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Jeff Gaines Jun 2018
Hello everyone,

  I'm so very sorry … I feel horrible doing this, but I have no choice. You see, I have published my first book on Amazon/Kindle! This piece (and many others) had to be taken down because they do not allow published material to be available online for free. (Go figure) I wanted to leave the shell of the posts because I felt compelled to leave all your helpful and loving comments. (Silly sentimental, I know), but I also didn't want to just have the pieces disappear without an explanation. I feel bad enough as it is!

  I owe ALL of you so, SO much for all of your reads, love, and support. It was YOU that gave me the gumption to FINALLY get off my **** and publish! Thank you all for the warm comments, camaraderie, and encouragement! I will still be here, reading, uploading and just being the Rascal that I am. How could I EVER leave you guys?

  The book is called “The Way I See It – FictionPhilosophySoul Food” and it will be FREE for the first few days on Kindle Select, so watch for it, if you are interested. I hope that you go and grab it. If you do, I would also hope that you find it worthy, you would leave me a good review. That will help me get in the public eye! Soon afterward (2-3 days or so), it will be available in paperback. I will be building my Author page tonight (12/21/2018) and my website finished first thing Monday!

Find the book(s) here: www.amazon.com/author/jeff.gaines

Or find the book(s), and all about me, here: www.JeffGaines.world

  Soon after, I also hope to have my first novel (a supernatural thriller), called “Wanderer” available as well!

  Wish me luck!
Big, Biggest Love,
        Jeff Gaines
To say I've had some bad luck with women would be quite the understatement. Obviously, this is a metaphorical story about a girl that touched my life. To try and explain it all here would turn this from a short story into a novel!

So, read between the lines, ponder it deeply, read into it it any way you wish.
I simply hope you enjoyed it.

If you have a question (NOT to tell you the WHOLE story) about the piece or this new format of uploads, feel free to ask away!

BIG LOVE TO ALL!

~J
  Jun 2018 Jeff Gaines
Beaux
If I die in a school shooting
I'll never go home again.
My room will sit unused,
A capsule frozen in time,
A snapshot of how I was.

If I die in a school shooting
I'll never see my dog again.
She will sit at the front door
Waiting for me and wondering,
Why I never came home.

If I die in a school shooting
I'll never graduate from high school.
My yearbooks will sit stacked
Stopped short of their goal,
Missing years that should have been.

If I die in a school shooting
I'll never see my mom again.
She will sit distraught,
Planning a funeral
For a child taken from her.

If I die in a school shooting
I'll never see my friends again.
They'll sit together, missing me.
One empty seat among them,
A constant reminder of their loss.

If I die in a school shooting
I'll never see my little sister again.
She will sit through high school
Knowing I can't guide her through,
That she has to figure it out alone.

If I die in a school shooting
My school will be stained.
Pools of students lives will sit,
Blood tattoos on the brick structures,
Marks of death ground into it.

If I die in a school shooting
Everyone will wear black.
They'll send their thoughts and prayers
To a town marred by death,
Forever to be the home of a shooting.

If I die in a school shooting
Will the world change?
Or will I become one of hundreds  
Of kids who have to die?
What will it take?

If things continue this way
Children will have to live in fear.
They'll look over their shoulders
Always worried and wondering,
If they'll die in a school shooting.
The state of Florida is now home to the two most deadly mass shootings in American history. Pulse Nightclub was attacked in my city, I have friends who attend Marjory Stoneman Douglas in Parkland. My little sister often fears going to school. I'm afraid to graduate and leave her. I want to be able to protect her if something happens. I hate that we have a reason to be afraid... That it's reasonable to have these fears. I hate it so f*cking much.
Jeff Gaines Jun 2018
"Hello, and good day; yes I'm ready to order.
I'd like a Big Mac ...
Oh, I want it on a tray
and not in a sack."

"I want a large fry, freshly dropped
with very light salt.
I'll also have a Chocolate Milkshake,
though I'd really prefer a Malt."

"OF COURSE, I want it super-sized,
are you trying to joke?
Waddia mean $8.50?
Well, now I've gone broke!"

He steps from the counter
and goes to sit down.
The food smells great ...
yet still, he frowns.

"I'll need a second job
if I wish to keep eating here.
I can't binge on these gut-bombs
and still have my beer."

"I wonder if there's an employee discount ...
as I've got the lingo down pat:
I have a Filet-O-Fish and a Coke on your order ...
Would you like some fries with that?"

PLEASE JOIN THE HELLO POETRY FLASHMOB!
SEE THE NOTES BELOW!
If you don't know Temperal Fugue, go here:

https://hellopoetry.com/TF/

If he hasn't hit your page with a comment ... stand by ... He will.
He isn't only a prolific writer (916 Poems at the time of this writing) ... he is also a prolific reviewer/reader of the poetry found here.

When I first encountered him, he had reviewed one of my works with a poem of his own. I arrogantly passed judgement that it was rude to "dump" your own lyric in a review as though it were a comparison to mine ... I didn't get it ... or him.

Then I began to see him doing this in most ALL his reviews and again, I thought it was pompous and rude ... AGAIN, I didn't get it ... or him.
I also began to laugh at how he always spoke in rhymes. I even had a laugh, while picturing a guy that ONLY spoke in rhymes ... ordering Mickey D's.

THAT was the inspiration for this funny ditty.

Then, as I read yet another of his reviews in rhyme form, I began to realize that's just his was of doing it. Just as David Letterman made "politically Incorrect" humor and sarcasm his own, Temporal Fugue had made rhyming reviews his own. This led me to his page and I was really touched, moved and impressed with his concepts and ideas as well as the way he uses rhyming whimsy just like me.

And NOW I get it.

AND HIM.

BUT ...

I STILL couldn't stop picturing him going to McDonald's ...
And so this poem came to life. I hope when he (and you) read this, that he realizes that I did it in respect of him ... TOTAL respect. You have to admit, the idea, and the scene, is kinda funny. Can't you just picture the person behind the counter trying to play off the rhyming customer and act like everything is normal?

We here at HP should have a "Temporal Fugue Day" where we ALL go to McDonald's around the world and order in RHYME!

>>PLEASE<< go here! It is UNDERWAY!:

https://hellopoetry.com/poem/2548698/hello-poetry-worldwide-flash-mob-declaration/

TELL EVERYONE!

Good times.

COMMENT BELOW AND TELL US WHERE OR HOW YOU ARE GOING TO PARTICIPATE!

JOIN US!
Jeff Gaines Jun 2018
HEAR YE!
HEAR YE!

SALUTATIONS TO ALL THOSE PRESENT!

GREETINGS!

HENCEFORTH AND FOREVER MORE ...
JUNE THE TWELVE
SHALL BE KNOWN AMONG ALL HERE AT HELLO POETRY
(AND ALL POETS WORLDWIDE)
AS "TEMPORAL FUGUE DAY"

TO WIT:

You will be compelled to go to McDonald's ...
on this date and at any time.
As you step to the counter to place your order
you MUST speak only in rhyme!

You can order salads ...
a burger with cheese ...
breakfast or filet-o-fish
Choice of drink is surely yours ...
order any and all that you wish!

Just make certain
that ALL that you say ...
in the spirit of poets EVERYWHERE
comes out in a rhyming way!

Let's show them solidarity
Tell the world that we are here ...
with wisdom and harmony
finding love and facing fear.

I further compel you
to your language you must translate ...
this declaration so that all the poets in the world will know
to do this on this date.

Not just to show them our pride so fierce
and that it isn't just any rumor.
Let's show the world that poets are amazing
and even have senses of humor!

So ... Plot out your order
and what you will say.
Let's go and have fun with this.
Let's make it OUR day!

WE ARE HERE!
>>PLEASE<< read this to understand where this is coming from:

https://hellopoetry.com/poem/2548700/temporal-fugue-goes-to-mcdonalds/

I hope everyone spreads this word and does this for ourselves and for our craft. It isn't so much about Temporal Fugue, he is just the inspiration for this. It is about us here at HP and ALL the poets in the world!

We may not share views, religions or styles.
BUT we DO share the most important thing of all ...

PASSION!

No matter the subject!

Imagine the news reports of these "flash mobs", if-you-will, showing up at McDonald's AROUND the world and ordering in RHYME!

Let's bring our love for others AND our craft to the WORLD!

SPREAD THE WORD!

Good Times INDEED!

COMMENT BELOW AND TELL US WHERE OR HOW YOU ARE GOING TO PARTICIPATE!

JOIN US!
  Jun 2018 Jeff Gaines
Carina
Lying embedded in velvet gloom and night,
You and I are gazing up the northern hemisphere.
Within the sea of darkness is the stars' stained light.

Hidden inside the fabric of interstellar space,
Might be a kind of universal truth
That answers all the questions of human race.

Sensing the pull of the universe
I feel like we're lost between the infinite vastness
That none of us could ever dream to traverse.

Suddenly you get up on your knees -
Head in the sky and feet on the ground.
“Perhaps the stars only made us feel lost,
because we both wanted to be found.”
Maybe we all are just waiting to be found:)
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