"coladas" poems
My wife agreed to marriage counseling before the great divorce,
and of course, she picked the counselor. This is it; one session, one shot at redemption. I waited with bated breath for the day to arrive.
It did. We met at his office, where hope was dashed to shreds like a ship
on a coral reef, like dreams of domestic bliss made of glass and shattered on the kitchen floor with no broom to sweep them up.
We shouldn't get lawyers and go to court. We should have a funeral and sing, Rock of Ages, because divorce is the death of a family.
The room is nice and cold as ice, and he's friendly, boisterous, and bold, but here's the clincher, he wore an eye patch. Maybe he had surgery or some type of injury, but everything he said was drowned out by the voice in my head that screamed, "He looks like a pirate, and no ******* pirate is going to tell me how I should have been a better husband." I quickly scanned the room for a cage where he kept his parrot, which usually sat on his shoulder and sang old songs of the sea. I glanced at his right hand, but conveniently it was hidden by the desk. Now I was sure. It wasn't a hand at all, but a hook, that he used to scratch his *** or to spear the shreds of broken lives left over from a long day's work. His hand was probably a casualty, lost on a voyage to a shark he tried to advise.
I leaned over and whispered in my wife's ear, "Where did you find this ******* nut. Long John Silvers?" The humor eluded her like the sunken treasure did the old sea dog that sat across from me. I swore if he said, "Aye aye matey." I would smack him, and jack his ship, and maybe my wife and I would sail south to the Caribbean, not to the ride at Disneyland, Pirates of the Caribbean, but to the islands, where we would lie **** on the sandy beaches and drink Pina Coladas, or some other fruit-filled umbrella drink, until we were so drunk we couldn't see straight, and all our problems would sink like the setting sun into a brand new horizon. But the old scalawag had no pirate lingo, so the hour came and went, our money was poorly spent, and it was lunchtime, and I was bent on seafood.
Jul 24, 2024
Jul 24, 2024 at 11:31 PM UTC
There's something crazy going on these days
Down at the city zoo
The giraffes have joined the high society club
While the monkies are getting tattoos
The elephant's are packing up their trunks
And moving to the Bronx
With all the hippos on a diet
In an effort to lose their junk
The Lions have stopped lying
The cheetahs have stopped cheating
And as far as all their drinking
They're both going to A.A. meetings
The orangutans are the ones to blame
For a pyramid scheme gone bad
Left the zebras all in the red
When they lost everything they had
The crocodiles are out sunning themselves
By the pool drinking Piña coladas
While the mother snakes go on Maury
To try and figure out who is the father
Yes, things are a little crazy these days
Down at the city zoo
But if you were locked in a cage all day
Wouldn't you go crazy too?
Jun 16, 2014
Jun 16, 2014 at 1:54 PM UTC
Maybe I haven’t met you yet.
You are my beach.
A happy spot, bringing only cloudless thoughts.
A relaxing stretch that melts away the dark.
Two piña coladas, umbrella, towel, and endless sun.
You are my beach.
To dream is fun.
Dec 2, 2018
Dec 2, 2018 at 1:53 AM UTC
Christ and his apostles
had but bread and wine to share.
At that Last Supper many came
to a table nearly bare.
Gandolfini came by honestly,
his girth and double chin.
The mayonnaise he relished
May be what did him in.
He enjoyed a glass, or two, of beer
He liked his King Prawns fried.
He downed a pint of Morgan’s ***
with foie gras on the side.
Two Pina Coladas for dessert.
But surely that’s no sin.
Some speculate t’was the massive tab
That led to Tony’s end.
Jun 21, 2013
Jun 21, 2013 at 1:44 PM UTC
You are my biggest inspiration and
my sense of motivation and
I wouldn't be who I am without your hand
to guide me through all these years.
You taught me everything that I know and
you've helped me through all of the new
challenges thrown my way.
Do you remember when we sat on the steps
by the door upstairs and stared at the moon?
It felt like closure for both of us and it's
one of my favorite memories.
Do you remember running away to the beach
for ****** pina coladas and to sit in the
sand for stolen lunch breaks?
I'll never forget stuffing your trunk with bags of
clothes with that secret smile and knowing that
I won't tell if you won't.
I've never had more comfort than knowing I
had you beside me during my worst moments,
even an entire country apart.
When the time comes, I hope I can be
half the mother that you are to me.
Feb 14, 2019
Feb 14, 2019 at 2:24 AM UTC
Cheers
To the giggles
The midnight texts
The long hugs
The corny love songs
The fake rose in the bouquet
The inside jokes
The piña coladas
The bubbly sodas
The slow walks
The Monsters
The lucky charms
The twixes
The Cheerios
The piled up Mountain Dews
The squeaks and hiccups
The "Hiccup"s
The shared secrets
The references in this poem
The ones no one else will get
Cheers to our friendship.
Jan 30, 2015
Jan 30, 2015 at 8:41 AM UTC
I get these headaches that start right behind the middle of my eyebrow, swoops down into my nose and then swings up and pings off my forehead.
They call them “sinus headaches.”
The word sinus in italian means canals. And when I think of that, I can’t help but think of little gondolas with Italian men singing to me as I look at the stars. It doesn’t make the headache go away but it really makes me wish I were in Italy.
It’s funny how when things get rough, we instantly gravitate towards escaping to foreign lands. A headache certainly isn’t the roughest it could be, that’s for sure.
But escape…that’s a double-edged sword. Escape isn’t what it promises. While the idea of sipping pina coladas poolside, or meditating in a forest far away may seem like perfect, what does that really resolve? It means that whatever made you leave is still waiting for a resolution. Even worse, it probably grew in size. Bills become bills plus interest and late fees. Arguments turn from “how dare you say that?” to “how dare you leave after saying that?” When you leave, you leave behind a mess with the assumption that others will take care of you, but instead, frustrations rise and you break ties.
Whenever I get sick or nauseous, I immediately start thinking of my own personal Nirvana. I visualize the image of myself in this beautiful place relaxing and breathing in that maple tree air and hearing the river waves around me.
That’s nice, right? And that’s ok. I think we’re all allowed our mental escapes once in awhile.
But actual physical escapes? Those hurt others. And no amount of river wave will fix that.
Jan 2, 2014
Jan 2, 2014 at 7:30 PM UTC
Not too long ago but the wisdom still alluded me
And not be Frank, I was never one for the Ocean and sand.
So the salt in my lungs, your gaze into my eyes was new to me.
Scared but not enough to tell you, I took your hand.
(The waves felt good on my coarse skin.)
No TVs there, it was Remote.
The locals wagered on a pair of dice.
Coladas with two cubes a pair of ice.
I was living in, and you are my Paradise.
Everything I wanted and more, but still not willing to sacrifice
(I rebel, I rebel)
All that was asked was reciprocation.
She said” Boy just say my name, that’s all I want”
“ Show me joules. Life, Love, and Dedication.”
Told her “ stop trippin” She said ”why you front?”
(Time Passed)
All that was asked was reciprocation.
But society’s serpent wouldn’t let me. ( Boys aren’t supposed to feel)
Eve’s whisper led me to condemnation. ( No room for my pride)
Wiped the Salt water from my eyes “Just don’t forget me.” ( she apathetically pointed at the door)
The rain fell
… I’ll never forget raindrops I felt, that night I plead with you
Same raindrops I felt that first night that I kissed you.
And I cannot lie and say that I don’t miss you.
…That I don’t miss my paradise.
But – sometimes stories don’t end the way you want’m to right?
(Lost Happiness, Lingering Pain)
I miss you
Right hand to god, Left hand holding the remains of my heart.
Feb 15, 2016
Feb 15, 2016 at 4:43 PM UTC
It's time
Is what my jazz teacher yelled over Rupert Holmes singing yes I like pina coladas
and as I stretched my ligaments trying to mold my body into a new shape
in the back of my mind I asked "Am I ready?"
because
I don't feel ready.
I like it here, where I'm safe
no choices
no thoughts
no judgments
no fear
but no matter how numerous the mistakes
I must remember
there's only so many excuses a person can make
so no more excuses
It's time
to contribute to the chaos,
scream at the stars for every false promise,
sing for those who don't have a voice,
be wise when dealing with precarious choice,
grin at the world and give it my faith,
exist as I am,
begin in this breath anew,
free myself from my own expectations,
cherish the individual and the crowd; for they each have worth,
fail and enjoy every moment of it,
laugh because this is it and it is I.
get rid of the plans
I've been tired for too long,
reluctant,
unsure.
It's time
for an existence centered around love
It's time
to accept this life as it is: uniquely mine
I refuse to lose myself again
in the drifting fog that leaves me guessing at what shape I am
It's time
to live.
Feb 3, 2014
Feb 3, 2014 at 1:00 PM UTC
This is something I wrote to be read at my Cousin Rene's funeral.
Oh My! I'm zooming down the Spanish coast... dipping my toes in the Med.
But you might find me on a Cornish Campsite drinking Pina Coladas instead.
Or it could be me, arm-in arm with good pals in pre-war summers... painting Withernsea red!
To all of those who saw me through the darker days I am thankful that you helped & guided...
Oh My! ...But I'm better now... I'm free... it's been a trying time, but once again... I can be me!
And there's something else I've just realised. Do you know what? I can see!
The last few years haven't been kind to me. Apparently I hadn't been making much sense.
I knew inside what I wanted to say... being with me must have made people nervous... tense.
But now the pressure's lifted, for loved ones and for me.
I was ready - went on too long. Now I'm on the 'other side'.
From now you’ll hear me on the wind in the trees and my whispers, in the surf and the tide.
I'm pain free, light and frothy again, teetering on heels... I’m a dizzy apricot blonde... No need for me to hide...
I might even drop in on you as I'm told you can... to say a quick thanks for all who helped - or tried...
Oh My!... and yes....people to thank? It's like an Oscar speech...
there's a list....but amongst all one stands out... shines like a star...
My Chef... my Chauffeur... my Ears.... my Eyes... my Angel... my Wingman... My Ken!
By my side through bad times, the good times and all those difficult bits... Not the now - but the then...
My Multi-tasker, My Carer...My Rock... My 'Rock & Roller'...
I remember we used to jive way back when...
And as the old song goes, I'm sure ... We’ll meet again!
Oh My!
Dec 29, 2018
Dec 29, 2018 at 8:57 AM UTC
As the deposit in my shoulder begins loosening, visions of a paradisiacal oasis reveal themselves. I can almost hear the pina coladas being poured atop the pool bar’s island countertop. Cabana chairs, shaped like beds, perfectly host kissing parties within the nighttime’s ocean breeze. There are businessmen purchasing cigars outside of taxi stops and ******* within the depths of knick knack shops. Everybody’s stocking up for tonight’s white wrist band karaoke bash on the top floor of each and every all inclusive resort and nobody’s holding back any expenses.
“Where are we?” I ask.
“Dreams, visions, hopes.” replies the Preceptor.
Jun 30, 2013
Jun 30, 2013 at 5:37 PM UTC
I like personality, not popularity.
I like sweetness, not beast mode.
I like gorgeous eyes, I don't care about the "gun show".
"I wanna cuddle" is not the same,
to me, as to you.
I want conversation, not fornication.
The bad boy thing is cool,
but not being an *******
Why you have to ask me?
"Are you single?"
Of course I am...
Because what I want,
I can never find.
I want marriage, not just a slot in your weekly calendar.
So if i ask...
"Do you wanna be my boyfriend???"
Then you fit the profile.
Who would?
Escape:
"If you like piña coladas and getting caught in the rain
If you're not into yoga, if you have half a brain
If you like making love at midnight in the dunes of the cape
Then I'm the love that you've looked for, write to me and escape"
Jun 26, 2015
Jun 26, 2015 at 4:12 PM UTC
Once again lonely winter days and frigid nights
Hibernation or desperation flutter one’s mind
Oh how we long for those summer day, as we
Basked in the warmth of the sun rays,
Pink umbrella glasses of Pinna Coladas or
Coconut-flavored Malibu ***
Now it's what will be will be
Quod erit, erit!
The last bikini tan lines of summer fade like autumn leave
But here today it still lingered in one’s mind
It was a summer of secrets or was it too much exposure to the sun?
The gleaming sand upon the Caribbean shores
Summer! Oh summer where are you?
Oh summer, oh summer where you,
Please slapdash with your misty blue skies
Feb 17, 2016
Feb 17, 2016 at 1:29 PM UTC
If you like pina coladas
and doing drugs in the rain,
if you're not into Jesus
(cause you have half a brain),
if you like making love in public
or someplace quite unsafe,
we'll meet when I make parole
or I make an escape.
May 13, 2014
May 13, 2014 at 1:12 AM UTC
Those wise stars twinkled so luminously, I looked over into your eyes thinking all the answers could be found in their depths.
I wouldn't call it pathetic maybe just hopeful and naive with a tinge of foolishness. Intellectual depth was mistaken for insightfulness and the spark I thought I saw in your eyes was nothing but a dull, passionless blown out star.
The ocean breeze, salty air and Piña coladas tend to make you drastically romanticize everything (especially that hideous necklace that looked nothing like Something I would've worn).
That last night I had to beg you to stay up with me watching the Florida coast line come into view. The outline of the whole state was visible and that was when I realized I really ******* love my life. I looked over at you and you were half asleep.
Different priorities, different mind set, different ideals .You were a bland key-lime pie while I was a red velvet cake. I, Rich with prosperity and thoughts and you were content with the life I dreaded seeing myself stuck in.
Hey, if a a big house on a lake with a dog and a boat is your thing, go for it. I strive to not follow in my parents footsteps.
The day we ended I went down to Davis island where we always used to sit. The carnival cruise ship was leaving. I watched it sail all the way out into the horizon, the warm thought of you went with it.
Dec 25, 2014
Dec 25, 2014 at 2:49 PM UTC
Who can tell when you first open yours eyes what the day holds for you.
Open your eyes brush your teeth plan your day, is your day going to be a day in the life like Harold Crick the guy from Stranger than Fiction or Phil Conners the weather guy from Groundhog Day or perhaps a little of both.
I used to find ground hog day funny now I’m not so sure.
Life is bad enough sometimes without it repeating itself until we get it right and resolve the issues that make us a person other people talk about in less than complimentary tones behind our back.
However Harold Crick, (google it if you don’t know this guy) perhaps got it right accepting his fate eventually with grace as he felt his ending was poetic and just; if only we could all be so lucky to know our fate in advance and accept that all our lives end and we need to accept it.
As with Harold, by accepting the inevitable does that give us a chance for our ending to take another path not of our or anyone else’s choosing but simply a random series of events that makes things turn out the way they turn out and it is as simple as that.
Some may say life is not like the movies or soap operas. But where do you think the writers get there ideas from. If you look at comedy writers, some of the universally funny comedians such as Billy Connelly or Jerry Seinfeld take their humour from real life.
The writers of Groundhog Day must have at some stage thought what if you couldn’t move on to the next day until you got it right and then wrote the script. As Bill Murray’s character said in Groundhog Day, “I was in the ****** Islands once. I met a girl. We ate lobster, drank piña coladas. At sunset, we made love like sea otters. That was a pretty good day. Why couldn't I get that day over, and over, and over... Well Bill, life’s like that, we don’t get to choose, and that’s not funny.
Feb 14, 2015
Feb 14, 2015 at 11:55 PM UTC
I bit in to it.
Explode,
Gunpowder in a cherry stone.
The flavours fit together like a jigsaw, then drifted apart like countries on an ocean;
Heat from old coals on a young tongue that hadn't tasted the world.
Fluid concertina accordion flavour -too many colours spoil the canvas.
It's a short sentence but I've never said it.
Let something like that drop and it goes on long after it stops.
The ripples spread beyond their little puddle confines
The echoes ricochet through the fullest of minds
The gravity of the sentiment is enough to tug the moon from the sky.
Or cause the vessels of hope I've come to know as my eyes to change.
Fill up.
Martini glasses left out in the rain.
Feb 13, 2015
Feb 13, 2015 at 6:14 PM UTC
the sun will always
set and rise --
but my mind is endless
it can't decide what weather
it wants to be today
well, yesterday it was sunny
even though it was cold and rainy
it was beautiful in my eyes
with my love, it's a montauk beach
day that's perfectly sunny and warm
drinking piña coladas
but god, when im not with him
it's just like yesterday's weather.
it's so cold, sad to be outside
maybe that's the weather today,
except no rain
it's just sad
Apr 2, 2017
Apr 2, 2017 at 9:51 PM UTC
Antarctica
let loose an iceberg armada,
enough ice cubes for ninety-nine zillion
pina coladas.
So have a couple, just chill, don’t spill,
as Earth keeps warming as you know it will.
You know it’s partly your fault,
but don’t sweat the gestalt,
just add some more salt
to the glass rim of your next margarita
while you ponder the meaning of Karma.
Though we all pay the bill
for the oil and coal we drill,
you can feel fortunate if you live mid-continent
and get the Manitoba/Minnesota discount-
less firewood to cut,
an early start to your garden-
while coastal dwellers have floods in their cellars,
the Eskimos lose all their snow,
rising tides leave drowned ocean islands
and islanders with no place to go.
Nov 24, 2017
Nov 24, 2017 at 4:24 PM UTC
i like bright orange sunsets
and long walks by the beach
this helps to ease the sudden onsets
of my persistent itch
i like candlelit dinners
and staring at the stars
and you might quickly catch a glimmer
of my post acne scars
i like to sip expensive wine
and a large pina colada
if you do too you'll love to dine
with me and with my mother
so if you like orange sunsets too
jump in my arms and fall
to get to me you must get through
my itch, my warts and all
Sep 21, 2019
Sep 21, 2019 at 5:08 AM UTC
The waves are my kingdom
The sun is my throne
Yet my sand castles melt
In the sea all alone
As the shores that I tread
Come to life as I flow
Like the tide in the wake
Of today's undertow
As the mermaid horizons
Still glimmer and swim
Through my slipstreaming eels
Of electrified whim
Yet none of them sing
Of my shipwreck lament
Just lull me like sirens
Of impure intent
With bellies of plastic
And coral reef bleach
Just piña coladas
And daiquiri speech
As I'm fed to the sharks
And Laurentian Abysses
To drown in the shallows
Of ignorant blisses
To one of Poseidon's
Atlantean blood
I ride hurricane steeds
And I rise with the flood
For my bottled up message
Was hers all along
The ocean my muse
Is my blue and grey song
And onward it drifts
To a tune of the breeze
Inside is a tempest
Of her symphonies
I compose in the skies
With the calm of a storm
So come take a dip
'Cuz the water is warm
May 30, 2017
May 30, 2017 at 4:53 PM UTC
There's something crazy going on these days
Down at the city zoo
The giraffes have joined the high society club
While the monkies are getting tattoos
The elephant's are packing up their trunks
And moving to the Bronx
With all the hippos on a diet
In an effort to lose their junk
The Lions have stopped lying
The cheetahs have stopped cheating
And as far as all their drinking
They're both going to A.A. meetings
The orangutans are the ones to blame
For a pyramid scheme gone bad
Left the zebras all in the red
When they lost everything they had
The crocodiles are out sunning themselves
By the pool drinking Piña coladas
While the mother snakes go on Maury
To try and figure out who is the father
Yes, things are a little crazy these days
Down at the city zoo
But if you were locked in a cage all day
Wouldn't you go crazy too?
Jun 29, 2018
Jun 29, 2018 at 9:12 PM UTC