IF I HAD A MILLION DOLLARS

Money cannot buy happiness,
even the misery it buys isn't that great.
But for the sake of this debate
I'd take that million and buy a million people's dreams.
silly as it seems, I'd replace their dreams with a new reality
foregoing life's banality and offering
a better life than whatever strife they may possess;
turn their failure into great success, and I confess
I would be happy to oblige their whimsy
just to show them how flimsy their wishes would be.
Maybe they'll see that they never needed more than 
they already had. It's not that bad to have just enough.
Life is rough enough without the added burden.
It would be absurd to think otherwise.

(C) Walter J Wojtanik, 2022

*Written to Poetic Asides April P.A.D. Day 7 – (ABUNDANCE)

KICK IN THE PANTS

Motivation is a powerful tool.
You'll get more mileage from a swift kick
than a hearty "attaboy". There is no joy
in any hair-trigger reaction when every faction
of boosters run like roosters with no heads.
Take your lumps instead and move forward.
That's the only way you'll ever win.
It would be a sin I you just stopped trying.

(C) Walter J Wojtanik, 2022


*Written to Poetic Asides April P.A.D. Day 6 - (______ in the ______)

NO SENSE MAKES SENSE

It's all so confusing
trying to make heads or tails
of all the nonsense going on in the world.
It makes my eyes hurt and my toe curl.
Just when I think I've gotten it all figured out,
it does a turn about and puts me back
to where I had started half-hearted.
Trying to make sense out of that which
makes no sense at all, takes all my energy.
It's a tragedy of heart and mind. 
I find it all so confusing, but I'm refusing
to give up trying. It makes sense now,
when there was no sense at all!


(C) Walter J Wojtanik, 2022


*Written to Poetic Asides April P.A.D. Day 5 - (Sense/No Sense)

CHASING MY TALE

I've fallen behind since my mind
left poetry to languish and stagnate.
And it's gotten too late to stay current
with this flurry of thought that ought to
express what beats in my chest,
I had been blessed with the ability to pose
my poetic agility with great flair.
So to share these verses with the universe
would please me greatly. So lately,
I've been working on catching up with
the calendar. I worry that the glory of my words 
would fail their to tell story 
and I'll just end up chasing my tale!


(C) Walter J Wojtanik, 2022


*Written to Poetic Asides April P.A.D. Day 4 - (Catch Up)

UNSCENTED

Nothing to smell here,
move a long way away from 
where it originates.
You can wait until the wind shifts
if it lifts your sense of smell
to tell you how bad it could be.
They say seeing is believing,
but I'm leaving the odor alone.
Roses are red and violets are blue...
but flowers that are unscented
wither whether you want them to or not!


(C) Walter J Wojtanik, 2022


*Written to Poetic Asides April P.A.D. Day 3 - (Smell) 

HE’S AT IT AGAIN

Here he comes again.
Feeling hale and hearty
and looking to party with words again.
They have been his elusive friends
sometimes filling hearts,
other times filling trash bins.
But when the spirit moves him,
he begins again to unlock the block
that plagues his mind. Verbosity 
in velocity becomes his grade,
made in the shade and ready to take
life's oyster and the pearl that comes with it.
So, he's at it again, making his sage words
grace his page, to engage and enrage
those who search for some inspiration.
It becomes his station in life,
to forego his strife and wax poetic,
or just go on with his pathetic rambles.

(C) Walter J Wojtanik, 2022


*Written to Poetic Asides April P.A.D. Day 2 - (Second Chance)

FINDING A VOICE

So much to say, festering within
it is a sin to squander such a gift.
Lift your muse; raise it up.
Put your words to the test.
It is best to choose them wisely,
the prize lives in your notoriety.
It is your propriety to speak your mind.
You have a voice; you must find 
the forum that fits your wit and wisdom.
It become your kingdom for a verse.
It could be worse, you could be muted,
and become an undisputed mime.
There is much ado about rhyme.

(C) Walter J Wojtanik, 2022


*Written to Poetic Asides April P.A.D. Day 1 - (F-Title)

LOST WORDS: POETS IN PASSING

I’ve spent a lot of time getting lost in words.
My words; the words of others. The sisters
and brothers of poetic thought who ought to be
feted. I am elated to have known you all.
Words find a way to fall onto the page,
sometimes on deaf ears and it is here
I have come to know them. I consider it
verbal violence when words are silenced.

Andrea Heiberg, your voice was a choice
I made an effort to hear, for it was here
I came to know you. Our paths crossed,
once in vile vitriol, but I had come to know
the soul that you had nurtured, a cultured
reach to beseech me to listen to every
glistening word, some of the best I had heard.
I think of you often, and I miss your words.

Vivienne Blake, you found a way to make
poetry seem like a beautiful waltz, a dance
that would entrance and soothe, with each
glorious word you’d use as a testimony of life
lived well & to the fullest. You were the best
at encouraging words to flow and allow us
to know the courage of your own words.
I think of you often, and I miss your words.

Dyson McIllwain, you verbose Scot,
you were not a flash in the pan.
Your words still stand as a testament,
meant to grace our hearts and souls.
Poetic thoughts united us, it invited us
to share the beauty of words with the
world and this world of words with others.
I think of you often, and I miss your words.

Today, I find Salvatore Buttaci has joined
his Father and Mother all in the embrace
of the Father who loved him, as Salvatore
loved his Blessed Father. His words expressed
in complete reverence, words of love
for his beloved Sharon, his cherished family,
his students of life who held to his wisdom.
I think of him now, and I miss his words.

I am at a loss. A loss of kindred hearts,
a loss of conjoined souls. You have all left
many holes that can never fully be filled.
I have been thrilled to have held you dear.
My words fail of late and the fate of them
hangs in the balance. This valance of life
hangs as well. My eyes swell with tears.
I miss you all. I am at a loss for words.

(C) Walter J Wojtanik – 2018

 

MONTY, MONTY, MONTY

You stand out in the crowd,
a turnip waiting for your turn
to earn the largess of life.
You start out with a good wife,
extraordinary daughters,
and a position you’d love the chance
to trade for what’s behind
door number two.
It’s you and the wheeler dealer.

You have one shot at this,
so make your choices wisely.
Things sail along smoothly,
but then one morning
you are rudely interrupted
with an abrupt life alteration.
Your station is untenable,
it renders you a lesser version
in this life’s excursion.

So here’s the offer.
You can have money in your pocket
and keep your current life
with all your issues
or you can exchange it for more
than what you’re able to bargain.
It’s selling your soul for
a Cuisinart and a new car.
You realized you’re better off by far.

Life is no game show,
and not a reality show.
There is no show at all,
just reality. And with all its banality,
it is the best prize
one can strive to acquire.
Just keep what you have and be glad.
This is the best you will feel.
Let’s not make a deal.

(C) Walter J Wojtanik – 2018

Poetic Asides April P.A.D. Challenge – Day 10 – Deal/No Deal

CASE FILE: X-52

My rocket propels me;
speed of light excursions
into the darkness of deep space.
It is silent, serene and no one
can hear me scream.
My days blur into each other
and it effects my equilibrium.
A floating trash compactor
in the expanse of endless nothingness.
Major Tom has found his way home,
and ground control has shut down
leaving me to be the clown staying
weightless in a prolonged environment!
In spite of my woes: Case Closed!

(C) Walter J Wojtanik – 2018

Poetic Asides April Poem-A-Day Challenge – Day 4: CASE _____