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Keith W Fletcher Nov 2016
Inside each and every personal decision
There lies an opportunity for revision
Unless you step across it like a line in the sand
To continue on with a path not planned
So time creates opportunity to accept pauses
But only for those who have a love for the lost causes
Otherwise we seem to be lowering the drawbridge
In order to push out everyone who has true knowledge
So that those lies we've told ourselves matter
Will be enough when all future hope begins to scatter
And the four winds carry away  all sense of reason
Anyone not agreeing with self-destruction is guilty of treason
And although the Defenders stand ready at the ramparts
Does not mean an enemy attack is in the star charts
Whatever way you thought you could actually forecast
Went away the day you decided to step past
That opportunity for revision - that was your line in the sand
Before the spark of insurrection you purposely fanned
Why then do you seem to be now so altruistic
Without accepting responsibility for plans so unrealistic
There were signs posted all along that narrow highway
You know the one you denied was the way to ruin by delay
So what is it you in your hour of need plead for
We shut out yesterday now come  to batter  down the door
While getting burned by the warnings that you spurned
As false warnings of those who studied but never learned
That which you swept aside never breaking stride as you did your best to have your narrow thoughts applied to all who resisted that you insisted was what God enlisted you for .. to ensure that we were all to do

So if that really was what you know to be true
Why is it now that you need us the expendables
To come to the aid and rescue of you  who even now won't accept that ..

.... YOU WERE A PACK OF FOOLS!!
Keith W Fletcher Nov 2016
Let me know when you begin
To ignore the tinting of my skin
So you can see who it is that we really are
Until that time comes we won't get too far
We will all be standing in the cold and bitter rain
Tied to the past by a hardened chain
And all the victories that we've had will be in vain

The ones you trust are now just telling you lies
Still you listen and then you become
One of the vocal ones who constantly denies
That the truth is all that will stop what's ...  yet to come
Tied to the past by a hardened chain
All the victories we've had will be in vain

But no one seems to really care
About the fact that we are getting nowhere
And we're getting there...
... Faster and faster all the time
The ones who speak the truth might as well be a voiceless mime
Human rights are what we used to hold up so proud
Now we seem bent on pulling the Stars and Stripes over us ...like a shroud

Those countries that we used to help move ahead
Are now looking back to sadly shake their head instead
As they try to focus on what they need to do
Without the help , trust and faith of the red white and blue

And we're standing in the cold and bitter rain
Tied to the past by a hardened chain
And all the victories... That we've had ..will be in vain

Golden Rule was left so far behind
Greed and avarice seems  to have made us blind
Nobody listens but they demand the right to speak their mind
If Diogenes came here today... I'm afraid of what it is that he may not find

And we're standing in  the cold and bitter rain
Tied to the past by  a hardened chain
Willingly letting all of our past victories go down the drain and to be in vain
Keith W Fletcher Nov 2016
All poets and poetry
Is to me in form  surreal
As the poet is a micro thin mirror
Allowing the surface to be bent
Changing what others see or feel

We build wings of letter strings
Or one word sentences
As sharp as a Razor's Edge
Or as blunt as  a headaches constant thump

We conjure pleas as if on our knees
Seeking understanding from those we need ... saying
I am chilled of spirit who circles
Walking loneliness on a leash
Threatening me
With a sudden and lifelong attack
If if if I try  if I try if I try
To  engage my voice
I fumbled as I hear it crack

If I could I'd scream in rage
Get back get back get back
But still I fear I will be lost
In my attempts to run
To run and hide as I am not
I'm not I'm not I'm not I'm not
Nearly strong enough
I'm not... strong enough
Strong enough fight it
To fight it off I fear
Without you here...
... Here by my side

But I love the immortal
Protector of the neglected or rejected
The shy ones and the  meek
Who have not the confidence
To seek out the words needed to speak
So I will often step in to defend
To wrap a bully up like a crumpled Dixie cup
Proving he / she has no point that will hold water

Then bring in the empath flexible mirror
To be turned upon the foe
This case in point - most recent
Where I stepped in to hear the verbal abuser
Speaking out on Facebook post so I turned on my tap

His anger quite accentuated by facts
It always seems to enrage the brain that cannot engage
Showing us all the reply... You are stupid and no one wants to listen to a 60 year old man with mantitties and a ponytail
No no no no no he didn't for you see I am also 60 years old no man **** but I have a ponytail
And this is where I love our surreal ability

I lept in with both feet
Brandishing my paper foil
Determined to reach into his consciousness
Seeking out his abuse as my excuse to release the coil

Hey dude we are all pretty lucky  
That there was once  those who chose
To pay attention to those with ponytails
You know John Paul George and  and
You know what's his name

I set the bitter teeth of that spring-trap
Baiting as I was waiting for him to ...
... put his foot into the Trap
Which was ... Obviously his mouth
And like a dream - my little scheme
Paid off like a slot machine
He said to me..
Shut the f up nobody talking about them Fn idiots ***** The Beatles
I said I can't believe you dude F-bombin them like that and I wasn't talking about the Beatles either
But I must say your misguided diatribe although I say your rant my ears it greatly pleases
As I meant John the Baptist the Apostle Paul George Washington yeah and you my friend just let loose the F-bomb on oh yeah JESUS.
Keith W Fletcher Oct 2016
I heard you been looking
Trying to find me
I haven't been hiding
For the last few years now...
... been here all the time

You said you think it's funny
How we just kept missing out in running into each other  
I can't see it with any kind of humor
I feel like it's been tragic - like black magic
Had to have a hand in this

I was at your sister's wedding
But they said that you were delayed in Denver
I left soon after they cut the cake and had the first dance
And then found out you caught the next flight
Getting there just 5 minutes after I left

I'm not sure if I remember
Where and when I came back from the ******
I know it was at least a week later

Then somebody told me you asked for my address
But because you had less than a 48-hour window
You had to get back to Tokyo.. you had to go
I guess you are just way too busy
Making your business grow...
always on the go

I finally - more than a year later
Got the courage to ask your sister ...
... If I can get your number
She gave me much more than just what I asked for
I caught the way that her eye suddenly pulsated
She told me that you were engaged to get married
Set for somewhere in early May
I thought about calling to give you my blessing
I just couldn't get myself to do it
I know I blew it...
... But I' kind of knew it  
For a long long time

Less than a month later
I quit my job
Sold my house and moved away
To start all over- I had become such a hater
All of my friends - were sort of glad to see me go

It didn't take long though - to know
That where I had landed
Was a place I didn't really belong
What I had tried so hard...
... To leave behind
Wasn't the people or the places
It was the pictures that I still had in my mind
That was something I figured out
Although it took a really long time and it took a heavy toll on me

I lost all Direction
Went out looking for just the basics
Cohabitation without affection
I'd make it clear - of my intentions
But people seem to just hear what they want
Each of them...
.... eventually tried to get closer
Then I'd have to try some kind of stunt
That would get them packing
It got so easy  I should just write a book

After awhile I forgot how to smile
Then it seems like I traded that for the ability to cook

Then for so long - I see now.. I was so wrong
And like you told me just a few minutes ago
That you' never got married
And that you even came looking
But everybody told you that I seem to have just disappeared

No I don't think it's very funny
But I'll be sure to always be around now
I'll be by to see you whenever I can
I have to go now- I'll see you tomorrow
And we can catch up on all the things that we missed

I didn't tell her that I was dying
Because of what the doctor - behind her shoulder just told me with his eyes
I really had nowhere to be -nowhere to go
I ended up in a bar having a drink and a good cry
That look from your doctor and the subsequent knowledge
Said that she has probably 2 weeks at the most
And she most likely will never ever leave the hospital

Now we **** sure ain't funny
And I was right when I said that its tragic
Now that we finally found each other
And see  clearly how much time together we lost
I may spend another 40 years after you're gone
Being alone and I do mean alone...
... That's the price I'm willing  to pay
Because I already know just how much
Being without you... Can cost
Keith W Fletcher Oct 2016
Hey ... Out there
I'm worried about my wife
Could somebody please take her a message
Tell her everything will be ok
Man I don't know
This has just been a really weird day
That much I can truly say
Because I lived it

Let's see... I got up as usual at 5 a.m.
Like always I kissed her cheek
She never knows I do it ... I've asked
But I like it because she mumbles in her sleep
What she says or doesn't say matters not
Is the little smile that appears that I'm after
I catch it in my cortex and then slowly let it seep
Into every fiber of my being
As I deal with my working day

Sometimes it's like it's a 3D image
Floating right out in front of me
Usually when some wackadoo  corporate ****
Is making it extra hard for me continue to be
A puppet
Yeah that's right
Then if you don't understand it
Chances are you're probably White

Now I'm not lumping you all together
Though I can say this much for sure
You will never understand my existence
And what each day I must endure

This day has just been plain stupid
I know of no other word to express
The way a simple stop to pick up milk
For my twin girls breakfast can become such a mess

Put your hands above your head
Get on your knees
Don't move or I'll shoot you
Get down on your knees
For a Split Second Abbott and Costello
Flittered through the Kaleidoscope behind my eyes
And I think it was that little smile that that created
Was what sealed my eternal fate

Those cops just shot me I said
So why do I not feel any pain
The slow staccato echo of gunshots
23 times I counted - again and again and again

Crazy man - this is just crazy
So I say again to the man pushing the Gurney
Just before they load me into the ambulance
Just after they pull the blanket over my head
Hey you out there I'm worried about my wife
I don't know...what
she and the girls will do now... Now that I am dead
Keith W Fletcher Oct 2016
Wagons **
Time to roll
. Got 1500 miles
And many lives to go
See the once great proud men
That the wind could never Bend
Going where white man sends

The Trail of Tears
Is paved with blood
From the people forced to leave
The land that they loved
Trail of Tears
The Dead End Road
That we're doomed to trod again
Or so the wise men told

The Native Son
In a foreign land
Pushed until he's down
So he has to have a hand
To raise him up
Upon his feet
Never raises his eyes
Cause  he knows
That he's been beat

Now he walks into the sun
Getting near to the end
Of what the white man has begun
Took away...
... All hopes and pride
Sent them all away
Dead and dying deep inside

Trail of Tears
Is paved with blood
Of the people forced to leave
The land that they love

See the once great proud men
That the wind ...
       ....could never Bend
Going where
The white man sends
. Got 1500 miles and many lives to go
Keith W Fletcher Oct 2016
He has a face etched in relief
The face of a saint
The face of a thief
A face that has seen ...
... A lifetime of pain
He's an old fashioned cowboy
With dust in his veins

He's lived and he's breathed
All that life has to give
He thinks fences and houses
Are no way to live
He's an old fashioned cowboy
Still living on the Range
And he'll die in the saddle
Cuz he just can't seem to change

Homerolls and jerky
Are all that he needs
But when he was younger
He found new ground for his seeds
He's fought and he has ridden
With the best you've ever known
But when he dies in the saddle
He will die all alone

He's an old fashioned cowboy
With dust in his veins
An old fashioned cowboy
Cuz he just can't seem to change

He has a face.... etched in relief
The face of a saint ...
... The face... Of  a thief
A face that has seen
A lifetime of pain
He's an old fashioned cowboy
With... Trail Dust
In ....
             .....his....
                     ..   .....veins!
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