Hi guys it’s been a few and have some things to catch you up with.  My last week has been nightmarish.  My spinal cord stimulator has my entire body shaking constantly and where the lead lines connect to my spine has been growing cartilage around it , making it pretty painful to move things or reach high places………..the combination of pain in my feet and back had my home nurse on the brink of sending me to the emergency room………but since there are so few people who really have a lot experience with spinal cord stimulators we decided to handle it at home and then my office visit on Monday we got new pain killers and muscle relaxers so i’ll be ready for my my upcoming  meeting with doctors at Northwestern……….anyway, all this doctor crap has slowed my writing down considerably.  But I was thinking earlier how truly blessed I really am.  I live on Lake Shore Drive in one of the most beautiful cities in this country.  ME!  I am disabled with social security income but somehow God found a way to have me right on the beach in what is one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in all of Chicago.  How does that happen?  A VERY kind and unusually understanding Land Lord ~ I mean from the lobby downstairs in my building you’re looking out of the window at what appears to be the ocean.  I thank God every single day for allowing me to deal with this disease in such a beautiful building…..the Hospital is only 5 blocks away………I am truly blessed, and even after we have this surgery to remove the stimulator from my spine if I can’t walk then i’ll roll myself to the beach each day, except winter of course.  This upcoming surgery is dangerous…..much more dangerous than putting it in so I am a little worried but…………I have my writing………no one can take that away from me………..for those of you who don’t know me ~ I have written many songs for different bands and folk artists but mostly for my own projects……….I’m a poet…….there are 754 of my poems posted at    cosmofunnel.com which is a creativity site for painters, short story writers. and poets…..I call it my work station because I can be found there most everyday.  Now I’ve been thinking about going to “THE GREEN MILL” for a poetry slam ~ where poets go and recite their own stuff…………I was there a few weeks ago and it was a blast(FIRST TIME I’D BEEN OUT IN THREE YEARS)……great Jazz music and some top notch poets………you may know of the Green Mill from the movies, films like “High Fidelity” with John Cusack……..anyway, I wrote this piece about Chicago……..thought I’d try it out here first……….check it out!!!! ~ let me know…..

” CHICAGO ONE NIGHT ”

Shall I say, at delivery man’s dusk
The hush of the city descending
Is a part of the Love affair
That interested Chicagoan’s
Recognize daily
Along the “Magnificent Mile”
Where you can touch the ease
Of the downtown day’s ending
And making it’s way toward Halsted Street
Where the peanut shells dance to the blues
On the floor at “Kingston Mines”
And poets painting pictures with words
Over at “The Green Mill”, smile ~ a knowing smile
While Johnnie and Charlie control the beat
Sittin’ on the corner with no legs from the war
Feelin’ the jazz fill their paper cups
With friendly dollars and Chicago type advice
Don’t drink the money away baby
Cuz it gets cold in The Windy City
And as the hush of the city becomes a veil
Where darkness prevails and morphs into
The blistering night life
That sent Michael Jordan
To the moon….

Tony Taylor   (CHICAGO)
Have a groovy night you all…………