jo3n

Yesterday I was in line at the downtown Post office. There was a couple in front of me in their late 60s looking at the new stamps. I noticed one of them was a picture of the Bronze Star when I heard the man say "Looks just like mine, but mine just lays in the drawer." I said "Pardon me, but did you earn the Bronze Star?" A huge smile split his face as he nodded. "Thank you, sir" I said. He told me that was the first time anyone had thanked him. Said a girl spit on him at the Wichita airport when he came home. I was going to ask his name but I got something in my eyes and my throat got tight, I shook his hand and left. If I haven't said it be

 i remember the day you were born my child my child my beautiful child i remember when you took your first breath and i saw God put life into your tiny form my child my child my beautiful child i am sorry i just can't remember when that was i remember your face my child my child my beautiful child i remember your soft smile when you think no one is looking my child my child my beautiful child i am sorry i just can't reach your name i remember you my lover my love beautiful love of my life i remember the first time i saw you i remember the feelings that stirred in me that stir still i remember the years of joy and

i am mental illness i wrote the best books you ever read i dine in the dumpster behind your favorite restaurant i am mental illness i walk oscar's red carpet i walk 6th street and service married men i am mental illness through no fault of my own bad genes, bad parenting, doctor assured us it was safe for babies i am mental illness i don't trust the normals who created me, vilified me, electrified me, lobotomized me and drove me out of polite society i am mental illness i hide what i am i work next to you, married you, birthed you, befriended you i am mental illness i wrote most of the songs on your ipod why do you force me t

i lost another rod today. i have lost rods, i have lost guitars and the odd mandolin. always lose them to tiny little criminals, like today i was fishing with a child and his shinny space-age composite pole and me with my grizzled veteran of more the 30 summers. rebuilt with plumbing parts and epoxy when he ask to trade rods i was surprised. "mine is old and beat-up" i explained "your is new and fancy" "i know" said the young man "but yours catches fish" when a kid learns the difference between the value of a thing and it's price they grow up some on the spot. i lost another rod today i hope i lose many more.