Yesterday,
I Googled your name,
I searched under “image”,
Nothing came….
I dialed your phone,
It made me nervous,
A strange voice said it was “out of service”,
Your room is empty,
So is your chair,
I just can’t find you anywhere,
I looked in the mirror,
What else could I do?
Something familiar,
I look like you,
Sometimes your children are all that is left,
If I stare to long,
I get upset,
It’s only me,
10 years you’re gone,
Oh how I miss you, mom
©B L Costello 2017

When fear precedes,
Knowledge,
The last one heard is trust,
Prejudice believes,
Our differences define us,
And now a fool commands,
Imposing his beliefs,
I don’t know how it happened…
I guess he is our chief,
Tonight…. I’m on the couch,
I guess I’ll watch the rally,
I think I’ll just keep guessing….
Why take him literally?
He doesn’t think before he speaks,
He twitters when he’s tired,
I that think he hears voices,
That’s why he thinks he’s wired.
©B L Costello 2017

Submit or succumb,
What the hell did I do?
Give into desire,
Or give into you?
Questions like ghosts,
Persist like a want,
Lighting a smoke,
I engage the haunt,
Searching myself,
I forget what I had,
Exhausted,
Taking another drag.
The alarm goes off,
I extinguish the ****,
“Good morning baby,
It’s time to get up”
©B L Costello 2017

“We don’t want em!”
That’s what he said,
He’d rather grab what’s between her legs,
He has no idea what she is worth,
To him,
She’s just another skirt,
But she is beacon that shines in the night,
You can’t fold her arms or dim her light,
She welcomes all without a sound,
Silent lips and heavy crown,
Colossus over land and sea
She bids them all,
“Come to me”
It’s sad,
He has no idea……
Has he?
I think he’d even call her “Nasty”
©B L Costello 2017

“With silent lips, “Give me your tired, you’re poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore,
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
(Emma Lazarus "THE NEW COLOSSUS")

The curve of her frame,
The length of her neck,
I could do nothing except,
Accept,

Not an affair
Not a mission,
I commit,
A new RELIGION,

A different love,
One that lingers
My blistered,
Numb,
****** fingers

That tortured buzz.
Makes me a wreck,
But I negotiate her frets

The hour is brief,
It ends too soon,
I’m still awake,
She still in tune,

I shake my hands
The numbness is gone,
Change the bandage,
We play on
©B L Costello 2017

I should write about something worldly.
Something important to satisfy the media addicted,
I have seen brilliant poets write about the events and world politics,
I know it is important,
I would love to stand in the shadows of Cohen or Dylan,
Talk about the “Future”, or the times that are “A ‘Changing”,
But my muse is not entertained or interested in Donald Trump,
That shooting last night,
It is tired of walls and boundaries,
It is too busy to be angry,
That careless nymph wants me to tell you how beautiful you are,
How you make me feel,
And what it is like when you touch me.
Rhapsody is real,
I abandon my fears,
How happy you’re love has made me dear,
This may not enrich the critical mind,
I hope you will forgive me in time.
©B L Costello 2017

Did you know I called and you weren't home?
You didn't pick up and answer the phone!
Do you want to talk to me today?
I may not have time, I am going away.
I went to the store and back again.
You told me to call you but" WHEN"?
I will try to reach you later today
If I am still here and not go away
Your answering machine says "Hello We're not here!
When should I call you ? Maybe next year?