He never actually said it to me
He just wrote it in his poetry
I suppose it’s a testament to what a great poet he is
That I took it so personally

Internetly
There's nothing I cannot be
I can pretend I am rich
Or young, or anyone
But me
But that doesn't work
With poetry
It strips me bare
For all to see

Do you know me by now?  
Are you paying attention?
Do you consider any potential
Or is it an empty well
Halfway full
Or somewhere in between
Either side?
Is it a matter of pride
Annoyance
Or somewhere in between
Either side?
Does my pushing pressure
Or motivate?  
Has it always been too late?

I am not a flowery poet
You’ll find no embellishment here
I prefer to say what I mean
In language plain and clear

I fell for the guy you used to be
Before you knew
You had a piece of me

You walked into my presence
And I noticed the shift
Being around you
Has been such a gift
I started wearing perfume
Doing my hair
Noticing things
That could use some repair
You are the reason
I’m taking the stairs

I told my grandkids that I’m famous

On Hello Poetry

They were not impressed

I don’t have the heart to tell them
(Or myself)

The term “famous” was a stretch

Some child of mine
Or one of their children
Has left a cup of dirt
With a sprout 🌱
Now, I am the keeper of the sprout
Which needs a bigger cup
It’s looking unhealthy
Bigger cup acquired
Lots of attention
I dapple water to simulate rain
And even bring it to sit outside in the air and the sun
The sprout is happy
It got left with me

Never underestimate the power of
Stupid people
In large groups

Antarctica is the only continent that doesn’t
Have ants
🐜
Somehow
That is poetic

I worry about you
Incapable as you are
Of soothing your storms
Into a fit in a second
Unable to get over it
For hours
Anger sends you out of control
Escalation is all you know
Everyone present a target
So everyone goes away
I don’t think that it’s likely
You’ll grow out of it one day

My imagination dances
Around you
With you
Too
The rhythm
Of the both of us
Such an uplifting tune
You lead
I’ll follow
Through an imaginary ballroom
Where at this particular moment
You’re the pretend groom

Too good to be true
It seemed to be you
For a minute or two

You pretended you didn’t know me
And that’s when I realized
You can’t get me out of your mind

I’m the least favorite child of a man
Who isn’t a good father
To the favorite

lady stands before an open window
Staring so far away
She can almost feel the southern wind blow
Almost touching her restless day
She turns from her window to me
Sad smile her apology
Sad eyes reaching to the door
Daylight loses to another evening
And still she spares me the word, "Goodbye"
And sits alone beside me fighting her feelings
Struggles to speak, but in the end can only cry
Suddenly it's so hard to find
The sound of the words to speak her troubled mind
So I'm offering these to her as if to be kind
There's a train every day leaving either way
There's a world, you know
There's a way to go
And you'll soon be gone, that's just as well
This is my opening farewell
A child's drawings left there on the table
And a woman's silk lying on the floor
And I would keep them here if I were able
And lock her safe behind this open door
But suddenly it's so clear to me
That I'd asked her to see what she may never see
And now my kind words find their way back to me
There's a train every day leaving either way
There's a world, you know
You got a way's to go
And I'll soon believe, it's just as well
This is my opening farewell

If I told my story
You would think I was
Exaggerating
Even if I was playing it down
Victim
Hero
Victim
Hero
Victim again
Waiting for the hero
But maybe I’m already there
Lots of heroes have no idea
They are heroic

Old dogs
Are much more keen
On learning new tricks
Than the stories would have you believe

Failed relationships
Never saw one that
Wasn’t incredibly painful
To someone
Or someones
Most people hold on too long
In this society that loves disposable
We often refuse to throw away
That which hurts us
Every day

I avoided your social media
For obvious reasons
It was pretty easy
We don't share any friends
A year went by
And then two
I finally ventured a peek at you
I don't know what I once saw
But it is no longer there
You used to be perfect
When I wasn't aware

One day, maybe
You will come across
These poems of me
Many penned in thought of you
Fantasy poetry
To you
From me
That maybe one day you will see

The loss
The LOSS
The ache of empty
Empty arms
Empty heart
Empty space where he used to be
The ache of watching
Everybody
You love
Hurt so badly
Nothing
NOTHING
Will ever be the same
She is facing the LOSS
Even the hardiest humans
Can never tame
I cannot help her
Neither can you
We write impotent poetry
Recall our favorite memories
Dream of those wonderful days
How it used to be
When things were together
And perfect
Before we recognized that perfection
For what it was
We ******* about minor details
Dog **** in the yard
Taking too long in a line
Flat tire
Ran out of wine
Such a privilege
To ***** about little things
Back when life was fine
I have nothing to offer
But my love
And a few rhyming lines

❤️🌟👍😘🤭✌🏼🫵🏻💋🫦🌹💫☄️💥🍌🍭🪁🤸🏼🧘🏼‍♀️🎟️🥇🚀🎡🎁💌💕💯
💧💧💧💧💧💧💧💧💧💧💧💧💧💧
    💧💧💧💧💧💧💧💧💧­💧💧💧💧

I cannot follow you
When you go dark
Maybe I can’t go there at all
But I think it’s just  
I can’t go there with you
Maybe that’s what you are
Dark
And I happened to see a light
Or two
Or three
I think it’s cool you can go dark
It’s my short coming
That I am unable to see

You can see it
When it is going to rain
Trees turn up their leaves
It will rain within the hour
It is fail-safe
(It’s actually usually within the half hour)
I’ve never seen it be wrong
There have been times when I’ve
Seriously doubted
Rain was on the way
But the trees knew better than I
I now use my rain detecting talent
To let my youngest grandkids think I can
Make it rain
Trees can help humans
Be magic

I don’t take it personally
That you are not ready for me
But I wish I knew
What you see between us
In a year or two

You describe yourself
In impossible ways
Your skin is lumenous
Your heart is golden
Your eyes are radient
I'm thinking you should stay away From metal detectors

It comes easy to me
This poetry
It flows
And goes
It’s own way
I’m not writing
I’m presenting what’s already there
The poem wants to be
And I’m it’s convenient vessel
And I do my bestel
Not to make it a messel
And so what if that means
Misspelling a word
Or even creating one, too
You’ll note poetry will come easy to you
Too
If you ignore all the rules

My God is Nature
And She is undeniable
Evidence everywhere
I don’t have to prove Nature exists
Nor do I have to prove her
Daily miracles
Everyone can clearly see
Fail to acknowledge
How Godlike it be
Man’s inability to settle
Compels a search for a fantasy

Maturity is when you finally realize
Boredom is a privilege

You hide here and there
Everywhere
I see you in the boy at the grocery store
Before I looked for you
Shopping was such a bore
But now you are here
In my life all around
There's a part of you in
Every boy in this town

If you listen carefully
Silence will speak
Sometimes too stubborn to hear
Or too weak
Volumes in what is not said
The wind
The crickets
Scuffing feet and creaky beds
The conscience replaying
Pets and peeves
The want to stays and want to leaves
Adjusting to your willingness
To accept the more
And the less
If you can hear it
You will know
Silence speaks straight to the soul

I think your brain might be dead
Just sitting there
Rotting in your head
I cannot think of any other reason
You’d possibly have
For voting red

He's the one I dream about
But won't admit it to myself
Or anyone else
I call out another man's name
When asked who is the best
But my secret
Wish
Is for the one
I never name
I keep him in my heart
And he has the brightest flame

The basketball in my backyard is on an
Adventure
Taken by the wind
On a journey to and fro
One end to the other
And back again through the green
And I can’t help thinking
That’s the happiest basketball
I ever seen

It came down to me lowering my expectations
Or
Him changing his lifestyle
We parted as friends
Painlessly
Over quickly
Like all doomed relationships should be

You tell me “it’s not that simple,”
You’re right
Nothing ever is
Simple it would be without human frailty
It is that simple
We are too weak
Or at least
You are too weak
About that otherwise simple thing
Don’t feel insufficient
If you were always strong enough
You’d be a freak

My attention is demanding
And finicky, too
There was a time
I used to wait for you
But only for a little while
Waiting is not something
I’m willing to do
Long term
Even for a beautiful guy like you

You're the coolest dork I've ever met
You figured it all out
Accidentally
And lucked into a life of
Luxury
I wish it would make you
Happy
But something inside
You cries
At the weight of the ties
And the necessary lies
The burden of successful tries

Boy!  
I done made the front page
More than once
Even all the way at the top
All this brilliance
And you remain
Uninterested
As frustrating as it is
I like it that you’re hard to impress
Whether you’re paying extra attention
Or not
I can only guess

I only know you
Invisibly
Your face is something
I've yet to see
I know your heart
What's in your soul
I must admit
It's beautiful
It makes me wonder
What I'll see
If you turn out to be
Really ugly

You sustain me
Long after your death
Your perfect love still warms me
I feel it
Every day
Some days
It carries me

We get it
You’re the elderly flower child
Living on your hippie dreams
Love is your prescription
For coming apart at the seams
Peace and groovy
And get a little ******
You think it’s that easy
Must be nice for you
To be a trust fund baby

I am a beautiful mess

The chain of events
Sometimes unpredictable
But often not
You knew what your actions were leading to
It’s no surprise to anyone what you got
That doesn’t mean we don’t wish it went down differently
But when you keep your eyes closed
Don’t expect us to feel sorry that you cannot see

Every night
He sits in his car for a full
Twenty minutes
Before going into his house

As I am left here
To make up my own explanation
I’m gonna say it’s because of fear
He avoided intensity
And all those big emotions that came from me
He wanted to
But just couldn’t pull it through
It was nothing I did
Or didn’t do
It’s not a rejection
It is a lesson
On humility
And still loving someone
When they have no feelings for me
He never pretended
Or fronted or lied
He kept everything inside
And my interpretation of what it could maybe be
Falls on me
And only me
And we will see
What I can be
Now that I am free
But not really
I’m still the fool who’s writing about him
In my poetry

It’s such a tragedy
You do not know me
But I’m just one of us two
It may be a blessing for you

Dear stranger *****
Sitting in some lonely room
Typing away on your keyboard
Spreading dirt and gloom
You think you're hurting feelings
And causing so much strife
But I think you're just demonstrating
You've got a lonely, miserable life
The rest of us will gladly forget you
As soon as the thread is done
But you're still stuck with yourself
A single,  desperate one

I suppose if I talked about suicide
Maybe someone would listen
But it’s not so dramatic
As that
At least all at once
Ongoing drama
Unexpressed
And unending
Is no less of an end
Just played out
Not sure which is sadder