________________________________________________________________________________________________
 |
| TED JOANS |
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Friday, April 28, 2023
That's How We Got Mosquitos And Phlegm
________________________________________________________________________________________________
!!!
 |
| SCHILLER |
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Bo Diddley In Washington Square Park With Deleteable Advert
________________________________________________________________________________________________
 |
| WILLIE NILE |
Thursday, April 27, 2023
Sign Language
________________________________________________________________________________________________
A question mark
in disguise
 |
| © Oliverio |
The First Page Of A Mrs. CarPeo Story
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Written + Illustrated
by Mrs. CarPeo
 |
| © Mrs. CarPeo © |
Dr. Rorschach, I Have Trouble Crossing The Street
________________________________________________________________________________________________
When I step into
the crosswalk,
all these strange figures
are looking up at me
 |
| © Oliverio |
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Monday, April 24, 2023
ANDY BOROWITZ And The Ass Of An Asset
________________________________________________________________________________________________
 |
| The Borowitz Report |
________________________________________________________________________________________________
The Appointment (Comic Relief #5012)
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Could it be
the wrong apartment?
 |
| MICK STEVENS |
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Sunday, April 23, 2023
The World According To NEIL HOOS
________________________________________________________________________________________________
© NEIL HOOS ©
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Saturday, April 22, 2023
When TELLING A LIE Was No Longer Possible
________________________________________________________________________________________________
The Masters Of The Universe
—being Amazon, Hollywood, Apple,
Fox News, BBC, Izvestia, et al—
had a brainstorming session
about all the boxing
and wrestling matches
featuring the elusive concept
known as THE TRUTH
They decided that no one
—in any country, at any time—
should ever tell another lie
:::
Every citizen on Planet Earth
rejoiced and patted
himself or herself
on the back
for becoming
purveyors of Truth
and nothing else
All forms of the words
"to lie"
were evicted from
the dictionaries
of every language
However,
the behavior of all humans
remained exactly the same
BUT
no one
could be accused
of lying
Like sugar and spice
and all things nice,
humans everywhere
did nothing more than
"FLAVOR the truth"
How yummy it was
when a citizen could
flavor the truth
in such a way
as to have most of
the neighbors' money
in his (or her) pocket
Naturally, a good percentage
of that yummy money
was given to
The Masters Of The Universe
© PAUL OLIVERIO ©
________________________________________________________________________________________________
It's Still On Life Support (Comic Relief #5009)
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Please be kind
to our planet
today
[and every day]
 |
| GARY LARSON |
Friday, April 21, 2023
A Natural Foreground For Long Beach Housing Glut
________________________________________________________________________________________________
 |
| © Photoverio #675.5 |
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Thursday, April 20, 2023
A Quote From THE ARRANGEMENT
________________________________________________________________________________________________
All the hostilities
and suspicions
we feel every day,
we hold them down
but they always come out.
 |
| Starring Kirk Douglas + Faye Dunaway |
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
Wednesday, April 19, 2023
This Is NOT An Impressionist Painting
________________________________________________________________________________________________
It is a house
I owned
for five years
Sometimes referred to
"The House on Orient Hill,"
it is presently on
the market
and the address is
The asking price is
almost exactly ten times
the amount
I sold it for
in 1981
A private North Shore beach
is within a healthy
walking distance
of this Long Island
waterfront community.
two miles west of
where I lived
and loved and laughed
for the first
≈ 27 years of my life ≈
plus the twilight
of my 31st year
before becoming
a California resident
For my first birthday
as a Cali res,
I belatedly received
a gift from
It was a
a $20 check
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Photoverio #675: Up Against The Stucco Wall
________________________________________________________________________________________________
!!!
 |
| © Oliverio |
Tuesday, April 18, 2023
Recently I Quoted Proust, Now I Quote Kafka
________________________________________________________________________________________________
reveals the following encounter
in the Eternal Blissful Garden
reserved for the Literati
after serving their time
on Earth.
Franz Kafka ordered
ten copies of the tilted book
pictured below.
He gave a copy to
—his favorite American writer—
and this is what
Kafka said:
"Scott, I would sacrifice
all this Eternal Bliss
if only I could return
to Earth to meet
the woman
who wrote
these tilted words"
Fitzgerald responded
"Franz, hardly a day goes by
when I don't feel the same way.
But it doesn't matter
what the words are."
 |
| MARGARET ATWOOD |
The next Fitzgerald page
is TBD
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Portable, Adjustable, And Omnipresent
________________________________________________________________________________________________
I've got a man cave
in my pocket
and I never
need to
lock it
It's with me
wherever I go:
to the store,
to a diner
or a show
At an early age,
something I did find
was
varied and delicious
contents of mind
Be it baseball,
bagels or James Brown
I can be smart,
stupid
or play the clown
Acute or obtuse
I could be
tight or loose
lasso
or noose
Put me
in the shade
or the sun
dress me dapper
or like a nun
None will ever know
—regardless of their size—
the panorama
behind
my eyes
***
© PAUL OLIVERIO ©
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Sunday, April 16, 2023
Happiness Gets Knock After Boost From Proust
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Happiness
is beneficial
for the body
but it is grief
that develops
the power of
the mind
***
Swann's Way
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Photoverio #674: Some Botanical Models ...
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Can't Stop Posing
 |
| © Oliverio |
Saturday, April 15, 2023
Mr. Nice Guy ZIPS The Long Beach Public Library
________________________________________________________________________________________________
The Long Beach Public Library
is the beneficiary of something called
"Zip Books."
A patron receives
a brand new book
—free of charge—
and when finished,
gives it to LBPL
(if he/she wants another Zip Book)
What you see below
is my 10th Zip Book,
a copy of which
I proudly own
and have read three times
With the exception of Scott Fitzgerald,
there is no author
I admire more than Dawn Powell
is partly the reason
for that admiration
The Zip Book program exists
through the generosity of
I will qualify for
an 11th Zip Book
as soon as I
give this Dawn Powell novel
to the LBPL
(sometime within the next week)
Why
—you might ask—
did I order a book
I own and had already read?
Because Mr. Nice Guy Oliverio
wants it added to
the library's catalog
to be enjoyed
by another patron
(or employee)
 |
| *** |
Thursday, April 13, 2023
HOODA HELAMI Hits The Deck
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Hit the deck
deal the cards
quote the buzzard bards
"Hello Acey, Hello Deucy
how's your cousin, Lucy?"
"Three of a kind
all of one mind"
"I've got the opposite
of a little bitty
pass me the kitty"
"I've got Kings over Queens,
just like an ancient
European Empire"
"But my full house
will empty yours"
"Good night, everybody,
thank you for paying
my mortgage"
"Next week,
please remind me
not to be here"
***
HOODA HELAMI
Alter Ego #142857
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Question + Answer #572814
________________________________________________________________________________________________
QUESTION
Do you believe in Angels?
ANSWER
Of course I do.
I only wish an Angel
could believe in me.
©©©
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Gilligan, Garfunkel And Me
________________________________________________________________________________________________
When Simon and Garfunkel disbanded,
Art Garfunkel became
a math teacher.
I know this for a fact
because one of his students
at Litchfield Prep,
was the son
of a personal friend
of mine.
The actor who portrayed Gilligan
taught math
at an elementary school.
I know this because it says so
on his Wikpedia page.
I taught math
my entire professional career.
Art Garfunkel and Bob Denver
have no shortage
of fame and fortune.
All I can do
is hope for the same.
________________________________________________________________________________________________
God And The Devil Were Talking
________________________________________________________________________________________________
God said
"To level the playing field
on planet Earth,
I am giving you a pill
with three ingredients."
The Devil said
"Whatever you say, Boss"
God said
"The first ingredient
is SINCERITY and
the second ingredient is
ARTICULATION."
The Devil said
"Very generous, Boss,
what is the other ingredient?"
God said
"HANDSOME:
If I am going to be
in competition with someone,
I want it to be
a handsome man."
The Devil said
"I'm ready for battle, Boss.
Down I go."
In the year 2023,
God looked down
at His most entertaining creation
—Earth—
and said
"How stupid of me!
I gave him
one ingredient too many"
***
© PAUL OLIVERIO ©
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Wednesday, April 12, 2023
With Orangethorpe, She Intersects IF She Were A Village
________________________________________________________________________________________________
ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL,
as someone said
who was either
very hopeful
or mischievous.
What a lot of anxiety
could have been avoided
if he'd only kept his mouth shut.
***
 |
| ATWOODING Page 3.5 |
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Monday, April 10, 2023
[Sic] ... Monkee Business: A Song We'll Never Hear
________________________________________________________________________________________________
With DeleteableAdvert
 |
| © Oliverio |
We'll never hear
sing
We're the Tchotchkes
and people say
we tchotch around
We're too busy
tchotchking
to put anybody down
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Sunday, April 9, 2023
DJ Oliverio: The Mattress-Bending Mystery Drug
________________________________________________________________________________________________
 |
| Seatrain |
Photoverio #673: Without The Distracting Presence Of Humans
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Truncated: Two Dogs + One Dog
 |
| © Oliverio |
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Between The Beginning + The End ... Hooda Helami's Quatrain
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Between beginning and end
is the middle
inflamed with words,
muddle and piddle
***
HOODA HELAMI
Alter Ego #142857
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Friday, April 7, 2023
Quoting One Of TREVANIAN's Novels
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Two people
who don't like each other
and who have
totally incompatible beliefs,
aspirations and backgrounds
are sure to end up
together forever.
***
TREVANIAN
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Photoverio #672: Storm Clouds Over Laguna
________________________________________________________________________________________________
!!!
 |
| © Oliverio (2022) |
________________________________________________________________________________________________
The Monotones Asked The Same Question (Comic Relief #4988)
________________________________________________________________________________________________
 |
| GARY LARSON ***With Deleteable Advert*** |
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Thursday, April 6, 2023
A Quatrain Completed By Pall Paul
________________________________________________________________________________________________
© Oliverio
This is an Abacus
high up on the wall
for those who do math
while feeling very tall
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Wednesday, April 5, 2023
The Saintly and Magnificent St. Matthew's Passion Concert
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Suffice it to say
the director of Musica Angelica
was terribly deficient
directing a car
to the North Long Beach
parking lot
That car was driven by me
who invented ten profanities
for the director
before finally boarding
the "free bus"
that transported us
to the Concert destination
in downtown Los Angeles
The "free bus"
was actually
a limousine service
boarded by two CarPeos
and seven women
whose average age
was 75
Their soft and delicate chatter
sounded like the dust
on valuable antiques
That my fellow passenger
was celebrating her 39th birthday
was never brought to the attention
of the chattering antiques
All the chatter
seemed to imply
"My antiques are
more valuable than yours"
Mrs. CarPeo's 39th birthday
was a result of surgery
performed
on her birth certificate
The unspoken implication
of the antique chatter was
Our seven husbands
love their arm candy
The driver of the "free bus"
was dressed as a chauffeur
and he got us to the church
in time for 2 1/2 hours
of Musical Nirvana
© PAUL OLIVERIO ©
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Tuesday, April 4, 2023
Quoting The Owner Of The NEW YORK METS
________________________________________________________________________________________________
If I spend any more money,
they'll find me
rubbed out somewhere.
________________________________________________________________________________________________
The Superstar Of A Previous Musica Angelica Concert
________________________________________________________________________________________________
 |
| ≈ DENISE BRIESE ≈ |
________________________________________________________________________________________________
About the Composer Of ST. MATTHEW'S PASSION
________________________________________________________________________________________________
When Johann Sebastian Bach
composed
ST. MATTHEW'S PASSION
I hope he was paid
significant overtime
for his work
and that his children
were the first ones fed
at the banquet
following the Oratio's
premiere performance
***
© OLIVERIO ©
The next page is here
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Mama Said There'd Be Days Like This
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Sunday, April 2, 2023
was a day
with 1001 memories
that are tattoed
to the skull
This concert
was the centerpiece
of those memories
and serves as
"Page 1 of x"
The pages will not be
in chronological order
nor will their titles be the same
but they will be linked together
The last thing
I will say for now is
if my attendance
at this concert
is the closest I ever get
to Heaven,
I will be a happy camper
***
© OLIVERIO ©
The next page is here
________________________________________________________________________________________________