Teak, The Poet Tree

  “My Dream Vacation” – Our writer’s group prompt of the day By Teak Kilmer, July 7 th 2009   Oh, how many to choose from ─ a wilderness anything ─ a northern Minnesota lake (Jasper maybe), loons, grebes, teals, deer drinking near me from the lake, wolves howling at dusk, night dips in the lake, kayaking, bright aqua, yellow and even red darning needles and giant dragon flies staring at me five inches from my face ─ for 30-40 minutes, not letting me take it’s picture or Boundary Waters Canoe Wilderness, or North Shore of Lake Superior, anywhere in pure nature, mountain hikes, swimming in the ocean ─ especially on that deserted beach in the Bahamas, Beaver Lake in Northern Pennsylvania that had beavers and turtles and fish galore and floating islands ─ and, of course bring on the flowers and the birds and butterflies and one more thing: being still and taking it all in in an appreciating heart. And, oh, who could forget Oquaga Lake with its unique pheromone aroma, its soothing

  Letter From Julian     On Thu, Jun 16, 2011 at 12:22 PM , Julius Coffman < sacredhorse.storyteller@yahoo.com > wrote:   Hi Teak,   Thank you again for a wonderful lesson in the power of words. Recently I have been asked by several organizations to write a book about the last seven years of my life. A ghost writer may be the answer to my prayers. One of the challenges I face is the lack of meaning within the limitations of the written word. How does an individual express the experience of a double rainbow appearing during a thunderstorm? Where is the proper placement within the confining structures of a paragraph to mention the power of God and the euphoric existence of love? Stumbling blindly through a thesaurus I expand my high school vocabulary searching for words I have not yet written or experienced. Many times the laughter of doubt discourages my enchanted dreams to become who I have been birthed to be. An author of many best selling books.  Teak, God ha

  NO STINKIN AUTOGRAPHS! by Teak Kilmer circa 1999   “Wow!   That is powerful!   I want a copy!   May I have a copy?” “Sure.”   “I’ll be right back.   I’ll just go make a copy” Pacing while I wait for Faruk Abuzzahab, MD, PhD to return to his, my psychiatrist’s office.   He returns, flips the poem around, places it on his desk that is on the pile of books and papers nearest to me on his desk and says, “Sign it for me, please.”   I do, and I soon leave after I’ve told him there’s another one I just wrote, similar topic, more humorous.   “Be sure you bring it next time.”   “Yah, I’m intending to publish” I say. Seven and quarter hours later I realize I’ve just given out my autograph, then asked for and gave my autograph.   I’ve never sought an autograph, not from Jerry Lewis or Joe DiMaggio that I introduced myself to at 14 years of age (got Jerry’s picture – clown pose) and dove into DiMaggio in the pool at the Traymore Hotel in Atlantic City.   I also met Nelson

  Why Frogs? By Teak Kilmer August 3 rd 2002   Frogs don’t fly, don’t sing, don’t do much of anything ...   except to croak and peep and when scared, they leap sit on fronds on lilly ponds   but frogs don’t fly, don’t sing don’t do much of anything ...   save grow their webby toes sidelong snare yucky bugs with their tongue-tongs that are longer than most drinking songs and other frogs of whom they’re fond to they’ll snuggle-up and bond ...   but frogs don’t fly, don’t sing don’t do much of anything...   except do frog kicks to exercise deep in water, then they rise in purple, green and red some are even blonde it’s said   but frogs don’t fly, don’t sing don’t do much of anything ...   yet pose on covers of greeting cards for which on my visa I may charge and hereon write poems like this and wish you oodles of birthday bliss     HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Mabel     Grandpa Teak               I wrote this on the i

  When a Senior in High School By Teak Kilmer     When a senior in high school, I wrote a term paper – stayed up all night, read four books on the Battle of Gettysburg and wrote the paper ─ in one fell swoop, or as I like to say , one swell foop . That afternoon I turned that paper in to my English teacher, Ms. what’s her name (Oh, God, what is her name?) who honored me with four A+’s on that paper.  I was stunned, just as I had been when she choose me to read the leads in both the plays we read that year: “Cyrano DeBergerac” and “Abe Lincoln in Illinois” – still to this day two of my great heroes, they – both for their deeds and for their impeccable eloquence, their love of words and truth and justice and all virtue”.   Never before had a teacher had faith in me; all the others were indifferent or humiliating or punitive, seeing only my dysfunction that stemmed from my errant genes and family horrors, but did not notice my talent nor especially my crying out for love which my

  TWISTED OLD SAYINGS   ·         Every dog is bliss ·         Honesty loves company ·         Children make the man ·         Jesus makes Jack a dull boy ·         Boys gather no moss ·          One man’s meat moves in mysterious ways ·         One hand deserves another ·         One good turn is worth two in the bush ·         The world will get you nowhere ·         A bird in the hand smells after three days ·         Fish and guests think alike ·         Familiarity is only skin deep ·         God flies when you are having fun ·         A women’s work is a man’s best friend ·         The early bird spoils the broth ·         A thing of beauty gets the grease ·         A friend in need begins at forty ·         The road to Hell makes the world go round ·         Dead men should be seen and not heard ·         Poetry should be heard and not seen ·         Jesus makes light work ·         Every dog finds work for idle hands to do  

Topsy Turvey March 19, 2009 … (25 minutes to write) By Teak Kilmer, SEE    A Prompt for Cursive Writer’s Group: Think of Phrases Common, Make Observations Uncommon   Waste not; want not … want is waste late night eating feeds my hazardous waist   If you can’t say anything good, say nothing at all … but you can always say something good   When you are drawing a blank, what colors do you use?   Picture this: a person head over heels…do you have it yet? “Heels over head” would be posture akimbo!   A prisoner is one or thing that im-prisons A prisonee is one incarcerated! Hence describe: “escapee” and “escaper”.   Finish the sequence: tenth, ninth, eighth, seventh, sixth, fiveth , fourth … threeth, twoth, oneth .  Note – we mispronounce “two” (it should be obvious that two does not rhyme with too and neither does to) and “one”, should rhyme with; bone, cone, phone, and stone   War is Hell so why are we so in love with it? War is proof of failure   The penis mightier than the sword Sex