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5.7k · May 2012
Endurance
Hank Roberts May 2012
yesterday, I caught my words crying
not out but within.
cryptic and concealed no more
as the rain poured up
and the ice melted shut. The muscles
isotonic strain kindles heart filled
hurtful strength as
endurance accelerates.  
Wasted ones and fives
on groped lonely women.

The ******* forgot the fishbowl
and his keys on government steps
but remembered the leaky wineglass.
Total recall enforced
the key ring's silhouette rolls on by
looking for the keys
to grab a broom and clean up this mess
of market debt and ajar markets.

Ceiling tiles mist and swirl
and wait for mercy to strike again
4.4k · Sep 2010
Nature's Pun
Hank Roberts Sep 2010
The white line races past
My eyes steady and try to cast
Everything blurs and ties
Even the horizon can fool the wise

we were the ones pushed and shun
Architects pieces crumbled and done
This can only be nature’s pun

dream of screams and cry for lies
Who’s destined to fall and die
Who’s pulled and dragged for the climb

Only darkness from the sun
All our hearts weigh a ton
Changing the world
after the initial twirl

All our sources are drained
If everybody is blamed
How can we redeem and claim?

When our traces are sought
and when everything is lost
We stayed and what was the cost?

Through mistrust, and our father’s guns
all that is left is the fabricated sun
3.5k · Nov 2013
meaningful rhyme
Hank Roberts Nov 2013
Look at me rhyme
behind time, running only
on tomorrow's line even
if it makes mother cry but
I know she won't die because
of spies on the clocks inside.
There ain't no drive too far
to ride, even if there are
a million mile signs, I'd
still go with you to dine while
the dress you wear is fine
and you give me shivers up
my spine, is enough for me
to be happy if I'd die.
3.3k · Oct 2010
The Carnival
Hank Roberts Oct 2010
I left this carnival,
or so it seemed to be.
My views have
Changed. Good or Bad?
I won't be the one,
To say in the coming years.

Girls with hula hoops,
Boys watching in awe,
How fantastic the
Colors seemed to swirl.
Like the fallen leaves
On a windy day.

But not the trees
are mainly bare, as
the circus crowd
Gathers around to
Catch the acrobat if
they should Fall.

Outside on the dirt path,
is me. sitting in thought,
Talking to more then myself.
The trees, grass, and
The earth listened to
my many tricky questions.

Why can't life be
Like tonight.
With all the vendors,
music, and travelers.
I tried to hide from
the rising sun, instead
my body made me absorb,
every bit of light.

The sun was the reminder,
To return home and
be in this other life.
More free then the
bird floating above me,
I thought of people
and the whole world.

No money left in my
money clip.  I found some
water.  I saw the ring leader
of the carnival and,
She eagerly smiled
"Life is what you make it."

No help this was, as
more and more contradictions
Sprang from my mouth.
Again she just smiled, so
Pretty was her smile.

Early that morning,
I tried to talk
to other beings, spirits,
but no truth was found.
Then like a lightning
bolt hitting a tree,
and causing fire everywhere,
The answer hit me. On
the ride home, I had
The same pretty smile,
as her.
3.2k · Jun 2011
Government class poem
Hank Roberts Jun 2011
Just in case you didn’t know
My mind is low,
You’re reading these scribbles now

This boring man, talks and talks
About government
It’s really not a godsend

This boring man gives his back
And too much slack
This country is on ******* crack

I’m done takinf pointless notes
That I won’t look at
This boring man is very fat

I want to leave and **** ****,
A lovely deed,
This boring man; monotone

Boring man is trying to be cool
He’s a ******* fool
He needs to be in a box, he’s a tool

This boring man, always boring
To my left I hear snoring
Boring man, walk out the door!
Time as of now is molasses
Minutes are hours
**** government and their powers

Democrat, republican, libertarian
You’re all wrong
Hey, pass me that ****.

Boring man cannot teach
I just wish,
I was at the sunny beach

Hell, I’d be anywhere
Not here but there
I don’t care, this guy has no flare

25 minutes, oh my lord,
I’m so bored
Not as much as the boring man

This is getting out of hand
Against government
Let’s all get up and stand!
2.8k · Nov 2012
Man-made lake
Hank Roberts Nov 2012
I guess the metal is
bound leaf like.
I'm like the bubbles
of the rift; quickly formed
and quickly done. The
air inside happens only so long
I can escape to the
chromium metal and tease
the snakes. Let's see how
they like it.
Pollution is aprtheid.
Apartheid is man-made,
like the lake, the rubbermaid
containers. The earth
is a big etch a sketch.  This
will give geologists something to
figure out in a few thousand years.
2.7k · Mar 2013
Homophones
Hank Roberts Mar 2013
I like making
plans I know I won't make,
I just like they're there.  
It's sort of like how we prepare
in our cars with airbags.  
Sometimes we thank God
they're there.

I like waiting at
bottoms of skyscrapers to catch
cripples' stares on stairs.
It's living up to a dare
trying to walk with one leg, one
crutch going up, look at their
Stares on stairs.

It wasn't a hippy
in tie dye that gave me
that squabbled piece of peace.
It was a horrid beast
who claimed I was the first
to not shoot, he gave me his last
Piece of peace.

I didn't like the tone
of his voice when he said
you can't bare the bear
Even outside the lair
you'll shave his fur and run your
hands in your hair, you
can't bare the bear.

I have years of your
wind pattern because my
vane detects vain in your veins.
2.5k · Sep 2010
The Locked Door
Hank Roberts Sep 2010
I could hear it
from behind the door
that was locked.
I couldn't determine
what was the sound.
I go to the other
room and grab
the key that's
resting on the hook.
Slowly I moved
trying to avoid
to unlock the
locked door.  
I put my ear
to the door trying
to figure out
what's behind
the locked door.  
Darkness fills the room
until everything hides.
Then I heard
a whisper coming
from the locked door!
"Open the door
and enter" I
picked the silver
key. Or I thought
it was anyway. Hands
steadily shaking. I
can feel the sweat
on my palms. Once,
Twice, Three times,
I dropped the
silver key.
Finally, I calmed
my nerves and
I took an anxious
breath. I heard a
shutter behind me,
and my hair
is on end.  Slowly,
I turn and nothing
seems to be here,
until I felt a
poke on my arm.
I ran through
the backdoor,
but I was still
inside. I see the
locked door and
hear the whispers.
With the most
hast, I got the
key and unlocked
the locked door!
I stood for seconds,
straining all my
senses. I see a
light switch. I
flick it up, and
in the most
wonderful gaze,
I saw the locked
door, I just happened
to walk through.
2.0k · Jan 2011
Knowledge
Hank Roberts Jan 2011
Knowledge is here
And knowledge is there.
Together it all appears.
Together we make it shine.
Knowledge is mine,
And knowledge is yours.
But some comes with time
Expect us to know all
Is a tremendous crime.
It’s like having a pup
Collect all your hunting kills
In the coming years
I’ll have all the skills.
Just as the pup
Grows and learns to ****.
2.0k · Oct 2012
Memory and Future
Hank Roberts Oct 2012
I don't remember much,
About what I've read,
The aliens who harvest our cattle
And the red pox the Aztecs got.
All I know is that you
Can't pull a string around me
And tie my robs because
I'm of the world and the
World is of me.

I'll remember the gentle things I want
like the drunk and
High howling or
Like the astronaut who came
From mars and was convinced
This was Venus and   
You threw the underwear
And Khaki shorts through the window,
On my roof.

I told you I'd always be here even
If you threw me inside out
The window. Wild dogs are no longer
Starving thanks to you. My underwear and
Khakis are being worn by the homeless.
My dishes and cups are shattered from
the fall. the cable still
Works miraculously, the Browns
Lost by 7 unfortunately.
I'm sopping up my bottle of
Bourbon from 1953 with a dish rag.
Maybe I could get some sleep on my bed
If I wait long enough.

I'll act like I know things,
But the drizzle of sounds will
Be an old man's stroke.
You'll think less of me.
You'll think I got lost in the rain
Somewhere. You'll think I evaporated
With the river. You'll think I evaporated up,
Blowing cloud rings that the
Birds showed me how to do. I just got
Lost finding you and found another
Way around.
2.0k · Aug 2010
Morning Light
Hank Roberts Aug 2010
I stay up late at night
to catch the first glimpse
of the morning light

While the night goes
I look at the stars
for me, they stop to glow

Looking at your face
In the worn picture frame
on the old shelf space

I remember the nights
we'd stay up together
and catch the morning light

The morning's here
so unlike you to do
While the sky here is clear
1.8k · May 2012
Communication
Hank Roberts May 2012
I have nothing.
so I'll talk to you
while you're in Malaysia
about the innocence of war
and the grace of missile silos.
I could tell you the
grass is blue here
and you wouldn't know for sure.
Don't fret because I'll give you
my soul unscathed and my
heart under no pressure.
You say left is left and
right is right then the world aligns
for all to see that we're
all just the same even
beyond you and me.
He was sworn not to tell
the story of us all and now
we're all turning in circles about
our time here spent.
No one knows our words but
you, me, and that miraculous
invisible wire
1.7k · Sep 2011
Nickel and Dimed
Hank Roberts Sep 2011
I saw the devil lips she kissed,
Too bad it's mine she missed.
Sometimes it comes like the morning mist
or forever, it seems, time will tick.

Love is blind, or so they say,
When it calls it's by some delay.
Mostly it stays far away,
Even if tomorrow's an all new day.

I saw the fiery hand she touched,
With him she gets some luck.
Down the road, she finds its muck,
For she's in too deep to be unstuck.

She thought my tired hands didn't mind,
To hold and only to be too kind.
But, now, I'm not so inclined
To stand by and be nickel and dimed.
1.7k · Sep 2010
Lovey Dovey
Hank Roberts Sep 2010
She doesn't know how much I love her smell,
Everyday I get a smell.

She doesn't know how I feel about her,
I always get so close.

He told me not to get attached to her,
But how could I not?

He told me to stay away while you can,
She just drew me in.

Her eyes are bluer then the bluest sea,
I'm lost in her waves.

Her clothes are stylish and her smile,
How I can't look away.

Sometimes I lay awake through the night,
Should I let loose?

Sometimes I wonder if she feels the same,
Should I try to say?

Far away she lies in different arms,
How great it must be.

Far away I lie on the very bottom,
There's nothing I can do.
1.6k · Nov 2012
The Count to Twenty
Hank Roberts Nov 2012
There's one cat who meows
in the alleyway but mimics
a fowl dog who ate
larval staged meat. There's
two headless horseman
racking leaves to find their heads
that teenagers rolled
down the country hills.
there's three furry bears
in a cave testing hardness and
softness while four bats
hang backwards to avoid the light. The
five cowgirls had six cowboy hats
each exactly. They're going to run
out if they keep throwing them at
groups of seven boys.  Eight dentist chairs
were rolled onto stage so the
nine musketeers,
multiplied by three,
could get ten root canals.
The doctor said he could have
given eleven more of them
but he heard twelve whimpers
of pain and gave up.  There were
thirteen bounced checks and fourteen wrinkled
foreheads who were lost in eternity
for fifteen years.  Sixteen world banks
filed bankruptcy to drive dollars down.
Seventeen hands were squeezed
from an angel holding glowing
red lips.  eighteen hearts and
brains switched spots
anatomically leaving nineteen
grown men sprawled on the
ground like they drank twenty
or so too many.
1.5k · Apr 2013
Released Repression
Hank Roberts Apr 2013
There ain't real salary, wages, or full time
only disgruntled currency and
spoiled company that left the
milk out after breakfast while flashing

Nike sneakers, Motorola phones, burying
a forgotten geometric axiom, bestowed
with several hammers, in the
place where angels fall from trees

when you shake up their limbs ,
threaten to pull their hair. Sleeping used
to be a victim-less crime until I left
you swinging all by your lonesome

even when dad was shaking me awake
at two after two. Noon. I
was up, down, in and backed out sideways
through a diagonal cave that

was flooded by Europeans
who lost their leather shoes
trying to find Truth by
shutting themselves inside out

Even if God turns out to
be dead or under a trance
because he found his true love
wearing ***** pants, folded backwards

and frayed at the shins, while
she's got holes on inside her
thighs and the final schema,
parallel to the referee

signalling for the bell that's
situated behind environmentally
friendly nuclear bombs that
Bin Laden used to get at a discounted

price and sold them to America
marked up 3 fold.  They'll burn medicinal
plants besides the **** in your
backyard and feed us cancer while

selling us over-priced tickets to
watch over-paid men play with
***** while those on wall street
pull out their carving knives

on the turkey that was too dried
out that upon entry it burst
into a double helix of poisonous
rat-tails that fell off Zeus when they

shattered his lightening in the sand
and opened the glass to the forbidden
triangle of the man with *****, soiled
wrinkled hands, placing his spine out for all to see
1.4k · Jun 2012
Moses's Warning
Hank Roberts Jun 2012
We agreed it was the
******* of life searching
on our hands and knees
as meteors burnt up

in the atmosphere
discovering new through
burnt ashes and falling
in love too fast while

the child in us screams
where's the fresh cement
of unbeaten path? Silly
scowls sit with little lips.

Abduction he swore! They
probed picked his brain .
Meanings change when the lights
start to flash

and your senses are hollow
gelatin mix. Remembers not how
they got to be but
where it used to go

He said purgatory got him here
because he told them he
didn't want to wait.
Moses had to wait for

thirty years and millions
of lives.  His naked ghost,
hair whiter, than artificial
light when he said

“it was in the naked catacomb
when the walls fully dressed, in purple's
nobility, while not forgetting to grab all
the beggars' begging.

the leak was quick not slow
and the air pumped itself.
Athena looked down and cried at
the misery. She pleaded for no flood, she
couldn’t persuade God.

Crumbling steal and birds of fire
brought upon the sand
that got stuck in the mouths. Grains from
different dunes all on one spoon

Does not mix all to well just like
how Noah placed the Lions
beside the Zebras in an empty place.
  
Mayans mark their skies as
Cats will their lives.  They don't worry until
they're down to one, down to one
grain of sanded rice that's supposed to
feed the entire world but won't suffice until
someone sees at last.

Better too late than never, as they'll often say.”
1.4k · Dec 2013
Money (edit)
Hank Roberts Dec 2013
Money keeps the world going round
while it straps us down.

money gets us what we want and when
but loses the mother we need

money makes us buy beer and hold hands
but it made Jesus flip ****

money is what we go and earn while
fathers cry because the

money could buy them bread but
not their lovers back.

money can buy lust and ***
and along with that a STD

money is earned but only
burned on sports and dvds

money can be lucky if
money is the only way out

money creates and destroys,
monopolizes and liberates.

money says things the
same way twice even though

money reads in "God We Trust" but
it should declare "trust in you".
Hank Roberts Sep 2011
The carousing carnival can never sleep
It bares and bewilders in the brain
Sunrise and sunset, season of sorcery,
Hell or heaven, havoc never happens.
The carousing Carnival cages ponderers
Under Ornate oaks too old
Dressing, dancing, dwelling in Graceland
Hula Hoops hover on hips
Fire fetched by fingers flared.
Lookers: love and lose the lot.
The crafty carnival's cunning tricks
Never need a nest to rest.
1.2k · Dec 2011
Pillar of Salt
Hank Roberts Dec 2011
She flies solo, glides freely floats softly
grace of that of a lonely hunter's dream. She can look
you in the eye and take you by surprise or she'll turn
you into Lot's wife.

She can walk, so slow or so fast, make anything
appear or vanish from path.  It's this that won't disintegrate,
but the gallows wait, they know the burnings won't last
but killing for justice won't ever pass.

Knock 'em dead the catalogue said, it's this you won't regret.  
It's not my eyes that are wrong for seeing, but the hands,
enable, events that were had. I turn back to look for her soft hands,
I turned back on her and now I'm a pillar of salt.

I sat there still and wake, couldn't breath, couldn't talk
but I could listen.  I heard it all.  I heard the stories. I heard things short and long.
I'm the pillars point of the world, people are mad, the pillars of marble
are left to toil and rot.

                                                      II
Feverous snakes coil and twist
While, soothing Medusa calls. Don’t You dare take a glance of horror or
Beware—
You’ll be hard as stone— blood diamonds

Her bed is snakes, drapes of spider webs, stone tile made from shale,
Slimy, slippy, scaled. Sticky.
Dark shadows and empty silhouettes— gaze
Wait, what’s just around that corner?

I hear her calling, my limbs—flesh
Not stone! Promiscuous queen,
*******, dark not pale, I’ll gouge my eyes before I’m caught dead
in your horrid bliss.

Her blood now fills the coral , of the red sea. So mystique and mastery
Of colors. All created from this
Hideous *****.
1.2k · Feb 2012
Einstein's Brain
Hank Roberts Feb 2012
I took his brain and
put it in the formaldehyde
Albert's genius, is a duty for science.
No extra neurons, just  some extra glue;
the glial cells, loop the frontal lobes
and swim in the right hemisphere.
Diamond wanted some samples
but I waited awhile
Three years after I sent
the parts she wanted
in a mayonnaise jar. Extra light
mayonnaise jar.  They learned
about astrocytes and
communication through the brain.
The more the glial glutamate; the more
effectiveness
If the brain was never stolen
who knows where we'd
be at
Only a genius could communicate
during and after his life.
1.2k · Aug 2010
Doggy Style
Hank Roberts Aug 2010
It was only yesterday
I can remember my loneliness
Until I saw my sunshine
Going down across the way

The moon shines bright
Against those evening clouds
When they clear and steer away
That’s where majestic go and fly

My shadows circle and die
Even they utter and cry
No matter how hard you try
You can’t have all your dreams

An occasional reckless scream
In the distance I try to listen
Mixed morals sound and glisten
Shut my eyes while I try

The suns usual rotation
A God or natural creation
Understanding Life and above
Is like capturing your love

Even those that taught you so
Tell you not to lie but theirs glow
Whether it’s a songbird or a crow
Sometimes you got to let it flow

The sky always waits
No matter how bad the wake
Never ever trying to take
You, me, and nothing more

My mind toggles and boggles
Good and bad being smuggled
Trying to erase and start anew
What’s left that I can see?

You said there's nothing to fear
Even though I was never held close,
It doesn't matter my heart was splattered
and nailed up on plaster

Shooting star across the way
Reminds me you didn't stay
So I’ll never forget
That my sunshine’s gone away
1.2k · Mar 2012
Points
Hank Roberts Mar 2012
It's like trying to tickle someone when you have no fingernails

It's like writing poetry with no heart and with no words at all.

It's smoking cigarettes everyday for awhile and not thinking about it,

they say lung cancer wants to see you after your show, don't forget skin cancer called too

It's getting a massage from your ex and your girlfriend enters,
It's like hearing sirens but not seeing red and blue,
It's not remembering why you got their but do
you remember the path you walked to see those iron bars?  

It's a hat with no brim, or an animal lacking primal instinct

it's trees without phloem but osmosis is falling on itself

it's a painter without eyes, a prophet whose own cat got his tongue

its all about armed forces, arms dealers, war on drugs, war on terrorism, brothers in arms, support the soldiers, remembering those fallen, veterans, astronauts, republican nominees, presidential faults|
"We want the world to stabilize."

It's like vanishing and coming again, its not a reflection from water

it's not a magician revealing his trick or certainly not receiving a wizard's staff

it's more like having Shakespeare's pen but not quite enough paper

it's sort of like having the world in your hand but immediately getting your arm cut off.
1.2k · Apr 2012
Farewell
Hank Roberts Apr 2012
I'll remember her jumping from the airplane to
only disintegrate into billions
of peppered flakes. I'll remember the way she sang
the blues, soft strong, sweet and true.  
I'll remember how they mimicked, how
they tangled language with my soul. I'll
remember the images, turning conniving, clashing and
rushing. The feeling of love in the heart after
carelessly putting yourself together. What does order matter?  
I'll remember Umberto and all he keeps, secret exposed,
rounded and squared.  I'll remember the woman from
the 19th century who haunts me to this day, the
magnitude of the final words of the last zombie.  
I'll remember the glass hairball I couldn't quite hack up,
choking pain, sharp and small.  Knowing I'll never
be stuck in latin translation when Mariana's around is
the greatest relief. I'll remember how she plugged the moon in
so I wouldn't get lost in the rain, graceful purpose, poise and calm.
Her love poems that sent shivers down all our spines. I'll remember
how I drank from her wine glass form and I lost my wits.  
I'll remember when she read my tarot; I felt like Macbeth,
informed mistake, crowned and *******. She only knew that the people
of Hortor would invade.  I'll remember how she won class
the day she pointed out the irony.  The thing I won't remember
is when it all stops going and there's just a room of empty chairs.
1.1k · Jan 2012
The Dirt Trail
Hank Roberts Jan 2012
Big boiled blood,
Boiled big blood
Blood boiled big

Black soot, thousand flies
They're headed for your eye
grinder teeth sagging eyes

Busted ear drums
only seen here on top
of the pile of brimstone over there.

The blood boiled
over the pan, too high.
Carlos! I got Marlene.
          
              II
Moldy muddy maze
muddy moldy maze
maze moldy muddy

Tomato stained imperative notes
nails bitten, tied the tongue
Grease stains, hand and feet.

Yellow Teeth and nacho cheese
The teeth's termites
Don't let the shoes come off.

Rotten eggs, spoiled cheese
The bread is rock, crusty;
Mold muddy Maze
1.1k · Apr 2012
Breakthrough
Hank Roberts Apr 2012
When we have too much fun
We’re just like those monkeys they
Tested ecstasy out
on and they ate all they had
in twelve hours. Recovery now
was important here.
It’s like the leaf,
lost in the wind,
trying to find the
branch it fell from because it can’t.
It’s the shirtless man with a striped tie
That declares us insane,
Sort of how the call us un-American
But, they take all
the pride out of it anyway.
The con is telling me how to keep
things straight while he changes
His wig from dark
to light, loafers
And not Nike.  For this
to work, David and Goliath
Need to shake hands he quietly says.  
you lost all depth,
you only know about the solar sun.
1.0k · Jun 2011
The Men of Night
Hank Roberts Jun 2011
It was a tireless night for the endless fight.
Beaten and Bruised
Men and I in uniform who used to wear
Hawaiian shirts and stripped pin ups  

There's no protection left for the poor section.
The bombs keep comin'
Oh, I failed to mention that
we're infantry men with helmets as

life's before our eyes not sure if we should deny
Or just merely die as a final prayer.
It was a lot like Jesus, that
was the incentive under assumption  

The purpose of the fight was left with us men of night
those above can only wonder
They say we're brave soldiers but they get a medal
The only gravestones missing are theirs.
985 · Mar 2012
Left behind
Hank Roberts Mar 2012
Songs of sweet
     Songs of melancholic airs
  The tears made me stare
In this heat, on the highest glacial peak
Building of new
     Buildings of new concrete
  Leaves no room to compete
Only to a few who are left with an old view
Thoughts of silence
      Thoughts of persistence
  When faith leaves a glimpse
A golden hint! The dream- leave it to pinch your arm
Men of heed
     Men of silver streaks
  The green is what they seek
They plant seeds, all they give us is mead
Brothers in arms
       Brothers that are sworn
   aren't allowed to mourn
The fired farms and bombed out barns
The light of night
     The night of fight
  It's always out of sight
With all my night, I removed the spike
Starved from lunch
      Hunger for laughter
  Either way he's your master
There's a hunch, there's no time to hunt!
985 · Nov 2013
Reminiscent
Hank Roberts Nov 2013
sour tongues spit out decrees to
the other leather sun bound  
twisted skins who try to reminisce
of the days of words, written and spoken
from a non-uniform refuge of thinkers.
heel-less sneakers won't keep them
from the last skirmish
even if the fireworks are skimpy
and with only one brother left
they'll still carry the ****** Mary
in the helmet they might wear for the last time
983 · Apr 2012
Bible Stories
Hank Roberts Apr 2012
He said I was considered
a sinner because I talk of death
The holy do as well

I didn't trick a man to **** his son
I didn't flood the earth,
There's more than one way to see Noah's rainbow

The earth rumbles temples and
Splits pillars in two
as someone let all the pidgins go

You could see the red when
the sea is parted, Don't forget
your horses when the river's back

Do as you please but only when your told
or you'll wake up on the shore
only remembering Moby ****, ask Jonah  

They say go for your dreams
but if you miss Goliath's head
you ain't got a chance in hell

The ten insights made from mountain stone
the words reverbed from cascade to cascade
There's no excuse if youre lost in translation

There's not one "t" in Calvary
but today there happens to be three
Good thing he saved them all

The blood was poured ******
So all heaven and hell could see
That we're still clueless as before

The Sabbath reads ten after nine
The Lessons of life are real
but we still go every which way

He said he wasn't going to betray
All you need to know
is that he hung himself from a tree

Hold your guard and stand strong
don't let a little lady ****** your hair
or everything comes crashing down

Tag team with Daniel in the Lion's den
he'll probably set you free and say,
"watch the spear in the back"

Modern times solidify the past
It seems pretty easy to blow stuff up
in the the name of God

Though the sixth commandment
is broken our measure of error
is also our error of success

I floated down the river in a basket
The current was just right and my mother loved me
tonight on this passover night

Sell your brother for brotherly love
Hopefully the bridge ain't burned
You'll see him again someday

I haven't seen as many animals as Noah
Besides, he was hoarding them all,
After building the new world from native wood

Lucifer was canned from heaven
After he tried to kick God offstage
He now has his own show to run

They ate the forbidden fruit
Setting the way of life eternity
Simply by setting the world on fire

When the staff slither's snake
One better harvest before it's too late
977 · Jun 2014
Princess
Hank Roberts Jun 2014
Princess

Chances are slim because
she's in another world where
She rides her unicorns high in
the rainbow fields to find
her *** of gold that's been stashed
secretly inside the blue devil
that trolls the interstate
highways, north and south
east and west beneath her.
Puffy clouds and angels
serving you, your own heart's desire,
She turns empty drinks
into liquidation for
everyone and can walk mangled in
six inch heels and tell you
the small fork is for the shrimp.
966 · Aug 2010
Noise
Hank Roberts Aug 2010
I heard the noise
from down the stairs
I tried to keep my poise
But it kept giving me a dare
I rose slowly from my slumber
Stairs creaking, under my weight
My fear i tried to cumber
it was early but so late
I heard the noises louder
The chills put me in a new state
But it passed, making me prouder
The noise slowly ceased
Turning up the stairs, I climbed
My head hit the pillow, the noise increased
The noise seemed perfectly timed
Once again I tried to muster
Something deep inside me
To make my courage cluster
This noise wanted me to see
Unlike the first time
I ran down, not being as quiet
In my house, what is making this crime?
Everything seemed calm, without a riot
I turned unknowingly to the right
And just like in my life
Everything I had, clean and tight
Gone. As my heart was struck by a knife
954 · Mar 2012
Atrocities
Hank Roberts Mar 2012
When the shoreline isn’t
the third floor, lightning won’t fly
at all or at once.

the trees turn to plastic
trees when Africa’s carved.
We won’t 'hurt' them that much.

I remember anticipation sneaking slowly
when we all had butterflies
in the stomach.  

Remember the one who showed you
what was new? The one who gave
you chills down the spine?

When the trees of earth are the
algae of the sea, moss will be
endangered species

when the best mutation is gills,
the pastime will skid from consumption
to survival instinct.

when the institution holds the
artist down and uses
two rolls of gorilla tape

As long as everything remains
the same we won't have
to realize we're backstabbed.

The universe crystallizes and
the sea turns to muck; theoretical
garbage and ****.

The clouds melt into the grass
The mountains drop and when
There’s no peak to see what’s left,

I'll be on top of my mountain
I got no hand in the outcome
And so I’ll turn at last.
948 · Oct 2014
Jot Sketch 1
Hank Roberts Oct 2014
Upon arrival, it was instant
survival because of the
knick knack, tip tapped
circus rings that are on fire
being bare handled.
Welder's hands is what Uncle
John has. He always grills
the burgers. Medium is usually
the better of the other
two anyways. Old ways are
are gone with trees of England .
933 · Jan 2013
Flash-Flood
Hank Roberts Jan 2013
That silly flood made me
Tread all the way down
Here.  
Political pensions over.
Spent on pens and ties.  
Bipartisanship is basically
A commandment now.  They’re
Only there because they have to be, I say.  
They would send relief,
Should I wait a week so the
Check don’t bounce? I
Know how that goes. They
Got a profit on us anyway.
They’re checkbook turned to
Chicken scratch, more like chicken ****.
We’ll see how that goes.
At least I got time to locate
My house that floated off its
Hinges a few miles south.  


*Note: these next poems I’m posting are going to be more political because it’s a project I am writing for a conference.
904 · Dec 2012
Spirit
Hank Roberts Dec 2012
I only spit shine our hikes
in the woods and I marinate rain drops
in melted wax so we can peal

it off our skins when we get bored later.
I only exfoliate on lost time while
maneuvering around false hope

you seem to deliver from an eternity
void, stamped and all. I must jump its
sound and skip a couple staircases

to find its Jonas Salk.  I only go mad on
the colors I write about the clown who keeps
his nose on a rounded cliff and

his acts in prepositions. I invest
verbs with the future and liquidate  
past futile nouns in denial.  

I plunge the toilet of the oppressed
monk who never gets the good and
rough *** those mornings the birds sing.  

I sew fellowship when viscosity
is at maximum and the sewage
ruptures four feet from the prince

of mercantile who ends up
building a wall to protect himself
and others from the foggy morning.
899 · Oct 2015
Fill the Stein
Hank Roberts Oct 2015
all i want to do is fill
your stein because
of the way you make
me feel inside.
These words, not
even Shakespeare's words
can describe how
I am falling for this vibe
and don't want to
get off the ride that's
invaded my mind
in every time
897 · Mar 2013
Scissors
Hank Roberts Mar 2013
She said I deserved to dance with the angels
and that she didn't cut it.  With her I'm
just paper so she cuts it for me.  I guess she
thinks she is backwards left handed kindergarten
scissors trying to cut freezer burnt
ground beef.  Even if she is, I like
when she tries to slice through me in her way,
even if she gets really good and gets me halved through and through
873 · Sep 2010
Meeting Of the Minds
Hank Roberts Sep 2010
Floating through this time
at this carnival tonight
Hula- Hoops
With music in rhyme

Sailing in early light
with these pirates alright
flowers are
passed to everyone in sight

Walked and noticed green
To the music of our time
music genius
was the glorious of sounds

Often stopped to wonder
Whatever happened to life?
Why can't tonight
Be the rest of life?
847 · Mar 2013
Warning (I added more)
Hank Roberts Mar 2013
Before you read this poem
make sure you wear a helmet, goggles  
knee-pads, elbow pads, shin guards,
breast plates, mouth guards, and apply your
gauze and tape.  These words are fat-free, extra
calcium enriched, reduced sodium,
plentiful source of vitamin C,
comes in diet and caffeine free.  The surgeon general says
don't read for more than 15 minutes without
blinking.  Keep this out of the reach
of children, contents under pressure and extremely flammable
and keep out of direct sunlight while losing
your taste is a minor side effect.  
Organic, no additives or preservatives
and absolutely no trans fats or glucose whatsoever.
Store between 65 and 68 degrees Fahrenheit in a
poor lit area.  Push down and turn to open while
contents are extremely hot.  Do not take with water and
eat a tablespoon of salt and in the unlikely event of
stomach bleeding place the oxygen mask around
your face before assisting children or others around you.
You’ll be held down, told how to think if you’re
below the influence and turning your brains into scrambled
chicken abortions.  This may complicate pregnancy while putting
holes in your intestines and most importantly death may
happen for the first time user. In case of death see your doctor immediately
826 · Dec 2012
the love of Judas
Hank Roberts Dec 2012
I think I may love you
but not in the wedding
fashion but in the sheep drapped
On my neck sort of way, or
maybe how clown fish feel
for the barrier reef. You made
me promise I wouldn't be your Judas,
I agreed as long as you weren't my
Jesus. We never realized Pontious Pilot
and his means when he washed his hands
of us and gave us some wood and six nails to
go around while asking everyone what they thought.
They said our love would be
hammered together while we hang here for awhile.
817 · Jan 2013
Love Sonnet
Hank Roberts Jan 2013
Love is when she draws a smiley
face on your nut-sack with
your favorite red pen that you used
to take notes with during your anatomy class,
she used the last drop of ink there.  
After-all, I have to be ready for
the snow or I'll turn into
snowman she says.  
Love is not when you wake up in a ditch
and have dark red splashes
on your hands and chest. your girlfriends
keys are in your pocket and she's
nowhere to be found, only her favorite shirt
you got her for Christmas.
807 · Jul 2012
Fake
Hank Roberts Jul 2012
Being stuck between two clouds is nothing
like a mosquito being stuck from a flexing arm
but
both are more advantageous than having
the mark of brother Cain.  That's just the truth.

If it wasn't King James who said, "I'm going
to fiddle with the word of God for a bit",
then
I don't know who did. Burning bushes
or not I think he made some **** up

just how Abraham almost offed Isaac.
It's a good thing the creator has a sense of
humor
because if it didn't, what's left of these words,
wouldn't matter to me at all and the fun times

would be scarce. Keep the arms not flexed
and the clouds apart and the world might not get
stuck
to itself like plastic wrap does when wind
blows itself through the plastic.
788 · Feb 2012
The fight
Hank Roberts Feb 2012
Sleepless nights
Gruesome fights
Endless charade and hopeless relief
Rich-less but paid
Watch the thief
He'll come when you sleep

Slippery snakes (slither)
Through liquid waste
Forget the mannered, wrestle the man
For he's hammered
Money's at hand
Everything is left on you

Empty cupboard
Bills unanswered
The bread sits at the store
Swiftly grab it,
Wanting more,
Can't hide more than one

Dribbled beer
Obese chins
Sweaty hairy, middle aged hounds
Cheer with Merry,
Ignore the sounds
Almost out and homeward bound

Dirt cold shower
They took your power
Fungus for soap, mildew towels
Don't just hope
Jump on the prowl
Winning will end it all

Seven, Eight, UP
Counter, upper cut
Momentum rising, moving in  
Swing for his eyes,
Flattened chin,
Nine, ten..You're out for the count
776 · Nov 2012
Switched
Hank Roberts Nov 2012
She's my little Philly girl,
Cambodian shirts and hindu
sings. Purple nail polish and summer
hats. I can hear her voice when
rain falls on new shingles.
The way she squeezed my hand
the morning after; my heart and
brain switched spots while
standing in some parking lot.
741 · Oct 2012
Fake II
Hank Roberts Oct 2012
If it wasn't King James who said, "I'm going
To fiddle with the word of God for a bit",
Then
I don't know who did. Burning bushes
Or not I think he made some **** up

Just how Abraham almost offed Isaac.
It's a good thing the creator has a sense of
Humor because
Father’s all over would raise their arms
To the sky and sacrifice away their sons and only God knows who else.

The king was relentless, He didn’t mind
I could only bite my tongue when I wrote
Jonah was spit
To shore from the whale.  The king just wouldn’t let
Me end it there.  

I cringed when Mary birthed
The king of the world as a
******.
It was hard for me not to laugh
Especially the part about forbidden fruit.

I even made up a story about
Rationalizing with wild
Lions
In a den but as long as you
Looked up you lived on.

One night I found an unlabeled scroll
That said he would come when heaven’s the heart
And earth’s
the body and the bones.
James burnt it that night while he drank his tea.
740 · Jan 2014
Bendy Straws
Hank Roberts Jan 2014
My heart promised me I'd
run away sooner or later but
I never thought it'd end with you
sewing my heart to your hip.
Even though blood got on your leather
seats because of the hole
in my left atrium. You cleaned,
***** and span, with a bendy straw
even though it was our last one
and none more ever came to save you
when you spilled the last cup of
our touching hands.
740 · Aug 2011
The Modern King
Hank Roberts Aug 2011
At this point in time everyone is just a separate entity with all different views and different thoughts of life. We're all connected technologically rather than personally. We share cyberspace but not each other.  We're distracted by the things that aren't important. When we call out to our leaders about life threatening measures, we are just shoved aside.  Tomorrow could be the day, the day where we are all together, not in space, but on earth.  We're all worried about our place on earth and the job we'll serve rather than worrying about ourselves and how to improve.  We're just being the pawn in the modern kings game.  Without our duty, our tears, our sacrifice, or the sweat we put into his method, the king's goblet will spill. When the goblet spills its wine, maybe the light of existence will prevail.  Existence shouldn't be us handing ourselves over to blindingly agree, to turnover for the king and what HE thinks is right.  We should turn ourselves over to ourselves. The purpose of man shouldn't be for him to be pawned.  The modern king isn't one person but a court, telling us what to think, to feel, to express, and how to simply just be.  They demand and expect us to believe what isn't real. What is real is right in front of us, the earth, the trees, the sky, the poverty, the greed, the self-righteous, and most importantly ourselves and each other.  When do we see the court looking onto our plate and making sure it's full? Where's the right to stand-up for what you think is not only right but wrong?  The thoughts of these swine have taken over and I'll be ****** to see it take me.  Take my arms, my legs, and my voice but I'd rather die before you try to stop me from thinking twice.
732 · Jul 2012
Torment
Hank Roberts Jul 2012
I lost 100 dollars on a bet
because I said you'd be my bride.
I don't have to say much more
besides it's not the money i miss.
you gave me **** with my cheerios

and water with my oatmeal.
At least I got some A-1 with
my steak, only about
a half ounce though.  not too
much more than that though.

you gave me sunlight to make some snow
some fire to have some falling rain ,
You gave me nine protestants in Spain
While you laughed and told me
to cry because I deserved it.

you cut my eyes with Band-Aids and
mined a new road to magma. You had one
bucket to put out the volcano
you gave me a plastic knife
to whittle you my heart from stone

but at least you gave me the box
that had 500 knives. you said
I'd never run out.
732 · Nov 2012
Cool
Hank Roberts Nov 2012
I felt like a Cuban arriving
at a Miami harbor,
banana boat and all
when you rubbed my feet
then drove away.

I was the cat's pajamas
when you slipped me on,
held me under for a
second and said I'd
dry in the blistering sun.

I felt like a cat's
head against your knees.
When you took my shirt
off and told me not to
laugh too loud.

You laughed too
loud when you took
off my pants. I built
the world trades and
watched them crumble too.

I'm the bee's knees
when you let me.
I can take the cave
to the top of the mountain
if that's how you got to be.
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