Hulse Collected Poems (1985-2015): Volume 1

By John Hulse

An amazing collection of poems from John Hulse. His award-winning poetry and stories touch on subjects of social justice, religion and spirituality, and politics and humor. The book was written to try and raise money and awareness for veterans causes. Proceeds from the book will be directed towards veteran organizations.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trafford Publishing
• Release date: Nov 13, 2015
• ISBN: 9781490766966

John Hulse

John Hulse is a poet, artist, and filmmaker from Anderson, Indiana. He is the author of more than a dozen books and his work has won awards including the International Poet of Merit Award and the Shakespeare Trophy of Excellence and is on the ACC Wall of Honor. Mr. Hulse has also worked as a book editor for dozens of universities and publishing companies all over the world.

Book preview

Copyright 2015 John Hulse.

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.

ISBN: 978-1-4907-6695-9 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4907-6696-6 (e)

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Trafford rev. 11/13/2015

33164.png www.trafford.com

North America & international

toll-free: 1 888 232 4444 (USA & Canada)

fax: [phone]

CONTENTS

To The Things I Have Learned From Great Men (In Progress..)

Hopeful Romantic

The Best And The Worst Job I Ever Had

Foreign Policy #4

An American With A Disability

Poetry

My Two Saint Bernard Stories

Life Lesson #10

Mom’s Water Trick

I Hope They Know How Sorry I Am

MRE

Fair Shake

In The Navy

Free Jack Terrier With Papers

Telegraph Ave.

Emergency Room, September 1986

Potato Story

No Soul At All

Selected Poems Of Ezra Pound

No Thank You

Corporate Blues

Stop, Before It’s Too Late

September 1, 1939

A Living Death

For Dorothy Parker

No Wonder My Grandfather Was Always Smiling

7 Days In May

July 13, 7:41Am

Beautiful Young Doctor

Full

98 Pairs Of Boobies

Sweetness

Jaded

Sometimes It Rains In April

Now It’s Your Turn

She Walks Away

To Your Health

It Was Suicide Every Day

1:12Am

I Didn’t Make This Up

The Bush Economy

Saddam Vs Al Qaeda

9/11

Brother

Three Square Meals A Day

Gump For President

Freeze Frame

Fading Away

Wittgenstein

They Could Have Been Building Ships

That Traveled The Universe

They Could Have Been Building Ships

That Traveled The Universe #2

Sometimes The Dumbest Things

Prison

Technology

You See, There Really Is A God

Zen-Kai Cooking Poem (Tokyo 1993)

In The Beginning

The Battle Of Antietam

What I’m Doing Is Just All Wrong

Hunger 1987

I Want To Thank Him So Much For Bringing It Up

Sometimes Nothing Else Can Save You

One For Dick

Irony

9 Billion Dollars

Why Not To Vote For Bush

Two Things We Ask Of A President

New Terrorist Tape (Jan. 30, 06)

Hostage

Channel Surfing (September 2002)

Channel Surfing 4:23Am

Love Is…

For Dave

And No Kissing

The Ballad Of Thomas Granger

Driving Through The Mall Parking Lot

Brooklyn Pneumonia 1986

Dave (2001)

Soap Opera Poem 3/28/2000

Wallace Stevens

You Know The Rest

Making The Effort

Telephone Psychic

Racing Toward Separation

Separation

Separation #2

Vision

That Was Last Night

Vote #347

Never?

She May Be Right

Conk Shell

Reviews On My Latest Book

Sister’s Memory Of An Old Girlfriend

Flashback #77

Nicknames

Just Like You, Just Like Me

4/3/00

That’s How Bad It Is

Breakfast Of Champions?

The Voice Of Experience

No Karma

So Far

For Holly

Life Lesson #223

Sam, On Being Married

A Politically Incorrect Miracle

Jesus Built My Hot Rod

Tobacco Gift

Things You Don’t Hear Everyday #2

Cold Feet

PMS

Monday Afternoon

Mean Woman Blues

I Would Trade My Left Nut For…

Untitled 2/12/95

I’m Playing Loosey-Goosey With Reality Right Now

I’ll Drink From Your Head

Stop Smoking Cannabis

Everyday Is Like Sunday

Stop Smoking Cannabis #7

Stop Smoking Cannabis #8

Not The Way To End The Evening

Cheryl’s Jalapeno Extra Cheese Puffs

A Really Really Bad Day

Full Frontal Nudity Before The Opening Credits

Cinderella Hell Raiser

Why Am I Hungry?

Soap Opera Poem 5/14/2000

My Nine Year Old Niece’s Review On The Effects Of My Painting Style

Soap Opera Poem (August 97)

War Propaganda

A Lover’s Operation

The Mentality Of It

Days And Nights

My Friend…

Soap Opera Poem (May 31, 2002)

No Place Like Home August, 1991

I’m Not Going To Tell You

I’ll Think Of You And Smile

Up Late At Night Chasing Werewolves

Soap Opera Poem (July 10, 2000)

That’s How Bad It Is (Iraq October 10-11, 2008)

The Big Lie I Told To A Little Boy

O’henry And Me

So Alive

Insomnia June

Fire Island 1987

Too Late, Man

The Bush Economy, Part Ii

How Bad Is It? (The Last 48 Hours In Iraq #24)

I Knew Her Before The Rage

Iraq, The Day After The Election

Twelve Years Old

Channel Surfing June 2004

The Battle Of Gettysburg

Political Discussion/Sports Interview (April 2005)

Eng-Ka

Who Made Up This Game, Anyway?

Faith Healing

Bad Karma

The Joke I Wrote For David Letterman

Republican Candidate For President In The Year 2012

In Your Presence

Poem By A Kyoto Bridge

Found A Small Scrap Of Paper (Feb 25)

A Small Poem For My Father And For All That He Gave Me

Untitled For Now (For Ag)

These People Are Fucked

September 13 Paul

Is That Really A Sweet A Deal As It Sounds?

Now That’s More Like It

Channel Surfing The News (June 18, 09)

I Hope I Know You My Whole Life

Channel Surfing (February 11, 2006 5:26 Am)

Bush 2007

Living Under A Bridge Hungry

Silly Jokes And Deficits

Bush 2008

Timothy Leary’s Breakfast

I Walked Into The Room And Heard

In The Beginning

Recount Your Blessings

Afterglow

Smoking

Such Is Life

It Could Be

Starvation 1986

Honey, I Think You Worked With Those Ladies Just A Bit Too Long

A True Definition Of Greatness

Best Seller

The Comedian

I Would Follow Her Anywhere

Misplaced Dream

Yeah, But Did You Try The Pie?

Soap Opera Poem April 23, 2002

Trying To Hold On

Never His

A.g.

The Story I Wrote That Got My Phone Tapped By The Nsa.

TO THE THINGS I HAVE LEARNED FROM GREAT MEN (IN PROGRESS..)

To my friend Paul who is battling cancer

right now with his lovely wife

Mikako by his side.

I met Paul in a hotel in Hawaii.

A Massachusetts boy

a long way from home.

We were both drinking Bass Ale

and Guinness when we met

and have been friends

ever since.

Three surgeries later

he’s looking forward to

the day

when he can wear

pants again.

Everything still works great.

He just wanted me

to know that.

Paul. When I hear his name

the first word I think of

is honesty.

Maybe that’s why he was rewarded

in his life with his real

soul mate.

We cried and still cry

over sweet beautiful Paul.

To my friend Chris in North Carolina

by way of Yorktown, Indiana.

His beautiful sense of humor

and kindness

contain some elements

of magic.

Old-fashioned now

after a wild start.

The love of his life

and three beautiful children

next to him

the entire way.

so Funny to the core.

trombone player.

5 string guitar player..

A real Mad Daddy,

Cramps lovin’ man…

The first thing I remember him

saying to me was when he commented

that my signature reminded him

of John Lennon’s.

He had me at

John Lennon.

To Scott, somewhere

in Nebraska, who made me feel

at ease

no matter what.

His love of The Beatles,

his singing of Yesterday,

his two beautiful daughters,

his expertise at beer pong

and his loyalty to the

Chicago Cubs

and a near perfect

backswing…

A piece of advice,

never play

golf with Scott

for money.

Unless, you don’t

like money.

To Dave M.

Who cut straight to the core with me.

A great roommate.

A pure scientist through and through.

Demons, family tragedies.

Dave, who cut straight through to me.

So much like a brother.

I respected Dave.

Dave went straight to my heart.

To my brother Greg.

25 years US Army, Major.

One of the best men I have ever

known.

When he was overseas

the nightmares

I had were unbelievable.

Thank God he made it back.

I could not bare to think

that there

would be one day

on this earth

that he wouldn’t

be there.

I love him.

My brother.

To my father.

Taught me a love of jazz.

Miles Davis, Coltrane, Monk, Charlie Parker.

Cannonball

and Stan Kenton.

Kenton was my first concert.

A 9 year old boy at Madison Heights

High School gymnasium

listening to the loudest

thing I had ever heard

in my life.

I am so proud that Stan Kenton was my

very first concert.

It changed me.

For my father, who helped give me

my brother and my sisters, my mother

and my mother him.

To my father who never ever, even once

given me a piece of bad advice.

To my father who taught me

to recognize bullshit

from long distances,

for an early understanding

of politics,

fairness and respect

for my fellow man

and to be aware

of beauty in this world.

His trumpet solos

at 5:30 in the morning

are a thing of legend

around here.

For my grandfather, Clayton,

who was a fighting Seabee

in World War II.

He