The Hungry Secularist is a poem from my e-book of 79 pages, Don’t Swallow The Toothpaste. You can purchase the book at whatever price you would like to pay by clicking the link provided at the bottom of the page!

I put on my boots
before realizing another holiday
snuck up on me.
Walked into the bedroom
and called two major grocery stores.
No answer.
I looked at what fruit was
on the shelf.
There were a couple apples,
an orange,
and one tomato.
Not enough to get me through this
Easter Sunday and work tomorrow.

I went online to a map search,
typed “grocery”, and found a little market 3 blocks away.
As I approached
there was an old neon soda
sign broken in half,
but I was optimistic
and hungry.

I entered the market
and grabbed a basket
circling the store a couple of times
before asking the young man
if they had bananas and tangerines.
He asked what I was going to use
them for.
I said, “I’m sorry?”
“What are you going
to use them for?”
“The tangerines?”
Yes – he said
I replied, “To eat.”
He led me over to the cooler,
“You know what’s good? Take a lime and cut it into wedges
and roll it in sugar.”
I didn’t have sugar at home due to just moving in,
and if I did,
the thought of eating a lime in
any manner makes my asshole pucker.
It’s probably something he saw
on an MTV Spring Break episode.
He told me when the bananas
ripened they were gone.

I usually reserve one day a week
to eat anything. I grabbed a can of
Vienna Sausages,
mustard sardines, clam chowder soup,
then a couple of things that weren’t as fattening.
I forgot to look for canned fruit.

I’m on my 3rd cup of coffee and
making a lot of runs to the bathroom.
The wooden floor squeaks in the
hallway as I try to find the tight spots to step,
so I don’t wake a roommate.

For whatever reason
my sinuses are flared
and my throat sore.
We’ve had 5″ of snow the last
two days,
and the wind chill on this
23rd of March is 26*.

March Madness
is winding its way
to the Sweet 16.
I remember the fever
in Carolina this time of year.
Between and after games
we would sometimes meet up
to shoot hoops.
In Minnesota on days like this
when outside,
I just work to dodge the yellow
spots from where the neighbors
walked their dogs.

Jim Creston
March 23, 2008
All Rights Reserved

Paypal also accepts credit cards, and you do not need to be a Paypal member! I will email you the e-book in .Pdf form once payment is completed.

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=2EV74TH9S2AQU

Since winter will not go away……

Keeper

You know it’s a good read when you pull it from bed,
and take it to the pisser,
read it while standing.

Like a fun-girl, she stands with,
watching.
I hold her in my left hand,
she’s parted,
my head tilted,
skimming her lines.

Two t-shirts on, pulled above my navel.
Mid March with 2 feet of snow on the ground,
damn winter,
it will not go away.
My underwear pulled and pinned beneath my balls,
I read,
trickle a little,
then some more.
Bring her back to bed,
and like the perfect being she is,
lying face down,
spread open to satisfy me.

Jim Creston
March 2001
All Rights Reserved

My e-Book, Don’t Swallow The Toothpaste is released in .pdf form.
80 pages of contemporary and confessional poetry from the eyes of childhood through adult life.

*You do not need to be a PayPal member.
There is NO set price! PayPal also accepts Credit Cards. Your number is secure and only seen by you. You may purchase the book at whatever price you prefer through the PayPal link below!

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=2EV74TH9S2AQU

I am interested in personal experiences of self-publishing vs acquiring a publisher; along with experiences of getting your book in local bookstores.

Between western psychology, psychiatry, and psychotherapy, and the so called religions of Asia there is common ground, because both are interested in changing states of human consciousness; Whereas institutional western religion, Christianity, Judaism, and even Islam, are relatively less interested in this matter. Western religions are more concerned with behavior, doctrine, and belief, than with any transformation of the way in which we are aware of ourselves and of the world. -Allan Watts

Can we forgive Vick and move on? I pose this question because I know the culture of the Bible Belt and the hills of the area. I’m not a Vick apologist, nor am I any longer a football fan, but the game still is of interest to me. I know people who have abused animals in their younger years that are no longer that type of person. I was one of them. We did cruel things as a children back in the 60’s and 70s. Many kids do, but it’s taboo to speak on the subject!! I’ve coined a saying from growing up in rural Carolina. “You are the entertainment”, meaning in rural areas people in cars will yell at you, throw things, act like they are going to hit you with their vehicle, start fights for no reason. You are the entertainment. That’s life in rural areas. People abuse animals too. The Bible is one of the worst doctrines tolerating animal abuse and creating division between man, animals, and the earth of anything in writing. I in no way will support Vick, but I speak of him as I would a loved one. If he’s sorry, I believe him. I’m sure he will have nightmares from the abuse. That is a guarantee. -Jim Creston

I am now on SoundCloud. Click to enjoy the audio poem!

It’s Easter Sunday.
Jesus supposedly died for our sins.
Sometimes I think of Adam,
and how the Bible said he clothed himself
because he was embarrassed of sin.

I wonder how Adam would have felt
if god would have kept him unclothed,
and Adam rose,
and there was a shit stain upon the rock from where he sat;
or how he may have felt when Eve saw him
drop a piss spot on his foot.

How would Adam have felt if his sons sat around
the home with bigger balls and penises than himself?
Do you think a stir may have taken place
if Adam would’ve grown wood in front of one of his son’s wives?
Save me the embarrassment;
I’ll take sin’s cloak any day.

©Jim Creston

-
My e-Book, Don’t Swallow The Toothpaste is released in .pdf form.
80 pages of contemporary and confessional poetry from the eyes of childhood through adult life.

*You do not need to be a PayPal member.
There is NO set price! PayPal also accepts Credit Cards. Your number is secure and only seen by you. You may purchase the book at whatever price you prefer through the PayPal link below!

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=2EV74TH9S2AQU

Sitting outside this coffee shop
while reading a short novel
the roaring river of traffic
making loud claps from tires
smacking the concrete seams
squealing brakes
causing letters
on the book’s pages to cover their ears

Then it stopped
and what followed
was almost a curse of ambient sounds

The little sparrow while perched
chirping
as its tiny claws scratched the iron gate
Behind me an intense conversation
from 2 men
each
donning a beret
discussing business plans

I eagerly wait for the vehicles to begin streaming
for the tires to begin cracking
and the brakes to begin bleating
their cries of pain
to drown
these natural
yet foreign
dissonant sounds
so that I can again
rhythmically flow across the pages

© Jim Creston

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=2EV74TH9S2AQU

*You do not need to be a PayPal member.

My e-Book, Don’t Swallow The Toothpaste is released in .pdf form.
78 pages of contemporary and confessional poetry from the eyes of childhood through adult life.

There is NO set price! You may purchase the book at whatever price you prefer through the PayPal link below by entering the price you would like to pay! PayPal also accepts Credit Cards and your number is secure and only seen by you.

And you will get to enjoy poems like, Transit!

Don’t forget to FOLLOW my Poetry Page: http://jimcrestonpoetry.tumblr.com/

You can also find me at:
https://www.facebook.com/JimCrestonPoetry
http://jimcreston.wordpress.com
http://www.myspace.com/jim.creston
http://hellopoetry.com/-jim-creston/

Drop in and check my poetry page out. Don’t forget to follow!

Apple Dew is a poem for a contest in which the online publisher requested the use of the words:
noun - suit
adjective - stubby
verb - itch
I didn’t know of the timeline, so I threw it together fairly quickly. I think it turned out okay, but there is one poem a user submitted which is much better than this one. My first e-Book of 78 pages is linked at the bottom of this poem. You can pay any amount you would like and do not need to be a Paypal member!

Apple Dew

We rested the Sunday picnic cloth
upon the stubby grass.
The heat at times reminded me of my days
in the south, when there was no wind,
and humidity so thick it hung on eyelashes.
Pesky portly gnats circled my forehead and
landed on my neck.
With the occasional slap, I got two or three. Without
thinking, I rolled in to the fresh cut grass for a few moments which
itched the back of my sweaty neck.

We were in our sixth game of cards,
both our foreheads beading with perspiration,
but hers with the look of sugar drops
which I imagined tasting between my kisses.
Again I held the winning suit,
but this time I took the cards
and sprinkled the hearts off from them
in to her hand,
saying, “I love you. Let’s go home. I
want to lay you on the bed and kiss you all over.”
She said, “First let me shower.” I stroked her hair to perch
it behind her tiny ear, and softly whispered, “Please don’t.”

© Jim Creston
Purchase Jim Creston’s e-Book with any price you prefer to pay at:
https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=2EV74TH9S2AQU

You can also find me at:
http://hellopoetry.com/-jim-creston/
https://www.facebook.com/JimCrestonPoetry
http://jimcreston.wordpress.com
http://www.myspace.com/jim.creston

*You do not need to be a PayPal member.

My e-Book, Don’t Swallow The Toothpaste, is released in .pdf form. 78 pages of contemporary and confessional poetry from the eyes of childhood through adult life. As often found with confessional poetry there will be some anger, a lot of questions and humor.

There is NO set price! You may purchase the book at whatever price you prefer through the PayPal link at the bottom of the page by entering the price you would like to pay! PayPal also accepts Credit Cards and your number is secure and only seen by you. The book is also printable once downloaded. You may need to copy and paste the link in to your browser.

You will get to enjoy poems like, Summer Days.

Summer Days

Mom used to spend a lot of the day on the phone
while dad was at work.
She would hold two fingers to
her lips and mimic smoking a cigarette.
That was our cue
to get in line,
and run through the home
looking for her pack.

While she was inside,
my sister and I would sometimes go swing,
or ride big-wheels on the porch,
listening to some really bad songs.
Mom usually kept the radio tuned to the local country station.
A poor family,
with a radio-intercom
and speaker in the wall of the porch.

At age five I stood in the living room.
having a bad day,
and threw the bible to the floor.
My aunt told me I shouldn’t do that.
But I knew something wasn’t right about that book.
At age 18, I found god,
and he told me that he loved me.
He was the only one besides my
girlfriend
that spilled their heart.
Later I realized that Jesus could not write the alphabet,
and the reason god only freed
was to enslave.

One afternoon mom slapped
the face of our cousin
because she attempted to kidnap my sister.
At least that was mom’s story.
My cousin told her mother,
and our aunt showed up at the door
saying she wanted us to return her husband’s gun.
But we knew she was going to whip mom, and mom knew it too.
Mom told us not to unlock the door.
Our aunt pleaded with us to open the door
saying she just wanted the gun.
I don’t remember if there was 911 back then,
but no one made any calls.
Curious about the fascination
of frogs,
I had the opportunity to see a live
museum exhibit
when I was high.
The colors ran through them
as they sat on the twigs.
Years later
I saw them
on a shower curtain
standing with their hands on their waist,
and some leaping one another.

In the low
dark Minnesota swamps
they bellow in a hurry,
and loud as a whistle on each ear,
and the deer crossed the road in front of our cars,
and the ski-jump looked like the Seattle needle,
waiting for its winter gown.

Mama
wanted cigarettes
and tea,
dishes washed,
and her Pekingese taken out for a shit.
She never took well to criticism,
and I had finger prints
on my face to prove it.
She used to threaten to pack our
clothes and put them on the porch.
I would have been warm,
for she put us is in long sleeve shirts
during the hot Carolina Julys.
We used to sweat on our neighbor’s crabapple tree,
and they knew mama
was crazy.

Her dog once ate its on shit,
to avoid being beaten.

The dog and all of us were alike,
always eating it for mama.

Jim Creston

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=2EV74TH9S2AQU

*You do not need to be a PayPal member.

Purchase my e-Book by clicking or pasting the following to your browser. https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=9C8YFZ427JRF6

My e-Book, Don’t Swallow The Toothpaste is released in .pdf form. 78 pages of contemporary and confessional poetry from the eyes of childhood through adult life. As often found with confessional poetry there will be some anger, a lot of questions and humor.

There is NO set price! You may purchase the book at whatever price you prefer through the PayPal link below by entering the price you would like to pay! PayPal also accepts Credit Cards and your number is secure and only seen by you. The book is printable once downloaded if you prefer not to read it on your computer.

And you will get to enjoy poems like Communication.

Communication

He stood a wiry five-foot nine
with short red hair and
an angular face,
walked with his head upright,
proud,
often wore camouflaged t-shirts,
arrogant.
Proud.

Terry’s favorite parts of the day was when
he put his nose where it did not belong.
He worked on the corner next
to the line of furniture waiting to be upholstered.
Everyone that pulled a new furniture frame
would need to walk past him.

Terry loved to talk!
Most of his words were snarky,
condescending, and
sometimes very cruel while
trying to rouse distrust
amongst his fellow coworkers.

Baptist,
and of course,
another one
of
them
with all the answers.
He was either cold or hot,
black or white,
and kept stirring the pot
dividing like a Republican politician,
an angry and jealous man.

Terry trying to show his wit
worked the female furniture inspectors
with his dry and cruel humor.
He once for no reason told the female of a couple,
“you’re too good for him.”
Well -
Terry’s reason -
He thought she was better looking than her boyfriend. He
would have god-sacked one of those female
inspectors within a moment if she let him have his way.
Slam! You’ve been god-sacked!

Flashing his piety talking about his brother
making it with another,
and both of them passing away
from carbon monoxide poisoning in the car while
adding his shameless incision
“that’s what you get from fooling around with
another man’s wife.”
As a betting man,
I would give 10-1 odds he too cheated on his wife.
He never offered any photos
of
her. Never spoke of
her.

He once called me “yellow”
because I would not take
his offer for a fight. Said there was a yellow streak that ran down the middle of my back.
I don’t understand
why
a 48 year old man
wanted to whip someone 21 years younger
when I did nothing warranting such a thing.
I did mention he was proud?
After I began taking karate lessons
he again befriended me.
Told me he loved me in a godly way
that the sinner could not understand.
I sunk my eyes far beneath the cheek bones,
so he could not see me roll them
at his empty claim.

Terry often bragged
how long his family
would go without watching television.
I thought if he ever
found the courage to turn himself off
for a few days,
the world would have a chance
to hear what he had to say.

©Jim Creston