JOHN (“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.
—
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