I wanna be a semi-distinguished poet
a relative household name
in the households of all my relatives
I wanna do a book signing at a store
that will later slap 50% off stickers
onto all my remaining copies
I wanna go to a used book sale in the mall
and find one of my tomes misplaced
in the foreign language section
with a partially torn 50% off sticker
still clinging to the cover like some kind of skin disease
I wanna be a semi-distinguished poet
invited to travel half way across the country
where my sponsors will put me up in some fleabag hotel
and I will write a poem about the fleas
And I will give a reading for an audience of eleven people
who read about it in the local weekly alternative rag
Most of them will wander in late
And I want there to be one semi-attractive woman
who will approach me afterward
intent upon getting into my pants
This
to me
is the essence of true romance
I wanna be a semi-distinguished poet
winging my way home
lonely
and vaguely apprehensive about the future
beginning a new angst-ridden poem
plucking words from the rarefied air
and drifting into a cloud-shrouded dream
Wow as a completely non distinguished poet who does pull words from the air and writes poetry filled with angst... I love this Great One Shot. Love and Light, Sender
ReplyDeleteha. this was a delightful read...several chuckles...i concur though, i'd rather it be my wife that got in my pants but that is my perogative...smiles. nice one shot!
ReplyDeleteFascinating well brought together writing. Enjoyed the angst...push of the writing placement. I sure hope I find these incredible words upon a bookshelf someday with that 50% off sticker, lol ;) Well done! ~April
ReplyDeleteLove the play on the word relative and the painfully true description of the reading you describe. "plucking words from the rarefied air /
ReplyDeleteand drifting into a cloud-shrouded dream" Both hilarious and sad.
You my friend are on your way. Tho I wonder how many poets are flown around the world anymore.
ReplyDeleteNice One Shot
I can see the 50% sticker from here
Moon smiles and thanks
Wonderfully hilarious! I enjoyed this tremendously!
ReplyDeleteI wanna do most of those things too :)
ReplyDeleteGreat Poem! very well done, sad and funny and real. A true gem for OSW
ReplyDeleteWonderful as always Tim!I enjoyed this very much! BTW I opened In MY Heart back up. Much Love Cindy
ReplyDeleteSENDERUP WORDS,
ReplyDeleteSomething we can all aspire to, right? :)
BRIAN,
Thanks...and to each his own, eh?
BETWEEN HEARTS,
I don't know about the book, but I have a 50% off sticker pasted to my forehead...a real
steal!
DUSTUS,
Thanks so much for that.
"MOON"
More like they take the bus...lol!
NEVA,
Thanks for the follow...so nice to have you aboard!
KB,
We share the same vision...'tis the essence of true romance...
STEVEN,
I love your stuff, man--thanks for the follow!
CINDY,
Great to see you back in action--I'm coming to check it out.
May you live your dream.....you are distinguished in our eyes....to be a starving writer...but words recited...now that is what matters...bkm
ReplyDeleteLOL...a fun read indeed...but why 11 people?
ReplyDeleteaspiration: the road, just like a 70s rock star knowing out there in the room some groupies crave 2 see you and quote your own words back 2 you. Yeah! a modern poet doesn't mean eliot or pound, beautiful girls wouldn't know prufrock if she ran into him etherized on a table. Koool. Thanks. Gay
ReplyDeleteGosh, Tim, I know this was tongue in cheek and all, but mostly I just felt sad!
ReplyDeleteLoved it. Fun to read is true but does not say enough. Makes me wonder about what I want, and why. = Bill
ReplyDeleteBKM,
ReplyDeleteThanks...why are so many of the starving artists I see not skinny?
EMMANUEL,
Because that's about the average turnout for a poetry reading, in my experience! (No matter who is reading.)
BEACHANNY,
I like the way you explained that!
LINDA,
If someone is living his or her "dream," then we needn't feel sad, even if we see it differently from the way they do. Then again, being a poet can be a sad and lonely affair, and that's often where all that good poetry comes from.
HUGS!
you are very distinguished Tim,great poem..love the way you flow..creative one shot..;)
ReplyDeleteWhat a wannabe poem! It actually sounds like it would be a great dream, and you certainly have the creativity and talent to way exceed that semi-distinguished poet.
ReplyDeleteYou'll never be semi-distinguised to me, Tim. So there! And I'll even pay full cover price for your book! :)
ReplyDeleteAnd I want be a reader of a semi-distinguished poet and a speaker of poems like these. Loved this poem.
ReplyDeleteBILL,
ReplyDeleteThanks for that...one could do worse than being semi-distinguished--not so many paparazzi to harass you!
DESERT ROSE,
Thank you so much for making that "distinction."
TERESA,
To be distinguished in your eyes is more than enough...
TALON,
Wow...I'll take that sticker off my forehead now!
GLYNN,
Much appreciated, my friend!
LOL Tim ...nice :))
ReplyDeleteI would like to read the poem you'd write about the fleas... ^-^
ReplyDeleteAnd that would be me wandering in late... lol...
ha! I can see the true romantic self of a distinguished poet...and i can afford to give full price for your book, as of now...so bring it out soon :)
ReplyDeletewishes,
devika
reading again, i think of it as a vehemant response to our own lives as poets, romantic and otherwise...I liked it a lot, Tim...and kind of reminded of Dostovsky :)
ReplyDeletewishes,
devika
*Dostoevsky -- His spirit might sue me; Fyodor Dostevsky to be exact :)
ReplyDeletedevika
I'll buy that book when it comes out! Well actually, maybe a bit after it comes out. Unless I find a job pronto, I'll have to wait for the 75% off sticker stuck over the 50% off sticker.
ReplyDeleteOh, and about that late thing, sorry. I always get lost.
So brilliant so very brilliant...been there in fact I was once invited to New York fr a reading of my poem, but of course on my MONEY..but the feeling wasn't there..I felt like an impostor..and no one would hit on me although at the time I was beautiful...a fake, who hadn't been approached by the international Poetry Library...although I did pay for four books that carried my poems...impostor, I am
ReplyDeleteThough this cracked me up, there is so much truth to this...you know the starving artist, misunderstood writer and all that stuff one goes through hopefully not for naught in the end!
ReplyDeleteWhat I can read hear is an amazing, great poet!
ReplyDeleteSo glad I found this place and read you
;)
I think you could well be on your way to that goal, Timoteo!
ReplyDelete(It would be nice to be famous BEFORE dying, eh?)
Great mix of words! I want to be a semi-distinguished poet too but uh, don't think I could handle the attention:)
ReplyDeleteGreat poem -
J.
hope u get to live ur dream soon, Timoteo :D
ReplyDeleteit was a great mix of words... ah, lovely narration!
My One Shot
Hi, Tim, I'm back! I just wanted to say how happy I am for you that so many readers who enjoy poetry and share your passion for it have come to read you...and understand where you're coming from. As opposed to me, who comes...well,just because!
ReplyDeletea dream turned nightmare
ReplyDeletean enjoyable journey to read, though not a trip i think i wish to take ;-)
SUJA,
ReplyDeleteMuchas Gracias!
DUCHESS,
One day I'll do a biting commentary on fleas.
DEVIKA,
Dostoevsky? Wow--you're stepping me way up in class there...LOL! While I don't necessarily resonate with everything that falls under the umbrella of existentialism, I do find it a fascinating philosophy--particularly in the area of free will and personal responsibility.
KOBICO,
I'm reserving a free copy for you...just as soon as I write the book!
LORRAINE,
International Poetry Library...library SHLIBRARY...the only thing that matters--if you want to be read--is to find an audience whatever way you can, and you and I have done that, right here on the blogosphere!
SUZI CATE,
Great to see you here again! I don't think it's ever for naught if you are gaining satisfaction from what you do.
DULCE,
I'M so glad you found me...thanks so much for following!
ERIC,
Yeah, but being famous after you're dead has its advantages...you can't do anything to screw up
your image--like Tiger Woods!
J,
Reminds me of what my mom said when I wrote my first poem: "Oh, he's just doing it to get attention."
LEO,
Much appreciated, bud.
i love this - you should see me smile
ReplyDelete...write a poem about the fleas… so good
think i wanna be a semi-distinguished poet as well - sounds good to me…smiles
from my position in life that would be one heck of an achievement!!!!!!! i would so love that too but with bri on that one..needs to be the wife..mine not his mind!!! but i believe and so i keep writing an one day when my book is out and people are flocking to my book signings i will know them beacuse we all met here!!! great one shot..pete
ReplyDeleteLINDA,
ReplyDeleteYou are a wonderful friend. :)
WIDOW,
It's all about expectations...some of us are easily entertained!
CLAUDIA,
I CAN see you smile, (your photo) and it's a lovely one!
Well, you know they say the best way to "raise" people is to attribute qualities on them :)
ReplyDeleteBut i meant it Tim -- if not for existentialism, there's that idiotic goodness that's characteristic of Dostoevsky in this poem, and the poet, i thought...though expressed in a kind of sardonic way :)
wishes,
devika
i must add, Tim...for the distinguished poet i have seen and read here...i, a poor humble soul, knows well you need no "raise" or "praise' :)
ReplyDeletei was just sharing what came to me, dear Tim :)
wishes,
devika
PETE,
ReplyDeleteI believe we do it because what comes out needs to come out--despite any considerations of recognition or obscurity--otherwise, the effort may be contrived.
DEVIKA,
What I so enjoy about you is that you are a deep thinker, and it seems the wheels are always turning. And anytime the word "idiotic" is used in relation to my work, I consider it to be high praise! :)
Oh my! please Tim...you know me - idiocies and eccentricities are vitual to intelligentsia i thought...and goodness is what makes it a class apart :)
ReplyDeleteMy father would put me down saying "all intelligent people are eccentrics or idiotic...but all eccentrics are not intelligent" - i guess his criticsms has worked so i started "applying" my mind...can't say where the wheel is going :)
best,
devika
*vital to intelligentsia,
ReplyDeleteDEVIKA,
ReplyDeleteSee what I mean?
I have had an interesting week in my world, but I am glad I popped by to check out your OneShot. You have a dream and I think a good one at that. Ah, the lure of publishing, if only to fall to the discount rack. Still published and forever more to be proud! Nice
ReplyDeleteOh Tim...no self goals please :)
ReplyDelete(I guess, I am getting it right...we the idiotic, good-hearted do it a lot and is many a times mistaken, :)
wishes,
devika
Thank you for supporting the reading needs of the needy, Tim.
ReplyDeleteAh yes... the DIRT situation has only worsened... @_@
ReplyDeleteI shall attack again later this morning & hope to conquer, without too many casualties...
Ever after shall I remain vigilant!
KKRIGE,
ReplyDeleteThanks for visiting...coincidentally, I was just preparing my "I Have a Dream" speech!
Brings new meaning to the cliche 'Wannabe'
ReplyDeleteI so love your poems! They make me grin. Happy I stumbled upon you through Poets United. I look forward to reading more (and smiling more!) Write on, Traveler!
ReplyDeleteSHERRY,
ReplyDeleteSo lovely to make your acquaintance!