24 Poems ~ 24 Hours
I’m an addict,
cravings cursed,
nomadically chasing after verse.
Static makes the cravings worse.
Attic search,
unproduced cobwebs,
padlocked beachhead,
permission to approach the bench,
jail time instead.
Search party, collaborate,
running without hesitate,
go for broke,
before the gape,
No addict wants to wait.
I’m an addict.
#21
if only i was
21 again
i’d be with you
all in the middle
of our mad glory
& this time
i’d appreciate it
(i promise)
it was just my age
which made me
act the fool before
they say
at 21 watch your son
they don’t tell you
after you’re given
the key to the door
which opens
onto white
you will lose it
then there will
be little more
that brings joy
all your guns
have gone off
& you’re left
with a roil salute
of silence
Sigh! #38. Only two words on this piece of paper.
I am Persona Non Grata,
seeing as how I don’t really exist,
except in the pages of your novel
trilogy, twenty years in the making,
twenty five if you are honest.
Why so long keeping me dead
in order to bring me to life?
Are you afraid people will think
I’m you, and your cover will be blown?
It is something to think about, you know.
If I survive, and you don’t, it will be like
something out of Beckett, and you’ll be pissed
at least for a little while, until you recall
you all die anyway, mere mortals on the earth,
while my life is eternal, if you ever dig me up.
We need an occasional snowfall in summer to remind us to celebrate the heat.
We need to spend a week without goodies to appreciate treats.
We need to sleep under stars to remind us about their beauty.
We need to volunteer sometimes to remind us that we all have duties.
We need to read and write, cry and laugh, dream and share to remind us all of our common humanity.
To the ears of the supplicant and patron alike, the phrase “We need” may be the most painful to hear;
We need bread;
We need housing;
We need jobs;
We need hope;
But most importantly, we need change so that it no longer is necessary to ask for these things because they’ve already been given.
-30-
We need to play.
We need to rest.
We need to eat.
We need to sleep.
We need to win.
We need to lose.
We need to hop.
We need to stop.
We need to live.
We need to die.
We need to erase this poem from our minds.
HOUR EIGHT
POEM # 8
24 HOUR
POEM
MARATHON
LIFE
Earth motionless in place,
Traveling quietly in space.
Through the corridor of stars,
Find no doors, gates or bars.
The Sun controls the light,
The Moon reflects the night.
The ocean tides move in, out.
Winds whirling sound shout.
Seasons growth divided by four.
Life on this Earth rich not poor.
Written by Carl Mann
The kurlman
6-13-2015
Politicians drone on about what we need
with smiling popularity contest behaviour.
We must vote for them, they convincingly plead,
we need their leader to be our saviour.
What we need isn’t a dapper smooth talker.
Maybe he wears t-shirts and sports a goatee.
We need a leader who fights for our corner
and treats us all with respect and dignity.
Who we need won’t charge us for water
or dish out contracts without a care
crushing our protests with the hounds of the law,
further swelling the coffers of one billionaire.
Who we need won’t accept business predation,
won’t accept banks charging for being poor,
will put nothing ahead of his population.
No such politician ever knocked on my door.
To those in power a little reminder.
You should remember, ‘cos we won’t forget.
What we need really is a saviour,
and what we need, we haven’t found yet!
I sometimes search love online,
but the wind whispers that it’s wrong,
that I should keep looking in the real life.
Maybe I should get even more real!
I would like to have more friends,
I would like to see more smiles.
Who wouldn’t want this?
It’s more pleasant to squander time with someone.
Although it seems that you lose some hours,
you gain so much-experience, positive emotions.
You build confidence, you become more tolerant.
Who said that social experience was not important?