Darren Koobs

Darren Koobs Apr 2011

I don’t know how to meet people
I mean, how do you just walk up
To someone you don’t know at all

What if they ignore my greeting?
What if they look at me funny?
What if they become angry, right?

That person could be important
In charge of a huge company
Or own a major football team

Chances are they’re way too busy
For someone as small as I am
I just can’t handle rejection

Then one afternoon in a store
A salesman walked right up to me
He said “Hi!’ and then shook my hand

The salesman didn’t have a clue
Of how I would respond to him
And then it settled on me like

An elephant waiting for food
That’s the best way to meet people
Say “Hi!” and leave the rest to them

Darren Koobs Apr 2011

The Current

Swiftly flowing in its placid journey
Passes towers of arboreal green
Irrepressible current coursing free
Tranquility so rarely felt or seen

Then the current engages violence
Grinding boulders in its angry freefall
Only Death travels here seeking credence
Even the stalwart in this fury stall

None will escape the current’s crashing flow
Its watery claws seize all that are born
Who, carried through paths both severe and slow
Learn of peace after beaten down and worn

Do I ride and wrestle the current’s wave?
Or pine and wish the current were a grave?

Darren Koobs Mar 2011

Apology

I don’t know how to say
But I ache to try
I hate I talked that way
It wasn’t from my heart

Sometimes I let my feelings
Run my motor mouth
Instead of simply thinking
Before my tongue’s in gear

If I could plug a speaker
Directly to my heart
Then you’d hear it singing
Music you impart

So now I leave this note
My apology
My sorrow is from hurting you
Please, my Love, forgive me

Darren Koobs Mar 2011

Falling

The approaching crash
Will **** my descent.
A shattered landing;
Love’s destined ending.

Darren Koobs Mar 2011

Mocking Me

You say men don't get lonely.
You claim men don't love.
You point to me and snarl,
"men don't care, you just don't care."

Then why does my heart
(That once held harmony
with your own pulse)
flutter near death?
Why are you all I think about?
Why does agony course through me?
Why do I lust for it?

Because I miss you!
Your words mock me;
mocking me because I'm a man
who is lonely
who is in love
and cares so much that
I treasure my broken heart.
After all, every shatterling
bears your autograph.

You chose another man
for a few morsels of
forbidden fruit,
and shout at me
as though it were my fault.
So,
keep mocking me,
claiming men don't love, hurt,
or break.
Listen to your own words,
and know why now it's true of me.

Darren Koobs Mar 2011

Beside Me

You lay beside me,
Fingertips caressing
The edge of my hair.
Your ***** whisper
Intoxicates the whole of me.

I inhale your scent,
Perfume mingled with
The taste of your skin,
And have need of nothing more
Than your closeness;
Body, breath, and beating heart,
Always beside me.

Gasping awake
I view our room;
Dark.
And your place beside me;
Empty, cold, and still made.

I swallow hard
To choke down my cries
Forcing my wails to stay
Deep inside my gut.
And I shut my eyes
To imprison rebellious tears.

I try to plunge back to sleep
Back into the memories,
Those specters living in my dreams,
Where you are still
Beside me.

Darren Koobs Mar 2011

Kaleidoscope

I am not a rainbow
With easily labeled bands
And though I shine with colors
I don’t come with tidy strands

I am not a how-to chart
With columns intersecting rows
You can’t match up A with B
To know which way I’ll go

I am not a machine
With a function for each purpose
I do have buttons you may push
But don’t expect programmed reactions

I am a kaleidoscope
Each twist will change your view
It will take your lifetime
Before you’ll know my hues