Yet another Gun Death
Turning on the morning news
Drinking my coffee
Seeing the news
About the latest school killing
This time in Texas
An 18- year old high school student
Bought two assault weapons
Shot his grandmother
Then went to an elementary school
Killing 18 children and two teachers.
Why he did this carnage
Remains a mystery
He was shot dead.
Why congress does nothing,
The State of Texas does nothing,
Is not a mystery.
The NRA and their minions
Continue to claim
The answer is more guns
For everyone
If only the other teachers
And students were armed
Perhaps only a few children
Would have been slaughtered.
Politicians offer useless thoughts
And prayers
But doing anything meaningful
Just can’t be bothered.
The dead don’t care about their prayers
And their useless thoughts
They remain dead.
And soon all too soon
We will watch the news
Of yet another gun massacre.
Things My Parents Taught Me
My parents taught me
A lot about life
They were unique
With their take on life.
My mother was born
Into a Southern Baptist faith
One of ten children
Part of the lost tribe
Of the Cherokee Indians
My father grew up
On a Farm
Became an atheist.
They could not agree
On religion
Said we would have to figure
That on our own,
But they had a Buddhist
View that the thing to do
Was to do the right thing
But we had to figure
Out that on our own.
My mother had a lot
Of sayings
Like Don’t trust experts
What is a PhD
Bullshit piled high and deep
All politicians are lying
When their teeth are moving
There is nothing worst
In this world
Than a reformed drunk
And despite their fiery
Love-hate relationship
They did love each other
And that showed.
In the end
We become our father
And mother
Just the way
The world is
It seems
Encountering Aliens
While walking on a moonlit path
Through the forest trail
Sam Adams looked up
At the stars and planets
And the full moon.
He was a detective,
Checking out a mysterious box,
Found in the woods
He had his pet wolf
With him
That he had won
As a tip
In a poker game
In the underground casino.
He came upon the box
There was a flash of light,
Relishing the chance,
To embellish a story
Fit for eternity,
Of how he had found,
The enemy aliens
And destroyed them
Before they could invade
The earth.
The crowd at the bar
were busy drinking that night
rushing about drinking
When the aliens came
To order a drink.
Howling at the New Moon Trijan Refrain
The lunatic light of the full moon
Lit up the night sky,
Turning the night into noon.
Making us feel quite high
The drinkers keep drinking in the bar,
Drinking all night until the mar.
Just howling
Just howling
The drinkers keep
Soon the night becomes quite bizarre.
Scent of bad craziness in the air.
The lunatic light of the full moon
Making the drinkers fly.
Soon they are ready to swoon.
Some want to die
Others want to fight and spar.
Some star at the dog star.
Want to drink more
Want to drink more
The lunatic light of the full moon
The drinkers ask why.
Naked dancing to the mad tune,
With a look very wry,
They howled at the moon.
They howled at the moon.
Encountering The Storm God
Sam Adams
Was walking in the woods
When he encountered
A furious thunderstorm.
Lightning lit up the sky
Revealing an abandoned cabin
Sam Adams ran to the cabin.
Sought shelter there
From the storm
That continued to howl
Outside the door.
He made a fire
Got out some food
And prepared to spend
The night.
Around midnight
The owner of the cabin
An old mountain man
Appeared.
He was angry at Sam
But declared that Sam
Could spend the night
Provided he could outdrink
The old man.
If he lost the bet
The old man
Would have to kill him
For the crime of trespassing.
Sam accepted the challenge
Around dawn, he got up
With a pounding hangover,
And went out the door.
The old man came at him
Shot him dead
And disappeared
Into the storm clouds.
John (“Jake”) Cosmos Aller is a novelist, poet, and former Foreign Service officer having served 27 years with the U.S. State Department serving in over ten countries including Korea, Thailand, India, Antigua, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, St Lucia, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Spain. He has travelled to over 50 countries, and 49 out of 50 states. He speaks Korean, Thai, Spanish and studied Chinese, Hindi and Arabic.
You can find more of Jake’s work here on Ink Pantry.