On the Impossibility of Hope…by Robert M. Katzman
On the Impossibility of Hope
By Robert M. Katzman © January 4, 2016
***
Sometimes nothing works out
You live your life
Hope for friends
Hope to be healthy
Hope to be happy
And
(a really big hope)
Try to fall in love
With someone as they are
***
And, in turn
Be loved as you are
You, without disguises
You, sometimes without a clue
You, with no idea where you are going
You, more than a little
Shy of visionary
You, without the certainty
Of
Knowing what to offer
***
But finding a real friend?
A friend who rises to
The worst of occasions
A friend who doesn’t
Need mere you to
Spell out every heartbreak
Who sees in you what
Virtually no one else can see
Who wants to share
The best of times
Yours and theirs
and
Because you being there
Makes anything better
Well, this sort of relationship
May be far too much to hope for
***
Healthy?
This is the illusion of possible
Because no matter
How much you learn
How hard you try
How careful you are
How few risks you take
How much pleasure
You decide to deny yourself
To insure unknown additional
Moments of Time
The longer you survive
The less remains
Ahead
***
But how can anyone know
How far to go
Where to go
What chances to take
And who to take with you
To have a life worth living?
***
But love?
Take all you read above
Put it in a rocket
Aim it at a star
Fueled with
Six batteries and a slingshot
And that may be
A better bet than
Deciding who to love
And will it last forever
And
Did that other person
Really, totally
Love you back?
***
Looking back
You can’t start over
Correct the glitches
Say the brilliant thing
Kiss the one you want
Exactly when and how they
Wanted to be kissed by you
***
I think about all these things
Dreams too far away now
Not enough time left to
Plan beyond the next few
Full moons
Or so,
What I would have done
If only I knew
All the things I didn’t know
And never would
***
But then I think
There might be a chance
Not to fix the past
Not to undo
All I disappointed
But to focus on
Someone who knows
None of this
Who will only know me
As I am now
Who will give me a chance
To be better
To be kinder
To remember all
The little things
Even with no guarantee
Of how much time
We have left to be together
***
I am no more brilliant now
Than when
Whoever you are
Began to read
All these words
And you will have to answer
All these questions I’ve asked
By yourself
***
Me?
Tomorrow
I’m going to buy me a puppy
I will name her
Hope
Over the coming years
I will watch Hope grow
At least that
If nothing else
May be possible
I will make no plans beyond her
******************************
Publishing News!
Bob Katzman”s two new true Chicago books are now for sale, from him!
Vol. One: A Savage Heart and Vol. Two: Fighting Words
Gritty, violent, friendship, classic American entrepreneurship love, death, heartbreak and the real dirt about surviving in a completely corrupt major city under the Chicago Machine. More history and about one mans lif’e than a person may imagine.
visit my new website: https://www.dontgoquietlypress.com
If a person doesn’t want to use PayPaI, I also have a PO Box & I ship anywhere in America.
Send me a money order with your return and contact info.
I will get your books to you within ten days.
Here’s complete information on how to buy my books:
Vol 1: A Savage Heart and Vol. 2: Fighting Words
My books weigh almost 2 pounds each, with about 525 pages each and there are a total together of 79 stories and story/poems.
Robert M. Katzman
Don’t Go Quietly Press
PO Box 44287
Racine, Wis. 53404-9998 (262)752-3333, 8AM–7PM
Books cost $29.95 each, plus shipping
For: (1)$3.95; (2)$5.95; (3)$7.95; (4)$8.95 (5)$9.95;(6) $10.95
(7) $11.95; (8) $12.95; (9)$13.95 (10)$15.95 (15)$19.95
I am also for hire if anyone wants me to read my work and answer questions in the Chicago/Milwaukee area. Schools should call me for quantity discounts for 30 or more books. Also: businesses, bookstores, private organizations or churches and so on.
My Fighting Words Publishing Co. four original books, published between 2004 and 2007 are now out-of-print. I still have some left and will periodically offer them for sale on my new website.