sometimes they don't walk back through that door

i was pretty sure this blog today was going to be about the New York Rangers losing last night, or how much i liked the television shows last night, or how i have a crazy sports Saturday coming up... but i got some news this morning that completely punched me right in the gut.

Doug and i have exchanged emails and letters for years. he was one of my favorites in the crazy world of poetry i try to live in. he was one of the few that always would send me an email of encouragement or complimenting me about something i wrote. and considering he's going to be part of the next book i'm in, i was really hoping to finally meet him and shoot the shit in person.

so my hope is if you never had the chance to read his work, the next few links and videos will give you a sense of who Doug Draime was. 

Six Poems by Doug Draime

Doug Draime - My Favorite Bullet

a stormy night as the electricity goes on and off

Doug Draime: What Makes Poets Tick

Daddyo and Other Poems

Monday by Doug Draime

Doug Draime: More Than The Alley (Review)

do yourself a favor and do a Google search and share Doug's work with the world.

goodbye my friend. rest in peace. you will be greatly missed.

happy 4/20 day

welcome to the 20th day of National Poetry Month. today, i want to shine a bright light, bright enough to get through all the pot smoke, on my friend and great poet, Doug Draime. Doug is easily one of the best poets around. catch me on the right day and i would put Doug up there with the greats of all-time. please enjoy the links and do yourself a favor and BUY something. Doug and i might have some news to pass along in the coming months. hopefully, more on that in the summer. enjoy the links my friends:
http://www.myfavoritebullet.com/PPdraime.html
http://www.wordriot.org/archives/774
http://georgedanderson.blogspot.com/2015/03/featuring-doug-draime.html
http://bluelakereview.weebly.com/two-by-doug-draime.html
http://poemsoncrime.blogspot.com/2013/03/doug-draime.html

today always brings back the memories of when i used to smoke weed. that was one of the only ways i think i could make it through my teenage years. and honestly, if my mother wasn't allergic (i've always doubted that) to it, i would be an avid grower and smoker of it. they are trying to make it completely legal in Ohio. fuck, i might have to get registered to vote again.

i think i might have worked nearly all day long yesterday helping mom in the garage. we got a lot done. it's more organized chaos now than just a fucking mess.

it didn't help that it rained nearly all of yesterday. and then this morning, yet another cold front moved through. this one will get everyone sick as the wind chills are going to be back in the 30's. so much for wearing shorts.

the New York Yankees completed the sweep yesterday in Tampa, 5-3. that gets them back to .500 and just 1 game out of first place in the division. of course, they are now in Detroit to start a very tough series tonight.

the New York Rangers play Game 3 of their series against the Penguins tonight in Pittsburgh. hopefully the best road team in the league shows it tonight.

also on the DVR tonight will be Monday Night Raw, Gotham and The Voice.

i suppose i'm either going to be up real late or up real early to catch up on everything tonight.

i'm cutting this a bit short today as i need to go over to the farm and feed the cats, find the trash cans, etc. etc. i guess mom heard back from the guy doing the auction for the farm. 8 families came through on Saturday for the first open house. he told her that all of them seemed very interested. god, i hope he's right. i would love for the property to go for somewhere near $500,000. that would make life so much easier for my mother. might even help me a little.

i do hope everyone had a great weekend. enjoy the purple have today kids.

be well. be creative. be cool. be quick to send me CASH, panties, hate mail, love letters, broken promises and dirty pennies from heaven.

peace and chicken grease...

music:

"The uncreative mind can spot wrong answers, but it takes a very creative mind to spot wrong questions." - Antony Jay

and your pro wrestling video of the day:

my 3 poems in Zygote in My Coffee #144

my poems "poor souls on front porches", "on the edge of the world", and "the loving arms of your dreams" have been published in Zygote in My Coffee #144. you can find the issue here:
http://www.zygoteinmycoffee.com/100s/issue144contentsprick.html

direct links to my poems will be below.

others with work in the issue include Doug Draime, William Taylor Jr., Ron Androla, Ally Malinenko, Catfish McDaris and many more.

poor souls on front porches
on the edge of the world
the loving arms of your dreams

dodging bullets

i'm a little shocked we didn't get hit with some storms yesterday. we got a lot of wind and a little rain, but nothing close to what was expected. we did have a little cosmetic damage to the gutter on the hog barn. but, no trees down, no crops damaged... i'm tickled pink. of course, i could have done without the cold front coming through at 2 AM and locking my back up completely. that was fun.

a little heads up for everyone, i just heard from Paula Cary at poethound.blogspot.com that my book, Sofisticated White Trash, will be featured on the site on June 4th.

and while on the subject of the book, a special thank you to Doug Draime for the kind words. you have no idea how much that means to me coming from you.

thankfully, the Yankees weren't available for me to watch on television. and as soon as Phil Hughes gave up the grand slam, i quit following it online as well. a pathetic 11-1 loss. they play again tonight on ESPN. thank god i will have other things to watch.

i did catch a great deal of the NHL final four yesterday. these 2 series are going to be great as there is already plenty of hatred after game 1.

and i guess the NBA got what it wanted as well. amazing that Miami has turned into LeBron's old Cleveland teams in just a matter of days. game 7 should be interesting for a little while at least. of course, if the NBA wants absolutely no one to watch the finals, let Indiana win.

made it back from my sister's place yesterday in one piece. how the two of us come from the same DNA is amazing to me. complete opposite ends of the spectrum. love her just the same though, but man, she has more rich shit than i can even think of.

as for today, i believe i will take a nap to some NASCAR, hopefully watch team USA play better against Germany than they should, and  of course, my usual Sunday night programming to finish off the day. and if the Yankees actually win, a victory beer to cap it all off.

hope everyone is having a great weekend. until tomorrow...

music today:

Johnny Cash - My Mother's Hymn Book
Van Morrison - Tupelo Honey

"'Sex' is as important as eating or drinking and we ought to allow the one appetite to be satisfied with as little restraint or false modesty as the other." - Marquis de Sade

before the fun stuff starts

it's been raining here all day long. more of a persistent drizzle, which is not actually bad, as it seems like it's really going into the ground pretty good. should make for a decent start to the planting season at least. of course, the fun stuff is supposed to be coming tonight. i'm not a big fan of night storms, especially ones that have the potential to be damaging. could be a restless night ahead for me.

what the rain has really done, along with the heat of the last couple of days, is make the farm much greener. which says to me, fuck, i've got grass to mow here soon.

the poet of the day on my Google+ page is Doug Draime. Doug is one of my favorite poets around. i urge all of you to check out his work. a quick search on Google should give you plenty to read.

the Yankees game last night was rained out. i have no clue if they will actually get tonight's game in or not. seeing that this is their only trip into Cleveland this season, i hope they get this one in. it's bad enough they will have to use an off day to go back there to make up last night's game.

seeing that the Yankees weren't playing, i was able to give my full attention to the New York Rangers last night. a better defensive effort, even though they gave up 2 damn goals to a guy on my opponents fantasy team for the second game in a row, resulting in a 3-2 shootout win. highlights below:

i really enjoyed the victory beer after that game. 2 HUGE points. they now get a couple of days to rest up for a Saturday night match with the Islanders. that should be a nice bloodbath.

other than a little baseball tonight, i might check out a little college hockey. the frozen four starts tonight. that is of course if the power stays on and the Directv doesn't go out. it has a tendency to go nuts in the really bad storms. and judging from the radar, this one could be a bad one.

if i see any spectacular damage come morning, i will try to get some pictures. i'm hoping there won't be any.

i got some awesome free music on NoiseTrade today. check out The Gospel Whiskey Runners here: http://noisetrade.com/gwr/hold-on

music today:

Tori Amos - Under The Pink
The Gospel Whiskey Runners - Hold On
Fleetwood Mac - Rumours
Bassnectar - Freestyle Mixtape

"Faith has to do with things that are not seen and hope with things that are not at hand." - Thomas Aquinas

sunshine on a cloudy day

didn't sleep well at all last night. between my anger and the cold front moving through (that does wonders for my back) i doubt i slept more than a few hours.

after breakfast this morning i did get some good news. my mother got through her procedure this morning with no complications. that relieved my mind a bit. i never know how this shit is going to mess with her diabetes. she gets the results in 2 weeks. i'm going to do my best to stay positive during that time. i believe eliminating the crazy out of my life is a good start. of course, if anyone has any positive words to send my way, feel free. lord knows i could use them.

did listen to Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds new album "Push The Sky Away" this morning. you can find it here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2013/feb/08/nick-cave-push-sky-away-stream
i really enjoyed it.

also, started reading "More Than The Alley" by Doug Draime. so far so good. i've always enjoyed Doug's work. you can find more info on the book here:
http://www.interiornoisepress.com/INP_HP_Draime.html
just judging from the first 50 pages alone, i'd recommend this book.

i did manage to write a quick poem today. i've got a feeling i'm going to be writing some pretty dark shit for the next few weeks. hopefully i'll write some more later on this weekend.

other than that, not much going on today. better than watching it snow i guess.

music today:

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Push The Sky Away
Imagine Dragons - Night Visions
Buddy Guy - Living Proof
Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears - Scandalous

"If there is no struggle, there is no progress." - Frederick Douglass