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538 · Apr 2014
Heaven
James Jarrett Apr 2014
I stood upon a mountain top and breathed the

ethereal air and watched the lofty dreams of

men, a shimmering misty veil. And upon the

the cold uncaring winds I heard their rising

prayers. Cries of mourning, admonishment, , joy

and fear, sailing upwards into the heavens

to be swallowed up by the billowing clouds.

Again I listened and 'lo came the voices of

insanity, a multitude of babble, swirling and

flickering like a grey pallor of smoke on

fire driven wings.And here in this place

gathered all the hopes and dreams and

despairs of men.Cold and bitter but with the

radiant sun shining brightly on them.And I

knew surely that upon these immortal granite

peaks, that men struggled upwards, gasping,

grasping for handholds, sweating, swearing,

falling, groping, rising, packed with all their

livelihood upon their backs, reaching ever

for the snow covered summit.
537 · Sep 2014
A letter to my father
James Jarrett Sep 2014
How can I rip poetry from my soul for you?
You are part of me and so is your poetry , rooted deep within my being
I cannot put that emotion into words
The best that I can do is tear out a raw, quivering, ****** lump of feeling
You are my rock, my strength, my laugh, my goodness, my caring,
All of the good things that I am
You are my love, immovable, everlasting
You are my security and protection
The roughness of you in my memory,the scent in my nostrils,
Your face always before my eyes
You are my father, even though you are not
You loved me
Even though you didn't have to
You are gone and God, the price I would pay
For one laugh or smile
One word of good cheer or uplifting
One story
Or one joke.
I love you
536 · Jan 2014
Addiction
James Jarrett Jan 2014
She is my drug,
My addiction
She courses through my veins
I consume her
All night long
And forget all around me
I awake
And all I can think of,
Is her
I partake of her love,
I am a slave to it
Her passion,
Her scent
Consumes my thoughts
My passion drives her needle deeper
She punctures my vein
I am flooded with pleasure
She is my drug
She courses through my blood
All I want is her
She is my love
And my addiction
I cannot stop
I will imbibe
Until I die
536 · Mar 2014
New sons of liberty
James Jarrett Mar 2014
Shall we all stand idly by as our country erodes
watching day to day as our freedom wanes
and our precious republic fades to nothing?
Have none the courage or foresight to care or fight?
Shall we sit back in idle content
as shackles are slowly forged around our ankles?
I say not!  I say that this thing that we have,
this unique experiment called freedom,
is too great a thing to perish.
We are a nation of kings;
Every man born to rule what he can.
We, America, took the sovereignty of the monarchs
and then set their crowns upon the head of every citizen.
Shall we now give that crown back?
Shall we cede the freedom paid for in the blood of our ancestors?
I say not!
I say let the battle be enjoined!
Let the forces that work against us,
against freedom and liberty,
meet us on those bloodstained fields of freedom;
For we will fight and in this fight prevail.
Let us march towards those fields now,
with honor
for the  many who  have fallen there before us.
Let us take this sacred duty,
the protection of the freedom of all men,
and march toward our destiny.
We are all the new sons of liberty.
I think it is obvious that I am no fan of the growing police state and believe that it will end very badly. It does not matter who is in charge of it as it is taking on a life of it's own. It is becoming hauntingly similar to the bureaucracy described by Vaclev Havel in "The power of the powerless"
535 · Jan 2014
Beat the plowshare
James Jarrett Jan 2014
Pound the drum

Of war to come

The Rhythm on steel

Red from the forge

Forms the sword

To carry to war

The sledge makes beat

On thinning edge

As it pounds

pounds

pounds

pounds

It sounds the drum

Of war to come

Soon it will be echoed

By marching men

Sounds of war

In the street

The sword will lead

Before the beat

Followed by the sound

Of drums

Pounding

Pounding

To war

Today, I beat my plowshare

And I listen to the drum
528 · Dec 2014
Reserve
James Jarrett Dec 2014
The cut is too much
The **** to my love
Fatal
The life blood
Has drained
From the deep wounds
Of my heart
Left in a dark pool
To cool and become
Lifeless
And something else
And now
I can't touch her anymore
I can't reach her heart
Or let her reach mine
I can't have her hands
On my heart again
I can't let her hold it
I can't Feel her love again
Because this time
I don't if I will survive
My Lyric love, I can't ever stop loving you, even if I try. Papa
527 · Mar 2014
Sad poems (10w)
James Jarrett Mar 2014
I almost became
Someones sad poems
Then I met you
526 · Mar 2014
Last night meant nothing
James Jarrett Mar 2014
I reached out to touch her
And nothing was there
Her soft warmth
Was missing
Even the ghost
That she left in the bed
When she slipped away
Late in the night
Was gone
That wraith of heat
And scent that lingered
On in the sheets
Was missing
That spot that I could feel
And know
That she had just been there
There was nothing now
But the cold
My hand touched
Nothing
Someday I realized
That this would be forever
That there would be more
Cold
Than I could bear
Last night meant
Nothing
It was only
Anger blowing like the wind
Disturbing the night
Throwing leaves and debris
In the darkness
I rushed home to find her
Soft and warm
Nestled in our bed
And put her skin
Beneath my kiss
And held her warmth
And softness
In my arms
My hands feeling her
Caressing her
Beneath the sheets
Last night meant
Nothing
Nothing at all
Yeah, late night
522 · Mar 2014
An excerpt: Not a poem
James Jarrett Mar 2014
"Resistance to tyranny is something that is as programmed into man as strongly as his propensity for oppression. Innately all of us know that we have certain rights that can only be removed by acquiescence or brute force.    For centuries philosophers have expounded the “natural rights” of man and their application within societies. Even those in prison know that they have certain rights and will begin to resist when their imprisonment becomes tyrannical. When a man becomes enslaved, he knows innately that he has the right to be free but that has been taken from him.   When our natural rights are eroded to the point of tyranny, resistance will invariably begin. Resistance ,and revolution also, are commonly misunderstood by many people. Most think of an armed struggle that involves bombs, bullets and war, but it is in fact far from that.  Resistance , as is freedom, is a thought, an idea without necessarily having a something to quantify it. Just because neither have a corporeal existence doesn’t mean that they are not there. When freedom is gone ,everyone knows it and when resistance begins it is just as obvious.     Resistance is a funny and fickle thing because it does things that are counter intuitive. The more you oppress, the more that people resist . The higher the stakes and the more the atrocities, the higher the level of resistance"
Yes, I am one of those rabble rousers
520 · Mar 2014
Lunch poem #17
James Jarrett Mar 2014
Every day I slumber and as I do the life of
light and love and laughter passes silently
by.My world of eternal sleep and shadowed
night is frequented by the wraiths of the
living, come to mock, pity or invite me to
their world of sunshine. But that is for
them.This land of eternal dusk is inhabited
only by souls such as myself, cut off for
eternity from the rays of the sun and the
gentle breezes.We are creatures of the dark,
born to our destiny, blind and cold and this
is all we know.Some of us care, some not, but
all one and the same we shoulder our burden
and trudge incessantly and wearily down the
path to hell
From the Lunch with the ****** series
514 · Mar 2014
Lunch poem #27
James Jarrett Mar 2014
My disease is free.

Stained upon this carpet of green.

Slipping away, bound no more by pain,

by loss,

by destruction,

by hatred,

My disease, my life, runs slowly from my veins
From the Lunch with the ****** series
505 · Jan 2014
Merry Christmas child
James Jarrett Jan 2014
That child of my youth

Lies now in her bed

As she always did

Covers pulled up to keep her warm

But she is thin and frail

As she was as a young girl

The safety of the bed though

Evades her

As it always did

The things underneath

Still haunt her

And have become real

Those shadowed horrors from below

Have come to claim her

Tubes are snaked like vines

Around her

Invading her

Covering her like an ancient ruin

Finding every crevice to crawl into

A young woman

Now old

The road maps on her skin

Traced not by time and experience

But by tragedy and chance,

Cruel blows that glanced

From her guarding arms

She will never know laugh lines

Burned into her skin by a million smiles

Those smiles will never come

They will only be bitter sweet ones

smiled by us

As we talk about old times

Laughing into the night

With worn grins

And Tired eyes

And the lines will be etched

Into our faces instead

What we measure in decades

She measures out in minutes

Hours are years

And days stretch into decades

Every moment is now measured into a cup

Metered and parceled

On a glowing monitor

The poor girl who never had a chance

Still doesn’t

And never will

It is such a shame

She is such as a sweet girl

And she has such soft hands
For Amber
503 · Jan 2014
Wardrums
James Jarrett Jan 2014
Hearken to the sound that rides upon the bitter wind

Deep within the gathering gloom

comes the sound of war and doom

Hearken and woe, grieve and despair

for the dogs of war are loosed again

The long forgotten pounding drum

bellows out in deafening din

Men of glory, men of honor, rush forthwith to your arms

Siren screaming, beguiling, calling sounding out all alarms

Man has set aside his mercy, cast off all his books of learning

Now shows through his thin veneer all his deepest, darkest yearnings

Rising now from in the ground, red eyes glowing, shrieking, howling

a scream that rents the tortured night

teeth a gnashing, spitting, growling,

Comes that man thought so long dead

haired and furred from foot to head

With a growl, uncaring shrug, nary a thought or realization

he casts off that cloak of civilization.

Man has risen to conquer again.
Older piece written for oral reading
503 · Mar 2014
Picture of her
James Jarrett Mar 2014
I can't bear to look at her picture
I've seen it too many times
I can't take looking into her eyes
Every time I do a layer of armor
Is stripped from me and cast away
Until I am naked and exposed
My heart unshielded
From the sharp spears
It has been wrung
The grief twisted out of it
Until it has become a physical pain
My eyes have to look away
When I see her
My manly defenses are gone
I am sick and weak
And my very soul is starting to cry
I can't bear to see her picture anymore
Or hear myself say  "I love you"
My 28 yr. old niece died of liver failure over the Christmas holidays this year. I was raising funds for her and her family and with every Email or message, I had to tell her story and attach a picture of her in her hospital bed. After 5 days and thousands of emails, I couldn't take it anymore and had to stop.   I wrote this ambiguously intentionally and will probably remove this note in the future and let it stand on it's own
500 · Mar 2014
Chez
James Jarrett Mar 2014
Loneliness and bitterness
fill her empty shell

Her lying words of love
slowly craft her hell

Trapped within the cell
of dark and twisted brain

All that she can ever give
is cold uncaring pain

Not a tendril of tender emotion
can reach into that soul

Except her own self pity
Poured endlessly down that hole
499 · Apr 2014
A life of few regrets
James Jarrett Apr 2014
My only regret will be
If I have to leave her behind
That love
That I love more than myself
Leave her in the cold
Surrounded by the wolves
Who will have consumed me
While she cries over
My cold body
Gone hard to the touch
My love faded
With the last beating
Of my heart
Alone in this world
But I can't stop
I speak the truth
Because freedom
Burns in my veins
My heart pumps warrior blood
And I don't know
How
To not fight
Resist
496 · Apr 2014
Class IV body armor
James Jarrett Apr 2014
It really is great stuff
But there are some drawbacks
It will force them
To shoot me
Either in the *****
Or the face
But more importantly
It doesn't stop
The wounds upon my soul
496 · Apr 2014
Fighting age
James Jarrett Apr 2014
I have no wars

Left in me.

I am broken

Except in will.

My strength left

Is but  for a few battles.

My sword

Has grown heavy,

My hand weak.

The only strength left

Is in my heart.

Let my will then

Carry the fight for me.

Let my will

Bring me honor

Let my will

Swing the sword

For freedom

Let my will

Carry me to

My last battle
495 · Apr 2014
So your'e dead
James Jarrett Apr 2014
Your life summed up
In garbage bags
One full of your
Personal things
A snapshot of your life
That no one wants
The end of the life
Of a thief
Broken and alone
But you stole more than money from me
You stole friendship
And companionship
You stole the breaking of bread
And trust
And care and compassion
You stole things that I can't get back
Things that I will never place so easily
In someones hand again
But it doesn't matter to you now
Not that it ever did
Now that you are dead
I don't really think I need a note.
495 · Jan 2014
Alright boy
James Jarrett Jan 2014
You entertain me

with your smile

and your words

And I know in my soul

that you are alright.

Your music plays

late in the night

and I smile.

I know

that time

has done you well.

Now

I wait for you

to come again

and entertain me.
492 · Mar 2014
Lunch poem #3
James Jarrett Mar 2014
Shades of black and dusky grey
Like wind whipped, whispering leaves
Cloud my memory dull and dim
chasing all but fleeting ghosts away

I know that somewhere deep within
The twisted labyrinth of my brain
There lies a place of green and light
Of peace behind the pain
Memories of a different life
Lived by a different man
491 · Feb 2017
Resurrection
James Jarrett Feb 2017
It's time to be alive again
To Breathe again
To feel again
To let the dead
Be gone
And be dead
491 · Jan 2014
Night dreams
James Jarrett Jan 2014
I dreamed a dream of dreaming

Laying softly in my bed

Sugar plums and torment

Dancing in my head

I dreamed a dream of life and death

Of hope and blood and glory

Of dancing through a sunlit field

With daisies, grass and bodies

I was but a child

Loving, small and free

As I glided silently

My life ran out of me

I laughed and giggled in happiness

As a child is apt to do

As I stepped around lifeless forms

Battered black and blue

Not a care had I

Not one in the world

As I pranced beneath the sky

'Til lightning struck with crackling fury

And I lay down to die

I dreamed a dream of dreaming

Of happiness and and strife

I dreamed a dream of dreaming

I dreamed a dream of life
484 · Jan 2014
philosiphising
James Jarrett Jan 2014
I sit in evenings dim glow
and contemplate the mysteries of life
with my cat
As our minds begin to grapple
the subtle complexities of infinity
We realize that pencils on paper
sound like mice
482 · Feb 2014
Man
James Jarrett Feb 2014
Man
In my heart is war,

My hands, craft

My lips, love

My mind, chaos

My soul is empty.

I am man.
477 · Mar 2014
Windows to the soul
James Jarrett Mar 2014
I realized one day
That my eyes had become hard
My gaze, frosted granite
Hard, like the look of men
Who have seen too much
Killed too much
Been through too much
Just a stare
That says it all
Ice behind the eyes
Purposeful and intent
I see the surprise in peoples eyes
When they meet mine
And look hurriedly away
Or ask if everything is alright
They know the look
And now it even shows in the mirror
And my war
Hasn't even started yet
476 · Mar 2016
Devoid (10w)
James Jarrett Mar 2016
I have become nothing
I am empty
I am devoid
474 · Mar 2016
Some would say I'm odd
James Jarrett Mar 2016
I am odd
Some would say
But not to me
Living here in my own skin
In my castle of bones
Listening to words
Beating like my heart
Some would say
I am odd
But not to me
473 · Jan 2014
A room with a view
James Jarrett Jan 2014
Hope has withered

And faded

Like cut flowers

No root

No branch

Life still held

But fleeting

Slowly fading

Nourished in vain

To try and keep

going

For a few more days

Outside the room

The sun shines brightly

The waves wash ashore

The beach below

Teems with life

On that beach

Walk the memories

Of a lifetime

She looks out the window

With no hope left

But the view

Is still somehow

Comforting

The bright sunlight

Enters the cold room

And imparts

A little warmth

She lays in her bed

Bathed in the glow

And slowly fades
472 · Aug 2014
Lunch poem #11
James Jarrett Aug 2014
Sunset softly fading in ****** hues of red

Soul slipping silently, body falling dead

To fly again, free again

Borne on wings of oblivion

Rushing ever outward

To become one with God again

A windblown soul

Quickly waning weaker

For just one moment

It sees and wants

What it has just forsaken
From the lunch poem collection circa mid 90's. Lunch time ******.
471 · Mar 2014
Dreamed and lost
James Jarrett Mar 2014
A cry floats on the gentle breeze.

A sound of laughter, A sound of joy.

A child running carelessly through a

flower strewn meadow, petals in her hand,

light in her eyes and a smile on her

sweet lips...

The cool wind dies.

Silence reigns again.

Nothing stirs the air.

Stillness settles in.

My old friend despair returns.
471 · Apr 2014
Mountain top
James Jarrett Apr 2014
Do I dare to dream; To aspire to those lofty
heights from which I could fatally plummet?

Ah, but the air is crisp and the sky is
blue upon that misty summit

And it calls to my desire to have the world
beneath my feet

But if I am again to dream I first must rest and sleep
470 · Nov 2016
Mercurial
James Jarrett Nov 2016
I flash like lightning
Blue crackling fury
From a cloudless sky
468 · Jan 2014
A field of Ash in the dark
James Jarrett Jan 2014
She comes to me in my dreams

A lace wrapped wraith with golden hair

She runs carelessly

Through the mist shrouded  forest

of my dark unsettled sleep

A dream, a dream

And lost

I awake

And am left with the moist air

upon my bed

Damp and chilled I rise to my day

And all that is left

Is the memory of a dream
457 · Apr 2014
Lunch poem #20
James Jarrett Apr 2014
Oblivion, oblivion, hope of the ******.

Your dark waters lap incessantly at the

shores of life.

Washing, ever eroding, until that day when

the body as stark and white and naked as

it was when it left the depths of your abyss

plunges headlong into your black waves
From "Lunch with the ******"
James Jarrett Aug 2014
Did he know
For one moment
At all
Among flash and bang
And flaring flame
That his soul
Had lost its tenuous
Hold that gripped
Upon the cliffs of life
Or did he just slide
As body falls
Into dark of night?
446 · Mar 2014
Well read
James Jarrett Mar 2014
My mother always told me
That a man should be well read
At least I listened well
And did as she said
Now I'm Slightly
Worn around the edges
Pages slightly bent
Text a little faded
But the words still relevant
I know I show some dog ears
Straightened here and there
But as my mother told me
I have become well read
446 · Jan 2014
Lost to me
James Jarrett Jan 2014
One day I stopped believing In you

No longer did your smile

Or your lies of love matter

Your bittersweet words

Lost their sweetness

Your smile mocked

Your lies

Became lies
439 · Jun 2021
Sheepdog
James Jarrett Jun 2021
I am now the old dog under tree

I will sit back and watch as the the wolves devour the sheep

Wolves will be wolves

And sheep will be sheep

Just don’t come under my tree

And all will be fine

With me
435 · Jan 2014
Love in the fading night
James Jarrett Jan 2014
I await the awakening of my love

She slumbers in undreamed sleep

Held between dark and morn

The last bonds of night still hold her

Slowly slipping fetters

Fading with the dawn

In the shadowed twilight

I wait to see her stir
435 · Jun 2014
Kennedy's head
James Jarrett Jun 2014
I watch what unfolds around us
With a growing feeling of dread
It's like watching the Kennedy assassination
Except we are Kennedy's head
435 · Sep 2021
Five legged rabbit
James Jarrett Sep 2021
Five legged Rabbit

Scooting like a beggar

Ears up, paws out

Looking for a hand out

Can’t run

Can’t hide

Dog’s a’watching growling

No hop

No jump

Aren’t you glad she found Ya’?

Share this:
My wife has a five legged Rabbit. Two back legs are joined making for a 9 toed foot. He is healthy but has to scoot instead of hop
431 · Jul 2017
The drought
James Jarrett Jul 2017
It was like waiting for the rain to come

Waiting for the drops to strike the parched dust and feed the earth

Hoping into blue skies and cotton clouds

That something would form

Would come

Given by grace or God

And it was that God awful wait

Not knowing from day to day

If she would live or die

It was as bad as the wait at a death bed

Waiting into the dawn for the dying gasps

And then one day it came

The skies opened

She told him that she wanted to decorate for Christmas

No tree or gifts and not even the inside of the house

But he knew

As soon as she said it

The wait was over

The rain had come

The water would run in the fields

She would live
430 · Jan 2014
I breathe poetry (10w)
James Jarrett Jan 2014
I breathe poetry
My soul exhales
Words of my heart
With a nod to Alex for"I breathe poetry" http://hellopoetry.com/-alex-16/
427 · Nov 2018
My muse shanked me
James Jarrett Nov 2018
I wouldn't write
Not a word, Nay one
Until she caught me in the corridor
A dark hallway for sure
And put her blade to me
Sharp and cold
To the hilt
One push
One twist
To make me feel the pain
So now
And only now
Do I sing
James Jarrett Feb 2014
I weigh her pain against my love
I weigh my love against her pain
I cannot see her hurt, although she hurts.
I cannot see her suffer, although she suffers.
I love her with every fiber of my being.
I am lost my love as to what to do,
truly lost, for the first time in my life.
My instinct is to save you, protect you,
throw my body over you, for you are my love.
I cannot conceive harm to you
or the terrible things that happen with death.
My life ends with you.
My love ends with you.
I will **** you my sweet love if I must,
and you will **** me.
A pain, thank God, that has passed.
424 · Jan 2018
Mountaintop (1991)
James Jarrett Jan 2018
Do I dare to dream
To aspire to those lofty
heights from which I could fatally plummet?

Ah, but the air is crisp and the sky is
blue upon that misty summit

And it calls to my desire to have the world
beneath my feet

But if I am again to dream I first must rest and sleep
424 · Feb 2014
Love gone
James Jarrett Feb 2014
I wish for you

All that you gave to me

As I gave to you

All that I had

You thought that

I would love forever

Until I couldn't

Care for you

Until I wouldn't.

Give to you

As long  you could take

Until you took

My love

And made it hate

I hope someday

That someone

will give

To you

What you gave

To me

My love
421 · Mar 2014
R.I.P. little Brer
James Jarrett Mar 2014
I have courted
her for years
showing her
kindness
and love
She in turn
has evaded me
like a ghost
gone
just out of grasp
never there
when I reached
I have longed to
touch her
feel her warmth
her softness
comfort her
in my arms
But she was
never there
until today.
I reach for her
and my hand
finally finds her
My first wild shop rabbit. She has been replaced by Larry, another rescue.
417 · Feb 2014
Time (10w)
James Jarrett Feb 2014
The many
blows of time
fall savage
upon my soul
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