About My Life

 

Let it be said

about my life,

uniquely I was here

in so many ways

different from you,

and in so many ways

I was here the same.

               -30-

Chris Hanch 3-27-2024

Once Upon a Time

 

I don’t have rhythm,

but sometimes I rhyme.

Beyond a composer,

musicians and instruments,

I don’t know what it

takes to make a symphony.

It must contain at least

three movements, I have

been told.

I have never owned a nugget

of gold. Why I italicized

the previous sentence is a

complete mystery to me.

I am composed of millions

of atoms, too many to

individual refer to by name.

How many atoms does it take

to make misery and pain?

Without birth and death

and all the space in between,

there would be no history.

Can innuendo be mixed

with milk in a bowl?

There is so much about

life, I will never know.

For instance, who is

responsible for turning

over the next stone?

Even given the hyphen-

ations, I surmise that an

amalgamated conglom-

erate is one hell of a mess.

Sometimes getting a

point across can become

an exercise in futility.

Delete this when you’re

done. Let’s pretend

it never happened.

             -30-

Chris Hanch 3-26-24

A Living Part

 

I am a living part

of all that is.

I am a minuscule

part of all

that ever was.

There is a certain sadness

and a certain joy

in the passing light

of it all.

               -30-

Chris Hanch 3-24-24

Who Dunnit?

 

Did it matter what kind of beans

were spilled and by whom?

Eventually, everyone got the news.

Pass the macaroni and cheese, please.

                     -30-

Chris Hanch 3-20-2024

Mass Extinction

 

I struck up a conversation

with a Chumash Native

American at a coffee house

in Asheville, North Carolina.

I came from St. Louis to

house sit for some friends

who were traveling in Europe

for the summer. The Native

American man from Southern

California came to visit with

his Cherokee brothers and

sisters in North Carolina.

He and I were discussing the

dire and worsening condition

of Earth’s environment caused

by mankind‘s negligence. Due

to pollution of land, sea and at-

mosphere, the denudation of

the rain forests, excessive fishing

of certain fish and mammal

species on land and at sea,

we are headed for Earth’s

Sixth Mass Extinction Event

in its 4-billion years of exis-

tence, he pointed out to me.

Mankind’s entire existence

on the Planet as a species

was at risk. Since our meeting

in the mid 1980s not nearly

enough changes have been

made to allay the devastating

greenhouse effects caused by

mankind’s overpopulation

and harmful advances.

Realizing back then what

happening to destroy our

life sustaining planet, my

Chumash friend recognized

the inevitable solution to

this dilemma—Mankind

will go the way of the

dinosaur; Planet Earth

will survive to begin anew.

-30-

Chris Hanch 3-18-2024

Right as Rain

 

Right as rain some will claim.

Here and who I am today the

rain has given way to sunshine

and blue skies, another right

all the same.

The right for me approaching

seventy-seven years includes

persistent aches and pain with

advancing age.

As for the forecast tomorrow

be it sunshine or rain, a surety

for me, forecast what you will,

nothing shall remain the same.

                -30-

Chris Hanch 3-25-2024

All in Good Time

 

I was here

while I was

here.

I did what

I had done,

and did not do

what I had

not done.

I began

and shall end

that which I had

begun.

And when

my time comes

without fanfare

I shall be gone

sans money,

sans possessions,

sans status

and memory—

the footprints

behind me

melting

all in good time.

            -30-

Chris Hanch 2-13-2024