Rick's Poetry: Taste Bud

Taste Bud
(c) May 2, 2001

Think I'll shave my tongue today
pull a razor cross the top
I'll conduct a small experiment
put my taste buds into shock

I think a naked taste bud
will perform quite differently
there'll be no bumpy coating
to promote a false reading

Will sweet become too bitter
will ice-cream taste good fried
these things I have to find out
but I really don't know why

Will an apple turnover
taste like a piece of fish
all food might taste like M&Ms
that's my secret wish

Perhaps if things go well
I'll start a brand new fad
tongue shaving for the modern world
it will be like rad

Special types of razors
special kinds of cream
I'll make a million off this stuff
I began at home for free

Soon everyone will have to shave
it will be the rage
so hurry home and shave your tongue
so you don't taste so strange

by Ricky D. McKean

Rick McKean (1962-2011)

Rick McKean graduated a track star from Capital High School in Boise, Idaho. After serving in the U.S. Navy with the construction batallion and operating heavy machinery, and time in abroad in Guam, Rick was honorably discharged and took residence in Oxnard, California, near the naval base.

After working several years in various trades, including light aircraft maintenance, locksmith and auto repair, Rick worked for a paper pulp recycling plant in Oxnard until the late 90s. Expressing his love for the ocean, and despite physical limitations, he took up scuba diving and enjoyed good times with friends exploring the Channel Islands off the Ventura coastline. Rick suffered from depression and alcoholism.

The poetry on this site was written in 2001-2002 while an inmate at California Correctional Facility, Salinas, California. After parole, Rick again took residence in Oxnard, purchased a boat, and lived on the water in Channel Islands Harbor. Continuing his appreciation of nature and the environment, Rick worked in harbor maintenance, patrolling the harbor and collecting/dislodging debris that had washed in from sea.

Rick continued to live on his boat and attend AA meetings and treatment programs, and eventually was issued a driver's license and bought a car. In 2010, he drove his car to his home state of Idaho and visited his family whom he had not seen in many years. Despite numerous physicial limitations, Rick continued to live his life to the fullest extent, including handling nearly all of the maintnenance of his boat/home.

In late 2010, Rick bought a new computer, with the intention to publish these poems online. In January of 2011, Rick suffered an untimely death where he sustained a head injury repairing his boat, lost balance, and fell into the water, and succombed to the cold temperatures.

This blog contains Rick's Poetry.

(c) Ricky Dale McKean 2001, 2001

Rick's Poetry

Taste Bud - May 2, 2001

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