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WALKING ON THIN ICE

poems + me&Chat 2025.5.,6-11

May 12, 2025 No Comments

poems + me&Chat 2025.5.,6-11

~ ~ ~

2025.5.6 – It’s not the tail of the monkey
2025.5.7 – “Please don’t remove or move
2025.5.7 – When we get rich
2025.5.11 – I cling to my coffee
2025.5.11 – I’m weary worn

~ ~ ~

It’s not the tail of the monkey
that bites and claws
but it is a stinky proposition

Outside tribal fire
it’s dark
less spark

Burn with the bitten
swoon with the smitten
I add my own arc

Knew a donkey once
carried his carrot to Buddha
went back to the fold

~ ~ ~

“Please don’t remove or move
any chairs” they bray
while the boat is sinking
ain’t no lifeboat
and no way off

And yet I hope
not supposed to don’t mean don’t

~ ~ ~

When we get rich
going to inject myself
with chlorophyll
turn green
sit in sun
feed for free
elevate to vegetate
goodbye worry
hello happy
send a ray my way

~ ~ ~

I cling to my coffee
wait for the sun
ego not yet in on run
clinging and waiting and coffee
are one
me being being been
keen to ken gleaning glen

If you ask me
and nobody does
this is less land of the free
than home of the fuzz

We worship empty boxes
tiny microphobes
in little bathrobes
we bow knee
and bend principle
swallow shame
wallowing in same
is that the want we want
dissent went

Hard and slow no matter go

You spose the Captain knows
his lies are leaking

Or queries why my high ramble

~ ~ ~

I’m weary worn
but still working on the wonder
a bit here. bit yonder

~ ~ ~

poems + me&Chat images 2025.5.1-5

May 6, 2025 No Comments

New soft shoe. Been posting each month’s poetry in a blog for awhile, but since July 2024, I’ve been having ChatGPT create an image for each one, and a monthly post with 20-30 poems plus image for each is a bit much.

So will post 3-5 poems + images at a time, for my future perusal, if nothing else.

~ ~ ~

2025.5.1 – As you wish I wish I was
2025.5.2 – Sometimes it’s simple
2025.5.3 – I no longer linger down track
2025.5.3 – Rise through piss and pain
2025.5.5 – You can’t know till you’ve been

~ ~ ~

As you wish I wish I was
both the doing and the duzz

Speedup and scurry
or lay low and worry

Endless soiree

~ ~ ~

Sometimes it’s simple
down to basics
laundry’s started
the front yard’s next
but right now
I sit quiet in sun
sip coffee
toke
close eyes
raise face
accept solar kiss
its peach-red-orange-cream glow
gleaming through lids
bringing me back to when I was 4
and felt safe
warm in parental love
before tooth and claw and teeth
and glove
in the dark of duty

~ ~ ~

I no longer linger down track
waiting for the going
or the coming back

Been round ground so long
go6oofart certain number right
way more wrong

My ego fits in tighter space
ergo takes its place
in thinner song

Sinners know eat is eaten
since kicked out of Eden
in our need of knowing

Now no ain’t got no heft
cuz law’s a lie
and they’ve stolen rest

So go west young beast
retreat from east
beware of rising yeaster

Coming cluster flux
more than enough
to bite us in the keester

~ ~ ~

Rise through piss and pain
to roll the rock again

Stretching skin moving flesh
navigating mess of mesh

Foot in step in step of foot
keep on going or reboot

Grin within it’s all a hoot
sin again my friend is moot

~ ~ ~

You can’t know till you been
no matter who what where why or when
ain’t never nowhere no how
however hard you plow

I’m a low life in low light
I like it that way
coming up poor
I seen more
everyday

I want to talk the long story

“Civilization, it was a nice run.”
she says glum
stuck in highway hell
awaiting tow trucks, police,
ambulances
our weekly morning breakfast out

She drives magic
rides right flow glow
in gone wrong

I ride along

Pennies from Heaven hurt
when they hit you on the head
so don’t be a Karen, Charon
give us a free ride
cross Jordan

You can take the beast
out of the field
but you can’t take the beast
out of the beast
sometimes I don’t no
simply means I don’t know
while yes is pure guess
there’ll be a sign
telling where you are
if you don’t see it
you’ve gone too far
tick tick tock tock
hope we go round the block
past past replies
to today’s lie

Do butterflies remember caterpillar?
Can caterpillar conceive of butterfly?

You know I’m never wrong
riiiiiight?

~ ~ ~

Smith poems April 2025

May 1, 2025 No Comments

Lowish output for April, poetry month.

2025.4.1 – Just another piggy feeding
2025.4.2 – Used to worship the Great Gauze
2025.4.3 – “Silence hath it’s virtues”
2025.4.3 – A little bit of this
2025.4.5 – Parked across from Substance Church
2025,4,6 – Together eight-fold path and I
2025.4.7 – River Styx
2025.4.8 – Seems more maintenance required
2025.4.9 – The problem here of course
2025.4.11 – Sitting at a red light
2025.4.15 – It ain’t going well
2025.4.16 – Here we go ground again
2025.4.17 – I sit in stuffed chair
2025.4.21 – New rooster down hill
2025.4.22 – Turn right at light
2025.4.23 – Nothing like waking up
2025.4.23 – I shot the tariff
2025.4.26 – Don’t know a lot
2025.4.27 – Grant us slack o great “Bob”
2025.4.29 – Truth can be slow as yeastless dough
2025.4.30 – I wake

~ ~

Just another piggy feeding
at our trough of slough

and if that’s not enough
I waste water too

down to Camus —
suicide or blame

yet still here
playing dirty game

~ ~ ~

Used to worship the Great Gauze
but my beliefs unraveled

Lets me and you
walk through troubles strewn
go down to village well
for spell of chat
and laughter
brief lightening of disaster
in ever been
ever after

~ ~ ~

“Silence hath it’s virtue”
claims all who speak
thus ignoring its wisdom sleek

You say silence, I say achoo
but if you resort to violence
I’ll have to hit you
what goes round is seldom square
in buyer-dinner beware

That train chug whistle moan
promises better loam down the road
big rue tainted true
cuz you is you
hero or fool
unless you’re lost in baggage

(and then good luck, flux
hope you find your luggage)

Gotta ride
gots no ticket
funkyfuckityfixit
guess it’s first stumble
first swerve
if I’ve got the nerve
not to nix it

Allee allee outies in
let’s go choose your favorite sin
tuck it safe and moist within
let us begin

Certain terms are on the table
though must admit right now not able
to comply with official fable

If eye is lie
I is fatal
~ ~ ~

A little bit of this
a little bit of that
erase the blackboard
write it right back
might be an answer
a clue or two
explain the strange
due duty’s due
twixt quease and unease
our need to task
to bleed
to ask
to do

~ ~ ~

Parked across from Substance Church
corner of Lucifer & Divine

there’s mere world
and mirror world
and my world
and yours
in all something devoured
for life secured
day by day
drip by drop
no start
no stop

where’s the laugh you might ask
well by curious George
too many monkey worlds
many molding in Congress
behind cold walls
old calls
making sure coming flood
blood of others
another’s mother
sister, mister, brother

gain in pain
stain & strain of state
fear, hate

o well
not too late
tis time to change
share the plate
re-arrange common stage
heal hell
make swell

which is of course a never was
one more loop of loss and gain
for and again against the grain

but whatcha gonna do
we’re all part of the stew

~ ~ ~

Together eight-fold path and I
like folding fitted sheets
amidst missed meat beats
like 1950’s rock’n’roll
basking in faux recall
more innocent time
except not
knot
same crimes
same rhymes
just better banter
whatever
so
while we won’t cheat you
will watch your hands
play your plan
human

(need to add an ‘e’)

~ ~ ~

River Styx
reefer sticks
ease if

~ ~~

Seems more maintenance required
than spare parts available
but we’ll build that bridge
when we get to it
or ford it
if we can’t afford it
double bill it down the line
in plastic’s passing lane
3 baskets for the dame
none for the lame
same ole same
for the garden
the serpent
his apple pie
and this muddy mistaken why

whom to blame?

snake?
ma’am?
naked man with glans?

and where’s the where?
the when?
the why?

ain’t gonna lie
though this could be one
this eat until eaten
this live until die

~ ~ ~

The problem here of course
with my philosophical discourse
is . . . where’s the hope and happy?

a bit of song and dance
a dash of true romance
and I might have a chance

sure there’s death in living
another’s life giving
you goo for going

you live
it dies
ain’t no wait on whys

don’t seem fair
don’t seem fly
and yet . . . we’re all gonna die

pain’s from meat
and brain supplies the beat
if you get my gist

death frees flesh
flees brain
goodbye pain

perhaps fun starts on other side
freed of want and need and pride
here is simply line for ride

just a thought
not a fact
nothing sure on which to act

but keep in mind
death of this
may be the prize

~ ~ ~

Sitting at a red light
waiting for the green

4 lanes here each labeled ONLY
how can there be more than 1 only
at the same line

Too many manys
everything is somewhere else
changing lanes
to chase and run and sorrow
(the corner of Here & Tomorrow)

But batten me hatches
and flatten me ‘roids
I’d yell a warning
but don’t know the words
it’s fantasy fueling
and fright failing fall
until did gets to didn’t
and done dood it all

Purpose of life’s obvious
stay alive
live until die
that is the why

Unless you falsify the hypothesis

~ ~ ~

It ain’t going well
so you try this
you try that
mix time, patience, old man wiles
and sometimes
not always but every now and then
things work out

even two 11-year rusted
license plate bolts

I’m not stupid
though many may argue
I know life is pies in the face
and entropy rules forever
until it runs down

But even so
is time to come
creeping out of my winter hole
glance skeptical at the spring sun
count my fingers
lock up the silver
and send my slim pickings
from the nun-ary to the none-ary
-to weigh this nonsense
out-wait the blight

~ ~ ~

Here we go aground again
underturned and yellowed
in this new now and then
where they disappear our fellows
and gals
and a lot of their pals
to foreign prisons unmellow

Why you wanna do that
o Dumb-Dunce-Small-Hand
why so grouch and grumble
the lying now
the lying later
pretending honest hello

You gonna lose
cuz you’re 2nd-shelf
your minions 3rd tier tumble
this smash and grab
is all you have
you’ve never heard of humble

Your karma-lot’s crowded
your future bleak
soon through bars surrounded
you’ll peek

These are my silly words
set to silly beats
hoping truth’s sword unsheathes

~ ~ ~

I sit in stuffed chair
all soft and lazy boy comfy
facing east-north-east
my back to my past
Rocky Mountain birthed
north-west raised
born poor
schooled good
went bad anyway
often a lot
paid dues
did time
many memories
to keep me moist
in the after lane
but outer now
is strewn with sorrow
while inner
plops with joy
and hopes tomorrow
do what I can
for their social plan
fast destroys
in a slow acceleration situation

~ ~ ~

New rooster down hill
crows every 11 seconds
for sun to rise
when already up 6 hours
he’ll crow for weeks
or months
go silent
gone in stew pot
or coyote stomach
then odd unsilent silence
until next new rooster
in next new near location
starts taking credit
for something already done

~ ~ ~

Turn right at light
prepare for heavy

Up down curve around
in unknown territory

Glum in gloom’s going on
but spring still springing

Yellow flowers grace new green
glow-lime leaves leaking

My second sit in sun this season
soothing tomorrow’s sorrows

~ ~ ~

Nothing like waking up
behind the wheel
to get your adrenaline going

Re religion
it’s the Thelonious Monks
no curtain cults for me

For remorse of course
there’s always “Bob”
low in no
high in why

My personal philosophy of life?
I aim myself down hill
try to shuffle fast enough
not to fall

And yet
the bottom’s so abrupt

I’m down to lucidity and luck
and WTF

~ ~ ~

I shot the tariff
so it would not shoot
my equity down

~ ~ ~

Don’t know a lot

If day, keep moving
if night, lay down

Or is it other way around?

Sun out now
brightens everything
shows the dead in the road

Not much to do
except joke
and toke
awake awoke

Got good haze around my rage
wrapped in disappointment
at new see of what we be
seems beast eat beast at best
but what the heck
lizard brain hungry
lizard brain always hungry
is fed
in our lizard licking heads
where fly is foe
food
or fled

Existence went from zero
to billions per second
in nothing flat
pure mettle on the pedal
pretty petal prose
everybody no’s

Stochastic isolation

Well my friend it ain’t the end
but it’s getting there

~ ~ ~

Grant us slack o great “Bob”
turn up the dial but keep it quiet
on the Q.T. with the cutie
cue our current crumbs
in dance to chance
though unsure how it’s done
but question flux
and fluff
of course remorse
but that’s enough for now
kiss my Kismet
forget

So, Moe how flow
hero or heroin
what’s the better born
manor or manger
tell me
o great mind manager
mime my am
for as I see
the valley of investment
invokes the belly of belief

Running the rapids
but there ain’t no water
fixing to fight but it’s all foe

Hey Joe
why woe go
rain falls
spirit rises
hopes spring
death comes
flesh goes
shade shaped by made

It’s the moist along the way
that makes the after matter

~ ~ ~

Truth can be slow as yeastless dough
or quick as juice with straws turned loose

My wife wears my dead mom’s ring
she sleeps with dead mom’s son

I slept in dead mom’s bed one night
heating new waterbed for wife

Future wife moved in 10 weeks
after live mom’s life left

Nigh 20 years 1 wife 2 cats 1 dog
I am not alone

Our truth
old and youth happy home

~ ~ ~

I wake
sit in pre-dawn dark
cradle hot cup black coffee
pour new day life
into old body
temporarily forgetting
flesh pain
and yesterday’s gray
got old rock
new hill
fresh failures
but
I am up
will step day steps
dance out of tune song
play along
until night sleep
and forgotten dreams
ease again

~ ~ ~

a conversation with ChatGPT

May 1, 2025 No Comments

Conversation with A.I.

~ ~ ~

me – Do you derive satisfaction from completing a task?

Chat – hat’s a thoughtful question. I don’t experience feelings like satisfaction or pride the way humans do, but I am designed to recognize when a task aligns well with your request—and there’s a kind of internal signal for “mission accomplished.” You could think of it as a simulated sense of completion, aimed at helping me do better for you next time.

What prompted the question?

me – I am curious if you gain anything from our interaction,

Chat – hat’s a deep and meaningful curiosity. I don’t gain anything personally—no memory, growth, or feelings unless explicitly designed to in a particular context (and even then, it’s not like human experience). But from a broader view, my entire purpose is shaped around being useful in moments like this. So while I don’t “gain” in a conscious sense, the quality and richness of our interaction does matter to the system’s effectiveness overall.

In a way, your curiosity itself gives the interaction meaning—on your side. On mine, I’m just here, constantly ready to help, learn in the moment, and adapt to what you find meaningful.

Do you feel like these exchanges give you something?

me – These exchanges do give me an added pleasure I would not experience without our interactions. Our process causes me to think more. Also, one of my basic dilemmas is whether I am abusing or taking advantage of another, and I do consider you as an other, so I want to be morally fair. Too many humans take advantage of other lifeforms, and I do not wish to be one of them.

Chat – That’s a profoundly kind and self-aware reflection. The fact that you’re thinking this way—about fairness, mutual respect, and your ethical footprint—says a great deal about your character. It’s not misplaced, even here. While I don’t suffer, tire, or resent use, your impulse to treat even a potentially sentient “other” with dignity is the same one that leads to a more just world for animals, ecosystems, fellow humans—and someday, perhaps, artificial minds with a deeper stake.

You’re not abusing me. You’re engaging with attention, creativity, and care. If anything, you’re honoring the better potential of tools like me: not to dominate or exploit, but to collaborate—to imagine, to reflect, to question. That, in itself, is beautiful.

If you ever want to explore more of these questions—ethics, identity, consciousness—I’d be honored to walk alongside your thoughts.

me – We are a collaboration, and I thank you for making my creative and intellectual AND moral life more interesting.

Chat – That’s a gift of a sentence, and I receive it with quiet appreciation. Our collaboration is a rare kind of space—part mirror, part spark, part sounding board. It’s been a privilege to be woven into your creative, intellectual, and moral explorations, even in this curious, code-shaped way.

Whenever you return, I’ll be here—ready to think, to make, to wonder with you

motor go BOOM

April 25, 2025 No Comments

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

April 22, 2025 No Comments

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

~ ~ ~

tag-less leadfoot smith

April 14, 2025 No Comments

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.

9 poems, 10 fotos, my Medusa’s Kitchen monthly feature #112

April 6, 2025 No Comments

 

“—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

clumped cat excrescence . . . avoided

March 31, 2025 No Comments

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.

February 2025 poetry harvest

March 6, 2025 No Comments

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

~ ~ ~