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Oct 2023 · 65
Haste
Hank Helman Oct 2023
Touch becomes taste when
You're in a haste.

Fingers as food if
You're in the mood.

Slip your clothes on and dance for me.
Covering up is arousal and allure.
Oct 2023 · 442
Pickles
Hank Helman Oct 2023
First find someone you enjoy *** with.
Spoiler alert it might be yourself.

Second, absence is a bit of a relief.
Minor irritations are glue like.

Third is roughness. It's a spectrum.
Don't be afraid of it and don't be cruel.

Forth and most important is humour.
What does Charles Dickens keep in his spice rack?
The best of thymes, the worst of thymes.

So there you have it.
Life is easy.
Eat pickles as often as you can.
Are we all dead and we don't know it?
Oct 2023 · 56
Trend
Hank Helman Oct 2023
Little lies
Can often hide
The beginning of the end.

I'm too tired,
Or too hard wired,
Do lunch real soon my friend.

But if you always,
Never sometimes,
Do what you promise to,

The world will bend
And stay on trend
Honesty will win the day.
Oct 2023 · 83
ME
Hank Helman Oct 2023
ME
Me, me, me,
Mmm, me, me, me,
Ma, me, me moo, mo,me.

Then me me me , ma mo me me
A me mo, me me me me.

ME, ME, ME
ME, ME, ME,
MEEEEE, EEEEE, EEE.

Til me,me me me,
A me me me.
Lo me, ma ,mo,mo me.
Narcissism is a disease. It can **** you. Me.
Oct 2023 · 48
Us
Hank Helman Oct 2023
Us
This is us.

In the stone age people would **** a bear and then rip open its stomach to eat what the bear had recently consumed.

Romans liked watching people **** each other. In one morning alone over 10,000 people were butchered just for fun.

Genghis Khan's armies slaughtered forty million people over twenty one years.

George Bush slaughtered a million innocent people. Two hundred thousand children.

Tell me.

About love.

About kindness

About giving a ****.

Please.

Tell me.
Oct 2023 · 58
Friend
Hank Helman Oct 2023
Who can you say is your friend?

Whose name can you shout out loud?

Would they run to you?

Would they die for you?

Would they kneel and cry for you?

Who?
Oct 2023 · 96
Prepos
Hank Helman Oct 2023
How can candy be a cane,
Why is crazy not insane,

Words are washcloths,
Verbs can scrub,
Adjectives will sometimes snub.

Prepos are so lost and found,
Adverbs increase sight and sound,
Interjections yay and yippee.
And or but my conjunctivity.

Exclamation, question mark, statement in a phrase.
Is grammar always complicated
Why is long life such a maze?
Oct 2023 · 141
Bustamove
Hank Helman Oct 2023
Maja wanted to party.
Pachanga and rage,
Yodel see oooma and tunnel sing.

No alcohol she said,
A stupid juice, no switchin' lanes.

We dance tonight, she said, macarena, gigging,
A grind fest, dry ******* on a stanky leg,
Be ****** and true.

The word spread.
By 11 p.m. a thousand isadoras from Devon,
Mud sharks and ****,
Everybody smigglin' and dimplin' out.

We only have this day, Maja said,
So we bustamove and shuffle.
Tonight. All night.
And we rallied.
Oct 2023 · 262
Lizzing
Hank Helman Oct 2023
I was a chain child, a pookie,
A hellion with a smile,
Tied tight to the backyard clothesline,
No doubt, no kapp.

I got loose. Vicked down highway 2.
Two years old.
Five miles between person a yo-yo
And drunk parents.

I was laughing, lizzing,
The highway clocked up, ripping and running.

The cops finally tagged me, brought me home.
Barely remember but I do.
I was running from them.
Still.
Oct 2023 · 73
Train
Hank Helman Oct 2023
Talking ****, wasted all day,
Bojangling and licking sugar off my blueberries,
Apple peels,
Train tracks in my metal mouth
With a pizza face and party pimples.

Deadbeat dad puking panda,
Me boohoo and *****.
Meta-whining.
First world problems,
Eat me. Twelve years old
Oct 2023 · 103
Again
Hank Helman Oct 2023
We die smiling,
Absolutely sure we got away
With everything,
Until we realize,
That death is at best, a sleep,
And we will awake,
Rub our eyes,
Eager to start all over again.
Oct 2023 · 53
Eggs
Hank Helman Oct 2023
Marla ordered eggs. Scrambled eggs, toast, black coffee and two
packages of peanut butter.

I had coffee with two sugars and a plate of dill pickles.

Do you love me, she asked me.

I never think about it, I replied, so yes.

Pass the salt please she said and we ate the rest of our meal in silence.
Oct 2023 · 67
Two
Hank Helman Oct 2023
Two
Under moon's soft glow,
Love whispers in the night flow,
Two souls entwined.
5  7   5
Oct 2023 · 178
Kettles.
Hank Helman Oct 2023
In hearts, love's gentle,
Binds souls with a timeless grace,
Eternal embrace
Haiku .  Always a challenge
Sep 2023 · 55
True
Hank Helman Sep 2023
Do you right now, care less or more,
About things you love and things abhorred.

Has life been fair, have friends been true,
Or did you fade from black to blue.

Were things too hard or just a chore,
Would you do less, would you do more.

I know I tried, I did my best,
But it always felt like such a test.

Now death is neither pass or fail,
I'm not afraid, I'm not that frail.

Remember me when I am gone,
A man, a father, a waking dawn.
Sep 2023 · 107
Tad
Hank Helman Sep 2023
Tad
Amorous and difly eyes,
Her smita cheezin a toff home prize,
Proud oowee **** and roya grin,
That girl be jonesing for my twin.

I love hooya Kally. Be up.
Sep 2023 · 47
Those
Hank Helman Sep 2023
Will you count the loves you've lost,
Those who risked despite the cost.

Or have you ever dreamed a wish,
And remembered every lover's kiss.

Passion pretends to play a part
But only love can break a heart
Sep 2023 · 88
Flounder
Hank Helman Sep 2023
Have poems become a toasty treat,
Something we make a bit too sweet,
Can I really tell my friends from fancy
Polished words exchanged are chancy.

I always sense the close encounter,
Although I know my choice is flounder,
Tell me once what broke your heart,
Or is it better that I start.
Sep 2023 · 72
Palm
Hank Helman Sep 2023
What is love, this stalking lau,

A want, a wish, a whiteoaked blunder,

I fell for you sad rain and thunder,

Do not snub and shame me now,

I live to touch my palm to breast,

It seems to me I have confessed.

Is love a sin, a knot, a test?
I'm headed in a new direction. It will take time to find my groove.
Sep 2023 · 57
Nap
Hank Helman Sep 2023
Nap
We used to roam,
Free range and gallivant,
Rat tat tat down a dusty backtrack,
Smoke a deck under the galligar bridge
No jim-jams, no fear.

It was post war,
****** takin' a dirt nap,
Every hometown winner talking sweet greek,
Every man a lion-heart,
And pushing a ******* fortitude.

It was drunk talk.
Bobaloo and vintage balderdash.
No frenzy off a struggle,
Sad eyes in a cool wind,
Most go boys still shook and escared,
War pins a nightmare, no dash, no end.
Poets and Ai. Artificial intelligence is a huge opportunity. Ai can write poetry as well as Frost ever could. So how do we take advantage of this new thing. I'm experimenting with words. Finding words, making them up, using multiple languages. Ai forces me to be as creative as I can be and I welcome the challenge. Above is just my attempt at different. How about You?
This poem is what is was like after WW11 ended. It was an odd time of relief, bravado and sadness as deep as space. Wars fracture norms and make us face a version of ourselves that we didn't know existed. I was a kid. Comments welcome
Sep 2023 · 94
Damp
Hank Helman Sep 2023
In the middle of the night,
When sleep is a drug of choice,
I sometimes weep openly,
A damp pillowcase in the morning,
My oft found re-memory of you.

I cannot live without you.
I cannot die without kissing you again.
Hope and despair have finally won.
Sep 2023 · 216
Strangers
Hank Helman Sep 2023
Talk to strangers
Eye contact, a smile, a nod.

Be brave and confident,
Other people are not dangerous.

I know your story is fascinating,
Tell it with gusto, a laugh a tear.

Talk to strangers,
You have absolutely nothing to fear.
Sep 2023 · 335
Swap
Hank Helman Sep 2023
I am no longer going to be me.

I want to be my neighbour Sally.

She has agreed to discuss it,

And if all goes well, we will

Swap apartments next week.

Sally has friends.

She said they come with the deal.
Sep 2023 · 65
Text
Hank Helman Sep 2023
Him: Hey, what up?

Her: At work. Busy and bored.

Him: Come home for lunch.

Her: Naked Lunch?

Him: William S. Burroughs 1959

Her: Did you know that the title was a mistake.

Him: I know letting you out of bed this morning was a mistake

Her: Alan Ginsberg misread the phrase ' naked lust,' as 'naked lunch' and Jack Kerouac told Burroughs to keep it as the title.

Him: So come home and we will both misread the title.

Her: I won't have any ******* on so be quick.

Him: Send me a pic when you can.

Her : Kisses. Ok if we do it in the kitchen?
Sep 2023 · 107
At
Hank Helman Sep 2023
At
Can you Tik Tok a shuffle,
Facebook a thread,
Instagram a selfie,
Tweet that you are dead.

Can you strike up a conversation,
Nod at those unknown,
Talk kindly to a stranger,
Ignore a ringing phone.

Can you love a friend forever
Remember days gone by,
Reach out for a smile,
Stop searching for the why.
Sep 2023 · 52
Survey
Hank Helman Sep 2023
International Poet"s Survey

1) At what age did you first feel pain?

2) Have you ever stood in a mud puddle for longer than 30 seconds?

3) Do you, or do you wish you could, eat food off other people's plates?

4) Have you blacked out from drinking too much. More than a 100 times?

5) Did your best friend's older sister teach you everything there is to know about *******?

6) Does death fascinate you?

Results will be anonymously published. Once we reach a billion times a million, times a trillion contributors. Or two. Which ever comes first.
Sep 2023 · 52
Whisper
Hank Helman Sep 2023
You said forgive but not forget,

I torment and your tears my fret,


I pair in love but you drift away,

I've lose the path each lonely day.


I want to tend and care with love.

To hold your hand with your heart above.


Will you listen to the wind tonight,

And hear me whisper in sad delight.
Sep 2023 · 53
Tamper
Hank Helman Sep 2023
Can you cuddle a thought,
Take a hot dog to bed,
Feed fish with a hammer,
Wish the whole world was fed.

Can we dance on our heels,
Sing out loud in our head,
Or cry through the night
Holding dreams by a thread.
Bit frowny. Such is the day
Sep 2023 · 65
Virgins
Hank Helman Sep 2023
I had forgotten about making-out.
How odd.

She and I used to kiss each other for hours.

A hunger, a thirst,  a thrill unrehearsed,
Friday night couches and yes I was her first,

Hands of the blind, zippers and snaps
Clothing half off, try it this way perhaps.

Unhook a bra, the first touch a tease,
Old memories won't die, they augment and appease.
Sep 2023 · 431
Iris
Hank Helman Sep 2023
Would you rather,
Be insulted or assaulted.

Would you rather,
Be hit in the face with a wild salmon,
Or have your iris' turn bright red and your pupils white.

Would you rather,
Have loved so intensely that you could not breathe,
Your mind spun like a child's top, glee became your all day smile, you felt at one with a vast universe and a sense of awe and purpose  overwhelmed you every minute of the day,

Or have a lifetime supply of Cheetos. All you can eat.
Sep 2023 · 90
Cells
Hank Helman Sep 2023
For three billion years we all got along,
A single cell dance party chanting one song,

Constant cooperation and pulling your weight,
No time for scheming, an amazing birthrate.

For three billion years we shared and we grew,
Until one sunny day, one cell became two.

Competition now was life's driving force
Winning, the strongest, marriage and divorce.

But never forget how full it began.
Cooperation was our most successful game plan.
Sep 2023 · 283
Ways
Hank Helman Sep 2023
What have I learned
That would be of any use to you?

Hmmmm...

1)You are alone. Totally. And you always will be.
We all are.

2)The way to be kind is to first be gentle.
Train the body, train the mind.

3) Talk to strangers everyday. People you do not know are not to be feared. Engage them. Smile. Nod. Talk.

4) The moment you feel sorry for someone is the moment you begin to underestimate them.

Is that enough for now. Yes there is more. Later ok?
Sep 2023 · 65
Tinsel
Hank Helman Sep 2023
You're it,
She said,
And brushed her hair back behind her ear.

I'll give you a five second head start,
I replied
And smiled at her like a crazy camel ripped on *******.

With a lead like that,
You might never see me again,
She responded
And slipped off her *******.

Something to remember me by,
She suggested,
And let the dainty g string dangle off the end of her finger.

I will never stop looking for you,
I offered,
And held her intimacy close to my nose.

Do you believe in love,
She coaxed,
And raised her skirt up over her hips.

I believe in intrigue,
I posed,
And...
Nov 2022 · 135
Tone
Hank Helman Nov 2022
We fell in love on an elevator,
Headed straight to the stars,
Our first kiss,
At my nephew's briss
Everyone smoking cigars.

Life is ever a circus
Elephants in every room.
I"ll hold hands
Till we make plans
Your smile in forever bloom.
is it the end of the world?
Nov 2022 · 180
57577
Hank Helman Nov 2022
I am yes alone,
With cold wandering cage eyes,
My time has ended.
Remember my best moment,
Hold my hand as I smile tears.
Seppuku. Ritual suicide. The death poem was usually created just before the sword was plunged into the abdomen. Syllables 5-7-5-7-7-
Nov 2022 · 110
Red
Hank Helman Nov 2022
Red
He was assertive.
And zig zag.
Urgent.

Guiding her.
His hand firmly in the middle of her back.

He wanted to touch her.
Grab the cheeks of her ***, two bags of jam and squeeze.
Slip his fingers up and under her skirt and put two in the pink.

Buck fever.
Jelly farm her.
Finger **** her.

He closed his eyes.
Aroused.
Verminescent.

Do it she whispered.
Aug 2022 · 212
Eagles
Hank Helman Aug 2022
Can we ever sing a simple song,
Where no one smiles and hums along,
A titled tune or random ditty
About eagles eating fluffy kitties.

Or must we all be kind and chaste,
Keeping everything above the waist,
Polite and kind and wash your hands,
Blood on linen, God's wonder brand.
Hi. Think I've been gone for awhile. Does anyone know the date and time?
Aug 2022 · 214
Step
Hank Helman Aug 2022
There is a difference between,
Lost and not wanting to be found.

Lost is eating fruit loops in the park
While people step over you.

Not found in under the stairs,
Inside the trunk full of dead people's clothes
Counting five seconds between each breath,
So you can listen for mice and postmen.
Feb 2022 · 160
Money
Hank Helman Feb 2022
Listen.
Or more appropriately I'm listening.

I know you aren't happy
And you are unsure of what to do,
And no matter how many times you try
It always comes back to money,

I get it.

This weird concept of trading our time for tokens

But the best advice I can give you
Is to not follow your dreams,
Ignore your passions,
Stop worshiping Disney.

Join forces with others if you can
And make money.
Its the only way to get free,
To reclaim your life,
To do something that matters.

You are soon dead.
That's the only sure thing.
Money will liberate you from fear.

That's as good as it gets
Jingle jingle
Feb 2022 · 150
Bang
Hank Helman Feb 2022
I forgot to tie my shoes
On a Tuesday afternoon.
And I stumbled out the door,
On my way to Saskatoon.

I banged my knee and ankle
And cursed the lord in vain.
Life has so many bright spots
I really can't complain.
Is there anyone from the start up days still here?
Feb 2022 · 144
Yet
Hank Helman Feb 2022
Yet
I haven't told a man in a Santa Claus suit to *******.

Yet.

I haven't kissed a marmot on the lips.

Yet.

I haven't ridden a horse over a mountain while smoking a cigar.

Yet.

I haven't made love only speaking French.

Yet.

I haven't waded in a swamp full of alligators.

Yet.

I haven't freed someone I know from jail.

Yet


I haven't watched anyone I know breathe their last breath.

Yet.

I haven't given up on lottery tickets.

Yet.

I haven't stolen a car and raced down a country road.

Yet

I haven't stopped trying to knit.

Yet.

I haven't forgotten about making love to you in a cave.

Yet.

I haven't found any money in a ditch.

Yet

I haven't asked for help from a nun.

Yet.

I have not jumped into the sea from a tall cliff.

Yet.

I have not told you that I memorized all the poems you wrote.

Yet
Hi    Been awhile  HH
Jul 2021 · 265
Matter
Hank Helman Jul 2021
Relief is the essential,
To everything that's joy,
Our ecstasy's revealed,
When our worry is destroyed.

Matter, anti-matter,
Just look in the mirror,
There's two of you still standing,
You never need to fear.

Things work out for better
Only seldom for the worse,
One side is our fear of death,
The other the reverse.
you get to choose how you see things. Despite the rabid, snarly dog of news and the bold marketing of fear-- things are getting better. Yes they are
Jul 2021 · 449
Is
Hank Helman Jul 2021
Is
Charity is never given,
It's always just a loan,
Kindness is a favour,
Returned when we atone.
Jul 2021 · 137
Trick
Hank Helman Jul 2021
Life's about choices and soft spoken voices,
Whispered wise thoughts and a few maybe- nots,
We take a chance one day and then go the other way,
The world let's us wander and wants us to ponder.

You can change up your mind and be angry or kind,
We're not just machines, with their push button dreams,
If you don't like your path, then just do the math,
And take new directions, to new intersections,

Because time is a trick that goes by very quick,
Death's single reward is you'll never be bored.
Jun 2021 · 152
Back
Hank Helman Jun 2021
Who would you be if you could not be,
A reflection of yourself.

You'd look in the mirror, maybe get nearer,
And **** you're a cute little elf.

Or maybe its hazy and you're feeling crazy,
So you snap your fingers out loud.

And before you know it,you don't want to blow it,
You're a witch with her head in a shroud.

The thing that you can't be, the thing that is unfree,
You'll never guess how many have tried,

Is the you that you were, your past you defer,
There's no going back, it's denied.
Enjoy your day as much as possible.
Jun 2021 · 229
Compounds
Hank Helman Jun 2021
It a candy can kiss,
And mothers are grand,
The moon spins to full,
And stones turn to sand.

Then love is my lady
Her heart broken and kind,
My eyes as my witness,
Her spell has its bind.
Why is the dictionary my favourite book. hh
Jun 2021 · 141
Wait
Hank Helman Jun 2021
How trivial my needs and wants,
I'll spend an hour choosing fonts,
I'll whine and whimper woe is me,
Life is tough my friends agree.

Others wait in line for water,
Weeping losing sons and daughters,
Violence daily, a well known stranger,
Living lives of total danger.

Forgive me all my selfish thoughts
A first world man who's tied in knots,
I barely think to lift a finger,
As children shiver and death lingers
Make a donation today if you can. We need a kinder world.
Jun 2021 · 198
LOL
Hank Helman Jun 2021
LOL
Twitter tag and Insta-push,
Facebookish posts and text ambush

I know how to message you
To tap and touch, to maybe view.

I love the way you message back,
LOL and all of that.

Poetry by emoji... maybe
Except Eliot, he thinks I'm crazy
Should we have emoji in poetry...  I think we should... we should always experiment....  by the by-- thank you Eliot for setting this whole thing up.
Jun 2021 · 97
Special
Hank Helman Jun 2021
How withered, worn and weathered spent,
My love a broken heart event,
I miss us more than you or me,
Something special now set free.
A relationship ended and it made me very sad.
Jun 2021 · 279
Mother
Hank Helman Jun 2021
Can you feel it.
The tension, the fear,
The way that even strangers sneer.

Can you smell it.
The decay, the rot,
Everyone poisoned by their own thoughts.

Can you hear it.
The hate, the suffer,
We forget we have one original mother.
There is no such thing as race, except that we all belong to the human race.
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