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Kj Hooten Poem
Honey you done used me up
Chewed me up
And carelessly spit me out
Now several years passed
And I see you again
You all smiles
You offer me the chance
(Again)
To help you out
“Come on
Don’t you wanna be my friend?”
I say,
“Nope”
Honey you done used me up
Chewed me up
And carelessly spit me out
I say,
“Thanks for the lesson
I now pay attention
And no longer work for momentary smiles
And long-lasting sneers
Honey you done used me up
Chewed me up
And carelessly spit me out
So I say, Nope
I don’t care what you want”
And I smile back
But you’re not upset
(At least you don’t show it)
Your eyes glaze over a second
And you’re instantly off
Looking for another ‘friend to help you out’
And I wonder
Do you ever get the chance
To brush your teeth
Between victims?
Copyright © Kj Hooten | Year Posted 2011
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Kj Hooten Poem
I had a dream the other night
Of walking in a field of cornbread
Golden brown
Baked just right
One solid
Unbroken field
As I softly crunched my way
I looked up
Coming toward me
Was a line of tigers
With a man in the middle
No one was tethered
Just walking together
Enjoying the day
There was no fear
No predator
No prey
I woke up laughing
This was so silly!
I went to the Fair today
And during a break
I asked if anyone
Could interpret my dream
They came up with
Corn bread = The South
And perfectly baked gold = Coming into riches;
Or at least, no money worries
The tigers = Strength; overcoming fears
Hunh!
As I thought about it,
I remembered a childhood dream/nightmare
When I went to bed angry
A big tiger showed up
I would point to everyone who had angered me
He looked at them and proceeded to eat them up
At the end,
With everyone dead,
He turned and looked at me
That’s when I woke up
And a true story (or from this side of dreaming):
A friend and I went to an outdoor zoo
Somewhere south of Kalamazoo
We stood on a wooden walkway
Looking at an open field through a thick glass window
In the stone wall
We spotted several tigers
Later, as I walked a trail to the next exhibit
I looked up to see a tiger
Strolling through the tall grasses toward me
A mere thin wire fence
Separated us
I gulped and walked steadily onward
As I left the area
I could feel his thoughts:
“Ha! I freaked out another one!”
Tiger humor
As one grows and hopefully gains wisdom
One learns to handle fear
FDR stated during the Great Depression,
“The only thing we have to fear, is Fear itself”
Recently I’ve been angry
About my ex-husband’s condition
He is slowly and bumpily improving from a near fatal stroke
My/our son flew to help
And I’ve been without him since Spring
They are in the South
Corn bread was a staple in our family
Many things around the house have broken
And wait to be repaired by said son
He says that every time he thinks about returning home
His dad suffers a setback
After months of “I’ll be home in two weeks…”
I gave up
Got the garage door repaired
And am making do with things I cannot fix
The working garage door makes all the difference
I finally have access to rakes, the lawn mower
And snow shovels
The car has a safe haven from the weather
And I feel calm
Turns out I could afford the door
- With only one person’s groceries
Money lasts longer than it did
God keeps telling me that I will be OK
Financially and otherwise;
It’s up to me to lighten up
To let Fear walk away
Without licking another notch in his paw
I am not a victim
Copyright © Kj Hooten | Year Posted 2012
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Kj Hooten Poem
Fear feasts on our insides
And wrecks decision-making
Evil jumps in with glee
And another one loses trust
And another one down
And another one down
And another one loses trust
Evil grins
At what might have been
As another one loses trust
Housing fails
Markets, too
And countries follow suit
“Be afraid
Be very afraid”
Used to be a joke
But now it’s the match
That lights the glint
In Evil’s eye
Every day we’re fed
Too much detailed
information
- Perhaps true;
Perhaps not -
With stated directives
To be
Very
Afraid
As Evil laughs
And Fear cavorts
Through our souls
With another one down
And another one down
And another one loses trust
I will myself to turn off the media
Not to ignore the warnings;
But to avoid overexposure
To the cancer-causing
Smoking gun
Of fear
According to Article 37, Section 202 of the Code of Federal Regulation, the Congress states that “words and short phrases such as names, titles, and slogans; familiar symbols or designs; mere variations of typographic ornamentation, lettering or coloring; mere listing of ingredients or contents” are not copyrightable.
So thanks to John Deacon of Queen…
Copyright © Kj Hooten | Year Posted 2012
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Kj Hooten Poem
(The writing exercise was to choose three poetry cliches and make them fresh)
(back stabber, after my own heart; and a soul of discretion; maybe more...)
He was a back stabber
After my own heart
Meek and sleek and sneaky
He wormed his way in
And 'innocently' uncovered
State secrets
Private tales
Skeletons in closets
They were all fair game
He was a back stabber
Not to be trusted
But had
Such a sweet smile
That promised a soul of discretion
It was too easy to believe him
It felt good to trust him
He pulled his victims in
And it wasn’t until the court case
Was over
And the jury voted for him
Again
That you realized he was a back stabber
He pulled it off with such panache
And charm
You had to admire the guy
Even while you staunched your blood
I wish – oh I wish
I had his skills
He was a back stabber
After my own heart
Copyright © Kj Hooten | Year Posted 2011
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Kj Hooten Poem
Blue and white ball spins
seemingly peaceful from space.
But the nearer we get:
Volcano smoke floats
amongst whirling hurricanes
or are those bomb ‘tests’?
Look at one land mass -
part in fires; other in floods.
Live things run for life.
Closer – past the sights.
Listen to inhabitants’
explosions and screams.
Some silent – praying?
Single beings rant and rave
As others look on.
As we look on -
should we intervene or leave?
Is the planet worth saving?
Or is she working
with global warming/warning
to rid or teach them.
Wait. Let them decide.
After, we can reclaim Earth
or let them join us.
Copyright © Kj Hooten | Year Posted 2017
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Kj Hooten Poem
Welcome Home
“May the Force be with you” (Obi Wan Kenobi)
“Nanu nanu” (Mork)
And now (February 27, 2015 - Leonard Nimoy)
“Live long and Prosper” (Spock)
All this makes me wonder how Peter greets folks at the Gate
“Greetings” (Uncle Sam)
“Aah what’s up Doc?” (Bugs Bunny)
Or “Namaste” (ancient Sanskrit greeting)
And Hopefully Not: "I've got a bad feeling about this" (Han Solo)
Copyright © Kj Hooten | Year Posted 2015
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Kj Hooten Poem
The ship is always loaded
With misty looking folks
Who fill the decks and cabins
Wrapped in dreamers’ cloaks
No one lies too far
Or near the closest sleeper
And being all together
Just helps the dreams go deeper
Waves lap in steady rhythm
Against the wooden sides
Winds blow with gentle coolness
Matching ocean tides
The number of the dreamers
Doesn’t matter much
Their bodies lie in safety
While their spirits strive
To touch
The endless
Place of future, past or
Even never
And anything is possible
- No limits whatsoever
The dreamers’ yacht rides
Up and down
As wind blows
As water flows
The dreaming yacht goes
Back and forth
As water blows
As wind flows
And so it goes
And so it goes
All the night long
Until the sun comes up
And wakes them
With a sweet good morning song
And somehow all the dreamers
Rise from their own beds
On land or on the sea
With no memory in their heads
Of
Riding safely; warmly
Up and down
Back and forth
As wind blows
As water flows
In syncopated rhythm
As water blows;
As wind flows
And so it goes
And so it goes
People live their daily lives
Never knowing others
But somehow feel connections
As sisters and as brothers
It may be that they’re fellow
Dreamers
Whose spirits sleep together
Every night on that sweet boat
In soft angelic weather
Copyright © Kj Hooten | Year Posted 2012
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Kj Hooten Poem
They say that the only sure things
Are death and taxes
After gathering information and a bit of math practice and
carefully filling out the forms
And sending them in to various governments:
Federal, State, and Local;
After gathering resources and a lot of running practice
And carefully filling out the registration forms
And sending them in
For the Boston Marathon -
Who knew
The end of the race would really be
The End of the Race?
Crowds cheered
As the runners crossed the finish line
And a few crossed over
No doubt, to cheering crowds of angels
And loved ones long past
This is fresh news; and no one knows
Who planted the bombs
Or why
They say that the only sure things
Are death and taxes
Who knew they’d both fall on the same day?
Copyright © Kj Hooten | Year Posted 2013
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Kj Hooten Poem
(Obama: 'Trayvon Martin Could Have Been Me' ABC News , July 19, 2013. The President suggests that we judge people not on the color of their skin; but on the content of their character.)
We all wear clothes of different colors
to protect our skin from the elements.
We all wear skin of different colors
to protect our innards from the elements and our clothes.
Our color choices reflect our ancestry,
our moods; or life stances.
We all are the same inside:
We have muscles, and blood and bones
which serve the same purposes.
And we are all different inside:
our minds, our experiences; our souls
which record our lives and help us survive
Hopefully we can use them to find common ground.
Copyright © Kj Hooten | Year Posted 2013
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Kj Hooten Poem
I had a dream the other night
Of walking in a field of cornbread
Golden brown
Baked just right
One solid
Unbroken field
As I softly crunched my way
I looked up
Coming toward me
Was a line of tigers
With a man in the middle
No one was tethered
Just walking together
Enjoying the day
There was no fear
No predator
No prey
I woke up laughing
This was so silly!
I went to the Fair today
And during a break
I asked if anyone
Could interpret my dream
They came up with
Corn bread = The South
And perfectly baked gold = Coming into riches;
Or at least, no money worries
The tigers = Strength; overcoming fears
Hunh!
As I thought about it,
I remembered a childhood dream/nightmare
When I went to bed angry
A big tiger showed up
I would point to everyone who had angered me
He looked at them and proceeded to eat them up
At the end,
With everyone dead,
He turned and looked at me
That’s when I woke up
And a true story (or from this side of dreaming):
A friend and I went to an outdoor zoo
Somewhere south of Kalamazoo
We stood on a wooden walkway
Looking at an open field through a thick glass window
In the stone wall
We spotted several tigers
Later, as I walked a trail to the next exhibit
I looked up to see a tiger
Strolling through the tall grasses toward me
A mere thin wire fence
Separated us
I gulped and walked steadily onward
As I left the area
I could feel his thoughts:
“Ha! I freaked out another one!”
Tiger humor
As one grows and hopefully gains wisdom
One learns to handle fear
FDR stated during the Great Depression:
“The only thing we have to fear, is Fear itself”
Recently I’ve been angry
About my ex-husband’s condition
He is slowly and bumpily improving from a near fatal stroke
My/our son flew to help
And I’ve been without him since Spring
They are in the South
Corn bread was a staple in our family
Here, in the North,
Many things around the house have broken
And wait to be repaired by said son
He says that every time he thinks about returning home
His dad suffers a setback
After months of “I’ll be home in two weeks…”
I gave up
- Got the garage door repaired
- And am making do with things I cannot fix
The working garage door makes all the difference
I finally have access to rakes, the lawn mower
And snow shovels
The car has a safe haven from the weather
And I feel calm
Turns out I could afford the door
- With only one person’s groceries
Money lasts longer than it did
God keeps telling me that I will be OK
Financially and otherwise;
It’s up to me to lighten up
To let Fear walk away
Without licking another notch in his paw
I am not a victim
Note: My son had packed to be gone for two weeks;
he returned after two years
Copyright © Kj Hooten | Year Posted 2019
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