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Eric the Red Mar 2018
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
350 · Apr 2021
Doesn’t Stop Spinning
Eric the Red Apr 2021
And somewhere out there...
A dead man still gets 14 emails
A day
Because the world doesn’t stop
Spinning
Churning
Twisting
Breaking off
But never to come back
To life...
348 · Sep 2022
Tidal Wave
Eric the Red Sep 2022
Beloved,
I’d still know the
Taste of your
Kisses
In any
Sea…
346 · Apr 2022
From Colorado to Oklahoma
Eric the Red Apr 2022
It never rains here
Just snow and cold
It’s been 2 years since i was in a
Thunderstorm
No lightning off in the distance
No thunderheads billowing
No thunder for that matter
Rising up
In the southwest
Humidity you can feel on your skin
And in your soul
No fireflies
Turning their lights on and off in the bushes
No backyard barbecues
Family laughter
Miss you all
Red dirt backroads
Good ol Boys and 20 minute commutes

It never rains here
Just snow and cold
Hour commutes
Coffins on wheels
And no time for anything
The sun sets behind mountains
People get into road rage here
They die on bicycles
70 percent of take home goes to rent
Just so I can say I live in Colorado…
I never want to understand this cursed place
339 · Feb 2018
To My Moon, From Your Sun
Eric the Red Feb 2018
He saw her face for the briefest
Of Fall afternoons
Winking at her as he left
She saw him coming at dawns
But would leave before he’d rise
Shy
Could feel him burning all over
Her
‘I’ll make the flowers bloom just for her...’ said Sun
‘I’ll make the oceans rage just
for him...’ said Moon
And he waited the most
In Summer
And she was the brightest
In Winter
Everyday
Everynight
you see them
Sun
Moon
They long to be united
Long to be with each other
But every morning
Every sunset
They catch a glimpse
To say
‘Good morning...
&
‘Good night ...
‘My love....

(O)
........
...............
.....................
....­........................
......................................
.­.............................................
339 · Feb 2021
Joshua Tree
Eric the Red Feb 2021
I had it on random
Driving home
Thru the beginnings of
A new day
On the edge of a desert
Somewhere
Near the Joshua Tree
Eastern California
The morning sun hitting the
Cactus
And into my eyes
When one of your songs came on
And I cried the entire
Length of it because I
Loved you so much
And we hadn’t even met yet...
335 · Aug 2021
Wake Up Call
Eric the Red Aug 2021
Sometimes I think we all need to wake up
Every once in a while
And smell what we shovelin…
332 · Aug 2018
Empty Sandbags
Eric the Red Aug 2018
I recognized your storm
Even before your clouds
Began to form...

Now left with
Empty Sandbags
Cleaning up your flood
And tidal wave
This aftermath
Of you...
Eric the Red Sep 2018
‘Oh my dear tired eyes...
‘Tell me we can make it...
‘Through one more day...
Eric the Red Mar 2018
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
317 · Feb 2018
I See You Everywhere
Eric the Red Feb 2018
Saw you get up & fix your hair...
Saw you in line getting your coffee...sprinkling cinnamon on top...stirring it so gently
Saw you twiddling your pen, putting your hair back...looked deeply into your eyes...
Saw you walking in the park...your cute little puppy next to you...lovable
Saw you getting that wine we love...
Saw you dancing in the parking lot...carefree...beautiful...you dance so beautiful...
Saw you swimming in the ocean...and you call out to me...’let’s drown here together...’
Saw your old hands in my old hands...
I see you everywhere...
And then I wake up...
316 · Jul 2022
Body and Soul
Eric the Red Jul 2022
My body is beginning to fail me
I’m not old yet
Not even a half century
But I feel it
All those times I defied
Nature
Ran more than I should have
Went without sleep
Stayed up for days
Slept for 3-4 hours and went back at it
My eyes are becoming blurry
Hard to focus
My knees
Are rusty oil cans
Crunching together
My body is beginning to fail me
I’m running out of time

I’m so sorry for everything
I hope you read this
So you know
The only thing young is my soul
Which you kept
In the palm of your hand
But for a moment…
Eric the Red Apr 2018
I wonder if her fake accounts will give me a true account of who she really is...
312 · Dec 2021
Traverse
Eric the Red Dec 2021
Only in the darkness
Does one truly feel alive
Eyes open wide
The light burning
for it to please please
Go away
.
Some live the day in the fake
clawing in all intensified
Back to take me cavernous
Darkness
Staring at walls
All hours of the night
waiting for something
anything
To come through
.
'Take me with you...'
'I'm going on ahead,' they say
in all the cold, watching them
get smaller and smaller
Until finally out of view
Leaving you in the dark
where you wanted to be in the first place...
311 · Apr 2018
HeavenHell
Eric the Red Apr 2018
I promise
To raise all kinds of hell
With you
So our heads
Hit the gates
Of heaven
309 · Mar 2019
Once More
Eric the Red Mar 2019
Fall for me once more...
Paint upon my canvas...
Give my heart
Beautiful words
To remember you by...

Then break it once again...
I felt alive when you left
Full of sadness
&
Purpose

Your beautiful words
Eric the Red Aug 2023
The fact that I still dream of you nightly
See you in crowds
Wake with the scent of your skin
For 2-3 seconds
In my nose
I still have your voicemails I listen to from time to time
I don’t know why I don’t just move on

Tells me I messed up something that had so much
Beauty
Potential
Forever
I don’t love anymore
I can’t.
All of it left with you
Eric the Red Mar 2018
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
306 · Feb 2018
Hello & Goodbye
Eric the Red Feb 2018
There’ll be a moment
Maybe mid 30s
Maybe mid 40s
Maybe your whole life
Where you stop
Gaining things
Money
Knowledge
Friendships
Loves
And you start
Losing them
Money in your accounts
Knowledge lost on deadend jobs
Friendships that you outgrew
&
Loves

The burial of parents
The ‘We’ll always know each other
Become just another thing
You lose
The
Hello
&
Goodbye
303 · Mar 2018
The Depth of Solitude
Eric the Red Mar 2018
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?
296 · Apr 2018
Domesticated
Eric the Red Apr 2018
I knew it was real when I saw
Her stuff on my dresser
Her woman stuff
Next to my bed
&
When I heard the toilet flush
My first thoughts were
‘What the hell did I just get myself into?’
291 · Feb 2024
The Route
Eric the Red Feb 2024
One day it’ll have been years

And I hope I am forgiven then…
291 · Mar 2018
Only So Much
Eric the Red Mar 2018
There’s only so much we can give
So much of ourselves
Throughout our lives
So much has been used against us
And yet we
At times still respond

Our favorite music
Our favorite quotes
Our most vulnerable period of

Our Lives
Given as gifts but used later as
Weapons

We can only give so much
And every time we feel
‘This is different
‘This will work
&
We give
As much as we can
289 · Oct 2018
The Lighthouse
Eric the Red Oct 2018
And there will be times
When you needed
The Lighthouse
No matter how dim the light...

No one to meet you
Washed ashore
Among the splinters
Shipwrecked souls
Of others

Picked up your pieces
Past the cobwebs
The spiral staircase
Leading up
Replacing the broken light
At the top
Cleaning of floors
Glass

Time took over
Love came and went
Didn’t hurt
Years passed
Ships did too
By your blinding guiding light

Then you realized
You were the Lighthouse
Needed in your life
287 · Sep 2021
I Love When You Write…
Eric the Red Sep 2021
I love when you write
That perfect sensibility
That comes about
Every nuance covered
Your changing of season
Your moon rising so bright
So full, so womanly
For everyone you want to see it
Lucky me, I say, for it makes me
Journey back to beautiful
Downward
Past time
Past demons still chained where I left them
Cobwebs
Rusty steps
To where your fire still burns
7 floors down
Everlasting flames
That never needs tending to
Where you
Are you
And you never need explaining
Why you have the need to be who you are

I love when you write

I warm myself by your love filled fire
From time to time
Never having to ask permission
Watching and hearing your embers crackle and then go dancing high up and into the night…how beautiful a sight

How beautiful a sight
287 · Mar 2018
The Earth Keeps Spinning
Eric the Red Mar 2018
I’m beginning to fall more & more
In love
With this world
Only
Because you’re in it...
286 · Sep 2021
Doomed
Eric the Red Sep 2021
Terrible business to be
In a doomed relationship
Especially when you’re
The only one who knows
It’s doomed…
286 · Feb 2018
The Body
Eric the Red Feb 2018
If all you give to love
Is a body

Don’t be surprised
If your Other
Goes in search
Of the missing parts
That you can’t give
285 · Mar 2018
Lover’s Nebula
Eric the Red Mar 2018
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
285 · Feb 2018
Quell the Masses
Eric the Red Feb 2018
Stone cutters cut slabs
For the Masons to form
Architects to derelicts
Home builders
Bricklayers
All play their parts
Building foundations

Singers & songwriters
Performing arts
Dancers
In moonlight

Preachers & Priests
Convents
With sisters
Pray over
The revolutions
Started by poets
284 · Jun 2024
Cold Hard
Eric the Red Jun 2024
She got herself a cat
And moved on with her life…
Eric the Red Apr 2018
So many times...
In many different ways...
The tree gave up its fruit...
To be picked by us...
Shiny...brilliant
Ripe...
Ready to be eaten...
Even if forbidden...
It grew tired of waiting...
Those trees bear no fruit now...
And how you used to beg the moon...
Praying to it...
To deliver to you...
It did...
Gave you the answer right in front of you
Sent a comet...
With a beautiful tail...
And once again you let it out of sight...
Knowing it would come back...
Just not knowing when...

Walk barefoot in the orchard...
In the midday light...
Rotting. Waiting. So much fruit.
For you.
And you did nothing

All this life has taught you
So many lessons
And it’s done giving them to you...
Take what’s on the ground
&
Make a pie...
275 · Feb 2018
If I told you about her
Eric the Red Feb 2018
I’d be gushing words
Stepping over myself
Showing you pictures of her
‘She’s so beautiful but her words
‘Are even more...’
I’d tell of how she sings me to sleep
Comes to my dreams
Holds me there
And you’d say
‘I’ve got to go...’
And I’d say
‘Wait...wait...cause what she really has done to me...is
‘Stayed...when others are too busy
‘She finds herself in my words
‘Finds herself in everything that I do ...
‘And is patient enough to accept that...
‘That is why I love her so...
But you don’t hear it
Nobody does
Because nobody understands us
Nobody ever will
Will they my love?
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
272 · Feb 2018
Beginnings
Eric the Red Feb 2018
I swear there’s nothing
And I mean nothing better
Than the Beginnings
Of something wonderful

A steak
First sip of wine that cost more than $10
Someone’s words
Thunderstorm
Sunrise
Full Moons
Making eyes with a
Beautiful woman

Relationships
Are by far the best
Beginnings
Clothing becomes optional
&
All you want to do is
Be with them
&
Do anything they want
270 · Oct 2020
1000
Eric the Red Oct 2020
For all those
1
0
0
0
Days
1
0
0
0
Sunsets
1
0
0
0
Sunrises
1
0
0
0
Nights
Where my heart
Still said
Goodnight
To yours...
270 · Apr 2018
100 Years
Eric the Red Apr 2018
It’s simple really
We’re given a birth
And an expiration date
Of around
100 Years

She’s out there
You’ll know her when you
Lose her
269 · Nov 2021
The Rearview
Eric the Red Nov 2021
Catch yourself looking back
It’s okay
There’s good memories there too
You have to sift
Rearrange
Move about
This and that
Resisting the urge
To reach out to say
You’re sorry
For how it ended
For…
How you moved on
Resisting the urge
To reach out and say
There really was love
‘Between you and me…’
.
Then you put all the stuff back
In its place
Rearrange
Move this and that
Where you found it
Memories
The years
Piled up
Pull down the door
Lock it
And come back to it when you want to
Because you don’t live there
Anymore…
And yet you place your hand
Once more upon the door
And hope nobody saw you…
269 · Mar 2018
Destinies
Eric the Red Mar 2018
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
269 · Mar 2018
$10 Blowing in the Wind
Eric the Red Mar 2018
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...
267 · Apr 2018
Hemlock
Eric the Red Apr 2018
And if I wake tomorrow
Only to realize you were just
A dream

I’d want a potion
To make me sleep
Forever

...with you...
266 · Apr 2021
...sad little pieces
Eric the Red Apr 2021
I truly hope there’s something left of me
When you come back round my way again
I’m sure you’ll recognize me
In the sad little pieces that remain...

You. Always. Did.
265 · Feb 2018
Anup Prakash
Eric the Red Feb 2018
This guy is stealing your poems and putting them on PoemHunter.com as his own
Eric the Red Apr 2018
Metal strewn about...
Fires of jet fuel reek the air...
Intermittent
A shoe
Seat 12A
Tray table
Heat from fuel pit
Raging
Zombies walking about
Dazed
Survivors
Smeared with black
Seats 17C & 24B
Still strapped in
Just torsos
&
A tie
Fuselage
Upside down
Body part unidentifiable
Papers
Came down in cornfield
Scorched earth
Yellow inflatables strewn
Crumpled
Caved in
Inferno
Sunlight peeking thru...
5,000 pieces
How could anybody survive this?
Eric the Red Feb 2018
We’d fought all afternoon via text
After a decent good morning
‘Such and such saw you on Instaface’
I tell her she’s full of **** and she sends me a screenshot with
‘Don’t bother coming home.’

Not even gonna bother
Just take my time
Take pictures of my junk
&
Send them to that married woman across town and ask her if I can
Drop by
‘I got my kids...maybe another time.’
The Liquor Store
Come home
& Hear the tv on, see her
Out of the corner of my eye
She’s hidden the wine opener
But I got the $7.50 twist off Cabernet
And the Silent Treatment goes on
Till 10pm or so
Like I care to makeup
&
She starts in on me
Like She’s so innocent
With the ***** calls she told me
About
The guys she used against me
The one she was supposed to delete but kept around on another
Social media
‘I don’t have anything for him...’
Just pictures of your *******
It’s how you got me
It’s how you get them all
It’s how I do it too

We were built for pretty
For Selfies
For posting up
Our food
Our drinks
Our lives
That seem better than others
But not for love
Not for our souls
Just for pretty
262 · Dec 2021
In All Our Brokenness
Eric the Red Dec 2021
We suffer alone in silence
Because we think that’s how
We’re supposed to heal…

Then destroy the first person
Who comes along
That wants to love us
In all our brokenness
261 · Apr 2018
A Good Fight
Eric the Red Apr 2018
After the war was over
The only thing I discovered
About myself
Was that I loved
A Good Fight
Words
Fists
Love
Life
A Good Fight
Indeed
Eric the Red Mar 2018
‘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?
257 · May 2021
The Missing
Eric the Red May 2021
I threw away all of your stuff...
Your good luck charms
The things you made for me
That souvenir that reminded you
Of me you told me to hold dear...
All of it..
Gone
.
And yet I still wake up
Smelling your smoky hair mixed with
That perfume you only
Wore for me
.
The feel of your touch
Close at hand
Like a ghost that only haunts
At 430am
When I’d knock on your door
.
You...I could never
Throw away...
257 · Oct 2021
1-25 Near Trinidad Colorado
Eric the Red Oct 2021
I’ve broken 4 shoelaces in my life
I’m getting on closer to 50 now
Than I’m closer to say 23…
.
I probably have 2 broken shoelaces left
In me…
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