Something's Bound to Happen

By Michael Kasenow

The second edition of Michael Kasenow's poems examines the wounds of abuse, materialism, love lost, alienation, and the need for purpose-and celebrates the beauty of endurance, survival, and the miracle of each breath. This eclectic collection is a passage through

• Language: English
• Publisher: Michael Kasenow
• Release date: Jul 23, 2020
• ISBN: 9781734955330

Book preview

SOMETHING’S

BOUND TO

HAPPEN

SECOND EDITION

Michael Kasenow

Copyright © 2016 by Michael Kasenow

Second edition, revised 2020

All rights reserved.

michaelkasenow.com

No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law.

For permission requests please contact DartFrog Books.

Second edition published 2020

Printed in the United States of America

ISBN 978-1-7349553-2-3 (print)

ISBN 978-1-7349553-3-0 (ebook)

Canoe Tree Press

4697 Main Street

Manchester, VT 05255

www.CanoeTreePress.com

Table of Contents

ABUSE

THE GREAT ABSURD

SURVIVING CANCER

ZACHARY

THIS IS HOW HE REMEMBERS HER

THE AFFLUENT AVENUE

SWEETWATER

THE FORGOTTEN MANY

THE TRAIN

FRANKIE’S POND

REVEREND HARDING’S NIGHTMARE

BLACKBIRD

LILITH

BOOMER BLUES

PASSING AN AMBULANCE AT 3:00 AM

THE PERFECT LAWN

SEVEN JAZZ MEN

MY FRIENDS ARE ON HEROIN

MARGARET

WAITING FOR MOSES

LINDA

BEATNIK PAUL’S DRUNKEN HARANGE

I WATCHED YOU GO

TIME

A LITTLE GIRL PLAYING

THE ACCIDENT

THE VALLEY OF DRY BONES

ROADS

THE SAINT’S CAFE

EBB AND FLOW

THINGS WITH WINGS

TAO

THE DESERT BEAUTIFUL

WHERE DID JENNY GO?

MACBETH

SIGNIFICANCE

SOUNDS IN THE ATTIC

CANDLE

HITCHIKING TO MICHIGAN

THE GREAT DIVIDE

JOSHUA FEENICS (WHEN I WAS A KID)

MODERN ART GALLERY

THE FOG

SACRED JOURNEY

PASSING THE OLD CABIN ROTTING BY THE LAKE OF LAURA LEE

SARAH AND WARREN

PREACHER PARSONS EASTER SERMON

CONSEQUENCES

WHEN I KNEW FOR SURE THAT HE WAS CRAZY

ADDICTION

JESUS ANSWERS PILATE: SHOW ME A MIRACLE!

HER EYES

LIKE A BROKEN WING

SUMMER TENT

TWO SHIPS

CHASING AFTER GHOSTS

THE GARDENER

A MILE BEHIND

WHITE RAVEN

THE MONSTER’S HOUSE

WHEN WE BELIEVED

VICTORY

THE SOLDIER’S LAMENT

TO AN ATHLETE NOT DYING YOUNG

STAR WARS ALIEN LEAVES EARTH BEHIND

LEANNE AND LEWIS

ARTHUR HAS TO PUT ANGIE INTO A HOME

JAMES TYLER MALONE

NUMBER 2

A PASSIVE WIND

SHE PRAYS FOR THE MOON

ICARUS

WORKING CLASS: IT’S A HARD LIFE

THE GOLDEN CALF BAR AND GRILL (A DISCUSSION ABOUT DINOSAURS)

EARLY MORNING COFFEE

PASSAGES

EGGS OVER EASY

AN AFTERNOON AT THE COLISEUM

THE PAWNSHOP

OLD CHUMS

SOMETHING’S BOUND TO HAPPEN

DREAMING

KNOWLEDGE

KU KLUX KLAN BLUES

JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE SECOND COMING

BURLESQUE

LAZARUS

JESUS IS EVERYWHERE

WHEN I RETURN

RESPECTING NATURE

ROADS

TRUTH

MIRACLES

YOU CAN SLEEP WITH ME ANY TIME YOU WANT

RISING FROM THE DEAD

DRUNKEN SAILORS

SONG FOR SAILORS

A HARD BATTLE

SOLITUDE

BEFORE THE CRASH

THE LONG GOOD-BYE

TWENTY YEARS

A LOVE THIS GOOD

FOR A CELTIC LASS

LISTENING

SOLITAIRE

THE REUNION

HUMPTY DUMPTY

COFFEE SHOP BLUES

EYE OF ANGER

WINTER NIGHT

SPENT YEARS

AFTER THE LAST CUP OF COFFEE

THEY MUST BE JOKIN’

SIX FEET DOWN

FINAL PRAYER

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

They sicken of the calm who know the storm.

—Dorothy Parker, Sunset Gun

ABUSE

When angels die and no one hears,

Where does a nine-year-old boy go

To hide from rage and blow by blow

Of callous fists, the smell of beer,

And clenched teeth, the bully’s sneer?

A battered child is slow to grow.

Where does he go in his dirty clothes,

When the family man smells like a rose?

What does he tell friends about the welts?

The lonely shame lashed blue on skin,

The forever fear in the coward’s grin,

When a bad day unfurls the belt,

When the soul’s candle slowly melts,

When being born is the awful sin?

THE GREAT ABSURD

Two points matter, if they do?

Before and after are clueless.

Ambition’s pride is useless.

Each point can be gentle.

Each point can be ruthless.

A whimper? A bang? In the end

Even the shark is toothless.

SURVIVING CANCER

Night will come soon enough.

A change will surely come.

Put away your bullets

And pounding of your drums.

Reach for what you cannot touch,

For change will surely come.

Is Heaven filled with angels?

A change will surely come.

Does it roll and flow in valleys

‘Neath a crimson, halo sun

Or is it quiet, cold and black?

A change will surely come.

Winter winds are grazing.

A change will surely come.

Put away your restlessness,

Masquerades and sum

Of what you think you are

For change will surely come.

ZACHARY

In the softness of sleep, ten years after

They said you would die, I hear your laughter

And wonder where you go

Behind those eyes?

In the softness of sleep, I brush your hair

With a Father’s stroke, wishing I was there

To watch you play

Behind your eyes.

In the softness of sleep, I watch you breathe,

Then tuck you warmly before I leave

And wonder what you see

Behind those eyes?

In the softness of sleep, I caress a fear;

Kiss you good night in this lucky year

And wonder what I’d do

Without those eyes?

THIS IS HOW HE REMEMBERS HER

I’m no angel, I’m just a friend.

She went downstairs and through the door.

The air she moved through moved no more.

Quiet how these journeys end.

Some wounds doctors cannot mend.

If he could go into before

Confusion walked across the floor,

He’d go and not come back again.

Her laugh would glide, but had no wings.

Deep inside her eyes she bled.

So many things she never said,

Like good-bye and thanks for everything.

Beauty is such a timeless thing,

So why do all things end up dead?

THE AFFLUENT AVENUE

What are we waiting for? Living is not a sin.

You spent years looking out; I spent them looking in.

Last time you said hell-o, you were dressed in diamond blue,

Wagging your happy tail on the Affluent Avenue.

There is no comfort here—like grass, wind and road.

Passion dies painlessly in the age of growing old.

Behind marble walls servants pay their dues,

Forgotten like the pennies on the Affluent Avenue.

The cafe chatter floats like smoke