The laughing Monkey Blues

 The laughing Monkey Blues

Tired of being sad and alone,

I went down to the boardwalk

so I could be sad and alone

around other people.

The crowd was festive

even on a blustery day.

Young couples walked hand in hand,

their futures before them.

Feeling hopeful I took a chance.

The boardwalk Gypsy

took my quarter

and spit out my fortune.

Before I could read it,

I lost it in the ocean breeze.

The organ grinder's monkey

picked it up, read it and laughed.

Its hard to shake off,

the Laughing Monkey blues

C Hoagland 2023

When the Bulls run

 Hemingway feels it from the grave

every time the bulls run through the streets of

Pamplona

again

he sits up

the skeleton rattles

the skull wants a drink

the eyeholes want sunlight

the young bulls are beautiful,

Ernest

and you were

too

no matter

what they say

now.

~ Bukowski

angels and spy cams

 Mechanical eyes

As a child

I’d lay in the grass

looking up at the stars

wondering if they were watching

us.

Now I know they do

Mechanical eyes

Orbiting above

counting our key strokes

and listening to our

phones

a list of sins

 

“...great writers are indecent people they live unfairly saving the best part for paper. good human beings save the world so that bastards like me can keep creating art, become immortal. if you read this after I am dead it means I made it.” -Bukowski

The Public Library is a church

 The Public

Library is a church

In the library

knowledge seekers,

help seekers,

Those seeking company,

those wanting to be alone

Those seeking to find themselves,

those seeking to lose themselves

and those with no place

else to go.

The library is a church

and knowledge is a sacrement.

You may have wanted more and expected less

 After Work

Coming home
in the twilight.
dog at the door,
wife pouring me
a drink, daughter
telling me I’m
number one,
happy with
what I’ve got.

you have to like , live and die with yourself

 We are all alone,

born alone, die alone,

and—in spite of

True Romance magazines —

we shall all someday

look back on our lives

and see that, in spite

of our company, we were

alone the whole way.

I do not say lonely —

at least, not all the

time—but essentially,

and finally, alone. This

is what makes your

self-respect so important,

and I don’t see how you can

respect yourself if you must

look in the hearts and minds

of others for your happiness.

-- Hunter S. Thompson