Take to this day
As it's something new
Held innocently out
Especially for you

As the perfect gift
In what it has to give
All with the thought
Of live and let live

This day was born
On a ray of sunshine
Taken and torn
From the veil of the night

All in plain sight
So it's easy to find
This daily gift
This gift of delight

To share with those
Along the way
So they too may have
This day of all days

the more we look
the more we see
i look like you
you look like me

the less we tend
to disagree
on the little things
that are bothering

the more we talk
and get along
the more is right
the less is wrong

the more we love
the less we hate
we more or less
will find a way

the more we hold
each other up
the less chance of
coming undone

the more we look
the more we see
we more or less
will all agree

that i'm like you
and you're like me
all one big happy
family

The older that I get
The more in life I see
That I am much like you
And you are much like me
If we could only pull back the blinds
And make the past history
Try our best to get along
In turn, set each other free

Life for all its purpose
Life in all its sake
Runs much smoother when we love
Sputters when we hate
With our inner selves we all
Need to set a date
To see the candle our souls each hold
Flickers much the same

It's not that I condone
The life style that you choose
Nor do you agree
With what I also do
Can't we accept when it comes down to it
In all that we go through
That you are much like me
And I am much like you

I just got this crazy idea
Would love to share if I may
Something that's fairly easy and simple
That is sure to brighten up any ole day

It's something you carry with you
At least I hope that you do
Smack dab right there on top of your kisser
Just waiting from you to be let loose

If you haven't figured it out by now
I'm talking about your smile
It has a way of cheering you up
And those you hang around with awhile

The cost is nothing much extra
Just a little change in attitude
And once you use it, it's hard to lose it
As most people give it right back to you

Just a little something special I thought of
That broke me into smile
As I am guessing with sneaky suspicion
That you yourself are doing right now

Pretty sure it's clear
I don't belong on here
I propose a toast to all the poets
That I hold dear

Who can take a single line
Run circles round all mine
And not just once for fun
But every single time

Not much of a mystery
Well at least it ain't to me
With a future not so bright
And a past that's history

I'm going down with this ship
But by now I'm used to it
I may not be that deep
But I'm too dumb to quit

So I'll throw out another line
Only because it rhymes
I've done it more than once
As I'm doing it this time

I do have to admit
This poem won't hurt a bit
And that is just a shameless plug
To give this poem an end

There's some stories old men tell
Just so they can hear themselves
Always holds a certain ring
With their own brand of embellishing

Around the stove in the old country store
If they've told it once, they've told it more
Look you straight in the eye
Before their pants are set on fire

They'll have you staring in belief
That what you see is reality
Look at you with the straightest face
So as not to give themselves away

Listening to all the old men
Toss out the line to reel it back in again
Like a Salty dog on a fishing boat
Keeping the tall tales they tell afloat

There's some stories old men tell
Fooling you as they fool themselves
Always holds a certain ring
With their own brand of embellishing

Let me start by saying we had some times
A tad bit crazy but the best in life
Not at all possible without her and I
Now all I want to do is sit and cry

That was so many years ago
Wishing in hindsight that I had known
The older I'd get the more I'd hang on
To what we had that is now long gone

"She's the girl I can't remember to seem to forget"

I pass the park of our first kiss
The cool mountain lake where I taught her to fish
Then afterwards we skinny dipped
Bringing memories back of all we did

Friday dances till we thought we'd drop
Saturday movies holding hands in the dark
Sundays at the soda shop
These are the things I think about

"Of the girl I can't remember to seem to forget"

Though the years have been good to me
She still invades my memory
Yesterday is as clear as can be
Playing games in its tease

The flashbacks that don't seem to quit
Guess I best get used to it
Taking all I have till there's nothing left
Ever since the day I met

"The girl I can't remember to seem to forget"

Hello, Mr. Misery
Not happy with anything
Once had a song he no longer sings
As life has lost all of its meaning

Hello, Mrs. Waves Goodbye
That's all she ever seems to do in life
Questions the meaning as she wonders why
She only gets the chance to say goodbye

Hello, Mr. Know-It-All
Do you actually think your're better off
Going through this life alone and all
Thinking you're the only one to make the call

Hello, Mrs. Like The Wind
Blowing back and forth then back again
Never knowing where you're going to land
With no idea if you even can

Hello, Mr. I Don't Care
About anything that goes on out there
Don't dare to go anywhere
Best to just sit around and stare

Hello, Mrs. I Give Up
With all of it has clearly had enough
All she can say is no thank you very much
Wish the rest of you all the luck

The truth it has eluded me
Your promises are new to me
I don't know who to believe
But remember I do vote

Your cheating ways we'll overcome
Your lying days have made us numb
What you eat we get left over crumbs
I jot this down in note

You once were for the little ones
Your crazy glue has come undone
You've left behind what you once loved
A country in mid choke

You steal you cheat you swear you cuss
You think you know what's good for us
You miss the point we missed the bus
I wish we would have known

That you are one big marching band
We placed so much into your hands
You make excuses at our demands
As you wave from the boat

Wolf in sheep's clothing makes you a liar
Selling dreams like dope with us as buyers
Dragon smoke we breath your fire
As we take another ****

Hold on to what you've got by any means
As you take out the trash of our lost dreams
What little we have left it seems
How low will you go

To save yourself as we all drown
Your in your bubble inside your town
You hold us up to shake us down
But remember we do vote

Please allow me to introduce myself
In case your new to the scene
I am the thought that brings on the doubt
At the edge of all your dreams

I am lost confidence in the making
With deception on the side
The shiver in the shaking
The turning over of time

I am the spot closest to the end
When you have no where else you can turn
The front door to the school of hardknocks
When there's a lesson needed to learn

I am the dust that's on the shelf
Of your life's ambition
The torn out page if nothing else
Of the part that you are missing

So please allow me to introduce myself
Just in case your new to the scene
When it comes down to it above everything else
I am all you and you are all me

here comes the buzz
here comes the feed
don't bother with facts
there's really no need

if you're looking for stories
to sensationalize
if you need entertainment
just fill it with lies

and where we are going
is anyone's guess
as we fill in the byline
with anonymous

saying we heard it from sources
we can not confirm
but it still is our hope
you believe every word

though you may have your doubts
about what you just read
we've still placed that thought
inside of your head

Often people ask me
What it is I do
Poet of the times
Purveyor of the truth

Peeling back the onion skin
Carving at the rhyme
Pouring drinks of imagery
Squeezing out the line

Taking out the sickle
Knocking down the weeds
Till I uncover the beauty of
Hidden treasures underneath

Often people ask me
What it is I see
In the ink of illusion
Known as poetry

I say the line of work I'm in
Suits this poet fine
Where so often I catch myself
Working overtime

Mike Hauser
Mar 2, 2013

Hello Poetry,
It's me, I'm here                                                        ­                                                                ­ ­                    
Apparently someone should have locked the door
Then my likes would not have snuck inside
Were you not told?
Were you not warned?

I'll try to make our time together
As painless as painless can be
But if you develop a twitch, the slightest of tics
Don't blame me
Blame the keeper of the key...

Floccinaucinihilipilification
Is what I strive to write
Something so rare with finesse and flare
That will open up any minds eye

A poem that celebrates the beginnings
And lets go gracefully of the end
A poem that when it is written
Will lift the weary heart of man

That when you open up life's pages
Here is where you'll find
Floccinaucinihilipilification
In all that it is that I write

i found out
some time ago
if you want to move fast
you must first do slow
after awhile
pick it up a bit
just make sure
you never quit
even when
times get hard
and you know they will
it's in the cards
take to heart
this timely notion
never quit
your forward motion
no matter if
it's fast or slow
hang on tight
and don't let go
there is no secret
to this life we live
don't concede
and never quit

You take your little lie
Dress it up in white
Clean it up a bit
Then start believing it

Would you know the truth
If the truth bit you
And would it leave a mark
Upon your hardened heart

If on it you shine a light
Does it prove to not be bright
Try and take itself aside
Bleach sharpened teeth a pearly white

Put on some darkened shades
So as not to give itself away
Hate to break it to you
But we all see that it's not true

is it ignorant to know the answer
is it ignorant to know the truth
is it ignorant to want to share
my beliefs with the likes of you

is it ignorant that those beliefs
differ from this world of loss
is it ignorant to heed the sound
when you've learned to count the cost

is it ignorant in the land of plenty
to let so many go unfed
whether food for the stomach
or for knowledge of the head

is it ignorant to know and see
what the hardened heart won't accept
is it ignorant to want to keep
this world away from ignorance

is it ignorant to see the plan of man
for the ignorance that it is
is it ignorant to raise my hand
and say love is where i'll make my bed

With the day after Christmas
We return to the normality
Of me not looking at you
And you not talking to me

With hands deep in our pockets
Holding tight the spare change
Where we don't loose what little we've got
Or give too much away

Where all that is seen
Is the blind destiny
As I climb over you
On the rung of what's in it for me

With the day after Christmas
We're back to where we were
Not trying to be
Such good boys and girls

Where a grudge I unwrap
And think bad about you
Wait a minute that
Was the day before too

Where we take peace on Earth
And good will towards men
And pack it away
For another year

Where the Government
Sends us back to the war
With no earthly idea
Of what we're fighting for

Where we don't listen
To the cries of the children
As all of this happens
The day after Christmas

As if you didn't know
I found this poem
Begging outright
On the side of the road

With a sign of the times
Will work for the food of a rhyme
So I picked it up
And took it to lunch

Where over alphabet soup
We decided what we could do
And how we could help
Each other out

As I had the rhyme
In need of a line
And this poem had the place
In which it could lay

So our soups we slurped
In the mixing of words
Rhyme after rhyme
One spoon at a time

When the poem had its fill
I paid the bill
Both happy we helped
Each other out

As we stood outside
Hugged each other goodbye
That's the last that I saw
Of the poem and its sign

I put the dull side to my wrist
Call it a practice run
Wondering if I will be missed
The day the deed is done

You may call it what you like
I call it, had enough
It may look a lot like suicide
But what it is, is freedom's road

It don't much matter where it goes
I only know of where I've been
And there I hope against all hope
I never do go back again

So I place the dull side to my wrist
And call it a practice run
All the while wondering if I'll be missed
On the day the deed is done

If you need any proof that I'm funny
I come to you with a laugh track
You can borrow from me till you're red in the knee
Then after the laugh you can give it back

Because the jokes that I tell are quite funny
Well at least they are in my head
Swirling behind my eyes trying to find the punchline
Till they spill out with the last laugh

Say have you heard that I'm funny
By now I'm The Talk of the Town
To make it more simple just call me Comedy Central
As I continue to wipe tears from this clown

Some people say I'm a happy guy
Just don't call home and ask my wife
Some things in life are best left be
And it might be best if you don't know me

Like everyone else I have my faults
That I share for free no matter the cost
Happy go lucky is mostly my mood
Then I get home to a change of attitude

To me it is a mystery
How I treat the ones I love is hard to believe
Should they not be the ones I give the most
My joy, my laughter, my heart, my soul

Searching for answers to questions of wonder why
I treat those I love the most, the way I do in life

i'm more up
than ever down
far more a smile
than a frown
if there's a jump
i'll take the leap
with all of this
...a part of me

if there is laughter
to be heard
i'll dig and dig
till it's unearthed
less with answers
than questioning
foot loose and free
...a part of me

i'm more lost
than could be found
sometimes in
most times out
shallow at both ends
not too deep
quite swimmingly
...a part of me

crooked lines
straightaways
my road you'll find
times misbehaved
finders keepers
losers weep
all this time
...a part of me

with less goodbyes
and more hellos
the more of me
you get to know
the more you see
in word and deed
the more you'll want to keep
...a part of me

This is a really good poem you will find
Having the perfect number of lines
That's not too deep where as you'll over think
Or one that's too vague that will put you to sleep

A really good poem I've written this time
Knows what it's doing when it comes to the rhyme
With just enough hidden to have you wanting more
Loaded with action so you'll never be bored

This really good poem is a lot like fine dining
A seven course meal laid out in its rhyming
Holding you captive from beginning to end
Making you wonder how without it you ever could live

With this really good poem you can see I'm not lying
As you read over it once getting ready for twice
Being impressed with its rhythm and flow
This is a really good poem just so you know

When you take your last and final gasp
In the very spot that you last sat
And they empty your pockets of all you have
I wonder what they'll find

Will it be a lot of fluff and lint
Meaningless stuff on what you spent
Your hard earned dime, your last good cent
What will you leave behind

Is that how they will remember you
The pocket stuff that they pick through
How much will stand in the truth
And how much will be lies

Think about it now before you drop
With what will you fill your pockets up
Will it be more than enough
To get you to the other side
When you leave all this behind

Is it already that time of year again
Seems like yesterday
I took down all the Christmas lights
And packed them all away

So here I am pulling them out again
And what do you think I find
They must have had a wrestling match
As it's a mass of tangled lights

After an hour or two I'm about through
From pulling one strand at a time
Where I also find in their box fight
They punched out each others lights

This really can't get any better
Merry Christmas to me
As I head to the store for a bakers dozen or more
Under the guise of buy one get one free

Back home just in time to hang the new lights
I find the 22 foot ladder
Climb up to the top in time to remember I forgot
To first empty out my bladder

With my job through in the Loo and back up on the roof
Looking down at the lights on the ground
Of course in my haste I forgot to take
Them with me on the second go round

So it's back up the ladder with lights and empty bladder
As the sun is sinking low
And here I am now with more of a scowl
Than a Merry ** ** **

Doing the best that I can with what little light there is left
When not far off I hear the sound
Is it Santa I wonder, no it's coming thunder
Just as I notice my ladder on the ground
And my family out of town
With little doubt here comes the scowl
Merry Christmas to me now

** ** **...

Remember when you're here
To keep it to a whisper
Cause that girl over there
Has the biggest ears

If you get a gander
You'll know what I mean
Up, down, over, and under
She hears everything

Whatever are the secrets
Close as they've been kept
They are soon to be let loose
Cause her ears are big

For the best reception
They come in sets of two
When in your general direction
She points them both at you

Don't you say a word
Show no earthly fear
Whenever she comes near
Because she's got Big Ears

When they start a-flapping
Get out of the way
Which too often happens
When lips have their say

There is no other way
To make it any clearer
Just you take a look, you'll see
She has got Big Ears

Why do we write the way that we write
Write the way that we do
Some with visions of fantasies
Others with smidgens of truth

Why add grandiose to all this
Rather than let the words choose where they're going
Why at times a hit with a miss
All for the sake of the poem

Why turn life upside down
Then spin it around inside out
Why take what little's left of the mind
Adding the fragrance of doubt

Why do it time and time again
Crossing the line more than once
Why can't we leave well enough alone
All for the sake of the poem

Who hasn't tried to reach for the sky
All through the ink of the pen
Who doesn't know it can't be owned
But it can be given

Who takes the wonder of the word
And in their minds eye watches it grow
So the simple poet in us all may be heard
All for the sake of the poem

Me and Mary Lou
Were married right out high school
Her soon to have a baby
Me with nothing much to do

Didn't get much of an education
From the high school social scene
Life is now one big social frustration
If you know what I mean

Got a job on the dead shift
Down at the Jiffy mart
When Mary Lou went to labor
Emptying out her shopping cart

Got the call at 2am
Telling me I had a boy
I went straight to isle 3
And bought him his first of many broken toys

Cause broken toys prepare us
For the book of broken dreams
That most of us later in life
Tend to sit and read

Got the call not that much later
Telling me Mary Lou had died
Pretty shortly after that
My boy let out his first of many cry's

I wish I could have been there
Though not much I could have done
Except to give last minute comfort
To the mother of my son

Still down at the Jiffy mart
What's a man to do
With a now 2 year old by your side
Sitting on a stool

He loves to hear the stories
Of when his mom and I were young
But he always adds the saddest end
When he asks why she is gone

I tell him she's still living
Only now she's in our hearts
I'm not sure that he believes me
As that's when the tear drops start

But life goes on as always
Like the purchases that I ring
With both us boys missing Mary Lou
If you know what I mean

If I asked
would you tell me
Could this not be
the strangest dream

I saw a man
in this city park
Standing alone
where we now are

He held a banner
in his hand
Love was all
the banner read

A crowd of people
passed him by
Some of them spat
while others cried

He stood silent,
he stood still
Justified
by Love's free will

Knowing full well
men are taught to hate
Bend the rules
and the soul will break

He stood his ground,
days on end
Not once gave out
not once gave in

He knew a few
might hear him out
That's all it takes
to turn the world around

I ask you now
what do you think
Is this or is this not
the strangest dream

What if we took

The nip out of the freeze

The heat out of the flame

The longing in the need

The dullness to the same

The smile that's in the laughter

The recognition to the name

The happy of the ever after

The challenge of the game

The beauty in the flower

The bending of the knee

The minute in the hour

The anguish in the plea

The warmth that's in the helping hand

The feeling in the gift

What if we took away this and more

What all would we have left

Who let this man out on the streets again
Foolishly without his brain
The mistake was mine leaving my wife behind
You married men all know what I'm saying

Most times when I'm out I just wander about
In some sort of manly daze
Shuffling along, no idea of what's going on
Surprised that I'm even awake

Back home where I live as I dig in the fridge
Wondering why I'm there in the first place
I could stand for hours in front of the hidden food tower
With what I need right in front of my face

Out to dinner quite frankly I stare at a menu blankly
Then speak up and say I'll have what she has
Unless it's too foreign to me with no clue of what it could be
That's when I turn and ask, do I like that

I try not to let thinking hinder my thoughts
While they're being loosely formed inside of my head
As they make their way, which could take calendar days
Heading to the South end instead

And let's not even talk about numbers
Faces I know but never the names
Yes, where would I be besides wandering around aimlessly
If I didn't have beside me, my lovely wife...The Brain

My hair is not falling out
It's just turned around
Instead of growing North
It's now flowing South

Out of my nose
And off my ears
Plus other locations
I'll not mention here

I'm seriously thinking that it's time
To close down this production line
The constant flow in the making of poems
Has taken is toll on this poor soul

As the machinery sputters and coughs
Tossing it all against the wall
24 hours a day with so much rhyming at play
The time may be now as the hour grows late

I keep looking for the freedom within
A man without his paper and pen
Holding out on this self doubt
Should I take it now while I still know how

As I head for the door to shut out the lights
After giving my all as it's taken all of my life  
The only thing now left to be said
Is I don't have the courage...  
could someone else please throw the switch

Do you compare yourself to others
In the measure of your worth
Can you not stand on what you have
Yourself over time incurred
Is that so unheard

Do you look and see that at least
I'm doing better than them
Is that how you measure
The standard of a man
What little worth you have

Why is the putting down of others
Your favorite way of pick me up
Measuring with the negative
Will never add up to the sum
In the measure of a man

My girl comes on anew
As January pushes through

All the love I could ever need
Given me, February 14th

In April it is true
I will always be her fool

And if I May say
Every day is a holiday
That I am in love with you

Like the 4th of July
She brightens up my sky

With October drawing near
There is nothing I have to fear

At November time
I'm so thankful she is mine

On my December list
She is the perfect gift

And if I May say
Every day is a holiday
With our love where it is

As our States go into a state of confusion
In the passing of their passing of laws
Saying now that all their fine citizens 
Can freely lay out and get ******

As a matter of fact haven't they been doing that
For years if my minds working correctly 
I guess the difference now when they lounge around
They can freely puff on it legally 

So let's all take the bongs out of hiding
And add some fresh liquid to it
Invite over the neighbors you've never talked to
To share in a neighborly spliff 

It'll certainly make everyone happy 
When we come together and roll up a fatty
Don't worry if to this party you're a newbie
Here take a hit off this doobie

We'll order out pizza
And crank up Netflix
Watch My Little Pony 
And laugh and laugh and laugh and laugh and...

Wait...now where was I? Oh Yea!

So let's take all the bongs out of hiding

Hold on...have I already said that?
Dude, this is freaking me out!  Lol!

Oh okay, here we go...

You can now grow your own
On your very own farm
But instead of deep in the woods
It can now be your front yard

Of course all the neighbor kids 
You'll have to watch
As they pass by your place 
And pick from your crops

So then you'll have to invest
In a scary guard dog
To keep them at bay 
And out of your plot

But of course you'll be ****** 
And forget that he's there
Where he'll end up hungry
And start eating his share

There goes your profit 
There goes your crop
Plus all the time you'll spend behind the dog
With a baggy waiting for doggie do do drops

But then again the government
May not let you grow your own stuff
As you wait for the F.D.A.
To authorize all your drugs

And we all know when you get
The government involved
Bureaucratic common sense
Too often gets lost

Maybe this legalization thingy
Is not the best of ideas
Things seemed to run smoother
When we all kept our *** hid...