Poems by Jake Cosmos Aller 2018

Jake AllerJOHN (“Jake”) COSMOS ALLER is a novelist, poet, and former Foreign Service officer having served 27 years with the U.S. State Department in ten countries – Antigua, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Korea, India, St Kitts, St Lucia, St Vincent, Spain, and Thailand. Prior to joining the U.S. State Department, Jake taught overseas for eight years. Jake served in the Peace Corps in Korea. Jake has been an aspiring novelist for several years and has completed five novels, (Giant Nazi Spiders, “the Great Divorce” and “Jurassic Cruise”, and “Ft. Ashland” and is pursuing publication. He has been writing poetry and fiction all his life and has published his poetry fiction in over 25 literary journals. He speaks Korean, some Spanish and Thai. He grew up in Berkeley, California but has lived in Seattle, Washington DC and Stockton, California. He has traveled to over 45 countries and 49 States.

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April 30th

In Search of America 1975 – Hitch hiking Tales

When I was young and foolish
Broke and stubborn
I hitchhiked across the USA

Started in Salt Lake City
Where my greyhound bus pass
Was stolen

The station manager
Could have helped me
But refused to do so

Threaten to call the cops
When I grabbed my bags
Without the stolen tags

I said
Go ahead
But I am so out of here

Wondered about Salt Lake City
Went to a bar
Found I had to buy my booze
Next door
And they would mix it for me

Had to order food too
After a bloody Mary
And a burger

I walked about town
Saw the Mormon Temple

Finally about 3 pm
It was time to hit the road
Did not look back

Ended up in Cody Wyoming
Got a room shower
Steak beer
Using my rapidly depleted cash
Spent 25 dollars
Money really went far
Back in those days

A band of professional
Communist agitators
Gave me a ride
To Des Moines

Lots of weed booze
And politics later
Got off the road
Slept outside

Next day
A beautiful woman
Drove me to near Chicago
In a red mustang

Might have been
The girl in the song
Took it easy
Digging her vibe

She invited home
But was not sure
If her estranged husband
Would welcome me

So I being foolish
And inexperienced with women
Did not go to her place

And always regretted
That I had lost
My chance that day

Then on to Chicago
Several rides later
Visited friends

Hit the road again
A series of uneventful rides
With truckers
And others

And a week later
I ended in New York City

Slept along the way
In cars
In truck stops
In high way rest stops

Always moving
Always going
None stop talking
And lots of free weed
And beer
And conversation

One more memorable ride
Occurred outside Albany
On my return to Chicago

A middle age creepy looking man
Picked me up
In a brand new Cadillac

He was he said a dynamite deliverer
For the Mafia
Went to various places
To blow up shit

He hated a lot of people
Particularly hippies from California
And Jewish people

Looking at me to confirm
That I was both

I told him that I lived in New York
And had never been to California
And although I might looked Jewish
As I what was called back in the day
A “Jewfro”
I was not Jewish

Many years later I discovered
That I am indeed part Jewish
But then I did not know
And I felt a bit of strategic information
Might keep me alive

Then I realized that he was just jiving with me
And we relaxed
And he pulled out some weed
And beer
And we mellowed out

But I believe that he really was with the mob
Perhaps not a dynamite dealer
A real made Italian made mafia member

By Chicago
I had enough
I called my Dad
Told him what had happened

Wanted a ticket home
And he sent me a ticket
And 500 dollars
And I went home

I told him I would tell him
My tales some day
But never did

I learned so much
About my fellow Americans
And the strange vibe
That was 1975

And now it is too late
But I wanted to finally
Tell the world

Of my hitchhiking tales
In search of America 1975

April 29th

Looking Out My Window

Looking out my window
In Incheon
What did I see
The neighboring apartment buildings
Obscured by the April rains

And yellow dust of early Spring
And in the distant the mountains
Aflame with spring
colors
Beckoning me outdoors

Looking out my window
In Oregon
What did I see
Green trees
Silently watching me

And the cats gamboling along
Looking at me

While I look at them
Each wondering what sort of weird creatures
The other is
And who is the real alien species?

In Washington DC
Looking out my
window
What did I see

I saw the squirrels in the trees
And the peaceful
trees
Of Capitol Hill

Near the seat of power
Yet somehow

I felt It all far
away
In Suburban Virginia
Looking out the window
What did I see

I often looked out my window
At the trees and the jungle
In my back yard

And heard the distant roar
Of traffic on the busy suburban street
As people rushed to get to the freeway

In the early morning hours
In Madrid Spain
Looking out the window

What did I see
I looked out at our Spanish neighborhood
Seeing the beautiful Madrid ladies

Walking down the street
Secretly admiring them from afar
In Barbados

Looking out the window
What did I see
The monkeys in the trees

Looking at me
Contemplating raiding my garden
As soon as I went away

In Seoul
Looking out my
window
What did I see
The neighborhood
Alive outside my window
For so many years

In Seattle
Looking out my
window
What did I see
I saw the ever changing green

Sea of trees
that is Seattle’s true color
The city is so lush and green
And alive with life’s endless possibilities
In Stockton

Looking out the window
What did I see
The traffic moving
Through the dense fog
That often fell upon the city

Obscuring everything in its embrace
And growing up in Berkeley
Looking out my window
I saw nothing

But the dirt and trees
And shrubs
Of my ancestral home
And felt nothing
But loneliness

And a desire
To leave my home
As soon as I grew up

That is what I see
When I look out my window
Even to this day

I see where I have been
And wonder where I am going
As I stare out the window

Knowing that my life
Will surely come to an end
As I stare out at the world

Waiting waiting waiting
For my fate to unfold

April 28th,
It is God’s will they say

It is God’s will they say
The neofascists and their ilk
It is the white man’s burden
To rule the unruly masses

To this I say
Never again
Will we let them
Take over the
world

And lead us back
to the dark dangerous days
Of the Holocaust
Or the 19th century colonial era

Never again
Never again

Until hell freezes
over
And the world
ends

April 27th –
The Darkness grows

On distant Comazotz planet
The red eye one smiles
It is satisfied
The black thing is spreading
All the way to earth

April 26th
Married Girl of My Dreams

I married the girl of
my Dreams first
dreamt of her back in
1974 Eight years
later she walked off a
bus and into my life

April 24th – 62 Years young

I am 62 years young
62 years around the sun
37 of those
years I have
spent with the love
of my life

April 25
Somonka for Angela

I have dreamt of you
For almost seven long years
And now you are here

What can I do about this
Only thing to do love you
You are all I want

All that I need in this life
Thank to all the gods
For bringing you in my life
From now to the end of time

April 24th
The Light Will Prevail

Mrs. Which says
This much we know for sure
Despite the lateness of the hour
And the growing power of the Dark Thing
In the end lightness will prevail
Defeating the dark one


April 23 -,
Life In-between

For years I have lived
In-between two worlds
Korea
where my wife’s family
comes from

And the Bay
area
Where I grew
up

and the laidback progressive
wild west coast
and the cutthroat
Dour eastern establishment
Washington DC

Where I worked for 27 Years
And I live between

My official duties
And my desire
To be a wild-eyed poet

And life in-between
Means you belong nowhere
Yet are everywhere

Always disoriented
Always half lost
Never really feeling you belong
That is life
Living in-between


April 22nd
The Neo Fascists are let loose

The Neo Fascists are let loose
By their champion
the man in
Orange

Whose racist
mutterings have
let loose
The ranting
nutty voices of
the right

Championing their
god given right
To rule and
regulate all
that they see

April 21st 2018 Number of the Beast

Behold a vision
A nightmare

The
legendary beast of revelations Comes
alive
Sniffs the air

Assuming the mantel of leadership
Turning into the Orange man
With unnatural hair

Spewing forth sweet sounding nonsense
Spraying hate with every word
Inciting the world into madness

He continues into the halls of power Walks down the
street
Unleashing hell on earth

Soon all know the number of the beast
666
As he prepares the world
To accept the anti-Christ

And all bow down
To worship their new master
As he leads the world to hell itself

Plead to the Computer Gods

Today
I woke up

As
I usually do

 

To
yet another mystifying morning

Of
unspecified computer errors

 

Could
not get the computer to work

Then
when I finally got it to work

After
an half an hour

 

Microsoft
word did not load

And
when it did

I
finally located my work

From
yesterday

 

I
had to find it in the roaming file

Why?

Who knows?

 

Only
to find

That
most of what I wrote

Had
vanished into the ether

 

No
explanation no warning

It
was there saved yesterday

And
now gone for ever

 

Once
I did an experiment

Tracking
computer errors for a week

75%
of the time I encountered errors

 

Most
of the time simple

Screen
freezes no response message

 

Then
when I recovered the program

The
data was gone

 

Microsoft
has yet to respond

to
my e-mail

I
suppose I need to do it again

 

But
today I will close with a prayer

 

To
the Computer Gods

Just
once I would like

You
to do what you are supposed to do

 

Open
my documents

Save
my work

And
not give me any errors

Crashes
or other unspecified problems

 

Is
that too much to ask

Oh
Computer Gods

 

Just once

Do what you are supposed to do

That is all I ask of you

The General Unleashes the Kraken

General
Lee

Stared
out at the Eastern Sea

Wondering
what was out there

On
the other end

 

But
today he had a mission

He
was going to show

The
Emperor

 

That
his sailors had captured

The
dreaded kraken sea monster

And
had figured out how to ride it

 

And
they were going to release the kraken

As
they put down the latest rebellion

Among
the restive folks of the Eastern Shore

Who
were resisting becoming part of the Empire

 

The
general ordered

Release
the Kraken

 

And
the kraken

A huge sea dragon

Came
out of is dark dungeon

And
two sailors climbed on board

 

And
the Kraken went into the ocean

And
attacked the fishing crafts of the villagers

Killing
everyone in a few minutes

Of
frenzied violence

 

The
kraken came back

And
the sailors climbed off its back

And
the kraken attacked them

Killing
them in a frenzied act of further violence

 

The
emperor turned to the general

Very
impressive

But
needs a bit of work don’t you think?

 

The
kraken looked up at the general

And
screamed out curses

Saying
that the kraken worked for no man

 

And
that other kraken would be summoned

To
revenge the attack on the kraken’s honor

And
he leaped up

 

Grabbed
the general and the Emperor

And
dove into the ocean

Emperor Surveys the Eastern Sea

The Emperor of the known world

Stood out on his balcony

In the eastern sea palace

Surveying the wilds of the Eastern Sea

 

Wondering who or what lived across the sea

Or if there were lands there

As rumored by all

Lands ruled by nameless bearded ape like
men

 

The Emperor of all the Lands

Ruled all the known world

From the imperial capitol

He had build in the dessert

 

He ruled all he could see

From the Eastern Shore

To the wild waste lands

Beyond the great wall

 

The Emperor had fought hard

Over the years

To unify the people

Under one banner

 

Fighting against the wild ones

Of the Western wastes

And their allies the witches

Of the inner world

 

And yet he was not satisfied

He knew that he would have to lead

And expedition to the lands

Beyond the eastern Sea

 

And he could rest

Until he had finally

Conquered the known universe

Bringing
in under imperial control

That was his destiny

To rule the known and unknow universe

As foretold by imperial soothsayers

And the prophetic books of ancient days

Five Signs of the Apocalypse

One

Watching the
evening news

Spin forth the
latest scandals de jour

The fake news and
spin

 

The daily
propaganda

And the utter
destruction of common sense

And reason

 

The thought comes
to mind

Are we living in
the end of times

Is the Apocalypse
drawing neigh?

 

Two

The signs of the
coming of the end times

Have been
endlessly debated

Among the
Christian right wing blog sphere

Ever since Israel
was reborn

Apparently
triggering the cosmic count down

 

“According to Revelation 12, a pregnant woman
will be hunted by a satanic seven-headed dragon eager to eat her unborn child.
The woman will be clothed with the “sun, with the moon under her feet and
a crown of twelve stars on her head. She brought forth a man-child, who was to
rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God and
to his throne. The Scripture continues to explain that the “woman was
given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into
her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from
the face of the serpent.”

But the pending eclipse is
another astronomical sign the end is near and that the Rapture is fast approaching.

….the image will be created
in the sky on Sept. 23.

…..Virgo represents the woman
in Revelations 12 who will be clothed in sunlight. She will be in position over
the moon and under the nine stars and three planets.

….More importantly, to trust
the right God,” he reported to the publication. “If people want to be ready,
the one thing you can do is accept what He has offered, which is the gift of
grace and forgiveness. That’s all we have to do to be ready.”

Yet September 23 end and the
world is still here.

Are there other signs that
the end is near?

All of this
is speculation as Jesus said He didn’t know the date or hour when the Almighty
would close the final chapter on mankind. Scripture clearly states in Mathew
24:36 that no one knows when the end will be. “But of that day and hour, no one
knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only.”

 

Three

Yet the fear persists in my heart

As I watch the news

The days grow darker

 

Moment by moment

The light of reason

Seems to be replaced

 

By famines, rumors of war and false prophets galore

All in according to revelations the false prophets claim

Gods plan unfolding as we speak

 

“Things like wars,
earthquakes, famine and technology (implanted microchips in our bodies already
have been tested by BioNyfiken in Sweden) all point that we are moving toward
Jesus’ return.

“The prophecy of
Daniel 2 alone shows we are in the time of the end and all the other evidence
proves we are in the very end times,” the site reported. They
indicated that the world was going to a 100 percent cashless system and how the
“powers of this world are now trying to make cash obsolete, and are
actively pushing pure electronic forms of payment, like PayPal and Google
Wallet for instance. Take a look at the news and you will see this being
reported in different countries of the world.”

Yes this has occurred
already. In India they wiped out the 100
rupee note in an attempt to go cashless all at once !

And it failed.

Yes the signs are all about us

If only we have eyes to see

 

And ears to hear

And minds to understand

 

Four

Non-Christians will find it hard to believe we are living in the
last days of earth’s history. It’s in the Bible,
II Peter 3:3-4, TLB. “First, I want to remind you that in the last days
there will come scoffers who will do every wrong they can think of, and laugh
at the truth. This will be their line of argument: ‘So Jesus promised to come
back, did He? Then where is He? He’ll never come! Why, as far back as anyone
can remember everything has remained exactly as it was since the first day of
creation.'”

Yes why has not Jesus come back?

Is that yet another sign the end is near?

They all say the coming of the Antichrist is a sign of the
end. It’s in the Bible, I John 2:18, NKJV. “Little
children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is
coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the
last hour.”

What moral conditions will be characteristic of society in the
last days? It’s in the Bible, II Timothy
3:1-5, NIV. “But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days.
People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive,
disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving,
slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous,
rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God—having a form of
godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.”

And this is so true in the era of Trump and the new
oligarchs who have taken over

The swamp monsters have come out of the dark slimly
corners of America

Proclaiming it is their time to come out

And openly rule the world

And the bible confirms this dire prophecy

Five

“Talk of peace and safety are a sign of the last days. It’s in the Bible, I Thessalonians 5:2-3, NIV.
“For you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in
the night. While people are saying, ‘Peace and safety,’ destruction will come
on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not
escape.”

The gospel will go to the whole world and the end will come. It’s in the Bible, Matthew 24:14, NIV. “And this
gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all
nations, and then the end will come.”

Yes I say on to you

When talk of peace in the world is upon us

When the Korean lions lay down their weapons

And proclaim their new found brotherhood

Perhaps the end times are finally coming to pass

“We have seen how
seven biblically prophesied circumstances could not have come to pass until
recent times. In fact, the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948 was
clearly a major turning point in the fulfillment of Bible prophecy, as was the
acquisition of the hydrogen bomb by the two superpowers of the 1950s that led
to the period of mutually assured destruction.

All has now become
possible. This, in turn, makes it much more likely that our generation will
live to see Jesus Christ return and establish the Kingdom of God on earth.
After all, Jesus Himself said that once these things begin, the generation
alive at that time “will by no means pass away till all these things take
place” (Matthew 24:34).”

And so we close

Where we began

Fearing that the end
of the world is coming

How it will end is
beyond anyone’s guess

 

Perhaps the zombie
apocalypse will end civilization

More likely nuclear
war and nuclear winter

Will doom us all

 

Perhaps a super
volcano

Will blow us all to
hell

Perhaps alien invaders
will take us over

Exterminating us as we
try to do to the Native Americans

 

Perhaps an AI will
take us over

Leading us to
terminator land

 

Perhaps the rapture
will occur

And the grim events

In revelations will
come to pass

 

And perhaps nothing
will happen

We will somehow
survive

The end times

 

But I am afraid

That the end times are
coming

Sooner than we think

 

And so the world ends

Much as it began

With a big bang

Or a soft whimper

 

God only knows

And he is silent as
usual

Living with Pain (Hanibun)

Back in 1996 I had the accident that changed everything.  I went jogging one morning. It was dark outside, and I thought that I knew the trail.  Big mistake.  I fell down a ledge hidden where the trail should have been.  I shattered me heal in a million pieces.  I was rushed to an ER and told that I need an emergency operation and would be bed ridden for four months.

My wife was in San Antonio at the time serving in the Army, I was in DC working for the State Department.  I flew in a wheel chair to San Antonio where they proclaimed that they had to wait a week for the swelling to go down before they could operate.  The Air force doctors wanted to try a new procedure – using shark cartridge as a bone supplement.  The operation was a success until I quit taking antibiotics six months later.  I was in DC by myself then.  I went to the hospital for an unrelated thing -removal of a cist I think.  But the doctors took one look at me and proclaimed that the staph had become a multiple drug resistant staph and I needed an urgent operation.  The next day I had the third of 15 operations.  I endured six months at Walter Reed hospital but that was in the 90’s prior to the wars of the 21st century filled the base up. They had few customers and I got to know the doctors well.

I know pain
Intimately aware of every ache
Every pain

Ever since that day
When I went under the knife
And had the 14 operations

That saved my life
But I am not one to complain
I became one with the pain

Which I endure to this day
Knowing that I am alive
Having cheated death
Twenty times in life

Waiting for the grim reaper
To finally claim me

But that day has not come
And until then
I will endure

Hiking the Hills of My Youth

I grew up in Berkeley, California in the 60’s.  Ever since I was a youngster I would wander the hills of Berkeley hiking for hours by myself and sometimes with my friends. I explored every nook and cranny every corner of the hills and got to know nature in its infinite beauty.

Ever since those days, I have longed for the day that I could spend my days hiking and wandering  in the hills.  Now that I am retired and living in Korea I can go for a long walk in the hills every day I want.  It is not the same as the hills I grew up, no vistas of the Bay and it is in Korea to boot but most days it is sufficient as I head out early afternoon and conquer four or five miles of hills just enjoying that fact that I can still move and am still very much alive at age 62.

I grew up hiking the hills of Berkeley, California
Grew up knowing every corner of the hills
And the infinite beauty of the Bay Area

And now I find myself in a strange land
With time on my hands
I wander the hills above the airport
In Incheon Korea

And wander about here and there
Just being grateful
That I am still alive
And kicking at age 62

There is nothing more to be said

Nothing more I can add
Nothing more than this

I will love you
Until the end of time itself
and death does us part

Learning I am part Jewish

Recently I learned that I was part Jewish

That was long rumored in our family tree
Never confirmed until DNA came again

But whether my Jewish ancestors lived
Or died in the holocaust I have not heard
Never again will we live through that pain

Hiking in the Spring Time Snow

Talking a walk in the mountains
In the spring time snow

Snow falling down all over the trail
As I wander through the hills

Breathing the early spring smells
And seeing the world covered in white magic

The last remnants of the winter’s touch
Before the spring time gambol of flowers

Overwhelms nature once again
Preparing for the summer’s hellish heat

Haiku

I met my late fate
Seeing her face in a bar
And my fate ended

Putin

Post Modern Leader
Uniting all the Russians
Triumphant against all enemies
Including the Great Satan
Nevertheless always living in fear

Trump

The President of the United States
Republican Leader of the Free world
Uber ales nations
Muttering insanities
Preposterous Nonsensical tweets

Angela (Acrostic poem for Whispers)

Angela is my life
No better friend in the universe
Greatest Love of all
Every Day I thank God
Love of my life
Angela My Soul Mate
Love of my long life
Everything I ever desires
Everything I ever needed

Mr. Trump

Please tear down this wall
Please open up your heart
Please stop this madness

We are all Americans
We are all one people
And your wall
Will not stop us
From becoming one people

Please tear down this wall
Please build bridges to the future
Please open your heart
And let the love shine through

Walls Divide Us

In Modern America
We all live in gated communities
Trying desperately to keep them out

Out of sight
Out of mind
And out of our lives

And yet we fail
Fail to accept the others
Are human beings
Are our fellow creatures

As we wall ourselves off
Into our separate communities

We lose our humanity
And we lose ourselves

As we hide in our walls
Hide in our bubbles

It Has Been Done Before

Before Trump’s Wall
There were many other walls

The Berlin Wall
The Great Wall
Hadrian’s Wall

All the walls of the ancient world
All failed
To keep the enemies out

The enemies of freedom
The enemies of the state
Still came across the border
To loot, steal, rape and plunder

And nothing could stop
The flood of history

Trump’s Wall Against Reason

The President wants to build a wall
Against the southern hordes
Another great wall
To keep the barbarians out

He wants to build a wall
Against reason
Against science
Against the modern world

Hiding behind the wall
On the southern border

Desperately trying to keep them out
The unwashed masses
The undocumented
The illegals

Streaming across the border
Seeking to wreck the pure land
Murderous hordes
Rapists, drug dealers

Coming to take our land over
As he stands on the border
Trying to stop the hordes himself

Angela Haiku

Every day I wake up
To the love of my long life
And say Thanks to God

How Much I Despise You

2007 How Much I Despise You
2017 How Much I despise You

Following 2016 the second worst year ever
Will 2018 be any better ?

And what we have suffered
The darkness settles on the land
Like a curse on the land

As our mad demented senile dotard king wannabe
Struts about the world’s stage
Ushering America’s inevitable decline

Thank God For Angela

Every day I wake up
And see you there

I thank God
That he had the wisdom
To send you to me

To save me
By bringing you into my life
You are the sunshine
That lights up the day
You are reason
I get up in the morning

And you are reason
I exist
Without you I am nothing

But dust blowing in the wind
Waiting until death
Takes me down