National Poetry Month: Issue 9

One of my featured poets for National Poetry Month is Mario Medina, from Waukesha, Wisconsin. Mario is talented artist both in music and poetry, which ultimately go hand in hand anyway. He has some haunting guitar music that if you get a chance you should check out on his Amps for Buddah website. He also is a gifted video producer, having produced a couple of book trailers that are worth checking out.

It's artists like Mario that are talented across the spectrum that make me feel inadequate. If you asked me to paint a picture or play a song, you would be sorely disappointed. I'm a one trick pony - a writer - and despite my claims of having an excellent singing voice, my family begs to differ. I'll keep working on that.

This poem comes from Mario's chapbook titled, Zen and the Art of Lackadaisical Destruction. It speaks about not missing the present moment.

Where Ever You Are; Be There*          by Mario Medina

 I could've given you a Cadillac
A brand new home in Tennessee
I could've bought you that diamond ring
For all your jealous friends to see.

But then where would it have left us
Wanting more, down on our knees
You will thank me when looking back
That I gave you what there was of me.

Can't help what happened yesterday.

Wherever you are, I want you there.

Wherever you are; be there.


*Previously published in Zen and the Art of Lackadaisical Destruction.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

National Poetry Month: Issue 18

In a rush, a poem from Richard Brautigan from,  The Pill Versus the Springhill Mine Disaster. A Good-Talking Candle                    by Richard Brautigan I had a good-talking candle last night in my bedroom. I was very tired but I wanted somebody to be with me,    so I lit a candle. and listened to its comfortable voice of light until I was asleep. Blogging off...
Read more

New Chapters

Image
 As many of you know I retired last week after almost 27 years at Waukesha County. It was a bit of a shock to some, in part because I am only 61. Nevertheless I'd given it much thought and talked it through with my family and determined it was time. I wanted to get out while I am healthy and perhaps more specifically just do something different. I am lucky enough to say I've loved my work over the past 37 years. GIS and mapping has been my passion since college and I was fortunate enough to get paid to do something I loved.  I'll be honest, while I looked forward to the date of retirement, I was not looking forward to the celebration. Like my daughter, who is more like me than not, I do not like being in the spotlight. While I've become more comfortable being in front of people in part because of my writing and its related promotion and readings, deep down I'm still an introvert with extrovert flares, as they say. But dreading it as I did, it turned out to be a spec
Read more

A Portal To The Past

Image
It is a warm August evening in 1989 and my girlfriend and I are sitting at the bar of Wolski's Tavern on the lower East side of Milwaukee. We are awaiting our friend, Bill, for a couple of drinks and maybe a game of darts, the real steel-tipped kind with chalkboard scoring. The music system, complete with octagonal shaped speakers that hang from the ceiling, belts out hits of the day by REM, New Order and The Cure. Flags of foreign countries and other places cover the ceiling in parachute fashion and the cash register is the old fashioned kind whose keys requires a two handed forceful push, followed by the drawer opening and a ca-ching. Everything about the place has an old Milwaukee feel to it and it is a recent favorite haunt of mine since I moved to the East Side. I am drinking a Point Beer because it's cheap and a nice change from Miller products. Donna is on her second or third Gin and Tonic and is getting that dreamy look in her eyes. She has a bit of a grin on her face
Read more