I have startedto despise Bill Maher, but when he sayshe’d rather vote for Biden’s head in a jar than seeTrump in the White House, I’m with himagain. I hate this place, where we are, with this choice, but I know at leastthat Biden is agood man and I am confident he’ssurrounded by menand women whoareContinue reading “#544: Dear America, Happy 4th of July”
Category Archives: Poetry
#543: On Being Turned Away from the Doctor’s Office for My Blood Pressure Checkup and How That Ultimately Raised My Blood Pressure
I was 15 minutes late. Actually, the truth of the matteris that I was not 15 minutes early. So they turned me away. I knew the expectation. They only sent me three or four reminders, but when your appointmentis for 7:30 a.m.,and you’re supposed to show up at 7:15,when you’re retired, and you want toContinue reading “#543: On Being Turned Away from the Doctor’s Office for My Blood Pressure Checkup and How That Ultimately Raised My Blood Pressure”
#542: On the Note Wendell Hawken Wrote to Me, the One I’ve Been Using as a Bookmark in Her Book of Poems
The note she wrote to me almost a year ago, the one I’ve been using as a bookmark as I’m reading her poems, says: “Michael – thought I was out, but I found one.” Even though it doesn’t take me long to remember what she was trying to say, I love the ambiguity of itContinue reading “#542: On the Note Wendell Hawken Wrote to Me, the One I’ve Been Using as a Bookmark in Her Book of Poems”
#541: A Squirrel Bites My Dog
My little terrier, miniature greyhound mutt, had it coming. This rodent with a stump of a tail, running along the fence, decides to come down into the yard where I am napping on the hammock and my two dogs are likewise lounging. The small dog is onto the squirrel first while the larger shepherd-lab-husky muttContinue reading “#541: A Squirrel Bites My Dog”
#540: Masturbation Is Not A Thing
Here’s a poem I drafted quite a while ago, I think, while I was still teaching, that I was too hesitant about publishing, not necessarily because of the subject matter, but because this classroom inspired story was too recent, too close, and I might have been gun shy as the result of an earlier experienceContinue reading “#540: Masturbation Is Not A Thing”
#539: 1434–Behind
So, my artist and musician friend Curtis Settino just had an exhibition of a sculpting project he’s been working on for a number of years. His sculptures are these mostly fantastical creatures, some standing just six or seven inches off the ground, others four or five feet tall, all representing the action or theme ofContinue reading “#539: 1434–Behind”
#538: I Can’t Read
I can’t read shit anymore. David bowie I love to readbut I find lately that I can’t read shit, just like Bowie sangin that song by Tin Machine: it seems that “I can’t read shit anymore.”I blame the internet and stupid smart phonesfor turning myattention spaninto squirrel brain.Did you knowthat squirrels can’t remember where theyContinue reading “#538: I Can’t Read”
#537: On Solitude
I like it. I really do. I value the time I spendalone to write, or read,the light hiking, a bike ride,and the solitary campingweekend. I think I need these moments, thesesustained chunks of timefor creativity, reflection, for communing with the self,a short, healthful respitefrom the noise, the societyof family, friends, or work. But recentlyin theContinue reading “#537: On Solitude”
#536: Bothered to Be Bothered
It bothered youthat you were so bothered, obsessively so, for weeks,until finally, you saidto yourself (becauseno one else was listening), how am I served by this anger? I mean, it’s happened before:you perceive thatsomeone has beenshitty to you and you don’t understandhow anyone could be that shitty. Youdo not deserve it,you say, you havebeen maligned,Continue reading “#536: Bothered to Be Bothered”
#535: Melt the Guns (Elton’s Version)
A deep cut from the Caribou album, I bet few of us remember that Elton John and Bernie Taupin, in 1974, wrote a song about a massshooting. As a kid, ten years old, the song terrified me. Even thoughI may not have been able to singit to you, I remembered the lyricsto “Ticking” up toContinue reading “#535: Melt the Guns (Elton’s Version)”
michael jarmer 