Eric the Red: Poems

Mar 2018 · 174

Forevers

Eric the Red Mar 2018

Forevers

People’s concept of forever these days last about 3 weeks

Sometimes even a month

I’d believe someone who
Flat out says
‘Let’s just try to make it past 3 weeks...’
Instead of
‘I love you forever...’

Mar 2018 · 159

Tethys

Eric the Red Mar 2018

Tethys

It’s said that the further you go
Out into space
Time slows down
Everyone back home
Will age
But you’ll stay the same

One of us will become a phantom
While you’re gone
So be safe out there
In all that black
Currently orbiting Tethys
One of Saturn’s moons

I don’t care if you ever come back
I hope you never come back

Goodbye Tethys Moon

Mar 2018 · 198

*Valhalla*

Eric the Red Mar 2018

*Valhalla*

What’s so intense is that 100 years
From now
Everyone you see today
Will be dead

Hell
You might meet someone today
That’ll drive left of center
A week from now
While playing on their phone
And die in a head-on crash
Taking a number of souls
With them
...it happens

For others
It’ll take years
Hatred
Love
Reconciliation
Comebacks
Loneliness
Dying a thousand deaths
Beating pavement
Wishing
Waiting
Hoping

And in that last 5 minutes
You’ll still stare at the doorway
Wanting a miracle
That’ll never come

It’s just death knocking
At your door
And your tired
Worn out body
Will finally answer it

Mar 2018 · 151

My Moon is Gone

Eric the Red Mar 2018

My Moon is Gone

It’s hard to care about the night
When your moon is gone
I miss you
My moon
...sun

Mar 2018 · 233

Destinies

Eric the Red Mar 2018

Destinies

You should know that when you look up and into the heavens
Past the blue skies
That eventually
It leads to darkness
Surrounded by atmosphere
As black
As night
As it should be

Heavens
Made of darkness
Not of clouds
Shrouded in mystery

But dark

Mar 2018 · 166

Emptiness Behind That Door

Eric the Red Mar 2018

Emptiness Behind That Door

It’s all too much of the same
I can fix you
I can love you like no other

All ends the same
The door knocks
Quiet rapture
Knock knock knock
Upon my heart

‘Go away! There’s nothing but
‘Sadness, Emptiness, & a Fortess
‘Made of Solitude
‘On the other side of that door

But they come
Thinking that the man who
Writes such words
Must be the
Romance they envisioned
The promise that surely is
Given

It never is

knock knock knock

‘Know me forever...
‘All there is
‘Is today...
‘For tomorrow you’ll be gone

Mar 2018 · 117

What’s Needed is a Good Cold Rain

Eric the Red Mar 2018

What’s Needed is a Good Cold Rain

What’s needed is a good cold rain
Wash away the winter
Wash away the day
Wash away the inevitable
Alleviate the pain

What’s needed is a good cold rain
Submit to the stream
Submit do not go against the grain
Submit all night
Submit all day

What’s needed is a good cold rain
Mix with the leaves of yesterday
Mix today with springtime vein
Mix muddy with sunny
Sometime today

What’s needed is a good cold rain
Say goodbye to the winter
Say hello to the splinters
Say my name just once more
And I’ll
Wash myself away
Submit to going away
Mix tears in moonlight
Say you’ll miss me
‘See you again...someday’

Mar 2018 · 151

...i know i saw something

Eric the Red Mar 2018

...i know i saw something

...you don’t see ghosts
...anymore
...because over a lifetime
...you’ve swallowed
...them whole
...they reside
...inside
...of you

...your soul
...your dreams
...your heart
...your guilty conscience
...built a home
...for all the things
...that haunt you

...step inside
...so many rooms
...hallways & corridors
...built by promises
...windowsills windowpanes
...constructed during the ‘Love me forever’ stage in life

...so many ghosts
...so many faces
...so many lives
...some are malevolent
...some protrude loving
...all don’t want to be here

Haunted fortress

...

Mar 2018 · 112

Digression

Eric the Red Mar 2018

Digression

Sometimes
You have to send
Good men
Out into the night
To do evil things
&
Hope they comeback

Mar 2018 · 145

The Midnight Mermaid

Eric the Red Mar 2018

The Midnight Mermaid

Return to me at night
As I was drifting
Foot of my bed
Blankets
Sheets
Turn to water

Your hands
Ripple
Currents towards me
Scales
Along my legs
Across my chest
Can’t move
Can’t resist
Gentle kiss
Holding onto me
By your lips
‘I can’t swim’
I say
‘I’ll swim for both of us...’
You say
As you pull me under

‘It’s time for both of us to be wet’
Whisper
Succumb
Drown
Inside
Of
You
..............
..........
.....
...
..
.

Mar 2018 · 158

The Anticipation

Eric the Red Mar 2018

The Anticipation

My heart bleeds for you
Part anguish...
Part anticipation...
All with the recklessness
Of an 18 year old
Driving a Chevy
Down a dirt road
At midnight
With the lights off...

Bed with me oh heart
Torture me
Lacerate
Invigorate
Rejuvenate
Penetrate
Leave scars upon

And this
Taj Mahal
I am building
This armada I’m sending
This fleet of elephants
Over the Alps
I’m releasing for
You

Is but the 1st chapter
Of our love story

Mar 2018 · 282

The Beauty Of Elapsed Time: Empty Bottle Near the Azores Islands

Eric the Red Mar 2018

The Beauty Of Elapsed Time: Empty Bottle Near the Azores Islands

I’m sorry my mind and soul
Changed the locks on my heart

You left me and my world
When I needed you most

And now you ask
‘Is everything ok?’

That answer is in a bottle
Somewhere out there
On the seas
All the requisites
All the ‘I Love Yous’
You said to me

They’re in that bottle
About to wash up
Near the Azores

Bring me the bottle
And we can talk

I need you
* I wish you were here
I miss you
Can you hear me
Where did you go, my love

Mar 2018 · 254

Me, Bukowski, and a 12% alcohol can of Four Loko

Eric the Red Mar 2018

Me, Bukowski, and a 12% alcohol can of Four Loko

This dream was so real...
The Man
The Legend
The Legendary Drunk Poet Hisself
Asks to see my poetry
Tells me to bring wine

Dont Forget the wine *******

So I drive over in my El Camino
&
Bellbottoms
Only I’ve got a can of Fruit Punch
12%
Alcohol
Instead of a bottle of wine
As Hank requested

you have to make the reader jump off the cliff with you in your first line, otherwise there’s no point

sip

good God! What is this?!

I’m thinking he’s gonna be furious
But he takes a deep pull
Knocks out half a can
Looks at it

Fruit Punch eh?

I show him my stuff. He likes it. Some of it.

No more poetry for the day man. Say, let’s go to the beach. Huntington or Hermosa. Grab another can or two of this amazing concoction

I tell him they have it in Lemonade
Peach Black Cherry...he lets out a smile

burp

It smells like Fruit Punch

Well Come On *******!

He talk in rhyme the rest of the day...n just like his words have told me about souls

The free one is rare...but you know it when you’re around one because you feel great and beautiful yourself when you’re near one

Mar 2018 · 176

Vanilla

Eric the Red Mar 2018

Vanilla

What’s funny is that when he
Held her
Truly forgot everything
Put down the embossed
Confinement of
Work
Life
Deadlines

Kissed her ear

She tasted like his first
Ice cream cone
Vanilla

The melted cream in
Summer’s heat
Sticky over his fingers

They swam in night time
Waters
Wet from themselves
Watched the moon
Come out
Of the Sea of Japan

Fought bravely in wars
They knew nothing about
Tended to each other’s wounds
Toasted with $7 wines
Goaded each other to
Jump off of
Cliffs
Balconies
The Edge of the World
&
Loved like no other

Because love never dies
Truly
It never does

Mar 2018 · 211

$10 Blowing in the Wind

Eric the Red Mar 2018

$10 Blowing in the Wind

Saw that green piece of paper blowing in the wind and humans just know...
‘That’s $10...’
And now I can get a Chopped BBQ sandwich and a bottle of good beer on the way home even though I’m short $9 on my power bill due 2 days ago.
That smell is divine as I open my door and swig my beer & rip the CUT OFF notice from off the ****
Let’s eat good everynight...

Mar 2018 · 190

The Only Time I’ll Ever Demand Something From You

Eric the Red Mar 2018

The Only Time I’ll Ever Demand Something From You

Only when I’ve become destitute by my journey’s end
Desert upon my bare feet
Skin cracking
Ran out of water
Begun to drink the blood

Only when treacherous rainstorms
Have pelted my crawl through the
Night
Leaving my feathers soaked

Only when the wilderness has
Sunk it’s maze onto my soul
No way out but in madness
Curtail
Dirt under my nails
Moss across my body

Only when I’ve knelt upon
Mother Earth
In spiteful prayer
Pitiful to the last

And you are no longer a dream
But reality
But am tired from the ages
Will I ever demand
Your wind
Your touch
Your fluorescent
Luminescent
Radiant
Glorious
Words

That you can now whisper
To me
As you lie next to
I demand it

Mar 2018 · 243

The Earth Keeps Spinning

Eric the Red Mar 2018

The Earth Keeps Spinning

I’m beginning to fall more & more
In love
With this world
Only
Because you’re in it...

Mar 2018 · 274

The First Warm Day of Kindergarten

Eric the Red Mar 2018

The First Warm Day of Kindergarten

You make every day feel like
The First Warm Day of
Kindergarten

Swinging on the swings
With your pigtails
&
Me so shy with my big bangs
&
Corduroy pants
&
I steal a quarter in my mamas
Purse
So I can buy you a chocolate milk
&
You hold my hand
So close to me
&
Some of my old lovers might
Read this
&
Think
‘Oh he’s talking about me...’
No
She knows who she is
She’s
The one with the chocolate milk
In her hand
&
My love in her
Heart

Mar 2018 · 249

Lover’s Nebula

Eric the Red Mar 2018

Lover’s Nebula

Even I can’t deny it
That millions
Perhaps billions of
Years ago

Your moon tried to save
My sun
From going into a
Black hole

And you held onto me
As brave
&
Courageous
As you are now

‘I won’t let you go...’
But it was too much
Your fingertips
To hold onto

&
Millions
Perhaps billions of years ago
We said we’d meet again
Someday
Somehow
&
Our moons
&
Our suns
Exploded into a trillion
Different particles
Into space

Making their way into the waters
Into the trees
Submerged
&
Buried
For another million years

My heart recognized you
The moment I saw you
My sun knew
You were the moon
That collided
Millions
Perhaps
Billions
Of years ago
In front of that black hole
That dispersed us
To now

It’s time to make our own
Nebula

Where stars are born

Mar 2018 · 168

Two Ships Adrift at Sea

Eric the Red Mar 2018

Two Ships Adrift at Sea

See you so far ahead
The curvature of the earth
You leave in your wake
We
Are on the same map
Same course now
Using the same wind
Under the same stars
To
Navigate to

One day I’ll board
Your vessel
Tie off a line to the
Steerage
&
Let it take us anywhere
We want
In this life or the next
Our coordinates
Will line up

My god I hope it’s this
Life

Mar 2018 · 272

The Depth of Solitude

Eric the Red Mar 2018

The Depth of Solitude

She has a past that your mind will not wrap itself around fully
Her past will tell that little man
Inside your head lies
You know him
He’s the jealous one
The sleep on the couch man
The never returns texts
Or phone calls little voice
Little man

Ask yourself this little man
Inside my head
How much have you lost
Because of your rage
Your jealousy
Stupid accusations
&
Yet she stays
Her with her passion
Her glorious past
That she’s gotten over

Why haven’t you?

Mar 2018 · 170

Queen’s Court

Eric the Red Mar 2018

Queen’s Court

Years from now you’re either going to be considered one
Of the many jesters & fools
In her life or her
King

It’s up to you to decide

And if it’s already been
Years
I salute you
Your Highness

Mar 2018 · 107

Vice & Versa

Eric the Red Mar 2018

Vice & Versa

Those without vices will bore you to death with their virtues

Stay the hell away from these people...

Mar 2018 · 141

Ephermal

Eric the Red Mar 2018

Ephermal

If you think you’re having a
Bad day
Bad life

There are soldiers coming home
From a deployment
That consider it a success
Because they didn’t ****
Any children
This time

Remember that...

Mar 2018 · 178

Alcoholic Christma

Eric the Red Mar 2018

Alcoholic Christma

I see something she’d like
And it’s the day before
St Patrick’s Day

And I tell her
‘We should give gifts for
St. Paddy’s Day, start a tradition.’

She says sure
Then I elaborate
‘We talk all day in Irish accents
‘Give ourselves Irish names
‘And at 6pm we drink green beer
‘Take shots of Jameson
‘And give each other our gifts

She seems excited
‘Ok Shaughnessy how much
‘Money is in the account?

I check
$19.67 to make it to
Wednesday
&
I check
The cabinet
There’s old margarita mix
And potatoes

‘I guess we can talk in Irish accents tomorrow while I make Potato soup with our margaritas Maria...’

‘Who’s Maria?’
She asks

Our Alcoholic Christmas

Mar 2018 · 119

The Reoccurring

Eric the Red Mar 2018

The Reoccurring

I run into the
Terminal
Hoping it’s not too late
You’re nowhere
To be found

Searching
Looking into crowds
Your flight has left
It’s too late
All the things
‘I wanted to tell you...’

‘I’m right here...’

And there you are
Behind me
And I hold onto you
Like I’m pulling you
From a sinking ship
And kiss you
And kiss you
Like I’m saying goodbye
&
All around us
People are putting their phones
Down to watch us
&
Clap afterwards

It’s a beautiful dream
Some nights I can’t wait
To go to sleep
Because I know I’m
Going to be with you

Mar 2018 · 143

In the Corner at a Party Just Telling My Navy Sea Stories

Eric the Red Mar 2018

In the Corner at a Party Just Telling My Navy Sea Stories

She tells me I owe her a sea story
From my navy days...
Told her the barracuda one
Maybe I’ll tell her the Face Down
On the Deck one
Or the Smoked Hash in the Park
In Italy one
Had a guitar, 3 chords, and hash
Singing Bessa Mi Mucho to Italian
Teenagers...they loved it
I was the silly American
Or maybe the one where we got the scoop on the only ****** in that seaside town in Spain, then showed up and half the ship was there...
Or the Dunhill cigarettes of France
To go with the Stella Artois or Heineken that seemed to be prevalent everywhere.
Cause that’s what you do at 23
Drink beer, smoke cigarettes, and run a mile and a half in 12 minutes.
I could talk all day of the women of Israel...
Or all the times that I’d go to the stern of the ship
And it’d be just me and the seas
The Adriatic
The Aegean
The Mediterranean
Atlantic
Sometimes the hammerhead
The sea turtle
The midnight mermaids
Black Seas
Blue and Green
But you’ll hear all of them soon enough
Yeah I can be fun at parties cause I got a shitload of stories...
Put some coffee on...pour the wine...
You got any hash?

Mar 2018 · 169

Social Media

Eric the Red Mar 2018

Social Media

Went back after a 6 month exile
Told everyone that I had
$8.76 to make it to next payday
0 Likes
0 comments
Guess i was a little too real

‘YOU don’t have a SnapChat?’
I was asked
‘It’s how us young folk stay connected’
‘You mean disconnected ?’
I say

Tattooed *** women
With pouty lips
2.2 million Instagram
Followers

Followers of what?

This is the social currency
This is society
&
When you leave
Nobody checks up on you
Nobody cares
They
Certainly don’t give a ****
That I have $8.76
To my name

‘Bring it in for a Selfie fam...’

And I remember pitching in for a 12 pack as a 17 year old
Meeting up with friends
On some country road
For hours on end
&
The only phones were on
Our wall back home
And when it rang
We had no idea who it was

Mar 2018 · 152

Dreams

Eric the Red Mar 2018

Dreams

Desert. Pile. Fire.You.Walk. Slowly.
Behind. Me.
‘What’re you doing?’
‘Burning’
‘Burning what?’
‘My Words’
You try to stop the flames
It’s all too much
The orange & red mix with the night sky

‘WHY?! WHY?! Would you do such a thing?!’

You’re screaming, crying.

‘All your beautiful words...’

‘Its the pact I made with the gods...
‘Deliver me this pain...
‘This anguish away from you...
‘And you can have my words...
‘Forever...
‘And here you are in front of me...

The fire is big...it’s bright...it’s out of control and long into the night

My Words...
Burn apart...musings...turning into ash...
Fireworks of poems
Now into the ether
Making their way into the heavens
Parts of nebulas
Black holes
Interstellar space

I’d give it all up
All of it...
For you...

Mar 2018 · 113

Springtime Electrical Storm Approaches

Eric the Red Mar 2018

Springtime Electrical Storm Approaches

Let this season begin...
Let the oak wool winter Cabernet
Give way To Chardonnay
Ditch that sweater
Pull out that skirt
Let me be a gentleman
Mix drinks upon a patio
Look towards the southwest
A Springtime Electrical Storm Approaches...

Mar 2018 · 429

Devotion

Eric the Red Mar 2018

Devotion

I’d make you wail every morning
If I could
Put your tears in my coffee
To have you inside me all day

Like your scent on your pillow
Inside of your coat
Towel

Your Black Ocean swallows me whole every single day

I begged, pleaded, with the above
To relieve me this
From you
Your ******* dark lipstick
And now I enjoy my imprisonment of you
This chamber of you
I find myself in

Or shall I say lost?

Leave me here forever
It’s all I have
It’s all I want

Lost in You
Lost in Us

Mar 2018 · 171

Coyotes Going to the Convenience Store at 1am

Eric the Red Mar 2018

Coyotes Going to the Convenience Store at 1am

Heard them corralling the rabbit
Chasing without mercy
Communicating with woops
&
Hollers
Their screeches
Their bloodlust
I kept quiet
Tippy toes
Opened the shade
Circling poor Thumper
Must’ve been 3 or 4 of them
Open field
Rabbit goes this way
Darts that way
Nowhere to go
Nature
Even coyotes have to go to
The store every once in a while

Mar 2018 · 461

Lifeless Body Covered in Mud

Eric the Red Mar 2018

Lifeless Body Covered in Mud

Wars have a way of turning men
Into poets who thought they would survive to write about it...

Mar 2018 · 188

Passing Through

Eric the Red Mar 2018

Passing Through

Casually reminded
Your golden kissed skin
Lovely houses
With greenery

That we truly own nothing
In this world
Nor do I want to

Just passing through
Just passing through
From this life
To the next

Mar 2018 · 128

What’s Considered a Date?

Eric the Red Mar 2018

What’s Considered a Date?

In today’s instant Hookup Society
Where everybody gets laid
&
Played
The *** can be free
&
Anonymous

She was the only one
The only one
I’d throw my phone away
For
&
Communicate with smoke signals
If I had to
&
Call her from a pay phone
Just to hear her lovely
Voice

Mar 2018 · 174

Middle Age

Eric the Red Mar 2018

Middle Age

Some acknowledge it better than most...
The halfway point of your life
For some...
Achy bones
Tiredness
Memories
The fact they can remember 1978
Some will see their aging faces
Wrinkles in their hands
Some will hold onto their youth
Like a match light...holding onto it
Desperately...in their own futility

For some it’ll happen on a beautiful dawn
Tell themselves
‘It’s ok. I’ve made it this far’
Continue their journey

And some will watch their Youthful Ship
Pass the beaten wooden pirate
Frigate
Sometime during the night

Mar 2018 · 354

If You Break a Poet’s Heart

Eric the Red Mar 2018

If You Break a Poet’s Heart

There’s an empty space where
Your heart had it’s nest
Fly away it has gone
My arms cold
Your side to never be made
Again

There’s an empty space where
Your words once had a home
Now just a blank piece of paper
Ruins of cities we built
White canvas
I’ll never return to

There’s an empty space where
There once was a girl and a boy

There’s an empty space where
There once was a raging current
With all the fishes of the sea
Where I float upon it now
Waiting
For the piranha
To come and feast upon my
Pain

Where there once was sunshine
Now there is a curtain of thunderstorms

Where there once was happiness
Now there is infinite sadness

Where there once was flowing
Beautiful words that matched
You
Now there is nothing
&
You
Are
No longer
my world

My Words are my own
Now
You don’t have those rights
To see what I’m writing
Anymore

Mar 2018 · 187

The Music I Listen to When I Write...

Eric the Red Mar 2018

The Music I Listen to When I Write...

‘Do you listen to music when you write?’

Duke Ellington ‘In a Sentimental Mood’ is a fave. Sets tone. Brings mood. Love some John Coltrane intermittent weaving throughout. That sax is like rain on Mars.

Miles Davis ‘Flamenco Sketches’
But what about Blue in Green? I like it but Flamenco sets the table. Give me Cafe Bustelo, French Vanilla, and this one and I’ll write your will out for you where everyone cries...

Moby ‘God Moving Over the Face of Water’ Deep, penetrative thoughts conquer over this. The piano makes me fly, brings me back down and sets me like a feather.

My Morning Jacket ‘Only Memories Remain’ Wrote a whole book to this. The Wurlitzer and then the guitar solo at the end is stupefying to me.
And how do I feel when I listen to these pieces?
What I see is what I write down:
My Father’s Hands
My Mother’s *******
Footprints in the snow
Bruises upon my soul
Forests on fire
Sunsets on Mars
Her naked woman curves
Highways into the night
Lava flows
***** feet
My daughter being born
Sunrise coming up from an ocean
Moss growing over everything
Brownstones in Greenwich Village
Empty wine bottles

The music helps
Amplifies
Energizes

What music do you listen to when you write?

Mar 2018 · 207

My Woman Poem

Eric the Red Mar 2018

My Woman Poem

Was raised by women
Mother
Grandmother
3 Sisters
Like being raised
By wolves
Protective
Safe

I’ve come to find
Going & Growing
Through life
That just being near a
Woman
Recharges the soul
&
Regives life

Respect

Mar 2018 · 181

10, 20, 50 Years From Now

Eric the Red Mar 2018

10, 20, 50 Years From Now

It wouldn’t surprise me one bit...
If she walked back into my life...
But...
Not today
Nor tomorrow

But...10,20, 50 Years From Now

She’d want to pick up where
We left off...
Tell our stories of where we’ve been...what we’ve been up to
And she’d know our time apart
Was torture upon my soul...
‘But none of that matters now...’
She’d say

And today
If she saw me
Walking across Antarctica
She’d just keep going
Maybe she’d look back
But I doubt it...

But...10,20, 50 years from now
Who knows...

Mar 2018 · 20.1k

Men

Eric the Red Mar 2018

Men

A man who:
Takes pictures of himself
Everyday
Won’t have the time for you

A man who:
Leaves love notes on
Napkins
Underneath your coffee cup
Will love you when
You have nothing

A man who:
Declares he’s a great father
For all to see
Really
Truly
Isn’t

A man who:
Tells his children
Over the phone
Next to their bed
Kisses them good night
Where no one can see or hear
Truly is
A decent man

A man who:
Doesn’t make promises
But shows over
Time
His worth
His character
Is someone to know

A man who:
Makes mistakes
But tries his damndest
To make amends
May not see
Eye to eye
With all
But
Respects the process
Of understanding
Each other

A man who:
Writes poetry anonymously
Posts it for the world to
See
Is an enigma

Mar 2018 · 161

...somewhere...

Eric the Red Mar 2018

...somewhere...

Somewhere
Underneath the twisted metal
Strewn Wreckage
Smell of fuel
Patches of fire

Somewhere

This rotting blue green corpse

Hidden by decaying leaves
Clumps Of earth
Never to be found

Somewhere
Underneath the rubble of
Concrete
Protruding iron wires
Pummeled
****** & Bruised

Somewhere
Floating on the deepest
Part of the ocean
The bloated
Face down
Pelicans pecking

Somewhere
Somehow
Someway

You found me

Mar 2018 · 180

40somethings

Eric the Red Mar 2018

40somethings

It was a wonderful night
Wine
Popcorn
Lovely walk
Air filled with electricity
And at midnight
Still wide awake
In our nakedness
She parted my hair
Told me she loved me
Beyond all measures
And asked me lovingly
‘Will you ever ask me?
‘To marry you?
I
Parted her hair and smiled
And she looked so happy
With her lovely curves
Her taste on my lips
And I brought her close
After a split second of
Thoughts
The 4 marriages between us
The nasty costly divorces
Pain driven
The Reap & the Sow
And whispered
‘No...’

Mar 2018 · 190

Black Rose Through Concrete

Eric the Red Mar 2018

Black Rose Through Concrete

Every man
Every woman
All
Have that one that stepped
Into our lives
No matter how much wrong
They tattooed upon
Our hearts
Their black rose
Always pierces our
Concrete
Fights it’s way through
We’ve cursed their
Existence
Their birth
But we remember
The day we met them
The hour
The minute
The second
How the sun looked
&
How they made us feel
&
How we hate the fact
That we’d take them
Back in an instant
Our
Black
Rose
Piercing
Through
Our
Concrete

(o)
|
|
|
_+_

Mar 2018 · 163

Long Distance Relationship

Eric the Red Mar 2018

Long Distance Relationship

I’ve never met you...
But I miss you terribly...

Mar 2018 · 464

Pyre

Eric the Red Mar 2018

Pyre

Took the
PAST
&
PRESENT
doused it
All of it
Stood back
Two steps
Three
Dropped match
Turned around
Walked away

Closed eyes
Could feel the burn against
My back
Then a hand
Your hand
Walked me through
The Darkness
Of
The
FUTURE

Mar 2018 · 180

Grieve

Eric the Red Mar 2018

Grieve

We grieve in silence because
We think that’s how we’re
Supposed to heal
&
Then destroy the first person
To come along who really wants
To help us

By the time we realize this
Their pillow is gone
Their scent is with the wind
Their turning key to bring
Them home

Is with somebody else

#love #loss #hurt #pain #life

Mar 2018 · 124

Summer of 1995

Eric the Red Mar 2018

Summer of 1995

Back in those days
All we had to do was
Scrape together $46
For a Friday night room
Two combo meals
A joint
&
A 12 pack of some ****** beer
$46
Got me a hand to hold
A naked body to lay next to
And try to decipher what
She’d say in her sleep
Sometimes she would laugh
Sometimes she would cry
Sometimes she slept all
Through the night
$46
To watch her **** silhouette
Against the window
To have a cigarette
$46
To get to say
‘I love you’
And
Hear it back
And sometimes we’d laugh
And sometimes we’d cry
And sometimes we’d fall asleep
In each other’s arms
All through the night
All for
$46

I felt like a millionaire
Back then
Love was simple

The summer of
1995

Mar 2018 · 147

Places of Beauty

Eric the Red Mar 2018

Places of Beauty

Her non symmetrical lines
(Curves in the moonlight)
Park Benches in spring
Clouds low against the ground
630 sunrises knowing you’re out there..:somewhere...sleeping (dreaming of me I hope)
Cold Atlantic current over my feet
Licking seaspray salt off my lips
Sound of children laughing
A mossy clover covered trail ....
Coffee in the cupboard
Combining all the perceived empty bottles of wine to get one last glass
Negative balance in my account
‘I love you dad’ texts
Roads I’ve never been on
Midnight ‘Hold mes’
Smell of burning cedar
& the smile on the face of the ghost that haunts me...

Mar 2018 · 184

Bitter Meal

Eric the Red Mar 2018

Bitter Meal

We hadn’t spoken in a few days
Made a meal
&
Out of the clear blue I said
‘I don’t want to do this
‘Anymore
‘I feel like I’m wasting my life

She dropped her fork
On her plate
&
Put her head in her hands
Silent
Tears dropped and she looked
Towards the window

‘Why do you say such things?

Tell her I’m sorry
I’m the biggest ****
Tell her it’s just that we haven’t
Spoken in a few days

I console
Kiss her cheek
Kiss her hand
Her tears stop
‘Can we go for a walk
‘That place with a bridge?
Of course we can
&
We get a coffee
Talk movies
As we walk
Hand in Hand
&
She still doesn’t realize I still
Meant every ****
Word I said
That morning