Honesty

 

I’m sure when first meeting someone

they may ask, “What do you do for a

living?” My reply is usually, “I breathe

in and out, do it day after day, 24/7.

Find it keeps me going. Besides, it tends

to lead to other opportunities. At the

moment I’m in in between engagements.

In and out, you know.”

And, their response to me, whether in

thought or out loud is, “Oh, wise guy, eh?”

I figure honesty is the best policy. I find

some folks just can’t accept the truth.

                           -30-

Chris Hanch 5-28-2023

Akimbo

 

Akimbo— a good description for how your

arms look when, elbows bent, you have

your hands on your hips.

Now tell me why, I ask myself, why the

word akimbo popped into my head this

morning shortly after I awoke?

Never in my lifetime of 76-years have I

used the word akimbo. In fact, I have heard

or seen that word used only a handful of

times.

To me, akimbo sounds like an African word.

Maurice Akimbo would make a believably

interesting name in Swahili. Strange, akimbo

translated into Swahili from English is akimbo,

Yet, the derivation of the word comes from

the Middle English, kenebowe.

Why in my twilight years would my brain

conjure up such a word out of the blue? I

envision myself standing there perplexed,

akimbo with my elbows bent, hands on my

hips, gobsmacked with surprise—what in hell?

Oh no, gobsmacked? There’s another rarely

if ever used word for me? Why, after more

than three-quarters of a century on Planet

Earth is this happening to me?

Oh well, I may have just set the record

worthy of Guinness as the most frequent

usage of the word, akimbo, in a written

rant known to mankind.

Akimbo! Akimbo! Akimbo!...There, I’ve

said it three more times just in the event

of a tie. I ask you, at my advanced age,

what in hell else am I to do with the

remainder of my time?

                 -30-

Chris Hanch 5-29-2023

The Muse and Me

The Muse and Me

It may take Beethoven

to put me in the mood.

Sometimes I heed the

stylings of Yanni.

The Beetles and Queen

often call to rock and

roll me.

I may be a city boy,

but there are times when

Iris DeMent and Roger Miller

send me down country roads.

Could be jazz or the blues

play to soothe me.

Music, music, music and

the Muse move and inspire

the tiger within to hunt,

release the eagle in flight

soaring to new heights.

The mole in me digs deep

to uncover the latent

psyche buried deep inside

to draw, to paint, to write.

In my old age the Muse pays

a visit to me in vivid images

of my fondest memories.

She connects yesterday’s

wide journeys with the

microscopic visage of

the narrowing pathway

I traverse today.

Dear lady, I never cease 

to be a-mused by you.

               -30-

Chris Hanch 5-28-2023

 

Look at It This Way

 

Stupid arrogant me asking, who here

has trained who? I open the refriger-

ator door to get something for lunch

or dinner. My pup comes running up

to me to get a treat. How does she

know? Silly me, because I trained

her so. When I eat, she eats as well.

Same kind of mental process applies

with doggy pads I trained her to go on

when inside. I noticed when she has

peed twice on the pad, even though

there is still room enough for more,

instead she’ll relieve herself on the

carpet close to but not on the soiled

pad.

Can’t you see there is room left on that

pad for at least one more time? Alas,

I could not train her to see it my way,

so I surrendered to seeing it her way.

Now I routinely change the twice peed

on pad.

Got to thinking today as I opened

the refrigerator door and she came

running to me from the living room.

I may have originally taught her

that this means treat time, but ever

since her first lesson, she now has

me trained to respond. I give her a

treat. Same deal with the doggy pads.

She has taught me to change the twice

peed-on for a clean one.

Then I came to this revelation all

too late in my life—Had I realized

my thought pattern on who teaches

who lessons to be learned, I may

have been more successful in my

relationships with human females

in my life. (I used to think I knew

it all, ha!)

Ah, but still fortunate am I.

At least my pup needn’t speak

a single word to get me to do

what she wants me to do.

A little late on the uptake, I

suppose, but nonetheless an

invaluable life lesson learned.

              -30-

Chris Hanch 5-27-2023

My Song Today

 

Sorry to say, today

I forgot the lyrics to

my song.

No big deal, this

happens

on occasion.

Guess it’s okay.

Suppose I’ll just wing it

and hum along.

                 -30-

Chris Hanch 5-26-2023

 

Religion and Mythology

I have always appreciated symbolism.

As an artist, photographer and writer

I have borrowed images from life, good

and evil, serious and satirical, which

portray mankind’s presentation of the

human condition.

Every religion and culture has contri-

buted to the rich diversity of mankind’s

experience in life here on Earth.

Where would we be as a species

without our histories and mythologies

to portray the diversity of our beliefs

our hopes, dreams and desires, our

pitfalls and blessings?

Unfortunately, a lack of respect and

understanding, our tolerance for one

and other’s beliefs and philosophies

throughout history have all too often

resulted in division and prejudices,

even heated conflicts and wars. (My

god or goddess is bigger, better and

badder than yours!)

Most religions have constructs of good

and evil which are similar if not identical.

From a non-thiest perspective, I prefer

focusing on the attributes and transgres-

sions of good and evil within men and

women themselves than the righteous

power and might of a demanding and

vengeful deity.

It is with all this for your consideration

that I am pleased to present for your en-

lightenment and edification my repre-

sentation of just one iconic woman of

religion and mythology—Lakshmi,

Hindu Goddess of Wealth and Good

Fortune.

Likewise, I may have depicted Mary from

the Old Testament, Abigail from the Torah,

Sunni from the Koran or the more contem-

porary, Mother Teresa of Macedonia. Alas,

I had to begin somewhere.

                          -30-

Chris Hanch 5-23-2023

Generational, a Perspective in Time

 

Generational, a Perspective in Time

As an American GI, I docked in Bremerhaven,

Germany in April of 1965. 58-years ago to this

date, WWII had been fought on these grounds

just 20 short years earlier. I am sure there were

plenty of older German citizens who hated me

and my fellow American soldiers for who we

were—the offspring of a former military who

had invaded and occupied their homeland some

20-years before me.

I sit here today, 2023, an old man whose father

and the fathers of their former enemies have

long since departed. Wars continue to plague

the discordant, present day, mankind society.

I won’t be the first old man to say in amaze-

ment, my how things have changed! (All but

for hate and prejudices which perpetuate to this

day.) I’m sure my father, his father and all the

prior generations reflected on their foregone

days as well.

My generation, the Baby Boomers, is by and

large waning these days. The Silent and Great-

est Generations have for the most part faded

into history. The present generations—

Generation X, born 1965-1980, Millennials,

born 1981-1996, Generation Z, born 1997-2012,

and Generation Alpha, born 2013-2025 are either

up and coming or are soon to be born.

Our world has changed more drastically in the

past 100-years than any other period of time

in mankind’s history. That is not only an old

man’s subjective point of view, but a stark

black-versus-white, contrasting reality.

Some scientists and skeptics claim that if we

as a society (regardless of the generational

epoch in time) don’t get our shit together real

soon as a cohesive and actionable community

insofar as climate and social cohesiveness

are concerned, our existence here on Planet

Earth is undeniably[y and inevitably doomed.

Think of it, no longer will folks sit together on

park benches opining about the good old

days; bemoaning with skepticism humanity’s

path forward in the world today.

Have you heard what has come of “A I”

these days? Remember when common

sense and reality came into play? Yet,

Wars, hate, prejudice and mass destruction

still persist. Perhaps our generation could

have done much better back then.

                                   -30-

Chris Hanch 5-21-2023

Shameful Malice and Willful Intent

 

As I sit here and ruminate.

I am frustrated and disgusted

with the current state of

world-wide affairs, especially

those of these United States.

The problems they seem to

be overwhelming and all

too many which to list and

innumerate here.

Mass murders, gun control,

threats to women’s, gay and

minority rights, right-wing

anarchy, threats to our de-

mocracy, blatant corruption

of the Supreme Court...I

could go on and on.

Seems to me the god some

folks pray to for salvation

has been manipulated

and disgraced. And yes,

I blame mankind’s

twisted beliefs and per-

spectives. Oh, the des-

picable evil!

With shameful malice

and willful intent, we

are the only known

species in the universe

to be capable and

culpable of such

heinous misdeeds.

Oh shame, shame,

shame on us!

                 -30-

Chris Hanch 5-19-2023