I am Man, the maker and breaker
of days past, the wanna be of
future days, the has been of my
own history. I am the sum total
of losses and gains, daily deaths
and renewed living remains of
thousands of yesterdays. I am
the product of change, the me
I have over time come to be.
I am Man, a recipe more or less
steeped in the lifetime ingredients
of my own unique individuality.
-30-
Chris Hanch 9-25-2024
He refused to pull
on the loose end
and had to begin
all over again.
-30-
Chris Hanch 8-8-2024
Currently, I am a 24/7,
365 man alive, a consumer,
repetitive and redundant
resumer of that which has
been done before.
I am an exhumer of history, a
sometimes man of mystery
seeking to find the answers
to the interrogatories in life,
why?
We are all one-timers,
short-timers who speak our
minds then leave the best
and worst of us behind.
Forget me the flowering,
Forget-me-not. I am once
was and shall never be again.
Pay homage, give praise, bitch
and complain only Eternity,
the unextinguishable flame,
my friends, remains forever
the same.
-30-
Chris Hanch 8-7-2024
The co-mingling of cells
a trillion times over. Billions
of years, remove or add just one
rainy day. The lone goose that
didn’t make it winging south
for the winter. The brick layer
makes a mistake and starts all
over again. Imagine one stalk
of corn harvested from a
thousand acre farm in Iowa
many years ago. Countless Stars
are born nameless yet continue
to shine anonymously. How
many generations did it take
to bring the likes of you and I
into being? Think of the
happenings otherwise which
would have left us unborn into
this life, one errant cell gone
awry on any given Tuesday a
thousand years ago in Alexandria,
Egypt. What if that misplaced
brick had not been corrected?
What if, what if, what if innumerable
times over? Imagine the myriad
possibilities. Why or why not, how is
it the miraculous being of you and I
in the here and now? One missing
or mismatched relative from way
way back, and I wouldn’t be here
writing this at all. What are the chances?
Freakin’ amazing!
-30-
Chris Hanch 8-2-2024
It’s hard
to believe
looking into
the mornin’
mirror—
livin’
lovin’
learnin’
in 77 years
of life,
this is what
has become
of me.
-30-
Chris Hanch 7-31-2024
You and I have the ability
to think, to feel, to interact
and respond. The sun, moon
and stars cannot compare.
This is the beauty and the
curse of our humanity.
Neither king nor queen
has been gifted and blessed
with any more or less.
-30-
Chris Hanch 7-28-2024
In the History of Man, and given
the places I have been and the personal
histories I have made, seventy-seven
years is not so many. I have forgotten
memories more than I can remember
and am reduced to say these waning days,
each day as another is seemingly the
same. Alas, to my dismay, given my
advancing age, life has come to be lived
that way.
-30-
Chris Hanch 7-21-24
For your 2024 ruling on Presidential Immunity compromising
235 years of US Democracy, as no one is above the law, may
your names go down indelibly in historical infamy. Shame,
shame, shame on you.
John G. Roberts, Jr., Chief Justice of the United States, ...
Clarence Thomas, Associate Justice, ...
Samuel A. Alito, Jr., Associate Justice, ...
Amy Coney Barrett, Associate Justice, ..
Neil M. Gorsuch, Associate Justice, ...
Brett M. Kavanaugh, Associate Justice,
Presidential Immunity
For your 2024 ruling on Presidential Immunity compromising
235 years of US Democracy, as no one is above the law, may
your names go down indelibly in historical infamy. Shame,
shame, shame on you.
John G. Roberts, Jr., Chief Justice of the United States, ...
Clarence Thomas, Associate Justice, ...
Samuel A. Alito, Jr., Associate Justice, ...
Amy Coney Barrett, Associate Justice, ..
Neil M. Gorsuch, Associate Justice, ...
Brett M. Kavanaugh, Associate Justice
Submitted to Kansas City Star 7-2-2024
Chris Hanch
***
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Deputy opinion editor
The Kansas City Star
Throughout my life I have plied my artistic talents in a myriad ways,
using different techniques and mediums. I would say that the cartoon
and caricature have been my most common forms of artistic expression.
Exaggerated, contorted and sarcastic features and nonsensical settings
are hallmarks of those depictions. My purpose is to illustrate the off
the wall, the silly and satirical. Ah life, here we are, you, I and the other
guy, unique yet similar, imagined figures of endless and ridiculous
"What if...?" possibility.
Chris Hanch 6-9-2024
Evolution is part of my constitution today.
Revolution, not so much anymore. Sedentary
am I for the most part every day. Restitution,
by and large, I have paid for many of my mis-
takes. Liberation from myriad responsibil-
ities I was committed to in my younger days.
Anticipation, fewer expectations for me with
the onslaught of old age. Cognition, memories
don’t accurately serve me anymore. Prognos-
tication, the past, the present and the future
are manifest today. Admonition, excuse my
dust, I’ve run the race, now get the hell out
of my way.
-30-
Chris Hanch 5-26-2024
Out of the billions already
made and most assuredly
from the billions yet to come,
out of the same stardust stuff,
anatomically no different one
from another, why, what for,
how come you and I, and yes
the other guy, don’t see eye
to eye? I mean not the same
individually. Different nurture
from our beginnings, I suppose.
Could be a unique composition
genetically. I failed math; with
grade A, you passed. I excel in
art, you need a ruler and still
can’t draw a straight line.
Politically we couldn’t be
farther apart. How is it one
sees the glass half-empty,
the other claims half-full?
The world, this life of yours
and mine, a strange place
to be individually. You, I
and the other guy, one of
a kind, never before and
never after. Up and down
inside and out, a whirlwind
roller coaster ride of our
lives, me let-handed and
you right, and who on Earth
can say why?
-30-
Chris Hanch 5-13-2004
Repeat
Redundancy
The same
In some fashion
Some way
Today
Is different
From yesterday
Repeat
Repeat
Repeat
Ground Hog’s Day
Fall back
Retreat
Look for the words
To explain
It differently
Even mentioning
The word
Uniquely
In passing
Will make
Today
Unambiguously
different from
The day before
That flower
Wasn't over
There yesterday
-30-
Chris Hanch 5-11-24
What I like
and what I dislike,
that which
I am indifferent
and ambivalent to
is up to me, not
a choice I leave
up to you.
It’s all about
the shit
I have had to learn
since infancy,
and now in adulthood
have the right
to change my mind.
That is if
my concern has
nothing to do
with you.
Keep in mind,
should you be
involved,
I shall advise you
if I have a mind to.
Respectfully yours,
me, the me I have
individually and
arduously grown to be.
I am supposing
the same condition
situationally
applies to you.
-30-
Chris Hanch 5-9-2024
10s, 20s, 30s come and go as you grow,
40s, 50s and 60s are a trip to maturity.
70s, 80s, 90s life’s final trimester
should you live long enough to see.
Few go on to break 99 and 100 to be.
You should have grown into life to
relish the best and curse the worst of
what you know, and to enjoy all you
have come to be.
-30-
Chris Hanch 5-2-2024
During my drinking days
it was easy for me to
remember the date.
On the calendar every
day was the same.
Each day fell fittingly
on the 5th of Nowonder.
-30-
Chris Hanch 4-25-24
In this life of mine
while passing by,
you may be the reason why
which catches my eye.
-30-
Chris Hanch 4-25-24
Rain for the region I’m living in
is predicted for tomorrow and
the next few days. I was born on
a rainy April day more than 77
years ago way back in 1947.
Needless to say, I am grateful
for and love a rainy day. Plan on
tuning in some smooth jazz
music, perhaps some classical
tunes as well. I’ll put my head
back, close my eyes and glide
through some smooth and
groovy memories of my life.
Have few obstacles in my way
these days. No traffic jams to
negotiate, no appointed rounds
to make, just me the way things
used to be, and the gentle pitter
patter of a glorious April rain.
-30-
Chris Hanch 4-24-2024
The day will come
when you and I shall
have nothing left
to say. I Suppose life
was meant to be that
way. Then the days
will carry on without
us, a blank slate only
the wind, rain and
sunshine shall remain.
And eventually, I
suppose even days
such as those will
cease to be. In the
beginning wordless
days could not be
explained. Ever
since then we have
tried to create a storied
history for everything.
No need to apologize
for that which was
left undone. I feel
it only fair for me
to say I’m sorry
for my part in the
whole damn thing.
I suppose that is
what famous last
words are for.
Go in peace,
brothers and
sisters, go in peace.
-30-
Chris Hanch 4-17-24
A representative mixture of seriousness,
the silly and the sublime, a measured focus
contrasted with the hit-and-miss tendencies
of ADD.
The trained eye, the steady hand of paint,
ink and clay. Various styles applied. A sketch,
a painting or sculpture, a print, a poem, a photo
an essay put into play, Something, an impres-
sion real or abstract to portray.
A taste of Dürer, Picasso, Hemingway,
Bukowski, Adams, and Twain. Not the
elitist and museum quality, my style and
fashionable ways, rather the nitty-gritty,
nut-and-bolts, milk toast of everyday.
The animated and non-acclaimed illus-
trated in myriad ways.
Diversity, I would say, life captured,
reassembled and represented visually,
verbally in a multitude of ways. My life,
my art—alight, a Milky Way of creation
and expression. No further need to explain.
Simply put, what I have seen in my life
placed on display
-30-
Chris Hanch 6-7-2023
