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Eric the Red Feb 2018
Loved
How she slept
How she laughs
How she looks at herself
Her words that she writes
How she dances by herself
Sometimes
With music
Sometimes
With tears
So I’ll stand guard
Unrelieved watch
Over her
Until she joins me
Hear her whisper
Each and everynight
Before turning off the light
‘I miss you my love...I know you are there. I feel you.’
‘I miss you too...
I’m the Ghost
And she haunts me...
Eric the Red Mar 2018
Once
In my 20s
I acquired things
Material Possessions
A
Wife
Kids
Mild success
Church goer
Do gooder
I cared about parent teacher conferences and great
School districts

In my thirties
It vanquished
Revealed its disguise
&
Lost it all
But that’s ok

Now in my 40s
I know all the
Happy Hour
Bars
&
Liquor Stores
Nearby
&
10 percent off Tuesdays
For wine
En vino veritas
Finally got the truth
I deserved
Had to lose everything
To get it
Thank you
Thirties
Eric the Red Feb 2018
For some dumb reason
I ask her what she does for fun
Wasn’t hitting on her but her eyes
Widened and she smiled
‘I like to cook..’
Which is puzzling to me
Cause I’m there everyday
Almost
And it made me wonder if
She had a life
It’s why I asked
For the following days
She asked me the same
Flirty in a way
‘What do you like to do for fun?’
She asked
‘I like wine...’
‘You drink alone?’
‘When I want to be...’
And now it’s weird
And she feels bad for the hours it
Took for her to get ready
And I’m gonna have to find
Another place to get wine
All because I just
Wondered why the young lady
At the wine shop
Was always there...
Eric the Red Mar 2018
My last day of work there I bought her a $7 cup of coffee, told her she was one of the most exquisite women I’ve ever laid eyes upon...then walked back to the front lines of the war I was having with myself...
Eric the Red Sep 8
Memory of a morning
That time after we had climbed a mountain together
Sunday
You were leaving soon
And we listened to soft old jazz in my bed
As we slept
Memory of a morning
Now gets bluer as the years go by
The room darker as if it were dawn
Neon
And I held you and kissed your little red tattoo behind your ear while you slept
Because I knew you’d be gone soon
Hours
And I’d keep your side of the bed clear
And hold your pillow for days until your scent left
Missing you like I miss you now
Memory of a morning
Was going to take them all and walk them into the sea someday
Never thought I’d ever sing in your ear again…
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...
Eric the Red Feb 2018
...there’s a quieter version
...of you
...that you rarely show
...to others
...but show to
...me
...each & every day
...your silhouette on Sunday
...mornings looking out the window
...you’ve made us coffee
....and your love notes
....clash with the person
....you show to everyone else
...I thank you for giving
...that side
....I shall guard it like treasure
...always on the watch
...never to be relieved
How could I ever use such beautiful words
Against
You
My fortress in the forest
Of evergreen emerald
Eric the Red Mar 2018
It’s when you no longer care or get excited about the future that you begin to look old...
Eric the Red Feb 2018
They’re like the wife you didn’t see coming, and now you have to divorce them too
‘Mr Red when can we expect payment?’
‘If I give blood today, plasma tomorrow...I can send $30 the day after that but won’t eat till Friday.’

Bloodsuckers
Parasites
I would’ve stayed with my ex if I knew it was gonna run $10k!

$27 for a phone call with client
$37 to reply to an email from opposing counsel
$135.67 for 30 minutes of preparing documents
$78.63 for filing documents with courts

Yep...I should’ve been a **** lawyer
And folks wonder why nobody ever wants to marry again...
It was cheaper to keep secrets

‘Yes, I’ll send the $30 by Thursday...’
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
Eric the Red Feb 2018
If you can maybe for a moment
Maybe this morning
Think of
The Lonely Soul

Getting up for work
Fighting the Tired
Caring for the Ungrateful
Putting up with the Bullshitter
Loving the Abuser

The Lonely Soul

The Barely Enough Time for Myselfers
The Secrets Piling Uppers
The Fake Accounters of Attention

The Lonely Soul

The Long Way Home Drivers to Hear One More Song
The Terrible Hole of a Relationshippers
The Insecure Hollowed Out
The ‘Im Oks’

The Lonely Soul

Those drinking from the emptiness of wine bottles
Those who can’t write out their thoughts and cares through poetry
Those who know they’re being cheated on
Those with the fake smiles fake lives fake problems fake drama

The Lonely Soul

Maybe we can get a moment of peace today
Eric the Red Aug 2020
Make the most of your bones
Before they turn to dust...
Make the most of your days
For you truly only get 20-30
Beautiful ones
The days you remember...

Make the most of your bones
Before they turn to dust...
Make the most of your nights
For everything after midnight
Is either evil or an adventure...

Make the most of your bones
Before they turn to dust...
Put your feet in faraway oceans
Revel in the laughter
Of your children
For you only get them
For only so long...

Make the most of your bones
Before they turn to dust...
Kiss your mother’s forehead
Hold her hand
Tell her you love her
Forgive your father
Cry for great music that
Sings to you

Make the most of your bones
Before they turn to dust...
Love someone unconditionally
Forgive yourself for being
Who you are
Live with it
Let the worst of your thoughts
Turn to something else...

Make the most of your bones
Before they turn to dust...
Watch the morning come up
The full moon turn to blood
Clouds race across the sky
Lightning streak above your head

Make the most of your bones
Before they turn to dust...

MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR BONES
BEFORE THEY TURN TO DUST...
Eric the Red Feb 2018
If you know the mechanism
And you’ve survived all
These years
I
Applaud you

Men have it in small doses
Of rage
Barroom fights
Or when someone harms
One of their children
Understandable
Mechanism

I’ve seen & felt
The mechanism
3 or 4
Times in my existence

Where her eyes turn
Black as night
Like a shark
Ready to devour

Stabbed my food
‘I DONTWANNAPLAYRIGHTNOW!!!!!!!’

Tried running me over with the car
Threw a baseball at me from 3 feet away

Knives
Guns
If they were near
I probably wouldn’t be here

When you have that
Mechanism
You can shut off
Consequence
And the space in front
Of you
Becomes the most
Violent space
On earth
Eric the Red Mar 2018
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
..............
..........
.....
...
..
.
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...
Eric the Red Apr 2018
You could:
Serenade her
Lavish her with expensive wine
Write her exquisite sonnets
Carve your initials in that oak tree
Feed her from white linen tables
Drink from goblets
Whisper your poems into her ear
Bring her coffee with her creamer
Pay her bills
Write her a song
Paint her a masterpiece in her honor
Let her fall asleep in your arms
Declare your undivided attention
Vow your life for hers
Give up all connections
To the outside world
Devout to her an undying
Never ending
Forever more
World
Of
Love
&
She’ll still respond to that text
In the middle of the night
From the guy she said was just
A friend
Her backup fella

‘What’s up?’
‘Nothing...whatsup with you?’
‘You lookin fine...’
‘LOL...thx.’
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?
Eric the Red Aug 2021
Don’t ever try to cage
A free soul…

They’ll eventually escape…

And you’ll never hear from them
Ever again…
Eric the Red Mar 2018
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
Eric the Red Feb 2018
I told her we could move in
Together
On one condition

‘Don’t ever tell me to cut
‘Down on my drinking
‘And I won’t tell you
‘To stop being a *****

She looked at me puzzled
Enraged

‘But I’m not a *****
She said

‘Good...’
Said I
‘I’m not a drunk either...’
Eric the Red Feb 2018
It’ll be so wicked
Someday
To lick the juice
Of our fruited sin
Off of your chin
&
Body

I’ll plant
The Forbidden Tree
In our garden
So we can pull
The fruit
Off
Any ******* time
We please
Eric the Red Sep 2021
How disconcerting is it
To go to a therapist
Knowing something is wrong
Spilling it all out
Confession after confession
Guilt, agony, sadness

Only to hear him say
‘You’re the sanest person I know…’
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…
Eric the Red Mar 2018
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
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...
Eric the Red Feb 9
One day it’ll have been years

And I hope I am forgiven then…
Eric the Red Apr 2018
Coffee in the morning...
Tea at midday...
Wine at night...

Your words on my desk...
Dinner in the oven...
Violins background...

Midnight strolls...
Hand in mine...
Windows open...

Candles burning on windowsill...
Redcoat next to the bed...
Blankets everywhere...

Coffee in the morning...
Breakfast in bed...
Your leg draped over mine...
Wine at 10am...

I’m really not that hard to figure out
Eric the Red Nov 2020
Even when all that is left
Is our sad requisites to each
Other
Even as the earth rotates
Our sad ‘what ifs’ will
Begin to collect dust
Fade with the years
Sand castle
Unfortified
Will crumble into the seas
But before it does
Before time has its inevitable way
Let me take the time to say
I love you...
Eric the Red Feb 2018
If you opened me up
To reveal my beating
You’d find the lacerations
Of years
Of lovers
Crushes
Heartbreaks
Goodbye to my grandmother
Friends I’ve lost
The ones
Who said they’d stay
The Scarred Heart
‘There’s a bandaid on a part...
‘Of your heart....
You say
‘That’
I say
‘Is you healing it...’
Eric the Red Feb 2018
And if you keep their scent away
From our bed and I do too
Then I’ll just love you and you alone
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...
Eric the Red Apr 2022
If I don’t move a muscle and stare
I can see all of my dreams
Nightmares
Smell of your skin
Leaving me
Eyes can move
Legs get up and it’s gone
Joy
War
Famine
Upheaval
The dark filled sky
Starless
All of it
Walking towards it
Dreams
Forgetfulness
Lost
All of it
Forever…
Eric the Red Apr 2018
One day your angel & my angel
Met in the clouds

The day that we met

The day one of us had the courage
To say

hello

The 1st page of our Love Story

The angels knew...

it has begun

One must’ve said...
Eric the Red Feb 2018
The truth about poets
Is
They’re not all alike
Some are derelicts
Scalawags
Lovers
Sisters
Some say they’re writers
Instead of Poet
For they know what that puts
Into the minds of others
Romantic
Lethargic
Gypsy
Some will never write novels
Poems are their Ulysses
Their ‘Love in the Time Of Cholera
Some are sad
Withdrawn
Choose to live there
While some poets
Use their words
To claw their way out
Some have fallen out of love
&
Want someone
ANYONE
to listen
While some have fallen in
the deepest ocean
&
Want to tell the world
What this man
This woman
Means to them

Most write their verses
Alone
Some at midnight
Some at sunrise
Some with coffee
Most with bottles

Most will never see the reaction
Of many
Will never hear
‘I like that...’

And most don’t want to be famous
Or sometimes heard
We
Just want to be
Ourselves
Eric the Red Feb 2018
She got up in the middle
Of the night
Looked over and saw him
Content
His phone buzzed
She gazed at it
‘I miss how you made my body
‘Feel the other night
‘Can we again soon?’

For a moment she froze
Broken
Hurt
But chose not to say
Anything
To him
Because she had the same
Secret
Across town
That she didn’t want to end
Eric the Red Apr 2018
Tell me this pain will go away
it won’t it might lessen

Tell me she still thinks about me
she doesn’t she would’ve called

Tell me I’m a good person
you have moments but you hurt people

Tell me I’m good looking
your words are good but you’ve seen better days

Tell me some good news...anything
why there’s nothing but sadness

Tell me it’s stopped raining
looks like it’s going to rain all day

Tell me I’m normal
youre weird and that’s ok

Tell me again why we’re friends
because I tell you the truth

Tell me you love me
i love you

Tell me again
no once is enough

Thank you
Eric the Red Apr 2022
I’ve dug myself so deep a hole
In this life
That I have no choice
But to write my way
Out of it…

One **** line of poetry
After another…
Eric the Red Feb 2018
The Wise Ones
Might’ve lived when they were
Younger
Did as their parents told them to
Had that one love
That artist
Of words
And requisite
Of art
That gave them the world
That dreamer
But then they wised up
Got their bills paid
Had their babies
Their heartache
Got older
Put their hopes
&
Dreamers away
Settled
For this life

And dying in their beds
With that last bill paid
They’ll smile and think
Of their dreamer
Their artist
Of words
&
Wished
They had taken a
Chance

But they were wise
Not to do so ...
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...
Eric the Red Sep 2022
Beloved,
I’d still know the
Taste of your
Kisses
In any
Sea…
Eric the Red Feb 2018
Your love was like freezing rain upon my branches...they’ll break soon under the weight of it...never to grow back...take me as I am...put me in your ground...blind me...for I just need to hear your heartbeat...let it sing me to sleep...invade my dreams there
Eric the Red Feb 2018
Wake
Coffee
Make sure she’s asleep
Download apps
Toilet
Swipe left
Swipe right
Pay a bill
Go to work
Email
Make eyes with that new girl
Check apps
Match
‘Nice to meet you...’
Send msg to that one 500 miles away
Lunch
‘I work long hours so I’m just looking for a physical thing right now’
Text Mrs.
‘I love you too...I’ll get wine on way home.’
Check msgs
‘I’d like that...’
Send selfie to new stranger
Keep that long distance one dangling
‘Missing you...’
Txt missus
‘On my way...’
‘Hurry...dinner almost ready.’
‘HAHA...LOVE YOU LOVE’
kiss
Check app
Quick swipe right
Match
‘Nice to meet you...’
Wine
Delete apps
Delete pics
Key turns to front door
She runs over wraps arms around
kiss
‘I’ve missed you today...’
‘You have no idea how much I’ve missed you today.’
Thinks to himself if he put that one number on block or
Do Not Disturb
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)
........
...............
.....................
....­........................
......................................
.­.............................................
Eric the Red Nov 2020
There’s just too many people
In the world..
15 minutes to get to work
An hour to get home
Bumper to bumper
Neverending lines
Outside grocery stores
Fighting for the last of the paper
Too many people
Too many cars
Not enough time to fall in love
12-14 hour days
With the same people
Same problems
Piling up
There’s just too many people in the world
And yet when there is a love story
Their first inclination is to bring
More people in the world
More addicts
More drunks
More argumentative people
More folks to put into coffins on wheels
Trying to get home
So they can
Go to bed
Alone...
Eric the Red May 2020
Last night I dreamed of you...
Walking your way down an aisle...
Bouquet of flowers in your hand...
Smiling at me, eyes locked in at me...
All the songs we ever shared...
Played as you stepped
One foot
Closer to be my wife...
.
And then I woke up...
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’
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 Nov 2020
Was there yesterday & the
Day before
Fresh, dark
Maroon
Scarlet
Will not dry
Pooled in certain
Spots
Caked on thistles
Here & there
Sunlight hits it
Around 730
Glistens
Moonlight illuminates
Glows
Beckons
Promises
Everyday finding
Curiosity is a burning midnight wick
Must know
Have to
Come and find out
Lurking
Beating
Flowing
Dripping
Just beyond those clump of trees...
..
    .
      .
         ..
             ...
                .
                    .
Eric the Red Jan 2020
So I’ll wait here
Where you left me
Fending off the wolves
Waiting for your return

Your train

Hoping
Praying

You’ll get here
Before Death does...
Eric the Red Dec 2021
Forever is the loneliest
Train Station

Waiting for someone
Who said they’d be there too…
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