To Kerouac & s other new poems by Mike Klumpp

To Kerouac – September 3rd, 2021 – America:

jack
wake up
you are drunk
wet
wasted
running from the pain
driving
searching for America
she is
the land beneath your wheels
she is not the people or the politics
she is the open space
the opportunity
to be free

America is the land mass
her spirit is within
the tribal nomadic mind
unattached
able to roam
to experiment
to be right or wrong in your own choosing

jack
you are looking at the culture
ghosts of habit
they do not define America
but the trial and error
the 16th note
the benzedrine fury
the loss of innocence
and innocence regained

jack
get your nose out of the heavens
lower the bottle at your lips
cease to live in delusion

America
is not black or white
America
is not native primitivism
America
is not materialism
or democracy
or industry

made in America
is illusion
America great again
faulty logic
an empty slogan

jack
you did not need to die
to return to the earth
America was ever before you
beneath you
and now
you are one with her
“ashes to ashes – dust to dust”

you found your freedom in death

may we all
wake up
and find our freedom in life
above the soil
on which we stand
one acre of madness and freedom
our feet
upon this – America.

borrowed mud

perhaps
i am the target
of my own derision

visions flash through my tiny mind
of the pumping station on broad
i see Crescent City Steak House
the way it was

a city
the way it was

the laughter and human tragedy
that is
in fact
New Orleans

laughing through the tragedy
why not

we live on borrowed mud
sinking where we stand

i am a son of her streets
my grandfather the founder
of European cotton trade
from the port of New Orleans
i was weaned on the money
of slavery
never knew it
sorry for it
but what can i do now

soon to be washed away

i will confess
but i will not kneel for flags
nor will i stand
there is no good posture
for the bullshit of nations
living on borrowed mud
but to laugh
in the tragedy

New Orleans
got it right
while getting it wrong

at least
we know enough to laugh

Thank you, Tiana –

Fire Brigade:

this black poet – see
quoted Wordsworth

leaning on the chain
of poets

touching the corners of time
like standing
in my hong kong kitchen
on hand on each wall
uniting each other wall
the vortex
of the box

and then
she stepped outside of time
to speak with the dead

Nina Simone

we all boarded some wooden tomb
chained together
floating oceans
losing families
losing dignity
losing time

why
can we not see
that we are all each other

preach it, sister

(i feel your pain)

and i don’t know what to do

but write –

Michael “Mike” Klumpp Born: New Orleans, Louisiana. Educations: New Orleans Academy, University of Louisiana Lafayette, Dallas Theological Seminary. Degrees and Special Training: B.A. English, M.A. Biblical Studies, Holds Black Belts in 6 different disciplines, 5th Dan Amerian Mixed Martial Arts, Meteorology School of the Air Force. Awards: Most Valuable Athlete, Best Supporting Actor, Numerous Poetry Awards including Pushcard Nomination 2003, Who’s Who in America’s Teachers 1993, 1994, Coached 1990 State Semi-final Football Team Christway Academy, Louisiana Medal of Excellence, Several Gold Medals in Martial Arts. Career Highlights: President of Mike Klumpp and Associates Sales in Dallas, Texas, Founding Owner of ASB Karate in Texas, Kansas and Kenya, Founding Director of EASEORG East African Service and Empowerment – Mission Agency serving East Africa from our offices in Nairobi, Author of Single Dad’s Survival Guide, Founded the Marstellar Bray Arts Center in Dighton, Kansas, City Council Person and Economic Developer for Dighton, Kansas and Lane County, Resident Artistic Director of the Uvalde Grand Opera House, Lead Teacher High School English and Bible at Christway Academy in Duncanville, Texas, Teaching “Matthew” Dallas Theological Seminary Lay Institute, Team Teaching Dallas Theological Seminary “Effective Pulpit Delivery” with Doctor Reg Grant and Doctor John Reed, Performing and Writing for Howard Hendricks at Dallas Theological Seminary and the Center for Christian Leadership, Building a Hospital and Bringing Electicity to the community of Lemoru in the Ziwa Disctict of Central Kenya, Pastoring Churches in Dallas, Texas, Dighton, Kansas and Hong Kong.

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