CLEAR PATHWAY HOME
by George Schaefer
Quietly nursing a beer
anxiously awaiting a cup of chili
listening to two young ladies
that somehow lost their way—
couldn’t rent a car
couldn’t get a hotel,
missed a concert, had a 5 AM flight
a lot of porno flicks start out like that
but I’m not qualified to direct or star
I come up short
in both categories
no skill with a camera
and well, you know
we don’t need to go there
It’s not common decency
keeps me from posting dick pics
I wish I had words of wisdom
or at least some witty repartee
but I sit quietly sipping beer
a game is played by God knows who
airing on a flat screen TV
I feign interest in the action
It’s fucking baseball
I’d have a better chance popping a boner
watching paint dry on a fence
the two young ladies converse
with an elegant elderly woman
they’re having a good time
in spite their run of bad luck
I can see I’m not needed here
but the chili is warming
and I have a clear pathway home
and a dog waiting there
that actually does think I’m special
What calls you to write poetry? Why is it the medium for you?
I started out as a shy, lonely kid in high school. I started writing poetry in a desperate attempt to attract girls. Of course, it didn’t work. It probably made me even weirder than I already was. The girls still ignored me. That rejection did give me a lot of time to work on honing my craft and hopefully I’ve improved a little over the past 41 years.
Poetry has largely become my medium due to laziness. I tried my hand at writing novellas and longer prose works. I don’t have the attention span. Also, 90% of my writing is originally done longhand. Shorter works are less likely to induce carpal tunnel syndrome. I need my wrists healthy for other ends—but let’s not go there.
I really enjoy the haiku-style travel/journal logs you post on social media. Do you write everyday? How do you decide what to mold into poetry?
Do I write everyday? Fuck, No! I don’t even try. I’ll ride a hot streak while it lasts but it’s okay to take days or even weeks off. Americans don’t value vacations and relaxation. You need vacations from work to recharge your batteries. Personal days and vacation days away from the is also a pleasant respite.
Iridescent jewels lay buried deep within the soul waiting to be excavated. I struggle for the pure stream of consciousness as twisted ideas rampage through my mind. I recklessly splatter and sprinkle words across the page in mock rhythmic cadence. It’s been suggested in some circles that I am a poet.
Now when inspiration strikes, I usually let the words and images take over. They start writing themselves. I start listening to the words in my mind and that starts the decision on how it will take shape. I envision myself reading the words out loud as I write it on the page. Sometimes it can be a senryu or a tanka. Some works come out as haibun or free verse. Revisions are possible if I wake up the next afternoon thinking WTAF!
Many of your poems reference The Grateful Dead and the beat lifestyle that goes along with going on tour. How has the band influenced you?
There was a point in my life when I started to notice that as I was traveling around the country there was this band called the Grateful Dead that was following me around the country. But the adventures on the road were paramount and as G.G. Allin once noted, “The Dead are the true punks. All the punks were conformists getting tattoos and mohawks to assert their individuality by being like everyone else. The Dead did their own thing if was cool or uncool. It was their thing.” That’s just a paraphrase and not the exact quote from G,G but I think it speaks volumes about their influence and range of influence. It’s okay to be different than everyone else. There were many crazy moments in many cities across the country. What I remember gets committed to the page. I don’t fully trust my memory of said events but I’m not entirely sure how much it matters.
You live in Philadelphia. Does the city seep into your poems?
Don’t know what youze people are talking about. I drink wooder from a crick. I am quite fond of this town although I never booed Santa Claus, I still feel guilty about consorting with his wife. I don’t know if Philly seeped into my writing but I’d like to think that my writing seeped into Philly. I love when I can write something about Philly. Philly is rough around the edges and a bit funky at times, but it has its own pulse. I try to throw out props to many fine watering holes and restaurants and other city institutions. If I ever get outed on my love affair with Gritty, that could end up being a whole volume unto itself. I shall take the high road and say nothing about a city that rhymes with Alice.
Simple experiences seem to drive a lot of your writing (one of my favorites is Chicken Vindaloo from Thru Peripheral Vision). Do you consider yourself a practitioner of mindfulness?
I try to base my writing on my experiences-both real and imagined. The poetry is really a hybrid of fact and fiction. I’m not always sure where one ends and the other begins. I wouldn’t tell you if I did. As for mindfulness. Does dropping acid count? But seriously, I try to maintain an awareness of everything going on around me and finding ways to work it into my writing. I listen and observe. I warn people to copyright their life. I bloody well might steal it if you don’t.
As for the poem you cite, that one got rejected 4 times, but now I find out I was sending it to the wrong editors. Glad you like it. I try to write about my experiences and anyone sees me will know that I do enjoy food. I tend to just include everything since I’m the worst judge of my own work. Poems I think are throwaways get good commentary and resonate with different people. The stuff I really love and feel proud of is often ignored.
Where can readers check out more of work work/buy your books?
There are 8 titles available on amazon. More to come. I have nearly 3,000 poems and prose pieces on a website called postpoems.org. That site includes most of my published works. There are poems all over social media and other writing sites. There are also a bunch of chapbooks that I put together in my apartment when I get bored. They are available to anyone that visits my apartment or if I carry some in my backpack on my ventures.
George Schaefer is a would be raconteur born in the City of Brotherly Love. This poet, philosopher and prankster has been writing for over 40 years. He started out in an ill fated attempt to attract girls. He keeps writing since he doesn’t know what else to do with his mind. There have been various chapbooks and poetry titles published. Among poetry titles are Thru Peripheral Vision, Just When You Thought It Was Safe to Do Poetry Again and Choke the Chicken (Or Auto-Erotic Asphyxiation Gone Horribly Wrong. There is also a series of short poetry forms called Not So Fancy Tanshi. The first in the Not So Fancy Tanshi series is called Delightfully Weird.
John Wojtowicz grew up working on his family’s azalea and rhododendron nursery in the backwoods of what Ginsberg dubbed “nowhere Zen New Jersey.” Currently, he works as a licensed clinical social worker and adjunct professor. He has been featured on Rowan University’s Writer’s Roundtable on 89.7 WGLS-FM and several of his poems were chosen to be exhibited in Princeton University's 2021 Unique Minds: Creative Voices art show at the Lewis Center for the Arts. He has been nominated 3x for a Pushcart Prize and serves as the Local Lyrics contributor for The Mad Poets Society Blog. His debut chapbook Roadside Oddities: A Poetic Guide to American Oddities was released in early 2022 and can be purchased at www.johnwojtowicz.com. John lives with his wife and two children in Upper Deerfield, NJ.