I was a boy when people asked me…

“What do you want to be when you grow up?”

‘Unafraid.’ I thought.

“I don’t know.” I answered.

I just wanted people to stop hitting me. I just didn’t want to be afraid all the time.

I grew tall and people asked me.

“Why are you so angry?”

“Why do you drink so much?”

“I don’t know. ” I lied.

I am 58 years old and I am a father and I know what I want. To teach her and show her love and support her and be her friend… and paint and make films.

“I will tell story.”

Said I.

Dennis Mantin

That feeling of life slipping away…

Through fingers of time has somehow escaped me.

I don’t know why, however I do know it burdens you.

I see it in the lines of your face and feel it in the chill of your touch.

You feel as though life is a trap; no matter how many times I tell you no!

It is a gateway and what you do here matters.

It’s payday at the Gulag… There are smiles raining down.

The dealers here, peddling dreams. Anticipation is all the sound.

It’s chaos until midnight. When Cinderella hears a moan.

She was in the Masters dark room, where she thought they were alone.

It’s over like it started. Alarm clocks ring at dawn.

We move like it’s all over… It’s just the money that’s all gone.

There is no calculation that I have seen That can determine the reactions of People who do not get their own way.

If you want to know who are dealing with… just say no to them. Say no without explanation for maximum Strange.

Jack was a career criminal at a time when him and his associates lived by rules and codes…

He was north of 60 when I met him and he swore he wasn’t going back inside.

Jack told me, “Everybody thinks they can go through life and not live by any rules. I’m here to tell you that you’re going to have to live by at least 2 rules. Everybody knows knows rule # 1; however very few know rule # 2… And rule # 2 is never shit in your own nest.”

It’s been 40 years since I’ve seen Jack and I like to think he managed to stay true to his rules.

I met Wendy online. She is brave and she is bold. Not like Batman in a mini, left me standing in the cold.

Wendy loves my intellect, says she wants to shave my balls. And not a moments hesitation. I’ll be taking all Wendy’s calls. There’s a shift in something somewhere. That time that push has come to shove. I’m not hearing the others calling. Cause I’m drunk on Wendy’s love.

I’m standing in the fog here. Here huddled in the rain. Feeling warm and fuzzy. I got Wendy on the brain.

Wendy loves my intellect, says she wants to shave my balls. And not a moments hesitation. I’ll be taking all Wendy’s calls. There’s a shift in something somewhere. That time where push has come to shove. I’m not hearing the others calling. Cause I’m down for Wendy’s love.

Now I have not met Wendy. In the person face to face. In the shadows brave and many. In this darkness; human race.

Wendy loves my intellect. Says she wants to shave my balls. And not a moments hesitation. I’ll be taking Wendy’s calls. There’s a shift in something somewhere… A time that push has come to shove. I don’t hear the others calling, because I’m into Wendy’s Love.

Dennis Mantin

Standing on the gallows.

Passed the point of no return.

The unknown is my future.

At a stake that’s gonna burn.

Breathing calm and in my meadows.

So many dramas come to this.

There’s a guard who shifts uneasy.

I say ok… go have a piss.

I could go. But I have plans now.

I’m going to face this thing that comes.

I’ve not made a reservation.

But there’s a drummer beating drums.

I’ve been fighting. I’ve been worried.

Many chances. Chances Store.

I have always been so hurried.

No more hurried here, no more.

There’s this feeling that’s just so nearly…

Like the battered and the bruised.

I wonder if I heard clearly.

Deep down, I’m just confused.

There’s a man who’s screaming something.

In the face of that sad clown.

There’s a juggler in the spotlight.

That didn’t use the right pronoun.

The siamese twins grow tired.

Two heads can not agree.

Cooperation is required.

No discernments they can see.

The wives they seem so angry.

The husbands have that look.

Doesn’t much matter which way I go.

Either way, I’m on the hook.

And the men

There was no prior warning.

There is no beauty here to show.

It is darkness in the morning.

Here in deep Alaska snow.

I listened to your snoring.

In deep sleep so far below.

I’m not begging just imploring.

That cold wind is going to blow.

Went out walking in the distance.

There was nothing left to know.

Just some inner voice insistence.

About somewhere we’ve got to go.

There was no prior warning.

There is no beauty here to show.

It’s just more darkness in the morning.

Here in deep Alaska snow.

When I was a kid in the 1960s, the farmers could be heard lamenting about a changing world that they feared.

Beautiful stone cobbled streets of small towns were replaced with “The Shopping Mall Generation!” AND cities grew. “Who would grow the food?” The farmers asked.

But did anyone see this coming down the pike? A generation so smart that they make money while they sleep?

A generation who became so important that not having children became for them, the best option. Which is probably the best thing since we can no longer determine genders…

I am not afraid. I am not in control. I am embarrassed… or am I entertained?