The Gratiot County Darling

It was my dear friend: the "Howl"-ed out, foulmouthed, class act jack ass,
who taught me to brave the sex shop and giggle in its face,
to laugh at hardships known as kidney stones in the urethra of life,
to fearlessly make waves in the abandoned water park in the dead of night.

One day Big Tony will help you steal Tony's giant ceramic chicken,
thanks for the summer days, the plays, your originality, the visits,
the reminders to take life seriously but also to live it.

--Dr. Pen Name
Happy Birthday, Preston!

With More Passion Than Skill

If I am a poet,
if a poet at all,
with more passion than skill,
--then so be it,
some loved ones will still read it,
and my words that should be heard,
will find their way to those who need it.

--Dr. Pen Name

Things Fall Apart (And Into Place)

I've cherished old words important to my cultures or nation,
and mourned when they got lost in translation,
though I have found that even then they are not out of place,
and I trust,
whatever may be the case,
that if they don't find their homes,
they'll at least find their way.

--Dr. Pen Name

Skegoneill Drive

Tea cups pressed against the lips of a stranger,
sweetened by answered prayers of the foreign ones,
where our laughter with the family of 16,
awakens the neighbor's wee one.

All this only a mile away from a riot,
happy to make abrupt wake up calls to guffaws instead of violence,
keeping organics moments loud and helicopters quiet.

--Dr. Pen Name
For Billy, Tracy, And The Rest Of The Family

Where There's Smoke There's Fire

She wouldn't fuck with cigarettes but she'd butt in and butt out,
we'd blow smoke out our asses as we'd kiss on the mouth,
she went upward in smoke--
she wouldn't reroute.

Smoking out smoke and mirrors for the first time in years,
still, ash tray to ash tray,
we all burn out

--Dr. Pen Name

Son of a Gun

Something triggered premature tactics,
when I jumped the gun in a back alley,
and took all its money.

Initially when I targeted my victim,
I figured it was worth a shot.
Surely it could be a bang for my buck,
but guns wear bulletproof vests to save them from themselves.

--Dr. Pen Name

It Gets Worse Before It Gets Better

Shit-eating grin, grim gums that bleed!
I am the subtle floss that did that deed!
Better brush up before time runs out!
Time is up! Now open your mouth!

Tongue depressor at the psychiatrist's couch!
Tongue depressor sad it don't have a house!
Tongue depressor living in a popsicle pouch!

--Dr. Pen Name

Rugs & Brooms

The rugs were beaten with brooms 'cause they were too outspoken

They made a dusty escape

From a clothesline that looks like tracks of a train

They were once tied down to too many crossroads

They're fine now, back to the wash load

I will keep your cabin safe with me

If you'll let me be

--Dr. Pen Name

retroself b4 u wreck yoself (#foreveryoung)

Buzzard, buzzard--
your circle got this square.
You rounded my L7 high school heart
and ate what was left of its head full of hair.

It took less than two to shoot through my less than three.
Just when I think you're honest you emoti-con me.
One acronym, one colon, one parenthesis.

--Dr. Pen Name

Sleepyhead and the Bed Bug Blues

Muffled into the pillow,
talking in his sleep,
were the last words of a man before he was killed in his own dream,
just as he fell asleep on me,
just when he thought
he had nothing left to say,

--and I wouldn't listen, anyway.

--Dr. Pen Name

Unlike You

Please leave
a message after the censorship beep,
on the obscene home phone landline,
that's blocked by black bars,
like the leaf over Adam.

Restless and ready to be wrong,
sometimes we feel more than gone.

--Dr. Pen Name

Lyin

Those that stand tall as towers,
with bellies made of bricks
that are yellow as cowards,
will not follow their gut home when they should.

"Surely they are frightened!"

"Nah, just learning,"
said the Courageous Lyin.

--Dr. Pen Name

Every Underdog

The hand that fed us crap has heeled,

for every underdog has its day!

So we must and do believe,

that we will awake from the most beautiful American daydream,

only to realize we have made it come true,

and that this we involves not only He, she, me, and us,

but you.

--Dr. Pen Name

For Every Underdog I Know

The Arrival (NY)

So the contagious and anxious anticipation

of my Arrival's survival rivals

nice ol' reliable libel

and all its cuddly clientele of

kiss and tell and jail and gel?

...get your head out of that magazine, bab-ay!

For I have arrived!

--Dr. Pen Name

Going Through

The texts they typed out,

the ones they didn't send.

A tunnel with bad reception,
its light at the end.

The scientific hopes and theories,
what they didn't intend.

After the disasters still calling up friends.

--Dr. Pen Name

Giving Yourself Credit (And Eating It, Too)

So I made a friend a mix of things I couldn't fix,

of secrets I had hid or couldn't cope with,

that spanned from Chicago, Alma, and Grand Rapids,

yet all of it fit in a compact disc.

I'll call it my Best Of!

I'll call it Greatest Hits!

I'll call it something I should take more pride in.

--Dr. Pen Name

How Strange It Seems

How strange it seems,
to watch the people you love
watch you as you leave,
and what's more
we all grieve,
dipping arms into tears
and cleansing our sleeves.

--Dr. Pen Name

Postpartum Kids

the fountain of youth was made of mother nature's tears,

she dipped her goodbyes in the fountain for years,

she was prolonging all fate,
prolonging something great,

because goodbyes want to age!

goodbyes want to live!

she just couldn't cope with us postpartum kids.

--Dr. Pen Name

Same Street

Reality waves to
me like the tacky metallic decoration
tinsel of the 11th questionable used car
lot that sits across from the 6th run down dollar
store on Same Street in Smalltown, USA.

Grit thy teeth and smile, Ocean of Synthetic Strands!
For I know the wind forces you to wave!

--Dr. Pen Name

All The Angles

Out of ear shot,
but in the camera's eye.
Behind the scenes(' back),
in front of God's face.
Above the ivory tower,
yet below the exrement's waist.
We're side by side in plain sight of all the angles.

--Dr. Pen Name