Platypus chatter...
What if a platypus could?
I would say with
some modification,
a notable change
in the double
helix of DNA,
instead of we humans,
the chattering
and blathering kind,
a platypus,
above and below
water,
more than likely
would.
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Chris Hanch 1-31-2023
As we progress in life,
we obtain more and more
information, becoming
unwitting mental hoarders,
collectors of endless
heaps of facts, nonsense
and trivia, cluttering the
gray matter junkyards
of our mind.
Some may wonder
how could one person
hope to use all that
stuff we tend to
accumulate over
a lifetime?
Then again, we may
one day have need for
that voluminous
library of fact and
fiction should we get to
become a guest
on Jeopardy.
What are the chances
of that?
For me personally,
1066 and The Battle
of Hastings comes to mind.
Unless I had a distant relative
who lost their life in that
historic conflict, why in
God’s name should I
give a damn?
I suppose it may
in some way be good
to know that the
tomato is a fruit and
not a vegetable.
Have you had your
daily intake of folate,
potassium and
Vitamin C today?
Now let’s see,
where in hell
did I put those car keys?
Oh yeah, now I remember,
I haven't driven in years.
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Chris Hanch 1-28-2023
Today, January, the 27th day
in passing, 2023. Yeas ago
I could not have imagined
75-years of life on this
wondrous Planet Earth.
Humankind never ceases
to amaze, excite and disturb
me. Alas, today cold and gray.
I’ll gladly accept that which
has been given me. And
continue to hold my head
in shame for the disgraceful
miscreants of my race.
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Chris Hanch 1-27-2023
The bible claims by the words
of God, “Let there be Light.”
Science says 14-billion years of
cosmic calamity and the expansion
of light in the making.
Whether by will of The Maker
or The Big Bang Theory, we each
have the right about light to decide.
Chemistry and biology link us
compositionally to the illuminating
“Stuff of Stars.”
Philosophers and poets can go
either way with light to suit
their allegories and agendas.
In the darkness, I flip a switch
and expect there to be light.
If there is no response, I may
yell, “What in hell?” and call
an electrician.
Before 1879 and Thomas
Edison’s invention of the
incandescent light bulb,
and before the concept
or need for electricians,
one may have carried an
oil lantern into the dark-
ness to light the way.
Personally, insofar as the
creation of light goes, I side
with the precepts of science.
However, there are times when
a good electrician (if you can
afford one) can certainly be
a godsend.
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Chris Hanch 1-26-2023
That I pray before bedtime
is ludicrous and contradictory,
an oxymoron for me.
You see quite some time ago,
I gave up my childhood fostered
religious belief.
But just for the hell of it, I
say these irreverent words
anyway—
With all the upheaval in the
mankind world, I pray, God
bless the goddamned world.
How could you with almighty
powers just turn away? Bound
for hell I am some will say.
As we pathetic humans here on
Earth in so many ways are
burning in a living hell today.
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Chris Hanch 2-25-2023
As far as he was concerned,
8 to 5 work-a-day the same
was a shameful waste of time.
Oh, there was the cost of
living, the rent, the food,
clothing and bills to be paid.
He had financial commitments
and responsibilities to self,
family and community. He was
traditionally raised that way.
But he came to realize, there
had to be more to life than this.
The musician had his jazz,
the artist his canvass, the
singer her song, the dancer
made every step count across
the stage. And oh, the poet
and writer had a purpose for
every word which graced
the page.
But he frittered his time of day
away at the office, chained to
a desk, imprisoned in a six by
five foot cubical, sorting
through numbers, boring and
repetitive numbers which in
the big picture scheme of
things for him meant abso-
lutely nothing, nada, zero,
zilch!
So, in the name of sanity,
he fiddled minimally with
the numbers which he was
assigned, and he began to
draw.
He loved cartoons,
saw a silly and sarcastically
whimsical way of portraying
himself, his bosses and co-
workers blundering their way
through their boring and mun-
dane days.
Had he ever been
caught in his extracurricular
activities, surely he would be
relieved of his duties. That
would be fine by him. Better
to have gone down in flames
than to dehydrate in place from
the tedium of dry numbers as
a cold granite headstone piled
atop his grave.
Say, come to
think of it, he mused to himself,
that might make a pretty good
cartoon—Famous Last Words…
Death by the Numbers—1,2, 3,
Someone please shoot me.
(And they did.)
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Chris Hanch 1-24-2023
Pills, pills, pills,
morning and night
a handful at a time
for old age,
for much of that
which ails me,
for all the growing
mental and physical
deficiencies in me.
Pills, pills, pills.
Likely I shall not
live long enough
to see the advancement
in pharmaceuticals
where one or two pills
daily, monthly, annually
will sustain me or
cure all my maladies,
one pill cures all
and will extend my mind,
body and spirit for
more years than I care
to go on.
(They ought to come up
with a miracle drug which
will cure the senior uglies
overwhelming my mind
and body.)
For now pills, pills, pills,
take 1, 2, once, twice a day.
Live better, live longer.
Take your meds as prescribed,
you old and decrepit
son-of-a-bitch!
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Chris Hanch 1-23-2023
I was on foot, wandering around
aimlessly, not knowing where in
hell I was. Left my car back there
somewhere, but I’ll be damned if
I can find it now.
Streets are winding and houses
in rows all crammed together.
At this rate I’m never going to
find my way back home. Open
fields, lots of trees, hilly terrain,
nothing familiar to me, I continue
through the maze without a clue.
I stopped and ask a stranger where
I am? He looks at me quizzically and
asks me who I am? Lost I am. Does
it matter who I am? Where in hell is
the question?
I awaken from my dream eventually.
Was this too a dream? I remember
seeing a wild bear ahead of me.
Frightened, I thought I’d better
turn around and get out of there.
Turned out to be a woman walking
her dog and I was somewhat relieved.
I opened my eyes to my own reality.
With a lingering trepidation, I figured
it took me a lifetime wandering lost
in a strange world to get here.
Haunting question remained, how
in hell indeed?
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Chris Hanch 1-22-2023
Who can do or undo what has been
done to you and me? I ask that to myself
when viewing videos of newborn infants
I watch on Facebook. So clean-slate
pure of mind these, so helpless, speech-
less and blind, without the command of
movement or word to explain or define.
What in heaven’s name is happening to
me? What is now is everything, who
can even imagine what shall become
of me? We have all been there, you
see, in the beginning. No questions,
no Earth, heaven or hell, no answers
to even understand. You merely and
barely survive until the assigns arrive.
Never choosing or knowing who that
will be, stable, responsible or otherwise.
You tremble, cry, flail arms and legs
and open your eyes. Oh, if you only
knew the world of possibilities which
awaits you? Kings and Queens, saints
and sinners all began the same. What
happens to them after that shall align
or malign and define such matters.
Good, bad or indifferent? Live and
learn, they say. Wait and see. What
will be, will be. Given the process,
you and others shall reap the benefits
or suffer.
Gradually and hopefully we shall
awaken to ths gravity of our situation.
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Chris Hanch 1-18-2023
Many of these photos
presented here today,
taken so many years
ago, of people I’ve met
and places I’ve been
in life along the way.
Though gone now
through the passing
of space and time,
these cherished
memories remain
as images vivid
to the eye in prints
of living color and
shades of contrasting
black, white and gray.
It is with great pleasure
I share these gifts with
you, precious moments
of time in passing,
given to me openly
and candidly yet
freely in my travels
along the way.
-30-
Chris Hanch 1-17-2023
The Big Bang Theory,
the beginning of It all,
and the inevitable fiery
or frozen end.
Here I am somewhere
flung into space and
time, an infinitesimal
speck, a split second
turning on a sphere,
circling ‘round a star,
swirling in a galaxy
among billions brewing
in a dark matter cosmic
stew, along for the
Universal Roller
Coaster Ride of Life—
Before and after, cosmic
dust, no more or less
than all the rest.
I be trippin’ man,
Far out!
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Chris Hanch 1-14-2023
I occasionally have this thought
which astounds me, what makes you
you and makes me me? Incredible
the genetic biology. We are made
of the same stuff, yet are in our way
one of a kind.
Your thoughts are yours and mine
are mine. We can communicate our
own reality if we choose. I like
classical music, you prefer the blues.
No other creature we know of can
do as we humans are capable of
doing. Some of us are capable of
doing horrible things while others
are respectful, kind and caring.
We are the product or victims of our
own experiences. I turned out to be
tall and lanky; you remind me of
of Curly from the Three Stooges.
You think I’m being cruel with my
assessment; I’m just kidding. You
make me laugh.
Don’t be pissed off, I’m only
joking. That’s just me. You’re
a natural. Where’s your sense
of humor? See what I mean,
the difference between you
and me?
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Chris Hanch 1-13-2023
And so then, the thought of
some action—
What on Earth do I hope to
accomplish today?
As with most days, given my
limited physical abilities and
advancing age, I pretty much
try to maintain a modicum of
the same as I have recently
executed day after day.
I write a bit, drink my coffee
and smoke the day away. I
listen to music, feed myself
and the pup with timely
regularity. I catch up on the
news and weather which
rarely affect me personally.
I make sure the bills are paid,
and pills are taken on time,
I hobble on and on. And so
it goes.
And oh, I post photos
on Facebook which I
have taken—people and
places I have known and
visited over the years,
many of which have long
since crumbled or passed
away.
For those of us who remain,
yet another day having warily
slipped inch by inch, deeper
and deeper, into the inevitable
decrepit sea of old and gray.
And so then, action and
accomplishment? Time in
passing, come what may,
who in life here on Earth
can say?
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Chris Hanch 1-12-2023
