—ALL OUR TALKS, SO PROFOUND AND WITTY

 

…“We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion—and medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life—but poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for.” Robin Williams, Dead Poets Society

 

…When the fuck did balance become such a thing?

 

…I think if I had a granddaughter named Yeva, my world might be perfect. At least for a while.

 

…“Be brave enough to make art that nobody loves but you.” Andrea Gibson

 

…If you happen to have five minutes, this is pretty special, I guarantee it: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHQkPpl7_uQ

 

…“When you choose to do creative things, you align yourself with something that other people call God. Creativity eats darkness.” Jeff Tweedy, Wilco  

 

…I’m pretty sure I was the only one walking Centennial Trail with earbuds in, crying, the other day, while the sun was just hitting its stride.

 

…If none of it makes sense, if you don’t feel anything, you don’t have to read it. 

 

…I got to sing, I got to dance…

 

…This is one of my favorite things I’ve ever written, published on Monday:

https://flashfictionmagazine.com/blog/2025/07/21/candy-apple-red/

 

…How do I seem today? Anymore, I‘m never sure how I look on the outside. 

 

…In almost every dream I have lately, I’m lost and can’t find my way back. I’ll wake up, then go back to sleep and the dream will start right where it left off, and it’s fucking horrible all over again. Does that ever happen to you? No? Well, it happens to me all the time.

   

…What are the odds?

 

…No matter what the specialists say, there are some good things to be said about having an eating disorder.

 

…In the last ten days, I’ve experienced more art that’s moved me in unforeseen ways than I have in the last ten years. What a gift that’s been.

 

…I watched a kid on a boat a bit ago, maybe like a three-year-old, wearing a life jacket but still climbing up and onto the tip of the raft, and I thought, how in the hell is that child so brave? I was never that brave. I’m actually still not. Then I thought, How could his dad just watch and allow that?

 

…Well, you made this mess, so…

 

…Everything old is new again, so why not us?

 

…Last week I found myself in the strange position of defending Coldplay and Chris Martin on social media. What, what? But I didn’t back down. I guess I don’t get why people are such haters online. Picking on Chris Martin seems like a cheap trick, like the bully at the grade school merry-go-round. I’ll never forget how kind Chris Martin was to my daughter the year we were lucky enough to go to The Grammys together. She was nine and called out, “Hey, Chris! I love you!” and he came over and asked her name and said, “Well, hello, Madison.” You might not like his music, but he’s a good person and that’s undeniable. I’ll be in his corner forever.

 

…“And so, we kind of thought: If you can’t be happy, be funny.” Megan Falley

 

…I’ve come to think—in terms of conversation and sharing—that typos happen because you have a sense of urgency to share with the other person. It really isn't all about recklessness. The typos are actually because you care so much. And that’s a good thing.

 

…Maybe I’m a Bitch, but I know what a friend looks like, and I also know what one doesn’t look like. 

 

…Whoa, Sparky.

  

…Let’s take a trip around Mars, shall we?

 

…I don’t know much, but I know I’m a pretty good fool.

 

…When you honestly feel like you don’t care anymore, well, that's a good time to reassess.  

 

...Can you really like him? I really don’t know how you could.

 

…I wonder if most people talk to themselves as much as I do. But, then again, why should I even wonder about that?

 

…“Welp! Here comes another week where I get to feign awareness and act like I'm not terrified of everything.”  Jay Halsey

 

…You can try really hard, but you can’t beat something with nothing.

 

…It’s a very unsettling feeling when you think you know someone and then you find out you don’t.

 

…I keep making the same mistakes.

 

…“I like the feeling of being able to confront an experience and resolve it as art.” Eudora Welty

 

…I don’t want to be famous, but I do want to be loved. In fact, I want that more than anything else I want.

 

…“So many people try so hard to be good, then find out later that they should have tried softer.” Andrea Gibson

 

…I’ve noticed I use the word “really” a lot. But then I also use “a lot” a lot.

 

…I make a mess inside my head. I don’t expect you to understand.

 

…When someone tells you to be careful, you should really pay attention because it usually means they know more than you at that moment, before you do whatever it is you're about to do.  

 

…You can’t look at what Netanyahu is doing to Gaza and not frame it as genocide. You just can’t. He’s an egotistical monster, and he’s now one of the only three people on earth that I hate. 

 

…If you don’t believe in something with all your heart, why are you even here?

 

…I can get caught up in shallow things, same as the next guy, but I’m never satisfied, afterward, when I do.

 

…Where is Rebecca De Mornay? Like, why isn’t she somewhere?

 

…“They think I’m insane, but I’m not. I’m just more alive than most people.” Anne Sexton

 

…If you go forward, I’ll meet you there.

 

…When the “I” doesn’t change to “We” is when you should pay attention and maybe reformulate what you thought initially.

…“I find people want affirmation more than information. I don’t offer up advice.” Freddie Prinze Jr.

 

…For every song I send you, there are four hundred that I don’t.

 

…There are times when your life is not on the upswing. And that’s okay. You’ve just got to try to hold on tighter to the swing.

 

…If you warned me, you warned me twice.

 

…“If I could say it in words, there would be no reason to paint.” Edward Hopper

 

…I should have taken my own advice when I had the chance.

 

…I can get lost from anywhere. I mean, just look at me now.

 

--What do you think is the most egregious thing he’s ever done, or at least done to date?

--Fuck. That’s very difficult for me to answer.

--Well, how about just a few random examples then?

--I don’t know man, that’s still terribly hard, like impossible. I don’t think you really understand.

--Okay then, how about just one? Pick just one egregious thing you think he’s done?

--I’ve got it. 

--Terrific. What is it?

--Being born.

 

…I don’t think you really understand.

 

…When really good things happen, I always think—yeah, but will it last? 

 

…I could really benefit from restraint when my feelings go wonky. 

 

…It’s interesting how many people tell me they have the same thing we do, yet they really don’t, it’s not even close. I don’t ever shoot them down, not at all—I just smile and say, “Gosh, well, you’re incredibly lucky then, I hope you know how much.” And it’s not a competition, though they might think it is somehow. And it’s not about 47 years either, not exactly. It’s really about an Andy Gibb 8-track in an El Camino on the way to play tennis for the first time. 

 

…”Hey, let’s not die stupid. Not in a swimming pool, choking on your own vomit. Come on, man. You know what’s really great? Living a long life. That would be really great, wouldn’t it?” Chrissie Hynde

 

…I think the sun’s coming up. I think the beaver’s going to swim this lake again tomorrow right before dawn when it’s not quite light out and there aren’t any boats out yet. I really think he will, whether I get lucky enough to see him, or not.

 

…Why can’t I ever just Leave it at that?

 

…Sometimes you can be a good person and still embarrass yourself by embarrassing yourself too much, even without meaning to.

 

…So, I got nothing there? Really? Fucker.

 

…I’m going to go help transport my kid’s couch right now. I hope you have a lot of fun with your weekend.

 

--You do want, right?

--What do I want?

 

…“We started this together and look what he did with it.” Rebecca De Mornay

 

—WHAT YOU DID WAS, YOU SAVED MY LIFE

 

 

People Holding

 

The thing about the planet, which is obvious, is that it’s huge, though not as colossal as the solar system, which has another and another and still many other solar systems right behind it, yet it’s—our earth—still plenty sizable, overflowing with people everywhere, scattered here and there in the nooks, some of them fighting traffic right now, holding a cup of Dunkin Donuts coffee and wondering if they should risk a car shave, some hugging a curb with their mind blank or blitzed out because of an overabundance of substances, as cars pass by like seconds in a day you can’t ever get back, while other people across the globe could be holding someone they love the most in the entire world, right there in the crux of their lap, looking at them shot-up with cruel bits of cement and bomb shrapnel, more colorful than a painting, more grotesque than death itself, or others might be breastfeeding one of life’s miracles in a hospital somewhat solitary, just the two of them, as God or the universe once upon a time intended, while someone else could be holding a garishly written sign of protest as a string of black SUVs slide by ostentatiously, shots fired, rubber bullets or otherwise, but of all those billions of people on the planet, doing those things they’re doing right now, in this second and the next which will soon transpire, I want you to know that you’re my favorite person on the planet, that I’ll always be holding you close and tight, even if you never know it.

 

—I AM WAITING, SHOULD I BE WAITING?

 

Angel

 

The angel was 

bearded and wearing 

a trucker hat 

a flag tattoo on 

its forearm 

almost longer 

than its forearm 

It wanted to 

save me 

from my 

foolishness and 

imminent doom 

It held 

out it’s hand 

and began to 

lift me up close 

to that arena 

people call Heaven 

but then 

I saw the logo 

on the angel’s 

cap and pulled back 

my fingers 

lost any 

sort of grip 

I might have had

I fell through 

layers of clouds 

as if I’d turned 

into hailstones 

so large they

crack windshields 

but somehow

leave the flowers 

and deer alone

 

 

—TEN STEPS JUST TO RUN A MILE

 

 

…What are you so afraid of?

 

--I’m thinking

--About what?

--Mistakes

 

…Today is tomorrow.

 

…It feels like it’s better than perfect, which must mean it’s a good day to be alive.

 

… To be alive with precision and clarity, I think, is the purpose of life. But it’s not always easy.

 

…Whether it’s true or not, I’ll never know.

 

…It’s official—I should never buy another pair of shoes before I die, and if I do, someone should slap me silly.

 

…“Why else would you write poems if you weren’t trying to get downstairs into the basement, where the sewage pipes are all covered with dust and mouse shit more ancient that death?” Greg Kosmicki

 

…I’ve been trying to get over my weird phobia about submitting, slowly sending stuff out here and there, though nothing like the early days, that’s for sure.

I sent two things I really like to a journal I really like that was having a contest and the entry date ended yesterday. They asked for a bio. I hadn’t included a bio with a submission in a long time. It seems a little strange and remarkable that I’ve somehow had six books published:

Len Kuntz is a writer from Washington State and the author of six books, most recently, THINGS I CAN’T EVEN TELL MYSELF, out from Ravenna Press. You can find more of his writing at https://lenkuntz.blogspot.com

 

…To tell the truth, I never had a clue.

 

 …This could be one of my favorite quotes and descriptions ever, because it totally captures him—

“He could be swamped by his feelings, like a kid wearing a shirt several sizes too big,”

--Jamie Fischer, speaking of Elliott Smith on the twenty-second anniversary of his death by suicide.

 

…Alert: Theft reported less than 0.5 miles from your home

 

…Alert: Shooting reported less than 5.6 miles from your home

 

…You appeared in 92 searches this week

 

…Maybe I should turn off some of the alerts I get. Maybe they’re the reason for my anxiety instead of Satan.

 

…Stupid is as stupid does.

 

--“Don’t be stupid.”

--“Too late.”

 

…I’m confident that I’m insecure.

 

…“My Irish mother used to say to me, ‘You’re a tinker. You make a mess and then you move on’.” Poet Fanny Howe who died last week at age 84

 

…“I always felt that if you haven’t experienced atheism fully, you can’t grasp the shock of believing anything.” Fanny Howe

 

…Doesn’t everybody second-guess themselves?

 

…This is a one-way conversation, same as always.

 

…“Open your mind. Get up off the couch. Move.” Anthony Bourdain

 

…Don’t everybody fall all over themselves.

 

…I keep thinking, if I don’t write it all down I’ll lose it, though I’ll lose it all anyway.

 

…About 8 in 10 Americans, 79%, say immigration is “a good thing” for the country today, an increase from 64% a year ago and a high point in the nearly 25-year trend. Only about 2 in 10 U.S. adults say immigration is a bad thing right now, down from 32% last year.

 

…Someone on Facebook posted a photo of her two beautiful kids, smiling on a lawn somewhere. Under the pic, she wrote: “To the guy who saw my kids and said, 'Andale! Andale! ICE!' go fucking fuck yourself.” That's just one of the reasons why I don’t love my country anymore.  

 

“Honey, come here—it’s a shipment of new adjectives to describe how messed up everything is!”

  …Recent headline: National Park Service tells its gift shops to remove anything that ‘disparages Americans’

…I think Christians are destroying Christianity. For me anyway.

 

…“Pressure is a privilege." Billie Jean King

 

…Too much fun is no fun at all.

 

…You never really know when the whistle’s going to blow.

 

…“She was living in another state of being, constantly scribbling things on napkins.” Senna Howe, on her mother, Fanny

 

…I think the thing is, you do something you’re proud of and if someone else is touched or impacted by it, that’s a bonus, but if nothing at all happens, that’s okay, too.

 

…“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” Albert Einstein

 

…It’s always a bad time to lose your footing, but this late in the game? Probably not good.

 

…There’s something about the word geriatric that sounds offensive.

 

…I’ve been fooled a lot and I’m pretty sure that I will be again and again.

 

…Turns out you actually can have too many friends, if they’re really friends that matter to you.

 

…“Just Let Them” works when you’re confident the outcome isn’t going to destroy you. Otherwise, it sounds brilliant in practice.   

 

…In one morning, within an hour’s span, I saw two (!) eagles flying right outside the window as well as a gorgeous deer just ambling through the yard. And yet I somehow still find things to bitch about.

 

..."I don’t really know what makes a poem. Or why it’s a poem. Or why anyone would want to do it, write poems. But it feels good when you do.

 

To tell you the truth, the first ten or so years when I was writing, I never paid attention to line breaks at all. I’d just write a line and when I got to the end, I’d start another line.

 

After I got my first book published, I showed it to the boss I had where I worked at the time.  He opened it up to the middle, read, then handed it back to me saying, 'This isn’t poetry, it’s just prose with line breaks. Yours doesn’t rhyme.'

 

I often thing of what Mark Strand said, 'The reason poems have jagged lines is so you can tell it’s a poem.'

 

--You are a happy person to interview and your poems are mostly happy. Do you use poetry to stave off the pathos most poets write about?

--Well, I don’t know about that because I haven’t been very happy the last seven or so years with what’s happened in the political landscape.

--But you seem happy?

--Back when W was President, I thought, you know, I’m not going to allow him to occupy any space in my head, so I refused to write any poems about having to do with political stuff.

 

--So, do you think poetry is fading out, or do you think it has the same vitality as it did, maybe twenty or thirty years ago?

--I think it’s got a lot more. 

--You do? Really?

--Well, there’s spoken word now, and that’s inspired by rap music, which is a different kind of poetry than I write, but it’s popular now, and has excited a lot of people. From everything I can see, people have always been curious.

--That's an interesting take.

--There’s a million little magazines, I mean, they come up like mushrooms, and from what I can see poetry is doing better than ever.

 

Looking at the stars is one of those things you’ve got to do every once in a while, like looking at the ocean. Nobody out there, where the stars are now, knows how we’re dressed.

 

Maybe the body’s desire 

is just to have a memory and leave it at that,

not one that’s connected with any particular time 

or place, but just a memory, a sense of

belonging and loss, a sense of wholeness 

and separateness. A sense of completion

and doom.

 

Everybody hated everybody.

It made life more simple that way.

You didn’t have to decide whose side you were on."

 

--Greg Kosmicki

 

—I CAN’T STAND THE RAIN

 

Death of Spiders

“As of May 2025, Isreal has dropped over 100,000 tons of explosives on Gaza in less than two years. During WW2, the Nazis dropped a total of 18,300 tons on London, 8,500 tons on Hamburg, and 3,900 tons on Dresden.” –The New York Times 

 

The night before, watching Bibi bomb Gaza for the millionth like it was a game you play when you’re bored but indifferent and don’t want to masturbate, I threw a can at the TV, noticing it bounce off onto the carpet, spilling a trail of foaming beer that hissed as it sank down into the fabric, and because blood is thicker than water, it seemed to dry faster than usual.

The next morning, I killed a spider almost first thing after getting out of bed, a black oval pendant with hairlike legs. It scrabbled up the side of the sink while I was brushing my teeth after I’d taken a piss, and it spooked me, this creepy breathing creature right there, clinging almost weightlessly to the porcelain, so I grabbed a Kleenex from my wife’s side of the counter and folded it like a soldier might a flag for another soldier who’s been killed in action.

It didn’t make a sound when I took its life, it didn’t moan or scream, say “I’m a mother, too” or “I’m just a child like the ones you have in your house.” It didn’t say anything because it couldn’t, and to be honest, I didn’t want it to. I didn’t even think about it again until much later because right then I realized I needed to piss again.  

 

—AND THE SUN BURNED LOW, ON THE RADIO

 

Cheap

 

They’re having a sale on babies at Neiman Marcus, and we’ve just miscarried for the fifth time, so we go and walk the marble aisles that resemble footpaths installed in museums or Pharoh’s mansions. 

Over to the side are the newborns, propped up like erect leather boots or running shoes that somehow giggle if you poke them in their bellies, about where the shoelaces would wear down after a while and unravel. 

“This one looks like you,” my wife says, perkier than I’ve seen her since our doc praised us for trying to procreate. “It has your same cowlick and unfortunate overbite, plus it’s half-off.” 

“A steal,” I agree.

So, I bundle up the dopey, doppelganger kid under my armpit and go to pay at the counter where the clerk says, “Oh geez, I’m so sorry, I don’t know how that one got in. It’s an immigrant, but if you look on the other side, by the Jimmy Choo and Manolo Blahnik rack, you’ll find a great selection of kids who all have their tags, plus most of them are a lot cheaper than what you’ve picked.”  

 

—I HOPE THAT YOU STILL LOVE ME

 

 

…I hope you’re not crossing your fingers behind your back. That would be a shame.

 

…Sometimes it’s good to believe in the myth, if that’s all you have to hold on to.

 

…It’s amazing how many products don’t work, or don’t do what they’re supposed to. Like M&M’s actually do melt in your hand.

 

…There’s symbolism everywhere.

 

…Here are two happy pieces I had published last week at Literary Underground:

https://theliteraryunderground.org/blog/2025/07/06/the-dogs-were-good-again-help-by-len-kuntz/

 

…And just when I think that can’t possibly happen anymore, it does. 

 

…“To tell you the truth, the first ten or so years when I was writing, I never paid attention to line breaks at all. I’d just write a line and when I got to the end, I’d start another line.” Greg Kosmicki

...Some days it lets you, some days not so much.

 

…Don’t you think coincidences are kind of spooky? They always make me second guess what I think I believe.

 

…I’m not sure what would be worse—for people to stop reading poetry, or for people to stop living altogether.

...Yesterday I had anxiety I haven't since Covid. I could barely handle driving on the freeway. I saw every overpass I drove under collapsing on top of me. I saw myself being crushed by every Semi nearby. So yeah, it wasn't the great day you thought.

 

…How was your 4^th? I spent mine wishing we were all still oppressed and ruled by England, or any country at all, for that matter.

 

…How do you even respond, now, when someone wishes you a “Happy 4^th!” 

 …Actual headline: Joey Chestnut wins 17^th Nathan’s Hotdog Eating Challenge: “I love pushing myself.”

 

…It really helps if you don’t care. But then why even show up?

 

…I know I cite AB a lot here, but he was a hero of mine from afar. I wish I could have had a beer with him, or two:

“I work really hard to not ever think about my place in the world.

I'm aware of my good fortune. I'm very aware of it, and I'm very aware that, because of it, people offer me things. Opportunities to do extraordinary things. The ones that are interesting to me are collaborations. I get to work with people who 10 years ago I wouldn't have dreamed to have been able to work with. And that's a big change professionally, and it's something that I think about a lot. How can I creatively have fun, do some interesting stuff, not repeat myself? Have fun. Play in a creative way. I like making things.” Anthony Bourdain

 

… You’re going to worry about what your friends worry about, or else you’re not really friends, so what’s the point of that?

 

…Sometimes I tell myself: Just stay with that, that’ll get you there.

 

…It’s amazing what goes on here. And a lot of it is shameful.

 

…Greif is a motherfucker. But the thing is, the very most important thing is, it reminds you that you’re alive, and that there was something or someone you cared about so much that their absence could do this—break your heart over and over and over again, without even knowing they have. 

 

…I know I’m not very clever, and I don't really want to be clever.

 

...When you stand up, it looks very different. 

 

…I really try not to go back to the well, but it’s always there, lurking under my skin, so I have a hard time not visiting, which means I repeat myself, so I’m sorry. 

 

…It sounds blunt and brutal, but it takes effort if you really want it.

 

…We’ve all had a lot of bad haircuts, but some of mine are unforgiveable.

 

…You just don’t meet that many authentically kind people. So, when you do, you take notice and try to befriend them.

 

…“I can have ten versions of one line … The word I chose is perfectly good, but for some reason, it’s rarely good enough … It’s mystifying, the thing that keeps you going forward, ripping up, ripping up, ripping up. What are you looking for?” —Fanny Howe

 

…“With John and George not here, I think we realize nothing lasts forever,” McCartney said. “So, we grasp onto what we have now because we realize that it’s very special. It’s something hardly anyone else has. In fact, in our case, it’s something no one else has. There’s only me and Ringo, and we’re the only people who can share those memories.”

 

…Even the word patriot seems warped now. How the fuck did they pull that one off? You have to give them credit.

 

…“Just turn it over to God.” Okay, sure, if you say so.

 

…She’s a brick, and I’m drowning slowly.

 

…“It blows me away. I look in the mirror and I’m 24. I never got older than 24. But guess what? You did.” Ringo Starr, who just turned 85 

 

…Headline in the Seattle Times, 7/5/25: 

Pride in America is cratering. But that’s not the same as giving up

…The hard part when people ask you about writing, and ask for help to get better at it, is that they don’t really want to write, they just want to be able to call themselves a writer.

…The world is sleeping and I am numb.

…As I’ve said here previously, I think it’s very difficult to make rhyming poetry happen, or work, but this one, from so long ago, does for me…

I’d Have You Think of Me

Djuna Barnes 1892 –1982

 

As one who, leaning on the wall, once drew 
Thick blossoms down, and hearkened to the hum 
Of heavy bees slow rounding the wet plum, 
And heard across the fields the patient coo
Of restless birds bewildered with the dew.

As one whose thoughts were mad in painful May,
With melancholy eyes turned toward her love,
And toward the troubled earth whereunder throve
The chilly rye and coming hawthorn spray—
With one lean, pacing hound, for company.

 …When you’re grieving and don’t know where to turn or how to act, sometimes taking the Pollyanna approach is your only hope.

 …Despite it all, today’s a good day to be alive.