Reflective, philosophical, and often humorous, this poetry is an ongoing attempt to make sense of this life and this universe.  It addresses the Big Bang and the little bumps as well.  There is no topic too meaningful or too nonsensical.  It is largely fictionalized and facetious, but there is a good deal of truth in fiction and facetiousness.  Of course, you don’t have to take my word for that or for anything else.  My poetry is not coercive or persuasive.  It demands neither your belief nor your faith.  This is simply poetry you can trust.

This blog has no purpose but to share my poems with anyone interested in hearing and/or reading them.   It is figuratively and virtually an “open book.”

Atop this home page are the titles of the other pages to this blog.  Each of those pages contains a block of poems and audio buttons.  Clicking on the audio buttons will allow you to hear the poems recited.

Sample audio:   Please press right side of button below to hear introduction…

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Sample Poems:

Please press right side of  button below to hear poem…

 Plant yourself outside the garden,

away from the daisies and the dahlias,

someplace beyond the dogwood’s shade,

and shine your yellow right back at the sun. 

You don’t require cultivation like those needy domestics

that act as if flowering is a grave favor

to be meted out or withheld

depending upon how obsequiously they are pampered. 

There they laze, the daisies and dahlias,

their roots deep in fertilizer,

their faces washed by some pandering gardener’s spray. 

You plant yourself as you please,

make do with dirt and rain.

And when the daisies and dahlias are drooping,

you will remain

triumphantly shining your dandelion yellow

right back at the sun.   

                                                                              (Mike Cohen – Jan  2009)

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 Please press right side of button below to hear next poem…

THE ETERNAL POKER GAME  

  There’s one famous game of five‑card‑draw

that everyone witnessed, but nobody saw…

Round the table five players sat hauntingly still ‑

Fate, Chance, and Justice, and Chaos, and Will.

Chance was the dealer.  Justice went first.

They played their hands strangely, as if they’d rehearsed.

 Justice took two cards, then Will took two more,

 Chance shrugged and took three, Chaos took four.

and when his turn came, Fate impassively sat,

though he said determinedly, “I’ll stand pat.”

Will folded quickly.  Then Chaos gave in.

Chance, Fate, and Justice all went for the win.

None of them would admit hope for victory was gone,

and so the three sat with their game‑faces on

until the time came, as the second hand swept,

to reveal the five cards those three players had kept.

Chance had three sevens; Justice, a straight.

All of the focus now fell upon Fate.

Over the game room there settled a hush

then Fate flashed a smile and his hand… royal flush.

 They sit every day, and they play their old game.

Each time the contest’s results are the same.

Chance always deals.  Justice always begins.

Will always folds first.  And Fate always wins.

(Mike Cohen – c.1994)

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Please press right side of button below to hear next poem…

THE PLACEBO PRINCIPLE

Life is only as good as you think it is. 

And if you think it is

you may just be fooling yourself. 

And if you think it isn’t

you may just as well take up fooling yourself, because

life is only as good as you think it is. 

                                                 (Mike Cohen – Jan  2009)