kiss

I will kiss you
twice
Once upon your lips
Once upon your forehead
Once for love
Once for luck
We will need
both.

Deli Wars

Rich’s Dockside Deli was the mortal enemy of
Chuck’s Dog House.
Man fought man
Over territorial rights and
The title of “King Deli Guy.”

Foot longs battled with
Bite-Your-Butt barbeque sandwiches
And Better-Than-Sex Chocolate Cake,
That played close to its name
(But not quite).

Smells of bratwurst and broiled chicken
Luffed down Franklin Avenue and 7th Street
As Rich supplied the nearby boating crowd
With lunch multiple days of the week,
And the counter was mobbed for the afternoon’s two meals.

Chuck catered to the younger customers;
It was normal to see twenty teens
Chomping on salt-riddled, cheese-slobbered,
Oily, delicious French fries, and slurping
Thick chocolate shakes shortly after school gave out.

Chuck’s son Tony and I had grown up together,
Gone to church together, ate together,
But when summer came, Rich gave me a job.
I chopped many pickle slices thin and weighed meat cut fresh
For countless hours in the hot, cooking kitchen.

I felt like a traitor to go to Chuck’s –
My dishpan hands belonged to the
Greasy pork pans stacked a meter high in
Rich’s back room
(I was the fastest dishwasher in town) –

But Chuck’s red-hots were unbeatable.
A coke and a dog made the day’s
Problems melt away on top
Of the piebald tiles and red,
Spinning seat cushions.


-kmt
©2008

I am just a product of your imagination.

little girl
    who dreamed me up
    do not wake until
    the morning sun rises
    and the myst of the
    night has been
    burned away

I am just a product of your imagination
something you have
thought up as you walked along
those streets at night
the rain birthing from those clouds
and you
alone
cold
you needed someone
and there I was

But when you wake,
I will be gone
never really having existed
only whisps of smoke
in the synapses of your mind
and an empty place
when you lay in bed.


-kmt
©2008

creature

the skin cracks at the
ridges of the bones
and muscles twist and pull

tendons detach and split
open as the bones in my
back ripple and push

forward and upwards
skin becomes like lizard
hide and fingernails

blacken and teeth filed
down as bared and jagged
eviscerators of all life

chest ripped open
and sides split down
as arms reach out below

arms that existed already
like mad hindu gods
eating the world

eyes slit and quicksilver
color pupils stare into
the night around me

as the air bleeds into my veins
and the stars' greasy light
covers my mephitic sweat

as i form into something
less human than beast
and more creature

from dark and oily
origination and from where
i do not know


-kmt
©2008

beast of burden

It is time to cut the grass
each blade green
and unkempt standing
straight up
like the hair
of a great
earthen beast
upon whose back
we live
call home
parasitic like make life
and ride
a great beast of burden
living and slaving for our own good
our own purposes
we saddle it with houses
and highways
and skyscraper lined parkways
where man made concrete looks down
on the tiny
blades of grass
below.


-kmt
©2008

thinking at night, alone

count
    twothreefour
       each
    patter of rain drops
    upon windshield
sitting in car
staring at lake
    wonder
where i end
and where i
begin


-kmt
©2008

do not dream of me

do not dream of me
but know i will dream of you
in incandescent city skylines
and the purple misty swirl
that rises out of
sidewalks cracked.

you
with any other name i would still know you
any other face i would still see you
you
with different bricks and mortar i will still know you
with different paint i will still know you
with different sketches and scars i will still know you
and every curve, shape, and twist of skin will still be
mine

and i will cover you as a sea covers the rocks below it
and fill you with my breath
so that every piece that may come away from you
has once been touched by me

if happiness is but a dream
then i will sleep forever,
and forever search for you.


-kmt
©2008

The Beginning

SO.

I'm a writer. That's what I do, and any writer will tell you that it's more than just what you do -- it becomes who you are.

But, as a writer, and someone who thinks that it is more than just what you do and, in a way, defines you, I've not been doing much writing lately. In fact, it's been pretty dried up the last few months.

So that's what this site is. This is an exercise I'm posing for myself -- if you enjoy it, please let me know, but that's not really the point here.

The challenge to myself is this: I will post 365 poems: one a day, every day, for a year.

Ideally, this will spur me into a creative groove, one that I can transfer to whatever other writing projects I'm working on.

Now, some may be older poems I've written some time ago. I don't see this as cheating; the writing process naturally cannot happen EVERY day, but I certainly don't have enough to last me from beginning to end, and I will, with all honesty, be trying to post as many newly written pieces here as I can. I just know that there may be nights that I won't get to this, so I'll have a few back ups, just in case.


So, ground rules I'm setting for myself:
1. Post every day by 12 AM Central time (my local time - that's midnight, just to be clear).
2. No more than 2 consecutive days of prior written poetry.
3. No max or min on length: the idea is just to write, though it should certainly be poetry.
4. Some posts may be "delayed" or "timed" posts: that is, written earlier, and set to be posted later. This is OK so long as the poems were either A, written specifically for that day, or B, do not have two consecutively written older items. This is the "Vacation Clause."
5. Some will be good. Some will be bad. Some will be weird. These are not important things: what is important is that every day there is something new, and something that you may use to build upon what you've already done.

If you like this idea and would like to borrow it yourself, feel free! Modify the rules to it if you need to: I try and keep this strict for me, so I know exactly what is required of myself. Let me know, and I'll be happy to link to you!


And finally, post any comments, criticism, and anything else freely: I'd love to hear what other people think!



-Kevin (kmt)