Mike Falconer

Out of Time

Gutted like a fish by the future
Faces from the always past
Hard and between
Lives of labor and class
Classless and adrift

Made for horses and trams
Shoehorned in the buses and trains
Buckling under the weight of cars and multi-story parking

Skin in the game
Or showing skin instead of the game
Californian tans and luxury coffee
Pasty white faces and bad complexions
Poured into summer clothing in the dead of winter

Overcast and underserved
Moneyed yet reveling in the markers of poverty
Geographical loyalty repaid with the leavings of capitalism

Yet there is pride and belonging
Free from judgment of inherent contradiction
History and culture of independence
The art of finding one’s place in the world

A place immune to judgement
Adrift in time
But still home

You Left by Saying Goodbye

An expectation and obligation
What could be said?
Pressure and self-imposition
A crossing of lines by us both

No harm meant
The rules are believed in
Just slightly bent
Although penalties are real

And then you left by saying goodbye
Unexpected and yet convenient
Acquiescence to convention
Secrets to never become secretive

The care was genuine
The unspoken offer real
Trapped by unfortunate timing
Circumstance and hope

What could have been is done
Time multiplied by space
Timidity and judgment have won
Onwards towards the moving on.

_{Image by MOM from Pixabay}

Thoughts in a Busy iHop

Tourists up late on a rainy day
Cheap brunching
Yawns and social media at 11am

The family that texts together
Doesn’t talk
But is judged by poets sitting alone

Poor new guy in training
Scared out of his mind
And trying his best

Flummoxed by Eggs Florentine
And a Colorado Omelet
But sincere in apologies for the wait

Young and poor
Willing to try
Disenchantments birthing ground

Parents of privilege
Setting poor examples
But proving class division

Complaints and a lack of self-restraint
Frontline management and coaching
“Get better, faster, don’t make mistakes”

Hangry is as valid an excuse
As the cough poorly covered
And the opportunity to kick

The unhappy waitress
Whether it’s me, her tables, or the kitchen
There is little joy

The jarring of this most glaring
the lack of the American mantra
“have a nice day”

Being the asshole
For reinforcing her world view
But opiniated none the less

Apologies for the wait
But not the not Tabasco
Or for life’s journey

Surprising diversity in a tourist hotspot
But not of the parties
We are microwave dinner packaging

Flipped like burgers
Meritocracy in our lack of care
Separated by plenty of accessibility

But I’d like more coffee please.

Image by Hansuan Fabregas

Head on Feet

Lying
in the detritus
of the destruction of
a once soft and stylish
couch

Fifteen pounds
of will
love
and unbridled energy

Some call it
companionship
Others call it love

A head
On my feet
A relationship
of equal intensity
need
and choice

Paws padding on tile
The retrieving of beleaguered soft toy
Rescue and training
Equal in determination
By perspective and context

Happy for food and shelter
Happy for the wagging of a tail
In equal measures
a raison d’être

Or a live affair
And love.

Supervillain

I am the supervillain
I want change, to alter the world
The one with vision and goals
The one who knows more, and perhaps cares less

My enemies are the defenders of the status quo
Sanctimonious and self righteous
Using power for self-congratulation
The ones who seem to care more, but know less

Context is conjecture
It does not matter even though we pretend it is all
Is it just my world that I want to change?
Taking you all along for the ride?

Not prepared to share the acceptable worldview
What choice is there but to see me as villainous?
There may be disagreement about my methods
But at least I am willing to try

Yet I will be painted as lacking morality
I must be unforgivable by self-appointed righteousness
Heaven help us if peoples are allowed self-determination
The choice for peoples, and not just people, to grow

I see the chosen ones
Leaving the rest of us to their mediocrity
Forever trapped by absolute knowledge of what is right
Doomed to a future as past

So I shoot my shot
I become the supervillain
The man with a plan
More right than anyone is comfortable with.

_{Inspired by Marvel’s Defenders of the Status Quo by Pop Culture Detective and “I Wear the Black Hat” by Chuck Klosterman}

_{Image by Amy from Pixabay}

Dreams on an Airplane

Pressure, Gravity, Acceleration
pushed deep into a cheap seat

Awareness, Fear, Acceptance
skimming through streets
bystanders scattering for cover

A Death Plane, Eyes Closed, Fait Accompli
walking through a well dressed funeral
a crowded side walk with sports memorabilia
seats reclining
punch line from a chapter

A Bombing Run, Machines Embracing, A Past Future

awake

splash of reality

return to equilibrium

but the haunting
the memories of absurdity
destined to linger
real in moments past

dreams on an airplane
unrestful ghosts of travel
recalling sleep to fill time
and occupying thoughts far beyond.

_{Image by Sofia Correa Acosta}

Snow in Vegas reading

My Poem “Snow in Vegas,” read by Hanna-Lee Sakakibara. Part of the Thus Spake Prometheus project by Prometheus Dreaming.

Ships

To not be seen again
A tall ship of majesty and poise
A crows nest for unseen rings
Bonding with a discourse of the professional
And the personal
Listing together with what is undeniable
Or imaginary

But there it ends
And the darkness is what darkness does
Dreams and future promises
Not worth the paper they are not written on
Farewell to what never was
A mast disappearing over the horizon
An afternoon like the blackest of nights.

_{Image by Vicki Hamilton from Pixabay}

Polite Dismissive Neutral

Not wanting the black hat
From a pit of the worst instincts
A stripping away of civility
Rage from the dark
Intoxication from bile and venom

Not wanting to be the bad guy
The gentle soul one pretends to
Left beaten and bleeding by the roadside
Violence of personality
Leading to the doubt of one’s ethical narrative

Not wanting the feature of rudeness
Chafing at rules and policies
Ego inflation and what one feels one deserves
Polite, dismissive, neutral
Jousting with the insincerity of over politeness

Not wanting to need reciprocity
The drive for vengeance on those less than deserving
Not exactly the innocent or blameless
But undeserving of spite and smite
And the out of control vitriol

Not wanting to hold onto the grudge
To rebuild over spans burned to ash
To let go, to forgive, to forget
A prayer to one’s better instincts
Treat as to be treated

Not wanting to be angry any more.

Image by Artie_Navarre from Pixabay

The In-Between

Trying too hard
To be what others want you to be
Rejection via email
And uncomfortable silence

Don’t push, don’t push
Change the narrative
Explore other expressions
But this is what I want

And so, to putter
To look for forward motion
While traveling in reverse
The in-between state

But when the lights are off
And the only things in thought
What only confesses to oneself
The unattainable goals of dreams

The secret heart of every poet
The quest for the great American poem
Cliché and rhyme
Of status and decline

However, the lands of angels and demons
Are not for wishes and horses
To work, to grind
A return to creation, any creation

There is value in process
In the body of work
Context equals understanding
Therefore, words are worlds

Explore as you will.