Friday, March 15, 2024

The Real Reality _ new poetry 2024

"The Real Reality"
new poem:
(injecting 60's & 70's inspiration
into 2024)
#new #everyday #poetry
#inspiration
#The #Real #Reality

Thursday, February 8, 2024

What a beautiful buzz _ We Are = Penn State

"What a beautiful buzz. What a beautiful buzz" = happy place at home with my books, candles, digesting a nice home cooked dinner, sipping on red wine = knowing @penn_state helped get me where I am today 🙏🌹😎
Good wishes,
John

Sunday, January 21, 2024

January Hawk _ new poem 2024 January

January Hawk

A big fierce fast hawk
Intending to pluck from the flock
Sink in its talons and clutch secure
Not even requiring any kind of lore
- the analysis of life -
A typical everyday routine flight
Which way could this go
Morning cold wind and snow
On the hunt in our backyard
With the bird feeders, is it hard?
Feeding the birds so they survive
Everyday is a chance to be alive
And this is not transactional for me
I feed the birds and let them be free
It's not a question "to be or not to be"
Feeding the birds helps them thrive
So we listen to the bluejays cry
Sounding a loud persistent alarm
Warning a Hawk will do serious harm

8:43am January 21, 2024
John Conte

#new #poem #january #hawk #nofilter #naturephotography #outdoors #everyday #poetry

Saturday, January 13, 2024

At the Banks of the Confluence _ new poem 2024 January

"At the banks of the confluence" I heard at 7a on @cbspittsburgh KDKA+ Friday morning
And all of a sudden this poem created itself complete with a melody borrowed from the wet earth on the boot heel from a cousin of a steamboat captain who was a musician who took a carriage from the wharf
#amwriting #new #poem #history #melody #borrowed #wet #earth #boot #heel #musician #cousin #of #steamboat #captain #carriage #wharf #river #three #rivers #george #washington #queen #aliquippa #logstownpa #french #english #king #american #democracy

Saturday, December 30, 2023

Mom 5:11am This Dec Morn_ dedicated poem Dec 2023

At 5:11am this morning our Mom passed on
———{{{@
Thankful & grateful to be her son and for one of my sisters, Cyndy, asking if I could write a poem that would represent us which I did on the 27th
#mom #passing #on #pre #dawn #today #forever #love

Wednesday, December 27, 2023

The Rights of Nature _ new poem Dec 27 2023

The Rights of Nature
#the #rights #of #nature #poem
#my #mothers #son #new #poetry

Good wishes,
John

Sent from my iPhone

Thursday, December 7, 2023

Being an American _ new poem December2023

"What is to be American" ..driving down OhioRiverBlvd past old homes of steamboat captains Friday listening to Bluegrass Junction I asked of myself & then getting the coffee ready for Saturday morning these words & images came to mind with a bluegrass melody #american #poetry

Friday, November 3, 2023

Tuned-In: Back to No Static _ new poem 2023

Tuned-In: Back to No Static
He was sick.
Not sure what was wrong.
He had some kind of tick.
Something was going on.
Sweats. Chills. Vomiting.
Paranoia. Confusion. Dread.
Oh, but the creativity in his head.
Let go from drowning to gasp air.
Creating interesting art to share.
That was his one and only care.
Aside from his dog and his wife.
Love told him to choose life.
He fell out of the blue.
He needed to get back in tune.
He wanted to feel like before.
He reached out for help unsure.
After a little bit the doctor had a cure.
He rose up and parted the clouds.
Sun shining on bright and proud.
Clarity was back in the sky of blue.
He knew he was back, it was true.
What a clear signal, back in tune.
Saying prayers for those before.
For those about to enter the door.
Prayers for all those he can reach.
He's back to feeling so complete.
@}}—— November 3, 2023 ——{{@
John Alan Conte, Jr. MyStrawHat.com
#tuned #in #back #to #no #static #hawk #fly #flying #blue #sky #bluesky #everyday #writer #writing #poetry #new #poem #poet #prayers

Wednesday, November 1, 2023

Naked in the Atlantic Ocean _ new poem Nov2023

Naked in the Atlantic Ocean

Swimming in the ocean at dark
There's a difference between night swimming
Salt water always means there could be a shark
My *Deerfield tribe in Boca where I was staying
By the Boca Club we were naked in the waves
Under a burning moon we needed no graves
If a dolphin posed as a great white we saw
We tripped enough that summer to know fraud

*Punk Rock Band Post Face early 1990's

Written By:
John Alan Conte, Jr.
Poet
MyStrawHat.com

Friday, September 22, 2023

Not Making it Home _ new poem 2023

Not Making it Home

Oh, Lord, please
On the side or the road
I might not make it home
It's a Friday night
Things feel right
But I've wrong
Now sing the song
"Sing, me back home"
Pinch myself
Can't feel a bone
All alone
On side the road

September 22, 2023
John Alan Cone Jr.
Poet
MyStrawHat.com

Good wishes,
John

Sent from my iPhone

Saturday, September 9, 2023

The Babushka _ new poem September 2023

The Babushka 


It’s not a person.

Like an immigrant boxer / mill hunky

Greased like a pig in the ring

Pursed pig lips ready for a cigar

Pierogi chest muscles to feed slums

No six pak abs but a quarter barrel keg

Blue eyes filled with hate and intolerance 

And the fear maybe it’s not 100% fixed

And he may be exposed as a 100% fraud

No spin from “the boys” could substantiate a win.


It’s not a place.

Like a club for men and whites only

Filled with permeating thick cigar smoke

The pungent smell of sloppily spilt stale beer

Men in three piece suits and beaver pelt hats

Pocket watch chains dangling on fat stomachs

A place they’d never let in suckers that vote for them

Suckers on the teat of spoon-fedfed division; culture wars

Slapping each others backs where lying is the art of the deal


It’s a thing.

Brought to North America by immigrants most of us are

And like other American fashions adopted by our ethnicities

A symbol of the melting pot of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 

With a utilitarian attitude expressing rugged commonality 

My grandmothers and their friends wore them almost always 

Except when they wore something more formal for Mass

In my mind I recall my young attractive mother with one 

As others of her age at Steeler games on Sunday television 

Waving them in the air on big 1970’s Pittsburgh Steeler plays


Written Saturday Morning September 9, 2023

By John Alan Conte, Jr. 

Poet

MyStrawHat.com