Tag Archives: Poetry

She Finally Ate The Big Apple Without Me: Revolutionary Napkin Poem Lament

She and her mom
(who I’d tried for forever
to get to Manhattan)
called me
from Katz’s deli,
ordering pastrami
on rye,
and,
what?!?

They’d gone to Central Park,
she, daughter,
New York experienced,
leading;
former wife,
naive,
in the giant green.

“What park is this?”
she’d asked.
And when my daughter answered:
“Central Park!”,
she said:
“I don’t know what I’m feeling right now!”

I told you!
I told her!
Gosh darn it all to heck!
Why wouldn’t she go
with ME?!?

Do You Have A Bike Path And A Red Chair? Revolutionary Blogging Free Verse Poem

The storm is coming./
It’s in the air./
You can feel it
gathering strength.
Friends, relations,
loved ones
are already being
blown away.

Church vaults open.
Worried, wondering,
hopeful,
folks peer inside.
They see the dirt,
the cobwebs,
smell the dank,
the dust,
the mold
the hidden,
the historical documents
they feared
all along.

And they wail
and rail.
“WHAT!?!!
Nobody told us!
We were LIED TO!
We were deceived!”

Were we?
Would they tell
their 9-year-olds
about 50 shades?
Would they expose them
to everything?
Or would they protect them
and show them
the good?
Let them feel
the joy?

I have no problem
with that,
with being protected.
I have no problem
with historical documents.
I never feared them,
though I knew they were there.

Why not?
Because I have
a bike path
and a red chair.

Each time
I drive my children,
my family,
my friends,
past a sloping path
for bikes
and pedestrians
that lead
from learning
to home,
I point out the spot
on the path.

It once overlooked
a baseball diamond,
red dirt infield,
green grass outfield.
Close to the tunnel,
it now gazes
into classrooms
and offices.

But the path
is still there.
“There”, I say confidently,
“is where it happened.”

“There is where
I learned
more than any degree
could give.”

“There,
on the side of the bike path,
knowledge streaming,
tears streaming,
is where
I learned,
and knew
what is true.”
“God lives.
Jesus lives.
He died for me.
He loves me.
The Book of Mormon
is the Word of God.”

I believed it,
but I needed to know it.
And I now point
to the bike path.

“Yeah, Dad/Dave,
we KNOW!
You tell us
every time
we drive by,”
they say.
At least they know
that once I doubted.
Once I questioned.
But then I asked.
And now they know
that I know
what I know.

The red chair?
It’s probably long gone.
The apartment
above the Friseur
where two young servants
shared
a bathroom
with liquid-defecating
winos
is probably
someone else’s.

It was there,
in the red, overstuffed
chair,
I read,
I wondered,
I questioned,
I asked.
It was there,
leaning back,
thinking,
that I learned
more that I needed
to know.

The Boy Prophet
was and is
inspired,
a prophet,
like Paul,
like Peter,
like Moses,
like Adam.
God’s servant.

I didn’t know
before that.
Although the bike path
showed me truth,
I didn’t get all of it
then.
The red chair
gave me more.
Only a few
(like you)
now know
what I now know.
Ich weiss.

I’ve had more
insight
since.
Even when not
in the flock,
I learned
“Tommy True Tone”.
But the bike path
and the red chair
built
and are
my foundations.

How did
that happen?
God promises.
I believe.
Each time,
I asked.
“Ask!” He says.
So I did.
And do.
And He answered
and answers.

Now the dank,
putrid
air
flows out,
and past misdeeds
of venerated,
honored
others
come to full light.
They blind some.
People hide,
or cry,
or anger,
and get confused.
They leave.
“We were deceived!”
“We were lied to!”
They cry again
and again.
Where will they go?
I wonder.

Didn’t they know
this was coming?
From Oz,
and from the Internet,
and from billboards
along I-15,
I heard these voices
long ago.
Even before then,
“Know the Truth!” pamphlets
were passed out.
Truth,
slanted,
was there.

There is truth
in exposure.
Some of it
IS disturbing.
Some of it
IS surprising.
Some of it
IS disgusting.
Some of it
IS shocking.

I stay.
Why would I leave?
Where would I go?
It doesn’t matter
Moses killed.
It doesn’t matter
Peter ear’d.
It doesn’t matter
Joseph dug for gold,
and had hormones
and made mistakes,
and adapted his story
to his audience,
and used
when advised not to.
Folly.
It doesn’t matter
if there were Mountain Meadows
flowing red.
It doesn’t matter
if God’s servants
hid full truth
to protect me
and us.

I know:
It’s simplistic.
I know:
It’s easy.
I know:
It’s not complicated.

None of that matters
to me.
I asked.
Then I have walked
on a bike path,
and I have sat
in a red chair.

I know.

A Poem Of The Dream Of Noam Chomsky: Revolutionary ImproVerse Iambic Poetry

I just had a dream/
of meeting linguist Noam Chomsky/
at his parents’ bistro/Cafe’
on the shores of the Black Sea.
The problem is:/
he was born and raised in Philly.

But by his glasses I could tell:/
It was he./
Noam Chomsky,/
talking/
and walking/
with me,
as we/
took a goofy/
spectacled selfie.

A Dream Of Me, Poetry, And Noam Chomsky: Revolutionary ImproVerse Free Verse Poem

This early morning,
I dreamed.
I swam with my son
and his friends in the Black Sea.

I then had a wonderful melted chocolate dessert
with a cute old couple
who had a Noam Chomsky poster,
teal, it was,
with a pink orange 4-inch paintbrush slash
in the lower left-hand corner,
hanging
in their old bistro Café.

The poster
and they
told me about Chomsky’s performance,
so I went up to the City Square.
Chomsky was performing,
reading,
and having his class read.
I became
— as is typical for me —
part of a class he taught,
where a woman couldn’t read
her poem,
written on wood in dark woodburnt letters.

So someone else read it,
and they asked me
to hit my head on the table
in front
of me “Clunk”,
saying “I could have had
a bigger apartment!”
“Clunk”.
It was a great
public
experience
I got to share.

I then walked back
toward the bistro Cafe’,
because my daughter had texted me.
As I was going back,
the ferry arrived
and emptied.
I tried crossing
in front of the traffic,
between the crosswalk bars,
and a policeman in blue and black uniform
yelled at me
and gave me a five-penny
fine.

He followed me
to the café,
where I gave him a nickel,
and the old couple helped
pay the fine
in local currency,
so I left my Jefferson head nickel
on their wooden counter.

I looked behind the counter,
and there,
in person,
was Noam Chomsky.
He was the old couple’s son!

He had to leave the bistro/Cafe’,
so I walked with him
for awhile,
and told him how wonderful
and kind
his parents were.

Then I asked
if we could take a selfie
together.
He had something wrong
with his eyes,
so he put on very thick,
dark-framed glasses.
I put on my black-framed glasses,
and the camera was upside down
and we couldn’t take the picture,
but finally we took it
and it was obvious that I was being
a pest
but I still got
the picture.

And then I went back
and found my children at the bistro/Café.
I don’t think we saw any of the city
at all
but we swam together
at night
and I played submarine
and tipped over
a large sailboat toy
like it been torpedoed …
and I didn’t even get
Noam Chomsky’s
autograph.