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10.1k · Oct 2016
Actually not a poem just something that an enthusiastic "WOW" recently convinced me to go ahead and post
Keith W Fletcher Oct 2016
Actually not a poem just something that an enthusiastic "WOW" recently convinced me to go ahead and post
I thought about this and around this for a long time, so I guess it's time to write it down.

THE NATURAL ORDER.

There is a natural balance in Earths history and mankind's tentative balance along the scale.
  When humans began to band together and create communities, control of fire / light created a need for oil . Eventually settling on whale oil.
   So it was by the grace of whatever one might want to attribute it to,that let petroleum come into play at a time when whales are in danger of being annihilated and dead horses were clogging the streets of cities in the east, left dead or dying by the Cartmen who simply unstrapped the sick or dead animal and moved on.
  .Oil / petroleum led to the creation of the internal combustion engine.
   So again a hand stirred the ***.                
  Consider these improvements( if such they were )created rapid growth and burgeoning cities . Again Providence stepped in to create radio , telephone and airplanes, essentially at a time when growth of humanity was so great , that new ways of farming , new ways of seeing the world-  were  becoming more and more necessary to a shrinking world.
   Unfortunately, at a time when we, the American initiative creators of so many trends, ideas ,Innovations and inspirations around the world, were suddenly slammed a blow that at this point, 40 years later; it's very reverberations are still being felt.
   Consider if big oil and trickle-down had not ,for spiteful and greedy involution, taken down the solar panels from the White House roof, that Jimmy Carter had installed in 1977.
  How far ahead would we be now ,in clean energy and how much less damage to the ice cap and the atmosphere would have been done??  To date... my guess is that it is incomprehensible.
  So if nature does create a balance, it seems we are coming to a critical Junction.

Right now -metaphorically speaking- we are riding shotgun in a car with a driver ,who like us ,sees cars up ahead disappearing around the curve and all hitting  their brake lights. Now any reasonable driver at highway speeds is 65 - 80 miles an hour would at least take the foot off the gas in preparation of  tapping the brakes.
  So many politicians right now are refusing to accept the brake lights... see no reason to tap the brakes to interrupt cruise control, in all actuality, completely refusing to do anything except go around the curve at full speed.
   Around that curve we may find nothing but smooth sailing ,  or we may find a catastrophe in the making.
   Nature will accept the cruise Interruption now (maybe) brakes absolutely, but Full Speed Ahead will lead to the sickening crunch of seawater rising and  spilling salt water into the lands that are used for growing crops and food -  leading to millions , maybe billions of refugees with nowhere to go.

Or we will reach critical mass of sheer ignorant arrogance and nuke ourselves into a situation that does not have the technology or population to hammer at the planet so freaking hard.

Most likely the first scenario would instigate the 2nd and those of us who crawl up out of the ashes will start the evolution to revolution journey all over again.

Ain't nature Grand ???
Continue reading...
8.7k · Jun 2016
Accounting for...
Keith W Fletcher Jun 2016
Accounting for...
Broke
Unable to finalize any purchase
Checking
For change in the last places that one searches
Insufficient
To the point I'm unable to ward off the throes of destitution
Bankrupted
By devaluing those who have not made restitution
Insolvent
To the point of having to fight off the urge to curse
Disallowed by the prose that places value and give credit....to verse
Denied
Any credit accrued....maybe even unearned
Reevaluation
With no accounting for the time you
SPENT
Learning what you have learned
Depreciation or Appreciation
Cannot be quantified by the lack of someone.saying thanks
Interest will eventually be of value
Once accrued... but for now I must accept
That I'm simply overdrawn at my memory banks
Investment in my own value
Will allow me growth
In my own ...
......personal
Checking account
Helping me in balancing  the books
Keeping me payed up and happy
BY
Always giving others their true valuation
  So that ego doesnt become a currency
That is subject to... such a devastating inflation
Continue reading...
4.4k · Jan 2016
Echos on a 12in screen
Keith W Fletcher Jan 2016
Echos on a 12in screen
As I came through the door
Taps the cat  meowed at me
As she crisscrossed the floor space
Staying a foot ahead of me
Glancing into the big closet or tiny room
Whichever ... Dad called it his study
"Hey dad " I yelled at the back of his head
" His quick glance meant "hey buddy"
I noticed moms face on the computer screen
'Oh!"I snapped " mom ... Hey we miss you "
"I'm not talking to your crotch "she laughingly barked
"Sit down ... Move the camera or move your *** Trent"
I compromised by doing all three as dad took a break
The face of someone I truly loved sat there
Looking at me
From over  three thousand miles away.
Three thousand miles away!
"Hey baby " she said in her cooing voice " How are you?"
"Got a job at Dannerlans ... Part time" I proudly engaged
"Don't let it interfere with" ...she couldn't stop and she knew...
I guess my stupid grin finally clued her in as she trailed off
"Half a world away and I'm still mom I guess. Dad musta.."
"He did ... Same thing.. And I won't. But what are you...."
"Don't you dare Trent " mock rage crossed her  face
As a few octaves fell out of her voice and I already knew
Here it comes.....a tsunami all the way from Japan
Putting my nose right to the camera and pushing on
I repeated "tsunami mommy  tsunami mommy  san
What can you do about it . you're way over there and I'm..."
" Gonna get it so bad .. When I get home mister "
:You're gonna look end up looking just like your sister"
"Oh ....Kay...  "I haltingly bounced her words round my mind
"I DONT HAVE A SISTER."
"Exactly"
Then I saw it... Set up and now....
Confusion and pride had my ammunition... just the facts
Dad arrived at that second with a coke for me and his beer
"Did you hear her ?" I asked him
" threating to make me a girl"
As I gave up the chair I heard that cooing soft voice sorta ....
..........GR OO ooowl ?!? While still softly cooing  "oh no no no...
Too good for you Bud...Buuud...Buddy?   You'll just disa..pear!"
Dad laughed first - drawing me in as I reluctantly let go.
"Nice try dear.... but you lost it coming round the outside corner"
What do you mean outside corner ..it was right over but too low
"Bye mom"  I said "got some homework to do " they were merged
Gone now for three month and three more to go .poor dad
His staunch had wilted within forty eight hours of her departure
But let's all pretend that you
never noticed the droop -a bit sad
Poor poor  dad ... Poor poor dad  I chimed as I climbed the stairs
He won't make it another three months . .. Very easy
I  haltingly caught my words as the downer that they were
As I scooped the elegant Taps  from the floor " but they'll make it "
I whispered into her ear. "Won't they girl? "Her answer was a purr

I'm thinking of joining the red cross
That's good...gets you out and about....
In the ...nei..bor....
"Okay .. Whats yet to be told ...spill
"They asked me to run the admin office" She
So you'll have to travel for a while  that's ok" (He)
"The whole admin office for foreign.... "  She let it trail......
Allright so you come back weekends
Ain't that far....to... (He)
      .......... ...Japan ....(She)
Dad........didn't  have any words to say
And the staunch started peeling away...right then and there
The love they shared
Might be compared
To historic qualities
Romeo and Juliet  sans tragedy
Bogie and Bacall  for longevity
Tracy and Hepburn for loyalty
Burns and Allen for ..for the comedy
So I knew.. as..  anyone else who  
Saw him day to day decline
That she was on her way home
By seeing the force of nature
He suddenly became
A human dynamo in preparation
For the reunification.

I walked through the front door
Sharon at my side and lacey in tow
"Go tell your brother to get in here "
So she yelled out the front door
"Trenton Dean Robertson get in here!"
Sharon and I met eye to eye
Bossiest little Seven year old....
"TRENTON now!"  I  yelled  out
"You better do what sis said"
He was now ten and tended to wander about
"I'm here "he said as he appeared
"Come on sis I'll beat you in...."
The last bit muffled
As they closed the basement door
And descending down the stairs

We both glanced into the closet
For that's what it really was
Dad sitting at the computer
And mom was on the screen
So I toted my load of groceries
As Sharon leaned in to say" hi "
And once we had supper going
I went to mix a drink and as I passed by
Dad said "son come here
Your mom wants to talk to you "
Besides we've been chatting  forever!
Then he whispered "I gotta go to the loo"
"Hi mom "I said as he departed
Leaving me to warm the seat
I'm not talking to your crotch
She said for at least the millionth time
There on the screen was the face
Of someone that I loved
Who never made it home that year
The flight was destined for history
Crashing into the Himalayas
Taking everyone on board
And the staunch became so rigid
And reality was simply ignored
He handed me a coke and opened his beer
Before resuming his vigil at the computer screen
That was his reality....his fantasy... and his hex
Some might say an old adage to sum it up
"IS IT LIVE.....OR IS IT MEMOREX?"

AS I drifted from the room they were merged.







..
Continue reading...
4.3k · Apr 2018
Resolute silence
Keith W Fletcher Apr 2018
Resolute silence
All along that grey draped zig-zagging shoreline
The men sat or stood in resolute silence
Each trying to reach back into minds
Scrambled like eggs by the fear of impending violence

Soon the hard faced men will open the gates
As the race will start as hearts will change pace
Then by push and twist they load like cattle
Into great grey hulking hearse's barely floating
Plunging through grey roiling seas toward thunder
Echoing across the channel quotation marks of the battle

That rages ,engages not turning ÷ripping out pages of history
When the water turns red punctuated by the floating dead....
........The question marks and periods
Exclamation marks in the book thats still being written ...
        ......to what end?
That is what makes any plot a vagrant thought
With a premise being an unresolved mystery
Such are .....
The vagaries of the ever repeating chapters of human history!
#army #greatest #generation #floating
Continue reading...
3.1k · Dec 2015
From Now To The Past
Keith W Fletcher Dec 2015
From Now To The Past
As the time is passing through
    From the present to the past
The moment is all wrapped up .....
              ....To be ....put away at last!!
                   A GIFT-----
      From some future time
           When all the signs
                Will show you
            That you now have
               A need for seeing
  Past the thing you already know
                When the present
                  Becomes history---
   In a past thats not yet opened--
To be seen for what it is ---or isn't
Depending on what you're hoping
                     While the past ....
                 .....is time passing
                    And time gone ....
                      .......is  going faster
             Now is the time for you...to
                          Re-- examine
                     A GIFT THAT WAS
                    Once your master
                          Its so hard to take
                             Even a single step
                            To know now
                  That the thing you fear
                         Stands before you
                         As the lost and found
             So the only question left is right here
                    Will you see the past
                            Whenever
                    You­ choose to lose
                      Or gain by seeing....
                                       .....The past
                           That you've kept
                  All wrapped up inside
                 That is now your future---
                   If it is presently----
             Being Opened and Examined
         But if you can just imagine
           Some mi'nute  past defeat
           As the thing that is now....yours
                      FOR - GIVING
                  So rather than.......anonymously
         Presenting it to you .....yourself
            By your own past deceit
          Make sure that you return it
       UNOPENED --- Along with the receipt.
Continue reading...
3.0k · Jan 2016
How I began the novel of which 8 other pages are posted here.
Keith W Fletcher Jan 2016
How I began the novel of which 8 other pages are posted here.
When you live in the suburbs like I do and like I always have,
the same house even, there is an intimacy that develops- real or imagined -with your neighbors. It's like those dreams we sometimes have about people and places that really do exist, but it just ain't quite what it's supposed to be , but we accept it anyway, because it's a dream and in that ethereal realm of dreams -that's what you do ...you accept the normally unacceptable.
       For instance, who could ever have imagined that the Rosses ,who live at 1423 ,would turn out to be secret swingers ? Mr. Ross is 62 years old, probably five foot nine with a horseshoe ring of white on white  cotton- fluff hair,  perched on his round pink scalp,  over his round pink face , accentuated by round -wire rim- glasses perched on his nose and a  little white mustache that hangs under his nose - like an afterthought.
    Mrs Ross is a  slightly rounded little woman that  always wears  flowery dresses, and  those god awful  tortoiseshell glasses secured to a  string around the neck  like secretaries and librarians often wear.   Her hair would also be white , if not for her habit of having it dyed blue , as is a habit of many suburban housewives of her age .
     So it would be impossible to ever imagine this pair of- short , jolly - suburbanites as secret swingers , but it's true. . I know!  Because I've seen them at it .  About 2 years ago- while Billy Joe Randall , Macy and me were( oh yeah my name is Rance Reed short for Clarence -but don't call me that ) anyway; where was I -oh yeah -we were down at the little pocket park on Grove Street- sitting behind a hydrangea bush-smoking a fatty- and telling each other lies that no one believes anyway, when we saw the Rosses walking toward the park, holding hands as they were often doing.
     Mr Ross looked into the park- suspiciously - as if he were afraid a  hit- man were  hiding somewhere .  There  for a moment I thought he could possibly smell our smoke.,but seemingly satisfied with his inspection, the two of them strolled -hand in hand - across the grass to the playground area where the spring horses , the merry-go-round and swings were.  Mrs Ross perched herself on the rubber - sling like - seat of a swing as Mr Ross pushed to get her started and then he climbed aboard the one to her left .  Using  that see-saw motion one uses to get himself going and then the two of them sat there -swinging and laughing together -for almost an hour.   Sometimes we could hear Mr. Ross go varoooom varoooom and Mrs. Ross would go wheeeeee. It  was the funniest thing that I've ever seen and the three of us sat there making jokes and laughing at them.   Three 23 year old wasted wastrels thinking that laughing at this spectacle was the right thing to do . Then a little while later , as a melancholy wave washed over us like a sea tide , we all stopped laughing.  All three of us -I believe - realized that jealousy is a hard pill to swallow while you're laughing . Looking back at that now I'm a  little  ashamed of myself.  So yeah, the Rosses were secret swingers , but you would never know it by looking at them--- (Oh!  You thought I meant the other kind of swingers. didn't you ? )   -anyway ; where was I ?- Oh  yeah .-     I believe they were sort of embarrassed about the whole thing so I've never said a word  to anyone  about what I saw -until now.  
     Then there is old man George (call me GL ) Angleton and his wife Sarah.   Theirs was the big grey, split -level rock and cedar  house that  dominates the very end of the cul-de-sac we live on called Grayson circle . An enormous porch dominates the front and that is the first thing anyone  - turning onto Grayson Circle- sees after making the turn.   The Angeltons house was always the most decorated house on the block , no matter the holiday,  especially at Christmas- when a raucous mix a snowmen, reindeer and especially Santa's, gathered under the thousands of twinkling lights each year.    There were so many Santas on the lawn, on the roof ,along the porch , one climbing the chimney   that- I always thought - it  looked  like the gathering together of Santa's for a Santa gang fight.
   Halloween was another special time with the Angeltons when they gave out more -kinds and just plain more -candy to all the kids than anyone else for blocks  around or even miles around. One year Mr. Angleton gave a comic books along with the candy to every kid  that  came to the door.
    So who could have ever imagined that just 6 months ago ,  2 days before Christmas , Mr Angleton , who was always of sweet disposition  and always quick to give you a warm smile or a compassionate pat on the shoulder would shoot and **** his wife Sarah and then turn the gun on himself ?  NOBODY!!!
   Certainly not me.
   No, you cannot just see the outside of a house, with the flocks of flowers , the nice neat lawn  and charming old rocking chairs on the porch and really know anything about the heights of happiness or  the depths of despair that live or die behind the front doors .
    When I was growing up , you sure couldn't have done any of that at my house. Looking back now I realize that G.L .didn't put out any decorations last Christmas .
        I should have noticed that.     Yeah , I really should have noticed that!
Continue reading...
2.8k · Sep 2016
As lifeless as dead certains
Keith W Fletcher Sep 2016
As lifeless as dead certains
My eyes are beyond polluted
By the overflowing inanities
That paint wordless post-mortems
On yesterday's lost fantasies

Rolling over lifeless as dead certains
When obligations fall into disrepair
And the king of all invocations
Awaits power sitting in an electric chair

As darkness shrouds the uninspired
In  triumphant ticker tape parades
While the bewildered beast becomes the feast
A million glasses in toast are raised

To the jesters unequivocally blasphemous proposal
To the queen of all frustrated converts
Who Once Upon a Time willingly surrendered
To the impresario pretender
Who fooled the world by laying siege on the empty house of cards

And with all the power granted
By the grace of obscenities triumphant screams
Separating me from reality by infiltrating my failing vision
With the polluted overflowing inanities of these cellophane dreams
Continue reading...
2.7k · Oct 2016
Ditches
Keith W Fletcher Oct 2016
Ditches
As I move along this Jaded biway
Gathering up all the discarded refuse
Of all the people freely moving on
With the scattered discourse of their lives
I wonder if they ever even realize
The wonderous  thoughts that materialize
In the minds - of those confined
To time upon time upon endless time

Let loose through the portals
Of  rubber wheeled time machines
The half consumed french fries
And the other assorted wrappers
From the king or the colonel or old MacDonald
To await the attention of me
Or one of my Band of Brothers
Stripe  garbed  attendants on a social mission
To gather up all that is discarded
Picking up all the pieces for a dollar a
day

Serving my time for some stupid crime
That I might never have done
If I'd been given the job... Like... Perhaps
Picking up trash on the side of the road
And for the feeling of pride - at earning my own
Continue reading...
2.7k · Jan 2016
(My apologies for length but its absolutely true and I've tried forever to write it so...)
Keith W Fletcher Jan 2016
(My apologies for length but its absolutely true and I've tried forever to write it so...)
All the blood was gone
As I had stood here ..knees locked
For no telling how long..
... About 40 years since  I had walked
Through the blanket on the doorway hung
That turned out to be a time machine portal
And here I thought it was just to help hold in heat
Silly me . RECOGNIZE . GOD  just touched a mortal
Just before entering here I was asking myself why
Why why why to a question I knew I hadn't a clue
AND NEVER WOULD! . So..why did I keep asking .?
I even knew That I knew
As I rushed down the hall and up the stairs
Across the landing and down the long cold hall
The redundancy of "WHY DID YOU DO THAT..WHY?"
All the way to that blanket and then into the warmth
As I stepped in and all the way back ....40 years.

I wasn't aware until suddenly I was standing there
Knowing I just got back but unaware that I had been gone
And in surrealistic repose was my half closed flip phone
Draped over my open left palm like a sea sick sailor
On unsteady legs asleep below the knees
I managed the  two steps distance -to my easy chair
Where I found the right levers to slowly ease
My cold, stiff and diminished mortal core
Down to where I might be able to gather myself
That was scattered all about
But first I had to close the flip phone
       That I had opened back in early September 1974

The television was playing right in front of me
But I never heard nor did I see
The fireplace was waining ----it's heat replaced by cold
I dragged a blanket over myself which I didn't even unfold
The day that existed outside the window
Scurried off
Stealing away with the light
As if it were checking to see if I'd even notice
How quickly the hands of the clock
Had painted in the night
I never even noticed --really .. I wasn't even there

I was sitting in my car in the grocery store parking lot
Watching strangers roll by as they cruised the strip
In a small town where I now lived for maybe two weeks
I was 17 a  longhaired city boy but if I was on anyones radar
     So far.... I hadn't made a single blip
One night as I sat  there
  A faded camaro
That had to be the ugliest green I ever seen
Rolled in to park behind my car
Quickly flanked by two more -
One at each door
I could see them in the mirror
I could hear the raucous laughter
This was what I had been sitting here for
What was missing that I was after
But .... I was as shy as I could be back then
Not the kind who could get out and just push right in
And then ......serendipity walked in
A cop car rolled past on the strip
And the wildhaired guy in the camaro just let it rip
Beep beep BEEEEEEEEEEP BEBEBEBEBEEEEP
WENT his horn and the cop whirled to turn in
Lost in the shadow of the grocery store he parked
As he emerged from the shadows I saw 5 ft 8 250 lbs.
And believe me now as  I give you my word
He demanded to know who was honking
Standing there 15 ft away
"I was piggy " yelled the guy in the camaro
I could not believe what I just heard ........or what I heard next
" Well cut it out Don" and into the shadow he disappeared
Then the camaro said "Beep!"
O. M. G   this guys going to jail.
The cop and him argued
The other guys split
I got out to watch from the trunk where I decided to sit
Before he went to the cop car
Cigarette in his lips
Encased in the most amazing grin he asked me
"Hey man ...you got a match?"
I didn't and said I was sorry and they disappeared in shadow
Oh well I thought as I sat watching them get in the car
Illumination of dashlights allowed a set of silhouettes
And I could tell --what the hell-
He was actually lighting up with the dash lighter
Then  he replaced it and in straightening back up
He dragged his fingers across every switch he could manage
And the shadows came alive
With flashing lights, bells and whistles
The cop went spastic shutting it down --2 minutes went by
Then the door opened and out stepped the guy
The car drove away as the wildhaired maniac
Walked over to me fiollowing the lit cigarette and that crazy grin
"That was pretty funny wasn't it dude?"  I probably agreed
That grin was infectious as we talked a bit  
I'm keith _ I'm Don
Then he said "Hey !  You got a joint"
"No I don't "I had to reluctantly admit" And the grin sorta drooped
"But I think I know where we can get one"
From that point on and forever no matter how far apart we were
This guy Don became my best and  truly thick and thin friend
In that 4 month span
I met another person in that town who changed my life
His name was Tom and he was 82 yr old and totally blind
In fact he had gotten his eyes kicked out by a mule at 17
He wore no dark glasses just open holes in his head  
But he was so cool that I just didn't mind
He would drop into the upholstery shop owned by my older brother
And tell whopping tales of one kind or another
About hunting alone and bringing back game
Roofing his house at night because it was cooler
Able to tell color by just a touch but I didn't ever mind
I came to love the spirit that dwelled in that old man
My brother built him a loom in the back to Tom specifications
And he wove shawls on it from skeins of different colored yarn
Then other towns people dropping in would see old Tom
And tell the same stories he told and it wasn't long
For my sister -in- law, my brother and especially me
TO REALIZE
That any doubts we had about him
were absolutely wrong
THEN
He walked in and ran his hand over a large red velvet couch
Saying oh ain't that a pretty red I stayed silent my brother said
" Now Tom . you've heard us talking about this couch color"
Not mad but in a weary kinda way Tom said " No! I can tell"
So I had to know ...had to . I got two velvet scraps 1gold 1aqua
Here what color as he took the gold -quick feel "thats yeller
   What the......!
Before handing him the aqua I detemined I would lie whatever
He took the piece ..felt for a few seconds and hesitantly said blue
"Nope" I said but !....then Tom felt some more and more and said
"    weeeeeeel its green " his hesitancy and 2 color choices had me freaked
But I said "nope"  and that old man
Right then ....changed my life
From that second to now he effects every fiber of my being
He threw his open holed  black orbless socket to within an inch
  An inch of mine--- square on -- so quick I was stunned
..........An absolute quote here.........
  " WELL its blue green then durn it"  for me this was an epiphony
Don't doubt people so quick  Don't let anything stop you from believing  it can be possible  Always accept that it can be amazing And try to pass this hope on
So I've always tried
    The crazy guy in the ugly green camaro became my friend
We became collaborators with his amazing ear and guitar skills
Over the years he had many vehicles almost always ugly green
So That morning of December 23rd  2012
A bitter wind blowing from the north at about 25 mph and 10 ° f
I Went from the little room I was hibernating in
The only heated room in the old house
It was upstairs facing the dirt road
I had hung a string of Christmas lights inside that north facing view
In hopes of cheering me up after a REALLY bad year of loss
Divorce, bitter battle and more trouble and pain than I like to recall
So when I got up and went out that blanket hung to keep in heat
Took the dogs down the long cold hall down the cold stairwell
And all the way to the mud room wishing I had gotten dressed
I was in flimsy pajamas and floppy houseshoes
At least grabbed a jacket especially once I opened the door
I started out before I felt that wind so I let the dogs have it
I would wait inside the door and as I stood there I saw a bag
A white garbage bag with a bit of green wreath sticking out
I had had it for years never hung it
Probably saw it every time I  entered
So thats where the unanswerable question started
I do not know why
I dug up a hammer a few nails went out the door
I don't know why
Walked a hundred feet out to a field
Got my freezing ice - coated aluminium extension ladder
And carried it back to the house
I DONT KNOW WHY
I don't know why I didn't give up when it took so long
To get the dam thing to separate
Or when ...
I smashed my frozen fingers in the process
But I climbed 14 feet in the air on that north wall
I drove a nail above the window
And I hung that
Red holly berry  adorned
Green plastic wreath
Climbed down and took the ladder back  (really)
And then me and the dogs headed up to the warmth
With me asking maybe even out loud " why why why why"
All the way into the room  
And as I passed through the curtain
At 10:00 That Sunday morning  I saw the flip phone flashing
I had missed a call from Don  gonna wish me an early
Merry Christmas
So I'm sure I was smiling as I hit redial
It was his girlfriend Tammy
Hey Tammy how are you
She said "Don just died in the hospital 5 minutes ago"

The room was cold as the late shadows of a winter day
Were muting the view through the window
As I closed up the flip phone on 1974
And managed to sit down  

Late that night as I still sat there
I had a fire going now
I had managed to eat
And I was thinking of past times
The time he drove down to Texas to get married
He came back and I asked  How you like Texas
And he replied "it ****** man . I can't drive down there"
Why ?
"Cause man they got stop lights running sideways
- not up and down so I couldn't tell what to do.

Then I knew without a single doubt
WHY ?
And I did get an answer to the question after all
And just like the old man Tom and the red and green
Because any doubt I've ever had Ever Ever Ever had
About God and heaven or any version of something more...?
Evaporated forever
Don drove ugly green cars because he was colorblind
He couldn't see red and green in the "normal"sense
And that green he said was the PRETTIEST RED HE EVER SEEN"
So on his way by he stopped in with that stupid infectuos grin
And shielded me from the wind
While that sum b made me hang that dang wreath
And changed my life one more time.
      
       I love you dude and you too Tom  (Hey Tom .   is this what you imagined I looked like?)
Continue reading...
2.3k · Apr 2016
Dreamer
Keith W Fletcher Apr 2016
Dreamer
Call me a dreamer
Because I believe
Things can be better
Then what we achieve

Call me a dreamer
Because I'm inspired
Believing I can pull us
Out of the pit we're mired

Call me a dreamer
For not giving up
When all that I see
Are things being corrupt

Call me a dreamer
Believing there's hope
That we can crawl back up
This slippery *****

Call me a dreamer
For not giving in
To the dizzying effect
Of how they always spin

Call me a dreamer
For what always seems
To be an assault on me
For my believing in dreams

Call me a dreamer
For the thousands of days
I patiently made my way
Through this maddening maze

Call me a dreamer
For believing someday we will create
A world without anger
In a world without hate

Call me a dreamer
Because I give a ****
Call me a dreamer
Because that's what I am
Continue reading...
2.0k · Jan 2019
I was looking when i got lost
Keith W Fletcher Jan 2019
I was looking when i got lost
I was looking when I got lost
ignoring the bill when I saw the cost
Saw my future in the turbulent waters
Of the porcelain pool into which I was tossed
Bemoaning  yet accepting the fate I was enduring
Upon hearing the sound of the handles clank
I relinquished all control
as I began to roll
Gave no fight of self preservation. as I sank
The echoing swoosh left its sound in my ears
Then solid darkness closed in tight
So much more vivid than night in absence of light
The water was thick and seemed to be swallowing me down
Any oxygen of life seemed a fast fading memory
As all the while I could feel a gathering momentum
Like a ride through some putrafied tunnel of .... well...now all ephemeral in it's sudden ephemerality
As I was
Blasted loose from that officious muck
Propelled far far beyond the cascading flow
as a lust for life returned in a flash
I flicked one fin and then the other before  allowing sweet gravity
To carry me down affording me that glorious splash.
Wow! It thought ' this is an enormous and wondrous bowl '
Oh oh oh!
That poor little goldfish that had suddenly become the hapless to happy victim
Of a frustrated and angry parent who had lost all control!!!

GOOD LUCK little one...you will need all you get!



Question/ riddle of sorts.
Anyone know the reason for my naming the. poem this ... bit of
i _ _ _ _ _ twist?
#freedom #lost #found
Continue reading...
2.0k · Oct 2018
Those days best forgotten
Keith W Fletcher Oct 2018
Those days best forgotten
There are those days best forgotten
In solemn silence all begotten
Comes fear and fire
and all that's rotten
In what seems
suddenly ..to be
my lot in life

Life is lived in cost-conscious revisions
Applied like mud poultices
Upon all daily impositions
Inclined to find
the weakest point
in the structure
Eating at you
in silent observation
Of your salient need for salvation as it ***** your
soul
Into the void
where all lost causes
Seek redemption
For all wasted time unspent
In cost - conscious
Solemn silence
When fear and fire
And all things rotten
Were what should
have been forgotten
Instead of all that
you left
unbegotten
#regrets #abortion #money #priorities
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1.9k · Aug 2018
Until all reason is bent
Keith W Fletcher Aug 2018
Until all reason is bent
What comes from those meandering thoughts
those sinister plots
that circumvent
all the effort that had been spent
creating naught but verbal rot
and  seditious dissent
bought
by consistent repetition
of thoughts never spoken
and statements never meant
of pressures applied
until all reason is bent
what forces the changing courses
of rivers, realities and those minds....when
 allowing up to define down
or out to equate in
such are the vagaries
plaguing the World As We Know It
yet we seem to descend
into the deepest..... darkest...
.... season of treason
our history has yet to record
no one has the wealth
or knowledge to ever afford
what it would cost
to buy back all that's lost
if all that exists
becomes Lost In The Mists
of times Eternal March
and we become the total sum
of nothing more than some hollow-core
experiment
that came and went
from grand and great
to an untimely fate
by so many who denied
that truth is self-evident
letting those who lied
. decide
what truth is or isn't ...
..to be accepted
and to be applied
when alternate facts are nonexistent
yet absolute
once they take root
Allowed to grow out of control
destroying the very foundation
that supported what started out
as ...
history and humanities
greatest creation.
Continue reading...
1.9k · Jan 2016
As the iridium ball rolls
Keith W Fletcher Jan 2016
As the iridium ball rolls
With obsolescent clarity
Amid moribund metaphysical
Mutations
As the iridium ball rolls
From eponym to epitaph
Engeneering an epoch diarama
In surfeit metronomic hysteria
While time chases time into infinity
Episodic vagaries celebrate
The metaphoric metamorphosis rising to
Metaphysical majesty as vacuous
As any minutiae will
When abstract vagaries
Become the vagrant epitome
Of a mordant mosaic
Made entirely of the lost causes
Torn from the very core
I surmise
As being the virulent....
.....Tragic and irridescent pieces
Left along the allegorical antipathy
Where those that are left behind
By the stigmatation
Of any irascible involutions
Mired in the mesh
Of scribbles and scribes
Left
After the iridium ball rolls By
Leaving vacuous irridescent
Symbols of epigraphical
Proportions
Stymied by
The obsolescent clarity
Amid moribund metaphysical  mutations.
Continue reading...
1.8k · May 2018
"...circles?"
Keith W Fletcher May 2018
"...circles?"
"Why am I walking in circles?"
Wait, I've heard that recently...
...or have I said that before?
Am I walking around in pajamas?
Well ...pajamas and a robe that's better
Better? Better what?
Better me than you ........Okay Samual
I hear you ....
.....where you hiding ...Is mom and dad home?
Where am..." Why am I ......
why am I walking around in circles?"
Here come those people ...I'm supposed to know them
They like it when I smile and nod
I've seen them before .....!?
Why am I walking around in circles ?!
#dad #resthome #alzheimers #90yrs #old
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1.7k · Oct 2018
Just a bit of grey
Keith W Fletcher Oct 2018
Just a bit of grey
You know me much better than i even know myself
But you don't miss me and I'm not lost
As long as you believe I be among all the rest
You gathered up and put upon your shelf
Oh but my days were numbered long ago
When you didn't seem to notice me
When I was so quickly swept up
into the chaos....so abrupt
That did suddenly erupt
And for one quick moment
I was passing through the light
Pulled from the dark place I had been
I don'tt know if you even saw me
Much less recognize me for how I fit in
To the bigger picture of a future where id be
Exactly what you would be needing
Maybe if I were brighter in a flashy way I mean
You'd  have looked closer...but that day
dull and grey. was all you had seen
as the dust-up had yet to settle
you let me go.... but I know
the unique qualities I possess
you will someday miss me and I'm sorry
I couldn't find a way to tell you will need me
I know all the work and effort will be for naught
The future that you picture
Where you have all the pieces put together
There will always be a hole in your horizon
That only I could ever have managed to fill
You never saw my unique qualities
But now without my dull and grey
You sit at the table on.a cold snowy night
Fireplace flickers and krackles smell of cocoa
Wood smoke and pine fills the warm and toasty air
And you close your eyes and your lips purse
Trying to hold back that inevitable curse
" **** it...**** it **** it " came with the release
  Startled is the man reading near the fire
What is it dear...you need some help gluing it to the board
" No look!" She exclaims and begins to cry
For there in the magnificent rainbow colored sunrise.
And the fall colors of burnt umber and orange
Just above the beautiful blue Lake  
Beyond the 2 kids with sleds in hand who stand
Watching as the somewhat superimposed
first three Snowflakes arrive  "Snowday"
A hole stands out among the bit of grey
Where the artist needed a backdrop
to make the unique snowflakes pop
I can't find it , had it since I was 10 and I wanted to make it a Christmas display
For the girls she begins to weep but I think I saw it the other day
Oh God I swept it up and threw it away
I should have recognized it with that bit of snowflake passing over the grey.

He held her till she quit  sobbing ..until she stepped back ....saying I'm okay
Then he said "glue it down hon and I'll fix it
I promise " he said" we've got everything here somewhere
you glue and Ill check the garage."
He could see she needed more so he took on
You Know fists on hips and wide stance
Everyone knows that Superman pose
"Don't you worry ma'am I will right this wrong "
And  he did ,after 35 tries,a sleepless nite
8 hours it took him to  replace me
just as dawns first light
rose up
to shine down on me half buried in snow
as if to say everything was right
Continue reading...
1.7k · Aug 2018
Essence
Keith W Fletcher Aug 2018
Essence
This adventure we're on
through this space we Transit
where compassion seems
to be all shadow
And sadly non-essential
to this Garden of Life
we are growing
that is Bane of music
or sunshine
a treeless desert
Of lost hopes
or even any
realistic design
for any future
we would want
we will need
were hoped for
Nature has been threatened
by the whims of those men
who have no notion
of what will happen
if they allow the oceans
to rise up and dog our steps
into a future
into a world
that we will never  again
recognize
Continue reading...
1.7k · Aug 2016
When you're not here
Keith W Fletcher Aug 2016
When you're not here
Sometimes I think that I try too hard
To say the words in my heart
Sometimes I try to unravel my world
And I wind up back where I start

Sometimes I feel that I'm just so close
To finding out for myself
Answers to questions I've had all along
But never could have asked someone else

Sometimes I feel you when you're not even close
You make me feel so good
I want to hold you for the rest of my life
I would baby if I could you know I would

Sometimes I wonder what it's all about
And if it's all worthwhile
But then you light up my lonely world... with a
Word and a simple smile

Sometimes it's easier just not to care
But I know it would get me nowhere
Sometimes I feel you're not even close
But that's only when you're not here

Only when you're not here

Only when you're not here

Only when you're...
... Not here... Not here
There is a rock and roll singing version of this poem / song at a site called Darko DeviantArt Group  on Facebook. A poem by Keith W .Fletcher   when your not here.
Continue reading...
1.6k · Dec 2015
Small Gestures
Keith W Fletcher Dec 2015
Small Gestures
Its the little things they say
That makes our lives complete
Little thoughts-little deeds
That small gesture ...
        .....offering up a seat
To someone you see in need
And the smile you get
Offer accepted or refused
That says "Thanks friend...
           ...that helped to raise my spirit
That the day had abused
Maybe some small gift you get
Just to let you know
Not only are you appreciated
We wished to make sure and tell you so

Its those little smells
That can raise titanic memories
And those little angry words
That can dredge up titanic agonies

Its those little bitty battles
Fought with nasty little words
That leave those little tiny scars
You get from hearing what you heard

Its just a little color
On a grey and dreary day
That can take some gigantic problem
And just melt it all away
Continue reading...
1.6k · May 2016
Overseer is watching
Keith W Fletcher May 2016
Overseer is watching
You think your children are being educated
But they're actually being ego deflated
They aren't being  taught
How to form a thought
Because ...
That's not good for the machine .

You hear the fringe word
meditation
As if it's some kind of voodoo
incantation

Instead they want you to be fed
A steady stream of entertainment
As a way of keeping containment

Off the Grid
Off the  grid
The inspector said
We can't be having that
Regulations regulations regulations
Thats all he had to say
Truth be known ...
.....he was just a clone
Latest model on display

Notice how the men in blue
Are becoming almost savage...
....In their  demeanor
As they are primed to follow blind
The Crooked Mind
Of the Master overseer
So totally convinced
That they never even sensed
They never were...
  ..really
A volunteer

Primed and loaded
Each one having been pre - coded
By the educators in the classrooms

That are
The soul burning incinerators
Burning away every trace
Of any human emotions
While swallowing down
Steroid laced
Psychotic mind bending potions

As the rest of us are being fed...
... instead
Of our daily bread

Mind bending views
Prepackaged news
To keep us all shuffled up
Off center
So as to totally confuse

That way we don't ever wonder
Why we choose
Once we find we're standing
In the line to buy the latest toys
  Keeping our  heads filled..
..with noise

That way
We don't have any time to think
As long as everyone behaves.
They'll never know
That they are slaves  

No shackles , chains or wooden canes  
To keep the masses in production
We have the latest must-haves ..
.... new introductions. 
 
But time to sit and think......
That's not what the machine wants
Us to do !

That's not
In the latest matrix

Silencing the external
In search of those things
That should be ETERNAL

Will make you unfit for society
As your number is etched
Into
The overseers recorder
In this ....
...THE NEW WORLD ORDER.
Continue reading...
1.5k · Jun 2016
Nothing between us
Keith W Fletcher Jun 2016
Nothing between us
I know you think that were lovers
Probably believe that we're friends
You believe I am the man that you met back then
I'm still breathing so that's where any similarity will end
You have to hope that I love you
And in your heart you probably see
Us being together forever
So I'm telling you that far as I'm concerned
There'll never be anything between us

If you've taken for granted
That there would ever be
Then hear me now what I tell you here
There's nothing that I can see
Will ever grow between us
Anything that tries will die
From lack of Sun and space... to wither

I will not allow you to ever feed
 ANYTHING
That appears to be growing between us

No anger - or fear
Not disrespect or.empty air
No trees of doubt or weeds of trouble
Nor any Temple Church or Palace
If it happens I will tear it to rubble

The only thing that is or will ever be between us
Is the thin layer of skin to hold my body and soul in
I'll keep you so close so close to me baby
That not even air can come between
You are and will forever be
The most beautiful woman I've ever seen
Cause my eyes opened...
... For the very first time
The very first day that we met

So there will never be anything between us
Nothing but love and so with that said
Now that things are looking up
We should do the same
To what the air above us holds
Stars that sparkle like shimmering diamonds
A golden ring  that circles the moon
This will be my promise to you of a love
So that you can look up anytime  
To see a reminder of my love up above

You are everything to me and so someday on my knee
I will ask you as  I let my words carry you
I will let the clouds cushion my head
So that when I come back down to Earth
It'll be when I know that you agreed
To marry me
And nothing will ever come between us
Continue reading...
1.4k · Sep 2016
fifth of contempt
Keith W Fletcher Sep 2016
fifth of contempt
All I really wanted
Is someone who needs me
That's all I really want
I play the game
With such precision
But I don't enjoy the hunt

You come around
With your fancy persuasion
And try to stay awhile
You tried to be
My judge and jury
And put my love on trial

Don't try to cross no burning bridges
Don't cross examine me
Don't try to cross no open spaces
Don't try to cross wire me

I'll come to order
When I'm good and ready
Don't try to make me rush
You know the answers
That I'm gonna give you
Won't really tell you much

Take what you get
I'll give you that much
To keep you satisfied
I  have no defense
When it comes to hurtin
I keep it locked inside

I've got no defence
Whe n it comes to  hurtin
The prosecution rests
You bound me over
As your own solution
Even though I had confessed

Don't try to cross. no open spaces
Don't try to cross wire  me
Dont't try to cross no burning  bridges
Don't cross-examine me !!
Continue reading...
1.3k · Jun 2016
Just day to day.
Keith W Fletcher Jun 2016
Just day to day.
If I could go back and see my 16 year old self
What would I say?
I'd tell myself
When you see me about to run myself down
Get out of the way
Don't stand there pretending that it's all ok
Or that you can take the punishment Because you can't
SO....
Get out there and rant
Fight ...don't be complacent
Don't smile at it all
As if tomorrow
It will all be better

If I could go back and see my 16 year old self
What would I do?
I'd probably sit and watch myself for a while
To  see if what I remember
Is really what I view
I think I know what I was like
But then again... who am I to say?
 
So I would probably sit down
To write myself a letter
Filled  with what I saw
What I found out ....
..... then put it away
For a future time
Maybe like today
To be read
Seeing if I made any changes
Instead
Or continuing ...How it
More likely
Would go anyway

If I could go back and see my 16 year old self
What would I see?
I'd see  a kid with so much potential
Who tried so hard
To knock down the walls
Of certain types of reality
Before I got the scars I now wear

I would see me without the cynicism
I find now is wrapped around me
Like barbed wire grown into a tree
No way to take it out
Without
Damage
Without
Leaving a long deep ****
For all the world to see
So the barbed wire is...
...A much better picture
Of my reality

If  I could go back and see my 16 year old self
What would I want to do ?
I think I would want to take a picture
The two of us together
The yin and yang of
What it is... that is me

If I could REALLY go back
And see my 16 year old self ..I think I would pass
For it may be
That I would insert some kind of sadness
That I would carry on
All the way to now...
Somehow

  I wouldn't want that
Because ...all in all
As tough as it has been
I'm happy with who it is I am
And that is about all
I'd really want ....
...... To say
To my 16 year old self.
MeetMe insert some kind of sadness I continue to carry on
Continue reading...
1.3k · Mar 2016
Another bit of my novel. The first pages I've written since I regained the confidence I lost.
Keith W Fletcher Mar 2016
Another bit of my novel. The first pages I've written since I regained the confidence I lost.
Rance is eating in a restaurant when he sees a girl ,obviously hitchhiking, get out of the car, carrying a guitar case and then coming to the restaurant. As he's leaving he tells the waitress to buy her  a hamburger because all she asked for was water . Then he goes out to his van
            ---------      ++ -------- ++     ----------    
The guy with the large helium balloon floating over his head was saying something as he closed the distance between us on this crowded bustling Street. The people, for some reason, kept raising their faces to stare at me with lonely ,beseeching  eyes as they scurried by ,then instantly dropping their gaze back to the ground as they quickly continued on.
    " State of my..... state of my ....state of my head....".said the balloon man as he drew near me and I couldn't help wondering why the words weren't appearing in the balloon that bounded along ,dancing chaotically, in lock-step to the dance-like movement of his pace "state of my head ."  
    Unlike the other people who passed by, he never looked at me -in fact- he didn't seem to notice anything except the zone right in front of his next step .  
       "You're legs on fire!"
     "I could still hear the echo of his chant as it, and him, bebopped into the obscurity of the distance, suddenly becoming aware of the barren and empty street , and the fire that was burning my right thigh.
    "Your leg's on fire"  now these words did appear in symbolic cartoon measure across the face of the balloon. "Hey!"I  cried out and then heard the echo of the words as they came sailing back.
   "Hey!"
    "Finally waking up I see" continued the echo as it became a soft laughter-filled sound to my ears.
     Slowly I was  becoming aware that my vision was filling in with the world outside the windshield of my van. The last stanza of Shinedowns state of my head was just fading from the radio as.....
    "Thanks for the burger"
My leg WAS on fire. Okay , it wasnt really,but it was burning above the knee of my right leg from the sunlight streaming through the windshield.      
  I was busy patting out the fire and rubbing the sleep from my eyes when I heard the voice again "Hello?"
     Now though, it was a real voice ,as it came sailing through the window of my van. A female voice.
     A bit slow maybe, but I was finally beginning to catch up, so I knew before I even looked, that it was the girl with the guitar case.
    It was. As I peered over the door frame I saw that she was sitting three feet from the van, on a patch of grass and leaning back against the big oak that grew at the edge of the parking lot and had provided a nice shade for storm ....okay and for my nap.        
     Surely the crooked -and haltingly, embarrassment driven - smile that I managed to conjure up ,as I looked out the window and down at her, was totally inadequate.  I was attempting to move past it , so with great confidence ,and sua da vi I heard my words as I said.
   "Huh? "  oh god !My brain said to my inner voice "really smooth" --- my inner voice took the fifth.  
     "That's a heck of a watch dog you've  got " she said.  Somehow breaking the ice  and allowing me space and time to regroup. " He told me he was there , aware and in charge as I approached your window,but he did it by just raising his eyes and the slightest rumbling growl. It was obvious he was serious but he was so cool about it"      
   I reached ,almost ,unconsciously, to stroke Storms muzzle and the furrow between his ears. "Yeah, " I said " He's got style alright." as more than a bit of pride tinged my words.
    Her laughter was sudden and as free as a wild bird being released from the confines of a cage as it rose up into the air.It was one of those beautiful,,natural
voices of those rare people who are not embarrassed by their own spontaneity.
   "Style " she managed to exclaim among the peals of joy " I love that"
     " Hi" I told her " I'm Rance and my stylin friend is Stormy"
      Her movements were quick, agile and graceful as she bounded to her feet , quickly wiping any perceived dust from her right palm across the hip area of her jeans before reaching out to shake hands.  "I'm Penelope Woods , but everyone back home just called me Piney"
     Now it was my time to laugh. A slight chuckle accompanied my hand as  I reached out to collect hers . " Piney Woods ...now that funny. "
    " Why ,thank you kind sir " she exclaimed with the exaggerated imitation of southern gentellity " I've always thought so"  then that freebird laughter , again came rising up ,to float over and then slide all the way down into the hollow,unused places of my heart . Settling there as though it were home......Maybe it was.
Continue reading...
1.3k · Aug 2017
Drained Away
Keith W Fletcher Aug 2017
Drained Away
All the color
Drained away
From around
My monochromatic core
Becoming an abstract memory
Spreading
In a screaming ,raging silence
All across.....
....This sad and pock marked floor

In shades of grey
I make my way ...past
The last ....ornamental
Bit of sanity
I find..... before
I slip into the mist
Of uninspired ,hard wired
Usurpers....
.....of all
That lay ahead
Where dreams die
As the ordained
Squeeze hard ..then discard
Any evidencerary consideration
Left
Beyond the veil
Of the awaiting mist
Obscurity wilting away
The ubiqitous absence
That latest wisp
Of wide appeal ...for those of us
Who allow ourselves
To be drained of all color
Amid the abstract disregard
Of who we were in our own way
Conceding to become
unhearlded
retreating ghosts
Of monochromatic grey
Unadorned bits of sanity
Saluting as we pass by
On our own ....on our way
Not even credited
With the abstract decor
Left behind us ....
On the now even sadder
Pock marked floor

As it hears the screaming ,raging silence
As it's echo fades away ,lost ,ghostly pale
Absorbed ....
By the grey mist....
..... beyond the awaiting veil !
Continue reading...
1.2k · Jun 2017
A lonely road ahead . This note for those who have been reading the pages of my novel , this is what I should ( and meant to) send ahead of last page. Its about Rance and Storms first night on the road .June 10 th. 2017
Keith W Fletcher Jun 2017
A lonely road ahead . This note for those who have been reading the pages of my novel , this is what I should ( and meant to) send ahead of last page. Its about Rance and Storms first night on the road .June 10 th. 2017
Wednesday morning I woke up from my first night sleeping in the camper, and  I had that  disjointed feeling that comes from unfamiliarity.  I recognized  the interior of the camper, so that was not what was  triggering that closed in feeling that enveloped me, not claustrophobic really, it was more: comforting.  It is hard to put into words that kind of feeling, but as I am supposed to be an aspiring writer ......It would seem to be my responsibility to do so,,  or at least try.
    So as I lay there cradling the warm afterglow of a satisfying night of slumber and with pleasant dreams of…I’m hungry ! I suddenly thought to myself.  No! Actually I am starving, and just one look down at Stormy , lying on the floor and staring at me and  it was more than obvious that he too was hungry..
    “Okay, boy, I know.  I hear you..”
     “All we ate last night was those Fritos wasn’t it?”Stormy just stared at me with those big brown, expectant and hungry eyes..
   “ Sorry boy !  I am new at this.”  I said as I was just  realizing that I was fully clothed, This fact reminded me that I had come into the camper cruiser nine hours earlier, intending to fix me some food, had seen the bed laid out , done while setting up camp hours earlier, so I decided to see how comfortable it could possibly be .
    I remember laying down and  saying to myself, “  this ain’t too bad.”  Looking down at Stormy -closing my eyes- and well , here I am, nine hours later,  starving and being stared at by Stormy .
    .  6:30 AM Wednesday morning- and both of us starving  .   "Man!   Talk about exhaustion.!" I said to the world at large .
    “Just hang in there for a few minutes more  and we  will both have bacon and eggs today....  Okay?”
To which stormy happily  wagged  the whole rear half  of himself in undying gratitude.
     After breakfast I had a cup of coffee in my hands, and a buzz in my head as I sat down in the lawn lounge thingy ( It had even come with the camper) and watched the other people  go about their morning..
     Was this my story--the ever evolving story  of… Come on dude!  I chastised myself,  this is not your mission, to write about camping spots,  and the ever evolving state of one parking spot that                they are occupying.   .  But as I was beginning to slowly realize  ; my story , just might be more elusive than I  had taken time to consider.
      I glanced down at storm to see if he had any insight, an opinion of some great revelation for me,  but he was in his own world; lying there beside me and watching with rapt interest the antics of a pair of foraging gray squirrels as they skipped and be bopped among the branches of a huge white oak;   wherein  Stormy, unlike myself,  saw the big picture,,  all the story he needed was playing out in the branches of that tree.  This tree was his tree ……of life..!
    “Crazy little buggers   ain’t they boy?”  I remarked to him as I rubbed his head and neck , taking away a few precious seconds of his squirrel watching while he looked around me before returning his gaze back to the  acrobatics  of the little be boppers of the tree..  I went back to watching my new neighbors,  for in a sense-that is exactly what this is . Nt much  different from  the cul-de-sac.  I grew up on. ..  With one exception-vital as it is . I mean  that I only have  the imaginary view of these people , not  the  reality  that I had with… But then, I reassess my thought,,  reorganize my pattern as I remember that morning  .
     That crazy day with all the police  and ambulances suddenly appearing in the street..  All the neighbors  having  been bunched up  in curious knots to wonder what was happening at the Angleton’s.
   Like wind swept fire  to a field of tall grass, the rumors began spreading through  the street.
   “He killed her!”  Someone remarked abstractly..
    “Who?”  They all asked in comatose reality.
    “George Angleton” they said, “he killed his wife  and then he killed himself--I think”
    “Whyyyyy?”  They   bleated .
    “Do not know-I heard they had financial problems,  maybe that was it.”  They quoted equivocally.
    “There was always something funny about them.”  The little man said   fumbling the ball
   “Who?”  They all questioned again.
    “Angleton’s…  It was strange, I wouldn’t  let my kids go up there  on Halloween.. and that time he gave all comic books!”  The little man said with an air of superiority.
   “   Why is that?”  They argued in question.
     “You asked me he was trying to lure them kids in.”  He blundered and fell
    “You are nuts!  He was a sweet old man… It had to be… financial”  they persisted..
     “Say what you want-  but I know what I know-and he was weird.”  The little man overstated.
    “You did not even live around here.  That year he gave out comic books-did you?”   Somebody pointed out aggressively.
      “Well.... no,,” the little man sputtered,, “bububut I heard about it..”   The little man  beleaguered now     “So you never even met George!”   Someone accused  ..
     “Not personally; but all  the…” The little man started.
      “Get the hell away from me little man.” the whole crowd expressed in screaming silent looks .
Continue reading...
1.2k · Dec 2019
Breakdown in the system (spider king))
Keith W Fletcher Dec 2019
Breakdown in the system (spider king))
A breakdown in the system
Doesn't seem to bother me
I'm too busy payin the bills
To worry about others misery
Revolutions have to wait
Till all the parties get in line
But they're all still waiting on uniforms
That noone has yet .....to design

Working at cross purposes
From a thousand different ways
Just makes a working stiffs ....
           ......eyes go dull
Like they're walking in a haze
They hang like meat at the end....
                  ....of the day
Shuffled along with all their toys
That shields them from the real real world
Behind a great wall
of  consistent white noise

It will bring the world together
Said the spider king one day
And the world changed in a second
A thousand years faded away

While smoke hung like a curtain
And lightening lit the sky
Buildings crumble with ferocity
As people continue to die
Bringing the world together
Seems to push us more apart
Somehow it seems that every end
Is just...
...another new start

False starts beg the question
Is this the final dream we've sought
Cash in for what your buying
Cash out for what you've bought

Revolutions have to wait
For all the parties to get in line
I'm still too busy payin the bills
And now I'm working off my fine

A breakdown in the system
Doesn't seem to bother me
A breakdown in the system
Hope you're not counting on me
A breakdown in the systemmmm
A breakdown bre bre  aaakdoooo........
In the syyysttteeeeeerdm.....
#revolution #technology #humanity #modernization
Continue reading...
1.2k · Nov 2018
scavenger in disguise
Keith W Fletcher Nov 2018
scavenger in disguise
Do what you will
do what you don't
do what you will
do what you won't
You want what's right
And you want what's left
You take the best
And you leave the rest

you're just a scavenger
A scavenger in disguise
You do a **** good job
Of hiding it ... but I can see it
In your eyes
It ain't no big surprise

Do what you will
do what you don"t
Say  what you will
Say what  you don't


You want what's right
and you want what's left
you take the best
then you leave the rest

youre  just a scavenger
A scavenger in disguise
You do a **** good job
of hiding it
but I can see it in your eyes
it ain't no big surprise
I can see it in your eyes
I can see it in your eyes

Just a scavenger in disguise
#rocksong #banddays #music
Continue reading...
1.2k · Dec 2015
I've fallen and I cant give up
Keith W Fletcher Dec 2015
I've fallen and I cant give up
I don't think its broken
But it sure is bruised
The runaround I'm getting
Has left me so darned confused
I told you I loved you
And it left you so cold
I feel like I've been beatin
Kicked ,stomped on, and rolled

HELP ME I'VE FALLEN
And I can't give up
One broken heart .....is
.....One too much
So now I lay here
On this cold dance floor
I just keep on crawling
Coming back for more
I've fallen ....but I just can't give up!!
Continue reading...
1.2k · Sep 2018
For who you are
Keith W Fletcher Sep 2018
For who you are
I can't..just can't avoid
Running into my own shadow
As I dance with myself
Whenever your aura is concerned
Hard to understand why
I feel so strong the attraction
Or why you put up
With the ridiculous stories I constantly unfold.
And I do listen for
Even the tiniest bit of recrimination and never have I heard a hint
For pushing you too far
So what random spin or role of the die led me to your acquaintance
And...and I voiced my affection
A little hint - not any overt abstractions
I would never ever want to be
associated
With the kind to emanate an infraction
I think you understand and I want you to know
At least from my point of view
You are.... like
the best chocolate
a sweetness
an addiction
that just makes me
as nutty
As a peanut butter cup
I would if I could
you know.....??
the line rhymes
so I've said enough
love you ....for
....that way that you are
An infatuation...my..  
Hey...!
Who got their aura ..
...all over my imagination?
Continue reading...
1.1k · Jan 2016
Infected
Keith W Fletcher Jan 2016
Infected
Hate is not a built-in app
It has to be downloaded
Then it has to be installed
If only it required permission
If only it had to be opened
Rules of use to be read and agreed to
And as simple as a button to push
So that it can just be uninstalled
Unfortunately it can be a virus
That infects with insidious intrusion
Into the systems that we call life.
Continue reading...
1.1k · Oct 2018
Anywhere along
Keith W Fletcher Oct 2018
Anywhere along
Sometime long ago I cast my lot
On to that spot where I no longer exist
But I couldn't resist because
Though I be not an existing entity
Occupying there ...where
I once stood long
Long enough to realize
It wasn't where I belong

It was my spot until that thought
Crept up like a silent non tail wagging
Non growl bragging... Watchdog
to bite me on my *** and send me scurrying on my way

With a pain to remember what never existed
Except for maybe those fleeting moments when I resisted change
Strange
How comfortable can become
That place you never were
Able to say you came from

Somehow it feels better
Than to speak truth to letter
And to spell out the words
I don't belong
Anywhere along
That road where I had become so weak
As I Stumble down and all around
Revisions... Decisions
Where I hum the tune
That has become my song
That place I didn't belong
That place I didn't belong that made me strong!
Continue reading...
1.1k · Apr 2016
Can they ever return?
Keith W Fletcher Apr 2016
Can they ever return?
Do they know
While in the foggy depths of
Or the level to which they rise
As they hurl stones at the hapless dove
In absolute retribution
Spewing lies
Denial.... set to rile
The now lost and soon to be tossed
Disillusioned
Back into the reality prescription
Overdosed on the rhetoric
Left in the vacuum
Of the imploding star of incredulity
Launched by nothing nearing reality
Into the frenzied - hyperactive atmosphere
Deflated and overrated
As masses of mud frames somehow sated
By hate built absolution
Humanity lost as demonstrated
By evil personified
Non-- inclusion
As helpless friends stand by disillusioned
As if the loss they now invision
Confounded by the lack of any solution
Were they drowning - hope would exist
For rescue would be welcome
Not something those sinking would resist
The Living Dead will soon be discarded
By the furor and the faithless pretense

Pushed out the gate
Fired.... from the crumbling tower
By the big cannon in retreat
They stand- dazed and amazed
At what they know they've lost
By paying homage
With the only valuable thing that they ever owned
Trust - Love and Understanding
Rescuers
Who couldn't save them
From drowning among the throng
Into which they were sunk by simply standing among
And refusing to see the reality
Of what it takes to watch the rise  
Of an evil soul - out of control

Being fed on unbelievable lies
When the gate slams shut
And the dogs are let loose
The street will be full
Of those whose faith was sadly abused
As their mud forms were simply being used
Can they ever return? IDK.
Continue reading...
1.1k · Oct 2016
The Echos of my silent world
Keith W Fletcher Oct 2016
The Echos of my silent world
Keith W Fletcher
July 28 2016


In spirit I'm  the Dark Horse
Fading into shadows of doubts
Optimism rides upon my back
Yet it's not enough to turn me
From those obscure routes
Where I too often find my solace
In the echoes of my silent world
As I run from my own hoofbeats
That I have been chasing
  None hears  the distant thud
From far below those lofty heights
Where I so often find
Myself  being hurled

In absence I'm an empty space
Where once a possibility had existed
Like those gentle summer winds
That moves along  unnoticed
Until dust or debris swirls around Acknowledging the air
That in my passing through...
... has just been twisted

In memory I am a faded color
Where no reference of what was... .....allows comparison
So no photograph
Or artistic rendering
Can ever capture the true identity...
....Of a shadow lost in shadow
Once the fading out has begun

In legacy I left a trail
Well worn and beaten wide
As I never took
The straight and narrow
I've always  preferred...
... to move from side to side

So  please...do not illuminate
The beloved shadows zones
Along the trail
For  these are the places to take more time
Feeling the presence of all the ghosts
Those reminders of my dead dreams
I've left along there
To haunt me
Reminders of those times I fail

But that cliff edge
Where I  so often  hurled myself
To crash below
In muted
And too often painful
Solitaire Evolutions

That step off spot
Where my tracks end
That is mine and mine alone
Just as is ...
That Hallowed Ground...
... where  I land
And where I lay... until I stand
To dust myself off.. or weep
So should I choose to curse my soul
I want no one else around
Continue reading...
1.1k · Jun 2016
Another page another page of the the novel although I said no more I had a muse who is helping me go with my spirit places I'm not sure I knew how to get to otherwise
Keith W Fletcher Jun 2016
Another page another page of the the novel although I said no more I had a muse who is helping me go with my spirit places I'm not sure I knew how to get to otherwise
Rance looked at the speedometer. Set  at 65 and on cruise control ,which he was fully aware of - at least he should have been. He kept looking anyway.
   Every time he glanced at the speedometer , he had to lift the fingers of his right hand to see, as it was draped across the 12 to 1 o'clock Zone of the steering wheel in the most casual way ,causing his fingers, in drooping repose- to resemble an enormous back scratcher.
   His left arm rested on the window sill at the elbow as he was experiencing a slightly manic episode  of nerves,  therefore he was doing his best to stretch his left ear lobe  all the way down to his shoulder . Okay, maybe not that radical, but he was firmly  in danger of removing the inner layer of skin from his earlobe with his rubbing thumb.
    Quick glances to his right with darting eyes confirmed his fear .  He  also saw the absence of Largo's large grey head., so a quick backward glance into the rear of the camper- unintentional but habitual -allowed him to see that Largo was asleep beside stormy in the approximate territory each  had staked out
  It was as he was pulling his head back forward , that Piney glanced up from The Notebook to smile.  There in the co-pilot seat , she sat gracing him with a  warm smile , and as far as Rance could tell , those lips that  smiled at him- so friendly -/were totally natural and uncolored, and if she were wearing any makeup at all ,it wasn't enough to cover the four or five little freckles just above the tip of her nose.  The natural look  gave her face that timeless look.   She could have been anywhere from 18 to 25 or 30 he didn't really know and....he really didn't care .
    It was noticing  those walnut colored flecks, just outside the iris of her light ,hazel colored eyes that  started causing him such personal turmoil.  As it seemed - to his astonishment- that he seemed unable to detatch  his own vision from  those eyes.,  Until she looked back - that is.
    First happening to him when she had  accepted his offered ride and as she wss climbing into the copilot's seat. If it hadn't been for largo, who had instantly attached his chin onto her  thigh ,she might have noticed how he was staring .  Fortunately  he was able to break it off but he was still self conscious of that effect she was having on him.
   After he'd done the initial stumble in the parking lot , he had actually carried on with - amazingly enough  -surprising clarity. It was in those 10 minutes that he had learned of her hometown and  all of the time she had been on the road up to now. Which had been all of 30 miles.
    It was that nagging voice that  kept repeating - in the back of Rances mind- the thing that she had said. " I wasn't really planning to be stopping at that restaurant , but I had to get out of that car.   Although the rest of what she said mattered , it was that part that kept resonating .
  " Oh that guy ! "/She grumbled "was just getting creepier and creepier.  The farther we went down the road , the bolder he got ,as he began to get handsy.
First , puting his hand on my knee and then a little bit later a little higher up my thigh." She shuttered  as she spoke  , in a pantomime inspired gesture before continuing. "It was after he pulled out that bottle and then started taking swigs that things got really bad.   When we started coming around that long curve, just before we got to the restaurant he was unable to bother me and ,adjust  for the curve,  so he kept driving over into the other lanes. Then he over-corrected ,almost getting  us killed  by a semi that came barreling through in the slow lane.   Laying on the horn as it swerved away to miss us, and then I knew I had to get the hell out of that car. Anyway possible.
  " So right then I saw the restaurant sign and I tried to get the best lilt into my voice and the most calm that I could muster as I said  "Hey! there's the place  I'm supposed to play tonight. Pull over ..right here! RIGHT HERE!!!"
    But in his slow, befuddled ,drunk and almost run over  brain he stopped right in the middle of the slow lane . " Where we at?"
  "We're at the place I'm playing guitar music tonight " She said -that she told him this - to keep his attention so she could wrestle the guitar case out of the back seat ,over the seat back and out the doorway of the car.  Then just as she had it ready to pull through the open doorway she reluctantly said " Thanks for the ride." Then with a little thought and ****** attitude " yeah ...I'll be playing here tonight at 8 o'clock , so why don't you come by and listen" she lied
  A bit perturbed and confused but he was still able to find his inner creep as he spoke.... muttered .....gutterally.... whatever  "Yeah I'll do that and then me and you can have a drink and I got a little Coke " then he did that drunken kind of wink where they end up opening their mouth in  such a crooked fashion that it looks like a stroke victims Visage
  " Where is a fly when you need one ". Piney  said that then she pulled  the guitar case on through  the doorway , wrestling it the 10 feet over to the grassy apron of the road . Returning to close the door as  he asked "what did ja say?
   "Oh . I said I've always wanted to give Coke a try " and with that she closed the door -/just short of a slam.
 " You got it ba "...as he pointed his right forefinger like a pistol, but if it went off Piney never heard as she trundled her case across the grass area  in the most direct route towards the building and the safety of people.
  At this moment she was still in the process of confirming the abject fear that had Rances heart doing flip-flops, as he was aware that she was still sitting there ,reading his poetry.
    As soon as she had settled into the copilots seat, allowed Storm and Largo to introduce themselves and as they happily filed her smells away. Storm returned to his spot after just a half of a minute while Largo, on the other hand gently lay his head on her leg and for all appearances seemed to go into a trance.
     She confidently rubbed his head as she spoke in a slight cooing sound then looking up at Rance as he was guiding them out the parking lot and did the cruelist thing possible . As polite as a butterfly landing on the petal of a flower she asked if she might read some.
  To which Rance had said "Sure , go ahead " and then began trying to do damage to his left earlobe. After 30 miles he was beginning to catch up with his runaway thoughts.
   Any remnants of sua da vi that he had mustered up in the parking lot , now long gone -evaporated. Unfortunately now it was being  replaced by a carrousel of thoughts in poor Rances mind that spun to the cacophony of music from the most  sinister sounding Calliope.
   Though the music blasted a torrential sound wave throughout his mind it was not enough to silence the voice that kept repeating " oh man oh man oh man" - with annoying and echoing  persistance - from an obscure region--, somewhere beyond the Swirling carrousel.
   Then suddenly the crazy carnival and the voice came to a sudden mind shuttering stop.as piney's soft velvety voice interceded. " you wrote these...i mean ...all of them ?"
  A quick glance towards Piney was enough to.see this fresh faced girl with those magnetic eyes- now filled to overflowing  with tears -  was looking at him in a wonderfilled  way as she held the open notebook in right hand and with the other she stroked largos head.,Which had rematerialized.on her lap , just as soon as her voice had broken the relative silence.
    " He really likes you" remarked the reemerging Rance ,as he indicated Largo with his head. 'And yes I did ...write .....yeah all of them." Not really smooth he said to himself ..but okay.
    " This one " Piney pointed to a page that Rance could not take time to recognize " Somber Sunset. Its killing me....my grandmother just went ...and went through Alzheimer's before she passed. "
    Rance was still staring out the windshield, in silent astonishment - at her perception- when Piney gathered herself to the point of unbroken speech. " that is what its about ...right ?"
      Rance turned a full face ..straight on and confident gaze into her tear glissening eyes ( sua DA vi having returned full force) "Yes " he softly acknowledged her perceptivity" as I read it ...yes"
      Thats  when that annoying voice decided to reassert itself . "  There is always something about a damsel in distress that always brings  out even the most quivering coward ...." SHUT THE HELL UP!! Lance barked out at the voice as he stared out the windshield while making a slight adjustment to avoid.a small box in the road.
   At that very moment the sleeping Storm opened his eyes to stare forward with both ears and eyes , as if he had heard his masters voice call out in angry distress. With no danger detected as he scanned the area, he was about to resume his squirrel watching -which had just gotten good before the interruption -/Storm let his eyes scan around and land on Largo ." Humans "he spoke to himself " good thing they're smart enough to befriend dogs. Now that Largo...that's a dog that poor Rance could learn a thing or two from." Then he closed down his eyes and calling out "squorrely come on squirrel where'd ya go"  as his slight snore began and his right rear leg began twitching.
Continue reading...
1.1k · May 2017
Air out the difference
Keith W Fletcher May 2017
Air out the difference
Every so often as we move along the trail
We meet those who walk along beside us
Some for just a few steps before a direction change
Others a step and two - you start looking for a bus

So rare when out of nowhere a sojourner steps in
At least that's what it seems to be ...then after a time
You realize you really don't know who joined who
So rare is the honor given and recieved that sublime

Is the word that seems fitting due to.. its rarity of use ...
... height and breadth of its inclusionary valuation
Finding the courage to walk the highwire of conversation
Without a net and that is not the normal inclination

A breath of fresh air through a dusty dead air space
Conversation so often drags along creating a rut
But time harmonizing along the trail a foot or endless mile
Has a key to locked doors and  inspired need to open windows

That I as I'm sure ,like so many others,  have.....
                         at some sad impulse driven moment ...nailed shut !!
Continue reading...
1.1k · Aug 2018
Salvation in decay
Keith W Fletcher Aug 2018
Salvation in decay
Sometimes
I feel old and faded
derelict and degraded
overly saturated corrugated cardboard left all alone...out in
the rain too long  
or dry and brittle curling up ..creating
a bowl-like middle
adding to the strain like it really matters that that then gathers more dust...more lint
And those
now earth-bound vagabonds
whose time came
and then went
drifters
passing through
as they always do when they ... the fallin
the no longer needed the no longer wanted  disavowed
no longer allowed
to hang around
And so apropos
The way leaves go
wherever the wind may choose to blow them to
always a few ...who find shelter
out of ....the vagaries
of the wind and in
that shallow bowl
I formed
Then like it or not
they may stay ...
Hidden away
catching more
of those infinitesimal
all but invisible particulates
as they pass our way
so you might say
we form a bond
a compilation
a strange mutation
Imbibing
longer and longer
those times
of total saturation
the very manifestation  
what one may describe as a little tribe...that by the weight of fate
and our bonded state we hunker down
here to stay
upon
this piece of ground
And together we start each doing their part
to speed us on
Upon our way
to our future of decay and yes ..its true
I once felt so..
overly saturated
cursing
the corrugated
the very way
that I was created
bemoaning how
I had faded
But in the end
I did not die alone
I did not die
we ...
did not totally decay nor did we fade away we found life
and meaning when
this little tribe found that we were bound
This little mound
To be
Exactly what
all these lost derelicts
These young seeds.......needs
to create life
And to give  
Color to reason
And a new season
To live ....life.
And in a way ...to
Find salvation in decay.
Continue reading...
1.1k · Sep 2016
The two sides of me
Keith W Fletcher Sep 2016
The two sides of me
You had the truth in your hand
But I guess you couldn't stand...
...the demand...
... of being a real human

So why does your shame
Make it necessary to blame
The others for suddenly being
A stranger
Does that not create the danger

Of rearranging the facts
While jumping the tracks
In your haste to move forward
What could be the reward
For striking such a chord
Of internal discontent
Where your morality is bent...
... To the point of almost broken

While fueling the fires you alone were stoking
I had relinquished the remote
As  I felt the chill wind blow
Still I did not don a coat
Out of righteous indignation
Or from forlorn resignation

Although there was temptations
I let you hem and haw - have your say
So you could do it your way
The window view instinctively knew
And slowly dropped it's shades
The window curtains instinctively knew
And dropped... so as one side fades

Going back into the obscurity
There is a melancholy pull
Looming large and weighted  down with insecurity

Even in that first moment of triumph
The serious side knew
This was no contest
It was an awakening
While nowhere near sleep
As if the dreamers shuffling steps recede

Scuffing the floor in metronomic
semaphore
Sounding like the best the best the best the best the best the best the best
Continuing as it crosses the room
The best the best the best the best
right on out the door.
Continue reading...
1.0k · Nov 2018
Objective perspective
Keith W Fletcher Nov 2018
Objective perspective
you watch the game
of chess being played
can't help but wonder
why they cannot see
the move to be made
yet ..there they sit
pondering so hard
it's the same
in that game whose name
says it all
solitaire ...where
someone behind you
always wants to say
how and where ...so..
it would be easy to think
it's due
to the view
from where
you are standing
And yes;
it may be true
in games or in life
there can be
greater understanding
from a different perspective
From a different point of view
But.....
It doesn't change the fact
that being objective
allows those
not intimately involved
to see things as ...
...so easily solved
but then again
it's so easy to be positive
To know what direction
what answer
what will be the next move
You would choose
When standing to the side
with nothing at stake
nothing to lose
from making even
the smallest mistake.
Continue reading...
1.0k · Oct 2016
I am but flesh and bone
Keith W Fletcher Oct 2016
I am but flesh and bone
Keith W Fletcher
Jul 1 2016


Be still my thumping heart
Before you burst straight through flesh  and bone
Upon hearing  words your life you never expected to ever hear
Bringing life back to a heart once solid as a Stone
Allowing blood to flow through your now coursing veins
That had all but ceased to circulate through
In this cold and barren atmosphere where I've always had a fear 
Living was just wasted on those like me who have never had a clue

What love was like beyond
This barren land in which we've lived
Should living be any way to describe
That which we have been doing
Encased in a cocoon of solid misery
Intent upon the dead reckoning course  so long  in pursuing

So caution please when intending to send any hope
To those who have all but died inside while waiting for Redemption
Are often shriveled husks of once proud but misunderstood beings
Who have lost any and all
True image of themselves
Loveless  lives lost
In animated suspension

So carefull now as you have started
Life
Coursing through my frame
No memory of what I should be
That I have never had
-Fear reaches out to grab the arm setting off the silent alarm
That screams a warning to self preserve Or you will go Stark raving mad

STARK     RAVING     MAD!!!

But death  cannot be far removed from this' non - life refrain
So if my heart should burst this day to be shattered into dust
I should take the chance
Letting
circumstance
Guide my weary steps
Taking the hand of you
Who is now reaching out
I give my all.....all that I possess...
.... I give you my trust
Continue reading...
1.0k · Jun 2016
A Different world today
Keith W Fletcher Jun 2016
A Different world today
I woke up in a different world today
A different state of mind
I gathered up my thoughts and didn't allow them to stray
I didn't have to go that far to find
What it is that I'm looking for
It was right there in front of me
all the time
I just had to recognize recognize recognize
That I only had to open up my eyes '
And watch the world change
Right there right there in front of me
So I want to take this time and say hello
To somebody that I knew but I didn't really know
So as a friend of mine
I know I know I let you down
But you were true and always hung around
As if you knew that everyone who gets lost
Is just around the corner waiting to be found
Willingly they pay the cost
As they wait to know that someone seeks to find
And the weight the weight the weight that that takes off their mind
Allows them to look in the mirror and see what they can find
I woke up in a different world today
A different state of mind
And I saw somebody that I hadn't seen
I have been trying so hard to find
I turn the tap and i washed my face
And in that mirror I saw no trace
Of all that weight that I carried on my back
The disguise was gone and it was me again
I smile at the image and I say hello
How are you
Its really nice to see you again
Really nice really
To see you again
Continue reading...
1.0k · Jan 2019
Mundane
Keith W Fletcher Jan 2019
Mundane
I wasn't down in the bottom
Nor was I up somewhere High
I feel no need to race the wind
Or spit into the eye

I have no driving hunger
Nor am I starving for results
I'm no more moved by accolades
Than I am by any vile insults

l could leave right this moment
With no need to even look back
No more purpose or Direction
than a windblown empty paper sack

If I had any emotional connection to anything anywhere or at any time
The line which held that feeble pull
Has now released me from all ties that bind

The shadow that I have often followed
Or was aware of  in my wake
Doesn't seem to be as intrinsically connected
As the power wane's and lights dim accentuating every ache

So that in turn what might once concern
And set on edge some Keen insight
To push the ink through an all consuming link
Driving that need to succeed by saying it just right

Has just become some Tangled mess
Endless threads and those ancient dreads
For if nothing changes the course or flow
Then that sack in directionalless  flight is right in caring not why or when how or where it heads

Who cares if all those words ended up simply scattered
And you are a hollowed-out core nothing more
Defeated and depleted by the knowledge that nothing mattered
If words are heard and only those understood the others we ignore

You know what I mean
understand where I'm coming
from
And you say wow man I can relate
Then tell me my friend
before I end
what's the difference in a morsel
and a crumb

If they all taste the same then they are mundane
#lost #faded #insignificant #melancholy #simply #human
Continue reading...
994 · Aug 2018
Promises abound
Keith W Fletcher Aug 2018
Promises abound
How nice it would be
if all Beauty was free and homesteads
were home to all
no honking horns or voice raised issuing rampant scorns
to pass unfiltered through the innocent ears of children
but then again... nothing is perfect except for..
. maybe thunder
for it is the loud,  proud voice of perfection
rolling or booming never assuming to be what it is not
like the voice of God
As it was described in those scriptures told
in the verses of old
so with each clap
Of lightning created sound
we either jump or smile
As we know it brings
A needed refrain
of nourishing rain

there is nothing sweeter than
walking in the rain
of autumn
for the leaves paint
the ground all around and happiness abounds
it's a promise of relaxing winter husband starting fires both of heat and desires
While mother share secrets with daughters both shoulds and  not aughters  ha!
But such is the way it has been
from time immortals very beginning
and should continue to be
as long as....
God's Great Earth keeps on spinning !
Continue reading...
988 · Sep 2016
Call in the night
Keith W Fletcher Sep 2016
Call in the night
Inside these cold sterile walls
Somewhere between life and death
I sit in somber solitude
As the white coat solemnly approaches

I  gauge the countenance
  Tremulous mess ....
.. upon bated breath
Suddenly... I was moving
Past the speed of light
Straight through all the darkness
Of this obscenity

Platitudes passed along
On paper plates of awkwardness
This reproachful atropos night

Suddenly slamming the brakes
Screeching all the way up to the guardrail
At the very edge of eternity

There at the rail I cursed the Gods
In a voice as loud as anything I've never ever heard
A voice so shaky
As to create an echo
In its own formation

While this silent gravity of infinity
Absorbs every single word
Even inside my head I could not hear
Anything of what I might imagine ...
... that I had screamed

Still I felt an internal satisfaction...
..... At the very action
Then I turned and WE walked back down my path
For  weeks and weeks it seems
Past visions of serene beauty... of OUR.shared history
That no mere mortal ...might hope to see even in dreams

As if I were  suddenly ****** awake
By someone speaking my name
White coat speaking
And there I sat
Inside these cold sterile walls
Somewhere between life and death
I began catching up to my suspended breath

I watched as he mouthed  all of the words...
  ... that I never heard
I had already seen everything
Written on his face... When he first appeared
Long before this final approach
Everything had already been said

That ever needed to be said

For on that long slow walk back along the path
I had been- in lockstep- hand in hand- sharing the exquisite beauty - with my love - my heart - my friend - who had reached their end

Nothing needed to be said
I already knew
So I took a step - stepping around death
Took a deep breath... exhaled

It's never ever easy... But life does go on
Continue reading...
985 · Jan 2016
Wake up ( you're being taken for a ride)
Keith W Fletcher Jan 2016
Wake up ( you're being taken for a ride)
Think you're in the drivers seat
But you're being taken for a ride
There's so many things you once had
That have been taken away -denied
Keep giving you the run around
Until you're too tired to notice
That you're just a pawn -inventory
To help them fill the quota
Moving forward towards a destination
As we all fall backwards
By self segregation
Cops on one side
As citizens take up positions on the other
Long gone -seem to be-those days
When we thought of everyone as a brother
Learn to park the car
So the camera doesn't point
Towards the action the infraction
What good is a camera on the chest
When all it takes is a hand
To cover up the brutality of an arrest
Army surplus filling out the wish list
Of the new urban vision
To the point that things have risen
To a totality of saturation
Where if you don't know your station
They have a back-up plan
In the form of private prison
Build it and they will come
Business as usual- trumps the visual
Seeing doesn't mean believing
Pain for you
Will always profit some
Rich keep on getting richer
Poor get getting trod -on
Politicians say they're getting
Just what they brought on to themselves
That ain't the way I see it
One person one vote
If you're taking note
You will see that they are trying to
Gwrrymander everyone  into encampments
Everyone's building camps of their own
Self-segregation falling into a wayward nation
As tribal-bands expand
With any vision its easy to see
The cost of preservation is loyalty
To the gang with which you hang
Even if it comes to a gun battle
In a crowded parking lot
When cops are prepared and aware
A nation of TOO many law's
Creates a LAWLESS  nation!
Just like we've now got

If you think I've gone too far
Then ask yourself who it is
Who it is ...
That we really are.
Continue reading...
981 · Oct 2016
Trail of Tears
Keith W Fletcher Oct 2016
Trail of Tears
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
Continue reading...
971 · Feb 2016
Growing Hope
Keith W Fletcher Feb 2016
Growing Hope
I've been walking the burnt out forest That was once the garden of my dreams
When I believed in a better world
Than one where children drink from polluted streams
Where we were going to grow peace
And cultivate love for everyone
And tend the sick and invalid
With the dignity that they deserve
And be free.to speak our minds
Letting others do the same
Without the need to isolate and divide
For what that will politically gain
So I'm going to walk away for now.
From the decimation that I see
But first I will take a sec to plant a seed
And say a prayer for better days while down here on my knee !
Continue reading...
969 · Dec 2015
Drawn in.....dragged out.
Keith W Fletcher Dec 2015
Drawn in.....dragged out.
Roaming around the outskirts
Of a ghost town in my head
Somethings in there ..that I fear 
Like the others who all fled
I watch all day and listen at night
For the tell--tale sign
Sometimes I hear the hollow thump
Of a heartbeat other than mine
So I know its close
I can smell its breath
As it hovers over my trembling core
So close to death is that load of ****
Each time I draw it into my lungs
And my will is gone....
As I am drawn
Back to my weary watch
Of the ghost town in my head
One by one they all walked away
When they saw I chose **** instead
Of those I used to love.
Shhhhh... Did you hear that?
Continue reading...
965 · May 2017
A GIFT
Keith W Fletcher May 2017
A GIFT
( a gift was written this morning at the request of a friend ,for her sister - who puts her hopes in dreams.)

Life would be too perfect
Were it all just a dream
But does that mean it won't be
When all the past is seen

In so much hurry to grow up
Like all kids do I suppose
Now we have our own example
Each with a mini me and only Lord knows

*** all those times we had
All those vacations at Lake Wapapella we shared
LOL along with the owner's son who liked me best
And how we would wander off in our world of dreams
I love our lives together back then along with the rest

Our shared lives without the intrusion
Of petty lies alibis..well one intrusion did occur
When love was tossed into loss and pain, jealousy and confusion

But like I said life would be perfect were it a dream
That sad maddening time when life interferes
Were that a dream more nightmare I swear
I would wake myself by my screaming drowning in my tears

We sure seem to be sharing life again
In so many indescribable Ways and Means
Where someday soon  again we will share our physical beings
Where we will again be able to share those late-night talks of life and love and dreams


So Michelle never let your dreams Slide Away or be tossed
Time has a wicked sense of humorous abstraction
For nothing is ever forgotten or ever lost
Sometimes it seems they reappear by means of distraction
But in any dream....there is one thing I will never lose
Is that we still have each other and our shared commonality
And that is a dream wrapped up in a dream packed in a box for delivery called reality

And that has to be one of lifes most wonderful gifts.
And what dreams are made from .
Continue reading...
945 · Aug 2018
Calamities
Keith W Fletcher Aug 2018
Calamities
...... my memories get fuzzy
As life pushes buttons easy as operating a microwave
In warming up
a midnight snack real blueberry pie
And there in the Stark lights
Of my Barren land my kitchen table
I am able
To be trans ported
To those vans
That early life awarded night skies
When youth afforded
And we reined Supreme
like wild horses
Free to roam - free to be before the calamities
Absorbed it all
Down... To the bones
Continue reading...
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