I rather be:
a placid, clear lake
or a mountain
touching the earth & sky;

Fluid & deep
or Seeing far & wide
all around,
further
than the eye ...

Cacophony
Cracks the silence
as phantom pains
& unseen wounds
overwhelm one's floodgates
torn open by unexpected loss
You knew not existed...
(30 Oct 2024)

Forgotten
is
To be ignored
stabs deeper
cuts more...

No recognition
No concern
No control
Less than Nothing

Father Time
took his toll…

Left behind
No one remembers

wrinkles and scattered
Grey…
A Man once
I might drop her
A joke
Youth laughs…

publicly humiliated
considered weak
stood up
& abandoned
the party is over
whiskey & wine
never dulls
the pain of
Being lost
Being ignored
Being Forgotten.

Psjwebber
(21 October 2020)

Call it Cruel

Wrenching
One's Heart
Where
One Cannot
Breathe
for want of
Kindness

feels like I'm
forced to
kiss a corpse
beneath a shallow grave
covered in
winter's snow
buried
a long time ago...

Has my touch
hurt you
or
my hands
caused you any pain
or
my arms
inflicted any harm?

Have mÿ lips
broken a promise
or
failed to keep
a secret in silence?

Has my heart
deceived you
or have
my eyes lied?

Why love me
Not?

Long walks
in what use to be...

Spring marsh
& summer's edge
forrest paths
along the lake.

in what use to be ...

Scented
three/four leaf clovers,
honey-suckle vines
lilacs & lilies

Now frozen still...

An
Ornithologist
twitches...

as winter’s snow covers limbs
broken by & snapped crisp

in what use to be...

a time
one's youth
a season.

Reciprocal visions
of ourselves
Adored & amored
sometimes inherently
abhorred
imperfections
Reflections
seen within us.

The feeding
The violence has begun
tearing & ripping
away at our flesh.
carnivorous piece,
after piece …
blood upon their lips
The horror
& muffled insatiable cries,
the screaming
hunger & thirst
carried off/ taken away & gorged
At first recognizable
then indistinguishable
Scattered remains
& the smell of
Rot begins
Our Elder dies.
Psjwebber
(14 Oct 21)

Is not social justice contagious?

A fury born of woman scorn
A cry of injustice forewarned

when cruel hearts turn cold
Innocent blood runs I'm told

A riot in the streets to keep
for Justice we all weep.

Lately
Terms from my past
of Feeling unselected
unchosen, unwanted
& now for years,
did last...

Hope opens
its doors then
closes itself
leaving my tears
again on the floor.

Love holds on
forgetting
& refusing
to remember
what I have learned
again...

Crushed by:
the pain of
having known,

wishing not to know
from which way came
the fatal blow:

indifference
deja vu
or carelessness
& the apt to forget:

one's name
a place
or thing...

Another death
between catching
& gasping for
each & every  breath...

A fools heart
torn apart,
confused
& being melancholic
after cigarettes,
between sheets
in the dark...

I too ...
am grief stricken
& wanted of wear
I'm still haunted by
that place ...
where the Truth lies
& Souls be ******
without hope
or care !!!

I tossed
& I turned.

Why is this lesson,
So hard to learn?

Each eye awake
& reminiscing over
Every single one
of Life's mistakes.

Right or Wrong ?

My family
My youth
My Integrity
My cowardice
My serenity
My complacency
or lack of generosity
& indecision
or was it apathy
love, hate, sympathy

that She had for me?

I think about
my place,
my plate
this space
&
the belittling
of Me
or just being irate....

Why should/did I change?

when in my Mind
its memories
its pain
its emotions
for Heaven's sakes
make it complete
Not deranged.

Psjwebber
(14 Oct 21)

Exile
a supposition
of pretense
in isolation
granting vices
permission & unwelcoming
circumstances,
as choice
to do or die
Alone...
another SUICIDE...

Arrogance
to control
that which is not
YOURS
to govern
to protect
A LIFE
choice  ...
the immoral
PROPOSITION
to demand
who can live,
propagate
marry
or relationship
pro-choice
maybe pro death
YES !!!

Gay, Lesbian
Bi-******
Trans & queer
being one-in-the
Sameness by default
Nonetheless
Equal in result
FREEDOM
or the other
word GENOCIDE
for want of
Pride...

Psjwebber
11/08/24

A Poet’s House
those scattered
letters  & inflections …

Where upon
syntax & words
underneath Ones’ simile
is a place for syllabic prose
to rest & hide…

Dactylic upon memories’ shelves

Casted cacophony
reflected back
In pentameter’s youth
upon Our mantle
where crisp corners
of parchment turn
set a fire
& forever burn.

(26 April 2022)

Pictured
Remnants of my past
twisted by a storm
heat, frost refined
is how I grew or formed.

children scattered
every fall
& blown about
like straw...

gates & fences
Up & went
changed the lines
kept what was within
only to be torn down again...

I saw the landscape move,
*****, erode and enclose
so my feet held on
& spread deep all around
trying to find
what's left of ground

My friends
were cut down
sown into pieces,
traces of them
here & there
maybe found.

loneliness & noise
has crept in...

there's only,
so much I can bare
wishing it all gone
cannot be a sin.

Remembered Love for
(Victoria Delores Starnes)

I hear your kind whispers
in the breeze of spring
upon the summer wind.

I feel the gentleness of your touch
like a cool swirling brook
flowing across my skin.

I taste the sweetness of your lips
in every ripened berry, fragile
piece of fruit.

I hold you love
and beauty in child like chase;
running and laughing
in my heart of butterflies
in delightful pursuit.

(Psjwebber 5/31/21)

Brokenness
begets
One broken
Healer
begets
One healed.

Count the rings
they will tell you my age,
On the Day
Her wide eyes spit venom
Burning my Soul
to the bone and searing my heart closed forever…

As she walked away,
I no longer existed to her…
I was no longer there in the passing-by
And moving-on left me invisible,
Ignored and condemned;
Left to learn what is meant
To be
Unforgiven….
(22 July 06)

Was she
Greta Garbo
or Katherine Hepburn
or Ginger Rogers.

Should I kiss, fight
or dance with her
Intimacy was never easy
it still draws blood…

Women on stage
every moment of everyday  
the Contradiction of
Spring summer winter
or fall is that
there is always precipitation...

Sweat or One's tears
of joy
of laughter
insanity or pain

The passion was not in her hair but in those eyes,
the finger snap
or that tone!

Watch out beware
be careful young man
knives have never been sharper or so close to life's edge.

It Burns the Heart
Sears the Soul
to beg to worship or pay homage to such a vain idol
where you kneel on bended knee
To honor to love to cherish
in your sickness of health
and poverty of spirit.

The mind
a priceless gift
immemorial,
however,
flawed
the spirit without
cannot lift.

Sensi betrayal
anguish says,
'it was deliberate'

Confusion wrought
pain from love...

'You supposed to let Me win ?!'
& 'that's not fair ?!'

Compromised
& resignation cries
'Next time, it's my turn.'
a lesson in loss
innocence
will never be again...

Snow breaks
Amongst a warmer
Cloudless sky,

Streams of tiny rivers
Down one’s window paine
& remembering
What is left
Of last winter’s angel wings;

Where soft straw
& twisted overturned twigs lay
beneath moist darkened
earth strewn across like hay,

Revealing mixed patches
of budding marsh green,
the new color scheme,
as itself Life decides
in of itself, in Spring
to give it another try.

I am grateful
for the blue in the sky,
melting snow
over its horizon,
its impermanence.

(8 April 2022)

Bitter Herb

My ❤
My soul addiction
sore & bitter herb
sweetness
Adorned in white
begs for hugs
& kisses like a baby
clinging 4 mother's
touch
her embrace.

Frightened still
blinded
& cannot see
1+self without you…

Love is it
Temporal insanity?

As my sole defense
against nothing wrong
but with myself!

The woman:
part laughter
part smile
dash of dancing,
scented oil of passion flower
that turns a Man's head
& heart like a compass ...

Wisdom negotiates & appreciates
a woman's heart
just like compassion builds passion
In the garden
where God put
His 2 children 2 play.

(01/22/25)

God gave us a home,
a place to stay
man cast his yolk
& stole it all away.

Afternoon Prayer Mosque

Glowing midnight skin
those dark eyes promised
& sprinkled upon velvet,
like stars.

Her whispered
'Sub-hannal-lahs'

with sublications upon fingertips

'Al-hamdu' lil-lah'
pantamining movements
where hands could speak no words,
or gentle hellos.

We prostrated ourselves kneeling
& looking outside windows across the sky,
the clouds white as snow
& pedestrians,
like ants a thousand feet below...

She asking Allah,
like her grandfather
to grant upon us too favors.

(11 November 2007)

Artful Death
(I saw a Nuway)


We                                                                              
Casts portraits
centuries more than a day;
captured pieces
of Life eroding away.

We found beauty in its decay
& impressions sublime.

Isolation
Whispering
amongst the ruins
& congruent lines
abandoned by Time.

Vestiges & Echoes
of that which cannot
& did not last;
memoirs, records
or mementos of a
once distant past.


Symbols
Grey
Lacking luster, or rust
changes of color,
flaked peelings
crumbled into dust.

Cobwebs
gathering moss
bent over branches
Roots extended
dried out
from thirst
spoiled soiled

fallen
brown leaves,
scattered twigs
& broken glass.

Revealing a different
age from long ago
& eons since
have now grown old.

Where a River
once knew
the darkness
that reckons
& beckons
a mortal
twilight sky.

& I alone
was left to see
in its spaciousness Die.

Prince S J Webber
(8 Sept 21)

20/20
Hindsight
Always wishing,  
seeing & hoping for
something
anything
more ...
that never came
because of daring
neither to try,
nor the courage to fight
for Love...

Soulmate

There is a longing in my Soul:

For that which is unconditional,
The unrelentless colloquialism
Expressions for desires knowing that

I alone belong to You,
As we share each other’s thoughts,
Blessed in its closeness
Or its intimacy

I am seemingly lost in my own troubles
And you are there too,
And my Heart beckons me to smile..

From the quiet tenderness in your eyes,
So dark and yet so full of life
With a little girl’s laughter
Inside the body of a woman filled

With so much joy that touches my very Soul
To the point of opening my Heart,
Free my spirit, giving it Wings
And allowing it to Fly...

Leaving me caught up in the rapture
Of your Youthful and teasing looks,
Wanting glances, or blatant familiar stares,
Seemingly so long ago, saying
“I want you.”

Soothed only by the passing of time
Held by dreams of lovers,
Thoughts of playful indecision,
The need to adore you,
The desires without justification
To bring you pleasure…

While holding and watching you
In its release of a thousand deaths;
Submersed as one,

As if for an hour,
A day, or a hide away weekend
Or fiery embers
That left us glowing
eternally from within

I remember when the first time
I saw you…
Seeing You happy,
My heart tells me
That despite its sadness
Today is like that day.

Psjwebber
(10/18/02)

Water or blood
It’s raining !

A baptism or sacrifice

It washes somethings away
Makes it pure...
Makes it clean...

Blood between the thighs
Does it make one pure?

It cleanses
the Body
or  the Soul...

One’s attitude
To Change.

I'm tired of everything
I have stood here
by the force of unseen hands.

Knowing the wind
is the enemy of trees,
leaves and dust
cast out to sea...

My thoughts
scattered & twisted visions
murky bottoms deep

Shoulders rounded
& smooth as stones
Heart broken like brittle bones
& a Soul we no longer weep.

One's feet mired down
where attrition, strife & guilt
have found solid ground.

& death won
upon the field,
long after
the flag
& the soldier's fight  
within are gone.

standing
here lifeless...
One's ambitions
wither, pass by & die.


Psjwebber
03 Dec 2024

My
Southern Violin

Southern sounds
carrying across the wind,
My heart sings
at your voice
making music like a
Violin…

I hear Ya' callin'
"Itsa' Yo Woman, Cara'lyn!!"

Our feet naked
against the cool, lush and thick green
washin' pleasure
up between our toes
wit' yo' carefree twang
hummin' in my ears…

I hearsa' girl playin'
but nutin' else is sweeta' than
seein' a woman in full swing,
or the smell of tha' honey-suckle rose.

There's Jasmine flowin'
gently through the breeze
& watchin tiny humin' birds
dancin' in the summer trees;
It's just womanfolk laughin'
out loud, "Girl stop, Girl please!!"

I calls you, "My Funny Face Girl"
with those teeth
full lips open wide
against dark, glowin' skin…

My cheeks rise
effortlessly,
Eyes lay upon yo'
Full figure swirl
Claimin' pleasures
Like the original Sin…

It's just our Souls
Touchin'
before our senses
can begin;

I'm takin' you all in
"You're mine!!!"
I know, no one coulda'
ever own ya'
because your Spirit
is Free & your Wills
too strong…

I'm just claimin
my Desire
for ya'
& You done told me
that ain't wrong…

My "Funny Face Girl"
gorgeously You laugh
layin Your head upon my shoulder;

Leaving me caught up
in the rapture
of sights & sounds of our shared
Memories of a life belongin’
to the smells, sights & sounds of
De’Jevu lovin’

(Psjwebber 08/12/03)

Trying 2
Understand you
his/her story
time past
with/out
pride, guilt or glory...

a Life
perhaps
of 1 or the other,
or one another
maybe built...

Mind our
P's & Q's
with please
& thank you's
of gratitude

'Love covers
& rhymes
w/multitude
of sin...'

is a place
where our
relationship
must/ may begin...

Soft dark,
long legs of a gazelle,

Shapely buds of womanhood
Peek out at us like sundrops
between palm tree leaves.

***** curls worn like a crown.

At the ready!
She runs & leaps

Sandals upon the sand
& grassy knoll near the water's edge.  

Sun bathes brooks
naughty boys not hesitant
to stare with longing looks.

with eagle’s eyes
she knows
which way to go!

By:   Prince S.J. Webber
06 AUG 17

Our
Teeter totter
On the see-saw
  Made us wonder
  Made us awe
Belief in miracles
& the impossible
Before the Fall.


Prince S J Webber
(4 June 2020)

An unwanted Son
shines upon the back doorsteps,

Once left behind
like scattered newspaper parcels
inside a morning dumpster;

as she laughs
without candour & smiles
without remorse,
evaporating the panic
to dry up the tears.

The numbness becomes
trapped somewhere
between two seasons,
the present & the past;

remembering that seperation
burns like tearing skin
across the surface & uneveningly deep

As shock beckons truthfullness
& begs for meaningful clarity,

he pushes her away
& tosses her aside

like a cigarette ****
held floating in Time,
once finished,
is flung across the air
& beside a dumpster
like an unwanted Son.

Psjwebber
(16 April 2004)

Justice took a Holiday
On a Day,
Needed more than
any other...

Mercy & Compassion wept,
as Hope lie in an open grave

Starved of Freedoms longed for
When Time
decided to tip
the scales...

Inside
is where one's Truth
lies colorful uninhibited
doubtful creatively hesitant

where I'm inappropriate

& remorseful guilty
painstakingly obvious,
but nonetheless honest
& Real.

A subjective
relationship
sinking fast
& choosing & deciding
distinctively to deceive
ourselves too...

Pieces of
this or that...

Our challenge
finding a place...

Misplaced or mismatched,
forgotten or left behind 🤔

passing time
at the Y,
the shelter,
the county or
the ward

Made to fit
Not here, but over there

a hodgepodge collection
tell us another story...

neither family
nor resemblances yet

Still finding
a place or space
called home...

Sweetgrass

The antiquity of efficiency
upon meager means recalls

the struggles of necessity giving
Rise from one's ancestry does fall

amongst Sweetgrass & Sassafras.

PsjWebber
(11 Oct 21)

I Was There, But not There

I remember when you:
When were born
When you first crawled
When you first talked

Eyes water.

You fell
You ran
And then you charged ahead.

Throat dries.

You were really good
Then you were really bad
And we all laughed

Lips quiver.

I remember when:
You learned how to learn
You celebrated
And you graduated.

Chest swells.

I remember when:
You were sad,
When you grieved
And when you cried a lot

Heart pounds.

When you loved
Then you cherished
And then you gave life to your very own.

Blood races.

When you had birthdays
Then you had holidays
And then there were the Little Ones.

Lungs collapse.

I remember when:
There were hugs and kisses;
You needed me
Until you didn’t need me anymore...

Body shakes.

I should be easy now for me to
Understand why
You do not need me anymore
Because the Time
Has passed and I was there,
But not really there for you.

Tears fall.
(12/31/20)

When the Body
befalls a pathos,
a virus
or a germ

Symptomolgy
emerges ...
vesters
of sores & pain
discomfort & fever

Addiction
craves toxicity & poison
& hallucinations
delirious choices
vetted

Is Loneliness
a phantom of emotions
belonging to
anxiety & delirium?

A mental illness
of the Soul
Depressed...

that echos
against the tongue
rendering one's voice
silenced ...

a disease sickens
Nonetheless.

Prince S.J Webber
11/08/24

Was she
Greta Garbo
or Katherine Hepburn
or Ginger Rogers.

Should I kiss, fight
or dance with her
Intimacy was never easy
it still draws blood…

Women on stage
every moment of everyday  
the Contradiction of
Spring summer winter
or fall is that
there is always precipitation...

Sweat or One's tears
of joy
of laughter
insanity or pain

The passion was not in her hair but in those eyes,
the finger snap
or that tone!

Watch out beware
be careful young man
knives have never been sharper or so close to life's edge.

It Burns the Heart
Sears the Soul
to beg to worship or pay homage to such a vain idol
where you kneel on bended knee
To honor to love to cherish
in your sickness of health
and poverty of spirit.

I thought about Your:

pain
    confusion
             resolution
                 to try One's wings to fly

Seeking not to compromise
       not alone We now realize
                     feeling so full of Life

what gifts !!!
Get up my friend
a different way to begin

cutting like a knife

Yes stretch out your arms
Smile Breathe
Love yourself again.

The joy of holding
a real Heart
beating next to mine

healing something deep inside
where my faults try & hide.

Your truth
My truth
addicted
We shared
We cared

So love itself grows & abides.