THURSDAY REMINISCING

my sister married a guy
my brother brought home from high school
a real character, he played

hockey in 1954 at the ice arena
by the CBS building on mcclurg court
--before the stadium started selling out--
the old ice arena in what they call
today river north, his sister dreamt
of an olympic ice skating career before it got to be
all about the jumping--thanks dick
button, you asshole, thanks for starting
the modern period in which
everything has turned
to shit before our very
eyes and there's nothing to
stop monstrous Fox News and and equally monstrous Nancy
Pelosi--old-school mobbed-up Baltimore
pols who were, back then, at least employing
the doorbell ringers, whereas
rahm emanuel reports to corporate
and let the fucking ringers fuck
themselves, if they can, i'll have 2
tacos al pastor, no salsa, por favor

the hockey player painted classically
lurid paperback book covers, in 1962,
just before sis kicked him out for
dallying--artists and models

his later fame, not to mention
fortune, devastated the 5
kids when he died, barely recovering these
many years later
the poet says
old friends, bookends

copyright © 2016 by patrick o'hayer--

Like

ode to sluts

which of us

burly 

beautiful 

gents

ever got

lucky

on merit

looks

charm

joie de vivre

not warren b

our rock hudson

not jack

maybe dennis hopper

if i was a frail

i'd fuck dennis hopper

maybe coyote

sam shepard

but joni's

always searching

out material

no regrets, coyote

even irresistible

bubba

required

his monica

favorite slut

line i

ever heard

is

'i never

come

on the first

date'

copyright © 2016 by patrick o'hayer

the wise old cop and god

WOC: 'the 2-quart-a-day men are all dead'

G: 'so are the pioneers - takeaway?'

WOC: 'i am so fucked, either way'

copyright © 2016 by patrick o'hayer

mingus

started
out
on
cello

should
never
have left
it

madness
anger
such
sadness

all
right
genius
ex post

copyright 2016 © by patrick o'hayer

occasional poem

"first thought, best thought"

~allen ginsberg

holidays approaching again

my first wife dumped me

xmas eve 1976

a bicentennial break-up

which i richly deserved

fill in the blanks

i rented a truck

retrieved my gear, my books,

with 3 now-estranged friends

but i left behind my record albums

now known as vinyl

a shy acknowledgement

of fault, maybe, or

maybe just a typical

p. o'hayer fuck-up

sorta half-rhymes with break-up

life went on

i won the lottery

so many times since then

i probably owe her a cut

presently headed to kansas

for the holidays

with KW, new beginning

horizons expanding

and i'm no cowboy

but i did love "wyatt earp" on TV

in the Fifties

dodge city

when westerns ruled the day

and gunplay settled every dispute

thank you, ex missus o'hayer,

where ever you may be

thank you so very very much

hope you're playing my

songs of leonard cohen

which i bought 

when it dropped

december 1967

on this sad sad sad day

november 2016

copywrite © 2016 by patrick o'hayer

SANTA SENDS HIS REGRETS

"Christmas is for kids."

                         THE WISE COP

sheer lunacy, 

sheer brilliance,

either way, wife

and daughter agreed

with papa

to forgo xmas

gifts as a sane

response to hyper-

consumption, result

of a family group rant

on the day however

it seems that i alone

recalled the anti-prezzie

resolve

               the girls

were very angry

and tearful because

THERE WERE NO PRESENTS

the world stopped spinning

then and there, dad

deep in the dog house

probably forever

but after issuing

a lengthy brutal reprimand

the girls adjourned 

to the early show

at the multiplex

meanwhile papa sought redemption 

at a 24/7 walgreens

purchasing several trifles

peace offerings hoping for

redemption, or forgiveness

a few functional do-dads

a note pad that affixes

to your windshield

some paper dolls, 

some deluxe crayolas

to make up for the error

as papa was checking out

the girls arrived

to do the same

BEST XMAS EVER!

poem in progress

my parents had been 

great readers

before TV

my mom

would discover 

an author

and read all 

his works

at the library

                        when i came

along there was

no reading 

only TV

but there were 

the stories

about the books

the library

a kind of

nostalgia

for books

then priesthood-

high school

no girls

bored me silly

started reading

for the first time

novels

jules verne

robert louis stevenson

magnificent escape

entertainment

was mocked

by an effete priest

for reading

kids’ books

ignored his rudeness

meanwhile

the world opened

July 2015