3a.m. Monday… Finding coffee is like that last watering hole in the Serengeti; an oasis rife with danger.

A man in a wheelchair that is staging a sign which reads, ‘to ugly to prostitute, to stupid to steal.’ is holding a cup meant to give change.

He is being attended to by a man claiming to be doing God’s Work, but just appears to have no better place to go.

The drunks and druggies come and go and by the time I get my americano, my admiration for the young girl doing the midnight shift at Macdonald’s has grown to epic proportions. She’s the one I feel who is probably best suited for God’s work.

I put my change in the cup and leave for my pick up. The man doing God’s work says he’s been here for 4 hours and has to go now. I mumble to myself “The media has been notified.”

Dennis Mantin

When I was a boy, I not only didn’t poccess this skill, I knew no one else who did or was even aware of such super powers.

As an adolescent I loathed the masks of such dishonesty and was truly not open to such developments in myself.

Recently I have turned the corner of accepting my human frailties and see such developments as lofty and attainable; something to work on!

Dennis Mantin

A man sat down beside me on the streetcar with a lit joint. I decided to move, keeping my opinions to myself.

Later in the day at my local convenience store the man behind me said, “Is that Haken Das all for you?”

“Yes.”

The next morning near the recycling bins a young crack addict searched the ground for… something that isn’t there.

My cat Gigi is dying… kidney failure. She can’t get enough water. She searches the bathtub drain for… something.

I am alone this weekend because my daughter wanted to stay with her mother and I am getting by.

We are not together because of something that isn’t there.

Dennis Mantin

Dennis Mantin

I hadn’t heard or seen this term before 2019 and now I see it so often that it feels made up…

Social media public Figure??

No criteria required!

Ability to stare into a phone camera is an apparent must.

Some nudity will enhance status!

I feel history will not be kind to the current crop of self identified public Figures…

Dennis Mantin

Tit for tat

Butter for fat

You killed my dog

I’ll kill your cat.

A hat on a hat

That tit for tat

No gains, all loss

That this for that.Dennis Mantin

Dennis Mantin

I lack the desire for power.

Mainly due to the shit pile one would have to wade through to acquire it…

And for what?

In the beginning I had desires for something more with no clues as to how.

Now I see that as a gift.

The gift of having the time to observe humanity from the perch of humble nothingness.

Now to be one of many, a face in the crowd, smiling, contented, rich beyond my wildest dreams.

For I have had this time with you my love.

Dennis Mantin

That opaque interlude of childhood is far behind us.

Worn and tattered and splayed by uneven, unreliable memory…

Spread thin until it’s meaningless, no flavor, no substance…

Just unrelenting nonsense that needs to be stared down; gone but not forgotten.

We are in the heart of meaning NOW!! Standing, pacing, one step in front of the other, dealing with what needs be…

Maybe the opaque is required… maybe we need to grow before we can see behind that curtain and roll into the arms of Angel’s.

Dennis Mantin

There was darkness in the shadows…

I found you taking comfort there.

It wasn’t much to look at,

But it was hard to see.

I swear I saw you kneeling,

Was that you on bended knee?

Were you asking for forgiveness?

Or just speaking to a friend?

We all want to hedge our bets.

In the shadows near the end.

Dennis Mantin