salute

to the year that has passed and all its happenstance
so long

to the battles i lost and crosswords unsolved
farewell

to the sky that does not know if it wants to snow or shine 
may you find peace 

to all the leaves now fallen from the sycamore tree
i wave from my window
 
to all the dead batteries in the back of the desk drawer 
i’m sure we’ll meet again

to last year’s new year’s eve seven-layer dip
still on the bottom shelve of the fridge
sorry i let you down 

to the empty gum wrapper blowing around in the gutter
live long, live well

to cable news and the loons who scream on the bus
good show 

to all the books with dusty dust covers i plan to read
but never do
have faith

to all the potholes on east alameda avenue that never get fixed
stay true

and to the new year that approaches and all of its verve
i say
ok


happy new year everyone!

140 thoughts on “salute”

  4. I still haven’t even had my sparkling grape juice yet.Honestly, the whole holiday concept is designed to make people spend a bunch of money and/or feel sad. Kudos to people who don’t make a big deal out of it all. We’d do better to omit holidays between Halloween and V-Day. ~I do love candy, costumes, and color. ❤

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  5. the holidays don't bother me so much, i don't pay attention really. to me christmas is always more about children, when children are around christmas is fun, and don't get into new years, it was fun when i was young and partied all the time. i make plans and set goals all the time, i've never needed a special day to make plans. i understand holidays as “get togethers”, and yeah, all the consumerism is kind of a bummer, but what can you do? can't throw a rock without hitting at least 15 salesmen.

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  8. hey, good timing!no not really, she wants me to walk with a little wait on it, but no stairs, so can't go home, also, she think i lost a little bit of the correction, which is not detrimental, but also not goodhow are you?

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  9. I was really hoping you would get fantastic news today and get to go home. When’s your next check-in with her?I’m fine—got the deep-cleaning bug today. Yesterday was a bit rough, anxiety-wise, but staying busy helps.

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  11. i meet with her next week, i'm keeping my spirits up, just going to be careful and make sure i heal rightthe cleaning bug huh. i just watched football. how do you deal with your anxiety? other than deep cleaning

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  12. What did she say to do differently?If it’s really bad, I take Benadryl. Otherwise, I just get into a novel and also try to sweat and move around as much as possible. I rearrange rooms. I try to minimize the number of objects in my space. I try to hone in on some “other.” ~Refocus an obsessive thought. Perseverative thoughts. That’s what they’re called—the ones that take control of us and eat away at our bellies.

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  14. i see, sounds like good stuff.nothing different really, just wants me to keep the boot 24/7, i wwas taking it off for long periods of time, including to sleep, its hard to sleep with this thing on, now i have to. it may have gotten a little mis-aligned when i was asleep

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  17. i copied down the list a few hours ago, i'll mess around with it in the morning, see what pops. i didn't a bunch of writing today already and my mind is word soup

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  19. I’m so glad to hear that. ❤ As long as you’re writing something, somewhere. ~Best of luck with whatever you produce; so much good energy and healing power being sent to you, friend.

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  21. This is the perfect New Years poem for me, Phillip. It salutes the right things, adds some humor to the meh things, and puts the bad things where they belong, as much as they can be. I hope your new year is full of good things, my friend, starting with healing up and getting back in your own space.

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  22. I love this. It has all of your signature wry wit and eye for the telling detail, especially small things that you turn into delicious phrases. Happy New Year to you, and I have added your blog to my side bar. “To all the posts I missed last year…sorry about that. To next year's posts, see you in the fullness of time you beautiful little goblins.”

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  26. I said I wrote one. 🙂 I get very spazzy internally when I link something, knowing full well I don’t belong among such gifted writers. It makes me physically ill afterward. Though you have been very nice, and I deeply appreciate it.

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  27. i understand everything you just said, more than you know, but that is your anxiety talking, stop listening to it. listen to me, you belong, you write excellent poetry, i wish you stop being so hard on yourself. but i understand exactly how all those knots feel, they feel awful. i'm about to post something totally experimental and weird, i'm dreading the dead silence i'm going to hear from the blogosphere, but oh well. i don't want to pressure you, it's your choice and i will respect that, but you are way better than you think

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  28. Maybe there’s an open-link at dverse tomorrow. You’ll probably get the most reads there. Your work is beyond amazing; I’m so crazy about it. It’s just hard to build a following on blogger, though I favor it for design purposes. If you really want more readership, you should consider using WordPress and/or Twitter (to direct traffic here).You would build a much bigger following that way through the labeling and tagging systems.

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  29. i don't know much about social media, never use it and don't really want to, my only internet presence is this blog. i tried wordpress first, and it woundn't allow me to do my weird line arrangements, also, you just changed the subject =) don't think i didn't notice =)

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  30. Same. But the Blogger revamp is also infuriating! I hate it so much. I can’t write more than like ten lines, unless I want to code my line breaks in the html box. Ugh. Not worth it.

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    1. we’ll have to wait a bit, i’ve nothing finished yet. hey do you know where i can get something like a blog roll. i’ve searched thru every widget gizmo whatsit and doodad, i can’t find a blogroll thingy

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      2. my appointment went ok, alignment is a bit off, but as bad as the toe was before the surgery, we thought it might be a bit off, the healing process is slow. i’m sorry you’re not feeling well, anything i can do?

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    1. i don’t know yet, but i am more than really to go home. suburbia is not my thing at all, and these people, they may be my family, but they are not my people. as soon as the doc says it’s ok to walk, i’m out of here. my next appointment is on monday.

      let’s see, jimmy santiago baca is who i am reading right now, i saw him do a reading here in denver back in 2002 or 2003, he was great, i will be featuring him next on my spoken word blog (when i get back home) i recommend him. also ogden nash, you might like him, he writes short poems, very humorous. he does some word play, not quite like yours, but you might like. he wrote from around 1920 to 1970, so he might be a little outdated, give it a look tho, you might like. and then there is my two favorites, basho and issa, haiku masters. i have been re-reading them quite a bit this last month, and issa it particular, my all-time favorite. he had kind of a tragic life, yet he is the very definition of “grace under pressure”. hope this helps you, hope you get to feeling better

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      2. Perfect. Thank you so much.

        I wish there were more micro-poets in my line of sight. Not many people agree with me, I’m sure, but I think two heavy handfuls of words can make a pretty great poem.

        I very much like things that are “outdated.” I would happily settle in the ‘50s if I could time travel.

        I hope Monday gives you everything you want.

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      5. i thought you might. robert hass does the best translations of his poems, and robert hass is also poet i like, i haven’t read anything recently, but he had collection called “sun under wood” that i liked. he’s more of a mainstream m.f.a. style poet, but i don’t hold that against him… nobody’s perfect =)

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      1. You know what I really want? Some blogs that post random thoughts/observations/suggestions /poem-bites all day long so that when I have a free moment, I have feeds like that to read., art to look at, etc. Entertainment. Literary, artistic, humorous. But that’s probably too much to ask the universe for. 🙂

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  37. I told you, it’s the anxiety.

    Yes. That is what I do—I try to blog what I would like to read elsewhere—be, myself, what I perceive I need.

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    1. i know, and i get it, i have extreme anxiety too.

      and also yes, that’s what i do too. i don’t see a lot of the kind of poetry that i like to read, so i write it and put out there, and it’s scary but i do it anyway, i don’t want to pressure you, just a suggestion =)

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      2. well, i think there are 2 issues at play here 1) you don’t leave your work up long enough for people to find them, and 2) you are wicked smart, way smarter than most of us, and a lot of us (sadly) are not certified for that kind of thinking. i think persistence is the key, and i know issues with that, i know what you’re going to say

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      1. here is another way to consider anxiety in a more positive light (since we are stuck with it, we might as well make it useful) i use my anxiety for 2 constructive things, 1) it keeps me humble, humble is important to me, and 2) it makes me work harder, working hard is very important to me

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  39. I DO love the blog you suggested—theskepticskaddish. Though I can’t comment without a WordPress account. I will certainly keep reading. Thank you.

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      1. Awesome. I’m so glad to hear that. Keep up the good work.

        I’m good. All is well. Have a great/quick two weeks and trip back home—to working electricity, I hope!

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      2. I took a picture of a suit I liked this morning—cream with pink accents. … I have to be very careful with pictures now; my phone is completely full—close to 6,000 images. I’d better clear it out son. Next week is Groundhog Day, and I go bonkers with my spring photography.

        I need to paint. Thank you for the nudge.

        I can’t think of anything I’ve written. I think I’m mostly in music mode right now.

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  44. I’ve spent much of the evening with the “blue guitar” poem, and I’m blown away. It’s an enlightened unfolding of philosophy. I’m deeply sucked in.

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      5. Yes, I love him.

        That title is poem enough for me. In fact, I would happily read or write a book of only titles/phrases, with no stories. I think triggers are enough for the imaginative. I only need two or three words for my head to be off and running.

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      6. i know what you mean… that poem of mine that you like, with the banjo solo in the middle, has 10 or 12 song titles by the queens of the stone age in it, the rest of it is just catchy phrases that sounded cool

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      1. You know, I really hadn’t read him before, except for the blackbird poem. But he is digging so deep inside me. Thank you for this. Sincerely.

        I could spend all my hours with books, highlighters, and pens. It is torture to keep that at bay. What an honor it is to swallow a brilliant mind’s philosophies and let them mingle with my own.

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    1. wow! she is good! i watching her rocking the daisies performance right now. i just watch play the hell out of 12 string. she has a great voice too. and she’s got this whole wild untamed kiwi thing going on, i like that, i can respect that. thanks for sharing this with me.

      i doing well, walking in regular show now, it;s still slow going and a bit painful, but it’s progress. how are you? what you been up to?

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      1. “Untamed kiwi” is a flipping amazing phrase. Did you just make that up? I highly recommend integrating it into a poem or song. That is awesome.

        Every week, I am up and down, up and down. But I never settle into downs, and I fully enjoy ups. So I think “good” is an honest response to your question.

        I have been reading and gardening and cleaning. How about you?

        I love your new poems. You will always be my favorite poet. I won’t comment anymore, just because I’m overly enthusiastic and embarrassing, I know. I hate that I made you modify your comment settings because of my hyper expressions. I do have self-control, I promise. 🙂

        Liked by 1 person

      2. i’m glad that you’re good, and i understand what you mean =)

        and you can comment all you want, say whatever you want, you don’t embarrass me at all, why would you think that?

        i’m walking in a regular shoe now, still very tender and sore. just starting PT, just discovered that the battery in my truck is dead, so trying to figure that out. not doing much else, some reading some writing, etc.

        are you writing anything?

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      4. Did you ever check out Ani DiFranco? This clip of “IQ” is my favorite.

        Oh, and “32 Flavors.”

        But I have all her early CDs; a once-upon-a-time coworker burned them for me. And I got to see her live in Austin once!

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  48. Some of my comments aren’t showing up. I don’t know if it’s WordPress sending them to spam, or you rejecting them. If it’s the latter, I’m sorry for saying stupid stuff or talking too much.

    Yay on real shoes! Boo to the battery issue. 😦

    Awesome that you’re writing. I am too, a little. I wrote one little nugget recently that I really liked. I feel like she’s a good little pet, and I keep patting her on the head. 🙂

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    1. oops! that’s my fault. i forget these blogs even have spam folders. there was like 10 of them in there, all approved

      “I feel like she’s a good little pet, and I keep patting her on the head. 🙂”

      that’s funny, some poems do feel like pets. glad you are writing, can’t wait to read it

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      1. Good. I just had a play date with some friends. She made me breakfast tacos and spinach artichoke dip to take home, and we planned a V-Day ice cream party for Friday night with our two families. ❤

        How are you?

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      2. that’s cool, sounds like fun… i’ll be spending v day here is suburbia here with the trolls.

        i went to my apartment today and my electricity is still all messed up, power in the kitchen but no where else… so i’m going to war. i called the fire department on them a month ago, and they told the inspector that the issues had been fixed, done, all good. today they admitted to me that is was not fixed and they don’t know it will be fixed. i think lying to a fire inspector about something like this is criminal… we are about to find out

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