Best April 2021 Poems

[jakecaller]

Best Ten Poems from April Poetry Madness

 

I wrote 269 poems this month, and 865 for the year to date. A record for me.

 

Only appropriate to include the first and last poems – both about my love-hate affair with my computer

 

These are available on my blog at Https://theworldaccordingtocosmos.com and on Spotify as a podcast under the name the world according to cosmos.

 

Enjoy

 

Index

 

Every Day I Turn on My Computer Warming Up Writing Digest

Dear Microsoft

Evening Delights

Window of Love

Good-Bye

Howling at the Pink Super Moon in honor of the Pink Super Moon

Unanswered Questions

Bad Teeth Poem

American Dreams -Published in Your One Phone Call

Ode to Berkeley, Writer’s Digest Write a City Poem Prompt

 

 

Every Day I Turn on My Computer Warming Up Writing Digest

 

 

For today’s prompt, write a warm-up poem. The warm-up could be related to sports, like warming up before a baseball game or track race. Or it could be about a computer warming up, the weather warming up, or even a relationship warming up. I hope everyone is warmed up for some major poeming in April,

 

 

Every Day I Turn on My Computer Warming Up Writing Digest

 

Every day I turn

On my computer

And pray

That everything will work right

 

Usually, I encounter numerous errors

Non-response errors

Spinning blue balls

Computer thinking

How can I mess

With my master head errors

 

Refusing

To open documents

Mysterious haiku-like error messages

That makes sense only to computer geeks

From the planet Mars

 

Saying the file is open

And blocked for use

By the administrator

 

But I am the

Damn administrator!

And I did not block the document

 

Or can’t open the document

Due to a dialogue box

 

Close the dialogue box

To proceed

But there is no doubt

It is all a plot

Designed to drive me

Quite mad

 

So sad

So bad

Want to shoot my computer

Put it out of its mystery

 

Joining the other five dead

Computers in my house

 

Am I a computer serial killer?

Perhaps that is why

Do they refuse to work for me?

Are they afraid of me?

 

Sometimes they say

They can’t find the document

Which just kicked me out of

Five minutes ago

 

Or the computer says

It can’t save a document

With the name of an open document

 

But just saved the open document

Under the same name

Five minutes ago

 

Usually

After half an hour

These errors recede

 

But I often have to reboot

The computer

Giving it the old kick up the head

Of a stubborn mule treatment

Before it gets to the point

And gets to work

 

To give Microsoft some credit

These errors are less frequent

 

Down to 40% of the time

When I first open a document

Down from 90% error rates

Success in a way

 

I complained to Microsoft

Sent them a nice frown message

But I would be shocked

If they ever respond

 

Just not something

That they would do

Part of their “superior”

Listen to their customer

Friendly service

No doubt

 

 

 

Dear Microsoft

 

Took me ten tries to open this document

And send it to you

 

Yesterday you achieved

An almost impossible feat

In 30 minutes

During 8 attempts

To unsuccessfully open word

I encountered errors each time

I attempted to open word

I was opening the documents

Using viewfinder

Each time viewfinder attempted

To open the document

Only to kick me out

I had to try an average of ten times

Before it would open a stable view

The worst was when

It took me 28 tries

Then when I opened word

I encountered non-response errors

Usually, five to ten

Waiting for an average of one to two minutes

Before word would respond

Before I could type a word or two

And when I did manage

That simple task

The screen froze

Finally, after spending 30 minutes

And writing five words

I rebooted my computer

And finally got

A stable connection

Congratulations Microsoft

For achieving a 100 percent

Error rate

Way to go!

 

 

Note: sent to Microsoft.  I will be shocked if they respond! I Will update this if they do so,

 

Evening Delights

 

My favorite time of day

Is early evening

Cocktail hour

When I sit down

To dinner

With my lovely wife

The love of my life

Either at home

Or at a restaurant

After our evening walk

As we eat dinner

We salute the end

Of the day

With a glass of wine

Or a cocktail

Or Soju

As the day fades

Into an evening

Filled with Love

 

 

Window of Love

 

Every morning

I step outside

Do my morning thing

While my wife

The love of my life

Sleeps peacefully

 

I look through the window

From the balcony herb garden

And watch her sleeping

 

My heart filling with love

As she sleeps away

The early morning

 

When she wakes up

She fills me

With the sunshine

Of her love

 

Driving my blues

Away

With the dawning sun

 

 

 

Good-Bye

 

To all those who

 have passed on

to another,

hopefully better world

I say goodbye

 

So many people

Have died this year

From COVID

 

From Gun violence

From the aging

Of the baby boomer generation

 

Many musicians

Actors and writers

Have played their last songs

And we will remember them all

 

Walter Mondale VP, Ambassador, Good guy

Prince Philip ultimate husband

DMX great rapper

George Segal great actor

Vernon Jordan ultimate power player

Norman Jester the phantom tollbooth is closed

Lawrence Ferlinghetti one of my favorite writers

Chick Corea one of my favorite musicians

Mary Wilson just supreme

George Schultz my big boss

Christopher Plummer the Actor

Larry King final interview

Hank Arron greatest baseball player ever

 

And so many others

I Will soon joins them

As the coronavirus marches on

and guns continue to kill thousands 

 

I am 65 years old

And as I get older

I have had to say goodbye

To so many people

 

I am losing count

But I will miss them all

They live on in my memories

 

My father died in 1985

My mother in 2005

My sister in 2007

 

My friends have also passed on

 

My HS debate friend

Demel T died from AIDS

 

I lost my college roommate

Jon W

 

David C my Peace course

language student

 

I lost my visa line colleague

Paul S

 

I lost my second and third boss

In the foreign service

Julian in a terrorist bombing

 

Ted H who I worked with twice

Dead of a heart attack

Chris my boss in Bangkok

Also dead from a heart attack

 

Judy my artistic friend

From Bombay days

 

And so many others

Have gone on

 

I only hope wherever they are 

That they are thinking of me

As I think fondly of them

 

 

 

 

In honor of the Pink Super Moon

 

Howling at the Pink Super Moon

 

On a moonlit late night

The Pink Supermoon

Casting a baleful light

On the world below

 

While inside

Sam Adams sat drinking

In a depraved bar

In a den of iniquity

 

In an evil part of the city

On the left side

Of society

 

Drinking up a storm

With his buddies

Johnny Walker, Jack Daniels

Jim Beam, and Mr. Evan

And Old Granddad looked on

 

Encouraging him to drink

One scotch, one bourbon, and one beer

 

He was just an unhinged lunatic

Dreaming of howling at the full moon

 

Watching the world walk by

Looking at all the fine-looking babes

 

Walking by the street

Thinking wild, erotic thoughts

Of endless wild libertine passions

 

He looked up

At the naked dancing ladies

Dancing up a storm

With an attitude

A Z tude

That could kill

 

When into the bar

Walked the most beautiful women

In the Universe

 

So wild, so free

So wonderfully alive

 

He did not know what to do

As this vision of delight

Sauntered through the bar

 

In skin-tight leather pants

Looked so fine

That his eyeballs hurt

 

Finally, he had to say something

he gathered up my manly courage

He walked up to her

 

She looked at him

Instantly bewitched his soul

With a devilish grin

 

He lost all reason

And became a raving lunatic

Unhinged lunatic

 

Under the lunatic light of the full moon

Of the blood-red lights of the moon

Full of wild passions

The lustful beast stirs again

 

And starts running and running

Howling at the moon

Riding into the new dawn

On a demented Harley Davis cycle

With two naked babes on his back

 

Riding into the sun

90 miles per second

At the speed of thought

He disappears into the lunatic light

Of the full moon

 

Sam Adams woke up alone,

In his bed

The naked babes

Having disappeared

From his demented dreams

 

Saying,

 

“Man, that was quite a night

I better not go there again”

 

The wild beast

Laughs

He has heard that before

 

And joins him

In howling at the Pink moon

In the fading light

Of the lost last night

Of the newly damned

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unanswered Questions

 

 

I have so many questions to ask

First how and why I dreamt

Of meeting my wife.

How did she haunt my dreams?

How did she come to life?

What was our past life like?

Why Do I fall in love with her every day?

What does love at first sight mean?

Why did that occur to me three times?

What does hate at first sight mean?

Also, three times in my life,

what does that mean?

What is this thing called love anyway?

Will we meet aliens in my lifetime?

Will I live to see humans on Mars?

Will I live long enough?

to walk on the moon.

When will we develop new body parts?

When can I get new teeth?

Finally, when I die

will there be a heaven or hell?

What will my judgment be?

Finally, will people remember me after I die?

 

 

 

Bad Teeth Poem

 

I was born with bad teeth

Bad eyes

Bad vision

Bad ears

Bad coordination

 

And almost died

As a young baby

A preemie

Just born too soon

 

But I had bad teeth

From birth

Got braces

Until I graduated

 

I hated my teeth

Hated the dentist

But they loved me

 

Loved my green

I gave them

To fix these evil bad teeth

 

Over the years

I have spent a lot

Of money

Fixing these bad teeth

Of mine

 

So many root canals

Lost six teeth

Wear dentures

 

Still hate my teeth

Still hate

The whole dental torture drill

 

Hearing in my mind

The Frank Zappa song

The torture never stops

 

And seeing the sadistic dentist

From Little House of Horrors

Jack Nicolson

In his demented best

Screaming

Pain is Good

 

Then I get the bill

And the Zappa song

Plays on

The torture never ends

 

 

 

American Dreams

Published in Your One Phone Call

 

You see them

Every morning

Lined outside

 

Any US Embassy

Around the world

 

The visa seekers

The American Dream seekers

 

The poor, the dispossessed

The disenfranchised

The marginalized

 

The forgotten

The left behinds

Of the not so great society

 

The rich, the mightily

The powerful

The beautiful

 

All looking for a slice

Of the American Dream

 

Some to sample its delicious flavors

Others to try to live

Among its deceptive lures

 

America beckons

As it has for years and years

 

Land of the free

Home of the brave

Lady Liberty

 

The land was a dream

And a little luck

Can make you too

The richest man alive

 

So, they line up

Outside my office door

 

Just to talk

To the American Visa God

 

Spin a tale

Tell a story

Play a game

 

Pretend to be

What the American Visa God needs

 

And then you get

Your piece of the American Pie

 

And off you go

Only to end up

 

In a thousand neglected

Backwaters of the American nightmare

Flotsam

Floating from one marginal

Illegal job to another

 

Prey to the predators

Ever behind

The rent demands

 

For you see

America is a rich habit

It is expensive to maintain

 

The first taste is free

The rest will cost yah

 

You live, your soul

And 70 hours per week

At sub-minimum wages

 

Soon you will be speaking

English

With the poor, the disenfranchised

 

The flotsam

The neglected

The left behinds

 

The rich will ignore you

Not know your name

 

The poor will fear

You will take their jobs away

 

And your friends back home

I Will wait to hear

 

About you became a big shot

In the American land

 

They don't want to hear

No tales of working at McDonald's

 

Working 70 hours a week

At five jobs per day

 

No, No, No

That's not America

They see on TV

 

They want it now

They want their MTV

 

Where're the babes?

Where are the parties?

Where's the sex with naked ladies

 

Come on man,

You're holding out

 

Tell us the tales

Of Wild America

 

And so, they line up

Every day

 

Line up outside

My office windows

 

And we have the power

To set them free

 

Some to enable them

To dream the American dream

 

Some to send to the American nightmare

Others to go back home

To wherever they come back

 

They will be back

They will be back

 

Nothing will deter them

Not even the lack

 

Of a piece of paper

From the American Visa God

 

 

 

Ode to Berkeley

 

I grew up in Berkeley

In the late 60s and ’70s

A wild magical time

In a magical city

By the bay

 

Berkeley was the center

Of my universe

For many years

 

Until I left it

In my early 20s

To wander about the world

 

Yet Berkeley never left me

I am still in Berkeley

It lives on in my heart

And soul

 

And someday

I will return home

To reside

 

Before I finally leave

Berkeley for good

As I die in my homeland

 

 

The End