Wicked Wanda’s telling stories and none of them are true.

She has her Heroes riled up and they’re coming for me and you.

Now I can’t say I’m worried because I’ve dealt with this before.

You see I knew her older sister and her Mother I adore.

But for you I’d make provisions, set affairs and say goodbyes.

When Wanda’s on the war path, there’s no running from those lies.

The problem is not that you lied.

The problem is that I can’t trust you again. 

I held you above the masses.

Now you are just among the herd…

Grazing

Shitting

Complaining

Or whatever it is, your lot does there.

All over but the dying.

I can hear a distant roar.

I’ve resigned my fears of flying.

Oh the mysteries! Why? What for?

All too clever for the answers.

We keep searching for more clues.

Dodging earthquakes, fame and cancers.

There is meaning in ‘The Blue’s.’

Never felt like I was welcomed.

I was strange and stranger still.

Like a begger at the banquet feast.

I just couldn’t get my fill.

All those important things that I used to focus on…

Sports scores.

Getting high.

The drunken dances where I didn’t dance.

The partying!

Was it all a waste of time?

Certainly not!

All part of the journey…

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.

You closed your eyes.

You begged for more.  

I changed my mind.

Down by the shore.

You find your center.

Right at the core.

Those silent waves.

No reasons for…

He told the joke that made you laugh. 

And creased your forehead like a path.

I took to silence in my smile.

You looked inside. It took a while.

I sometimes thought what it could take.

To slightly stir or violent shake.

I listened hard the words he spoke.

That broke on through; you got the joke.

To see you smile, it could have been me.

And hid my face. The jealousy.

Impossible no more. Now I am free.

No sad goodbyes. Blue skies, I see.

He told the joke that made you laugh.

And creased your forehead like a path.

I took to silence in my smile.

You looked inside. It took a while.

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.