In the silent bleakness
Stripped limbs down to bare
The harsh fingers cold as ice
where only a fool would dare

I feel the cold
gripping at my heart
I feel the chilling effects
leaving frozen parts

I yell out a hearty welcome
It's not to late I say
For inside my barren body
have your icy way

I feel your anticipation
Your frozen breath upon my face
Soon the numbing brings on
a fateful day of grace

He walks over fresh made graves
Across the grass and flower beds
Wearing a trench coat , leather black
Shuffles across the railroad track
As he approaches you
He tips his hat and how are you
In gravely words of choice
With his whiskey voice

I saw him down at the pub
Drinking Guinness eating subs
With two eyes on everyone
Never turning his back on anyone
Orders up a whiskey straight
Raises a toast ,"To all my mates!"
Left the Erie Half Crown by the plate
With a whiskey voice

The bomb went off with  such a boom
Smoke and fire over loomed
The police and firemen running everywhere
He stood in the shadows over there
Long before the screams and shouts
Had died down before the doubts
The man had long disappeared
With his whiskey voice

I walk the path of
Jeaus Christ
I often stumble
and make a mess

I find sin
again on end
I beg forgiveness
so I can mend

Then I get up
every morning
Take a deep breath
and start again

I am weak
A pathetic soul
A lost sheep
from the 100 fold

My seed falls
amongst the cracks
Raises up stems that
the sun beats back

How I long for
living waters
To cool my my soul
To discard this earthly mold

Til then
I will live in my place
Awaiting the gift
of Holy Grace

He couldn't help it about the shape he was in. He couldn't sing , he wasn't pretty , and his legs were thin . "Oh Well" . No amount of "Black Magic Women" will bring him back again .
Now the "Albatross" glides over the sea of tranquility into the sunset .

For the ice skater
It is better to have
little faith
on thick ice
Than great faith
on thin ice

I rode the waves of the sea
fell overboard and drowned
Sank to the bottom where sea creatures fed on me taking their bytes
And other creatures fed on them passing data around
And soon I was spread out oh so thin
And soon I was a string of dots
One molecule here and there
Within the have nots
And like a web I covered the world
Interconnected

I want to be your everything
but I don't want you to learn to have to cling
I love the space of your confidence
Mentally full of opulence

Someday everything will come true
Together the complications we will undo
Then nothing will block the bridge over our gaps
We will conquer all mishaps

Long have I desired to lay by you
In the darkness breathing in silence just us two
To hold you is more than holding life
for you are my sacred one , my wife

Laying still cheek to cheek
The faintest breaths that come so meek
With lip to lip and hand on hip
And curls across your face I flip

As you lay across my chest
my fingers follow spine up to the crest
The moon has risen and lights up the room
Far away comes the sound of loons

How now is my wish it would stay all night
If came true there would be no morning light
No end to this enchanted interlude
Lost in our eternal solitude

I'm finding there is no peace
Nothing more than simple grief
I'm climbing up a rocking wall
Knowing it's a certain fall
I'm scratching a brick wall with fingernails
Digging blacken tunnels down to Hell

So where do I choose to stand ?
On the blood from my evil hands ?
What do I have to say ?
While the truth quietly slips away

Hey ! Hey ! Hey ! Hey !

So before the moments of sun arise
Before I put on the mask of my disguise
Before I set out on my day
I stop for a second so I may pray

Hey ! Hey ! Hey ! Hey !

And in the center of my mind
I'm still hoping I will find
Looking all around I feel
That someday I surely will

My mental ☆Astronauts☆ . . . take walks in outer space where they become buzzed by lightyears of galaxies left dangling on the edge of the event horizon to my black hole Sun's despair

Do not fear death . . .  
. . . . fear eternity .

Take the boy and girl out of the mansion
Turn off the tide
Raise dust and hordes of locust
American in demonstration
American in consternation

HALLOGEN eyes illuminate the way
Youth tastes great
Sweet on the tongue
Before turning into bitter bile of disappointments

Saw the dead branches off the Tree of Life
Fertilize the tree of Good and Evil
Rake up the leaves of fallen dreams
Once bright and green

. . . looking forward to Sunday off

Have I done Good here on Earth
Or has my life come to worse

Will God reward saying ,"Once again by birth you stood for truth ."


Within the hopes on High that can't unwind
Then the ways of Heart will pass to mind

Will the eyes lie and lead the blind as we stand with transgressions on rewind

Within our time we found our ways
For Time is more than the calendar of our days

When life within reaches the sky
When the light inside is passed on by and by

I believe God is not so far away
If we call with heart he comes to stay

You vanished all too soon
I turned around and you were gone before new moon

I can almost touch your smile
I guess I'm living in self denial

You left us in silence to our grief
Death came out like a hooded thief

It's rare to have known someone with no ill will was spoken about
Now the light inside has taken flight , Heaven bound I have no doubt

Leaving us with everything that was you
The love , joy and happiness ; the moments we all knew

As I look at the stars tonight , at God's creation
I am reminded that everything has it's place ; surely all it's fascination

And I hope I see you again when I reach my final destination
Then there will be no more goodbyes of desolation

The motion of the emotions
flowing through his veins
Screaming in his head
bleeding out the pain

The dazzled days of summer
egregious in their sins
Strip off the sunburst animus
down to blacken skin

The waves crash down upon him
Reeking winds of change
From the ashes of the heat
the phoenix rise again

The plumage new and pure
There is a sparkle in the eye
Ancient knowledge collected
to the questions why

Everyone a phoenix
Yes each and all so true
Stand up from amidst the ashes
God does want you to

Poetry should flow
like a babbling brook
with soothing repetitions
easy on the look

Poetry should thunder
like Niagra falls
Be as serene
as the far off wolfen howls

Poetry should be pure
as a maiden's heart
Full of meade and mischief
from the very start

Poetry should come from the pitch heart of man
Anything less I just can't understand

Someday I hope to be the eclectic
While I sing the body electric

You are growing
changing with the times
Your past no longer pleases you

You need to reach out
to new heights
of exceptionalism

Be not content
with who you are
but who you can be

If you are ever reaching out
you are constantly letting go

I didn't want to
Wasn't planning to
It just happened
like spontaneous combustion

or maybe like Ken used to say
It was osmosis

The thought came to me
One I used to have when I was a kid
When running through the Queen of the forest
One I long ago dismissed
That there was joy in make believe , happiness in magic

A silver sliver pricked my thoughts
Told me hey you , you are not what you're ought
Then kicked pixie dust
in my face

Strange I wasn't angry
Strangely I felt elated
I felt rejuvenated
As magic lit up my way

Everything turned new
Blues were no longer blue
Nor was I inclinded to stay in bed

I know what you're thinking
What's got into his head
Where is he going with all that's said

Exactly !

There are no more made memories
without you babe
No more tasting sweet afterthoughs that you leave between the sheets
without your love babe
There are no fusion fast hugs
that last a half-life long
without all of you babe
No globe of enduring form
to my flat earth existence
No soul to my soil where once the fuse of love exploded . . .
without you babe
There is only the whole Earth embrace of the emptiness of my universe
without any stars . . .
without you babe

It's all there on the front page
Our vain glory has all been staged
We never lost a war
just snuck out the back door
How was it white man's destiny became a red man's leprosy
How this nation was built upon the backs
Of those whip slinging ******* jacks
And where all men are created equal except for women and blacks and latino children
After all God bless America
as long as your white
a good republican , rich or not too bright
There are cracks in its mighty walls
The rebar so corrupted there has to be a great fall
So this drive by history
is an aged metal band
Deep in their seventies
their heads in the sand

The potion was in the lotion
that they put on the back
I heard the train's whistle
on down the side track
Harold flew in from Canada
with a Honda on his back
We called him Ole Weird Hendry
because he was way out of whack
Sharon was unsure that I finally figured out
Harold went on to become a doctor
Along the way I chose to dropout
Now the wheels have spun
and the future is past
My ways were never half empty or full
Cause I tipped over the glass
Now I'm dreaming of streaming memories
while I am looking past back
There's the rub in the lotion
the emotions on back
And I hear the train whistling
coming down track

We lay our passions at our feet
Then step over them in defeat

Sometimes I go way out of my way to decipher , uncover , research what a poet has to say . Sometimes I hit the croquet ball through the hoop . Sometimes I miss and fall flat on my face . But I attempt to return the effort the author went to to write the poem . But I seem to have made too many unhappy and will from now on limit my spill . This will be my last post for the immediate future . Thanks to all my Hello Poetry friends . Peace .

Silence : likened to an ocean
In the deep abyss of sea
For in the coal of darkness
it whispers eternally

Through lips that never smile
Blue from the cold below
In the kingdom of invisibility
Dwell the thoughts that I do know

Like a novel so well written
With pages soaked in sweat
The print is fast fading
The unbinding stays all bet

Scattered by the currents
Distributed out by  line
The pages scream in silence
as if ripping out a spine

Demise is predicated
So is the likelihood they stand
The last words will be spoken
But not from the lips of man

There in the tears of joy
Sings a round moon assuming
Calling to me come home
and be free
Never so astounding
the love flows unfounded
My dear one
won't you come home
Time is fleeting
for those that lingered
now hear they
are weeping
Oh , my dear one
be strong , have faith
let your soul come on home

There was dirt and dried blood
on the face of the child
Round innocent eyes
looking back
I wiped away what I could
The child too frightened to cry
left holding the remnants
of her knickknacks
Now alone on her own
most likely at the
solemn age of four
I wanted to take her home
but the war rages on

The refugees along with the girl
are loaded on the back of the truck
Joe said there's no way in Hell
they'd make it to where they had to go.
"**** ." I muttered under my breath
"How I hate this ******* war ."
"Come on and eat ," said Joe "it may be the last time you know ."

If I close my eyes
so tightly
If I let my grasp
of reality flow
then I can step on the
stepping stones
of yesterday
Back in time I go

I can relive
all the good moments
grieve for what
was then evil
Hug all the thoughts
and all of it's people

It is in the end
that it finds us
Face to face
with Heaven or Hell
I stand on this side
of deliverance
wishing you ever so well

I wish you well


"If your cup is full may it be so again"

Let them wear
the fear
upon their backs
Like over mountain laid
railroad tracks
Catch cans
crashing through
the public gate
A whipping post
upon the backs
of the people's fate
I beg you not
to flee your shame
Instead you must
face the pain

The pain !
That's all's remains
As you swallow hard
all their flames
Your soul as scorched
as Hell beneath
To whom do you
your soul bequeath
I marvel at the cracks
called life
Hogs will wallow in their strife
Watch your steps
and mother's back
Something about you
is just not tight

I look at the words
lying on the paper
And my heart begins to ache
I tried with much effort
But I see that
they're all fake
Somewhere deep inside
the torment does reside
Sometimes one has to accept
that the truth has arrived
Maybe the time has come
The one you ignored but feared
Every writer faces that day
The end to their
writing careers
I take a deep breath
as I look across field
still dreaming of that masterpiece
that to the masses would appeal
It's still all but willing to escape
But what more can I do
to alleviate the pain
when the words stop
flowing through

.
Fifty years ago
to the month
that they laid
you in the ground

.
Only now
have I found
the words
to make a sound

.
You came home
closed coffin bound
Not suitable
to be viewed

.
Only now do I frown
Thinking about
the name in stone
that's hewed

.
That day you died
I was left to cry
I didn't know
what to do

.
Two teenage lives
both said goodbye
never
to be again

.
One under
21 gun salute
The other
under pain

.
They are
still burying you
in my mind
my time has been unkind

.
I've lived through
a thousand deaths
looking for reasons
to find

.
Resigned
I am bound
by the truth
of October '69



Dedicated to :
Marine PFC
William Le Grand Dawes
Born 6/24/50
Died 10/19/69
Quang Ngai Province
Vietnam

School is the sieve through which mediocrity passes .

It takes all manner of forms of personality and forces them through the same sized holes
indiscriminately

The end results are ground meat for brains

Fried interpretations
lazy goodbyes
Skeletal remains of grief
bearing down upon my
consciousness with remorse
My motions are devoid
The streets of paved
dead ends
navigates my life
to final disaster's grasp
Long gone
the fumbling foolish ways
The sacred divination
of youth wasted on youth
The prime existed
for no one
Just another night
of callous hands of the
indomitable spirit we thought
would be forever
I drink to the brevity
of early destinations
Before the curse of suits and ties
imprisoned the imaginations
running amuck
in the valleys of our
angst

Their's was a choice
in season
For there is a time
for every purpose
unto heaven
You could see the seasons
written on their faces
One hour short of a twelve
time had ceased to be
Reduced to simplicity
they wore their world
on bent backs and
defeated shoulders
And wrapped themselves tight
from the cold
with the resignation
of what destitution brings
Their bodies
like marble from ancient
institutions ;
cracked , discolored
fallen in disrepair
As they lined up waiting
To enter
I thought to myself
Truly now the Saints come
marching in

.

Some of them were strangers


Some of them were without any rule


None of them would see another tomorrow


And if the innocent are guilty


Of the crimes they are harboring within


Then what are the chances in the hands of the convicted


There in the tiredness of what resignation brings

In the rejection of your everything

When the dawn draws close with no exceptions

Some of them were crying

Some of them stood brave

In the end it just didn't matter . . .


All of their dreams came tumbling down

All of their love would soon expire

And the void in the midst of the distance left not a sound

As the earth swallowed all that mattered

It covered all of their future faults

Leaving the fresh dirt of new direction


Some of them were young

Some of them were old

Some of them were men and the others were women

Some of them were just in the wrong location

Maybe they had the wrong face of denial

Just maybe in memory they will not be forgotten

For being guilty of being innocent

.

Everytime I hotwired reality

I took a bite out of animosity


I followed all the wrong examples

Danced to the music I didn't know

I never knew the new ground

Before it brought me down


In the end we all dance to the music alone

Twirling until we are nowhere to be found



. . . . dancing our sorrow away . . . .


. . . . all the dying years enthused . . . .


. . . .  in the end keep the fire burning
         in your eyes . . . .


. . . . until the light in you reaches the sky . . . .

.


Don't turn around to see me

Don't telephone

or leave any text messages


Don't send any poems

dedicating your affection

Reminding me of our interconnection


I leave all the keys to your heart

In the absence of my smiles

When all the words have crumbled


After what the angels take away

They always leave the words

That I stumble over in the dark


Now looking into eyes of no return

I feel the ache , the burn

Seems in love I never learn





and the dying soldier said ,"I smell bread"

Like a cloud of confusion
you hang in the air
Twisting your hair
with that ******'s stare

Interstellar
your thoughts congregate
The space you consider
is thought to be great

You weave stardust
from your past supernova
Discarding past lovers
like yesterday's toga

Now you retrieve
uncollected past debts
Come into my universe
with assumptions to bet

But step back over the
eventual horizon
I won't fall into a
black hole that has no. . .
    
      compromising

Once the bleeding has begun
Onto the page
the Devine words have sprung

Smiling with satisfaction
I see the birth of truth
Knowing inside
my words are my youth

But standing in the shadows
hidden in his hovel
The black clad figure
is leaning on his shovel

With gritty unkempt fingers
he is toothpicking away
with the exclamation point
from my last say

Nervously
the last five digits I do inscribe
Will the grave digger . . .

        bury them alive ?

.


Pack it up ,



      yesterday you were seventeen . . .



now you're an empty sixity-eight . .



. . . and a little late to be running behind . . .



Highways , mountains , rivers and all those stars . . .


     all those lonely stars


I'll be leaving sometime after the midnight's bell


the dew will tell where I go



The future is my next step


my past recorded in wet grass


keep moving on


everyone needs a reason to believe


I'm running on empty


I'm running out of time


Running out of love


and now I am running some more


Let them know you've forgotten about your losses


And all your gains were washed away in rain




When you have no roots you run



chasing the last sunset of hollow yellows , grays and pinks ,


before the evening chill sets in


"What never was , will be no more ."

Legends die everyday

Today was your everyday

I think I will saddle up the Toad

And let the beat . . .

carry us away


tribute to ginger baker

Cream always rises to the top
"I'm so glad"

            now . . .  I'm sure I heard you whisper ,


              " I Feel Free "

I follow the fault lines
of your soul
Cracked , shaken , go ahead you are stirred
No need for apologies unless you are willing to listen to mine
I can patch your frame but I will never be able to repair the brain
It has been under too much strain
Still we can sit on our hands
Contemplating all the edges of nonsense
Laugh at all the pain we drag around in the barges of our past
Let us embrace around the  corners that cut sharper than suicide
Kintsugi my life with golden voice
As I hold your broken milk
of dispair
Put your fingers into the gaps and tears
Plug the dikes of my failures as you fight my fire with your waters . I don't care but I do as long as you do but don't care . Breathe the breath of my exhaust as I lick your lips of regret . It seems we are beyond repair .

We were two alone in loneliness
Worked together for several years
Always kept a professional distance
Made sure all was as appeared

Then one day the news arrived
She took it all so hard
Her always inmovable nature
Crumbled like a house made out of cards

I embraced her quaking body
As the tears and sobs did flow
Like a little child she turned into
With nowhere else to go

Holding her tight seemed so right
I could feel her letting go
Then the dam burst and discharged
Out the love did flow

Soon we were cheek to cheek
With nothing but tears between
When our lips did touch
I felt her heart redeemed

To the floor we soon did fall
And rolled , each in the others arms
Our lips were locked and cocked
It was impossible to disarm

With hands and fingers fumbling
Ripping off our clothes
We were soon nothing more than
Bare valleys with moist knolls

We made love until exhausted
Then she realized what she'd done
The passion fled replaced by shame
"can't put the bullet back in the gun"

We got dressed without a glance
"I have to run" was all she said
"Okay , I will see you later"
And out the door she fled

I am the embers
In the fireplace of your heart
My fire has made you warm
In the eternal after glow you mark

Your surface is so smooth and worn
A delight to my finger's touch
I really come alive deep inside
When the rush becomes too much

In darkness we see so clear
As I caress the small of back
Liberated from our fears
There is no loving that we lack

By dawn the spooning's heat
is all that will remain
Let me be your chimney sweep
And we will burn again

She was just a mystery
Seldom was she seen
She used to come and visit me
In my midnight summer's  dreams

I often think about him
Now so many years ago
He walks among the angels now
I pace down here below

I used to eat raw lemons
Put a little salt on top
Some now say "make lemonade
If bitter is all you've got"

I crossed the bridge of no retutn
A thousand times a week
By now you'd think I would have found
What it was I seek

So now it comes down to you
I know it does to me
After I burned all my bridges down
The aftermath set me free

.

There is no stillness
in the night time wind

No measured moment
of  cardinal release again

There is lightning
off to the south by southwest

The thunder's low rumble
gives me no rest

My penchant for silence
hangs by my neck

The event horizon tells me
I am subject to eternal elect

Peace never comes by
begging  by name

So all of my hope is virga
falling in vain

It's unwillingness
forces my bends

Intensified due to the
inchoate winds

My hand is home to all my dreams

We are the wicks
Burning at both ends
The long lines suckling
The teats of Miss Fortune
The gravel on dirt roads
Flung by spinning big wheels
We are the refuge that pays
To be trampled upon
To be urinated on by trickling down economics
As we pledge allegiance with our dollars , schools , and civil disobediance
We are the one man one vote lie
Gerry Manhandled democracy
Protected by false arrest every
Seventeen seconds
We are the walls of fallacy
Built to someday keep us in
While our leader talks of handling
The homeless crisis by moving them
To government relocation centers
Just like ****** did
We are the fools at the center of the spin
In it goes and out the other end
We are the losers , the God Bless Americans , that God can no longer stand.

Here I am
Writing poetry again
Instead of talking to you

.

Come down off your poem
long days have all gone
Somebody you can hear is calling

Running deep the river bends
moving on with amens
Some things just keep on gnawing

The winter will be ice
I'll get relief at last
When I lay under blankets of snow

All those days once before
Memories rich and poor
There just to let you know

I can see the greens of spring
Summer's blissfull loving thing
Still I hear the mournful call of winter

Come down off your poem
Leave your words as you were born
The river has frozen over

.
.
I am the witness to an empty age
Feel the noose as tight as the open grave
See the truth and call it lies
And as you speak someone dies
And the poets go on writing amid the cries
. . . of anger and the questons why

See there is no justice anymore
The cops have become the thieves and even more
Poisons **** us just breathing air
The heads of states refuse to care
And the raindrops glow as they fall on the wheat
Compliments of Fukushima and climate's changing increasing heat

So I have been called to testify
So have you as you were there
But like the billions who wait their turn
Justice hangs by sword on a single strand of gold/orange hair