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If you can't say something good
perhaps it might be best
to keep your mouth closed tightly
and your thoughts close to your chest.

Try to keep malicious
words that you may want to say
and try not to be so vicious
when you do not get your way.

Most folk can shrug off badness
without a second thought.
but to some it can cause sadness
and could be the final straw.

So before you shout
and put somebody down
don't bandy words about cause
you could cause someone to drown.

So if you can't say something good
perhaps it might be best
to keep your mouth closed tightly
and your thoughts close to your chest.
27th December 2012
Please don't get me wrong.
I appreciate what you are trying to do,
but you don't send salt and pepper to a starving nation.
I've been dealing with assault of the mind
and inflammation of the soul
in a way no whole-wheat diet or
heartburn medication could ever fix.
I've got all these little tips
and all these little tricks
for how to fold anger up like an origami crane
until it looks somewhat like a punchline.
The flaw in the design of this art
is that no matter how many were made
they couldn't cure Sadako's leukemia.

Perhaps it's an ongoing theme in my work
to shirk all these lies I've been told.
To mold the past into a weapon
to harpoon the future with like a humpback whale.
But I've watched razors sail
across the surface of my skin like a hundred tiny boats
and while I'm making my way in this sink-or-float Earth,
I still have the spirituality
to make a penny feel like more than what it's worth.

I can't make your life having meaning.
I can't give you the feeling you get
on that 999th paper crane,
but I spend my whole life trying to catch
thunder in a wine bottle.
It's just a noise,
and it exists only ringing in the ears
of frightened children
and bringing the tears of overjoyed children
in Africa.
The Truth

Why is the truth so hard to hear
When we say it's what we want
Just knowing that once it's heard
It can never be undone

We say it matters most of all
It's what we look for most
Find a reason to not believe
Think it's not worth the cost

We seek the truth from others
Demand that it come out
Then refuse to look deep within
And hide it from ourselves

The truth can sometimes set us free
It is what life's about
We must take our time and listen
And just let the truth come out


Carl Joseph Roberts
This poem written as shooting and riots rock the St. Louis area. No matter what side you are on, let the courts decide and don't riot and destroy. Hear all the facts from both sides and remember the old saying that two wrongs don't make a right. Let the truth come out, but realize you may not always like or want to hear the truth.
He sits under that apple tree
on gnarly knoll beside the glade.
He thinking, haven't I done well
with the decisions he had made.

The first I heard that male voice
just droning on about his Rib.
The thing is though if I complain
his face exudes a lamented jib.

He calls me Woe-Man just for fun
and reckons now his troubles start.
Thinks I have got it all my own
when all he does is Moan and ****.

God told him I was called Woman
this name provides him with a joke
at my expense amusements aim.
Its aim to hurt and cause provoke.

His rib he gave with good intent,
perhaps he should of dwelt upon
the reasons for such hankerings.
I do believe a selfish one.

This man whom needed company,
so afraid of being alone
wanted something to rule upon.
Something to order and to own.

In his mind there was no doubt.
Sharing his home with such a one.
This Paradise that he calls home
will be so different when I’m done.

Expected handmaid I shall not
if he thinks this is what I be
a shock is coming so immense.
The man is blind but soon shall see.

Paradise they call this place.
I had no choice in coming here.
But now I am I make the most.
And certainly wont live in fear.

He’s quite attractive to the eye.
He makes his creator a good son.
There are many things I can improve
like make him put some trousers on.

I only ask him for one thing.
The smallest favour is all I ask.
In his deluded simple mind
he turns this into such a task.

That apple hanging true and bright
gleaming in the mid-day sun.
I yearn to taste a little bite
but he says No! and thinks he’s won.

He plies me with every other crop
but mind is set on other fruit
he tells me this is God’s demand
but in my mind I’m resolute.

I only have one friend in life.
Charming serpent of my acquaint.
Such an helpful companion
but evil is what my man must paint.

My serpent friend is always ready
to help me gain my aims in life.
Reminds me that my husband should
show some allegiance to his wife.

I wonder how, if I withdraw
with certain charms that I do hold.
This will change his manly mind
and leave him feeling that I'm cold.

I swoon around in tender pose,
temptation broiling in his mind.
Portraying naked silhouette
with glistening breast and smooth behind.

Positioned touch in private place
his temperature wont take much more,
he’ll soon pay with forbidden fruit.
The price he pays to bed his *****.

Resolve is lessening by the hour,
too make sweet love will surely sway.
He’ll promise anything for this
a price that he shall dearly pay.

Eventually my way is won,
the fruit positioned at my feet.
I got my way his will undone
but apple tastes so far from sweet.

I know not where my friend has gone.
To lose a friend is far from good
then God turns up so far from pleased
and chases us from gardens wood.

Cast from Eden is our fate
our goods and home suddenly gone.
Evicted we pathetic pair
just us to walk this world alone.

Why didn’t I listen to that man
instead of taking serpents phrase.
Perhaps I may of listened more
if only he had shed some praise.

Is there a moral I can say
to help others if I can.
If only I had remained a rib
there'd never be another man.
A satirical view from the female point of view to the poem "Woman. The Wo in Man.
28th October 2011
I sit under this apple tree
on gnarly knoll beside the glade.
Newton’s law far from my mind,
rather she, whom from my rib was made.

That first ever female voice
takes its toll on silent patch.
She rattles on in Paradise
and word for word I cannot match.

Her name aligned beside her man,
she who formed not long ago.
Since she arrived, troubles do start.
Since she arrived, I’m full of Woe.

God told me she is called “Wo-man”,
a joke I do believe he made
at my expense I am aware.
This gift, perhaps I should evade.

The rib I gave with good intent
perhaps something to dwell upon.
So fast to pray for what we want
but too late to change when deed is done.

With only my own company
I really did feel so alone,
another lesson I have learnt.
Take time to think before you moan.

At the time their was no doubt
I needed someone here to share.
That Paradise that I call home
was quieter before she got there.

A place to roam in happiness,
a place where I could meditate
where feelings so unleashed themselves.
But driven now to medicate.

From Paradise to living hell.
I sin for showing such remorse
with now a very saddened life
with no parole and no divorce.

She looks of heaven, so divine,
her shapely contours take their toll.
Until she opens up her mouth
then life takes on another role.

When what she see’s is what she wants.
Of all the fruits that lay to hand.
The one she wants is so forebode,
forbidden fruit is Gods demand.

That apple hanging true and bright,
gleaming in the mid-day sun.
She yearns to feast upon its taste
and No's a battle far from won.

I supplement with other fruits
that are delicious to the taste.
I explain the rules as God set out,
my words are truly just a waste.

I blame that serpent for my toil
for putting ideas in her mind.
That slimy slinky reptile ****,
looks far from good and far from kind.

They sit together scheming pair,
trying to draw at my resolve
to leave that ever calling fruit
in place where it did first evolve.

Temptation is ****** upon me
with loss of my marital rite.
Poor down trodden, hopeless male
is feeling pressured, every night.

She swoons around in tender pose
promising things that take my mind.
Portraying wanted silhouette
with glistening ******* and smooth behind.

Positioned touch in private place
and my temperature can't take much more.
To get hands on forbidden fruit
has changed this Angel into *****.

My resolve does lessen by the hour
too make sweet love is what may sway.
I’ll promise anything for this,
forget the price that is to pay.

Eventually I give it up,
placing the fruit before her feet
and all for what I ask myself
this apple tasting far from sweet.

The snake it shows a sneaky grin
and slithers off along its path
and God turns up,he's far from pleased
and this is where we feel his wrath.

Cast away from Paradise,
eternally to carry sin.
Adam and Eve are homeless now,
our children sinners before they begin.

Things were easier on my own
with no corruption, no temptation.
It wasn’t until this ***** turned up
and led man into degradation.

Is there a moral I can say?
Something to help my brothers know.
Yes life was blissful when alone.
Man was better without the Wo.

Its all her fault I wasn't bad.
So please don't take the time to gloat.
I was weak and temptation won
leaving this lump in my throat.
A satrical view of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. A biased Male perspective on what went wrong from the view point of Adam. The stronger female personality suffered by him from "Eve" lets him think that everything is no longer going his way and he seems presented with a more than able female partner whom presents to him that his old life is more than a thing of the past. Unable to be strong and free from temptation he sits and watches as the Serpent "Devil" colludes with Eve to go against the will of God, and his own will. Eventually giving in to that temptation that men find so hard to resist, it will to him always be easier to blame Eve than himself........
27th October 2011
I wished to speak to be heard
Voice,
Speech,
Sound,
But a butterfly
Did land upon my lips
Its elegant wings,
Gently dissipated every word I said
I tried to hear as wings ascended,
From all around,
I touched my ears
Fingers lacerated by soft wings
Like petals,
Wings Faintly
Brushed against my hair,
Silence,
Muted,
Quite,
Was the only sound
I only had my eyesight as
All around was anarchy
Wings ascending
Flesh,
Cutting,
Lacerating,
Blood,
Was upon the floor,
Nothing heard
Screams silenced by delicate wings,
Those who didn't have
Voice,
Hearing,
Sight,
Stood still, frozen in place
While wings adorned them
I ran, I still had sight,
People upon the earth
Fallen,
Bled out,
To many wings had cut,
But as I looked
Eye lids heavy,
I looked in the window,
And saw two on my lids
Pushing them down ,
With each flap of there wings,
Darkness progressed
I was nearly blind,
Then the world I saw
For the last time,
My last view delicate creatures
Wings soft and colourful,
Now I am in darkness,
Blind,
Silence,
Speech,
Taken away with faint wings
I surrendered myself
My fate, my senses taken,
Only death did await me now.
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