A Dream I Had

I just remembered

a dream I had.

I was at a party

sitting at a table

but everyone else was standing

looking down at me with

disdain and contempt 

And it felt like

I had just said something 

that everyone in the room

disagreed with

but here’s the thing:

I remember very distinctly 

that I felt calm

with absolutely no need 

to explain myself further 

That’s when I knew

I was dreaming.

Ken Owen   
Van Niddy Press   December 2017

Evil

       You should be more selective 

             with your use of the word

                                               Evil

   otherwise you will have nothing 

          to call it when the real stuff 

                                comes around 

              and you will look back at 

          these moments of your rage 

     and realize their insignificance 

                   We need to be sure of

    what we are looking at because 

  Anger unchecked becomes Hate

                 and bringing more Hate 

into the world will never be a way 

to defeat anything.

Ken Owen  Van Niddy Press   November 2017

And Death Said . . .

I gave thanks for my day 

and Death said 

“You are most welcome.”

I asked, “See you tomorrow?” 

and Death said 

“We’ll see.”

I cried, “I fear the future!”

And Death said

“Worry not,

we do 

exactly as planned

without knowing.”

Ken Owen 
Van Niddy Press,  November 2017

There Goes The Neighborhood

While everyone is complaining

About Millennials ripping the heart

Out of their neighborhood

There are a few things

You should remember:

The Colonial English said that

When The Irish, Germans, and Italian came in

And The Irish, Germans, and Italian said that

When The Africans came in

And The Africans said that

When The Asians came in

And The Asians said that

When The Great Generation came in

And the Great Generation said that

When The Beats came in

And The Beats said that

When The Hippies came in

And The Hippies said that

When The Cops came in

And The Cops said that

When The Drug Lords came in

And The Drug Lords said that

When Generation X came in

And now everyone is telling The Millennials,

Who did what we told them to do

To be successful and productive,

“Get out of my neighborhood

You self-entitled over-paid shit,

You’re destroying my Sanctuary City!”

It’s called Change: the universal constant

that has come to every village on the planet

since we crawled out of our cave and said 

“I was here first!”

Guess what; 

you weren’t.

Of course

you could always move 

to another neighborhood

but. . .what would people say?

Ken Owen   
Van Niddy Press   November 2017

Haiku: Fall 2017

Ukiah Haiku:

      majestic beauty demands

our quiet worship

~~

Encouraging grass

      to grow stronger does not work

by shouting at weeds.

~~

30 miles from the ocean

     the fog still finds me;

memories damp and cold.

~~

  dreams

     as poems

forever                       floating

~~

The List

#3) make a poem

      using the word ‘imperial’.

check.

~~

Fall moon rises 

     to appreciate 

you

~~

Hidden symphony

     in a neighborhood tree. . . 

the dog signs his review.

~~

the kitchen window . . .

     outside, Fall leaves slowly turn;

inside, restless chores.

~~

computers

     connecting the planet . . .

pictures of dinner.

~~

It took a while

     but you can't hurt me anymore. . .

please stop trying

~~

pressure

     from years of neglect . . .

three middle shirt buttons

~~

Perfectly still

     guarding the moon rise:

dragon cloud.

~~

Your startled look

     leaving my dream:

the alarm.

~~

. . . and just like that

I thought of Harry Dean Stanton:

I was drunk; it made sense.

~~

Thirty thousand feet,

     three seats, four arm rests, six arms;

“Sit back and relax!”

Las Vegas to Oakland, October 2017

~~

cleared for departure

your hug

  my carry-on 

for Kelly, October 2017

~~

The traveler surprised 

     by midnight thunder. . .

Texas sleeps.

Aubrey, Texas, October 2017

~~

 I will not be

 the cause

of your cause.

~~

     She’s almost perfect:

     toilet paper rolls

under instead of over.

~~

  a benevolent king

     in a former life . . .

many princesses, no queen.

Alviso, October 2017

~~

Warm vacuum tubes,

     Princeton Reverb . . .

Smells Like Teen Spirit, 1965

~~

Truth:

 one news source

  no longer enough

Ken Owen

Van Niddy Press  October 2017

A Quiet Moment

quiet moment 

  staring at a 

     screen

  waiting for words 

to describe people 

    forfeiting

 quiet moments

   staring at a 

     screen.

Ken Owen

Van Niddy Press   October 2017

Persona

It takes every ounce 

 of mental strength

       to project

           the 

         unreal 

           you

Ken Owen
Van Niddy Press   September 2017

Today is The Perfect Day

Today 

  is a perfect day

    to take off your watch

      put away your phone 

        and start measuring your life 

           in moments 

           not minutes

       in memories

       not money

   in what you’ve touched

   not what you missed

 in the joy of your blessings

 not the pain of your trials

Today

is a perfect day.

Ken Owen

Van Niddy Press   September 2017

Weekend Gig Notes: September 2017

Weekend Gig Notes, #1: Coming into The City from my gig in Marin county via the Golden Gate Bridge, I immediately rolled down the windows and let the returning fog into the car so I could tell it how much I missed it. It didn't have its usual zing - probably too tired from dealing with the heat wave like everyone else - but it was still a treat. We shared a laugh as I deliberately drove over the ball caps that the fog had smacked off the heads of tourists and landed them in the roadway (the hats, not the tourists).

When I got to the toll booth I learned that I was to pay $7.75 for the privilege of coming home. Apparently I was in such a state of bliss in my momentary relief from the heatwave that I didn't find the “I've lived here all my fucking life so I get a break on the toll” lane. 

So, just curious: automate the toll taking process with cameras and computers, and the toll price goes up? Perhaps we could keep toll prices lower for residents and natives by charging tourists an extra premium for a “fog-less photo-op crossing” toll.

Just a thought.

-KO

Weekend Gig Notes, #2 (While The Cats Away…): at last night's Seducers gig at Bird and Beckett, band leader and pedal steel master Joe Goldmark was absent on a well deserved vacation, so Mitch Polzak, Hank Maninger, and I carried on in his absence. Mitch and Hank do many trio shows of their own leading some of the finest musicians in the Bay Area, so there was plenty of material to choose from to put on a great show, which they did easily.

Though I'd guess I know somewhere around 75% of their material, it quickly became apparent that Mitch and Hank have been trying out some new tunes and ‘extended arrangements’ in their trio work; things that may not necessarily work for a more traditional quartet like The Seducers. But being well versed as a “substitute drummer” whose main task is to “follow the leader(s)”, I was surprised but game for the challenge. 

Billed as a night of “country honky tonk music”, I am fairly confident most bands playing country music aren't doing 8 minute versions of country classics with multiple time signatures and extended solos. Of course, Mitch and Hank did their great versions of standard country classics, but it sure was fun dropping into fourth gear and seeing if you could make the turn!

At the end of the night, Hank looked at me and said “Mitch Mitchell plays country!” I don't remember if I ever told Hank that Mitch Mitchell, drummer for Jimi Hendrix, was my biggest influence when learning how to play, but it was the best compliment he could have given me (assuming it was a compliment!). We all laughed and I responded with “Chris Squire plays country!” (Chris was the bass player for the progressive rock group “Yes”). We shared another laugh when we remembered how we “lost the 1” a few times but kept on going until we got it back, which served as proof that we were creating something on the spot; not the usual approach for a “country band”. 

Of course, we all missed Joe and his wonderful playing that makes a Seducers show special, but a good time was had by all as the country band stretched out.

(Don't worry Joe, everyone stayed until the end of the show, and no one asked for their money back.)

-KO

Shout

(What If . . .)

What if they held 

a hate rally

and no one cared?

What if they held 

a hate rally

and everyone else 

made it a point

to go to the beach

and have a wonderful day

just like any other Saturday 

picnicking in the sun 

playing in the waves

with their families 

and loved ones

and make new friends

of different persuasions 

and ask them 

to tell their stories

of how they got 

to where they are

and the troubles they are facing

and if they need any help.

Shouting down hate

does not promote love.

Ken Owen
Van Niddy Press   August 2017

Random Travel Notes: August 2017

Random Travel Notes, #1: put down the phone, people watch, make eye contact, smile; it totally creeps most people out. As long as they don't call Security, you're doing it right. 

-KO

Random Travel Notes, #2: Went to the local Von’s (Safeway) to get dinner, and got to the checkout counter with a grass-fed (uh-huh) ribeye steak, a bottle of Makers Mark, and a bottle of speciality microbrew. The following conversation then ensued between myself, the young checkout clerk, the bagger, and the lady behind me:

Clerk: Cool, dude; looks like you got everything you need! (smiles)

Me: I am a man of simple pleasures. (smiles)

Bagger: (guffaws, bobs his head, and snorts in the affirmative)

Lady Next in Line: Please tell me there'll be a side dish or salad, at least.

Me and The Clerk: (exchange of puzzled looks and mumbled half-sentences)

Lady Next in Line: (head bobble side-to-side in the negative)

Elderly Man Shopper next to Lady Next in Line: a wink and a clandestine thumbs-up

I love L.A.

-KO 

Random Travel Notes, #3: short conversation while at dinner at Vic and Anthony's Steakhouse, Las Vegas, Nevada:

Elderly, coiffed, and obviously rich gentleman leaving the restaurant by himself while walking past my table: “If one must eat alone, one should do it at Vic and Anthony’s.”

Ken, snapped back to reality from a food induced dream-state and a mouth full of lobster: “Um…oh…yes! Indeed! 

Elderly Gent: “Have you tried the quail egg appetizers? They're excellent.”

Ken, chewing rapidly while trying to act dignified (and failing): “Oh, uh, no, next time!”

I raised my martini glass in his direction, he nodded in the affirmative as he left, and it was then I remembered that if you dress nice, carry yourself well, and keep your mouth mostly shut, no one need know that your just renting the penthouse.  

-KO

I Woke Up Dreaming

I woke up dreaming

and knew the truth 

had been lying

that minutes are a 

false measure of 

the incalculable

that the differences 

they sell you and I

are an illusion 

that the answers worth seeking 

are found in silence 

not rhetoric 

and if I could just 

breathe and step back

I would see destiny 

flowing easily by

carrying all things 

to their proper place

Ken Owen    
Van Niddy Press   October 2017

Observations on a Crowded Sky

Military jets at 50,000 feet

     leaving trails of mystery

too heavy to move

Commercial planes at 5,000 feet

     prepare for delivering 

anxious tourists 

Black birds at 500 feet

     heading east en masse

never finish the sunset 

Hummingbirds at 30 feet,

     our empty feeder

long forgotten 

Gnats circle at 20 feet,

    frantic action

with no collisions

Charcoal and lighter fluid drifts at 10 feet,

     the neighbors dinner 

ready in one hour

Dragonflies at 2 feet

     buzzing the lawn

for dinner

     

 The dog and I at Ground Zero,

     eyes skyward,

earthbound.

Ken Owen   
Van Niddy Press   September 2017

The Wrong Enemy

The naked emperor 

is not your enemy

he is just a rotting corpse

of a once great idea

a powerless ornament

on the hood of the car

It's what's under the hood

that should concern you

Ken Owen    
Van Niddy Press   September 2017

Try Not to Think

Try not to think;
it will usually
hurt.

It does 
me
you see
but perhaps for you
it will be different.

On most occasions
if I think of something
it reaches right in
and cuts me to the quick
almost immediately.

The trick is this:
experience 
the experience 
but don't think about it,
just let it happen in front of you

let it fill 
your heart and senses
but not your mind
where you'll over-think it.

Not easy.



to Randy from Ken, August 2017

My Side of the Mountain

During each of my

childhood summers

I watched my mountain burn

Dry brush and parched weed

set aflame with the boredom of kids 

with no teachers to distract them 

with math and history

and keep them from idle mischief 

Back in those days

there were no homes 

on my side of the mountain

so the fire fighters would just

park their great machines 

on the road below

and watch it burn

Sometimes when

my mountain 

burned too quickly 

helicopters would fly overhead

and toss great billowing 

clouds of orange dust
on the running flames

while we pleaded with our parents 
to let us watch until bedtime

My friends and I

could never understand why anyone

would burn our mountain 

so we figured 

it must be the high school kids 

because we didn't 
understand them either

When I became

a high school kid

we still went up to my mountain 

and did all the things 

you weren't supposed to do 

until you were much older

and we never 
burned my mountain

but someone else always did

My mountain 

was an all-day 

private kingdom 

yet the only thing our parents 

cared about was that we were out 

from under their feet until 5:00pm

I don't remember 

anyone in my house asking 

what I did all day on my mountain

and that seems 

strange to me now

Ken Owen   
Van Niddy Press   August 2017

Pass The Salt

Remember. . .

all those times 

in restaurants 

when you'd look over 

and see an elderly person 

pouring the table salt in their hand 

before they dumped it 

on their food

and you thought to yourself

“What the fuck are they doing?”

Well

now you know,

don't you.

They couldn't see it

and now

you can't either.

Welcome to The Inevitable, Tough Guy.

Ken Owen  Van Niddy Press  August  2017

Say It Now

Let us deliver

to the hearts we hold dear

our pronouncements of love

while they are still here.

Randy Craig, Ken Owen

 Marsh Cabaret, Berkeley, CA
August 9, 2017
Photo by (of a photo by) Doug McKechnie