I used to be a man of near constant sorrow.
I regretted the past, and I was scared of tomorrow.

My blue eyes shed more than their fair share of tears,
trying to figure out where I was supposed to be today.

I'm not sure, but, somehow, the bad days have gone away

My Mantra

I went door to door with fliers, today,
that told folks that I will clean their house.

I went to about one hundred and fifty houses.

I wonder how many houses that I will have to go to,
before I get that first phone call from a person
wanting me to inspect their home and give them
my price for cleaning it; and then how long it will be
until I get my first client.

Though cleaning is not the most glamorous thing to do,
on the planet, and I am certainly all about glamour,
the fact that I was ferreting out folks to be part of
my own business was exciting, as was the fact that I
could walk as fast, or as slow, as I wanted from house
to house, because there was nobody telling me how fast
I should go.

My friend Jeff, who started a cleaning business, because
the realty market was slow, and is doing quite well with it,
has a motto.

Jeff says, with a smile, as he pushes his vacum cleaner
across clients' carpets, "making money, making money, making money,
burning calories."

That is, now, also my mantra!

If you want to watch them whine

They are losing the election, so they grab at straws.
If you want to watch them whine, watch FOX.


Important things for you to know

I discovered, last night, that my dogs will eat uncooked tofu.
The dynamic duo also will eat raw tomatoes, and bananas, and cooked sweet potatoes.
They will spit out raw carrots.
I thought it important that you know these things.


What's up

I live near my daughter's high school,
walking distance, in fact,
and, tonight is homecoming for the school.

Do you remember your homecoming?

I had to park further from my home than usual,
because all the homecoming folk
had taken the spaces in front of my building.

I'm not complaining, just telling you what's up.


It was my thought

Scout could not open one of the doors
to let herself in, this afternoon,
so I had to come home to let her in;
and, when I got to the door, at the house,
I found that I could not get the door open,
either, with the key that she was using;

funny how that goes.

It was my thought that she just didn't
know the door as well as I did, but I was wrong.

I have been wrong once or twice before.

That is what I think

I am tired a lot these days,
a worn out achy muscle, brain-tired-tiredness.

I think that I need to call my Sleep Doctor,
and get my C-pap machine checked.

Yes, that is what I think.

My career as a cleaner

My day was supposed to start at eight,
but I was wide awake at five a.m.,
so I got up and did what I was supposed to do at eight;
lift the yoga mats that I had cleaned, yesterday,
off of the chairs, in the studio, and fold them into a nice pile.

This afternoon, I cleaned the mirrors and wiped down the shelves
at a beauty salon.

My career as a cleaner is taking off.

Let's not make this a regular thing

My son bought me a jar of peanut butter, today;
I slid it through the self-check out on his ticket,
and he went with it. I laughed to him, as we left
the grocery store, that this was a "historic occasion...
the first time that the son had bought the father groceries."

My son gave me a sardonic look, as if to say, "Well,
let's not make this a regular thing, o.k.?!"

I want my cat to live

Kobain was on the porch when I got back from walking the dogs tonight. He is inching closer and closer to, once again, being an outside cat. I am going to fight him on this. I like him being an inside cat. I like him being near to me. I do not like the thought that he might get run over by a car and get killed like my kitty Madonna did.


I could have been a contender

I cleaned six bathrooms, today,
listening to the music of other people
play on the radio, several of whom I know.

I could have been a contender
if I had figured out the game, earlier,
they might have played my songs on the radio.

But I didn't.

I should feel down and out,
like a failure
for being a house cleaner
instead of a rock star
but I don't.

You know why?

Because the game ain't over, baby!

She could smile

She no smile.
She no see the humor
in her and me nearly colliding
on the floor of the Laundromat.

I don't think that she speaks English,
but still she could smile.


Once Again

My hands are a mess
I guess that the psoriasis
that plagues me in other parts
of my body, has now invaded my
hands.

As a writer, I need my hands
to type, so this is unacceptable.

I have made an appointment
to, once again, see a dermatologist.


Dog Update

The dogs woke me early, this morning, because I was too tired
to take them out, last night. I knew that this would happen,
but I was so exhausted that I wanted to get a few hours sleep in,
before we headed to the great out doors.

Morisson is at my feet this morning, as he so often is.


Skeleton

I am dusting the ceilings, at the Yoga Studio.
It is a nasty job, but I am glad to have it.
The director is trading class time with me,
for my work efforts. I was in the studio by myself,
the other night, dusting, and I thought to myself
how the place is just a skeleton without
all the people in it, who populate it during class time.


Surprise

It is cold outside, but warm in here, which I am thankful for.
I am also thankful that the Power Company changed their mind
about charging me a one hundred and thirty dollar deposit. It
just didn't make any sense to me, when I had had service from
them for over ten years, that they would charge me such a deposit
in this new abode; every once in awhile a monopolistic corporation
will surprise you.


Do you know what I am saying

She looked better than she ever had;
isn't that the way it goes,
when you break up with someone.

I really wanted to say, "look, I was
wrong in saying that neither one of us
has changed, and that it would go right
back to being what it was, and I can't
handle that," but I didn't, because I knew
that neither one of us had changed,
and that I couldn't handle going right back
to where we had been.

I had already suffered all the things
that you suffer when you break up
with someone that you still love,
and I didn't want to go through all that, again.

Do you know what I am saying?

I touched my toes, tonight

I touched my toes, today. Thirteen months ago, when I started Yoga, I could not see my toes. Collin Powell endorsed Barack Obama, today. That means that two great things happened in one day. I'm sick of hearing about "Joe the Plumber." From what I have seen of the guy, he is "Joe the Douche Bag."

One of the cats just knocked something off one of the shelves. I'll have to investigate.


he's a millionaire so it's ok

the family values candidate
was fucking as many gals
on the side
as he could get his dick into.

no reason for them to wake up

they sleep under the stars
who will vote for them on nov. 4

the water in the tub is dripping

he says he is lying
and that you should
vote for me

the water in the tub
is dripping

the phone rings
you answer
a robot tells you
that obama went
to bed with a terrorist

mc cain is desperate

the water in my tub
is dripping

a vote for

energize the base
sit on my face


she's got a ticket to

she resurrected the ticket
while walking on water
and holding her baby




the big question

fred the plumber
is an illusion

don t buy one of
his t shirts

Reflection

I just looked out my front door
and saw dude graffiti-ing
on the pole in front of my house.

I thought about going out there,
with one of my sharpies,
and scribbling my name on his nice clean SUV,
but I knew that that would just lead to
more trouble than I care to bother with.

I used to do what he now does,
but I've moved on.

Go Ray go!

My buddy Ray, who works the frozen food aisle,
at the grocery store that I like to shop at,
who had long hair, when I met him, got his hair cut, again.

I asked him what was up with that, and he said
that he is trying to get a promotion.

"What are you trying to get promoted to?" I asked him,
and he said, "Manager."

Go Ray, go!

Do cats suffer from the same maladies as man?

I caught my black cat licking a pink pill, last night;
he looked as if he was about to swallow the pill.

I grabbed the little bowl that sat on my desk
holding the pills, and took them to a higher ground.

Different Strokes

One of my dogs is at my feet,
and the other one of my dogs
is at the front door,
growling at other dogs
who walk by with their masters.

The Lady and her dog

In this, my new neighborhood,
there are a lot of people with dogs.

I just met the cutest Doberman Pincher.
He still had his ears, and did not look mean.

I asked his owner if he was mean,
and she said, "No, but he acts like it,"
so I went out in the road to pass the lady,
and her dog.

Bigger is certainly better

My pineapple is almost ripe.

Well, it's not really my pineapple;
I bought it for my daughter who loves pineapples,
but I assure you that I will get my fair share
of this pineapple.

It was the biggest pineapple that they had at the farmer's market.
In the case of pineapples, bigger is certainly better.

When you look in the mirror what do you see?

We're all blazing trails; I can't blaze yours, you can't blaze mine.

I don't notice or respect the ones that people call the "successful ones"
in our society, the wealthy just to be wealthy are invisible to me.

I see the man and woman without, the down and out.

I met a poet tonight

I met a poet tonight.
It sounds stupid to say,
but she is someone who writes poetry.

It seems weird to me,
but most people don't write poetry.

Waiting for him to calm down

My dog Bundy was so glad to see me
when I came out of the grocery store, tonight,
that he badly behaved, jumping all over me.

He would not settle down, and I do not know
what to do when he gets all excited,
so I just stood there with my arms folded,
and smiled at him, waiting for him to calm down.

Not crazy in the eyes

The friendly security guard at the grocery store,
who I always stop to talk politics with,
told me, tonight, that he had once walked
through the jungles of Vietnam.

He got a bit intense talking about it, but not crazy in the eyes
like some men who have been there get, when they talk about it.

There is a flower garden

Butterflies flicker
above the flowers.

He was too lazy to walk,
so he got him a wheelchair.

They stay high.
A baby cries.

Do you mind trading places?
We could wear each others faces.

Each Child

Scout did bad on a math test,
but she didn't tell me;
I heard about it second hand.

"Kids are like that," said the man who told me,
the man who drives my girl to her BMX bike races,
and practices, with his son,
when I wondered out loud
about why she had not conveyed the dismal news to me
this afternoon.

I don't know if she was embarrassed,
or scared, or just thought that it wasn't any of my business.

She can make it up, the man told me,
and, I believe, that that is her intention.

She skipped going to BMX practice to stay home,
and do homework, but I don't know if that
was here choice, or the choice of the guy
who she told that she got a 52 on a math.
test, who said, to her, "Dude, you better stay home
and study."

Each child is so different, each child is so precious.
Each child has sucked at math.

Blue eyes listening to the rain

Hesitate and you miss the moment.
Fry eggplant, for the first time, in olive oil.

He's the night watchman

I saw a security guard hidden from his job reading a book.
I saw the repo-man cruising. I bet he is making more money
now, than eve

I just loves me some butter.

have been in the south since 1982, and, moments ago, I just cooked grits for the first time ever. They turned out pretty darn well, also, especially since I dumped about a half a stick of real butter in them. I could eat roofing tiles, if I put enough butter on them; I just loves me some butter.

It is not only the junky who uses a spoon

Everybody is looking for the perfect vote;
a small spoon feels inadequate in a large hand.

We all have roles to play

I was a watermelon pretending to be a cucumber,
until I met you.

In buildings so huge

I road my bike down West Paces Ferry Road, yesterday. The Governor's Mansion, and many other fine, fine houses are to be found on this stretch of pavement. I was amazed to see that some individual had bought several mansions, and had had them torn down, so that he, and or she, could build one HUGE mansion. It is weird for me to think that people can, and do, live like this, in buildings so huge.

It is nice to have a washer and a drier

I am a man who has lived most of his life without a clothes washer and drier in whatever house or apartment that he was living in. The abode that I exist in now, and my last home, both had a washer and a drier. As I was standing over my clothes washer, this morning, loading it, I said a little prayer of gratitude. It is nice to have a washer and a drier.

There is no ghost doing the dishes

One of the doors to my kitchen cabinets likes to open itself.
Sometimes, I joke, to myself, that the creaking noise that it makes
is indicative that a ghost is at work in my kitchen, but the dishes
are still dirty, in the morning, and I have to wash them myself,
so I know that this isn't true.

My dog, Bundy, is such a freak

He cries, screams, and whimpers,
when I leave him with Morisson
outside the grocery store, making
it hard to buy onions and bread.

Cat nap causes human confusion

I had not seen him in over five hours,
so I was sure that my Jaggar was gone;

that he had somehow slipped outside,
this morning, when I carried my bicycle
through the front door.

I blew kisses all over the house.
I blew kisses all over the yard.

I put one of my ceramic turtles
up against the porch door, to keep it open,
so that my little kitty could return home,

where I might just kill him for running away.

I won't have to go to such an extreme, though,
because, Praise The Lord, Jaggar just stuck his face out
from underneath the bed, where my daughter had assured me,
earlier, that he was not.



Um

She wanted to know what
I thought of the picture
that she had sent me
in which she sat naked
looking at the ceiling.

There is hope after all

My dog Bundy amazed me, this morning;
he sat quietly in front of me,
as I sat on the bed and put his leash on,
just like I have been trying to get him to do
for over a year now.

No squirming; no laying down,
no evading my hands with his head;
and he only barked, once, here at 6 a.m,
probably not waking any of the neighbors.

There is hope for Bundy and I, after all!


There is nothing like that first cup of coffee first thing in the morning

Whether it is decaf or regular or half-caf, there is nothing like
that first cup of coffee in the morning.

It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy.


Dumb ass dogs

Morisson always wanders in the vicinity of the cats' bowls in the morning, when they are eating the wet cat food that I have laid out for them. I guess this explains why he, sometimes, hovers around their litter box, also. I read somewhere, last night, that cat poop smells like cat food to a dog. Dumb ass dogs.


Remission

Well look who is waiting around;
I have been neglect in my duties.

I fed the dogs, but forgot to feed the cats,
and they are just not having it.


Warm and Cozy

It is windy and cold outside,
but warm and cozy inside,
in our living space, and in my mind.


I like 'em thick

It's not funny,
but I made my grits
a bit too runny.


A lady stops in front of me, at the dog park, lifts her foot in the air, and looks at the bottom of her shoe. It looked clean to me, but you certainly can't always be sure of that, here at the dog park.

I'm on one of my usual rocks. Morisson comes up to me, I say hello, and he jumps up on me, leaving a dirty paw print on my notebook.

"Sorry, she has a thing for purses," I hear one dog owner say to another, looking over my shoulder to see a lady stuffing lipstick, and sunglasses back into her purse.

A few dogs stop to sniff me, but none stays long enough for me to pet them. I guess that they could tell that I haven't had a shower yet today.

A three-legged Doberman runs by at a pace faster than most of the four legged dogs are running around at.

Two girls walk up with a little dog that is wearing a pretty sweater.

"That's not a dog!" I say, looking at the cute dog.

"It's a baby! one of the girls says.

"What kind is it?" I ask.

"Shih Tzu," she says.

The girl is from Puerto Rico, but she was born in The United States. Her dog was born in Puerto Rico. Her parents were from Cuba. They did not leave when Castro took power, but some time after that.

As if she has answered too many questions, the girl walks off with her Shih Tzu, and her female lover.




Lock the criminals up

It seems to me that the "executives" who ran their companies into the situation where their company needed to be bailed out by The American People should be fired, and should not be figuring out how to give themselves bonuses with the "bailout" money. Why should we bail out people that already have several houses with swimming pools, and maids?




A lady who met a lady

There was just a story on CNN about a lady who met a lady whose house had been foreclosed on, at a foreclosure auction, and bought the lady's house back for her for $49,000. The two were shown hugging, after the deal was closed. This is a very neat story; we need to see, hear, and experience more things like this, for sure.


It's only Socialism and Marxism if it trickles down

"We're not spending," said the man on the t.v.
because we don't have any money.

"The trickle down," that Ronald Reagan said would happen
if you lowered the taxes of the rich, "did not trickle down,"
he continued.

There is much talk of the evil of redistribution
of wealth to include the middle class and the poor.

"SOCIALISM," The Right cries, "MARXISM!!" they scream.

Why wasn't it Socialism and Marxism when
income was being distributed up?


No one ever asks me to appear on t.v.

No one ever asks me to appear on their t.v. show
and tell them what I think about the election.

No one ever asks me to appear on t.v.
and give my opinion about O.J. or to argue with Chuck.

No one ever asks me to appear on t.v.
to smile, or frown.

I think I will make it though this, though.


Their Job

I'm jealous that my dogs don't have to find a job.
As I typed this, they looked at me with hurt feelings in their eyes;
"We have a job," their eyes were saying, "Our job is to love you!"


Rape

Rape the treasury.
Rape the worker.
Rape the American family.
Rape the soldier,

do it for a dollar,
you can have seven houses in Florida,
when you get older.


I won't have a worry

Give me a blanket, will you
it's about to get cold.

Shelter my emotions
from the retirement home,
will you, I'm about to get old.

I'm going to turn myself over
to the government, retire early.

I'll sit on a bench, somewhere;
won't have a worry.


Back in the day

Some gals visiting the guys downstairs, woke me, and the dogs up, around four a.m. Bundy let them know what was up, barking at them loudly. I'm not sure if I told my dog to hush, or let him bark at the gals, to let them know that they had woken us up: at four a.m. some people are asleep. It didn't used to always be that way. There was a time, many years ago, that I was the one up at four a.m., probably being loud. I'm sure that I woke a person or two up, back in the day.


Intimate Conversations

Do you want to leave this page?
Yes, I want to leave this page.

Some of my most intimate conversations
are with my computer.


Banks have too much control over you

Banks have too much control over you and I;
they are evil just like The Credit Card Companies.


Needless to say

I wore a dust mask, today, as I swept the dust from the ceiling of the Yoga studio, but I forgot the protective eyeglass that I had worn the last time that I climbed on the ladder to do this job. Needless to say, I got dust in my eyes.


Pictures of roads

I, now, only see pictures of roads
that look like the roads, that she used to drive me down,
laughing, when I got scared because she liked to drive
those sharply curving country roads faster and faster
as the curves became sharper and sharper.


When the cameras aren't there

You think that you've got it all hooked up inside,
but I can see that you are out of your mind.

Your mini-dresses and brightly colored lipstick on lips that pout
may make others think that you are fine
but they are not there when you show your behind.

Love is not looking good on the cover of a magazine.
Love is how you act when the cameras aren't there.


What is beauty then?

I am surrounded by beauty, but none of it does me any good.
It doesn't smile at me. It doesn't acknowledge my existence
in any way, shape, or form. What is beauty then?


Impact

Should poets have an Impact on the world,
or should they just write silly little love poems?


Mutual

Her eyes were brilliant,
and they were focused on my eyes,
which were brilliant, also.


Fifteen minutes late

The first person who answered the phone gave me
incredibly wrong directions. By the time that I
got to talk to the second person, on the phone,
who gave me the right directions, I was 15 minutes
late.


Questions for those with enough time on their hands to answer questions

What color is your breath when you are happy?
What color is your smile when you are sad?
When you look up at the stars, what do you see?

I got to find a job,
or I'm going to be singing
a sad song.

Please send any extra food
that you have to Mikel K
858 Vedado Way #2 Atlanta, Ga. 30308
Thanks.


So completely

She makes you dull,
when you've always been sharp.

How can that be,
that you give yourself in so completely?


Before the sun has come up

It is funny how one person can be threatening, and another offer comfort. I was walking the dogs, this morning, before dawn, and a man came towards us, who was screaming at himself. I approached this man with caution, not sure what kind of situation that I and the dogs were getting into. The dogs didn't seem scared, and the man passed us without incident. Almost as soon as this man passed, another man, passed us, this one jogging, who said, "Good Morning." Out there in the dark, he did nothing to make me be on guard. Two humans, two different set of emotions elicited before the sun has come up.


She will already be long gone

She never sleeps alone,
even when she's got a man,
men are calling on her cell phone,
while she sleeps underneath the ceiling fan.

All the violence that she used to endure,
has been swept under the floor, she loved
the one who used to hit her the hardest the most,
but couldn't continue to live with the cops
continually coming through her front door.

When you saw me in the park, yesterday,
I was pissed off, not at you,
and I didn't want to play, she says to you,
as she walks away from you for forever.


Is not that the kind of world that we are living in?

As I am leaving the train station,
I see a woman running towards the station,
pulling her bag on the ground behind her,
on wheels, and I think, isn't that neat,
she wants to get to work on time,

but, then, I think, well, maybe she could
be running from just killing her husband,
or one of her children; maybe she is pulled
her husband's head in that bag that she is
pulling behind her.


On this train

The morning train is nothing
like the train late at night.

The morning train, or this
morning train, that I am on,
this morning is quiet,

except for two businessmen,
who idly banter about business.

If it wasn't for their gossip
about the office, and talk of
sales that are not going through,
now, because of the economy,
I would, probably, be asleep
like most of the other people
on this train.


For Halloween, I'm going to dress up as an unemployed guy,
who can't find a job, who might have to get in line with
the homeless to have lunch. I'll carry a sign around my neck,
as I go trick or treating, that says, "Will Work," and when
someone, anyone says, "What kind of work do you do?" I'll say,
"I do the kind of work that pays; you got any?"

When I was younger, I was telling my son, today, I could land
a job in one afternoon, of going to restaurants. I would hit
six to ten of them, in one go, and somebody would hire me. I
don't know if I am too old, now, to get a "server" position,
but something in the equation has changed.

People are handing me applications, but the phone isn't ringing,
once I have filled them out, and turned them in. To show how
serious I am, I got a haircut and a shave, today. I wasn't planning
to cut my hair until it got as long as Willie Nelson's, and my
beard was going to make the beards on the guys in ZZ Top look
well-groomed.

Maybe people don't want to hire a guy who looks like he just got
back from the first Woodstock.

If you know of any freelance writing gigs, that pay, that I would
qualify for, please let me know. I want to start growing the hair,
and the beard, again, as soon as possible, and it's easier to do
with a job that you sit at home on the laptop creating great works
of literature, than it is looking all Brad Pitt-like while running
down soup and salad for someone.


NOTE TO A FRIEND WHEN SHE ASKED HOW EARLY I GET UP

I AM USUALLY UP BETWEEN SIX AND SEVEN AM WITH THE DOGS AND CATS. I WALK THE DOGS, FEED THEM, AND THE CATS, AND TURTLES, AND FISH, DRINK SOME COFFEE, WRITE,AND THEN
GO BACK TO BED UNTIL ABOUT ELEVEN...THAT IS THE IDEAL SETUP. THIS FUCKING HAVE TO GET A JOB THING IS GOING TO FUCK IT ALL UP. DO YOU KNOW ANY RICH LADIES WHO NEED SERVICING?

Business is slow

I went looking for a job, today,
and I kept hearing the same thing
every place that I went,

"Nooooooooooooooooooooo."


A very guilty look

Morisson followed me into the bathroom,
and hung out with me, while I brushed my teeth,
so I know that it was Bundy who licked the cats' bowls clean
of the food that they didn't eat this morning.

I called Bundy out on it, and he didn't admit a thing,
but certainly gave me a very guilty look.


I may stink but I'll live longer

I use natural deodorants,
they don't work as well,
but they don't cause cancer.


I'm getting my hair cut, today.

My hair is longer than it has ever been,
and I am going to grow it to my ass
like Willy Nelson has it,
just to have done it, once in my life,

but, along the way, I find
that my hair grows into lumps on the back of my head
that much resemble marijuana buds,
"Rasta man," my son said to me, last night,
with a smile, as I fed him
this delightful shrimp and rice dish that I make.


Physical

She said can you give me a urine sample,
and, for a second, I just stared at her,
not sure if I could.


Strictly a small time player

I am never in the position
to incur large charges,
strictly a small time player,

I am mostly happy where I am
I took a ride in a limousine,
once, and was quite unimpressed.

Mostly, I am happier on a bicycle
than I was in my last girlfriend's
Mercedes.


Entry level position

I was beating the odds for awhile
moving through the days
on nobody else's time clock
but my own

but, she ran out of money,
or got tired of waiting
for me to get a book deal.

Now I go into the five star restaurants
that she and I used to eat in
seeing if they have any entry level positions.


Today I will go to the doctor's office for my annual physical. Granted there are things that I would rather be doing, but, at my age, having a physical is a good thing, kind of an investment in myself.


The sun set on our smile

The sun set on our smile


Too tired to get up, he flicks the little piece of dirt that he found on his desk in the direction of trash can, knowing that the trash can will not open itself to accept the fleck of dirt. He is weeks behind on vacuuming; maybe this will be the incentive, in the morning, to do so. His daughter has not taken him up on his rather strong hints that it, "would be a nice thing for her to do," to take the vacuum cleaner in her teenage hands and go with it about the small apartment.


He took the angel out of the box that she had been stored in, and placed her over the kitchen sink. He told himself that the act really didn't mean anything, that he didn't believe in angels, yet he had angels scattered about his house, and around the front lawn of the house that he was renting an apartment in; wooden ones, cement ones, little ones made out of the materials that a child's doll are made of.

The people who found something wrong with Halloween, would probably find something wrong with his interest in angels.


What harm could a little boy be?

They found the kid, today, dead;
shot to death inside the SUV
that they had been looking for.

Some killings make sense,
but this one doesn't.

What harm could a little boy be
to anybody?


I've found a smile in the strangest places

Sometimes, it sucks, but then each day we begin again,
and what happened yesterday doesn't matter;
what is important is what we do today.

I've grown tomatoes, and left them behind,
hoping that someone else would pick them,
and put them on their salad,

I've found a smile in the strangest places,
and that made me glad.


The strangest thing happened to me on the porch today

I guess that I didn't take my dog out fast enough, this afternoon, for when we got to the patio, he stopped, lifted his leg and peed on my pants leg, and shoe. I don't think that this was an act of civil disobedience on his part; I really think that the durn dog just had to go really bad. Have you ever heard of such a thing?!



Alone with the refrigerator

You took out the trash,
left with my cash;

the house is clean,
but, I miss you dear.




The oil wasn't sizzling

I wondered why the one piece of fake chicken that I had dropped in the olive oil wasn't making the oil sizzle. The fake chicken, and the olive oil were just laying there lazily, indicating that no cooking was getting done, when I checked the oven and found that I hadn't turned the gas on.


It sucks, but then each day we begin again
and what happened yesterday doesn't matter
what is important is what we do today.

I've grown tomatoes, and left them behind,
hoping that someone else would pick them,
and put them on their salad,

I've found a smile in the strangest places,
and that made me glad.


I guess that I didn't take my dog out fast enough, this afternoon, for when we got to the patio, he stopped, lifted his leg and peed on my pants leg, and shoe. I don't think that this was an act of civil disobedience on his part; I really think that the durn dog just had to go really bad. Have you ever heard of such a thing?!


I won't have a worry

Give me a blanket, will you
it's about to get cold.

Shelter my emotions
from the retirement home,
will you, I'm about to get old.

I'm going to turn myself over
to the government, retire early.

I'll sit on a bench, somewhere;
won't have a worry.



Their Job

I'm jealous that my dogs don't have to find a job.
As I typed this, they looked at me with hurt feelings in their eyes;
"We have a job," their eyes were saying, "Our job is to love you!"



There is hope after all

My dog Bundy amazed me, this morning;
he sat quietly in front of me,
as I sat on the bed and put his leash on,
just like I have been trying to get him to do
for over a year now.

No squirming; no laying down,
no evading my hands with his head;
and he only barked, once, here at 6 a.m.
probably not waking any of the neighbors.

There is hope for Bundy and I, after all!