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Jun 2018 · 583
Doing Life
Joseph Flores Jun 2018
Once we ran with freedom
Our hearts floating in the sky.
Love fell abundantly.
Drenching you and I.

Boom!
A selfish thunderburst...
Lightning on the scape.
Our love once bedewed...
Gone without a trace.

Sunshine can't conceal...
My swollen cirrius pain.
Nor the slicing breezes...
Slivering the rain.

Life devoid of nature.
Sunbeams lack the reach.
Indoors.
Life in a tiny cell.
Reinforced with steel.
Heavy dungeon door.
Bars made out of tears.

Melodramatic dreams.
Stir an exotic drink.
Making love on my cot.
Beside the stainless sink.

Life without parole.
Without your tender touch.
Love in the first degree.
Now I never see you much.
Will you visit me?

You are my lonely prison...
My emotional cocoon.
Your love a distant thunderburst...
Far beyond the moon.

You are the pin-up girl...
Pasted on my wall.
You are my prison warden...
Life's not fair at all.
Jun 2018 · 165
I Can and I Can't
Joseph Flores Jun 2018
I can question the unknown.
Do you remember me?

I can't remember the memories of my own destiny.
But I remember you.
Joseph Flores Jun 2018
9 to 5
I can't quit...
Cause I'm not dead yet.
Take my corpse...and
Pour gravy over it.

Who poured grey paint over the dingy walls?
Its dead, drab grey covered the lifeless faces...
Of each and every waitress.

Burning the eggs...
I wonder...
Is this where mediocrity comes to work itself to death?
As I stare into the fire.

The same fire tamed by man a million years before fast food....
The same fire that fueled our modern world....
The same fire that burned in our hearts when we fall in love....
The same fire that shines in your eyes.

The same fire that burned two cities in Japan...
The same fire that burned the books in **** Germany...
The same fire that burned the eggs...
The same fire in my heart you extingushed when you quit the restaurant and said goodbye to my love devoted to you.

Dead end jobs, love and lives...
God giveth and he taketh away.
Can I be smothered in gravy today?
Jun 2018 · 162
Sunday Toil
Joseph Flores Jun 2018
Brisk winds fly...
Slice the sunshine rise.
Mild the morning.

An old man...
Opens his eyes and jumps out of bed...
Thinking...."Has it been a week?"

His hands calloused and sore...
Still, he thanks the Lord...
For his Sunday toil.

Energized...
He dresses quickly...
And he opens the door.

Steps outside...
Scans the countryside...
Dips his tobacco.

Begins with a stride...
A journey far and wide...
Into the city.

Birds sing their morning song...
He whistles along...
With a skip in his step.

Approaching the city...
He sees the bustling people...
Comes to a church and goes to the steeple.

Spits his tobacco...
He enters the the tower
Before the 900 o'clock hour.

As dark as the pitch...
Without a hitch...
He ascends the stairs.

At the silent bells...
He grabs the heavy rope and watches the time...
At 9:00, he arches his back, and tugs on the line.


He feeds a rapid reel...
Steel on steel...
Sets the rythym.

His muscles create...
Beautiful songs...
Every hour all day long.

Watching the time..
He straightens his back and releases the line...
At 600 o'clock sharp.

The slowing reel...
Softens the rythym...
Until the bells go silent.

At the end of the day...
The "Old Man Coil"
Thanks the Lord for his Sunday toil

He descends the stairs...
Without a hitch...
Outside its dark as the pitch...

He exits the tower...
Scans the city scape....
Dips his tobacco.

Leaving the steeple...
He sees fewer people...
As he approaches the country.

No birds are out whistling songs...
Aching back but he trudges along...
No pep in his step.

On last stride...
Ends his journey far and wide...
Back to the country.

Spits his tobacco...
Scans the countryside...
Opens his door.

He steps inside...
Slowly undresses...
In total exhaustion.

His hands bleeding and blistered...
But in a kindly whisper...
He thanks the Lord for his Sunday toil.

The old man...
Jumps into bed...
And closes his eyes to sleep...
Until the following week.

Brisk winds slice...
The starshine rise...
Mild the evening.
Jun 2018 · 191
A Shiny Ring
Joseph Flores Jun 2018
Today she recieved ~
A shiny ring ~
From her special man.

Instead of showing off her ring ~
She bowed her head and cried.

Though her tears shed heavy ~
And trickled the long day through~
One never fell in happiness ~
Nor joy.
Nor thankfulness.

She cried because ~
She couldn't show the shiny ring ~
To her mom and dad.
Or her family ~
Or her siblings ~
Nor all the friends she had.

She didnt want the shiny ring at all ~
But couldn't give it back.
And if she could ~
It would only make him mad.

How could a shiny ring of gold ~
Placed around her finger ~
Make her want to cry?

You see, he never set ~
A shiny ring of gold ~
Around her finger.

He gave her a shiny  ~
Purple ring ~
And he put it around her eye.
Jun 2018 · 201
My Valentines Day
Joseph Flores Jun 2018
Motoring.
Listlessly.
Evening crawl.
Halogen blue-blur.
Spit-shines clear.
The asphalt highway.
That goes no where.

Solemn moon.
Pale and dull.
Leans against the rock people.
Walking the desert.
In disguise.

Quiet winds.
Deaf and aphasic.
Feed the alluvial ribbons.
That perch the stoic.
Introverted.
Black Apache elevations.

Cliffs of blened sandstone.
Surrender without a fight.
To the oily, alien sky.
Slumbering in the night.

Silent partner.
Nameless horse.
Sandscape still.
Geological corpse.

Lifeless.
Barren.
Thirsty too.
My Valentine's Day.
Without you.
Jun 2018 · 196
No One is Perfect
Joseph Flores Jun 2018
As no one knows perfection ~
I love my dew dropped raisin.

Eighteen days no alcohol ~
No more **** a blazin.

Since she put the glass pipe down ~
Since she stopped free-basing.

Today her best is shining through ~
Today she is ****-mazing!
Jun 2018 · 166
Her Breasts
Joseph Flores Jun 2018
Her ******* are tethered to stringy taffy skin...
In swollen-udder swell.

Girth beyond proportion..
Pools of celluloid.

Like two aged and droopy heavyweights...
Far beyond their prime.

A fleshy gravitational pull...
Drops each in heavy toss.

Fatty tissue stretches thin...
As one falls into my mouth.
May 2018 · 176
Irony of U.S. Mail
Joseph Flores May 2018
Within a wooden box ~
A frantic reach and grab.
She smiles from the sidewalk  ~
  In her trembling grasp ~
A note for her friend ~
Is held up high.
She shouts "You've got mail!"

For a ten cent postage stamp ~
A letter from her man.
Courtesy of the U.S. Mail
Love delivered ~
Hand -to-hand.

She shouts...
"You've got mail!"

Courtesy of the U.S. Mail
An ageless cry of lore.

Covered wagon on the trail ~
Or by Pony Express.
A train steaming down the rail ~
Towards the Wild West.
Or delivered  through the air.
Love from shore to shore.

She shouts...
"You've got mail!"

Courtesy of the U.S. Mail ~
An ageless cry of lore.

From the desert to the shore...
To the mountain range.

The U.S. Mail ~
Always ahead of modern change...
Moving all the time.
Love delivered for a dime.

Delivered across the board.
Despite recession or progress.
Despite two great ****** wars.
Despite overnight express.
Despite UPS and FedEx

Despite the pace of technology.
Despite the speed of modern life.

"You've got Mail"
For two hundred years ~
Short and Sweet
An ageless cry of lore.

Reminds me of that old and ancient ~
Computer generated cry ~
Announcing the instantaneous reciept ~
Of your electronic-mail....

"You've got Mail"
May 2018 · 167
Depths of Mine
Joseph Flores May 2018
Forbidden mine ~
As skeletons lie ~
As dormant ore ~
Depths of mine.

Of my resistance ~
Overpowered.
Roundabout ~
Commenced.
Depths of mine.

Jacks and timber ~
Stack and cross.
Lights on line ~
Depths of mine.

Drill n' spindle ~
Cleave the spine.
Hammer down ~
Depths of mine.

Rest on the snooze ~
Secrets suddenly alive.
Dreams and pandemonium ~
Fog the ashy skies
On the midnight rise.
Depths of mine.

Skeletons gone awry ~
Guilt by association.
Shore my humiliation ~
Depths of mine.

Shame and discontent ~
My deepest flaws.
Revealed desires ~
Depths of mine.

But my love and destiny ~
You shall never know.
Your drill may tap my mind ~
But it will never reach my soul.
May 2018 · 153
Endless Love
Joseph Flores May 2018
Endless space is unfathomable...
Exponentially undeniable....
Multiplied by infinity.
Is but the square root...
Of my love for you.
Times pi...

One thing is for certain
My love for you is incalcuable..
At the speed of light or as you walk on by.

The pain stops and stands still.
As it centers over and burrows deep into my heart...
And stews into nothing.

Now
Our love can be easily solved.
Your love + Me = Nothing
Joseph Flores May 2018
Ebony and Ivory
Living Separate but Equal
Without harmony.

Side by side.
To die.
Military.
Not in life.
Not in jobs or money.
Oh, Lord...why don't we?

We live to earn.
We earn to live.
They must learn to live...
On what we give.
Poor and deprived.
Barely survive.

We all know people are different...
Wherever we go.
We are good.
They are bad.
Unlike us.
We will drive.
You will go to the...
Back of the bus.

Ebony and poverty...
With out human dignity.
Ivory and opportunity's...
The Seven Seas and shopping sprees...

Together in perfect harmony.

Ebony and poverty...
Diabetes and Heart Disease.
Ivory and opportunity's...
Ivy League...
College degrees.

Together in perfect harmony.

Ebony and poverty...
Drugs shot up....intravenously.
Ivory and opportunity's...
Ph,D's and VIP's.

Together in perfect harmony.

Ebony and poverty...
****** in the first degree.
Ivory and opportunity's...
A red convertible...
Mercedes.

Together in perfect harmony.
Mar 2018 · 161
A Passionate Poem
Joseph Flores Mar 2018
A man sits still. Deep and long of ponder.
Epiphany!

Grasped.
A long, wispy feather.
Dipped in a pool of ink.
Its veiny hollow filled by liquid draw.

The plume's stalky rootlet.
Is set firm upon a foolscape.
Trawled heavy across the lay.
Spurs a silken slipstream of inelastic indigo.

Sharp. Esteemed.
Bent tipped quill.
Ink aflow.
Records forever.
His thoughts and dreams.
Fears and subtleties.

Words expressed in ink.
For all to see.
Words.
What do they really mean?

Words of a popular song.
Vague and drawl.
Words penned for the general view.
Mean absolutely nothing at all.

However
Words that dare to affect another.
The most intensely personal words ever tendered.
Words mined from the deepest canyons of thought.
Words not written of one another.
But words written of oneself.
These are the words most meaningful to me.

Words that define the mortal poet.
Words that form the evil poem.
Words that swirl subversively poetic.

Correct me if I'm wrong.
I'd rather know a passionate poem.
Than sing a popular song.
Feb 2018 · 169
Fates Fault
Joseph Flores Feb 2018
Fate, abandoned me!
As when a cocoon wiggles...
At the most peculiar time.
Request denied.
My hearts petition.
Emotional referendum.
Astral intervention.

As bumble as a humble bee...
"Fate...may I  receive of thee?"
My Fair, my destiny and a love everlasting?

By mystical decree.
Neglected plea.
Loneliness.
Slowly overtaking me.
Bumble as a humble bee.
Fate abandoned me.

Fate, you pompous ***!
You fare undeserving.
Of your celestial esteem!
An ego gone awry.
A dry, apathetic dream.
A megalomaniac. A cosmic usurper.
Who are you to say I don't deserve her?

Her?
I'm breathless.
Still, I love her more than oxygen.
As fair as striking.
As tall as angular.
Contoured, yet slender thin.
Skin churned soft of heavy cream. A freckle spangled dream.
Hair flowing in a rare red reed toss.
A red so rare it's till unidentified.
By science, poet or thesaurus.
As if cast from the splintered depths of a prism burst....
Where does her red hair stop?
Where does her red cape begin?
Where's her invisible plane?

Her eyes defined.
The bending light filtered of her optic rods.
Spike and glisten.
A thousand megapixels.
Of the deepest greens.
Like strands of Kentucky bluegrass. Wild on the bramble.
A wet, chlorophyllic  dream.
Metaphors both naughty and sweet.

I do deserve her.
Fate...why did you let me down?

Fate replied...
Of your request, it was plain to see.
Love unquestioned and
Deserving of your Fair.
Responsibility accepted.

It was Fate, you see, who...
Crossed your paths.
Lit the stage.
Lent your acquaintence.
At the right moment.
A wispy smile. A flair of good.
Exactly as needed.

Fate, to be sure...
Aligned the stars in your favor.
Weather was set so hearts may melt.
Placed the planets strategically...
So Mercury...
Fills a heated desire.
Your lovely Fair on fire.
Her love forever.

But love was not your companion.
Too many nights alone.
No one used the phone.
Texts became a hassle.
Your negative tone.

Fate did not abandoned you.
Fate did not let you down.
Turn this blame around.
I'm sorry, sir.
But it was YOU
Who let Fate down.
Feb 2018 · 253
Like the Coelacanth
Joseph Flores Feb 2018
The ancient Pacific
Bellows.
Engenders.
Wind streamed waves.
Liquid Silver.
Whip and sidle.
Time eternal.

Man,
Too,
Bellows.
Engenders...
The Ocean...
Plundered.
Cod to gold.
Brazen and bold.
Pirate treasure.
***** Whale oil.

The best and worst ~
Of wild nature.
Give or Take
Thriving or Surviving.
Life or death.

Which came first?
Strings of Kelp or Nets of String?
Swordfish or Harpoons?
Archipelagos or Man Marooned

Nature or humanity?
The vessel or the sea?
The Humpback or the oil lamp?
Happiness or Sorrow?
Yesterday or Tomorrow?

A Moment in time.
Time eternal.
All of history.
Standing still.
Man and ocean co-exist.
Nessie.
Loch Ness.
Survival of the Fittest.
Paradise.
Revolution.
Theory of Evolution.


Why do Whales sing?
Why do Octopus need ink?
Why do Dolphins Echolocate?
To communicate.

Does the ocean know?

Mass larceny of the Hydroscape.
The ocean *****.
Orcas in Captivity.
Global warming.
Pollution.
Sea levels rise.
Why does the deep blue oblige?

Solve the equation.
The mystery of the sea.
The ocean dies.
Like the coelacanth.
To pass extinct.
When I do the math.

In this wise ~
I theorize.
The deep unknown.
Understands.

Thus,
Perhaps.
Waves and tides ~
Do not recede in undertow.
No!
Waves and tides push forth to shore ~
Desperate to escape.
Man's impact on the sea.

To go extinct.
Like the Coelacanth.
To live again.
When
Man succumbs to...
Natural Selection.

Nature's revolution.
Jan 2018 · 154
The Desert
Joseph Flores Jan 2018
Motoring...
The road radiates.
Evaporates.
Orange Marmalade over
A sweet asphalt wafer.

Pure cane sandbeds.
Sedimentary candy canes.
Granulated sugar dunes.
In waves of Lemon Meringue

Suzie-Q tableau...
Caramel Mesas.
Chocolate Buttes.
Confectionary fantasia.

Butterscotch freshlets.
Cinnamon arroyos.
Flash floods churn the flavor.
Over and over.

A creamy sunset.
Horizon on the fly.
A scoop of Rainbow Sherbet
Melting in the sky.

The desert as a sugary delight.
The sweetest ever heard!
"But, it wasn't me." said the Desert..
"It was my evil twin, Dessert!
Jan 2018 · 1.2k
My Summer Daze
Joseph Flores Jan 2018
Memories sweet ~
Salty dreams ~
Aqua-quixotic mind.
The last frontier ~
Summertime.

Girls Gone Crazy.
'In Surf I Trust.'
Bermudas.
Ray-Bans.
Beach or bust.

Abalone divers.
Seaside gusts.
Creamy skies ~
Blood-orange dusk.

Ocean perch.
Cliffside diving.
Crab claw, snap!
Child crying.

Nets ascending.
Fish school scatter.
Skipjacks dance.
Whale spray splatters.

Back bay blues ~
Cool to settle...
Boats return to quall.
Couples trek ~
Beyond the dunes.
Where love ~
Is known to fall.

Lights to glow ~
Dim to shining.
Rides and music ~
Boardwalk rising.
Dipped and Battered.
Fresh fish fryin'.

Flashing neon ~
Midway prattle.
"Step right up!"
Razzle-dazzle.
Ring a bottle.
Toss a dime.
"Winner, winner"
Every time!

At once and sudden.
Of my glimpse.
Soft-serve skin.
Perky sized.
Corduroy curls.
Topaz eyes.

Monokini ~
Thread bare brief.
Sheer to cover ~
Her coral reef.

Of my ask ~
To my surprise.
867-5309
Gently scribed.

Forelock flipped ~
Savory smile ~
Lips goodbye.
A kiss implied.

Boardwalk bevy  ~
Slow to nape.
Forth to wander ~
Eveningscape.
Foggy mist.
Lunar tide.
Surf and sand ~
All collide

Off the beaten ~
Of my stride.
Drunks and loafers '
On each side.

Sundowners.
Late night Croaker's.
Spent syringes.
Midnight tokers.

Spiny docks  ~
Cast slanted shadows.
Tiny shanty ~
On the shallows. 

Mild fire,
Silhouette.
Tiny dancers ~
Cheap wine fest ~
Marijuana pow-wow ~
Wasted luau ~

I've gots to go.

Back to camp.
Do-si-do.
Surfside fox-hole.
Jacques Cousteau

Sandy hollow ~
Tide in tow.
Pop tent clears ~
It's ebb and flow.

Underneath ~
A starshine drape ~
Edge of sleep.
Wide awake.
Unseen struggle.
No escape..

Dark abyss ~
Midnight still.
Blue Whale calf ~
Bloodlet trill.

Orcas make the ****



Eerie silence ~
Beyond the reef.
Mist and mizzle.
Much to sleep.
Roaring waves ~
Crash the beach.

Stretched a long ~
Sand and daft.
Dawn slowly cracks ~  
At the aft.

Pastel egg ~
In the sky.
Sunny side up ~
The morning rise.

Inspired sight ~
Dawn shine lends.
California coast ~
Never ends.

Sandy ribbons ~
Beach belt bends ~
Emerald coast ~
Santa Ana winds. ~

Wind swept sparkles ~
Main sails sway.
Catamarans ~
Balboa Bay.

Health nuts  ~
Spandex ~
Own the morn.
Cyclists. Runners.
Life reborn.

Bleach blond beatniks ~
Chap-Stick chicks.
Surfers paddle ~
Waves to pick.

Jack not nimble ~
Jack not quick.
Jack wipes-out!
Lickety-Split.

Quilt-patch slum ~
Checkered lots do fill.
A teenage infested ~
Squattersville.

Hawaiian Tropics
Silver Oxide
Pubescent hormones ~.
Flourish topside

Bohemian families ~
Converge on beach.
Along the Rocky jetty.
Mothers chase ~
Big straw hats ~
Rolling off the windy.


Lunchtime snack ~
Seagulls gather.
Gap-toothed kid.
Defends his platter.
Relentless gull wing ~
Pitter patter.


His dukes held up.
He stands to fight.
As the bird gawks aloud ~
He flees in startled flight.

Noontide high ~
Chaise lounge cozy ~
Calls my name.
On the dozy.

Sleeping. Headache.
Spittle drooling.
Sunburned.
I wake to wonder ~
Was I dreaming?

My summer daze!

Saw a paper ~
Tossed of mine.
As unfolded read:
867-5309

My summer days!
Jan 2018 · 215
Living the Dream
Joseph Flores Jan 2018
Despite living...
Billions of years...
She was still...
A beautiful girl.

She was living...
The intergalactic...
Dream...
Our sentinel...
Of the night.

Until the day...
The men of Earth...
Arrived...

She never knew...
The meaning...
Of pain before...
Until...
The big machines...
Began to scrape...
The bounty of...
Her green cheese...
Skin.

"Let the mining begin!"

Soon the Sea...
The Sea of Tranquility..
Was filled...
With her very own blood...

After only years a few..
Her luminous skin...
Began to turn red...
She pained...
Deep inside...
She was wretched...
With fever...
Her request for...
Irrigation denied...
Each night...
Weak and weary...
She closed her eyes...
And cried...

She was beyond replenish...
In just 20 years...
Only 100,000 away...
From her...
2 Billionth Birthday.

By now...
Her skin prattled...
In blood and scars...
Incisions...
And mines...
She was no longer green and bright...
But glazed...
In a reddish hue.

Death would...
Soon surmise...
Menstrual moonshine..
Lunar rise...
Our once...
Blue-blood moon...
Now...
Floats mired in...
Disguise.

Her surfacescape...
Bleeds...
She is...
A ******-Mary eye.
Our bloodshot moon...
Dying for all to see...
In the myopic sky.

Her pleas...
And cries...
Denied...

No tourniquet applied...

25 years after...
The men...
From Earth arrived...
Just before her...
Two billionth birthday...
Our glorious...
Moon has died.
Dec 2017 · 194
How Was Love Created?
Joseph Flores Dec 2017
If my imagination ~
Cannot exceed my fears~
How was love created?

If my daring is mired still~
As you extend sweet puckered lips ~
How was love created?

If my courage cannot endeavor ~
Into the depths of your dreamscape eyes ~
How was love created?

Stymied ~
Subnormal ~
Obsequious ~
If I cannot create love ~
Why were you created?
Dec 2017 · 138
Nothingness
Joseph Flores Dec 2017
A pliant heart,
Cast a swain.
Beats alone.
Once again.

Cruel-sweet wind,
Shivers bone.
Bears the sledge,
Flesh vs Stone.

A slivered moon.
Dusk stars shine.
Nothingness.
The sky defined.

Thick grey clouds,
Drop kettled rain.
Serves as a shroud.
My heartfelt pain.

— The End —