Right Here Wandering the city of my dreams, with my grandfather's spirit in my mind, accompanying me into old fashioned arcades, staring across the bay and sending love to friends who sail it. We wander around on this merry go round of love, finding the candy stores of our souls. I dined on a heart attack between buns, I longed for slower times, and I received them. The man behind the bush no longer causes me to jump, I gladly ask strangers for photos, I connect with traveling Texans. and a man said, "You're a steam punk," when here I was thinking of hippies. This life is a candy store, but it takes trying new things to figure out what's sweetest, and sometimes all you find is that the marzipan still ain't your bag.
This is a throwback poem from a previously published book. I’ll be posting throwbacks every Wednesday.
I was wandering around Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco sometime in the spring of 2015 and these lines came to me.
Look Ma! No Hands!
$15.00$9.99eBook: $1.99
Look Ma! No Hands! is D.L. Lang's fourth poetry book, containing old poetry from old papers once forgotten, and new poems from a surge of inspiration. This 150 page poetry collection is part fantasy, part autobiography, part prayer book, part honoring my inner child, part Jewish, part hippie, part Oklahoma, part California.
About the Book
Look Ma! No Hands! is D.L. Lang’s fourth poetry book, containing old poetry from old papers once forgotten, and new poems from a surge of inspiration.
This 150 page poetry collection is part fantasy, part autobiography, part prayer book, part honoring my inner child, part Jewish, part hippie, part Oklahoma, part California.
Preview on Google Books
You can read poetry featured in Look Ma! No Hands! by visiting the poetry blog.
Several poems from this book also appear on my spoken word album Happy Accidents:
L’chayim, Wake Up, Kid!, My Shul,
What’s In A Name? Or Fun With Etymology,
What I Learned One Stanford Afternoon,
Dissolving Lines, Hiking is Never Alone,
These Hands, Peace is…, To my Soul Tribe,
Love is Anarchy, Defrosting Frogcicles
Excerpt from the foreword:
Hi! Enjoying what you’re reading? Please consider buying a book, or using the donation button on the sidebar. Poets aren’t always compensated for our performances and efforts, and doing so would help out greatly and ensure this website stays around for years to come.
All of my gigs have been cancelled until further notice. Please stay safe everyone. If you would like to support me at this time, please consider buying one of my books from your favorite online retailer.
Look Ma! No Hands! is my fourth poetry book, containing old poetry from old papers once forgotten, and new poems from a surge of inspiration. This 150 page poetry collection is part fantasy, part autobiography, part prayer book, part honoring my inner child, part Jewish, part hippie, part Oklahoma, part California. It is a book whose poems are largely about struggling to find the courage to take risks, gearing up another leap of faith in the midst of healing from past failures. Of all my books it is the most spiritual, the most Jewish, and one of the more autobiographical books. It represents a renewal of spirituality in my life during a time of struggle. It predates my entrance into political poetry, although there are certainly hints of that spark within its pages. The newer poems in this volume were written between December 2014 and April of 2015. It also contains many poems from childhood creative writing archives that I had not previously had access to at the time of compiling my first three books, including “Ridin’ Along” the lyrics to a song I wrote at age 10. The poems “L’chayim,” “Wake Up, Kid!,” “My Shul,” “What’s In A Name? Or Fun With Etymology,” “What I Learned One Stanford Afternoon,” “Dissolving Lines,” “Hiking is Never Alone,” “These Hands,” “Peace is…,” “To my Soul Tribe,” “Love is Anarchy,” and “Defrosting Frogcicles” also appear on my spoken word album Happy Accidents. I invite you to find them on your favorite streaming service so I can read them to you. Due to my health, I had largely ceased to write during 2014 until a poetry open mic at my synagogue and the encouragement of friends relit my creative spark, and dictation software allowed me to be able to edit books again. This book was originally released in April 2015, as a result. Both the titles of Happy Accidents and Look Ma! No Hands! humorously allude to the fact that at the time of creation I was exploring new methods of expressing myself creatively and poetically without relying on my hands due to pain. My previous penchant for filmmaking, cartooning, and data entry had become unbearable. This ultimately lead me in the direction of spoken word recordings and performing at open mics as a creative outlet and attempt to remain a poet and hang onto the dream even if it has to remain in the realm of hobby and not career. This book was re-edited in 2017, largely for the same reasons that I re-edited Abundant Sparks & Personal Archeology: a change in style where I no longer capitalize the first letter of each line, a desire to add more spacing between stanzas, and punctuation being the bane of my existence to where the errors in the previous edition were so numerous that I could no longer ignore them.Complete list of poems included in this volume: Connection Inspired Friendships Baggage Issues To my Strawberry Fields If you want to be a Poet What Shore? Performing Seeing Passover Genetic Reincarnations Words Parked on the Bay Right Here Why I go to Shul Reality of Coping Going Back The Nebula Paths Wounds of Reality Home Alma Mater Penguin Soul Purim Seeing Differently Rededicated Something of Substance A Spiritual Alternate Reality Slowing Time Look Ma, No Hands! Seeing Beyond the Surface Side Road Panic Flights of Fancy Transformed Beach Bum Thoughts A State That Lacks Hate Johnny My Comrades Just Live! The Traveller In Favor of Silence Silent Darkness Catnip A Penguin In Flight Escape From Clouds The Invisible Grin Rainy Day Laughing Alone The Friend Ship Place Of Hope Valley Ho Room Who Knows Of Hidden Dreams Unconditional Surrender to Boundless Love Temporary Existence Ridin’ Along Shrunk Dawning of the Day Tale Of The Shy L’chayim Your Question Radical Acceptance Living Judaism Where My Heart Is Free Awakened to my Dreams! Getting More Than You Bargained For, Or The Downside Of Hugging Freely My Egypt Is Oklahoma Smiling Is A Drug Living In Between Entering the Runway, Reluctantly. Wake Up, Kid! Teshuvah Can You See? Seeing Myself In Your Soul Storytelling Next Year Wisdom in Unorthodox Places Dropping the Fear My Jewish Stomach When You Understand Failure Who I Am No Angel Growing My Soul Oh Christmas Tree The Magic of This Place My Shul The Things You Say To Me Our Street Has a Curse Enumerations of the Soul Peacenik What’s In A Name? Or Fun With Etymology Weekending The Hurt Is this Lost or Found? This Grateful Yid Disability is… The Sign of Humility is Reversed Acting of Love and Fear The Miracles I am the Stranger You Know Awe The Constipated Heart It is Good What I Learned One Stanford Afternoon These Hands Uprising Faith Art is Love Relationships Peace is… To my Soul Tribe The Fourth Evolution My Family of Choice Judaismisms When Tragedy is a Blessing Love is Anarchy Talking Hiking is Never Alone Dissolving Lines Saying Yes to Love Starving Artists Defrosting Frogcicles I don’t say my prayers! Tonight When You’re Grateful Hippie Hill Random Reflections Hanging On Generation Distraction On Imitations of Greatness
Hi! Enjoying what you’re reading? Please consider buying a book, or using the donation button on the sidebar. Poets aren’t always compensated for our performances and efforts, and doing so would help out greatly and ensure this website stays around for years to come.
All of my gigs have been cancelled until further notice. Please stay safe everyone. If you would like to support me at this time, please consider buying one of my books from your favorite online retailer.
About the Author
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Hi! Enjoying what you’re reading? Please consider buying a book, or using the donation button on the sidebar. Poets aren’t always compensated for our performances and efforts, and doing so would help out greatly and ensure this website stays around for years to come.
All of my gigs have been cancelled until further notice. Please stay safe everyone. If you would like to support me at this time, please consider buying one of my books from your favorite online retailer.