How I Got Rich

i saved all my coins

each day

in coffee cans

and

in 2008 & 2009 when

the great recession happened

I took all my cans of money

to a brokerage company

in louisville —-

the professional investment folks

working there that day

thought I wasn’t quite right —-

no one does something

like this they said

among themselves

in a bad market like this,

one lady who worked there

smiled & looked kindly at me

I over–heard the men investors say

this crazy guy just brought in a car load of

coffee cans from his pocket change

and he is going to invest it

in this down market

and lose every penny

of his savings

I asked the lovely investment lady

(i liked her smile, kindness & how she dressed)

to buy me

about $50 or more

of stocks selling for less than $1 a share

on the new york stock exchange

that she thought were good companies

(there were hundreds

or more well– known stocks

selling for less than $1 for one share)

I heard the men stock employees

say “this kid has no idea

what he is doing

he is going to lose everything”

i overheard them

and I said “hey buddies

I’m older than you

and i bought my first stock

when i was 14.”

(they thought I was joking

but i was telling the truth)

days later i received a letter

from the kind investment lady

telling what she

bought me

————FAST FORWARD ———–

a few

years later

when most of the stocks

went up 10 to 20 times higher

(or more)

i bought my poetry shack

where i live & write from

totally in cash &

now i live a simple life

it’s like I’m living like a king

(but not a rich king)

and write

poetry

to make

others

feel

good

& to my surprise

I’ve been lucky

enough for

4 books to be

recently published

can life get better

than this?

nope!

I received a letter today

from a reader of my books

from california

she said

“will you,

please

will you be my poetry man?”

Dancing with Depression

depression

you are welcome

to hang out

here

during the past

you only visited

occasionally

It’s now like this —-

I lost my

parents, brother

& pets

I have a room

& an empty bed

for you

but feel free

to hang out

& we will

eat crackers

& pickled pig feet

& sardines with mustard

while listening

to old records

of the blues

I’m glad

I have someone

to talk to

who

understands

how

things

are

—– Jim Wortham, August 1, 2022

Back to Dust

The days

pass

too fast now

my body

is resisting

sleep

falling asleep at 2, 3, 4

sometimes it’s 5:30 a.m.

I get up

at noon

no desire to eat

I eat things from

like tuna, sardines

pickled eggs

& pickled pig feet

& dollar store crackers

& candy

I leave

my cabin

to get

mail like

food coupons

& walmart ads

bills

I have no energy

my body

slowly

is

returning

to

dust

_________________________

—-Jim Wortham July 30, 2022

SAVED TWO TIMES BY ANGELS

Dear Melissa. do you remember

Angels suspending your car

two times in a week?

Preventing 2 head on accidents?

We both most likely could be dead

Each time, another car

ran a stop sign on their side of the street

We came face to face

with death

seconds from happening

It happened two times

We were taking turns driving (carpooling)

traveling to work at Communicare Clinic

in Hardensburg, Kentucky

It was your week to drive

and I saw what was going to happen

I cried “stop” in a shakey voice

At that moment

I saw through my window

that we were going to hit

the car crossing within

seconds, maybe in just one second

Both times, your car was suspended

STOPPED by an Angel

until the car crossing has passed

Melissa, if you read this,

do you remember it this way?

Do you remember

your car suspended for seconds

to avoid us being killed?

I felt angels afterwards

hovering over us on the way home

I remember this like it happened today

do you still remember it?

This happened over 25 years ago

I believe in Jesus

my Savior (since age (9)

God & the Holy Spirit

All three were working

in their special ways

to bring their Angels to

allow us to live

(PS: We both have worked to help

troubled people in this world &

we are both alive today

(Melissa is my facebook friend)

Blessings to all reading this

(written by Jim Wortham, July 11, 2011)

Words of Love

POEM 1

do you remember

the love

you sprinkled over me

that summer

we met?

POEM 2

your lips

tasted my lips

you were wearing

strawberry glossy lipstick

POEM 3

our arms

embraced

our hands fell

downward

do remember?

POEM 4

i remember what happened

that night

do you?

POEM 5

can we get together again

and have

a night

like that?

POEMS 6

it’s been

3 years

has it been too long

to try again?

please say

let’s get together

tonight

POEM 7

in my eyes you look the same

you smell the same

your lips taste the same

can we try again?

POEM 7

can

we

meet

tonight

and

pretend

we are

beginning

over

again

and maybe

forever?

Being a Poet in NY City

in past poems

i shared how i wanted to be a poet

and how i failed upward

and finally published

books that sold

now i’ll tell how i went to NY city

located an office in the rich part of the city

that furnished mail forwarding

& telephone answering service

i lived in a cheap well known hotel

i used this NY city address for

my poetry books publishing office

i used this address so people throughout

the world would think i lived and wrote in NY

i found printers that could print my books

at a very inexpensive price

and i wrote several poetry books under pen names

sold thousands upon thousands of books

by pen names i won’t reveal yet

i also had another company using my real name

which i operated from louisville, kentucky

i also sold thousands of books

to readers who wrote to me in louisville

but there was glamor to using pen names

and a New York address

with an important sounding

publishing house name

i often thought

readers would not buy my poetry books

if they knew i wrote them,

me being a guy from louisville, kentucky?

no i thought

i had to be a guy from NY city

with poetic sounding pen names

i think i sold many

more books

that way

but don’t know for sure

who would buy poetry books

by some guy in louisville?

many readers came to NY city

to meet me

and discovered i was not there

the office manager would say

i was out of town,

or i had just left for Greece

or England

or Sweden

to work with another poet

on a new book

that’s the way i rolled

and now you know

why i could never have lunch

or dinner or a

late night’s evening with you

in NY city

but maybe

another day

or night

we can

spend together

over a candle lit dinner

By Jim Wortham (July 4, 2022)

Yes, I’m doing fine, thank you! I’m not working anymore. But life is great!

life has been good to me

i’ve had a life of luck

started working as a paperboy at age 14

saved my money

have friends who are loyal

i’ve done lots of work

some i liked

some i didn’t

saved enough money

to get me

to my end

time passed fast

i live a simple life

in a cabin

i can afford water, food

& have enough cash to keep the lights on

almost no one stops by

i have a cell phone but it’s turned off

unless i need to make a call

i stay up late

i sleep till noon

i eat cheap food from dollar stores

my recreation is reading books

& listening to music

what more could i want

during this autumn of life

why work

since i

now

have it all

(Jim Wortham, June 10, 2022)

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