poetry
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)
do you
remember
that summer
we met
we tried
to create
a forever love
I entered denial
when you
disappeared
without
warning —
not even
a phone call
I wonder
who came
into your
life
I waited
years
for your call
that never arrived
I ask myself each day
when I should give up
waiting for you
to return
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)
dear connie
if you
are reading this
do you
remember
falling in love
on cocoa beach
one
summer?
wonder
what happened
that we
never
stayed
in touch?
If we
met again
what would
it be
like
after
all these
years?
She can’t explain it &
I’m without words
10 days ago she had a dream
to go to a certain bookstore
and something special
would happen
She went every day
for 10 days
and on the 10 day
I was looking at poetry
books searching for
the newest books
by favorite poets
She was there
standing two feet away
and asked me if I had a
favorite poet
I named three I really liked
I saw a
twinkle in her eyes
and said
may we walk to
the store’s coffee shop?
I’ll treat you to coffee and
a desert
This is how
we met
Her name is
Candance
she said
“call me Candy”
he says this a lot:
THIS IS NOT MY WORLD ANYMORE
i don’t think he has given up
he does not want to change
wants things the way they were
cell phones, kindle tablets
& Apple iPads & products
aren’t his things
he is not saying
he is wanting to exit this world
he remains inside his
apartment, shades drawn
car parked where no one
sees it
so no one
knows he is home
he doesn’t want friends
many have passed on
or stopped calling
died or moved
he says movies are not enjoyable
music–he likes a few singers
he grew up listening to
many singers are gone
drugs
or health problems
took some of them
he lives alone
has nothing to look forward to
knows four neighbors
(they don’t check on him
and he does not go to see them)
he rarely gets together with anyone
eats sardines, lunch meat
sometimes fruit
he wasn’t always this far down
in college and workplaces
those who knew him say
he was one of the best
if not the very best at everything!
all the classes from grade school
through the colleges he attended
never prepared him for changes
he is facing now
he says it’s not safe to go out
killings are happening often
now in grocery stores, churches
schools, sports bars and
drive-by random shootings
he wonders as he
sits on his couch
how the world got this way
he keeps saying
THIS IS NOT MY WORLD ANYMORE
(Jim Wortham, June 7, 2022)
What can I say
knowing tonight
is your last night
unless
a miracle appears
The doctors
unplugged
life support
You are talking
holding my hand
giving me hugs
What is on your mind
no, no
I should not
ask
You are fighting your war
the cancer
attempted to
take over
& tonight
the experts say
will be your
final bye
to life as you
have known it
I pray for
a
miracle
that only
we can
believe for
(Jim Wortham, March 4, 2022)
The Broken and The Holy 