NOSE BREATHER

Those late night Jersey Transit trains

It’s always a gas

well past midnight

up to no good

at a Dead and Company show

Queens in the rear view mirror

departing Manhattan

riding that train

stuffed with other Heads

trying to get home to Jersey

or PA as it were

feeling no pain listening

to conversations

the electricity

of reliving each song

one conversation involves

a new age-y guru type

proselytizing on the value

of breathing through the nose

Another couple, apparently

don’t appreciate advice

on nose or mouth breathing

even if it weren’t their conversation

They begin mocking the nose breathers

putting them down

and ragging on and on

another young lady takes offense

to their mockery

and an argument ensues

I’m just trying to reflect on the show

The mockery is ignorant

on multiple levels

It is healthier to breathe thru the nose

and there’s no reason for abuse

some folks are entirely too proud

of their own ignorance

but I suppose they are mouth breathers

Nose breathing is easier

when you keep your mouth shut;

a skill some of us never learn

NOSE BREATHER | PostPoems

KINDNESS OF STRANGERS


I’ll have truly earned

the scorn & derision

of the critics

whence I finally

release this dribble

but I won’t walk the plank

of Orizaba

& follow Crane to a death

of either asphyxiation

or shark meal

the pundits will get their say

and the reviews will be severe

but I fear not

the harshness of acidic pens

that tear my heart to shreds

and leave me for dead

the kindness of strangers

has bailed my ass before

& plucked me from the abysss,

fed me, rescued me

and sent me on my way

Surely, some kind soul

will prop me up again.

KINDNESS OF STRANGERS | PostPoems

AMERICAN ZEN KOANS: Schaefer, George: 9798809062107: Amazon.com: Books

BEASTLY BUT BEAUTIFUL (flash fiction(?))

The assignment was to place Huckleberry Finn in modern day New York and write a short story.  I was a high school kid in the 80s and only spent a few field trips in New York.  Of course, I watched many TV shows and I did have my imagination. 

Mr. V didn’t cotton to me.  I was a dirty, wrong side of the tracks kid and he was a GQ preppie.  I figured I would just go balls to the wall on my yarn.  I set the tale in Harlem and had Huck running into prostitutes and drag queens and trying two kinds of Mary Jane (One a plant and one a Ho for the naïve among us.)

I turned in a completely uncensored tale fully expecting to be failed and possibly sent to the principal’s office.  I skipped school for fear of repercussion.  Then I learned that Mr. V loved my story and read it out loud for the entire class.  He had to censor spots due to complaints of two classmates.

I returned to class greeted with a smile from the first fan of my literary stylings.  The class discussed my story.  Mr. V managed to use the word beastly twice in a 45 minute period.  I did take it as a badge of honor—as he was talking about my poetry and fiction. Ït’s beastly but beautiful.”  They say don’t judge a book by its cover and I think 2 people learned a lesson that week.

BEASTLY BUT BEAUTIFUL (flash fiction(?)) | PostPoems

HALF ASS KEROUAC SIPPING ABSINTHE

And postulating

on poetry

and wondering if

the inspiration

can be found in mown grass

and dry summer nights

as the beer

is no longer

enough

to fire my soul

a green fairie is beckoned

with a belief

in transcendence

or at least

a serious buzz

HALF ASS KEROUAC SIPPING ABSINTHE | PostPoems

JUST WHEN YOU THOUGHT IT WAS SAFE TO DO POETRY AGAIN: Schaefer, George: 9798449725561: Amazon.com: Books

DUMBASS

Loved ones

stay with you after death;

They continue to live

on in your heart and soul.

They continue to haunt

your memories and dreams.

My father passed on

17 years ago

but still makes cameos

& guest spots in my dreams 

from time to time

and amazingly,

after all these years,

he’s still calling me Dumbass

DUMBASS | PostPoems

THRU PERIPHERAL VISION: Schaefer, George F: 9798790939471: Amazon.com: Books

EPHEMERAL TAVERNS

There are certain bars and taverns that exist only in my dreams.  They might be located in Philly or Chicago or Brooklyn or even Saigon.  But you can only go there in my dreams—if I’m nice enough to include you in my dream.  They are on streets no one ever heard of and they often morph from one location to another without warning.  Sometimes I can’t find them in one dream only to have them show up in a different dream.  The décor and the staff of these taverns is ephemeral.  It is often staff from real life bars who apparently moonlight at these surrealistic saloons I imagine in sleep.  Everything can shapeshift and I’m often left waiting for beers or desperately trying to locate the bathroom in these pubs.  Of course, seeking the bathroom is never a good sign.  It usually means waking up is imminent and going to happen sooner rather than later. 

But alas I dream

these wondrous mystical pubs

the exotic beers

cocktails of heavenly bliss

until they fade into black

https://www.postpoems.org/authors/georgeschaefer/prose/1099965

Cannibalized Haibun: Schaefer, George: 9798416456573: Amazon.com: Books

MOISTURIZING CREAM

There are still times that I get carded in bars or venues.  It’s usually an indication that the establishment sits in an uptight municipality or they recently got tagged for selling booze to (too) young’uns.  I won’t give them too much trouble since they’re really just doing their jobs.  And also, a lot of venues have guys at the door with necks thicker than a redwood tree.  I just show them the card and move on with my life.  People say that I should take it as a compliment.  Hardly, they aren’t looking at me and thinking that I might be under 21.  They’re doing it because some asshole council member wants to make a statement.  It would be great if it was a compliment but I’m not that naïve.  I’m not standing there thinking “Gee that new moisturizing cream is really reaping dividends.”  I’m usually just anxious to get in the door and get settled. 

Largely not nessa

a delay in the next beer

thirst waits to be quenched

https://www.postpoems.org/authors/georgeschaefer/prose/1086114

Cannibalized Haibun: Schaefer, George: 9798416456573: Amazon.com: Books

SHOT OF JAMESON TO CHASE THE BEER

I skipped out

on the poetry reading

at the free library

where I was scheduled to read

a new brewpub opened

just down the street

and my whistle

required a little wetting

so I walked down the street

oblivious to any consequences

or hurt feelings attached

my name was on the list

for the open reading

They’ll call my name

and be greeted with silence

and they’ll call my name again

going once going twice. . .

Perhaps, I consider,

my best reading ever

as I belly up to the bar

and order my first beer

but I’m also feeling

a little frisky

so I order a shot of Jameson

to chase the beer

I really don’t know why

I felt so nervous an hour earlier

https://www.postpoems.org/authors/georgeschaefer/poem/1101450

AMERICAN ZEN KOANS: Schaefer, George: 9798809062107: Amazon.com: Books