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Feb 2018 · 148
A Picture of Me & My Dad
Eric the Red Feb 2018
It’s from 1981
My dad was 32
I must’ve been 3 or 4
I keep it on the bathroom mirror
Both of us
Smiling
The guy who tried to
Put my mom in the trunk
Drunk
As he was
Who showed up late
On Saturdays
Sometimes never at all
Called my sisters
Mistakes
I should have a picture
Of my mom
Who died for 30 seconds
When she had me
Fearless
Loving
Mother
Who gave all that she had
Or my sisters
Who grew up without a
Father
But had a daddy who put them
Down
Or maybe I should have a
Picture of me & my
Children
In the bathroom mirror
Instead of the man
I don’t ever want to be
But there he is
And there we are
Me at 40
And him at
68
Still vying for his
Attention
Eric the Red Feb 2018
1000 friends
1000 miles away
That you’ll never meet
They’re more important
To you than me
From: Your child
Eric the Red Feb 2018
If you gave me a bottle of cheap
Red wine
Every day
Put me in a one bedroom
Bungalow
Off of Hollywood & Western
In the late 70s
Give me an endless
Harem of women
Pay my bills
$2 six packs of beer

....I’d be able to write some epic **** too...
For bukowski...
Feb 2018 · 946
Another Man’s Woman
Eric the Red Feb 2018
At 10pm
We lie with naked skin
Together
Blue from the moon
She tells me
He yelled at her
Threw stuff at her on
Tuesday
‘I told him that he just threw away
‘All of his ‘I Love Yous...’
She says
As she gets up
Walks to her clothes
‘So he’s at zero?’
I ask
She nods yes
&
Comes over for a kiss
&
It’s passionate
&
I whisper in her ear
What she doesn’t want to hear
Leaves with tears
He gets off at
Midnight
And it’s
1-0
Me
Feb 2018 · 153
Niagara Falls
Eric the Red Feb 2018
And on his deathbed...
He’d said his goodbyes
To his family first
His colleagues second
And finally his college roommates
And cronies
They asked him of any wishes
Anything left unsaid
‘I’ve always wanted to see...
‘Niagara Falls...’
Gasping for air
In the middle of the night
Found them placing
Their friend in a barrel
And putting it into the raging waters
And over the side it went
His death ruled a
Suicide
It’s good to have literal friends
Feb 2018 · 165
HSP
Eric the Red Feb 2018
HSP
There should be a
Hello **** Poetry
Site
For soccer moms
Basement dwellers
Gothers
And those who
Think they can write

‘This is how we feel...’
Is what I’ll hear
But I’ll tread without fear
Take my time
To rhyme
For about 80% of my poetry
Is **** too

Ask my exes
My 2nd year creative writing
Teacher ms Larson
Would agree
‘Your Words go nowhere Eric...’
Except to
Hello **** Poetry
Feb 2018 · 140
Absence of Light
Eric the Red Feb 2018
Just because we are friends with
Darkness
Doesn’t mean it wants to be
Friends
With us...
Feb 2018 · 119
...if...
Eric the Red Feb 2018
If
You’re gonna run from the cops
Do it when you’re young
Young enough for them
To release you to your parents
But do it once
If
You’re gonna fall in love
Do it when you’re old
Old enough for you
To forget all the loves before her
Let her be the last woman you love
If
Feb 2018 · 208
The Selfie Generation
Eric the Red Feb 2018
I predict that this generation
Will have the most number
Of ghosts
After they have died

These ghosts will realize
What wasted lives they led
While alive
But
Still want to be seen
And
Liked...
Feb 2018 · 420
Mambo #5...at 40 Years Old
Eric the Red Feb 2018
Single at 40
Welcome to the lurid world
Monica
Kay
Lecia
‘It’s pronounced Leesha’
She says
FWB
Pictures
Texts
‘Can you come over now?’
Veronica
Ginny
Stacy
38
32
35
41
29
All ages
Who’s number is that?
‘What are you doing right now?’
NSA
‘You want to go to a movie sometime?’ I ask.
She looks at me funny
‘I don’t have time for a movie. Same time tomorrow?’

I have just one question for all:
Where were you when I was 17?!
Feb 2018 · 87
There was a girl at 22
Eric the Red Feb 2018
There was a girl at 22
Used to work with
Never said a word
Just made eyes to each other
Like young people do

Everyday passing by
We’d lock eyes
And give a smirk or grin
I’d get home, my heart aflutter
Have fake conversations with her
‘How are you, how’ve you been?’

Told myself to gather courage
To take charge
Cause if you looked into her eyes
And into her soul
She wants you to ask her
Maybe cuddle, hold hands, Love
Deep into the night...

Wore my best shirt the next day
After a month of waiting
Those wonderful eyes
She must’ve called in sick
And the next and the next

Asked around ‘the one with those
Beautiful eyes, have you seen her?’
‘Found another job, better pay, Better hours ...’

She found less deserving eyes
Than mine
Or whomever came along
Eventually
Lost now to time...
Feb 2018 · 91
^^Life^^
Eric the Red Feb 2018
Birth
Kindergarten
High School
College
First love
Marriage
He cheats
Divorce
Settled for lovers
Move in
Work, Sleep, Get Up
Repeat X20 Years
Stuck
Traffic
Bosses
Work, Sleep, Get Up
Remarry
X5 Years
Old Knees
Worry About Work on Vacation
She Cheats
Divorce
** Hum
X3 Years
Buried Parents
Not Paying Attention
Near Death Experience
‘I love you My Children...’
Quits Job
Plane Ticket
Nepal
Everest
‘WeHaveToTurnBack!!!’
‘IHaveToDoThis! IDontKnowWhyButIJustDo!’
Summits
Freezes to Death at
28,000 Feet
^^^^^^^^^^^^
Feb 2018 · 70
Lightness of Being
Eric the Red Feb 2018
We’d been fully awakened
By the thought of being empty
4am
Plus several minutes
Of being let go
Set adrift
In a ruptured tidal wave
That we’d never prepared for
Blue washed over us
And I held on as long as I could
Riptide
Pulled us apart
Undertow of time
Pebbles and wet sand
Now underneath my feet

Listen
Do you hear the tide release?
All through the night
Watching wooden ships
Crash into the reef
Jan 2018 · 87
The Age We Love In
Eric the Red Jan 2018
She tells me that she loves me
‘Oh so dearly...’
‘I’d most certainly die of a broken
‘Heart if we were to part...’

And yet her phone has a passcode
Constantly buzz es & buzZZes all
Through the night
And the guys comment on
Her posts
‘You’re so ****...’
‘**** gurl...’
‘You fine...as hell.’
And she laughs but covers her phone
When she’s with me...

It’s hard to sleep in peace next to
A *****
It really is...
Jan 2018 · 90
My Blood Moon Poem
Eric the Red Jan 2018
She follows me
Might be 20 or so
Messages me
‘You’re new...
‘Your Words are raw...
‘Inventive...
‘They cut to the bone...
‘Beautiful poetry...
I say thanks
She messages me again
‘Any advice to give?’
‘Yeah, dont write another poem
‘About the ******* Blood Moon...
‘It’s spent...
She doesn’t respond but
Unfollows
Jan 2018 · 73
On the Phone With My Ex
Eric the Red Jan 2018
It’s been two years
Since I was your husband
And yet you still talk
To me
On the phone
With your usual belligerence
How I don’t do this
Don’t do that
All
Revolving around money
I wasn’t a bad husband
I just had you for a wife
Never hit you
Adored the ground you walked
On
Was never drunk around
Our kids
Tucked them in every night
With
‘I love yous...
‘You’re a part of me...
‘I’m a part of you...
Now gone
Because you turned into
A Christian Demon
Donating our money
Without telling me
And now you’re asking
For more
Like we’re still
Married to each other
‘You can’t divorce me again’
I tell her
‘I’ll give you an extra $30
‘If you say ‘I DON’T OWN YOU! ANYMORE!’
She tells me to go **** myself
And hangs up
As I go get a $30 bottle of wine
For the night...
Eric the Red Jan 2018
I’m on to you
You only come out when it’s 58 plus degrees
‘Anything Helps’
Replaced
‘Army Vet’

Saw you get up one day
And go to your Ford F-150
And drive off

Saw you today
Making the gullible feel
Good about themselves
By giving you $1, $2,
Whatever they have
Cause
‘Anything Helps’
‘This Army vet’
Jan 2018 · 111
The Wrong Lover
Eric the Red Jan 2018
There’s nothing worse
Than picking the wrong lover
To come home to
She says ‘I love you’ and you say it
Back
Because the rent is due tomorrow...
Jan 2018 · 164
$100 McDonalds Gift Card
Eric the Red Jan 2018
It was a lovely service
And afterwards all her friends
Got up and said something
Even those **** Theron’s Twins
Who could hardly finish because
They were crying the whole time

Carly had left me two notes
‘One to read upon my death
‘One to read after everyone has spoken
The first was ‘Eric, please don’t let sadness rule over my funeral, be the last to speak, and say something funny please, then open the last note.’

I did
Told the crowd how we snuck into
That one concert in Dallas
With ***** in water bottles
and how we ran the hallways
Of our senior year
I looked out at the crowd and
Everyone stopped crying
And laughed at the thought
I opened the last note
And you left us
A $100 McDonalds Gift Card
‘Go eat burgers and fries!’
You said.
And everyone started crying again
Including those ******
Theron’s twins
‘We should donate it to her favorite charity...give it to the homeless...it’s not right ...’
they all said.
Except I already had a #1 Supersized in my mind.
With a Dr Pepper
‘Whydontwejustdowhatsheaskedustodo?’
AndwhenIgothome Icriedforanhourstraight
Carly would’ve hated the
Selfie Generation
Jan 2018 · 82
July 4th 1995
Eric the Red Jan 2018
When I close my eyes
You’re still dancing
17
Smell of fireworks
In the air
Everyone left for home
We were buzzing but
We made love
In my car
You said I was your first

And to hold onto til morning
And I did
Together for 2 years

When we broke there was no
Drama
2005
Found out you’d passed
Traveled across 5 states
For my dancer in the dark
I know you know this
But I stayed until everyone
Had gone
Your mom came up to me
Told me
‘You were her favorite...
‘She told me she wanted a family with you...’
I was doing okay until she told me
That
And I cried with her
Like everyone else
I could live to 100 and you’ll always
be
27
But in the moonlight
You’ll always be
17
Eric the Red Jan 2018
‘I don’t care what time it is
‘I don’t care if you’re drunk
‘I don’t care if you’re high
‘I don’t care who you’re with
‘I don’t care how long it’s been since I’ve heard from you...I just wanna know if you’re okay...’
She’s the kind of girl who would message me in the middle of the night to tell me to go look at the moon. I miss you my love...
Jan 2018 · 143
Blackened Rivers
Eric the Red Jan 2018
That darkness we talked about
The place you’d said
I’d never be alone
That you’d be by my side
I’m going into now
Without you
I’ll leave a trail
For you to find me
Even though you’ve been gone
For quite awhile now
Hope I see you there
Someday
Jan 2018 · 128
Duke Ellington
Eric the Red Jan 2018
Do you remember the 3:14am train
From across town growing up?
I’d turn on the radio and someone
Had changed it
Those mornings would play some AM station out of North Dakota
Fuzzy
But it would come in
The horn of the train would
Blast
One last time five minutes
Later
And I’d drift off to sleep again
Wake
To find the radio was turned off
Attic
Cleaned it out when I was 12
Plastic Flowers
Had no dust upon them
In that attic
It’s when I saw the ghost
Of her
Put it all together as an
Adult
She
Was the one who changed
The station and turned off
My radio after I fell back asleep
She loved her jazz
Her
Duke Ellington
Jan 2018 · 85
Gates of Heaven
Eric the Red Jan 2018
I can’t wait sometimes
For this life to end
So I can ask
God
Allah
Buddha
Great Spirit
Hey Zeus
Steve McQueen
Jack Kerouac
Coronado Cortez
All those *******
Just why
Why
They gave you to me
To love for only
A small amount of time

The only answer I’ll accept
The only answer I’ll believe
From any of those *******
Would be:
‘Because I just felt like ******* with your heart...’
Love is a ****** hand
Jan 2018 · 465
Wishlist
Eric the Red Jan 2018
In All sincerety
Modesty
Accolades
And so on so forth

I hope you find a singular
Voice
Underneath all that rubble
Of life
That single
Spark in the forest
That brings it all down
The gold brick
In the Great Wall
Titanium pebble
In the Saharas
Extinct prehistoric fish
Swimming freely in the
Aegean
I hope you find
Your voice
Your stature
Your lungs
Your foothold
Amongst the selfish selfies
The boss
The Instafaces
Greedy
Nonchalants
Unenigmatic
Drunkards and Takeaways
You’ll know them
You’ll break Bread with them
You’ll dance with them
When you’re younger
Know when to get up from
The table
And feast upon yourself
For my children
Jan 2018 · 146
1000 bodies between us
Eric the Red Jan 2018
You ask if I’m jealous
That you’ve had lovers
One night stands
Men who never asked
For your name

To which I reply
‘I’ve had you 1000 times...
‘And plan on a million more...
‘You’ve never seen a heart like mine...
‘Nor has the 1000 bodies between us...
Jan 2018 · 81
Honestly Say
Eric the Red Jan 2018
A man at 40
I can honestly say
Still in love with the woman
From when I was 20
Two decades
Twenty years past
10+10
Drive past the house you grew up in
Hoping
Praying
That you’ll come out of it
Our tree is still here
Our initials too
EK
EL
What’s gone
That restaurant we held hands in
That gravel road we made love on
Is paved now
Your old phone number
Just rings and rings
That shirt you bought me
On my 21st
Probably in a landfill
That shoebox full of our Polaroids
1998
Selfies
Gone too...
But you
So far away
Close to my heart
On good days
Are gone too
Eric the Red Jan 2018
It arrived upon a wave
On his back porch
The one that faced the sea

Upon breaking the bottle
He recognized the pen
The ink
40 years before

Were his
The Words
Placed so gently into the sea
For her

‘I read them...’
In an instant, there she was
Just the way that she stood
So beautiful
The day that he wrote the words
That he put into the sea

‘You still love me?’
‘Even more so...more so than time that was took from me...’
Quick to embrace
Closed his eyes
She was gone
As was the sea
Just a back porch
Faded words burned into his memory...

— The End —