The Rorschach Canine From The 2022 Howl-O-Ween Parade

________________________________________________________________________________________________

The Lobsterized Dog

w/ an Anteater Complex

©  Oliverio

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Prize-Winning Adjusted Skyscape

________________________________________________________________________________________________

©    Photoverio #737.5    ©

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Biblical Disjunction And The Birth Of Math Anxiety

________________________________________________________________________________________________        

***

"Go ye and multiply"

said the voice

in the desert

 

And so the people multiplied

 

Some of them even 

experienced pleasure

while doing so

BUT

they heard nothing more

that was said in the desert

 

Therein lies the problem

because what else was said 

in the desert was not heard

when everyone raced home

to multiply

as if that desert phrase

was accompanied

by a dismissal bell

 

The complete statement

made in the desert was this:

"Go ye and multiply,

then divide by the same number

and you will get Unity"

 

Therefore,

the people were divided 

as punishment

and could never,

ever be

Unified

as tribes and nations.

***

©  PAUL OLIVERIO  ©

 _______________________________________________________________________________________________

THE TRUTH STORE In South Coast Plaza

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

At 

THE TRUTH STORE,

you can purchase

a leg of

solid Truth

or an arm

of solid Truth

but

between the

arm and the leg

is not

solid Truth

 

Between the

arm and the leg

of solid Truth,

the torso is stained

with the Lie

 

Maybe the stain

is not too obvious

but without the Lie,

the Truth has

no place to hide

 

Truth is worthless

without the Lie

nearby

to give it meaning

 

Costing less than

an arm or a leg,

an elbow

of solid Truth

is available

and is a fun thing 

to have when you 

nudge someone

with it

 

Fingernails of Truth

are available

in various sizes 

and colors

except blue

which is 

the preferred color

of the Lie

***

©  PAUL OLIVERIO  ©

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

I Am One Of The Sixty Percenters (Comic Relief #4723)

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

JORGE PENNE

 _______________________________________________________________________________________________

When Masks Were Worn To Compromise Curiosity ...

________________________________________________________________________________________________

...

for answering

 the question

What's My Line?

Left to Right:

Arlene Francis, Jerry Lewis,

Dorothy Kilgallen, Bennett Cerf

________________________________________________________________________________________________

A Long-Winded Poem About A Pic

________________________________________________________________________________________________

I have known Sandy Beach

since before the age of two

and with down-bottom reluctance

I present this pic to you

I still dream about a lifeguard

named Bikini Jones

and about the picture below:

I make no bones

It's a crappy photo

but it must be posted

[the septuagenarian boasted]

I had my only swimming lesson

at the age of one

when dear old dad

wanted to have fun

In his arms

with soft shoulders

I could not feel 

more secure

when all I wanted was

"more and more"

I was wet-tushed

on the shoreline

and it felt divine

But he dropped the tot

all of two inch

he re-secured me

and I smiled louder

than Lousiana

All of this is fact

—not a dream—

but during that "drop"

I did scream

...

It was 1950

and this poem is

soon to end.

My first Sandy Beach

was the north shore

of Long Island

 

Bikini Jones' birth name

was Beth 

and that scream could be heard

from Montauk to Maspeth

 

But that Louisiana smile

did guarantee

a million beach hours

being totally

fear-free

 

About this pic

and memory of Bikini Jones:

I danced on everyone

of these stepping stones

***

©  PAUL OLIVERIO  ©

 _______________________________________________________________________________________________

A Simple Statement

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

 

There are times when a simple Thank You

should black out every other word

in your head.

***

 

 PAUL OLIVERIO 

 

 

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

Footnote

This copyrighted page

is awkwardly but legally

sub-titled

Bullet #175.5

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

The 175th Bullet: Cousin Of FREEDOM OF SPEECH

 _______________________________________________________________________________________________

Freedom Of Speech

—without a mute button—

is

freedom of chaos

 

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Footnote

THE 175th BULLET

is the copyrighted property

of LCSoL

________________________________________________________________________________________________

ROBERTSON DAVIES And Democracy

________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

 Democracy,

which is supposed to set

all men free,

has in many respects

put all men [and women]

into chains of bourgeois uniformity.

We are free to be

exactly like everybody else.

 *** 

≈ ROBERTSON DAVIES ≈

(1960)

________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

"Scribblations And The Race Track" ... And HOODA HELAMI

________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

I Scribble, Therefore I Am

 

When I have nothing to say,

I say nothing

 

When I have something to say,

I say nothing

but I run home and 

scribble something

in my notebook

 

Never, however,

is it what I meant to say

 

For example,

I wanted to tell someone

how I felt about

Covid-19 in the year 2022

 

I said nothing

but 

—my head aflame with ideas—

I ran home

and wrote

this note:

 

NOTHING HOWEVER

is a great name

for a racehorse

 

***

 

©  Hooda Helami  ©

Alter Ego #142857

________________________________________________________________________________________________

A Quatrain About Hot Lips Dedicated To Lee Miller

________________________________________________________________________________________________

***

When a kiss transcends guile

and plays a trick,

the hottest lips

can stop traffic

 

***

 

© PAUL OLIVERIO © 

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Photoverio #737: The Dove, The Font + The Waterfall

________________________________________________________________________________________________

***

© Oliverio

________________________________________________________________________________________________

LONG BEACH LOGIC Does Not Prevail

________________________________________________________________________________________________

On 9/23/22,

The City of Long Beach

shut down public access

to the Main Branch

of the city library

due to

the profusion of homeless people.

 

The city was exercising

LONG BEACH LOGIC.

That is,

Rather than solve a problem,

remove the need

for a solution 

HOWEVER 

on 10/20/22,

intelligence prevailed

and the Main Branch

of the City Library

was reopened to the public 

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Two Degrees Of Separation = (Rock+Roll Hall Of Fame) + Me

________________________________________________________________________________________________

1.

Mike Stoller

is in the 

Rock & Roll

Hall of Fame

2.

Mike Stoller

wrote this letter

to me

But the letter desperately needs a good dusting

________________________________________________________________________________________________

The JFK Of Another Species (Comic Relief #4712)

________________________________________________________________________________________________

***

GARY LARSON

________________________________________________________________________________________________

MLB 2022 Championship Rosters ... In Other Words

________________________________________________________________________________________________

There's a Bader,

a Hader,

Framber and the Judge

A pair of Nolas,

a Stanton and a Soto

Elvis is not in the house

but Pressly is

No Frank, Sammy or Dino

but there's Severino

 

Hot Cole, big Bell,

slick and speedy Kim

and a very Realmuto

No Shakespeare

no Much Ado About Nothing

but there's 

Machado about everything

 

No chicken, no rice

but there's

Bryce and Rhys

 

Forget the goose

forget the gander

remember the Verlander

 

Remember the Altuve,

the Rizzo  and the Diaz

No M&M's 

no Pez

but there is

Alvarez

Neither heaven nor hell

but there is

Gurriel

 

It's a long shot

it's off the wall

LET'S PLAY BALL

 

***

© Paul Oliverio ©

________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

A Cautionary Tale For Book-Aholics Requiring Enlarged Images

________________________________________________________________________________________________

The caution is so urgent,

it is worth the extra effort

of enlarging each image

*** JULIO CORTAZAR ***

________________________________________________________________________________________________

A Non-Submission For The One Sentence Poem Magazine

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

Bawling for dollars

with pennies from heaven

with nickels and dimes

in my back pocket.

 

***

© PAUL OLIVERIO ©

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

That's A Wrap ... Let's Call It A "Respite"

________________________________________________________________________________________________

If ever there existed a page 

in the GodFather of Math Trilogy

–presently with 6000 entries– 

that could viably have served

as 

THE VERY LAST PAGE

it was  this one:

 

The rare page with 

no text. no caption,

no comments permitted

and not a molecule

of wit

 

Only a vintage portrait

of  a woman

in "miniature"

while the exact same photo

also appears

[four times as large]

on the rock bottom

of the web version

of the GoFather of Math

The woman,

of course,

is my Mother

but

 

This is not the end

of the GodFather Trilogy

 I just needed

a blog-free rest:

yesterday, the day before

and 

—possibly—

all of today

***

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Don't Ask Why But I Need To Post This Cameo TODAY

________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

________________________________________________________________________________________________

There Are Times When JUSTICE ACTUALLY PREVAILS

________________________________________________________________________________________________

If only Justice were Contagious

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Variation On One Of His Classic Tunes ... Minus The "Little"

________________________________________________________________________________________________

"SWEET SIXTEEN"

With Deleteable Advert

________________________________________________________________________________________________

The Relocation + Resurrection Of GILMORE MUSIC

________________________________________________________________________________________________

This page is 

Under Construction

but the new store at

3736 e.7th Street

Long Beach

90804

is a MUST visit

for anyone 

interested in

Musical Instruments

562-434-6469

________________________________________________________________________________________________

The 174th Bullet: Moan For The Misbegotten

________________________________________________________________________________________________

For the misbegotten,

there is no triumph after death.

 

But 

there can be a floating grave

made of pure air

 ...

 

The purist and cleanest air 

breathed  by one and all

for their respiratory pleasure

...

 

Only

after a lifetime

of skull and bones

tattooed

on the forehead.

  

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Footnote

THE 174th BULLET

is the copyrighted property

of LCSoL

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Did Charlie Brown Or Linus Say This?

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Did either Peanuts character say

"I do not dwell on the past"

???

I believe the answer is

neither of them

said it

And

I personally will say

"I do not dwell on the past"

 

But like 

Linus or Charlie Brown,

I will declare:

THE PAST

IS MY

SECURITY BLANKET

***

© Paul Oliverio ©

________________________________________________________________________________________________

In December Of 2008 ... I Spent Seventeen Days In Italy

________________________________________________________________________________________________

That is the only time

I ever spent 

outside of North America

Never have I been to

South America, Asia, Africa

or Australia

I have seen countless images

of the other-worldly

magnificent places

and things

that I never saw

upfront and personal

 

So be it

 

The truth is

I feel Zero Percent 

cultural deprivation

when I can feast my eyes

on this image

and let my mind 

wander around

the world

they created

 

This picture was taken

two years before

I was born

 

It is a man

and 

his 1-year-old daughter

 

Also known as

my father

and my sister

 

A line from Jimi Hendrix

comes to mind:

Excuse me

while I kiss the sky

 

Sam and Linda Oliverio

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Once ... When They Were Young

________________________________________________________________________________________________

The future

Mr. and Mrs. CarPeo

________________________________________________________________________________________________

A Poem NOT WRITTEN BY Hooda Helami

________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

The sign read

CHILDREN AT PLAY

but I must say

to you

no children

were within view

All I could see

was somebody's Grandfather

on a porch

snoring in his rocking chair

 

But beware

I must say

he might have been dreaming

about

Children At Play

***

 

©  PAUL OLIVERIO  ©

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Photoverio #736: Midnight At The Border

________________________________________________________________________________________________

The wet border between

Los Angeles and Orange County

© Oliverio

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Photoverio #735: Jetty Ballet

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

© Oliverio

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

Time-Sharing Poem By HOODA HELAMI

________________________________________________________________________________________________

If Time were butter

we could melt it

or freeze it

Saute our memories

to taste

Freeze-frame moments

to touch

BUT

Time is not butter

but

 

That will not stop us

from saute-ing

memories

to taste

***

 

©  HOODA HELAMI  ©

Alter Ego #142857

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Happy Birthday #76

________________________________________________________________________________________________

To my eyes...

Linda has not aged one day

 _______________________________________________________________________________________________

Franz Kafka's Cousin And The NFL New York Giants

________________________________________________________________________________________________

The Offensive Co-ordinator

(and play-caller)

of the New York Giants

is

Mike Kafka

All I can say is

LET'S GO GIANTS

and I promise to re-read

The Metamorphosis

one more time

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Gender-Divided Poem By HOODA HELAMI

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Man without woman

is man without stress

but

with a drop-dead memory

of a silk red dress

***

©  HOODA HELAMI  ©

Alter Ego #142857

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

We're Ready For Halloween

________________________________________________________________________________________________

©   Photoverio #734.5   ©    

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Photoverio #734: Off-Duty

______________________________________________________________________________________________

 

 

© Oliverio

______________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Did You Hear The One About A Rabbi, A Priest And A Swami?

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

Well,

they were all there

(along with a Witch)

to bless the animals

on October 2, 2022

A wonderful time 

was presumably

had by all

This event was

—in no way—

unique to Long Beach:

it was happening

all across America

However,

animals

—unlike humans—

could care less

about who is blessed

and who isn't

Humans

—unlike animals—

are the only species

concerned with

who is blessed

and who is not blessed

Animals

are naturally blessed

for the simple reason

of not being

human

The event

I would like to see

—if only they were vain enough—

is

The Blessing of the Humans

conducted in a dog park:

 

When the dogs bark,

the Humans can then

consider themselves

Blessed

_______________________________________________________________________________________________