Tuesday our Prius V went BangPop on the innerbelt, pulled off, towed in, told engine had exploded, some of its insides were on its outside, were offered rebuit used-engine for $8 grand, got 2015 Prius instead , , , so much for being auto-payment free, paid off the V last year.
Smith poems April 2025
2025.3.1 – Train moan means load of sins going
2025.3.2 – Silence stands there
2025.3.3 – They got their words
2025.3.4 – Trapped in neck collar
2025.3.5 – Lotta smart people
2025.3.5 – I put on mask
2025.3.7 – 5 years now crowing comes and goes
2025.3.8 – Muy mucho mas alas
2025.3.10 – Life is good
2025.3.11 – 8th week of hard collar
2025.3.12 – Got some pieces
2025.3.12 – Beat third eye open once
2025.3.15 – Small whee
2025.3.15 – Too many unlesses in life
2025.3.18 – I’m tired and fleathered
2025.3.18 – For a lot of folk
2025.3.19 – Same Old Sisyphus Told
2025.3.19 – There’s matter. There’s anti-matter
2025.3.21 – Unstable
2025.3.22 – Please mister Proprietor
2025.3.22 – I’m a bad reputation
2025.3.23 – White clouds
2025.3.23 – Best pray
2025.3.26 – I sail the four C’s
2025.3.29 – Gaia gazes over her garden
2025.3.29 – Nothing matters
2025.3.30 – Hoping for unicorn
2025.3.31 – I’m the package deal
~ ~ ~
Train moan means load of sins going
rooster crow sez time’s flowing
here it’s visits in the night
with flashlights and megaphones
“Kinda weird, isn’t it?:
What?
“The gestalt.”
Not as weird as the gestalt and pepper.
What’s the square root of evil?
which part shall we avail?
and what pray tell
shall we tell the prey?
~ ~ ~
Silence stands there
ear sits here
Heart?
somewhere between
I know where music is born
perhaps first flow
9 months warm juice womb
heart bump-bump bump-bumping along
Singing the Mom-Love song
long, firm, fluid, strong
Taut belly’s skin drum
picking up word scraps rapt thrum
Reverbing foot stomps branching breaks
lightning smash dirt thump takes
Get a rock band going in utero
or maybe cool jazz combo
Once born through dark to light
ready for chant of tribal fire light
9 month song
soundtrack life
~ ~
They got their words
I got mine
I tell truth
they seem to be lying
There were free birds
once in my youth
helped me find
the slightly less obtuse
But what’s the use
Lizard brain
fueled and flying
skills itch
robs the dying
Pretty plain
in down and seeing
wake is pain
heaven sleeping
Let’s give a cheer
for flee fight feed flux
mind peek soul seek
need lotta luck
~ ~ ~
Trapped in neck collar
tied to wheel
endless round nothing follow
grinding corn to meal
Used to roll rock up hill
watch it rebound down
testing will
freaking frown
I know I’m clown
at least worth laugh
as for these unsun clouds
you don’t know the half
Or quarter
dime
eighth
?
(‘eighth’ looks odd
even though it’s even
but thanks to Cheech & Chong
keeps my peepers steamin’)
Anyway here we go
a-go-go getting gone
fast or slow short or long
gotta keep singing song
~ ~ ~
Lotta smart people
saying lotta smart things
so why so much dumb come along?
Some sorta reverse curse of Cassandra
where everything they say is wrong
yet everyone believes anyway?
Bottom line
There is
and there is not
plus a whole lot more between
And that’s just the beginning
~ ~ ~
I put on mask
I see wise
they see ass
~ ~ ~
5 years now crowing comes and goes
one rooster at a time
(though once we had 2)
first next door
then one down valley
next one one block over
followed of course by one cross alley
each crows days weeks months
goes silent
disappears
into coyote stomach
or stew pot
or old age dirt
and for weeks
months
silence reigns
as much as unsilent silence can
until new braggadocio
new crowing calls new sun into new sky
new clouds cavort
and new fairy tales start however Grimm
as circle cycles
cycles clone
and in group or alone
round and round we roam
so may as well let crow go
we’re here
whatever here is
perhaps flesh fizz?
~ ~ ~
Muy mucho mas alas
what happens in the brain
stays in the brain
Unfair to judge
way-back-then from right-now
yet I do
I go this way I go that
might be glitter
might be fact
As for the Painesville signs
I don’t need them
I know pain
Know there’s meat in team
not much team in meat
especially when it’s time to eat
~ ~ ~
Life is good
a cup of coffee
a fancy hard cookie
a broken neck
opiates to mask the pain
winter maybe going
spring sneaking a peek
to see if it wants to come
in this ruthless political climate
where once was geeze-leave-it-to-Beaver
and his cleavageless June ma
now’s junkyard dog ripping your throat
chewing your spawn
pooping kin
but what the heck
just a phase
nothing to worry about
enough misery and wailing and dying
this too will pass
and some of us will remain
and for awhile
we’ll be more thoughtful
do the oughtful
make it fairer
for a . . . while
before the wile returns
and innocent blood fang earns
here we go round the human tree
the human tree the human tree
guess that includes you and me
~ ~ ~
4th week of hard collar
round broken neck
collecting daily odors
body pain odors
body sweat odors
walking labyrinth odors
old-man-breaking-down odors
I smell like a large pile of old dust
mixed with mustiness of dead mouse
after its flesh rot’s gone
dry dust Smith
dissipating through the ages
from dust I came
dusty I go
gone with the wind
down some new winding road
to . . . where?
why?
~ ~ ~
Got some pieces
but can’t find the puzzle
call the polices
but they’re late to the huddle
garden Nome Alaska
is nowhere near Albuquerque
but hafta ask ya
where’s the Bugs Bunny?
they say laugh a day
keeps depression away
but apples scare doctors
or so sez my proctor collegist
gotta run the circle
but I’m stuck in this square
smoking powerful purple
so I’m getting sum where
if this’s all there is
I’m not your apologist
coffee roiling it
stirring nowhere to go
me full fast
reality slow
what more can I ask?
who gnosis
where the time goeses?
~ ~ ~
Beat third eye open once
with ice and concrete
but doctors washed the blood away
and sewed me blind again
Was that love?
I live long
and learn a little
which is more than I show
yet know those in pain lash out
and even bad dogs think they’re good
Lot of not-nice lurking
looking for lunch
But angels too
kings of heart and the lighter arts
help us glow the goo
like Moses parting molasses in the snow
and baby Buddha showing go
depends on do
Some men tug behind
while sisters pull ahead
waiting abyss of bliss
after this
Me too
~ ~ ~
Small whee
large for me
outside in first sun
since fall fell
cuppa coffee
THC’ing body’s bruise
with gummy glue
sipping slow
toking smok
soaking sun
close eyes
to hot
redlemonyelloworange
glow
flowing go
as I square the circle
circle the square
in temporary boundary
ancient quandary
going koan
~ ~ ~
Too many unlesses in life
need new lease on leash
How sappy to be happy
in sad times and crimes
but you know
go’s never full high
never full low
but brights and bitters between
you can laugh with us at the village well
or scream your doom alone in room
hell yell
yet bads stay bad
but good still sneaks between
your scheme your scene
jelly bean
~ ~ ~
I’m tired and fleathered
from turbulent whethers
My coping mechanism
needs coping
Here’s hoping
~ ~ ~
For a lot of folk
I’m the bad side of life
been to prison
got a second wife
used to rob
used to drink
even worse I used to think
once I bet on help hope hot
but that led to Gordian knot
not knot now knot not then
guess we play the game again
as rich scratch itch to suck us dry
controlling who’s want and why
and maybe where
who knows
who cares
“I used to” Mother Earth shares
but beware
that’s past tense there
back to me
I done my wrongs
when I was young and not as strong
now do less
and so much more
making mess as moral whore
I kill to eat
consume the dead
until becoming meat in end
I used to dread
before my current skinny bones
its few sinews
faint muscles tones
helped me fade the here and gone
parsing foam of poem
don’t yet know the end
my friend
no going home alone
shalom
~ ~ ~
Same Old Sisyphus Told
Get up
start again
roll the wheel for real
round the road
up the hill
down to break in gain
new old pain
but ha!!!
is all in your head
alive and dead
illusions they say
as rent they make me pay
if game of eat I want to play
then there’s shelter
plus tax on that
and bread and better
if you’re top of the stack
they’ll paint your sister
in tart and tramp
make sure your mister
misses champ
words run round
words stack high
words by rich bound in lie
++gods above clods below
choose love or money go
said my piece walk my way
there’s never ease for we prey
but what the hey that’s the key
gotta try walking lie to lie
I’m flailing here
wailing away
got nothing and way too much to say
~ ~ ~
There’s matter, there’s anti-matter
there’s cool, there’s Elon Musk
Can’t invite Trump over
don’t have enough toilet paper
and we’d have to count the silverware
As for Vance
don’t ask
just flush
~ ~ ~
Unstable
bit unable
yet stumble on
body crumbles
mind muddle mellows
smarts humble
not one of the fellows
at most an extra
bumbling be
I run here and there
explains bits with flair
then turn in flee
you may extrapolate
but that’s been my abstract
in a nut skull
~ ~ ~
Please mister Proprietor
I can’t find Hope
your shelves appear empty
you no longer stock?
has it all been bought?
Or’s out there awaiting reentry?
‘Come on kid, don’t be a dope
hope’s a rope’ll kill ya
it’s do or die
fake worthy whys
and try try try try try
jolly cash lies’
Guy’s got a point
I hate to anoint
it’s less leapers I guess
we’re meant to bless
than souls repair
and savor
Of course my purse
carries different flavor
bear the pain
work the gain
absolve your guilt
of brain’s failure
Most ain’t your fault
but rest of arc’s alt
you gotta pay for
gather your sufferings
command karma whore
not naughty nothings
Let’s head out for more
~ ~
I’m a bad reputation
seeking good situation
in this bargain bin of unbetter buys
I look into life
it looks back
we go on
I pick my own pockets
hide wares in DNA lockets
~ ~ ~
White clouds
caught by bare branches
placeholder for coming leaves
Bit of old slip slide rip tide
ripples the ought-to
of saving time
Sewing clip of night
to coming day
does not longer make
Hate to say
Pace is relative
in this outlaw race
of time and space
~ ~ ~
Best pray
cuz they say
horns of fire
winged revenge
strictures of strange
old cootie clutter
mothers for hire
the shame in your gutters
the love in your lies
the loss in your lectures
the slur in your slime
all dance in madness
working round wise
circling bare
cackling gladness
in brains
in our brains
sliming where tortoise
scares hare
preyer
so there
~ ~ ~
I sail the four C’s
concrete, car, caffeine, cannabis
on and off the omnibus
Crash bang brooms gloom
lightens life blooms room
ozones ooze zoom
You die
unless you live
On the other gland
slow’n’quiet’s grand
perhaps the better plan
What do I know
I neither stay nor go
way more fade than glow
Living, dying, all a game
won to will, woe to blame
~ ~ ~
Gaia gazes over her garden
and we’re looking a lot like weeds
from there to here
and no back again
weedkiller’s coming
~ ~ ~
Nothing matters
and everything matters
that’s the way we go
Matter of matter matters
anti-matter’s alone
~ ~ ~
Hoping for unicorn
don’t make it happen
but our real life dragons
are real life thorns
in the sides of our freedom
to wonder about
not hearing treason
if we happen to shout
don’t get me wrong
I know ill’s ill
way too strong
to be fixed by word will
but won’t
don’t
yet still
got to start somewhere
push rock to hill
art to heart
spin the wheel
for better deal
for you
for me moaning in my minor key
and futurity
~ ~ ~
I’m the package deal
even bring my own demons
my own big wheel
I’m cross
I’m rugged
I’m old
but no rugged crosshairs on me
my light comes from darkness
dark from light
wrong lie to right
we have symptoms
lack of shame
short sight
fearfright
days mostly sitcom
weren’t for the blood
and hungry teeth
how the heck did we get here
slogging through the slug
looking for the plug
to pull
or
were we here all along
and didn’t know it
cause of P.R. slogans
All Hail the Thief
flog the grief
flux relief
sheesh
I gots no answers
lost my antlers
uncles too
~ ~ ~
My mind flashed Saturday that I was a month overdue on our car tags. Went to get them today and found I had not renewed them last year due to being in the midst of cancer surgery recovery with my mind on other things. So went and got last year’s e-check, walked into BMV and was informed since I was over a year late I needed new plate and had to show car title to get it. Searched thru our glove box and found title, went back in, paid $310 for last year and this and we’re in business. I am not made for our document-showing wortld, but somehow keep lucking out.
“—Medusa, thanking Cleveland’s Steven B. Smith for fine poetry, for which he stuck his neck out (with unpleasant results)! Progress is being made, though, in the healing department, he says, and we are all grateful, as Winter turns to Spring today in this hemisphere of ours…” – Kathy Kieth, publisher / editor
9 poems, 10 fotos, monthly feature #112
https://medusaskitchen.blogspot.com/2025/03/payment-due.html
Lost my right hearing aid. Surprised it took me that long, almost 3 years. Unsuccessfully retraced my steps upstairs, downstairs, and in my Lady’s basement, went up and down the block I’d walked, looking through all the dead leaves, and finally looked through the trash item by item, and then the laundry, item by item. Told Lady all that was left was sifting through the used cat litter I’d just dumped, then brightened and said, “But I have a backup plan . . . Frankie’ll find it and chew the rubber earpiece off.”
Last year Frankie, our large, fuller-than life orange kitten, snatched my left earpiece, chewed the rubber end off, and deposited it in front of the upstairs bathroom door. 9 hours later, he snatched my right one, chewed the rubber off, and left it in the same place.
30 minutes after I told Lady Frankie was my backup plan, she called down, “Found it.” It was in the same place as the previous two, the rubber only half-chewed.
Just in time to avoid going through clumped cat excrescence.
low poem output for month due to broken neck
2025.2.3 – Bathing in Oregon well water
2025.2.3 – Thinking of joining
2025.2.3 – Down to ember
2025.2.4 – “Max Factor and left her with child”
2025.2.6 – Is there no single right
2025.2.9 – In movies
2025.2.11 – Of 3 Chinese curses
2025.2.11 – Rooster crows
2025.2.12 – Nebulous time
2025.2.12 – You know we got words
2025.2.13 – Dog died
2025.2.14 – Sometimes wham bam
2025.2.16 – Payment Due
2-25.2.16 – I love the night
2025.2.19 – In world fraught with froth
2025.2.24 – My 3rd eye
2025.2.26 – Lone tree
~ ~ ~
Bathing in Oregon well water
goats in the pasture
bread in the oven
elk in the hills
mountain lions lurking
life goes on
until it doesn’t
so we do as well as we can
weighing moral matter
and tooth and claw
~ ~ ~
Down to ember
but remember
as long as able
there’s coming September
followed by dismember
ment and compost
hosted by blender blunder
and under the table
dishonor
but what the heck
before you check out
in mad screaming shout
it’s always been
Eaters’ plan
to keep us moist
& close about
~ ~ ~
“Max Factor and left her with child.”
She looks at me in confusion. I explain.
“That’s a stretch” she says sadly.
~ ~ ~
.
Is there no single right
no all wrong
do we have to fight
can’t we all just get along
no
never
not in our time
cuz meat feeds beast
and eat owns the line
wife off in jungle
of airport concourse
in search of sustenance and safety
me trapped rat-a-tat-tat
by two backpacks
as Elton John clone clown
plays excellent piano
voice auto-tuned
six J’s in a row
every song different words
same roll music flow
can’t make a run for it
packs too heavy
me too old
broken
nowhere to run anyway
checked by armed checkpoints
willing to anoint my noggin
with real knowledge
but they’re not after me
nor should they be
cuz I’m small potato
and smaller fry
my feet flat and slow
no matter how fast I go
I’ve performed my function
did my dues
left tear trail of word woo
bit of laughter too
know my slog’s not your log
your whirl not my want
no matter the elephant
in the zoom we room
keep going
keep sowing
seek knowing
run around the ring
strangling strings in tapestry
knitting nun from none
since sometimes signs don’t matter
carousel calling
on road I’m walking
hope your load ain’t aching
hope your hopes are making
hope your happy happens
now I take my nappens
here we go round the multiverse
the multiverse
the multiverse
if your spread your arms
and run real fast
perhaps you can fly
evergreen
never grown
holy cross that’s your loss
of lichen and the minor moss
~ ~ ~
In movies
there’s always a parking spot
and you never have to reload a gun
In life
you ain’t got no wheels
and they’re coming for you
I run fast
fun quick
pun wit
It’s a short battle
~ ~ ~
Of 3 Chinese curses
I like the 4th:
Blame others
loooooong way to go
Blame yourself
on your way
No blame no one
welcome home
~ ~ ~
Rooster crows
and crows and crows
Sun’s up
clouds do as they want to
My tale of body woe is ho ho ho
and I’m the punch line
Yet sing a song of 6th sense
as I dive through five
~ ~ ~
You know we got words
running up and down the page
back and forth along the lines
weeping words wailing
wailing words wondering why
words praising grass
trees
sky
and an endless score
of even more
wonderful words
wondering why
That’s why we try
~ ~ ~
Nebulous time
in dark
one clock bong
I wait
Some-thirty?
1 a.m.?
Hands move
bong one again
1 1:30
I wait for when
~ ~ ~
Dog died
burned him
put him in bag
hung him by deck door
he always wanted to go out
Be free, friend
~ ~ ~
Sometimes wham bam
don’t end in thank you ma’am
home from hospital ex-cancer call
clean
step on ice drive
know no way can continue
sheet slick and hungry
slow step toward lawn for safety
feet fly fast back
full face ice asphalt
bloods gush
split forehead opens 3rd-eye wide
scraped skins full throttled
bent nose
and
broke neck
face purple rising
broken blacks & blues
how to top this stupidity
keep writing it
soon not enough me left to punctuate
so much badly run
yet good still winning
~ ~ ~
Payment Due
Cookie clutter and coffee juice
classical music on the loose
big snow slow falling round
Peaceful and picaresque
until big plastic collar
around broken neck
And bruised face
and bent nose
and . . . you knows how it goes
But goes it does
and I follow cuz love
gave me good life loving wife
So strife’s still strife
and hard ofttimes to live a life
specially with intellectual fuzz
But cookie crumbs and coffee calling
me in love and further falling
I go on and do the do’s I duzz
Lies are lies and truth be truth
this is known, but what’s the use
insides run to feral sound
Someday humans may improve
until then it’s bitter groove
of eat or eaten interest
Compounded
~ ~ ~~
I love the night
I love the loons
I love the laughter in the loom
You go your way
I’ll go mine
in different rooms we will arrive
I go yours
you may find
what isn’t pure surely blinds
We trade words
we blame lies
not enough wonder whys
Deaden birds
ill will sky
clap in time in pantomime
Hi ho blunderbutt asunder top
may we wonder when to stop
lighting night
Crip crap crayola
shite is shitola
cuz might ain’t right
It’s do for delight
due inner light
say I A.I. and am I knot
~ ~ ~
In world fraught with froth
I’m fighting added sugar
chemical substitutes
and vinyl
tiny shiny
don’t stop the whiney
or so is said
I takes my steps
I stumble
it keeps me humble
~ ~ ~
My 3rd eye
don’t seem to be opening
hit it with a hammer
poke it with a stick
all I get is blood and grit
~ ~ ~
Lone tree
in field of snow
black trunk black branch dance
black shadow
off bursting crystal glitter
in frozen flow
Ahhh life
and heart
and cheek
aglow
Make a wish
~ ~ ~
January 2025 poem harvest
2025.1.1 – New year first day
2025.1.2 – Our dying dog is scheduled dead
2025.1.4 – Kneel down
2025.1.7 – Eyes fuzzy, mind mud
2025.1.7 – Some poems so slo-mo go
2025.1.12 – Picked up Marlowe’s ashes
2025.1.13 – Welcome to the Side Show
2025.1.14 – Do I have words
2025.1.15 – New day old sun
2025.1.15 – I fill dead dog’s dish
2025.1.17 – Woke dark before dawn
2025.1.18 – In my own isolation chamber
2025.1.20 – Here we go
2025.1.20 – I been thinking
2025.1.24 – I watch the cat clean herself
2025.1.25 – Gotta dance the razor
2025.1.25 – Cool jazz melting my poor head
2025.1.25 – I rant my rave and misbehave
2025.1.27 – Perilous times
2025.1.27 – Long after sunrise
2025.1.29 – Sum folk know
2025.1.30 – You can pause
~ ~ ~
New year first day
old sins swim free
new sins swarm
Sin is sin
day is day
depends how they’re played
~ ~ ~
Our dying dog is scheduled dead
paying money to kill a friend
Been my honor to know you
~ ~ ~
Kneel down
look friend in eye
I say thank you
he says goodbye
wet eye wife
eye wet me
set dog free
mystery train
running down track
taking dog
ain’t coming back
guess Elvis is dead
our Marlowe too
two true flames
fine final fuels
both overweight
both on drugs
both knew how to cut a rug
one I knew
one I didn’t
one here
one hidden
I slog on
they fly ahead
perhaps we’ll meet
when my meat dead
which’ll be awhile
since I’m high flying
been promised remembrance
if only for trying
myth mist magic unmatched
and of course
one more free trial in tragic
~ ~ ~
Eyes fuzzy, mind mud
ask my mirror “who was me?”
mirror answers “nothing good”
~ ~ ~
Some poems so slo-mo go
but what do I know
I loved my youth
the what
the when
the where
the late 1940’s
the entire 1950’s
and we all know the 60’s
still have marvelous memories
monumental moments
even though I never fit in
being the less to their more
thought it me
now know
was merely social slow grow
from thick book rule
which made me low
but that was then
a flow no go
now forgive all ruse and role
though
I forget nothing
and glad to say in heart and play
some of it was . . . quite something
~ ~ ~
Things change
I know
but does change change
like some fantasy duet
by Aretha Franklin and David Bowie
backing vocals by the poor
in a dark cold alley
empty hands out
hungry mouths haunted
I mean
don’t need no mean average
to know this is mean
go back to day 1
life consumes
something eaten
for eater’s creation
strong-eat-weak
fast-eat-slow
high-step-on-low
low-is-go-go-go
or else one big no
not now
all or nothing
sometimes something
depends where you are
who or were in food chain
how big your brain
how strong your chain
how long you’re willing
to do it again
and again
and again
and again
what can I say
don’t know the words
and nobody’s listening anyway
ahhhh, I know this
the fun’s in the play
you can be here
or there
but how you flare
defines your way
miss or bliss
your yay or nay
*too bad the smart don’t eat the dumb
cuz there’s major dumb going on
and way too little heart
~ ~ ~
Picked up Marlowe’s ashes
our rescue dog
for final 4 yrs of his 13
large dog
got him down to 109 from 149
now in small container
ash bone fragments
first dog
have first cat’s ashes
somewhere in garage
Mandy
she’d sit atop my folded arms
as we went from 3rd floor window
to 3rd floor window
after Lady went to bed
me describing what I saw
she considering my perception
had my brother’s ashes
in studio 18 years
ask visitors
“Want to meet my brother?”
hand them box
used him in 2 art installations
finally dumped him
on Lake Erie’s south shore
with mom’s
dead brother Cat 1987
dead father Pappy 1989 (no ashes)
dead mom Mother Dwarf 2005
live sister
who told me to fuck off years ago
which is fine
reduces the noise
of her speaking-in-tongues clan
dead dog
wet eyes
kept me mobile
walking 8 block morning
4 block night
whatever weather
whether or not
so many fotos
poems
deer
possum
coyote
skunk
cold so cold
snow surface sparkles
eye to eye
soul to soul
heart to heart
leash from harness to hand
and sometimes
two legs fighting four for food
he broke my arm
thought it muscle pull
let it go
healed wrong
couldn’t use it 10 months
until tripped and shattered arm
running for dog-poo bag
X-ray lead to CATscan
lead to MRI
lead to PETscan
lead to large rare tumor
eating my innards being removed
be dead not found
so goodbye friend and savior
we hung
we chilled
we filled
wife and I cry
~ ~ ~
Welcome to the Side Show
where broken freaks go
and as you probably know
not willingly
I’m freak from long streak past
when life might be fun
drugs a gas
dizzy days in the sun
Then folk found there’s real money
in hawking wacky tobacky
things got unfunny
kinda tacky
But that’s all cool
life runs in rounds
this time I’m fool
next rhyme clown
What’s lovely strange
wife & I’s treehouse corner
where listening reigns
each other’s porter
So big being bad out there
here quite good
there don’t care
I think they should
Here we try
if it don’t fly
refigure
weigh comply
I & I rather than lie
~ ~ ~
Can’t stop the train
but stuck on track
it’s me they’ll blame
when I splatter act
and that’s a fact
run fast
catch bone
cover ass
fake moan
you’re unalone
can’t hide head
can’t close eyes
the walking dead
live on lies
why?
~ ~ ~
Do I have words
most definitely
does anyone listen
not really
and that’s good
cuz I know little
other than outlasting bad
do I have a plan
yes
get through day
don’t hurt others
don’t prove myself fool
help wife
pet cats
mourn dead dog
rely on luck
love
and laughter
world’s a mess
we’re eating it and each other
my own treehouse corner however
is double bubble happy
all the way down
laugh when you can
love whom you will
listen as you look about
don’t shout
in spite of spate of those without
it’s going to get worse
but we can do better
~ ~ ~
New day old sun
same play scum sum
somewhere down the facts truth grows
but right now
I’m running downhill after faster
fronting rocks rushed to top
in wrong roll disaster
Looks to me
good time to see
just how much coffee
how many gummies
can one day free?
~ ~ ~
I fill dead dog’s dish
with water for two live cats
Life goes on
love lingers
~ ~ ~
Woke dark before dawn
still alive
nothing chewing on me
no viruses dissolving my flesh
my sweetie lying next to me
still liking me
two cats waiting feeding
faint ghost dog bark in dark
warm in art-infested tree house
safe in circle of friends
fine family
and I guess we stop here
in shade of shine
cuz out there
o boy
out there is a fine madness
fascinating
facilitating fast fall down
future fail
flail
main town run by clowns
cloning phony
and a lot of lonely
so
have a nice day in every inner way
for out there
it’s warfare
one big hone of lizard brain bone
except of course they ain’t right
gotta keep on fight
(“Just when I thought I was out,
they pull me back in”)
~ ~ ~
In my own isolation chamber
two hours sitting in cold car
big snow slow falling
wet run window through which I watch
flesh and metal come and go
in need and flow
bit and byte and pit and price
inserting pieces past lie
I don’t know what I know
but I know
I know more than I know
Heavy slow snow
tap-tap-tapping metal roof
like small ravens
whispering Poe, Poe, Poe
I must go
miles left call my flow
of win and woe
outer gloom inner glow
sees truths grow:
heed your lizard, feed your fly
live the life or die in try
You is you
why is why
how reply, I & I?
~ ~ ~
Here we go
in fairy tale woe
turd in charge of toilet
~ ~ ~
I been thinking
and it seems to me
“Be here now”
must be a typo
Sposed to be
‘Be here. Know’
I know
seem similar
but ‘you in now’
don’t mean ‘you know’
while in the know
includes the now
somehow
Know now be here
beware false there
I find that fair
~ ~ ~
I watch the cat clean herself
in my black denim lap
red tongue licking black fur
green eyes glowing in dusk
she’s at one
in the now
no fear
no hunger
no shame
in love
of love
with love
were I her
and also me
sitting petting myself
safe in my own lap
purring mine to me
ahhhh, that’d be something
me liking me
me licking me
clean
finally
inside and out
~ ~ ~
Gotta dance the razor
needle the thread
seed rides to never
feed our heads
prime our pleasure
that’s how we’re bred
raised
fed
lead
but we can be we
for a price
it ain’t nice
but works for me
gotta get to the do it
outwalk the chalk
screw the excuse it
ban the balk
be reality
relish the red
makes no sense
to please the bled
you pay for your living
best prance till you’re dead
~ ~ ~
Cool jazz melting my poor head
in well-meaning malevolence
be-bop drop-naming Druids
demanding to be fed
horror shows
body fluids
those things over there
that nobody knows
nobody says
nobody mentions
moonwalk mountain
dropkick valley
see you and your mama
out in the alley
you bring the knives
we’ll have bread and jam
until the cops come
and then wham bam Sam
we scram
what a sorry shame we are
or is that sham
as for me
I am my am
don’t make no difference
free will
or forced-march way
we all have to make penance
due our do
pay our say
rent lease buy trend
tend
pretend
life’s a riff
beat the eater
eat the eaten
the diff seems to me
to be backbone
if
limp
or stiff
~ ~ ~
I rant my rave and misbehave
but fuss doesn’t glisten
at my listen
Frog water frog water
we’re all cooking in frog water
and maybe we oughter
do something about it
turn down the stove
get better glove
How you like your sons and daughters
Mister Master
well done, medium, or rare?
Or do you even care
outside wallet
TV schedule
and gullet
Fools fool fools
forgetting it’s choose or lose
old bills come due
and new dues cue rue
(true true true)
Being used
mentally
physically
financially
emotionally
confused
Large portion bottom blood
feeding folk at top
Gotta stop
(and reason why is simple, folk
if you don’t, we ALL die
~ ~ ~
Perilous times
dolorous rhymes
delirious chimes of warning
What a nasty national morning
The rich ascend
the poor make amends
in their dwindling empty
While top scarfs plenty
Hmmmm, seems a bit unbalanced
since we provide the talent
while they loaf in palace
O well, shite flows downhill
but smite awaits the upscale
once our fear fails
Gonna be a’hurtin’
put the rich to workin’
end their trough of slurpin’
Of this I’m certain
~ ~ ~
Long after sunrise
hidden rooster crows
3 seconds later
distant rooster answers
3 seconds pause
close rooster replies
This continues
They obey their why
keep sun in sky
~ ~ ~
Sum folk know
no safe place
here there down the line
What is is
small pockets of plus
in large plops of puss
That makes us
tummy thumper or flesh filler
grab ‘n snatch down the hatch
So much gloom
in poem and room
bill coming due after
But earth goes on
some stay some gpne
me? I offer Gods laughter
And they slow soften
my slaughter
~ ~ ~
You can pause
but you can’t stop
sharks know this
Flounder abounder
flubber a’do
I can run much slower than you
Things may be happening
we may be here
I’m not entirely clear
Until resolution
you can keep your absolution
continuing is my only solution
Keep up hope
maybe smoke some rope
dance about in the Holy Smoke
~ ~ ~
December 2024 poem harvest
2024.12.2 – J. D. Vance
2024.12.2 – There’s running on empty
2024.12.5 – It’s the leash I could do
2024.12.5 – Blood of love
2024.12.6 – Aaahhh the easing of the pressure
2024.12.6 – Slow folk on highway
2024.12.6 – “I’ve got to go downstairs
2024.12.8 – Hey U S of A
2024.12.9 – The gripes of wrath
2024.12.10 – I look
2024.12.11 – The city seeps
2024.12.11 – Is night
2024.12.13 – Dog’s talking to me
2024.12.13 – If mirror life looked into their mirror
2024.12.14 – Got my rage on
2024.12.15 – O woe is man, for I am omen
2024.12.16 – Tantalus never tastes grapes
2024.12.17 – No light in sky
2024.12.17 – The way we’re going
2024.12.18 – Lilac sky
2024.12.18 – Lilac dawn gone
2024.12.19 – Why does society expect me to feel bad
2024.12.19 – Go into the light without dark
2024.12.20 – He /She / It looks down
2024.12.22 – Smokestack lightning flashes in fog
2024.12.22 – I used to program the machine
2024.12.24 – To Lady on her 52nd Birthday
2024.12.24 – There’s humane
2024.12.25 – The word salad seasons
2024.12.25 – As hard as it is
2024.12.26 – Gummy gummy gummy
2024.12.27 – Feline dies of bird flu
2024.12.27 – Pale violet on horizon
2024.12.28 – Can’t kill myself
2024.12.29 – No wise no wisdom lotta woes
2024.12.29 – Tried for the big time
2024.12.30 – Each night I take myself apart
~ ~ ~
J.D. Vance
do and say anything
to advance
~ ~ ~
There’s running on empty
then there’s this steroidal
keep-going-no-matter-what
as parts fall off
small things like kidneys
a cut of colon
a bit of back
a flesh tumor crying horror
with no STOP option
I reach for phone
grab vape instead
no known clear here
so back to before
in long hard nothing
a going nowhere
already gone
keep going
hoping
not knowing
some say God
set everything in motion
then wiped His memory
so He could enjoy
The Show
so one more time
why are we the punch line?
~ ~ ~
As the coffee slowly creeps
toward the surface
through no of go
and lie of why
we continue
new day
way
There’s 8-fold path
there’s foot in foot of foot
life is
as always
rent
and the check ain’t in the mail
~ ~ ~
It’s the leash I could do
said the dogwalker
to the harness
~ ~ ~
Blood of love
in dirt of rebirth
I move in small arcs
with large pains
must be using muscle memory
cuz I’m still moving
Said you’re on or off the bus
Taint true
you can be over, under
front, back, both sides
and dimensions in between
and believe me
I been all
be some now
going down this unknown road
with unknown load
pointy sticks stuck in back
as goad
And as for bus go
I don’t know
but I’m a hangin’ on
~ ~ ~
Aaahhh the easing of the pressure
of holding myself together
in this hellish whether
take another toke
ain’t no joke
weed eases bleed of bad
but baby bad abounds
in hounds
of Capitalistic Hell
nothing new
the many used by few
never told true
killing you
and me
for free
they cheat their mothers
screw their brothers
as for the others
they’re meat
to beat
eat
but as bad gets badder
thoughts of maybe better
perk
perhaps early work
in getting jerks jailed
for forbiddances
and fails
evil’s empowered
bad guys in the tower
no other way to put it
didn’t have to happen
doesn’t have to be
depends
as always
on you and me
what’s it gonna be?
~ ~ ~
Slow folk on highway
heavy hammer just behind
in The Temple of the Turning
~ ~ ~
“I’ve got to go downstairs
and take the laundry upstairs”
said Sisyphus to his wife.
“Don’t drop it” she cackled
~ ~ ~
Hey U S of A
slick sick list here
not one you want to be
number one on
nine times world wide
#Total Crimes
*Rape
*CO2 Emissions
*Divorce Rate
*Teen Birth Rate
*Heart Attack
*McDonald’s Restaurants
*Plastic Surgery
*Prisoners
Lotta sad seeping down
cuzza bad wearing crowns
Steal enough
they make you a king
guess it’s always been a thing
the strong in force
but weak in heart and mind
are usually unkind
history finds
Of course
No mystery here
good with bad cannot cohere
cuz paths diverge
in different woulds
that end in flesh
or cinder
Which will will we
I wonder
~ ~ ~
The gripes of wrath
social aftermaths
bite my ass
pay a pig a day
and capitalism still
won’t go away
but hey
what can I say
it’s the way
I have spoken
ofttimes token
ain’t jokin’
jive ‘n strivin’
for the livin’
not the dyin’
keep on tryin’
not to lie
as I pry
tug at why
in magic try
of sun
and moon
and sky
no one home
but hope alone
~ ~ ~
I look
I watch
I don’t understand
Or maybe do
ole lizard brain and you
took hunger
need
danger
greed
to crawl sea bottom
to land top and not stop
And looks like lizard brain
gonna crawl us right back down
to slime and crowd
of life biting life to survive
in unstrive
Sorta like it never stopped
just got lipstick put on the slop
and called smart
(but not, sings the lark)
O well
buy and sell bye-bye cell
here we a-go-go to lower down woes
stuffin’ our pockets
with glop
Hug my body
hug my spirit
hug my whole
Sorry soul
~ ~ ~
The city seeps
juices
uses
cries cross hill
for creatures of will
and won’t
but I don’t answer
All you got
is you
your honor
your corner
your cancer
Outside horror
normal
day one
to day done
eat must eat
cheat must cheat
got us out of the ocean
into the trees
down to the penthouse
Their rent rends
they tent trends
to bad ends
All we got
is our corner spot
to soothe the knot of never
Grab a chair
glad you’re here
well come to my corner
We’ll raise our thumbs
to the dumb someones
humping money fever
~ ~ ~
Is night
but still light
dark trees black against falling snow
moon somewhere above
fog, deep fog
glowing city half smoked dope infused
with cry and laughter
now
and ever after
streetlight delight
~ ~ ~
Dog’s talking to me
Watching talk box
up stairs he’s too old to climb
he barks to go out
I comply
coming back in
I grab a candy bar
he gives me his where’s mine look
I ignore it
go up
10 minutes later bark
come down
he’s standing by the pantry door
where treats are
demanding
I laugh
give him his treat
back upstairs
15 minutes later another bark
down
he’s by his bed
in which cat’s sprawled
I remove cat
dog gets in
I’m glad we had this talk
he sighs
I go upstairs
again
happy I understood
~ ~ ~
If mirror life looked into their mirror
would we be what they see?
“Scientists Say Mirror Bacteria
‘Should Not Be Created'”
it doesn’t end, does it?
friend sez
“we’re rollin down hill
and pickin up speed”
heck
can’t even say
that was yesterday
and yesterday’s gone
cuz the future’s waving at us
in the rearview mirror
they talkin’
o boy they talkin
talkin
growing mini-brains with eyes
time crystals in quantum computers
reviving 24,000 yr-old permafrost zombies
making mutant daddy shortlegs
reversing age
talking zero with crows
bringing back wooly mammoths
seeding the sky to scare the sun
bleeding sea for electricity
freeze drying the arctic
ignoring the scars
fleeing to Mars
putting Liberty behind bars
gonna ban the tran, be The Man
what a bloodsucking end
from small-handed men
a bit disappointing, my friend
~ ~ ~
Got my rage on
read the news
amped my inner anger with coffee
mellowed that a bit with weed
so sun’s coming up
and I’m wound
with nowhere to go
and I ain’t going slow, Moe
ain’t going slow
but I’m going
I’m going to be a better person
someday
going to raise rationality
someday
lower nationality
someway
and actually
I lie
won’t even try
gonna keep stumblebumbing why
crashing through the course
raising rants and crying curse
and worse
ain’t gonna close my eyes
in possum try
will crawl on through the hurt
and work
to help move more mellow plan
be more in the am
junking my jerk
losing smirk
irk
lot of murk
~ ~ ~
O woe is man, for I am omen
“Sounds like Shakespeare”
No, just me
in shaky peer down history
~ ~ ~
Tantalus never tastes grapes
nor Sisyphus hilltop seizes
yet we know them you and me
their failures make them famous
unlike what my mirror returns
lots of little losses
often close, but not enough to pay
or earn return for lowness
so I trod side streets only
never big, never known, never lonely
Is good deal
life is real
~ ~ ~
No light in sky
small spark in me
another day of chasing why
cuz life is never free
I trod the treads ahead
carry past on back
no idea what to spend
getting back on track
Every day is starting over
every day is just the same
every day is 4-leaf clover
every day is blame
Is it all a game?
Don’t make no difference
what they say
still gotta play
But what the hey
~ ~ ~
The way we’re going
we’re heading for owing
an owing often hard
Be that it may
perhaps we can pre-pay
future prospect
Helped someone today
felt better
about eat and play
But also
that is the way
of 8-fold pick’n’pay
Right path
right action
right word
right thought
And the four other oughts
I’ve forgot
So there goes the arc of my plot
Bye-bye old burden
hello new
how you?
~ ~ ~
Lilac sky
black tree branches
today and tomorrow
sunrise or sorrow
two into one
~ ~ ~
Lilac dawn gone
I made it through the day
night cushions me
from reality
soon sleep
re-ravel sleeve of care
adding up my brownie points
and used-Camelots
subtracting shudda-beens
from Karma plots
leaves me somewhere twixt
shoe and leather
maybe okay
maybe bad whether
but who am I to judge?
~ ~ ~
Why does society expect me to feel bad
about the murder of a health C.E.O.
who made his living killing other people?
~ ~ ~
Go into the light without dark
go into the dark without light
go
call me when you return
~ ~ ~
He / She / It looks down
on our toilet paper world
deems it dirty
Blame the paper
not the plumber
for the proper promptly pay
Purgatory’s probably less fun
than Impurgatory
I’d unmagine
There’s a line
where lines align
in time
There’s time
that thinks it’s rosemary
but that’s relative
Faster you go
the younger you are
higher your slow
Is it delight
or sour devils
we fight
Whatever
I surrender
to what’s right*
*right of course
less a concept
than the need to justify now
[as always]
~ ~ ~
Smokestack lightning flashes in fog
guides us though the slog
of shudda wudda cudda
heading for a better bend
2 hours in car in cold parking lot
this here-we-are a nowhere-to-go
as wife does her hair
her hands
her toes
monthly
I watch the come and go
tavern to my left
Dairy Mart on right
salon ahead
so far not a moving car
nary a narrative nibble
bread basket empty
except empty’s never empty
whether cat’s dead or alive
I sit drinking bad coffee
eating cheap cookies
snow falling soft
wet
slow
windshield cheap holiday card
of lost innocence
our family Christmas cancelled
by Covid age of plague
slow fall of snow
hides the unhidden
muffles sound
flesh demands of lizard brains dampened
cold slows them down
which is why
they’re warming the planet
to thicken their lizard musk
we splay
trapped in crap of The Corporocrats
whose eyes are never filled
new snow covers our sins in white
except white is one of our sins
snow falters
flesh flounders
bad coffee getting cranky
up and down the hill
rock in roll here we go
again
joy always fades
sometimes so does pain
words slow know where to go
~ ~ ~
I used to program the machine
code in
code out
if else
if
else
now I’m number unknown
alone in some side buffer cache
waiting for my way
to explain
why I missed the station
getting
of course
no explanation
~ ~ ~
To Lady on her 52nd Birthday
This is desiccated to the one I love
cuz that’s what I’d be without her
This is dedicated to the one I love
cuz that’s what she is
19 years 3 months 13 days
of what I thought wouldn’t
Now must
We the deal real
no Hollow Would & Bovine
More random and roaming
roaring down Vroomin Road
Happy bornday, baby
happy cancelled Covid Christmas
Love sharing our unknown going
cherish our bearing of been
I’ll continue driving, Lady
you decide our where and when
~ ~ ~
There’s humane
and there’s human
one doesn’t take out the trash
You can trim my eyebrows
and put me in a suit
but I’m still farm boy fool
in its best essence
King court jester
I tell truths
and nobody listens
we’re all happy
~ ~ ~
The word salad seasons
the eye salad which seasons
the mind salad lacking reason
It’s all one big mixture
of what you perceive
versus me
Plus the 8 billion others
othernesses
adding up their messes
Is red red?
Is dead dead?
Is feed fed?
When?
How?
Why?
What is truth
but a lie for youth
~ ~ ~
As hard as it is
it’s a treasure to be alive
sometimes even a pleasure
But what a mess
this having to guess
flee fight feed fornicate
They say time isn’t
and space is questionable as well
it’s gravity wells all the way down
To . . . ?
And speaking of such
our universe is expanding
but into what, exactly?
Of course answers don’t matter
not these
not here
Just shiny beads strung on string
before hungry eyes
unfilled
Rent is rent
flesh is flesh
and sometimes rent must rend
But when rend don’t end
and game goes on
there’s the fun
And for fuel?
me, fool
tool
You?
~ ~ ~
Gummy gummy gummy
I got glow in my tummy
helping head and body painS
Used to use Head & Shoulders
but now that I’m older
I shave my head to plain
Which is better
for you and me brother
other than sister or two
But apple was bit
by human with clit
so whatcha gonna do
Though to be upfront
be better planet
had females had the rule
Cuz gotta be honest
planet wouldn’t be hottest
if men didn’t doo-doo do
Not pointing fingers
cuz damage long lingers
no matter who got us here
Take ticket for trip
to garbage pit
and loop of starting over
Who knows how it’ll go
as you compost and grow
at least you’re part of the future
~ ~ ~
Feline dies of bird flu
the old go-around goes around
on karma carousel
~ ~ ~
Pale violet on horizon
of rising sun
Is earth angry?
or sad?
Or both?
~ ~ ~
Can’t kill myself
my younger brother already did
and I don’t do 2nd acts
Have to hang on anyway
there might be a blooper reel
after the credits
~ ~ ~
No wise no wisdom lotta woes
that’s the way the world grows
should I eat you?
should I greet you?
maybe beat you to a pulp?
treat you to a gulp?
what’re the rules?
who’re the fools?
I ask in call
mirror mirror on the wall
there’s a lot of hope
it’s all a joke
but life
is strife
eat eaten
rent bent
and yet all this while
a smile is still a smile
a hand grand
as is understand
so my aim
beat reality at its own game
~ ~ ~
Tried for the big time
but couldn’t get a ticket
so now I fix it
by going small
little
brief
cull
relief
all
a slice of sun
the red of watermelon
the come hither slither of lilac
the heart’s “What’s that!?”
huckleberry howdy
sky uncloudy
fruit bats
not being rude
but to put it crude
I praise the pearls in the pus
the sparkle in the dark of us
no front or back
no fare unfair
on or off the omnibus
pretty happy going slow
no road high but don’t feel low
in wonder why
woe go now knot know
~ ~ ~
Each night I take myself apart
put ears in charger
teeth in water
brain in the compost
Morning comes
charged ears back in head
cleaned teeth in mouth
where’s my brain?
~ ~ ~
my February 2025 monthly feature on Medusa’s Kitchen.
—Medusa, with get-well-soons to Smith (Steven B. Smith), who took a nasty fall (face-plant, as he calls it) last week and messed up his face, as you can see on his Facebook page. Turns out he also has a damaged disc in his neck, most likely from lifting his dying dog for a trip to the vet. Ouch. Not fun. Not fun at all. For now, though, his bruised and
https://medusaskitchen.blogspot.com/2025/02/trodding-treads-ahead.html
my January 2025 monthly feature on Medusa’s Kitchen.
“As our Seed of the Week says, I hear the Winds of Warning—this time from Smith (Steven B. Smith)—with today’s “gripes of wrath” as we start out the new year with, not sour grapes, but cogent ones. May the year of 2025 see cracks of light in this dark wall looming over, under, around and between us. As Smith says, “depends/as always/on you and me”.
And our condolences to Steven and Kathy on the passing of their pooch. Helluva way to start a year.” – Kathy Keith, editor / publisher
https://medusaskitchen.blogspot.com/2025/01/soothing-knot-of-never.html