The battle is over
my blade is broken
all of my arrows
have long been spent

Blood runs like a river
my flesh burnt ,
bones broken , flesh cut ,
stabbed and divided

And on my knees
I face my Victor
asking no grace
I the conflictor

Waiting for the inevitable
every second labored
would you do the honor
end it now and not later

I sometimes can feel
your mental embrace
through all these miles of thought

Even a faint wisp of breath
there upon my face
i've caught

And my lips can almost touch
your kiss even in this separation
of all our time and space

We fight and you demand
I fight back and take a stand

But in the end I surrender
all of me to you

Because I know
I am nothing now
without the hand of you

Hey ,
he's the old man
with a pair of mental scissors
Snipping away at the
picture perfect reality
he perceives as the truth
Hey ,
she's the old lady
hard of hearing
who clings to the unreality
that all is as it should be
Hey ,
they are the reasons given
for all the good intentions
that do more harm than good
Hey , hey ,
. . . . hey ,
It is you reading these words
in all your disguises
that are trimming the truth
to make it fit
inside the lies
Hey ,
It is me lastly ,
snip , snip , snip . . .
snip .

I've had enough
of the words of rhyme
Locked away behind
the bars of stanzas
doing time

All the hopes
and wanna be dreams . . .
Just more nightmares
with chilling screams

No I had it !
and I don't want anymore
I don't want someone knocking with words to implore

Go take your metre ,
Yellow pencils number four
I don't want to hear you
knocking on my door

You can go post
and share with the world
Shelly , Keats , Byron . . .
They all make me feel sterile

A sonnet for your bonnet
Haiku for beret
You can put a quill to it
Go have your good Shakespearean
day

Damm , sounds like home to me
T. S. Elliott's wasteland
Where puragatory worst residence live
Raise a toast to the Ghost of Christmas Past
for you haven't the pressence to make a future out of it .
Where happy hour never ends and friendship is sealed by the clink of glass
And all the women have traces of ***** on their lips as they ask hey buddy will you buy me a beer
Year after year until O'Hara's Pub and Grill becomes your Thanksgiving , Easter , Memorial Day , Christmas , and New Years Day
And they even paint a reserved parking space out back for you
But they were the only bar open for the blizzard when everyone took acid and danced barefoot in the snow

So lost in affection
Sharp knife of dedication
Piercing the eye
of the blind mirror

Same wild wet on page
Jackrabbits hiding hedge
So you know your name . . .
just have to scream . . .

. . . oh , well , so well

Shock by electric imitation
emotions in simulation
Stab it in the eye
the blind mirror . . .

   . . . sunrise , coming . . .
the dew is forming
the blind bleeding
. . . black mirror . . .

so well , so well

blind mirror . . .
blind mirror . . .
blind mirror on the wall

When I lose the light and glow
When I am left to lie low

When the sky moves to and fro
Pray do tell that you know

I stood alone
on mountains of marble

I faced the fact
that made me startle

When the mists are in my eyes
When it's time to say goodbyes

When death's rattle grasps my breath
When I face my final test

I pass on beyond the stars
On the trail of those that are

Do not fear death's paltry touch
for beyond it's pall lies a sacred trust

She says she is too short
Will have to stand on stool
To kiss my lips

She says her afflictions
Different only in that
They are all too great

She says I can find
A better edition
Of any year I choose

That all the combinations
In searing truth
Are just to much to take

It's this , then that
And all of the rest
She say's I should detest

But when
I hold her in my arms
I know I found my place

Yellow sunshine sad
almost glad
almost . . . .

I can feel you touching me
after all these years
I wonder how you are feeling now
I wonder where you are

Behind which star are you hiding
are we playing hide and seek ?

25 years ago gone , goodbye
Like a knife to my heart

But I bleed not . . .
Long ago . . .
Lost the last drop ,
a long time ago

Love is the give and take of the sea against the shore of every drop and every grain .

The officer stopped me
"Are you D.U.I." ?
I said in reply
"W.H.Y." ?

I caught kisses on the "F.L.Y."
If you think it's easy
Then you should "T.R.Y."
if you are not too busy

I was F.O.B.
And I'm not talking freight
So good it made
me "S.O.B."

I know you are annoyed
at my inconvinces
that leave you dangling
from your C.I.N.C.H.E.S.

I wanted to shout
to jump about
To sing and dance
like a lady from France
I wanted to cry
My chest swelled with pride
I felt me saying goodbye
to the poets I knew that died

I felt the pain
of the pleas to refrain
The ache of love
The fickle dove
The reason to write
was all encapsulated
Bloodletting , begetting
I so was so related

It used to be
exciting just before the dawn
It used to be
amazing to see a shooting star's swarm
It used to be
frightening to stand out in a storm
It used to be
all of these and so so so much more

I used to marvel
at the ways that were of woman
I used to marvel
at the way a baby lay sleeping
I used to do a lot of things
that now I would not undertake
I used to do a lot things
that I now know were mistakes

I used to , used to ,
but now I'm all used up
I am awake before the dawn
but it wasn't by choice or fate
And as I search a cloudless sky
looking for the star that passed me by
I'm thinking to myself
"used to" comes softly with a sigh

The searing pain inside my brain
makes me want to right out a poem.
She moved in so close I could
feel the electricity there within .
The words would fail me
like a lovers lament will do .
The kisses were as crispy
as the laptop from which they flew .
And everyone knew you were
looking through the bay window
of your time .

The paperboy delivered
much more than my morning news .
And Cathy moved to New Orleans
with Danny as it was
her will to choose .
And the nighthawks few in the lights
it was a sight to see .
Ken kept slinging beers
while he dreamed of dreams
that would never be .
Still I see it all in the window of my pane .

I sometimes dream of Judy
and the reasons we could never be .
There's a Red Mountain resting underneath
the apartment holding me .
It was up hill , downhill ,
and it was unreasonable
so it seemed .
Anytime you had complaints
they would surely scream .
I see it all now through
the windowpain
of my mind .

Freedom is a state of mind .

I gate the desires
like veins does blood
As my temptress
bolds my love

Cheeks talk white
Tongues see thin
I kiss the dreams
And plush my sin

The seven truths
A bridge to burn
I kiss your soil
I parch your fern

I steal your breath
Amp your light
I'm shadow between
Silk and night

I am the art
Within your book
I am the castle
To your rook

The calyx face
So bee Devine
I make honey
One kiss a time

We fell into bed on an instance
No need for introductions
We left all of those behind
In the bar of inconveniences

As we fumbled in the words
"My place or yours ."
She reached into a pocket
Lined in purple satin promises
And handed me her keys

The wreaths of requiem ,
rest like the flocks of pigeons
in the delapidated buildings
where we house the words of
a frustratedly forgotten God

Our thoughts are marbled
Sculptured by surely ways
that leave their mark upon
the soft white limestone
we once held for granite

So we take "noes" for hostage
"Yes" in all it's uncertainty
and doubts and fears
we leave to professionals

Mass en Mass . . .
the silence shouts for redemption
as Altar boys stare straight ahead
and mouth unholy words
they could not swallow

Nay Nay !
The robes of iniquity
girdles more than the truth
of daybreaks after nights
of shadowed sin , brutal lusts
and innocent blood stained floors

Ah , those waterfront alley cats
Full of scars and paws
Fip Flip Flip , go the blades
Around the Heart's hub
As transon's go , they do
Take a beating in the ruff
And your spinnaker flurls
To the magic winds of
The long lost voice of midnight
No need to tack
All is "Flying"
And the Sphinx
Is smiling in silence

Is this another pigment of my imagination ? All except the tie dyed t-shirts which
reside in the halls of my resignation . If God wanted to talk to me he would have said ,"Thomas !" And I would have replied , "What !"
To which God , after a considerable pause , would have said ,"Nevermind."

She's pure alley cat
With fur and fluff so soft
She let's me pet her
If I put a hundred in the cuff

She dances like a pole cat
Around and around she swings
Up and down the bar
Spreading her butter flying wings

She can screech and howl
She's got the sharpest nails
When I  jump on her back
She really gives me Hell

She's every boy's dream come true
She every boy's nightmare
She's purely into herself
She's a wink and your last prayer

I will never wish to be dead
because , for the record ,
none of my previous wishes
ever came true

She's late as usual
no I'm not ******

It would do no good . . . anyway
(inside I know I would wait an eternity)
. . . or more

Hey ! About done ?

. . . no response . . .
now you done it. . . she's mad now . . .
or just doesn't care . . .

I rustle some papers . . .
straighten up some pens

Oh ! I forgot , she's more the text type thing

fresh off her lips . . .
click , click , click . . .

So goes my mystic muse

Only fools
can be fooled

Everyone has time
But few
can recognize "The" Time

All things are made
manifest by light

The night will shine like the day , for darkness is as light to you (Psalm 139:12)

Nomad ,
a wanderer ,
never remaining static .

One at home
with their environment .

At peace with their creator .
Probably made
from shooting stars .

Frozen in thought . . .
the silver gray moon bends
the sun's will toward an earthly
gravel grave in the Walker County
strip pit .

It was only yesterday . . .
when the Cougar Eliminator
prowled the highways of disappearing
white stripes seeking a crescent city moon that lays naked in the bending arms of it's river lover

"Drive !" , he said . . .
so I hit the pedal hard spinning tires
and burning up the moments in haste
that I would someday regret throwing
to the stars

Like a wolf howls at the moon . . .
we howled at our youth . . .
so far from home unaware we were truly all alone in bent light of folly

The horizon cradled the moon . . .  
slipping beyond the bridges of our possibilities and I am thinking of Macbeth blowing out his candles

"Drive !" , he said . . .
life is a stage , a highway going forward measured by our distance divided by time we are so defined

I have driven to the moon . . .
collected sunbeams and bent the light
and drove back howling with a midnight's voice warm in the south by southwest winds

So I will drive on . . .

If dreams were monkeys
They would swing on the vines
Over a landscape covered in moon

If dreams were dinosaurs
They would be prehysteria
And have two ton funny bones

If dreamsssssssssssssssssss. . .
Were continuous
They would be exclusive as TV on reruns

No one dreams small
No one dreams medium
Everyone is in on the "BIG"

But at the end of the day
All of our dreams are
the ice cream we forgot to put away

March has always been my bane
Tastes like steel and skin
The skies are just as cold
as the knife
twisting in my sin

I caught ahold of morning's sleet
You caught cold and died
Looking into the coffin's ward
You crossed
that great devide

The bottom of the red clay pit
gathered tears and falling rain
I never knew you long enough
to be dealt with so much pain

Bitter bites the chill when the ides of March arrive
Life felt cheap and nasty
under ***** dishwater skies

I kept hearing Eleanor Rigby
ricocheting off the wall
I just want to paint it black for those who had to run before they learned to crawl

No one was saved that day
No ! There was no one there at all
The old black men in yellow coats stood waiting for the call

I stood not far away
beneath the leafless tree
Watching the men with shovels in hand
Bury the last stop for memories

I found myself a muttering
Tinged and biter as the cold
It's good you died so young
before you died so old

Sometimes . . .

broken bones

and

broken hearts

don't grow

back straight

Let me take you down in the morning
Let me take you down at night
Let my hands flow over you
Let your lips be my delight

Let me lose my inhibition
Let me see your exhibition
Let us entwine our fingers
Let us not wait now or linger

Let me lay now with your silence
Let the stars decide who we are
Let the moment never wither
Let not time now come to Mar

Let me love you in the morning
Let me take you down tonight
Let my hands now be one with you
Let our dreams now take to flight

Their love was never possible
It could not allowed to be
So deceptively decant
The way the beach consumes the sea

Amid the fields of flowers
Where no one would ever see
He stripped her heart so bare
She begged him willingly

Exchanging dangerous glances
It made her heart to race
He consumed her every thought
They made it do in haste

But their days began to narrow
The path became unsure
Deceit flared out it's nostrils
For their lust there was no cure

The parting was barely visible
She went about her way
He chose the other path
That lead down to the cay

She sails in luxurious ships
He sits in a craber's shack
They both turn their shoulders
Always looking back

Their love was never possible

You will know I can't stay here

I belong to the shadows of  night

Your kisses are so sweet but your embrase I can't keep

I belong to the dark side of the street

I can see the moon in your eyes
My heart aches for your loving sighs

But I can't stay here or
I will be undone

I can't be your year after year

The clouds race by your window calling out and telling me it's time to go

As I slip your head from my chest
I ease out and get dressed
Leaving you asleep on the pillow

You will know I couldn't stay here
For I belong to the shadows of night

A poem's a poem and nothing else
As they stand they will never be a tree

Even by God's decree

A poem's nothing more than the mangled thoughts
Spilling out of our heads
It's not the future that I see

Nor was it meant to be

Though I do admit
at times they tend to make me cry
And sometimes on the inside
they want to make me die

And again they give me hope
Even make me want to dance
And I come close to love and God
And they give me sense of balance

The world could do
without the poems
that funnel through our pens
But what a sorry lot we would be
without the freedom that it brings

So let the words flow like water
over Niagara Falls
Give our hearts the magic words
that make our spirits sing
Let us gain the unattained
Poems , and poetry is the name

I woke up in every way
That magic bus was fading away
I here these words
Echoing in my head
Here the "Who" singing at whitehall stead
      
           I don't wanna . . .
           I don't wanna . . .
           Live to be sixty-four

This time last year I was sixty-two
Know what I had to go and do
Went down to Social Security
Signed up to collect
Before I was sixty-three

           I don't wanna
           I don't wanna
           Hey !
           Live to be sixty-four

I began writing then I learned to drive
Developed skills to stay alive
Drove trucks with big round wheels
For the longest time it gave me thrills

           I don't wanna . . .
           I don't wanna . . .
           Kiss my *** !
           Live to be sixty-four

When I was young I had my *****
Heard recently she's not around anymore
I shed a tear when I think of her
Sometimes I think I'm the one that's cursed

           I don't wanna . . .
           I don't wanna . . .
           Hey !
           Live to be sixty-four

When I was young I lived so fast
Go out Friday and wake up Tuesday
With an unknown lass
Pills and *** and whiskey shots
Had every up and down , I could not stop

            I don't wanna . . .
            I don't wanna . . .
            Live to be sixty-four

I used to run with the antelope
It's all I can do now just to lope
I had a big car that went so fast
Now I can't afford to buy it's gas

             I don't wanna
             I don't wanna
             ******!
             Live to be sixty-four

I always thought I'd die real young
With the words on my lips
To my favorite song
Where are my old friends
None are here
Now I'm alone living in the yesteryear

              I don't wanna . . .
              I don't wanna . . .
              Live to be sixty-four

              tick tick tick

              I don't wanna . . .
              I don't wanna . . .
              Live to be sixty-four

              tick tick tick

              I don't wanna . . .
              I don't wanna . . .
              Hey !
              Live to be sixty-four

Doing rhyme
     is doing time

You commit the crime
     they hang you out on the line

When all the crystaled dreams
     come crashing to the floor

When it's your turn to walk
     but there's no door

You tried and gave your all
     And the promises have just stalled

. . . I thought I'd call . . .
     and was put on hold . . .

Feeling my age , getting old
     realizing my mortality

True religion
begins in the heart

The heart is the ruling power of manhood

You can enlighten the
understanding of man

But if his heart is wrong
the understanding only enables him to sin with a greater disregard for the responsibility resting upon him .

Dogs come wagging , sniffing cuffs
Then one howls , enough is enough !

Crows kaw kaw , 21 point buck I saw
The sky is warm wandering

Black man picks blues on porch
Sings about love's searing torch

Cow patty pastures , fire ant hills
Pastoral soothing wills

Red clay dust , powdered road
Goldenrods and one lost toad

Southern pines standing straight
Pulp's fiction tempting fate

My ! My ! smiling sigh
Where the wild wood flowers do grow

Mustangs , best beasts on hooves
Fly all day without wings
Tough as a Rocky Mountain blizzard
Unforgiving as any rings on reins
Tough as any ******* rider

I tame my phillies like Mustangs
With gentle persuasion
And kisses of sugar
Hugs aplenty
Make them my best friend

I whisper softly , come here philly dear
Let me whisper in your ear
I am cruel , hard , it appears
Soft unto your soul
Make me your fool

With whip and rope I pace you
Around until I mount you
Taking you by your mane
I will make you
Make your mind , mine

My you strut your stance
You do dance untill
I take you by force
And of course
Make you whinny

No one listens
when you talk
in black and white
Only when
you color
the conversation
can you get them
to think twice
Black or White
they fight back
Turn to color
sweeten truth
Make it smell better
they hear only
what they want
Their minds
have become
untouchable
There is only
Silence
now
in the black
and white

The black flickered with shades of white
As people were moving to and fro
How many have gone to ghost
As I was at a loss to know

Such a pretty face on that lovely one
What a straight framed man of youth
What has life left of them
I didn't really want to know the truth

Even the bridge that spans the sea
The thunderstorm so far away
Nor the reality that's meant to be
As frame by frame who's now to say

Well you twinged my nerves
as you may be swell
but your words sure taste
like the floors of hell
So how are you ?

You make me sick
with your chameleon schtick
You come on hard
and you leave too quick
So fine you say ?

You're a dull moon hanging
over a fetid swamp
You will o'wisp
as you begin to taunt
So good to here .

I is the first word
from your mouth
Aye I say ever
tis thee out
So kind of you .

Green grounds
out the sills
as you have to say
What's mine is will
No other way .


Here's the bag
of bones you save
the flesh ripped off
the barrel's been staved
So bye bye you .

There's a moment
I take to pause
to pass some more
of  Murphy's laws
So I'll not be seeing you .

I'll not , I'll not , I'll not
be seeing you
Goodbye , Goodbye
to all and you
to all and you
ALL OF YOU !

Growing old
is nothing more than
the lengthening
of one's shadow
as it
stretches into
eternity and
is seen no more

I  was walking , talking today
A little girl came skipping my way
Reciting some silly nonsense song
Wasn't long before she was gone

         skip a rope

A good friend in the middle of the night
rang up involved with her plight
On her behalf could I say a few words
Why of course and now they are heard

         skip a rope

Then when the sun comes out to play
We all perk up and listen to him say
We all smile from deeply inside
From within the sunshine can't hide

         skip a rope

And with sadness you have to go
Across the ocean so far it's so
But when you land you extend your hand
from there to here and back again

         skip a rope

I opened the door to love
The front door of my heart

You came in and measured rooms
Remodeled in all it's parts

And before I could say I knew it
You had rearranged my life to suit

Then you began to moan and complain
That my heart was way to small

So you began to shop around
And found a complex next door to the mall

Forgetting all those vows of I'll do it
My life like a revolving door you went through it

You left leaving the front door open
But you shut off all my lights

Now I hear your searching again
Your talk of true love , I scoff

Maybe it's on a secluded island
One with a two story loft

so be it . . .

I was not the original son
A first page
A number one
I was always the period
At the end
The quotation marks
That were left undone

I was the pause
That separates
That feeling you get
That you came too late
The one who stood
outside the door
When inside were passed
Out the fates

So I've come
To walk around
Those now living in the ground
Where in the dark there is no light
None to much to talk about
Just my breath the only sound

I have come here
To settle down
Upon this space
My hallowed ground
My favorite stone
upon which I sit
Beside the ties they left unbound

With the Dead
I hold my court
There are no groans
They don't exhort
The chase is done
The horns have sounded
Hark the chords of a la mort

Until dawn
A captive audience
I hold down
My midnight's deviance
Until first light
Threatens with
Complete radiance

aaahhhhooooooooooooowwwl . . .
              long silence
aaaaaahhhaooooooooooooowwwwwl . . .
               even longer silence

Lonely wolf of the night
   howl of loneliness so blight

Steel
Concrete
Glass

In our own wilderness tonight
Full of fright
Running with the pack
On pack mentality

No black . . . no white
Only shades of gray

In this hollow space
I hold before the rising sun
In duty the greys will fade
as the sky shifts into it's run
I hold the hallowed word
and embrace it's lifeless eyes
Looking for a pulse
but there is none in it's disguise

Before the song comes tolled
by the early morning bird
The poet twists agony
seeking out a perfect word
The hollow echo of love's dust
is knocking at the door
Your hearts a cenotaph screaming out
Please ! Let there be no more !

The sun's rising red as an
evil eye of dread
Cold sweat is dripping now
from the brow of you head
The night's effort lies
at the bottom of the pool
All of your creations
make you look just like a fool

Now the rays of light
penetrate my aching head
This hollow empty feeling
compares to being dead
I toss my papers
halfway  across the room
The all but hallowed
are replaced now by the gloom

Every night tastes cold coffee
leaves you feeling grim
The half eaten papers
where the ink has run on thin
My emotions have all turned to lead
it's my time to go to bed
The midnight's voice is screaming
like a nightmare that hasn't been fed

Worried about all those gays getting married
Playing football , everywhere on the TV
Yeah , and all those dammed dessert rats
Chopping off heads for all of us to see
Shooting those Muslim creeps
Everyone of them had it coming
Now , that's just the way it's going to be

And all those porch monkeys
Cut off all that gimme
They need to get a job
And quit dressing like they were slobs

Kick all those wet backs back to Mexico
There stealing all our jobs
They just come over to breed like rabbits
So they can stuff the liberal ballots

And Damm the chinks , ***** , and redman
There no better than all the Jews
Ther're thieves that steal us blind
We need to get rid of every X , Y , and U
Now that would ease my mind

And all that hogwash crap in the Constitution
That doesn't apply to me
This is the home of the White man
All red , blue , and white you see
That's the home of all that's me ,

AH ! Choo ! My haiku !
I just blew the words away
Keep them , they're yours now .

Freeborn ?
Nay ! Born in *******
to the wiles of life
in ways we need to understand .

Only rebel
against the iniquities we bear
as scars across our mental backs .

Freedom is at best
a dream that's dreamed
in the solitude
of howling winds
"as the times they are a'changing"
but never really does