(RSVP - Respond, If You Please)
- Joseph Childress


The invitation left me hesitant
On my reservation
Divided between
Plus ones and a party of one

The family affair
Becomes unfamiliar
The apple of my eye, fell far from the tree
How peculiar
My pick
Left me looking at only pictures

The black mirror
Housed my reflection
Broken home
Shone on my broken phone
I play father to rejection

Cold shoulders received
She’s offspring
The fall’s approaching
Like holiday greetings

Who are you bringing?
RSVP.
Respond, If you please.

Night falls 'round 3pm nowadays
A yellow moon, cockadoos!
Yelling through the blinds
Singing a tune
For a midnight shifts tillings
Yesterday is still today
And it's tomorrow already

EYES IN THE WOODS

Eyes eyes
eyes in the woods,
eyes eyes
under dark green hoods.

Eyes in the dark
eyes in the light,
eyes shining dim
eyes shining bright.

Eyes filled with fear
eyes coming near
Eyes like twinkling devious
burning flames,
Eyes eyes eyes
they are never the same.

Eyes say yes
eyes say no,
eyes are the portals
from where all imagination flows

Eyes eyes
eyes in the woods
eyes eyes
eyes under dark green hoods.

The talk of the town
Is old school revolvers and revolution
Dusty trails and old wives tales
Dusk colored scene
Discolored clouds hover
The thunder brewing in parlors
After hour spirits
Pitched with the passion
Of melting steel
Strikes from the
Blistering heat
Forms the union of labor
Friction at it's finest
The time is a quarter til already

In due time
I’ll pay what’s owed
Alone for the load of old moves
Payback for loans to sell dreams for a minute
Pimpish
If it’s crazy to be owned by the past I will be finished
Listened
To the choir to acquire what was missing
My soul is tired
Worn like treads of tires
Sneaker soles and old attire
Suited with attributes of a brute
Uncouth in the present of the future forbearing
Telling what’s apparent
Yet no one will listen
Forever imprisoned by debt
Even bankruptcy is too much to afford
Lawyers are costly
Hard to invest in freedom
I’m left
Like the wrong hand
Gambling for the chance
To win
Signing on lines
Next to x’s
Trying to buy back.....
Trying....
I’m trying to...
****...

I need my ******* soul back!