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writer's digest chapbook

writer's digest chapbook

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Writer's Digest Chapbook

Cosmos Reading List 2023

This is the third time I have entered the Writer's Digest annual chapbook challenge. The challenge was to write one poem per day in November then select the best 20 for the chapbook contest. Here are my poems.
Index


November 1 Declaration Poem
Favorite Childhood Object
Problem Solvers Problems
Mike Johnson Ain’t No Christian, Jack
Dreams Of a Better World Problems
49-Year Love Story
Barbados Calling Me
Hometown Calling Me
Gun Ghosts Speak Up
Saga of Big Daddy
Attack of Neighbor Bob Terrorist
Back in the Old Days, Trump Would Never Have President
Lucky in Love, Unlucky in Cards
President Trump on Vermin
cosmic cat from Berkeley
We Must Carry the Light
Presidential election Cycle Writer’s Digest
Berkeley Time Travels
Insomnia Wild Things
AI Love Poem




November 1 Declaration Poem Birthday




On my birthday

I like to reflect.

On the year that was.




And make plans.

For the year ahead.




Including a declaration

Of my basic goals

For the year.




And as always

End with a declaration

Of love

For the love of my life.




Who joined me?

41 years ago

Marrying me

On my birthday.




I declare to her.

That I will love her

With all my heart

Until the end of time.




And vow

To see her

In my next life.





































Favorite Childhood Object
piano
















One of my

Favorite objects

As a child

Was my piano.




I first started learning.

To play at age 6

Kept going with lessons.

Until age 18.




Briefly thought of

Becoming

a professional composer

Until I flunked out

Of Oberlin Conservatory.




Thus ending

my music career.




Lately, I have resumed.

Playing the piano

Thinking back

In my childhood,



Problem Solvers Problems




There are so

Many problems

Facing the world.




Climate change

Inflation

Lingering pandemics.




Gunmen on the loose

Violence on the street

Wars in Ukraine and Israel

Terrorism threats.




Unending political chaos

In the United States

And elsewhere.




But the biggest

Problem of all

Is the lingering political.

Dysfunction.




And the growth

Of neo-fascism.




That is the real problem.

Facing us all.




Mike Johnson Ain’t No Christian, Jack

Mike Johnson

Has been catching.

A lot of flack




As his right-wing

Republican Jesus faith

Becomes better known.




Particularly, catching flack

Over his homophobic views

And bigotry.




May people making

Brash callous remarks

About his Christian faith.

And his open homophobic views.







He does not seem to understand.

His brand of extreme

evangelical Christian faith.




Is anathema.

To many people

These days.




Who views his MAGA faith?

As hypocritical fake Christianity

As it violates all of Christ’s teachings.




As Christ was the ultimate

Social justice “woke.”

Warrior of all time.




If Christ came back

He would scream.

I ain’t no Christian.




Before being crucified

Again, by the so-called

Christian leaders.




Dreams of a Better World



I often dream.

Of a better world

Of a better future.




Asking what if

What if we solved

The climate change problem?




What if we just stop

The mass gun violence?




What if we just stop

The endless wars

And the threat of terrorism.

.

What if we stop

All the despair,

and fearmongering.




The hate all around us

And replace it with love.

And peace and goodwill.




That is my dream.

Everyday

Waiting to make

A better world.




50-Year Love Story

when I first met you

on that date

I met my fate.




That was the beginning.

of a 49-year love affair

that began.

when I first dreamt of

The dream of meeting you.



Barbados is Calling Me













Barbados is calling me,

On a winter’s day.

The tropical beach paradise.

I want to just be.

Ending up on the beach,

no matter what happens.

Drinking rum and coke with ice.


Berkeley Calling Me










I am a Berkeley boy.

Through and through




Went to BHS

But did not go to CAL.

My grades did not measure up.




I have wandered the world.

Living overseas

Yet everywhere I go.

I remember my Berkeley roots.




Berkeley is calling me.

Someday I will return.

To my homeland




Until then

I will keep it.

Berkeley in my heart




And my soul

A Berkeley boy

To the end.

Gun Ghosts Speak Up
gun
















The Association of Gun Ghosts

Held their annual meeting.

Thousands of gun ghosts

Gathered together.




At Columbine High School

At midnight

No one saw or heard them.

As they were ghosts




They decided to issue.

A manifesto

To the world




And released it.

On the internet

Where their simple plea

Went viral.




The note read.




People of earth

Particularly Americans

Please put away your guns

Your weapons of war.




Too many of us

Are being gunned down.

Because there are so many guns

More guns than people.




You talk about freedom.

What about the freedom

To walk down the street

Without fear




That a gunman

Will shoot us dead?




And politicians do nothing.

But offer useless prayers.

And thoughts




We don’t need to hear that.

We demand action.

We demand responsibility.




We demand you just quit.

Killing people

With your guns.




And stop lying.

You all know.

That gun kills.




That is what they

Are designed to do.

And they do it so well.




We know.

Because we are the gun ghosts

Killed by your guns.




But in the end

If you continue this way

You too could join us.

And become gun ghosts.

Saga of Big Daddy

Big Daddy, aka Sam Adams
was the man
who always had a plan.

He was an ex-University of Arkansas
and Dallas Cowboy player
who had worked for the CIA?

The agency fired him
for murdering enemies of the state
at home in contravention of agency rules,

but they retained
his services from time to time.

He supplemented his CIA payments
And bar income from money laundering,
drug smuggling, human smuggling
and other assorted crimes, big and small.

Big Daddy had lots of enemies
Many people wanted him dead
Relatives of his many victims
Of the covert wars, he waged
On behalf of his nation.

He was hoping to stay out of trouble
But one day trouble found him.

He moved to Bangkok, Thailand
Where he opened the Cosmos Bar
With the assistance of his manager.
Kuhn Lek, and her uncle

The police chief and his cousin
The biggest drug kingpin
In the Northern Triangle.

The Cosmos Bar
Became world-famous
The spot to go to is Bangkok.

Located in Soi Cowboy
It was an after-hours club
Secretly owned by the Thai police,
One of the few places
They served alcohol 24/7.

It was filled with
Criminals, drug dealers, government agents
Journalists, prostitutes, pimps,
spies, counter-spies, sex tourists,

tourists, undercover cops,
and assorted other low-lives,
From all over the known world.

Had the best-looking woman
The best-looking travesties too,
The best beer, wine, and liquor list
In the city,
And the best burgers in town.

It looked like the Bar
In Star Wars
Filled with probable human life forms
And perhaps a space alien or two.

One day a mysterious Korean woman
Came into the bar asking for him
By his universal nickname
“Big Daddy”

Maria Lee was a Korean-American
Drop-dead gorgeous woman
Who was on the lam
from her rich Korean husband.

She had one question for Big Daddy.

“The word in the Korean community
is that you are a man
who knows how to launder money.

Can you launder 50 million dollars?”

“Hmm for a fee.”

“What’s the fee?”

“A night of wild sex with you.”

“Done, but only after the deed is done.”

She smiled sweetly.

He called his underworld contacts
and they laundered the 50 million dollars
and he gave her the bank receipt.
He had parked the money
in a Cayman Islands account.

That night
she honored her agreement with Big Daddy.
The next morning
while drinking his cup of coffee,

she revealed that she had poisoned him
because she did not want anyone to know
about the transaction
and her affair with Big Daddy.

She smiled,

“Thanks, Big Daddy,
I liked last night,
You are a real stud, Big Daddy,
Perhaps that is why you are called, ‘Big Daddy’
But hey it is nothing personal, Big Daddy.”
After all, it was just a business deal in the end.

And that was
how trouble found Big Daddy.

Attack of Neighbor Bob Terrorist

One day

A man fell.

A rabbit hole.

On his computer,

Lost in thought.

when an odd event occurs,

the event that led.

to his untimely death.

He did not hear.

The footsteps,

Of the white

Christian nationalist

Domestic terrorist next door.

Who took exception?

To Sam’s living there

As Sam was not white

And an atheist “libtard.”




And his neighbor

Was a white supremacist.

Christian Nationalist.




His neighbor Bob.

Came at Sam with a chainsaw.

And struck him in the heart.

Killing him instantly.




Then using a torch

To burn the body.




Before using dynamite

To blow up the house

Despite the rain clouds

Outside.




All streamed live.

On his wifi.

trump jpg
Back in the Old Days, Trump Would Never Have President




Back in the old days

when political decisions

were made by insiders.




White men of power

who gathered.

in the proverbial

smoke-filled rooms.




smoking menthol cigarettes

and cigars

drinking whiskey

martinis and beer




while enjoying a steak dinner

and plotting political plots




in such a world

Trump would not have been.

allowed to become President.




as the political elites

would not allow.

such a Buffon

from taking power




They would despise.

such a vulgar low-class

new money guy.

Lucky in love, unlucky in cards

There is an adage
That sums up my life so far
One can be lucky in love
But unlucky in cards

That sums it up nicely
I have been lucky in love
Met and married
The girl of my dreams

Dreamed of meeting her
For eight years
Then she came into my life
Became my wife

But I have never been
Lucky in cards
I mean I have played
Poker with friends
But always lost

Won a little bit of gambling
But usually lost more
Then I won

Eventually gave up
Just not fun anymore
As I lost the gambling fever

Yet to get a jackpot
But then I think
I hit the jackpot of love

And that has made
All the difference








President Trump on Vermin AI Poem













A leader of a nation, a speaker of lies.

A spreader of hatred, a divider of ties

A mocker of the weak, a lover of the strong

A builder of walls, a singer of wrong

A hater of the different, a scorner of the same

A caller of the vermin, a blamer of the blame

An ignorer of the facts, a denier of the truth

A creator of the chaos, a destroyer of the youth

A loser of the election, a claimer of the fraud

A refuser of the concession, a violator of the law

An inciter of the violence, a fomenter of the storm

A deserter of the office, a traitor of the norm

evil cat
cosmic cat from Berkeley

I next encountered the divine
Many years later in Berkeley, California
I had gone home to be with my Mother
While taking leave from my job
in the Foreign Service

I had two weeks there by myself
My wife came later
near the end of the trip

Every morning I woke up
Had my coffee, and breakfast
Did yoga while listening to music

And looking out at the garden
Then spoke to my mother
Who was sliding into dementia?
Day by day losing her reason
Then I would go out

And explore the city
Go to a museum

Go to one neighborhood
And just be there

Rediscovering the Bay area
After years of being away

Having dinner with old friends
Seeing movies etc

Every morning a black cat came to visit
The cat was friendly and waited for me

And then would join me in my morning rambles
Following me to the bus stop

I started talking to the black cat
He looked at me with a spark of divinity
In his dark eyes

I called him the cosmic cat
He seemed to like that

He would look at me
And I opened up to me
Told the cat all my dark secrets
As I walked the streets
Of the old neighborhood

Every morning and every evening the cat
Would be there to greet me

And to carry out our endless conversation
Then I had to leave

And in our final conversation
I asked the cosmic cat

Say, Cat are you just a cat
Or are you a demonic cat
Are you possessed by God?
Or by Satan

The cat looked at me
And I realized that God
Was indeed residing in the cat

But that god was residing everywhere
All I had to do was open my mind
And the rest would follow

So I said Goodbye to the cosmic cat
And he purred and came up to me

And I felt the comforting presence
Of the divine spirit of God

As I said goodbye to the cosmic cat
And said goodbye to my mother
As this was the last time
That we would be able to talk

I told my mother about the cosmic cat
She smiled and said that the cat
was there for me and her
to comfort us both in our hour of need

and that the cat was indeed
a cosmic cat

Carrying the light




We must carry the light

It is not so bright

Embracing the light with my wife

Still the center of my life

We both fear the dark

Nothing more to avoid strife.




Carrying the light

until the end of time

chasing away

the darkness that haunts.

my soul.




Presidential Election Cycle
















The U.S. Presidential election cycle

Is a long-drawn-out affair.




Starts the day after the last election.

And ends a month after the votes.

Have been certified,

and the winner is determined.




As usual

Twenty candidates are announced.

For the election cycle

A year or so before

The actual vote.




The most important part

The donors chose.

Which candidates will get?

Their money and support

In the so-called invisible primary.




By January of an election year

Five to six serious contenders

Have emerged.




Battling it out nightly on the news

As the pundits weigh in

And voters begin to choose.

on multiple Super Tuesdays.




The candidates race across.

The land

Offering their vision,

Their hopes and fears.




As the public begins

To wake up

And start to choose.




The game is on foot.

with almost weekly debates

where the candidates

try not to make fools.

of themselves.




It continues until the summer.

When the conventions nominate

Someone as the standard bearer.




The losers concede.

But the intra-party feuding

Does not end.




In the end

There will be one person.

Left standing.




At the end of the roughest

Most competitive race

In the world.




That determines.

The fate of nations.




Voters in the end

Making the final call

As the presidential election season

Comes to a final decision point.



Berkeley Time Travels










I grew up in Berkeley, California

In the turbulent fabled late '60s

And in Berkeley in those days

Time seems to stand at a standstill.




On the corner of Dwight and Telegraph

Across from People's Park

It seems to be always May 1969




With the man

Down the street

Oppressing the hippies

On the street




As they smoked their weed

Dodging the bored cops

Who looked the other way?

If they did not partake




And then I went to college

In the valley

As I drove into Stockton

I felt I was traveling again.




In time

Back to the fabled '50s

Stockton was also.

Stuck in a time warp of sorts.




And as I left the Bay area.

And traveled the world.

I would come back.

To that corner




And just be there.

Stuck in May 1969

Again

Marveling at the changes




That had and had not occurred.

To the corner of the land

Forever stuck in time

And space
















Last Night I could not

Get to sleep at all

Last night I could not

Sleep




As my mind wandered

Down dark rabbit holes

Of fevered imagination




At 0 dark hundred hours

The wild things came out

To play




Torturing me

Until the sunrise

Blasted them

Back into the dark

Corners of my mind.




And the nightmares

Faded away

With the dawning sun.

BIng AI Love Poem




Angela Lee, you are the light of my life.

You fill my days with joy and my nights with dreams.

You are the reason I smile and the reason I breathe.

You are the one who makes my heart skip a beat,




Angela Lee, you are the beauty of my world.

You shine like a star and sparkle like a gem.

You are the one who catches my eye.

and the one who holds my hand.

You are the one.

Who makes me feel alive?




Angela Lee, you are the love of my soul.

You touch me with your kindness and your warmth,

You are the one who understands me.

and the one who supports me.

You are the one who makes me whole.