They say life is a highway
It is not
Life is a rotary
With only one exit
Lucky I live in Massachusetts
We got rotaries everywhere
Here
I’m hoping that makes me better prepared

Church
How many souls are here only to be seen
Dressed up in their best
Social events
Where everybody agrees
Who among the crowd
Would dress humbly
In a plain frock
Like Jesus would be?
Those who came to see
And those who came to be seen

You blame him for it all
Claim he ruined you
But you were already
Bent and broken
Before that guy came through
And since you been around
He got banged up
Too

Mother Nature
Eternal muse
Doesn’t aim to please
She just does how she do
Appreciated by all
From humans to fleas

If Jesus were alive today
He would not be concerned
With the average, happy, gay
He wouldn’t over stress
On how short is her dress
Jesus would hardly care
Over who has *** with who
Or what someone wears
Jesus would be out
Feeding the poor
Helping those who have little
Get some more
Jesus would welcome
All races and creeds
And talk about equality
He’d respect women
And be quite appalled
At those who in his name
Denigrate all
He’d pick up anyone who falls
No matter who that someone is
Because when Jesus was alive
That’s what he did

It must be a roller coaster
Being my muse
One day, you’re perfect
The next
You **** moldy rocks
I have many muses
Hundreds even
And I could write one
*******, ******* poem
And who knows how many people
Would think, “maybe I am an *******.”
It’s the reverse muse
The dark matter in between
The effect on the author
And
The effect on the muse
Who is really just an innocent party
Judged throughout time
Via a burn in poetry
Nobody knows it’s you, maybe
But it’s all in the energy
Kept alive through my poetry
And I am shallow and petty
But it feels like sinless revenge to me

I been watching those children all day
They’re pretty chill
Normal kid play
Then mum comes in and the kids just
FLIP OUT
And they’re screaming and whining
And flailing about
I don’t twist the knife and let her know
That behind her back, those kids are pretty mellow
Instead, I try to look exhausted
And act like I’ve been
Tortured by this all day din
Those kids only make when mum walks in

I wish I was the type of romantic
Who felt confident in making
Forever promises
I suppose the right one
Doesn’t exist for me
I’m luckier than most
In lots of other ways
A one and only
Might be too much to hope for
Though so many people seem to find it
Or think they’ve found it
In reality
Very few actually do
But even still
They tried
It’s probably me who is the fool

It’s not empty if you can help
Maybe it’s just with positive vibes
And wishes
Helpless
With intention and direction
Is not hopeless

I cannot possibly be
The only one writing you poetry
You’re so **** inspiring
Beautiful too
Not much in this world
More poetic than you

Needy
For some speedy
Attention
It could be
You don’t even notice me
But it is more likely you see
And don’t know what the Hell
To do with me
So doors stay unopened
And you peek through curtains
Out of morbid curiosity
Whatever it be
That makes you not acknowledge me
It ain’t from lack of trying
And it’s sort of unkind
To pretend to be blind
And leave me to dance here
Endlessly
If you have no intention
You could give that a mention
And put me out of my misery
Of splashing my foolish dreams
Out in these waters so publicly
But then again
You have no obligation
To set this foolish girl free
Maybe it’ll always be this way
But until I hear it from you
Here I stay
And this I do

Punctuation is not meant to detract.  
Needlessly
!!!!!!!!!!!!  
!!!!  
!!
There was no point
For those exclamation point
(No point in plural(s) either)
Or this question mark
?
Was that a question.
Was that?  
This could go on for a while
Which is, the whole point of
Punctuation
Even pointless exclamation points

We weren’t the type to share flowery
Feelings
He was a **** knucklehead
And he had his own opinions of me
I know I drove that man pretty crazy
Our language of love was spoken
High decibelly
Rattling the walls
Our whole family
But that doesn’t mean
The love wasn’t there
We just liked to express it
Very loudly

I might be almost ready to move away
If there is no choice
Which there seems to be not
Choice voiced
Accepted not my choice
I suppose you hope for me
To find someone who is healthy
And you will probably celebrate to see
Me writing someone else poetry
That seems to me
The kind of man you be

Battered body
Stomach scars
Dry skin patches
Rogue hairs
Funky toenail
Callus feet
Yet
If I snuggle up to you
It’s a real treat.

Beautiful men are a breed truly rare
Different than handsome, or merely fair
Beautiful men
Get me tingling
A dimpling in my smiles
🌸Blush🌸
Beautiful men
It’s not how they look
It’s something within

It's the talent
Of making people bored
With an overload of uninspired
Drivel
The talent is in believing
It's not bored and
Uninspired
Kind of how I am ignoring how
Bored and uninspired this
Drivel is
It's going no where
Really
But it's started
So it must go somewhere
Right?
Another useless poem
Heading off
Taillights in the night

If one repeatedly attempts Plan A
Ineffectively
Does it
At some point
Ever become Plan B?  
Or even Plan Z?
How many times
Can an attempt bomb
Before the planner accepts
She was wrong all along?
Time invested
Ego too
All sorts of excuses
She went through
Bargaining, flirting, and pleading too
She tried everything she could possibly do
Still, that girl just came up short
Even after she put in so much work
It was destined to fail from the start
Anyway
Maybe she will accept that one day

It could have been
Spectacular
If you were just a little bit more
Everything
I see the potential
** hum, yet steady
I’ve never once seen
A sincere smile on your face
I need sincere smiles
You think I should have a better reason
I think I don’t need a reason
You simply just don’t take me there
And I have no desire to help you find it
When you pretend to know
Exactly where it is
Maybe you’re there
And I cannot recognize it
Maybe the fool is me
In any event
You and I are not meant to be

I wonder about the smell of your skin
If I could, I would breathe it in
Whether ***** and sweaty
Or fresh and clean
I bet the scent would be supreme
I wonder about the curve of your hand
And how it would feel in mine
In my imagination
The fit would be sublime
I wonder about the aura of your presence
What color I would feel
I imagine it as a sparkly rainbow
Exotic and surreal
I wonder about how you sleep
On your stomach, side, or back
I wonder if I’ll ever know
Or if it’s this knowledge I will always lack

She takes it on the chin
When he brings it in
More and more these days
He blames her
For his old ways
And still
She remains
The victim(s) often take the blame

Every life leads to
Something bigger than
The sum of the parts
Tissues, fluids
Meat, bones
Kids
Creations
Art
What is left
Is rarely nothing
We live on
Somehow
The lucky ones

Maybe I might
Have a crush on you
Except I don't pay attention
To half of the things you do

I wish to see
A poem written from you to me
But would never ask
Maybe it’s best if I see
All poems as about me
Such a narcissistic task
But for every reader who identifies
The poem is about them, too
Personally, I’ve seen
Plenty of poetry
That could have been from you to me
In that it brought you to my mind
From wherever you are
And poetry responds in kind
To you, I’m sure
And then I meet somebody new
And somehow that poem
Becomes
About him, too

Keep ya chin up
Boo
Give willingly to the inevitable
Find a new dream
If you have to
Time tested and true
May no longer apply
Unless you really want it to
And I think you’re that kind of a guy
Time tested and true
Breaks through
Face forward
Whichever way
This is me
Rooting for you

Disagreeing
The only clear way to not agree
But such an annoyance to do
Caught up in random crew
By accidentally
Forgetting to disagree
It’s an art
To do

Well, you're ***** and sweet
Clad in black, don't look back and I love you
You're ***** and sweet, oh yeah
Well, you're slim and you're weak
You've got the teeth of the hydra upon you
You're *****, sweet and you're my girl
Get it on, bang a gong, get it on
Get it on, bang a gong, get it on
Well, you're built like a car
You've got a hubcap diamond star halo
You're built like a car, oh yeah
Well, you're an untamed youth
That's the truth with your cloak full of eagles
You're *****, sweet and you're my girl
Get it on, bang a gong, get it on
Get it on, bang a gong, get it on (oh)
Well, you're windy and wild
You've got the blues in your shoes and your stockings
You're windy and wild, oh yeah
Well you're built like a car
You've got a hubcap diamond star halo
You're *****, sweet and you're my girl
Get it on, bang a gong, get it on
Get it on, bang a gong, get it on
Well, you're ***** and sweet
Clad in black, don't look back and I love you
You're ***** and sweet, oh yeah
Well, you dance when you walk
So let's dance, take a chance, understand me
You're *****, sweet and you're my girl
Get it on, bang a gong, get it on

I remain tightly knotted
Intertwined
Bound to your line
But you’ve got so much slack
It’s unnoticeable to you
This tug of war
To get a twitch on your end
Is all this lonely fisherwoman
Can do
I cling to the pole
Replenish the bait
And wait for the current
To carry my fate

It’s hard to be a grownup
With adult sensibilities
Thinking over the stupid crap
I did when I was a kiddie
There ain’t no going back
To when I was thirteen
And stopping myself from torturing
That poor girl I bullied
I can’t replace
The money
I stole from nana’s purse
When I was a teen
All I can do
Is not repeat
Those stupid mistakes
That may define me

Silver linings come in all shapes and sizes
Some are barrels
Some are bars
And some, just a sliver
Slivers of silver
Though
Are apt to make one bitter
Striving so hard
For pittance of pitter
Turns one into
A resentful sitter
Waiting
For silver
Which forever eludes
Waiting critters

Life be wild and tangle
Brambles and bush
Burrs and slimy things
And falling on your ****
Life may be an adventure
Sometimes arduous
Other times
Full of glee
They say life is what you make of it
But why is it so **** reliant upon
Decisions we make when we’re teens?
For most of us
Life is decided
Before we are born
By whom our souls are entrusted to
Lots of people get children
Unprepared
With no idea what to do
Life is not what we make of it
It’s out of our control
Just something we tell ourselves
So we can pretend we know
How and why the turns of fate
Favor some, and deny others
It has nothing to do with
What we deserve
But what our parents have earned
Our fathers and our mothers

I am here in front of a bunch of poets
About to say something they may find absurd
I want to say to those who communicate this way
Actions speak louder than words
Wooing through verse
So romantic, at first
But it’s really just empty words
As much as I’d like to believe them
What I see is more real than anything I’ve ever heard

Getting over you
Was like coming into the light
When I had no idea
How dark things had been
At first it even felt like
Feeling good was a sin
You had me so wrapped up
In self-inflicted doom
Apparently I needed to be scared
To want you
I look back on it now
How you reeled me in
So aware and on point
For whatever
I’d start feeling thirsty
And you’d suddenly be there with the
Perfect drink
You made what I want
Materialize
Before I started to think
I really wanted that thing
And suddenly
When I wanted anything you couldn’t
Provide
You blamed me for setting my sights too high
And still relied on that same false reply
“I give you everything you want.”

Did you know
And pretend to not?
How much guilt have you got?
Did you look the other way
Or justify
“Well, they want to play?”  
Are you mad at yourself
For what you didn’t say?
Would it have helped
Anyway?  
That thing been there
******* out all of the fresh air
Eating away at the game you love
All that **** you could never scrub
Is that why you walked away?  
Burdened with too much weight
Of all those things you couldn’t say
“Games” you didn’t want to play
And if that be the case
Will the justice long delayed
Have any effect on
Your decisions from today?

What could it be
Slowly, slowly
Too slow
Maybe
Who knows
How it’s s’posed to be?
Not you
And definitely
Not me
Maybe we

It all came so easy for you
There were no hoops you had to jump through
Now you sit atop that lofty post
Judging those who need understanding the most
You silly fool
You’ll pay your dues, too
Some day your payment will become due
And when that happens
We all know what you’ll do
You’ll act like a victim
And cry a lot, too
Claiming that you don’t deserve to be *******
And you will finally
Understand the blues

You gonna come back
One day
And I won’t make the same mistakes

Do you think we get all the answers in Heaven?  
Or does that only happen in Hell?

Rarity is a dime
A dozen
The human condition
Priceless and cheap
Each unique
Yet somehow
Predictable

You are a writer of beautiful
Vampire ****
I wouldn’t have previously thought
Vampire **** could be beautiful
But vampires are deep
And surprisingly subtle
Edgy yes
But also smooth
Who woulda thought
Vampires could be so **** cool

You’re not not there
You got there long ago
But now your eyes have focused
Upon the horizon
There it is
Between you
And resistant distance
Not not achievable
You’re not trying to grow wings
But to grow your soul
Into undeniable
To even yourself
Evolve
Enhance
From “there.”
There is no rule
That one person cannot
Accomplish
Two impossible things
There is always
Not here

How flighty is the memory?
Some things we forget
Immediately
“Did I say I’d help you move?
Oh no; I forgot
I’m so sorry”
Other things, though
Stay in our minds
So long
Until the end of your time
That girl who talked crap
When you were eleven
You’ll be remembering her
When you’re in Heaven
But when hubby tells  you
“Wow, you look great”
That memory won’t even last the day
We’re a flighty  bunch
We human beings
Selective with our memories

Are you aware of what’s not there?

Connection abruptly paused
Neither at fault for the cause
I dwell for days
On the things I wish I could say
Wondering if you’re
Wondering what happened to me
I know you’re not taking it personally
It’s such a **** shame
The internet isn’t free
But here I am today
Temporarily

I used all the stones you threw at me to build and fortify
My castle
Thank you
I suppose
For being such a hassle

It is nearly delusional on my part
My imagination
Of what could be
Between he and me
But nobody else feels worthy
Yet
I hope I meet the wonderful man
Who sets me free
From this
Unattainable fantasy
There’s gotta be
Someone close to perfect
For me
Somewhere
I do keep looking
So why can’t I see?  
Close to perfect
Apparently
Comes with a cloak of
Invisibility

How do you resist?
And why am I the only one feeling like this?  
The rumble in my soul
Inner magnet’s pull
Right down to my pit
Battery-less *******
Sitting on my ****
I don’t know what to do
With any of that ****
If you can’t feel it too
What’s a girl to do?
Focus on something new?  
It’s not the kind of thing I can force
But I’ve gotta fill it up somehow
Of course
Off course
For sure
Thorn and bramble
Quicksand, too
This ******* cursed course!  
Maybe it’s not something I can do
Tomorrow, and lots of tomorrows too
No end
Maybe
I suppose it all depends on me
How long does one walk to feel free?

And that’s all I have to say about that.

What do I do with all my time now
When I used to spend all my time
Thinking of you?
It’s not something that can be worked
Through
So I’ve got to get used to un-youing
You
Clearly not an easy task to do

At one point
Long ago
I thought you were the smartest guy
I ever did know
Now
Years down the road
I read our old messages
And see how much I’ve grown
What a fool I used to be
Falling for those tired lines
And lies
Yet, I can’t help but be so **** happy
About all those lessons you
Didn’t mean to teach me