Cache of Words

 

I doesn’t seem like a lot,

but I’ll use a Ben Franklin

analogy here—a penny

saved is a penny earned.

Word for word each day,

day after day, month after

month, year after year in

the making, I have laid

my thoughts onto the page.

One blank sheet to begin

with has turned into a

library of volumes. And

for all its worth, depending

upon how you look at it,

I have spent or saved with

words an entire lifetime

in getting here.

Damn, I’m a multi-millionaire!

Some days, I’ll spend my worth

sparingly, some days lavishly.

            -30-

Chris Hanch 11-17-2020

For the Life of Me

 

Thank God I’m me.

I could have lived

a more horrid life

for myself

had I been a writer

as livid and downtrodden

like Bukowski.

Oh, I have made mistakes

along the way, have found

myself in places I was

unfortunate enough to be.

But unlike Bukowski, thank

God, my uncertain beginnings

and happy endings eventually

got the best of me.

           -30-

Chris Hanch 11-16-2020

envisioning

 

i envision a rotting fence post in the ground

on a farm in Iowa

in my mind I can see three old men in a park

playing dominoes

what I wonder does the butcher do when he

runs out of meat

with or without me i suppose christmas will

arrive on time again this year

i hear the dripping faucet keeping time with

beethoven’s fifth symphony

I am dizzied with the feel of earth spinning

beneath my feet

if you had only two lines to write a thesis

how would you articulate defeat

the sun rises to the top of no man’s land

and not a living soul is there to see

some thoughts streaming endlessly can

drive a man to insanity

i was once lost and forgotten on the streets

of sydney

i knocked on a hundred wooden doors

and no one ever came to answer

i finished my beer at the pub left a handsome

tip and quietly walked away

i never returned to that iowa farm and the rotting fence

post not even my closest friends had ever seen

some would say insane while i contend wild and crazy

dreams

with professional clinical reasoning my therapist

diagnosed differently

i sat drinking away all my options one winter’s afternoon

it was time to go home but instead I turned and sat

motionless in place

                            -30-

Chris Hanch 11-15-2020

Good Girl

 

Thinking about my dog, you know,

what she might know and what she

doesn’t.

She knows when to scratch, when it’s

time to eat and bark, when it’s time

for bed, time to go in and out. And

when I sit, she knows it’s lap time.

She was spay as a pup so she doesn’t

know what it’s like to have pups of her

own. I then suppose she doesn’t know

she’s a female, and couldn’t care less.

She does know that she doesn't care for

other dogs or cats or squirrels or giraffes

or elephants either. Not bias or prejudice,

she barks and growls at all of them equally

with a fervent ferocity.

Once in a while she stares at me then

licks my face. Without forethought or

shame, she is through and though,

a canine instinctively.

Instead of hiking her hind leg, she

squats to pee outside or inside on

her pad.

Therefore, I figure when she hits the

right spot, she must know she’s a

good girl for ofttimes wagging her

tail I tell her so.

              -30-

Chris Hanch 11-14-2020

The Long Line

 

You’re standing

in this long line

patiently waiting,

waiting to buy

or exchange,

waiting to register

or claim.

It is a long, long line,

and the waiting

takes a long, long time.

You look ahead

and behind as people

come and go, as you

inch closer to the front.

Seems as if you spend

a lifetime waiting in line,

getting closer

and closer to your turn.

And then eventually

the time comes…

Next, please.

And you swear,

never ever again.

No more lines,

not until the next time.

-30-

Chris Hanch 11-13-2020

Laying Blame

Ever get to thinking about stupid

useless things? Happens to me

admitted with fair measure of

frequency.

Why just the other day, I was looking

back in life trying to determine where

and how my arthritis got started in

the first place.

Now logically, I would say it was a

cumulative process over time which

eventually caught up to me when I

was in my 60s.

And now today I am paying for all

the heavy lifting it took me to get

here, all the moves from place to

place, mine personally and helping

others with theirs.

Then there were those thousands

of weighty paper cartons I loaded

and unloaded from one place to

another making deliveries for

Kinko’s with whom I was employed

for some nine years.

But one incident comes to mind:

It was 1985 and I was living in

a third-floor apartment in Dog

Town. Recently the building had

been converted from radiator

steam heat to a more efficient

baseboard method.

Several times I had asked the

building owner to please remove

the disconnected radiator from

my apartment. Not only was it

no longer useful, but it was an

unsightly monster which took

up space.

Long story short, one night I

had been drinking quite a bit

and got pissed at the owner’s

failure to remove the friggin’

hunk of junk.

So, I slid the two-hundred pound

iron Behemoth across the floor and

out the back door which led to

the fire escape.

With all my drunken Superman

strength, I hoisted the damn thing

over the railing and let ‘er fly

three stories down to the backyard.

Thud! That son-of-a-bitch must

have made a moon-sized crater

in the soggy Earth below.

Next day, hungover with my aching

muscles and rickety bones, I paid.

And all these years later, given my

sorry-ass arthritic condition, at least

I have my pain and one good god-

damn reason on which to lay the

blame.

                 -30-

Chris Hanch 11-12-2020

 

Hello It's Me

 

Battery check

Wi-Fi check

Internet check

Facebook check

I open windows

Every day

To let the fresh air in

To reach you

From my time

And place

All the way

To yours

A modern marvel

Indeed

Think back

To the way

it used to be

Me with something

To say

To begin my day

And you

Responding

In a similar way

Across time

And place

From afar

Answering

From where

You are

No need to wait

Impatiently

For the phone

To ring

Hello

It’s me

How in hell

Heaven or Earth

Are you doing

I’m fine

Today

Hope you are

As well

Words make

A sound

I hear Robins

Calling outside

And for now

Everything

Is just fine

Hope you will

Excuse me

I find

No need

For punctuation

Today

-30-

Chris Hanch 11-12-2020