I will step into
Illumination
Intrepid to
The so
Called
Strange.      My foot shall lift
Leaving me in bliss, unimpeded
From the bad things that try and make
Gain. No contrived copy or duplicate
To remain. Only natural to become.
As the become became a perfect
Example
Of
Sanity's sane.
I'm as rain falling through earth's atmosphere
Making puddles of poesía
Everywhere I go.

Mr. Hopsons polished , placid pond surrounded by dark green July corn , teeming with mud and flathead catfish , dairy cattle call on clear blue , bucolic afternoons .. Black tadpoles crowd her tall vegetative shore , hoof prints riddle lonesome trails , killdeer chirp atop Elizabeth rose fence lines , paddocks come alive with abundant , fragrant wildflowers of every shape , color and size ..
Beagles cry for their midday meal , songbirds vivaciously work the white barn homestead , Rhode Island Reds gather for Noon feast , Embden Geese patrol East seeking the blacktop , waddle noisily along the gravel drive , forever curious , even a touch boisterous and foolhardy from time to time ..
Charolais bulls command the molasses lick , working salt blocks , lay
without fear beneath tin topped field shelters ..

There is no loudspeaker
Giving orders about
What must be done

At this time
Or at that time

At a job interview
I was once asked
Where I saw myself
In five years?

I made something up
Don't know where I will be
In 5 days
Let alone five years


I am drifting
From time to time

*** looks like
It would feel good

Yes I am a ******
And all the beautiful women

I guess it doesn't matter
How strong I am
Or how many weights I lift

I have no plans
For full time

I do not love money

A total of probably about 120,000
Was spent on my education

And I make twice
The minimum wage
Lol

When I was very young
Certainly pre-school age
I had a little tricycle which I loved
One day
I decided that I could ride it down steps
I was wrong
"Whaaaaaah! Me 'air 'urts!"
"He's banged his head. You're alright
You're not bleeding so shut up skriking."

A day or two later on the same tricycle
Tearing down the hill opposite our house
In the middle of the road
It was a time when cars were rare on council estates
Indeed, ice-cream men rode push-bikes
With big ice boxes on the front containing his wares
And there was one on the road
Of course, I managed to hit it
"Whaaaaaaaa!!!"
"There there, yer alright, lad. Have a free ice-cream."
"Whaaaa - oh, ok."

My parents kept the front gate closed after that
I wasn't tall enough to reach the latch
They wouldn't let me ride my tricycle
Unless there was an adult present
So now that I was safe
I promptly fell over the dog and banged my head on the gate
"Whaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!"

                                   By Phil Roberts

read all the ones who came before. From Sappho, to the King James Old Testament, to the graffiti artist who scratched that quip on the bathroom wall.

2. read your words, out loud, when no one listens. Make sure all the stops and starts fall in all the right places. Make sure the words all sound like they belong where you put them. Be honest with your ear.

3. be transparent. Remembering - it is easier to be straightforward with strangers than with the people in arms-reach. You have to start somewhere.

4. be modest. Merit will always outshine bravado.

5. be full of heart. There are no prizes for stringing fifty cent words together on a string. Clever and poetic are too entirely different animals.

6. not every thought deserves to be a poem. Learn to separate the chaff from the wheat. Be discerning and your readers will honor you.