Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Rainy Night in Kokomo
By Don Iannone

From my stale-smelling hotel room window,
I watch the warm August rain pound Kokomo,
like a unbeaten prizefighter
pummeling the neighborhood sissy.
I hate the rain,
sometimes even more than raw oysters--
slippery disgusting bastards that they are.
Almost 9 PM and still light.
No moon or stars tonight.
Just heavy clouds pissing on K-Mart shoppers
madly dashing to their beater cars.
Have you ever really studied the carpet in a hotel room?
Not exactly the Marrakech Express.
All those grimy toe jams--
the sort you wiped on your younger sister
and made her cry when you were kids.
This place is pretty clean,
compared to some places I've spent the night.
I remember discovering dust balls
the size of African Bush elephants
under my bed in a flea bag hotel in Erie
not too long ago.
There's no privacy in a place like this.
The poor SOB next door
should either lay off the bean dip
or save his cherry bombs for July 4th.
No need for a wake-up call in this joint.

21 comments:

floots said...

you've drawn the picture so clearly
i'm sure i've been there
(no i wasn't the guy in the next room) :)

starry said...

never been to kokomo, but the hotel does not sound clean and you are right you did not need fireworks from the room next door,

Kathleen said...

Gosh... LOL... the laugh gods must be out and about tonight... I just came from viewing another post that gave me an instant belly laugh... and the same thing happened here... Thanks Don... :)

where are you?

Don Iannone, D.Div., Ph.D. said...

Thanks Floots, Kathleen, and Starry Nights.

Laughter is medicine for the soul too.

Floots...the guy next door was old, fat, and bald...nothing like us. LOL

Kathleen...Kokomo, Indiana!

serenity said...

Don,
Ah but who of us hasn't had the same experience and can relate to it all. Wonderfully told as you tickled the funny memory bone for all of us.

Blessings and peace to you. I suppose this would be a very good test of your centering meditative practice!! lol!

rama said...

Very nice, very funny, very wise! Best, rama

Don Iannone, D.Div., Ph.D. said...

Thank you Serenity and Rama. Yes, funny. May laughter fill your hearts and souls. And may that laughter release the truth abiding within you.

Bob said...

Amused!

Margie said...

Laugher is always good Don!
Thanks for making me laugh with this funny poem!

dumbdodi said...

hehehehe don, the poem was funny but the conversations on your comment box are funny too. Laughed a lot.

Dan said...

Ha ha!!...

QUASAR9 said...

Don,

Gotta love Rain
No Rain, no Water
No Water, no life
No life, no oysters
No oysters, no pearls



No Rain, no washing away all that pollution down the drain

QUASAR9 said...

When you really love
got no time for hate

Love the Sun & the Rain
Love the Oyster & the Pearl

Love the Pleasure not the pain
Some people love to hate
Some people love the pain

Learn to love the Sun & the Rain!

Romeo Morningwood said...

Eeeewwww!
As a person who eschews escalator handrails I am crawling with cooties just reading this.
Trouble in Paradise or Paradise Lost?
The KMart shoppers running to their beaters really disintegrated my mental image of the Beach Boy's idyllic version of Kokomo.
I would complain about the noise coming from the adjacent room..how tedious...but then again, it might be some poor little old lady.

polona said...

been in places like that
not fond of rain, but like oysters :)
love the poem!

Don Iannone, D.Div., Ph.D. said...

Thanks Polona, Homo Escapeons, Quasar, Dan, Dumbdodi, Rob, and Margie. Good for a laugh, eh? We all need it...

Mike said...

Don, such a contrast to your normal work! I like it a lot. I think you did a great job grabbing hold of the moment and transporting the reader (well, at least me :)) to the dingy hotel you were in. I could feel the grime and sludge of the place. Normally, I wouldn't thanks somebody for the experience of grime and sludge :), but in this case I'll make an exception because you did it with words.

Jim said...

Excellent job, Don, all right there and right now! LOL, very good.

Don Iannone, D.Div., Ph.D. said...

Thanks Mike and Jim. Yes, Mike that is it...in the moment wherever you are. Jim...humor makes the heart healthy.

Angela said...

What imagery! I shouldn't have read it while I was eating lunch! :)

Thanks, Don!

Don Iannone, D.Div., Ph.D. said...

Angela...true. not to go with food. LOL. Thanks.

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