poetry
it’s okay
another day, another week, another month
without inspiration
to write // my writing life may be over
I’ll still try
even though
nothing these days
seems
worth anyone reading
I’ll keep trying
waiting for a breakthrough
_____________________________________
Jim Wortham (August 8, 2022)
time, you are speeding up
i am slowing, slowing, slowing // down
went to sleep after 5 am
yes, sleep problems nightly
thinking/worrying about
whatever floats through my mind
i make myself get up at 11:30 am
eat grapes
drink coffee
read
part of a book
i don’t look at emails
or text messages these days
not often, also
leave my cell phone off
don’t need to talk to anyone
these days
i miss the days when
i had friends & phone calls
today —
a day to be alone /
will go in my backyard
look at trees/ still green
(although autumn’s coming)
listen to birds
trying to figure what
birds are saying to each other
all is well in
my part of my world
i am
just tired
most days
time is moving on
faster than
i can keep up
i will have campbell’s tomato soup
and crackers tonight
will eat alone
i’ll light a red candle
and count the days
until
? ? ?
i, i, i
not sure what comes next
_________________
— Jim Wortham (August 8, 2020)
WOW
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?”
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
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
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)
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?
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)
The Broken and The Holy 