How To Be

I was having a dream 

that I could not sleep

quite strange I’m sure you’d agree, 

‘cause I couldn’t tell 

who was more confused

the me in the dream or me.

So when I woke up 

I decided

not to question the things that I see,

but enjoy the millions 

of miracle ways

that things know just how to be.

There’s no sense in telling

a river how to run

or a mirror how to look,

and I’ll never tell

a map where it is

or how you should end your book.

I’ll never direct 

the wind to sing

or teach birds how to fly,

there seems no point

to tell rain when to fall

or ask clouds to leave the sky.

As I walk amongst 
my brothers and sisters
I won't tell them how to feel,
but remind myself to question not
the source of love's appeal.

When flowers bloom 

and die too soon

I’ll smile as seasons change,

and let my dreams

say what they will

and not think their message strange.

Ken Owen   

Van Niddy Press   December 2019

Thing I Have Said (Late for Dinner)

“I need to see you.”

“It’s late, you should stay.”

“How do you like your eggs?”

“So, dinner tomorrow?”

               ***

“What, what’d I say?!”

“No no, that’s not what I meant!”

“I’m sorry, really.”

“So…ideas for dinner?”

               ***

“Geez, what crawled up your ass and died?”

“I was just kidding, seriously.”

“I don’t think I’m the one being unreasonable here.”

“oh fuck.”

“FUCK!”

“I’m not hungry.”

               ***

“It’s not you, it’s me.”

“Oh…really.”

“It’s not me, it’s you!”

“Yeah? Well, maybe you won’t miss me, but your family will.”

“By the way, your [mother, father, sister, brother] is crazy.”

“I’m taking the stainless steel frying pan.”

               ***

“Well, what a nice surprise. How long has it been?

"I was sorry to hear about your [mother, father, sister, brother]."

“Ah jeez, that’s messed up.”

“Did you get a second opinion?”

“Doctors, what do they know; they’re all just guessing!”

“Fine, fine; well, I could complain, but we’d be here all night.”

“If there is anything I can do, anything at all...”

“Tell your family I said “Hello”; I always liked them.”

“Well, gotta go; I’m late for dinner.”

Ken Owen 

Van Niddy Press,  December 2019

Snoring in Japanese

As I lie in bed between dreams 

in today’s early morning hours

I could have sworn you were snoring 

in Japanese

I found this to be 

a particularly amazing feat

since I am fairly certain 

you do not speak Japanese

then I realized 

I had no way of knowing 

if it was Japanese or Mandarin 

or Cantonese for that matter

however

your sounds had 

what seemed to me

all the proper inflections of 

an Asian language with its rising and falling

like small gentle waves where 

everything seemed to end 

like a question I could not answer 

since I did not know the language 

Now wide awake and

listening to the indecipherable 

while studying the lunar landscape of

the bedroom ceiling

I got up to have a glass of water

and upon my return I noticed 

your language of sleep had changed

from a personal dialect 

to the sounds of a small purring kitten

and just when I had done 

some preliminary analysis of this new development 

my stomach began to answer you with 

its own language comprised of 

a series of internal sounds generated

most likely

from warm pipes complaining

of cold water

So 

there I was

4:00a.m.

listening to our conversation 

with it’s rhythmic call-and-response 

that neither of us had any control over

and I was disappointed that you were

sleeping through the whole conversation

Anyway

I just thought you 

should know.

Ken Owen   
Van Niddy Press,  November 2019