When Monkey feel Rhythms

By Michael P Amram

In France the word for my is often pronounced “mon.” When Monkeys feel Rhythms taps chosen veins of humanity. The poems examine how relating to aspects of life has affected us, and how the topics I’ve chosen to write about continue to confound us in spite of their power to enlighten us. For better or worse, some poems look for how far we’ve come from times when vines swung as means of transportation. These sixty poems share a common ancestral link. They chain together the primate mentality that follows those who have prospered from life and those that life has failed. The poems investigate relationships and indicate the advances that have been made since those relative connections were discovered. Monkeys points out the need to think and communicate, all the while watching those basic primal skills deteriorate.

Mundane aspects of marriage, friendship, politics, and technology are explored. When Monkeys feel Rhythms peels back the layers of where humanity has been, what we’ve lost, and where we have yet to go. In “Evolution Lost another Tale,” a tether of technology is addressed:

“do you ever re-think the
calls you made; you’d pound steering
wheels for the roads you raged;
when bumpers were tapped abrupt
so your middle finger rose
and anger was conveyed?”

Here I show how a race of drivers has evolved. I show the distance primates have come with the wheel they once invented. The wheel’s novelty is worn out and communication can no longer wait until the end of the trip. I ask when the need to communicate defeated the distinct possibility of fatality. When did people become so self-important that they would risk their lives just to be heard? The poem illustrates how technology has enlarged our heads, shrunk the world, and re-aligned priorities.

Metaphors often disguise malignancy. My poems find cancers in society. The rhythms shake; they quiver and flush out the benign. I invite you to examine what is peeled back. When Monkeys feel Rhythms will make you laugh. Some might make you cry. Others look for the moments you like to say “a-ha.” Some are bold, others are shy. I hope you find reading them as fun and enlightening as writing them was.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Michael P Amram
• Release date: Aug 17, 2015
• ISBN: 9781310474774

Michael P Amram

I have been a published author since 2005. I first published a nonfiction book called, rhetorically, Would God Move a Ping-Pong Table? It is sub-titled “a cumulative analysis of faith and religion. No, I honestly do not think God would move a Ping-Pong table. But it was moved in 1988 in a dormitory at the University of Minnesota-Duluth, and my Christian dorm mate still insists I attribute this act to my prayers to God.I graduated from the University of Minnesota- Duluth with an English degree and a passion to write. I worked full time jobs and wrote on the weekends. I even kept a journal for a few years. In 1998, from a series of short stories based on experiences working at a health club, an obscure Canadian publication published “The Den of Antiquities” under the pen name M.B. Moshe.I wrote. . .and I wrote. I filled 3.5 floppies with text; fiction and vast catalogues of poetry. I look back now and see how I got tighter (in writing). I see how my writing pecked for, and finally found that voice that is imperative. I am always improving (you judge), finding the voice that is me, but still observant of my audience and their accessibilities.In 2011 I began writing about an incident I observed in a small local barber shop. An Orthodox Jewish man entered with his young son. He instructed the barber to take a little off the sides for his boy. From that happening, ideas surmounted, culminating into my first historical fiction novel, The Orthodoxy of Arrogance. I looked at some indie publishers and decided on one. The novel came on the market in January of 2013.When I was a single man, I traveled. I’d go to Europe and the Mid-east brash and free. Sometimes I bit off more than I could chew. In the spring of 2013 I published Scenes the Writer Shows {forty-one places a poem can go}, many of which are based on those travels.Now, at 50, I consider myself part of the comparatively small family of writers who follow only the direction of their muse. I have few commitments. For the foreseeable future, I have no intent of going back to the confines of a forty hour work week in the corporate game of drones. Slowly, with each publication, each tweet mentioned or morning haiku, I like to hope I am getting closer to not being.I published a second novel and poetry collection in 2014. I am currently compiling a memoir about growing up in the midst of the DFL (Democratic Farmer Labor) during the pivotal years of efforts to end the Vietnam War. I also published my third poetry collection in July of 2015. My published and unpublished work can be viewed at www.michaelpaulamram.weebly.com.

Book preview

When Monkeys feel Rhythms

Michael P Amram

© Copyright 2014 Michael P Amram

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval

system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,

recording, or otherwise, without the written prior permission of the author.

Printed in the United States of America.

Contents

Prologue

{Spatial Relationships}

Meandering up to Time

Sanity of Butterflies

Global Positioning

Pocketing Language

When Easels fit the galaxy

Trying to Shrink the Universe

The Epic Menageries

Internal Investments

A Centrifuge for the Bug-boy

A Mid-west Manifesto

Toe prints in August

(1977)

Squeeze Play

Her Network

In Any Event

God Poles

{Religion}

Hands that Fold Empty

Dover’s Ghosts

My Epiphany was Heard

Guiding Banality

Expediting Greed

Dead Pools

Nasal Rhythmus

{Politics}

And security backfires (every time)

A New World Order (the steps to)

The Sixties Wolves

The Great American Novelty

Irony’s Women

Finding Discipline

Fifteen Minutes of Easement

Frayed Ropes

Belt Loops

Canine Figures

Simcha Queened to Iowa

{Friendship}

The Floating Bridge

Limestone Ruins

Manic Concessions

Foot Notes

Searching for Blades

End Zones (for Aaron)

Hosting Perfection

{Marriage}

The Fear of Mattress Nags

Sustenance

Balancing Trust

Her Lessons in Penuriousness

{Ageing}

The Pinch Slippers

Labors of Fruit

Hibernation

Irritants

A Jump in Life

A School of Gerontology

{Technology}

Boulder Realities

Evolution lost another tail

As Wheels Turned

The Key Words (Were in Text)

If the Brain Clicks (Forget it)

The Poetry Jar

Reverberations

Virtually Meet the Author

Prologue

When Monkeys feel Rhythms taps at veins of humanity. It probes how we’ve evolved, how relationships have affected us, and how life continues its puzzle in spite of those causal pairings. For better or worse, some poems look for how far we’ve come from times when vines swung as metronomes. Some are compasses Darwin used to navigate HMS Beagle. They share a common ancestral link. It chains together the primate mentality that follows life’s winners and losers. Monkey’s poems investigate relationships. They speak of the advances that have been made since their inception. The poems point to the need to think and communicate while watching such trends evaporate. The very need to relate is tested by Monkey’s rhythm.

Mundane aspects of marriage, friendship, family, and politics are explored. Monkeys peels back the layers of where humanity has been, what they’ve lost, and where they have yet to go. In Evolution Lost another Tale, a textual leash of technology is addressed:

"Do you ever re-think the

calls you made to slap steering

wheels as you raged the roads

and bumpers were nudged sudden

so your middle finger rose

to convey simple thoughts?..."

It points to how a race of drivers has evolved. The poem shows the distance primates have come with the wheels they devised. It says how the wheel’s novelty is worn and communication can no longer wait for the trip to end. It touches the nerve that asks when did the need to communicate defeat distinct possibilities of fatality. It speaks of how technology has enlarged our heads, shrunk the world, and re-aligned priorities:

"…There were no distractions then

There were no distractions when

Channels broke for truckers

To handle their loads with a

Sense for humor