Oct 13

A new chapter began in the Life of Tony Boy in October. His Daddy got out of prison after spending over three and a half years away. Tony was 2 months old when it all began. We kept a picture of his Daddy in the living room and talked to Tony when he ask about the picture. His Daddy and I kept in touch by letter, but that is a different story.
A couple a days after Tony’s Daddy, (TD), arrived back in Twin Falls, we met at the City Park. We were on the Court House side and TD was on the other side. We started walking toward each other and when Tony was about 100 feet away from his Daddy, he started to run. Tony ran and jumped into his arms. I never saw any thing like that before and did not imagine that would be their first meeting. I must admit that there were tears in my eyes. It was as if they had been apart for just a few days.
For the next three hours, the two of them ran, jumped, wrestled around, and just had a lot of fun. It was really great to see them going hand in hand around the park. Me… I sat in my chair and took it easy for a change. If you have read some of the other stuff about Tony you know we spent a lot of time at the park. Several times I heard Tony say, “I love you Daddy.” I found out later that TD got rather misty but he kept it inside. I guess that comes from trying to be tough for the last few years. He did get stabbed 5 times in Boise and was moved to Orofino after that. But that is another story.
It was a little awkward for TD the first few times. How do you handle a rambunctious 4 year old when you haven’t had the experience before? TD was a quick learner. He observed how I handled Tony and used the same methods.

So for a month now we get together several times a week. Sunday we went to lunch at Addison West. Tony was wired and wanted to play. A couple sitting in an adjacent booth apparently observed the goings on and had a bit of fun with Tony when they left. The lady started to leave and turned around and said, “You sure are a cute little boy.” Well I can’t argue with that.
I will add more to this as time goes by. Tony is sitting here wanting to go to the park. Soooo,,, a guess it is time to GO TO THE PARK.

I’m back. Did not make it to the park. Low blood sugar hit and I had to cope with that for a while. We did get to the grocery store later. I was thinking about second chances. In conversation with people over the years I have said, “what is done is done and there is not anything you can do to change it. It is what you do with today and the tomorrows…. that will make a difference.” I wrote a piece called “Jail (Redemption)” about the time TD was in jail. Some young folk I have talked to are rather surprised to find old dudes like me can think this way. It all boils down to this. I am just a beggar trying to show another beggar where to find the Bread of Life. I would be in deep yogurt if it were not for redemption.

It may not be too surprising, maybe it is
But the question I field the most in high school
Has nothing to do with calculus, nothing to do with biology
Hell, it doesn’t even have anything to do with colleges
People most want to know if I’m Chinese, Japanese, or Korean

Sometimes, when they think they’re funny
They like to pull their skin back to thin their eyes into slits
And their friends erupt into prepubescent sidekick laughter
And I’d laugh right along
Not because I was a prepubescent sidekick
But because those jokes didn’t bother me
That much

The first person to ask me that was a black kid who maybe stood 6 foot
As a freshman
Wearing his new LeBron jersey with the Miami Heat logo plastered in front
Complete with Air Jordan’s and official NBA socks
He asked me politely with his head bowed
Maybe a bit too low
I think I saw him snicker, but I was too naïve to be sure

Well honestly bro, I know which one I am
But I can’t tell you the difference between the Chinese, the Japanese, or the Koreans
Or in some of your cases, the Chinks, the Japos, and the *****
Cause’ even if I could, it wouldn’t matter
I’ve seen some of you ignorant ******* taste Sushi
and widely proclaim it as the weirdest Chinese **** you have ever tasted
Sushi comes from the Land of The Rising Sun, fyi
And one would think that you Americans would know more about the country
You guys basically nuked 65 years ago

But let me tell you about being Asian
Let me tell you about the ridiculous Asian accents done by ignorant classmates and even friends
Let me tell you about teaching simple words to the curious
Only to discover they’re really just interested in learning foreign swear words
C’mon kids, there’s Google translate for that garbage

Let me express the frustrations and embarrassment when you’re young
and only good at counting thus far
Yet you already speak the English language better than your parents
I used to always insist on leaning over my mother’s lap
So I could holler into the speaker at McDonald’s drive-thru

You guys want to rip me on my own driving too
Well I got styles yo, just like my hair
I got my Tokyo Drift, my Jeremy Lin, my Mario Kart
Or my turn signal on for the last five miles
And once you step into that high school everyone,
and I mean everyone, thinks you’re good at math and
expects you to give out answers in bulk like fortune cookies
You all think that I know the clever tricks
that Asians use for their grade-point-averages
Well, I have a C in AP calc
They say A stands for Asian
Well, does my C stand for, Caucasian?

Did ya’ll know that every year, my Swim team would travel upstate to Pekin High for a meet
And until 1980, they were known as the Chinks
And every time their football team scored a TD, a white kid dressed in Asian gear
Would bang on a gong while some players and fans would bow solemnly?

And when my boy Jeremy was dubbed by your boy LeBron
You guys all laughed and jeered when ESPN was headlined the next day with the phrase
“***** In The Armor”

For a while, I felt a shame for being Asian
I would express my private desires to be White or Black if I had the choice
Drawing the patient lectures from my parents that were admittedly, in poorly spoken English

Even now these so-called friends would still rib me about my ethnicity
This is where colleges come in kids
And yes, I got into a great school
But it is not the purpose of my life to get good grades, good colleges, or
satisfaction from my dad
I only strive to do what you all strive to do
and that makes me as American as you all
So it would be fitting for me to address the jury the way I am about to
Therefore to all you calc cheaters and arrogant good drivers,
to all of the fake friends and prepubescent sidekicks
*******

It's the lights, the crowd,
the fight, the brave,
the proud.
The two a day practices in pads in the heat without a single cloud.
Its the lines, the grass, end zones, and the field.
The offense, the defense,
The sword and the shield.
The heart, the hard work, determination, the glory.
The present that will become your kids' bedtime stories.
The storm, the during.
The euphoria after,
The before with the fear, practices and learning.
The sacred flag you wear on that helmet,
It's your cleats, your pads, and the gloves.
The tackles, the picks, the runs, TD's and the hugs.
That air that you inhale and the h2O in your cup.
That feeling of pride, knowing you'll never give up.
Cause you came to do work, and get a taste of that winning heaven,
We'll see the conclusion,
Bring out your 11.

…These men are worth your tears:
You are not worth their merriment.

-Wilfred Owen, “Apologia Pro Poemate Meo”

When that loudmouth on the wireless machine
Alludes to Western Civilization
What does he mean? Paradise Lost? Probably not
Nor Saint Paul speaking on the Field of Mars

The Kalevala, Hagia Sophia
With its pendentives lifting up our prayers
Horatius fighting to defend his bridge
And Wilfred Owen dying bravely on his

Lord Tennyson and Idylls of the King
Chapultepec, Henry V, Becket
The paratroops at Arnhem, Saint Thomas More,
His King’s loyal servant, but God’s first

The Stray Dog poets of Saint Petersburg
The brave last stand of Roland at Roncesvalles
Lewis and Tolkien and glasses of beer
Montcalm and Wolfe on the Plains of Abraham

Hildegard von Bingen, Siegfried and the Rhine
Magna Carta, HMS Hood, the Thames
The Grove of Daphne, “The Old Rugged Cross”
Beatrix Potter and her little pet rabbit

El Cid, Anne Frank, John Keats, Saint Benedict
“I Have a Dream,” Dostoyevsky, and Greene
Viktor Frankl, Dag Hammarkskjold, and Proust
Good Chaucer’s naughty pilgrims telling tales

The Gettysburg Address, Willie and Joe
Stern Saint Augustine of North Africa
Wodehouse writing a jolly bit of fun
Saint Corbinian and Bavaria

The ancient glories of Byzantium
Pius XII contra the bombs and lies
The 602nd TD Battalion
Saint Joan, the Prado, and Robert Frost

And far, far more.

When that loudmouth on the wireless machine
Alludes to Western Civilization
What does he mean?

Was that the Cream which you used to Enjoy
Of Four Sticks seasoned to your Destiny?
How Thoughtful be this State of your Deploy
For Good Arm's Purpose reach your Harmony
And once the Friend - though un-known Titles be
Play this growing Suffrage on your Best Mind
For your Honour's Prevail; Which we can see
Why Un-Holy Mouths must be copped behind
Dive, Honour, Dive! That be Support un-furled
As Stock-Toned Pillars coat this selfless Plead
To misunderstand Sane Meanings up-turned
Else sate our Puddings with Un-Salted Mead.
And the Youth, inspired, still makes Amends
Such would be you which Guilded Growth depends.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXRW5nnb4VQ&feature;=youtubegdataplayer

The most aware voice of my generation. If you like David Foster Wallace or Mark Strand then etc..... Take Chuck P's "Fight Club" and send it through the shredder of the tradition since, say Shelley, add some good science and dialectical thinking and you have Timmy (well,  one part of TD's voice, as there is much more) Please check out his culturally & historically significant poems out. Please.

Don't get me wrong, I love this site, but we could be pushing the paradigm.
So here's the suggestion: I have posted five links to songs I enjoy listening to.
If you like my earlier work, you probably will like the songs too.
So, just pick one, and post a poem as a comment at the bottom of the page.
I will post a response poem, and anyone who wants to post a response after that can.
No comments, just response poems.
If this sounds like something you might be interested in,
well then listen, and write and post.

Hopefully we can turn this page into a deranged adventure.
Thank you for reading.

TD

I never thought I’d be one of those people
the ones who sit in coffee shop's on Bay
readied note pads in hand, sitting with engraved pens
bought by mothers with high expectations
of their child drawing out the new future

But here we sit, a collective sum
drawing out pathetic fallacy’s
peoples right arms
someone else's future in poetic prose
finding details in the blur
of business men rushing past
so green is a theme in these woods

Grande Decaf 2 Sugars 2 Milk
and a shot of espresso
I stayed up late finishing a politics paper
What’s keeping you up “Todd of TD Bank”
Your extravagant 2 bdrm 2.5 bth on Bloor?
Or the realization your wife cheated on you
with a younger college drop out
i don't actually care Todd
i just want to write a new **** poem

Satchels hang from wooden chairs made by moroccans who get paid bottom dollar
I sit drinking over the sweat of latin americans picking coffee beans in a summer heatwave
the music plays to mask the confusion i feel here
displaced
my sperrys muddy and unkept
i am a large flaw in this small system

i'll keep my pen gliding
finding the answers to my questions
hoping when my words meet they shake hands in agreement
they are thoughts but not entirely
thoughts are questions short lived
and often unanswered

it turns out theres no answers in my silver pen either
engraved with an edgar allen poe quote
to a poem my mom never bothered to read
she wants me to draw a future
yet doubts me in every step to achieving one

When it rains, it pours,
with lives of joy.
It'll wash away all the pain.
Also, when it rains, i should be walking in the rain with my girlfriend with my own umbrella.
That's why I bank human at TD Bank. America's most convenient bank.

Anonymous.

O, craftfully carved soapstone and
alabaster visage, what that you knew
of all of the gentle dreams I'd plan'td;
a green garden in which our love might grow.

O, that only I could demonstrate to
you how wondrous together we could be,
spirits entwined and bound as thread on *****,
if only I could charm you to love me.

Such things are correctly known to be dreams -
for circumstances - and great many fears -
Forever, I'm trapped in gardens' green,
stuck to merely casting you longing leers.

Yet ultimately, I'm sure that I would
love you more dreaming than in waking would

We look unceremoniously
at our heart's dark corner
we weep in silence. What are we
harsh, mean, absurd? Seldom tender?

For another life we seem
mindlessly to hanker after
while our best dream
we leave behind-- what grievous error!

ByPat Flanagan

    06:00, 7 MAR 2017

Brid Smith has also demanded the Bon Secours make a complete apology to the victims of its notorious mother and baby home in Tuam, Co Galway.

The nuns remained silent in the face of national outrage over the child-dumping scandal which Taoiseach Enda Kenny branded “truly appalling.”

I used to ask myself?
Is Lucifer the bad guy
When his name just means
Illuminated like the third eye
O my
Did he really just say that?
Yeah but God don't have my back
God is indoctrinated from dogma
I'm spittin flames hotta than lava
Standing next to the father
Gold breasted iron plates
Yeah gotta celebrate mentally
Spiritually my birth happened accidentally
Born into world of confusion
Say God is love bit all I see
Is wicked constitutions prostitution
Everywhere we getting hoed out
Got the government rapping us
Every time we shout
Nobody wants peace really want War as ******* soar
Use the eagle for peace
But the eagle never has peace
Tucked away wisdom then have the nerve
To Sat God is everywhere
How? Wen I'm seeing death everywhere
Not one script where Satan's
Holding oppression in there
They say he was the fall of man
Because man began
To understand life and creation
Change your station
Cuz I ain't backing down
This is a sho ground temples of hidden doom
Shield for the wombs
People don't even wanna wake up
To the facts that the bible is our main rival
They preach holiness but the mainsones that's fit for survival
**** td jakes Joel osteens fake *** creflo
Here's a gun for ya temple
Spirits in awe cuz of what I saw
And say what message telepathically lay
In my subconscious sick of nonsense
I'm begging for mercy
Like Percy
til the day I die ill remain in knowledge never thirsty

There is a PDiddy in every hustler,
A Mitchelle Obama in every lady,
A Barrack Obama in every child,
A Micheal Jackson in every singer/performer,
A TD Jakes in every preacher,
A Maya Angelou in every poet,
A Napoleon in every soldier
A Mother Theresa in every little girl,
A Henry Ford in every mechanic,
A Micheal Jordan in every basketball player,
A Picasso in every artist,
A Tupac in every gangster,
A Martin Luther King in every activist,
A Usain Bolt in every sprinter,
An Oprah Winfrey in every presenter,
An Einstein in every intelligent mind.

Greatness lives in each and every one of us
In whatever we do, whoever we are
wheresoever we're come from or go.


©️IB-Poetry
2/27/2018

Kansas City Cheifs Rise

Seeding and blossoming
At the right time
In the face of adversity
Now known
As the 49ers
Last scene
Heads hung low
Seething and wilting
In the face of Mahomes
Now known
As Tomahawk Chop
Comeback king
QB extraordinaire
In the race to the top
Rarefied air for the Cheifs
And a beaten path for the 49ers
Down 20-10
Golding, goading into the fourth
Mahomes sparks the comeback
Two TD passes
And the 49ers are on their *****
Two TD passes
Cheifs win 31-20
To the 49ers rashes
And should I dare say crashes
A seedling that was planted
Some 50 seasons ago
Ripe with submisions
And some terrible falls
Over the proud owners
The Hunt family
No strangers to paydirt
Now reaching new heights
For the very first time
This for the Cheif fans
The ones now with tears of joy
Savioring the moment
A rallying cry
To the fall of their dream
Now to the very rise ...
of their team

Logan Robertson

2/03/2020

Ah,  tissue-box
   what a treasure!
   I can't use my socks
   that would be disaster!

Green Depression

   Just like with my Buckeyes, I’m an
Eagles fan and I wear my heart on my sleeve
Now here I am waking up to a blue Monday
In shock from a disaster I can’t believe

I know that I sound crazy sometimes
When I talk about conspiracy theory
And I know that I put people off
And make them feel a little weary

But please understand that’s the passion
If you truly know me, you know I’m all in
Jesus, Wife, Family, Buckeyes, KISS,
Friends,Eagles and I wanted them to win

The State Farm connection I needed
For everyone to see,
It was played in the State Farm Stadium
And the spokesperson is the QB of KC

But I’m not really a crazy person
There’s no need to be afraid of me
The bottom line is an Eagles fumble gave
The Chiefs a TD and the Eagles had no D

So here I am on this Blue Monday
With no way to let out my aggression
And I can’t seem to fight my way out
Of my severe case of Green Depression

Written By:Charles Kean
Copyright ©️ 02/13/2023
All rights reserved
Fly Eagles Fly

Jour de L'ane
en France.
In Ireland, we
say, fools day!

He-Haws is
how they are
often described
by the media.

Bankers, Accountants,
Taoiseach's, Mep's,
TD's, Senators, Clergy,
Speculators,


Cabog's, gobshites,
ignoramuses, mug's,
clowns, jerks, clots,
muggins and cuckoos.

But imagine, the Irish
only dedicate one
day in the year to all
these ****** eejits.

I am in awe of the word 'hiatus'
it seems to hold many secrets

I watched the delivery of your
motion which sprouted  like a
dormant seed from hibernation.

Into sunlight this beanstalk grows,
irrigated by an awareness of the
glasshouse our world refused to see.


                         <>

John Brady the Sinn Fein TD
has shone the flashlight on Gaza.