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573 · Aug 2018
Scavengers live on what dies
Keith W Fletcher Aug 2018
Scavengers live on what dies
That mantle we placed upon you
Is not to be assumed
a shield or shadow to hide behind
Nor is it a place for scavengers to await
the approaching fate.... ....to create
its own existence
So that you can then
assume a place
among the remnants left behind
.If you stand on the side
In the tangled weeds
among the reeds... thinking
Instead of acting... reacting
To all that is sinking
what now may only be
The fingers you see
above the surface
while deciding
to weigh out
all values to yourself
before making your decision
while you ignore the march of time
and the banging and clanging
those plaintive peals of Liberty
In a frantic wake up call... To all
As it echoes out...
,... among those hollowed-out
halls of Justice
so to those of you...
... with the mantle of power
that we placed upon you ...
must decide to rise up and roar... becoming
an American icon
that future generations will
look back on with honor
or will we someday realize
That by believing all these lies
accepted what we were told
Bought what we were sold
We never knew
that only The echos
of Liberty's Bell were being heard
long after the Hammers were curtailed ..as were
all of us that you have failed
While weighing out
what values yourself
You did not stop and think
It was those
hands of time....
the fingers of fate
ringing the Alarm
until allowed to sink
into the murky history of that ever-growing swamp... while you decided to wait!
Continue reading...
570 · Dec 2016
Expanded consciousness
Keith W Fletcher Dec 2016
Expanded consciousness
I fell through a crack
In my own self conscious
And landed in that place
Where the ego launches
Misguided missiles
Of intentions unknown
Into those far-flung realities
Outside of any known zone

In those concentric orbits
I found a unified vision
Where any truth I've accepted
Now leads to a pending collision
Of acceptance or exclusion
Far beyond the realm of reason
Is the dimension of expanding doubt
Where Universal doubt executes truth for treason

And all relative reality collapses
Like a pinpricked balloon
To be absorbed into the maelstrom
Torrential meteors slamming into the Moon
No longer to be free roaming projectiles
The occasional visitors ,visions or omens in the night
But a contusion seen for millennium's by those
Thinking beyond Earthbound realities by seeing the Moon as more than just light

And fell through a crack in their own self conscious
Continue reading...
564 · Dec 2015
Pg. 170. 3rd page to complete trilogy (for now?)
Keith W Fletcher Dec 2015
Pg. 170. 3rd page to complete trilogy (for now?)
I've heard people speak of those impenetrable moments of time,when a brief span of eternity is suspended, forever frozen , in those annals of our minds that we call memories. Like a leaf caught in the ancient mud and then crushed by the weight of millions of sunsets and sunrises, artifacts of  a bygone day, where it had hung -suspended - in a tree that no longer exists .  No  hint of its toil and struggle is left , except for that-now fossilized-leaf which eventually surfaces-to be viewed and marveled at -from time to time.
  "I will never forget where I was when Kennedy was killed " they mourn.
   "I will never forget how I felt when I saw MAN walk on the moon. " They marvel
    "I will never forget the moment I first lay eyes on my newborn baby" They beam
    And I will never forget that frozen image, that mortal wound or that crushing weight of fear - I felt weighing down on me like that leaf must have felt-as I watched Macys image recede in the rear -view mirror. He stood there in the middle of the street-a stoic image-with arm raised in good bye, a silent salute as he slowly  diminished in the distance -becoming just a tiny dot before disappearing completely - to be replaced by the sudden appearance of a lone rider on a motorcycle - impatiently waiting to go  -  who then rolled out of that mirrors eye to fly past me in a rush of speed and roar of engine as he hurled himself into that same future, that I was no longer in such a hurry...
.....to be absorbed by.
Continue reading...
563 · Dec 2015
whats the difference?
Keith W Fletcher Dec 2015
whats the difference?
Everyone sees
What they see
Through the prism of light
That makes up their spectrum
Parameters of vision
Equals
Parameters of sight
Are any colors
Not envisioned
Missing or non--existent
Is that red that you conjure up
The same as mine
I've heard those people --so insistent
Who will argue
That they know it is
And those who are just as certain
That they know--definitely
That it is not
Every time...I just shake my head
At that entrenched thinking
Without any real thought
So there you go --isn't that the point
Can thinking be a concept?
Twisted up like a knot
So place the opposing distance
Whatever your insistence
Where absolutes often grow roots
So often in the wrong spot
I'm pretty sure I believe.....hmmmm
That there ARE absolutes
In science, math and measurements
To many;  religion makes the list
Where the faith that they insist
Is the only one that makes sense
I always ... Without fail
Accept the rigid positions
At each end of the scale
Really do exist
Without a doubt
I can say I remain
Somewhere in between
That is always my domain
And I would never tell you that
You're wrong or if your right
Should it come to that
No matter what I will sincerely agree
To get along
So six inches or six miles distance
For me ...
... Doesn't change the point at all
They mean exactly the same
IF...you can accept that expansion
Equals Parameters of visions...
....Parameters of sight
Darkness is only darkness to those
Who can --truly ignore the light
So I shake my head when
Entrenched thinkers do
What they always seem to do
Saying things like.....
...If you fall off a cliff in a dream
And hit the ground
YOU REALLY DO DIE!
And I say ..what I always say

"YEAH ! WHO TOLD YOU ?"


SAD THING IS'- a few people get it...
.......but not all.
Continue reading...
561 · Apr 2018
Transylvanian Knight
Keith W Fletcher Apr 2018
Transylvanian Knight
Irony often oozes the blood stain
That history will use to paint
An honest portrait of erstwhile deeds
Or to turn some altered soul to saint
Few are those that exist within the mist
Who loom larger than the shadow portrays
And seldom does a shadow exist undiminished
By the dreariest of all darkest days
So when seeking blood in passionate resolve
There comes a mordant aberration of unheralded stature
Rising to fly above mortal attributes into unremitted immortality
By assiduous conviction born of monstrous evil of unparalleled scale

Born among the Carpathian mountains
From the ancient and mysterious Transylvanian forests
One who seeks blood for righteous alliterations
Not for glory but for the saving grace
A quest to alleviate all alien allagory   alligned along the meandering memories of non-mordant minded men

No imagery conjured by Bram Stoker thru Van Helsing
Encompasses the unmitigated reality seen
The lifelong - still beating strong - near century long shadow of the denizen of our brightest outlook

The creation of circumstance as much as man ( unkind ) made

Maybe unheralded by too many
For such a knave am I so sorely cursed now...
With shame
I ...who have always strived
to drape myself
in the raiment of the eternal optimist
Now pay overdue homage to the true and absolute optimist
     BEN FERENCZ.... Is his name
Seek out his story now ..
.while he still lives
Reach back ..
Into those dark, dreary days
To share what history gives
and you will see what he means
    when he say's     
" I'm Right. "
     For I truly know that he is!  
     
 Keith w. Fletcher
      Humbled by the humanity exhibited.
#ferencz #history #genocide #unparralled #optimist
Continue reading...
550 · Mar 2016
Tatters blowing in the wind
Keith W Fletcher Mar 2016
Tatters blowing in the wind
The past is past my friend
It can't be done again
So make the most of what you've got
The tears you try to mend
Are tatters blowin in the wind
Teasing you
Until you've lost all that you sought
Ripping away everything
That you ever thought...
That you were

Once you had your pride
But then you put it all aside
Only to become the person that you became

Now you just take the ride
With all that's passed denied
So in the end - who do you blame?
Life is not a game
Rules do not always pertain
To everyone... in the same
Way

It's not always your path
That saves you from life wrath
Nor is it wrong to sometimes stray

Cause and effect
Does reflect
On who it is that you neglect
The child of God can't always ....just pray
So if on your knees you always are
Then where will you be on Judgement Day?
Its all part of God's perfect plan
To let man be.... the son of man
Choosing
Whether or not to cast the first stone
And he that does deny
A lust or mistrust or a lie
He will stand....
.. In a line
That's all his own
When we come to Judgment Day
Continue reading...
549 · Dec 2016
Notorious
Keith W Fletcher Dec 2016
Notorious
Do not give me reason to haunt your mind
For I will dig and dredge up what I can find
Turning it back on your placid core
Non sequitur alliterations a lit alit alittle more
   FOR I AM NOTORIOUS

So, do not doubt my ability to route
You... from your sanctimonious intransigency
To push and pull you into a corner where
You never thought you would be  
   FOR I AM
INSUFFERABLY NOTORIOUS

Should I find you neglect to collect
the pieces you discard
I will indeed ...
...far exceed the need...you plead
so hard to accede

   FOR I AM
AMBIVALENTLY NOTORIOUS
       AND INSUFFERABLE

Any abuse necessary to waylay
any excuse
You choose to use
In order to...
...cling
To your inner sanctum
Will i infuse..as I

Resort
to retort
By waxing
Perspicaciously panegyric
Upon your very being
In order to inspire..desire
With any and all necessary
Encomiastic encomium
So as to create higher aspirations

For I am notoriously cruel and inspiring
As I push one to the brink
Because....one way or another..
One way or another
I will....
.. Whatever it takes

I will... Make you think!

FOR I AM.... NOTORIOUS!
Continue reading...
548 · Jun 2016
Higher education
Keith W Fletcher Jun 2016
Higher education
Those heavy crushing
Waves of doubt
That's so often
Come about
Zeroing in
With triangulating precision
Seeking any weak spot
Any crack
In the egos fragile shell
Seeping in
To get under your skin
In so subtle a way it's hard to tell
That you've been inundated
To the point of allowing
Your self to be  deflated
Sometimes so dramatic
That like a balloon let loose
To fly madly around the room
Regardless of the ricocheting
Life delaying
Overpaying
For something
you never needed to begin with
So as much as I hate
The seemingly endless situation
I try to chalk it up as the cost
Of my pursuit
Of higher education
My personal higher education
Continue reading...
546 · Jan 2016
A Remote Chance
Keith W Fletcher Jan 2016
A Remote Chance
I been livin-- upside down
For so long I've just been hangin around
I don't even know what keeps me bound
To these places -- where just traces
Of her....linger -- before time
Reaches up and erases
Her
From my mind
I need some kind of
Emotional remote control
That I can use anytime I choose
To push the button
And to myself Be kind
Never forgetting to rewind
But I can't seem to find rewind
Can't seem to stop  losing all the traces
My memories of  her that
Just keep slipping away
Faces places smells and sounds
Like they come by just to tease me
Then suddenly
We're off to the races
Where I run so hard
Through the backrooms of my mind
Losing ground with each and every go round
Please ...can't you help me somebody
To help my mind and memory rewind
I'm begging you ...please
Please please please
Please rewind
Please rewind
Please rewind
Continue reading...
542 · Dec 2015
The measure of time
Keith W Fletcher Dec 2015
The measure of time
An insatiable thirst
Quenched
By the flickering flames of change
As constant darkness
Opens up
To expose
The smiling faces........ arranged
In a ragged circle
As transmutation will
Click a quick tick
Time sets forth a measurement
And right then
Measurement becomes relevant
And the wall
Still and silent now
As it settles into the new place
Having moved backward......
Giving human spirit
A little more space
Nobody knew it right then
But space
Just got bent ..for the very first time
---------And GOD smiled---------
Coal carried the flame forward
Far beyond
Its original role
Iron became harder to tame
As they blend and bend
Creating and celebrating
The birth
Of the very first tool
And the wall slid back
Exposing a gap
In the continuum
As well as a broken chain
So GOD stepped in
Taking a chain in each hand
As to cover the span
Linking the past to the present
Creating a future
Where history will be amassed
To be categorized
Analized
Sorted and filed
And GOD held it all together
-------And again GOD smiled-------
That smile
Must have been
MAJESTIC
As he watched the intrepid airmen
Sail off the dune and fly toward the ocean
Taking a leap and an unfathomable chance
HE may have laughed
As the slapstick unfolded
The two brothers laughing and whooping
As each does their version
Of a happy dance
To a whole new future -- to be
That they alone
Had the ability to see
It did change quite magically
Unfolding like a roadmap
Inspiring technology
With each turn of the page
No smile could have been present
As fat man lumbered in
And little boy followed
Not too long after
And that guaranteed
The absence of smiles
-------The suppression of laughter------
Tragic
Still
The wall slid backwards
By more than the QUOTA
The pattern expected
Considering the folly of man
Whose intelligence suddenly
Accelerating so rapidly
That bit by bit
Humanity split
Religiously
Using a crutch
Saying its all just
Too much
"If GOD wanted man to fly
He would have given us wings"
As others decry
"You spit in the eye
of He who gave us the gift
of creativity
Intelligence and tenacity---
--maybe a bit of bombastity
All fathers want their children
To excel
So shouldn't that be true
For GODS children as well?
That wall is not to be breached
Circumnavigated
Undermined or climbed
We will never realize
The height necessary
To rise above the lofty wall
To see the sacred sights
Where GOD delights
In teasing us
Bit by bit
Inch by inch
Allowing us
To push the wall forward
Encouraging us to learn as we grow
As you know
We would have never  moved forward
Beyond the doubts of those
Who say that we're playing GOD
Then burying their heads in the sand
Dooming us to crawl
Instead of proudly walking tall
If GOD didn't encourage his children
By stepping back
And smiling upon us
As we seek to find wisdom
Just as we need it
We take pride in pushing ahead
As if we somehow
Actually did
It on our own
Managing to move that wall
----And that has to give
GOD
The biggest laugh of all.
Continue reading...
541 · Feb 2017
So dark the night
Keith W Fletcher Feb 2017
So dark the night
So dark the night
And vast the undulating Plains
That to a red eye Rider
The enormous Beast Ablaze with light
Was barely more then a lighter's flame
From 20 miles away and Eight Miles High
In the fluorescent algae Specht water
A party was all-consuming
As the music blasted splitting the silence
Like the appalling amount of lumens shoving back the moonless dark

And yet just beyond the limits of its reach
The ink stain air poised  to Rush into the vacuum left should power fail
Unlike the stately and patient depths
Of the ever patient flashing star like algae filled Sea
Poised not .... content to let be what will be
Collecting trophies was an old Hobby
No rush to interfere
With these ever-expanding beasts Huffing and puffing in laboring air

Unlike the terrafirma and it's  Horizon curve
Where elevation or  terrain
Condenses or expands the vision seen or imagined
That exists just beyond the rise

For virtually flat is the oceans surface
360 degree of a horizon never changing
That can be disconcerting to a newbies mind
Why the sailors of old believe the world to be flat
As a never changing Horizon completely flat and round
Surely means to drop off is always just up ahead

And in that mysterious vast and frightening Darkness
Not much change has a few centuries made
Except the modern vessel pushes the darkness further back
Yet a horizon never changing distance
Flat as a plates Edge
Conjures up illusions of
That drop off ....always up ahead

Aboard the celebrating bobber no one cared
Theirs  was a world of  laughter and Indulgence
And good times to be shared
Safe and secure are the elitists
Giddy with the power carried into marriage from a long Romance
No one picked to pay attention
Upon this lazy pleasure Victory Cruise
So it was it that fateful moment
As the ship rocked  none heard the sudden vicious crack

As any breach will with Insidious skill
Growing by the measure directed by circumstance
So it could be said that those up on Deck
And that at Waters Edge
Were deeply involved in their separate dance
Persistent in their Quest
With joyous abandon the elite who ride so high as to care not
About the underlings the disposables they mistreat
Those very ones they look down on
Until they find they actually need
For the overall success of all involved
But misused abused mistreated and spurned
Not giving the rightful reward of value earned
Unnoticed and unneeded until deemed Worthy
To do for them a manual and demeaning chore

So unnoticed were they in the dark of night
Easing a lifeboat into the dark black ink
Where the joy of song of that multitude aboard
Singing spirited songs as they floated away

Just as those revelers remained
unaware of the ever-evolving crack
That has set its sights on sinking the great ship
Into the arms of  fluorescent splattered black and undulating ink

Until in a sudden and devastating upheaval the crack becomes a ripping tear
And water flowing in ..becomes a devastating disaster
How quickly then the mechanics and generating Power Within
As it sputters then as if to wink to the very patient ink
Flashing light gives way to the impatient darkness no longer held back
And in a pain unknown to those now alone
With wild swings has to right and left it does undo
And at that moment the mass of  mortal coil and Metal is suddenly breached
So Begins the flounder as it sinks slowly into that Darkness below that closes in around her

And even as The Magnificent Lady Liberty goes down
The ones great ship of state lost in the Darkness of more than the night for too long
Even at this fateful moment of last regrets or sudden repentance

Those who were just the elite could be heard to plead
As many cried out for the servants and Expendables that they suddenly  did find they need
Continue reading...
541 · Feb 2016
R u N?
Keith W Fletcher Feb 2016
R u N?
Hello?
              Yeah ..I'm here
Do you want me....to go?

HELLO!
                 No need to yell.
I ju
                     I'm thinking
Okay then I'll go
                           Wa8!!!!!
Okay
                        U hurt me!
I kno            
                         No..u dont
???
                           Pre 10
Nrvs
                            K. Me 2
So..so sry
                            OOOO
2 mad 2 talk?
                               IDK
I wa8!

hello ....

Hello....
                            ****.4min
           ­                   Sry!
Bb I was wrong
I'm crN bn crN
                                 Me 2
????????
                                Í NVR  LisN
O......k?
                               4gv me?
Huh u?
                               Y
But I wan 2
X plane?                  N0!

We OK?
                             Wil B
I'll wa8
2u  c me
gin.  K?
                             Wer z at?
L
                               Left u?
Y


hello.....

Hello.....


R U there?
HELLO
U ******br>
?
?

??



?!


                      



                              sigh
Continue reading...
539 · Mar 2017
A comfortable setting .. .
Keith W Fletcher Mar 2017
A comfortable setting .. .
Hello weary travelers .
Welcome
to my living room
for in words
I have found life ...and purpose
in thought provoking
and sometimes
ego stroking words
that can if we're lucky
can ...
paint a thousand pictures
to hang proudly
displayed
along the walls
of any open mind.
Stay
as long as you like
come and go ...as you please
.  The door has no lock
and there is always
fresh sweet tea for all
in the ice box .
My hope ...
is that my LIVING room
is where some will find
living ROOM inside themselves.
So please ...wipe your feet
Wipe your feet
before
you go outside.   thanx.
...I have been waiting to post this as I conquered a few hurdles.  I have in the last week gotten wifi out in these woods and a 19.5 inch desktop computer and dragon a bluetooth headset and a printer . ..7 + days later I can now turn it on so soon I will not have to squint and get myself headaches and painful eyes to read this small smartphone and I will be able to sit back and read the screen as if I'm at a drive-in theater but all this is new to me never had it before and I'm sixty years old so bear with me and I will catch up with you all as soon as I can peace
#remember #must #to #keep #ing #click
Continue reading...
537 · May 2017
Disengage
Keith W Fletcher May 2017
Disengage
Ropes are an arbitrary constituent of
My often meandering campaign of self-sufficiency
Where often times I find myself wondering
If I were elected or selected for my role as the dejected

So the sudden appearance
Of this length of rope
Attached somewhere up above in obscurity
To dangle before me as innocently as a kids swing
Or as menacingly inviting as a 13 Loop hangman's noose

Timing is often the real hero
Or culprit
Of any grand production
Whether on the stage or in the simple act
Of oneself coming of age

With open eyes as I taste the lies
That had become so familiar to the script
That I never even trip
As the words  would slip
Lifeless and indistinguishable
From my hapless lip

There was a time as I wandered
Around the cracked and worn down
Asphalt parking lot in my mind
Seeking a parking spot and often finding
Naught- as once again the daily spin
Had ushered in
That loud and obnoxiously redundant crowd
Of oxygen-dependent hypocrites
That look and sound and think
Just like me

That then is the point where I begin
To accept that no parking spot exists
As I make the endless loops and twists
Assuming that I can convince myself
It's just my bad luck
To be looking left- as I drove right by
What obviously I must have missed

LIE... an absolute  lie !!

Right there in front of me like a flashing Neon traffic cone
So even if I close my eyes
To pretend that I don't recognize and realize
Its very existence
But I know and I saw  and I heard
It all... The very second that it occurred
As the blinding flash so intense
As to make me wince
As it penetrates my fragile human eyelids

I am there
So disengaging  the  useless gear
Setting the brake... For my stranded
Almost abandoned
Soul's sake

Killing the ignition as a form of contrition
Open the door and take the key... As if it were a part of me
Wondering what was the reason for
Being that a crowd of me
Would actually steal anything from myself
Wait a minute...
... I've already been doing that. A lot
A whole parking lot

I cannot stay here among the throng
For very long
Reminding me of just how wrong
A man can really be

I need to walk and walk
Let my inner voice and my fragile shell
Have a long past due talk
As a way to maybe break the spell '
So with a swift  backward glance
Gave to me that welcome chance....
... To see
That this was my lot in life
Where what I was leaving behind
was in fact...
Right there- right where it belonged
Parked in the very parking spot
I had been looking for
That that I had had all along all along

A crowded mind
Makes it extremely hard to find
The power in taking the lead...
By helping out
That part of yourself that sometimes goes blind

There is not an easy fix or magic tricks
Or any color wax to fill in all the nicks
No school books or rule books
No tools hidden in some obscure nooks
That the ID or the EGO somehow always overlooks

So with wide open eyes
as
I'm walking
in circles
Endless circles
So when that rope materialized
Weary to the bone I'm so dreadfully tired

As if in quicksand I were mired

And so concerned
About the way my directions had turned
I continued determinedly onward
To work out the kinks and find the weak links

   Determined to identify
As I learn to rely
On my ability to accept
That
To try is to try
Only I will ever know
The depth of that turn
Or the heights of my concern
Or when
I yanked myself
Back up to the surface

The circles that I now walk
Knowing that I have not a single clue
Where or which way I'm going
No sign posts or  monuments to mark the horizon

I'm noticing
That these circles
As I hold on to this rope
ARE
Getting smaller as to shorten the distance
Between the times I wallow in
The incendiary and intrusive and abusive
As the future will be
Filled with those inconclusive reasons why
Across this path over and over and over again
With increasingly diminishing respite

No loss is ever absolute if the resolute
Soul of man can accept that there's always
A plan when looking with more than just eyes
While hearing with more than just the ears
Believing what was heard is more than just word upon word
Hope is as I am now at the crossroads of hope
A sunny  field of dew - tinged flowers

As that rope has led me down to simple single turns
Each time completing a circle
No slack left
But I am far far from bereft
As I am now aware of where
I am
The end of the rope
And therefore out of Hope?
Nope !!

' I  at the U turn
The New Direction
The ever-expanding revelations
The lengthening and strengthening of my path
And able now to see my false trail end

So with key in hand
I  reverse course and with no remorse
I'm going back to that spot
In that now empty parking lot
Marveling at that now pristine silence
So now we have a much lighter load
I turn the key put my life in gear
And get back out on the road

Oh how I love a good road trip
#fletcharrowbreeder56gmailcom
Continue reading...
534 · Oct 2016
Old fashioned cowboy
Keith W Fletcher Oct 2016
Old fashioned cowboy
He has a face etched in relief
The face of a saint
The face of a thief
A face that has seen ...
... A lifetime of pain
He's an old fashioned cowboy
With dust in his veins

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

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

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

He has a face.... etched in relief
The face of a saint ...
... The face... Of  a thief
A face that has seen
A lifetime of pain
He's an old fashioned cowboy
With... Trail Dust
In ....
             .....his....
                     ..   .....veins!
Continue reading...
533 · Apr 2016
The inevitable outcome
Keith W Fletcher Apr 2016
The inevitable outcome
I know that there's no reason
To keep searching for
Something so elusive
Its disappearance is now intrusive
Seeming to alienate and irritate
All those who searched in vain
For any reason to keep searching
For any reason to hope for
Or any reason to believe in
When extinction seems to be
The inevitable outcome of complacency
So the reason I kept searching for
Is the same reason I used to see
So much hope in the human heart
Before we all agreed to disagree
And I see no reason there
No reason - no reason at all
No reason to walk beyond the cliff edge
And allow yourself to fall
Into the abyss of a downward spiral
Where we never should have stepped
So all-in-all I do believe
For reason itself is the reason
I've written this unreasonable thought
And reason is what has gone extinct
As reason was once important
But now I guess it's not

So I see no reason to keep looking
For reasons that don't exist.
Continue reading...
530 · Jan 2016
The bell
Keith W Fletcher Jan 2016
The bell
They plagued us in the woods and wells
But vain is all our wrath and woe
Beside a deep abyss
Will grow
With tower and spire
And overhead
The sign that you and I do dread
Aye
The noisy monster was all but hung
In the lofty steeple
And soon had all but rung
But I was alert
We shall never hear that bell
It is drowned in the deep

By **** and pie
A devil of a joke
I stood on the brink
Of a cliff
Chewing sorrell to help me think
As I rested against a stump of birch
Mid the mountain grasses
As I watched the church
When...all of the sudden
I saw the wing
Of a blood -red butterfly
Trying to cling
To a slippery wet stone
And I marked how it
Dipped and tipped
As if from a blossom
The sweetness it sipped
I called --it fluttered
To left and to right
Until upon my hand
I felt it so gently light
I knew it was the elf
It was faint with fright

We talked of this and that
Of the frogs that had spawned
Of this day that had dawned
We babbled and gabbled
Of much I know
Then it broke into tears
I calmed its fears
Then it spoke
Oh! Their cracking of whips
And they turn and they stop
As they drag it aloft
From the dale below
Is is a terrible tub
That has lost its lid
All of iron
Will nobody rid
The woods of this terrible thing
It could make the bravest
Moss--Mannikin shudder and quake
I swear they will hang it
These foolish people
High up in the heart
Of the new churches steeple
And then hammer and bang
At its sides all day
Frightening all the good spirits
Of the Earth away

I hummed and I hawed
And I said hi **
As the butterfly fell to the Earth
While I -stole off to a herd
That lay up nearby
To guzzle my fill of good milk
I believe three udders ran dry

They will seek in vain
For even another drop to drain
This day
Then making my way
To a swirling stream
I hid in the brush as a sturdy team
Came snorting and panting along the road
Tugging hard at their heavy load
We will bide our time said I
Lying quiet and still in the grass
Till the mighty dray
Rambles by
Then stealing from hedge to hedge
Hopping and skipping
From rock to rock
I followed the fools
On up to the top
They had reached the edge
Of the cliff when they came to a block
With flanks all a quiver
And hocks a thrill
They hauled at the dray until
Worn out by the struggle
To move that bill
Say I to myself
This fawn will play them a trick
And spare them all
No more work today
One clutch at the wheel
I had loosened a spoke
A wrench and a blow
As the woodwork broke
A wobble -- a crack
And the hated bell
Rolled over and into the gulf it fell
It changed and it bounded
From crag to crag on its downward way
Till ...at last
That welcome splash
To the bottom it sank
Where it now lays
At the bottom of the lake
Lost for now and for always
Aye!
Continue reading...
528 · Feb 2017
Do I even exist?
Keith W Fletcher Feb 2017
Do I even exist?
Down that long slow slide
I could not halt
The progression
Born of pain regrets and obsession

Digging in with ****** splintered fingernails
And futile effort
Attempting to slow
By gripping the now
Ripping
Shredz of my fragile ego

Too Proud to scream
Even in this nightmare dream
So in this silence I form an alliance
Hollow promises and Gifts of hopelessness
Adorned with ribbons of scorn
Wrapped up with yesterday's newspaper
That's printed with tomorrow's headlines

As if dismissed
Today does not even exist
And I ..thought
Am I caught
Do I even exist ..as I
... continue the slide
Down into the waiting Abyss
Sliding down and ripping my ego to shreds
Will anyone miss....my memory if
In the moment that is
I don't even exist

Did I....Did I..did I

I could not quell the Manic Panic that grows
In the hollow slide going all wrong
Is that my impending never-ending fate

So that then...when...
Comes that moment of
Clarified acceptance as life
Seen through the murky haze
Of uncontrollable forces

As they become the window panes of revision
And the curtains open
To a  thought suddenly revealed
That what is sealed
Will be what was...

The Catalyst of pain
The gravity of the slide
The Ripping futility of effort
Ripping through the ego releasing true Pride

So to find my own reality my true existence
I push aside the ribbons of scorn Ignoring tomorrow's truth and yesterday's news
Finding my existence by opening the box and looking inside

And suddenly it was as if.....
..... I was born again.
Continue reading...
523 · Nov 2017
Every ill
Keith W Fletcher Nov 2017
Every ill
Ive had my fill
Of every ill
That the world
Keeps trying ...to instill
I've had my fill
I've had...I've had...I've had
I've had my fill

Keep telling me lies
Even though ...
You realize
That you no longer
Even have to try and hide
Them!
Behind .......a thin disquise

I think that means
That the primed machines
Are ready to go.....
.....so....
They don't care if we know
Which way the future leans

I do believe
That there are those
Who do conceive
Of just ...
..one more heave
And that will take it
Take it all the way
All the way down
To the ground !

Where others wait -
With a rope
To quickly quash...every hope
And celebrate
Once they have it bound
And all tied down

Watch and learn
From those who spurn
All the things that we hold dear
As they tell us
whats what
Then turn a deaf ear
And it's then
as they twist and bend
And rend the truth

By attitudes and platitudes
They separate us ...Into classes
All the while
They clinch their teeth
To hide the smile

Apprehension encouraged
By descending deeper
and deeper
Into dissention
Convoluted amplituded
Learned from those
With whom ...
...they colluded
Those enemies of the free
But still...you may be
One of those who still denies
What is RIGHT ...
.....In front
Of your eyes

Just so you know
When that sun has set
Don't waste time waiting
For the light of dawn
If you bought the darkness
Then thats the ...
...the future you will get

I've had my fill....of every ill
That the world keeps trying ...
....to instill !
Continue reading...
522 · Apr 2018
On the kitchen table
Keith W Fletcher Apr 2018
On the kitchen table
When I first met you
it was
through an.... open door
But I'm not so sure
that I'm
welcome here ...no more
So i ....
Im gonna say goodbye

Don't get me wrong
Its not to say
We didn't  have some fun
It just seems to be
that those ....days... are done

And so ... can not  say
That  we  both ...
....didn't know
Once  the minutes ....
....and the days
had began to move ......so slow
And i could tell ...you too
Knew....That it wasnt how
It    was    before

So for all the lonely time
I will now have
I can  say without regret
That I've been paid in full
As i hope you can say
That you
As well ...have good memories
You can retain
When its all  over and done
memories will echo
Those sad refrains as silence reigns
Because I've been there
I know just how it feels
I know .....just how bad it feels

And its never easy ...never
Never ever easy

When i first met you
it was .. like
stepping through
an open door
So now ..I'm leaving
but by a different way
So not to spoil
The way it began
back then .....when
You first let me in

But i cannot or will not pretend
That I don't know
It never ever really ends

So even though
We both know
That of late it has all ..
mostly been just for show
Just for show

I leave out by the back door now
So gently do I pull it closed behind me
Dont want a scene or any slamming doors
TO REMIND ME!
It had its time and had run its course
There's no denying that as  i depart
I carry pain in my heart
and heavy weight of remorse
Upon my back

I know someday it will ease
into a back corner of my mind
But i also know that days will
Will not be coming soon when ill find
It weighs less and less each passing day
But i will also be aware that while
I will have begun to seek a happier tune
For my empty core after i find my  smile

Now that I've walked a thousand yards
I turn back to wave goodbye to what once was
The shades are drawn and its all dark inside
So though i am not sneaking away and we
In silent conversation we said all we needed to say
Yesterday
Yesterday we agreed but today i realize my leaving
Has hurt your pride  ... has really hurt your pride
I know I know i know I know I know we both drowned
Through the night and all the tears we each cried
So i do i do know just how it feels as i have been  here
Been here so many times before and its never ever been easy
And it never will ..never will ...i know from so many times before


But when we first met ..it was like i was...
....walking through an open door .
.a door like no other ...i had ever
walked through before and thats why i left my keys
on the kitchen table
Along with my last smile .....at least........
My last one ..... for a long..... long while !
#sadness #endings #relationships #regrets #hashtags
Continue reading...
519 · Oct 2016
It's happening
Keith W Fletcher Oct 2016
It's happening
I think someone's trying to do me in
I know it's hard to believe
But it's happening
They're after you too .... So
What you going to do?
I know it's hard to believe... But it's happening

The water that you drink isn't safe
The  air that you breathe isn't pure
The doctor says that it's rare
Which means that there's no cure
I know it's hard to believe... But it's happening

Stay off the roads late at night
Highway killers... Higher than kites
They don't know what they do
But they don't help me or you
I know  it's hard to believe... But it's happening

And you know it too

I think someone's trying to do me in
I know it's hard to believe
Almost impossible for most people to conceive
But I also know...
... That it's happening.
SPT.  again TA I owe you one.
THANK YOU!-
Continue reading...
516 · Aug 2019
I can't wait.....
Keith W Fletcher Aug 2019
I can't wait.....
Someday the words will be right there
Of poignant value and so much social  implication
That it will ensnare
the unwary
Hopefully probing deep
for some thoughtful inclination
That such effrontery
would normally inflame so many
But here I have the last word
the last meme.

the quote of quotes,
the Ayatollah of RocknRolla
My words set hard in Stone
soft in gist as jest
clearly seen
To be ... absolutely correct ,
mirror bright in reflection
Telling  in the action.
what they will....albeit in slight delay
Inspiring  more ...I hope
Than simply
a reason to smile,  
May they become
a direction
Hopefully  to be a remindier
that we may have lost our way
But not our self respect
Sorely tested
But never completly arrested
Is our humanity
If  that be so then
may some laughter
some genuinely thoughtful
moments after
To comment a silent homage
As a few will  ....suddenly take action,
leaping up and aside
..once it will dawn upon
All who are drawn in
by those
small ...elaborately engraved words
..in hopeful consideration
To  inspire ..both
Elevating  thoughts
and
Tentative  to raucous laughter


               

 ALL MY LIFE
   PEOPLE HAVE LOOKED
    DOWN ON .. WHILE WALKING
     ALL OVER ME....SO NOW THEN ...
JUST  LOOK....
..at what YOU too  
   are doing right now  ,


I can't t wait ...oh OH! Oh no.. yes I can ! I can wait just fine
,
Continue reading...
510 · Oct 2018
Who are you again?
Keith W Fletcher Oct 2018
Who are you again?
Through an all consuming
ever looming
self-entombing
slow death march
they slogged along
growing strong
by right of wrong
through hate
they berate conflate inflate implicate in a quest to initiate
all those withering Souls
who follow
without reason
behind those bent
who's Soul intent.. is eradication invalidation
so that even those
who avert their eyes
from this aberration
Still follow
one step one stone
one more who does condone believing
somehow time will allow
the ability to atone
to take back
what they already own
And yet ...
by division indecision miscreant dreams seen through aberrant visions
painted on
the nonexistent headstones
Of those
deemed Unworthy of condolence

When the heavy hand of Injustice Whispers you can trust us
"listen not to the neurosyphilitic rot that the weak-minded speak
for We  Are  The  Chosen
The American creed
the annointed  Anglo breed
who have fought hard
with righteousness
Appointed
to achieve
the America that God intended
as HIS emissaries
we are the righteously pure ordained Warriors
as  WE now take..
possession
of our pure white Nation
our building Stone
to create anew
that
which is to be the new state !"

Oh you fools !
you withering Souls
YOU who slogged along
through the swamps of intolerance toward a place ..you thought
you would belong
Unfortunately forgot
to anticipate
That the haters
will always need someone
to berate denigrate and to  Hate !

So ...who are you again ?
Continue reading...
510 · Mar 2016
Love child.
Keith W Fletcher Mar 2016
Love child.
Troubled souls
Peering through glass
Of isolated.fishbowls
Seeking consistency beyond
The glass that blocks their view
Although its crystal clear
Still unable to see through
The murky depths
Of their own regrets
For knowingly carrying
Others down the whirlpool
Of their own making
As all around them
Are those being caught
While watching as they
Slide into hopelessness
Of that same morality
They were taught

No loss so great
As dooming others
To ones own chosen fate.
Continue reading...
510 · Dec 2015
Trapped in this nightmare
Keith W Fletcher Dec 2015
Trapped in this nightmare
Lucid moments give no relief
To the age ravaged carapace lying there
Suspended in a time warp conundrum
As fragile as last nights dreams become
Once the eyes open --triggering delete
But not for this carapace
For last nights dreams don't retreat
Vivid is the absolute epitome
Of dreamloop interlocking reality
Dead reckoning eyes beckoning
For a listener of the silent air
To look past the myopic rheuminations
And see the plea desperately flashing
While the lucid light is lit
Flickering like a candle in the wind
True ........but it's there to be seen
As the morning nurse rehearses
The stale and staid routine
Of caring for -without caring about
The warehouse stock beyond the count
The silent ones or the ones that shout
All add up to their final amount
To that
Someone is alway paying attention
Its a hell of a world were all so busy building

"Help me ..please help me...please ...
....Its not a dream"
The eyes scream
As the tears begin to stream
"Look you stupid *****
Can you not recognize
Do you not realize I'm still in here
I still exist
I can't resist ... I CANNOT RESIST."
The neon eyes stop flickering
As they watch the potential savior
Continue the daily routine
Out the door and onto more
Beseaching eyes in the next room
The next ward
Taking stock
Assessing the value of
The mechanism---as a whole
No thought to the poor soul
Suffering beyond the loss of body control
And in lucid  horror the terror
Suddenly
Appears in the doorway
White garbed attendant -cigarette smell in tow
Leaning in to show a sickly grin
Whispering to the carapace
"I'm going home now...no need to cry
I'll be around to see you tonight."
Then looking straight into her eyes
"You can't tell nobody
And I know you really like it
Don't you.? Yeah you do! "
I wrote this recently and still it creeps me out even though I've read it a half dozen times.
Continue reading...
509 · Dec 2015
uncomfortably satisfied
Keith W Fletcher Dec 2015
uncomfortably satisfied
I was sitting there uncomfortably satisfied
Amid the discarded flotsam
Of fast food wrappers  and paper cups
At the crossroads of my life
An oddly familiar stranger just offered me a ride
Although I could use one I heard myself decline
And I had to ask myself "Why .. Did ......you ..do that?
So I fixed my mind
on that
unexepected response
Emanating from beyond the confines of my consciousness
Was it the fact that I
don't know
which way to go
Or haughty pride
at them not being around earlier
When I trudged along
the rough shoulder of life
Tired ...
...hot and thirsty
hungry for more
than just food
I could have really used
a lift
from just the offer itself
I like to think I'm not  ...
not that shallow
but I.D.K. I really don't
Maybe that's the riddle
The answer to know
What I need to do
to figure out
which way I need to go
That's what I want to believe is the reason I didn't leave
But like I said earlier
about sitting
uncomfortably satisfied
Among all those things people
choose
to discard these days
it seems like
Everyone I know
anymore
are oddly familiar to me
So for a while
right or wrong
I'll hang out here
as it appears
to me
to be ...where
I think that I belong
Continue reading...
505 · Mar 2022
The question is....
Keith W Fletcher Mar 2022
The question is....
I said " hey there, where you goin?
He replied " nowhere."
I chuckled " really..."then I smiled..."and where is that?"
" Everywhere !"
was his reply ...
...and then  
my smile ran away .
Continue reading...
503 · Nov 2016
The cold and bitter rain
Keith W Fletcher Nov 2016
The cold and bitter rain
Let me know when you begin
To ignore the tinting of my skin
So you can see who it is that we really are
Until that time comes we won't get too far
We will all be standing in the cold and bitter rain
Tied to the past by a hardened chain
And all the victories that we've had will be in vain

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

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

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

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

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

And we're standing in  the cold and bitter rain
Tied to the past by  a hardened chain
Willingly letting all of our past victories go down the drain and to be in vain
Continue reading...
502 · Oct 2016
Black and white
Keith W Fletcher Oct 2016
Black and white
Hey ... Out there
I'm worried about my wife
Could somebody please take her a message
Tell her everything will be ok
Man I don't know
This has just been a really weird day
That much I can truly say
Because I lived it

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

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

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

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

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

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

Crazy man - this is just crazy
So I say again to the man pushing the Gurney
Just before they load me into the ambulance
Just after they pull the blanket over my head
Hey you out there I'm worried about my wife
I don't know...what
she and the girls will do now... Now that I am dead
Continue reading...
501 · Dec 2015
RISING TIDES
Keith W Fletcher Dec 2015
RISING TIDES
Why  do you keep trying to
Fake me out
Make me doubt
What I see is what it is
Without that
Attempt at
Sleight of hand
You might have
Gotten through to me
But as it stands
I'm closing down
Any of MY avenues
That you think that you can use
Just because you write the law's
Doesn't mean I'll even pause
Long enough to even....
.....wave as your parade
Will cruise on by

I live down close to the ground
Where I can smell the dirt
That I so proudly wear
While you ride high
Up in the lofty air
Where you find it easier to breath
Without the stench of sweat and grime
Of those of us
Who have to work overtime
Just to make it to another day
So as you RE-reexamine
Roe  v. Wade or BEHN(****)GHAZI
Because doing nothing beats the other party
Into the corner of the ring
So that you can sing
Your own praises-for maintaining stasis
Meanwhile those that you rile
Are getting tired of hearing
Your promises are growing thin
Your actions are just short of sin
You postulate and agitate
To fill your QUOTA of....
.....The seeds of hate
That must be planted
Must be grown
Must be watered
Must be shown
Must be cherished as a thing of beauty
Those rows and rows
Of your successful duty
Those miles and miles of fertile fields
Thats been oversown and overgrown
Overflowing with complete emptiness
If this is what you call
Your plan for complete success
Then any RISING tide
That you so proudly quote
Will leave us ALL
In that flooded extremely muddied field
And it won't matter if ....
...We do or if we don't
Have a boat

(time to get out the shovels)
Continue reading...
499 · Jan 2021
Bent
Keith W Fletcher Jan 2021
Bent
What comes of addiction
a predilection
A two times round
the same intersection
looking for an accident
a reason to get bent
out of shape
out of mind
out of the mendacious ...
...daily grind
that keeps telling all of us
you must work hard
Smile all the while
that your life is shrinking
your passbook is sinking
deeper and deeper
underwater
Take 2 weeks off
the change will do you good
but you know that behind the smile there is guile
theres no chance
to remain complete
in the face of defeat
when you and yours are addicted
afflicted with ....
a silly need to eat !
Continue reading...
497 · Jan 2016
Setting another course ( dedicated to my fathers memory 1907 -1999 dad to all 12 kids)
Keith W Fletcher Jan 2016
Setting another course ( dedicated to my fathers memory 1907 -1999 dad to all 12 kids)
The captain of the legacy
Retired his ship this noon
Yet I feel after 91 years
It was still a bit too soon

But never having held the helm
Or sailed his troubled sea
Who am I to say just when
His time of rest should be

So now that time has come
The flags sail halfmast
In tribute to a legend
Who's time has come and passed

Now at the rail he's standing
To wave a final farewell
To all the tiny vessels -- sailing
In the shadows of his sail

No more great regattas
Or ventures will he lead
No more anchors holding bottom
When the dingies are in need

The great ship still looked impressive
As it set its final course
Amid the sea of tears------
------and bellows of my remourse

FAREWELL MY CAPTAIN.......
               ....FAREWELL !
Continue reading...
497 · Jun 2017
The dream
Keith W Fletcher Jun 2017
The dream
I'm here to pick up the pieces
Of  a life I once knew
When I understood the reasons
And when I thought that I had a clue

To what life could be like
When you think that you found a home
And then you wake up find the dream gone
On the coldest day you've ever known

Before that day everything was perfect
She was the love of my life most beautiful I've known
  I was the Captain she was my Tennille... until
We went our separate ways and I was left alone

Complications seem to have a life of Their Own
So even though I can remember the way she went down
When I knew she was going I had to abandon the dream
And I had to pull myself up or let myself drown

Every so often someone answers my ad
And I drive out to meet and see if it's her
At least a small part of the dream that I had
That I can mount in my new dream as it were

So far nothing but a lot of false hopes
I'm superstitious and I know that one day I'll find
A keepsake ,a memory..a piece so awesome
So I can ***** it on the floor as a way to remind

Turn the last corner check the address
I wasn't prepared for The Rush that I got
There on the porch was more than I'd ever expected
Holding and caressing every inch of her there on the spot

You must be Ethan said the man who opened the door
it looks like you're getting acquainted
Yes sir I never thought I'd find a piece of the dream lost
This is more than I could have ever expected

Back into town tied down in the bed
Roll through the gate where my new dream was waiting
Well look at that McCrory said she came back to you
More than I hoped I said leave it to you to do the mating

I'll be back Monday morning to set off
If you think you can work your magic
And I can get back where I belong
It'll be done son one more day on dry land would be tragic

See you Monday then you old boat builder
Already barking orders  lend me a hand and let's see
They got oceans to sail and places to be  he bellowed out
Avast me hearties he said with a grin and a hearty wink at me
Continue reading...
496 · Oct 2016
Standing at the gate
Keith W Fletcher Oct 2016
Standing at the gate
Keith W Fletcher


Kinda funny how sometimes
We think we know what a word really means
By synopsis / definition or context
At times which way the wind blows defines how it leans
I say synopsis for when one word equates a story
Definition for when it falls more to cut and dry
Context may allow a word to be the momentary King
Surrounded by his subjects basking in his glory

So as a poet / writer I often consider  words to be fragile
As I credit them with an almost absolute gravitational force
To move mountains control tides or  to bring me back down to earth
Able to create a picture
Of love like a painter's brush
Or painted all black in a fit of remorse

Right now in this space and time  my being occupies
It hurts my soul to hear so many words
Abused to comatose by contusions
I understand not..... this Insidious plot to destroy the very foundation
Of words on which was built this nation
Once great ...now late
In seeking a healing solution

How is it that we manage NOT
To take advantage of those words that brought us here
Where people are now paid
To bend  minds
By twisting those very same words
To the point where the human mind gets into such a bind
We're reaching the end of our ability to... comprehend
Just how this could have occurred
Apathy is that word

Now with the foot firmly in the door
So many more are beginning to awaken
You see the surprise in.their eyes
As they finally realized
That they're late

I've been yelling... I've been screaming
For what is suddenly seeming
To have been my whole **** life

Many more at the door now engaged Enraged as the battle is being waged
So now I step out away from the battle stage

And I allow myself to scream out
Loud and proud

" I've been fighting them since way back when they first tried to enter in the freaking gate!!"

My voice is weak can hardly speak
I've been screaming for so long
In my heart of hearts
I feel that
I deserve a rest
I feel that I have passed the test
Truly knowing I've done my best

For so many years I spoke out
ABOUT..
...All my fears
I always resisted those who insisted
I was looking for trouble
Where it never existed

But now I think it's been
Amply demonstrated
So that I feel I've been vindicated
But I want to be sure it's clearly stated  

"I did not fight this battle all alone!!"
It's just that sometimes
It just felt like I was ?

My part in the battle has not ended
It's just that recently I have friended
On the web
Many who
Once you listen to what they just defended
People who I'm sure carry in their eyes
Those same battle scars that I recognize
In the words that they've said

And they carry scars just like mine
In their hearts and in their mind
So I'm sure that just like me
There were times I thought it'd be
Over and done
Before the real battle had ever begun
I'm sure that they could see
Just like me
A nation of people - brain dead.....
From being spoon fed ...a diet.....
Of fear and doubt....
.....drowning in apathy!!
Continue reading...
496 · Jun 2016
The price of love
Keith W Fletcher Jun 2016
The price of love
What is...
The price of love
Not that it really matters
I'd make the payments
With interest and concerns
For those hard days when life shatters
Compounding all those pains
Given to... which no one really earns
So the price of love
A hand to hold
A warm smile to share
Someone to cuddle with when it's cold
Never letting anything come between
The ability of each to always show they care
And that is the price of love
That physical or emotional touch
So the most valuable thing on this Earth no payment too high no cost too much
Continue reading...
490 · Jan 2016
FACING THE FUTURE
Keith W Fletcher Jan 2016
FACING THE FUTURE
I heard the alarm call
As the fool turned around
And I felt that I knew him
At least I've seen him around
Then I jumped on a highwire
Where I balanced myself
Trying to make it a performance
Never to be seen anywhere else
But I saw in the distance
No one below me could see
It wasn't something that I could ignore
I recognized it ....as a reality
So I fell into the net that
Existed not.. a second ago
Then I heard the band start playing
As I began to run down the road
When I looked back behind me
The crowd began to grow
They were following along
As if I led a parade
With the band mixed among them
Never stopping the song that they played

I couldn't lead them all into
What it was that I saw
It was my opposition
It was my cross to bear
So I had to go in
Had to go in all alone
In spite of my fear
For any hope of remission
Was in facing it down
In spite of how it appears

When I looked back behind me
I found faith as I saw .......inspiration

In the choir that I heard
As the crowd closed around me
Singing in loud voice  to the song
That the band  blasted out
With everyone singing harmony
As they all knew every word

So ain't it time we all start singing ?
Continue reading...
489 · Dec 2015
While on the trail of T-rex
Keith W Fletcher Dec 2015
While on the trail of T-rex
Years ago down in Alabama
Working on  a dinosaur hunting crew
I found myself all alone in the woods
When I heard a sound coming out of the blue
Started so small I hardly noticed it
But it grew and grew and grew
Till it seemed to fill the air with its intensity
And suddenly around around around me it flew
So close it triggered my natural propensity
  "I'll KNOCK YOU OUT OF THE PARK" I said out loud
And as if it heard and understood every word
Slammin the brakes stopping on a dime right in my face
   " WHAT THE ......" this fat yellow and black bee
Was  hovering six inches from my nose - and staring at me
I literally ,literally, literally imagined a tiny spacecraft
  A crew of beings behind those ******* cockpit eyes
As if they were measuring me up and taking notes
A minute or two went by I stared at it as it hovered there
I had the urge to reach out and touch it with a finger
But that buzz powerfull as it was, I wanted to but didn't dare
Then it spun around -hit the hyperdrive and was gone
Hearing it as it faded into the distance  for a minute or more
" WOW . I NEVER SEEN NOTHING LIKE THAT BEFORE"
Then I went on my way to find the legacy left from old T-rex
                     I didn't find any.
That night in the hotel the crew sat around shootin th... Talkin
Suddenly I remembered and as some of the crew were locals
" Hey," I said "today -- out In the woods while I was walking
A big yellow and black bee like thing came...
"Did you hear it comin out of the woods for a long time first"
    " Yeah I did " I said " never heard nothin like it before"
"It come an stare at you? "two of them asked as if rehearsed
This was now getting weird but it didn't stop there
I sorta nodded as they continued "did you stick out a finger"
"You know I wanted to -that's so weird- but I didn't dare"
"We call em good news bees   they come and check you out"
" you put out your finger they land on it ya get good news"
Thirty years back and more and more these days I think about
How we dont have them here but if we did I'd stick out a finger
  "THE WAY THINGS ARE TODAY GOOD NEWS I COULD USE"
Seizmagraph crews look for oil underground and often call themselves dinosaur hunters.
Continue reading...
487 · Feb 2017
Old man of the mountain
Keith W Fletcher Feb 2017
Old man of the mountain
Old Man of the Mountain
Soldier of the cause
He sees the world through clear blue eyes
He knows all of our flaws
Old man can you tell me
What it is that we should do

We think we know the answers
It's the questions that I kind of doubt
When the leaders begin to whisper
It's time to get out and Shout

WHAT'S IT ALL ABOUT ?

Old man what's the reason
That the seasons they turn so fast
And why is everybody walking backwards
With their eyes downcast...
... Are we near to the blast

Old man has the mountain
Got a little room to spare
Cuz if it does... It won't be long Till I'll be with you there

Cause

We're going nowhere...
... living down here

Up on the mountain the water runs so clear
And the sun brightens the Clear Blue Air
Never coming down - never coming down - off this mountain
You'll have to join us up here

Old man's full of stories
All  about the glories...
. ... Of yesterday
But when he's asked
What to do about tomorrow
He simply refuses to say

The only answer that he gives
Is reflected in the way he lives
Can't you see it his way?
Continue reading...
486 · Oct 2016
Donations from the heart.
Keith W Fletcher Oct 2016
Donations from the heart.
Keith W Fletcher
March 9th 2016


Watching him that first day
He stepped out into sunshine
Stood staring around as if lost
Then took ten steps to stare at the sign
Memorial Hospital was what it read
And I couldn't imagine what thoughts
We're transpiring inside his head

I followed at a distance
To see what his day would bring
No thought of interacting or distracting
Just along with him I would string
He walked along for a mile or two
Just taking in the sights
And I almost started laughing out loud
As he fell backwards staring at some kites

Felt better when he took a  seat
He  just seemed to find pleasure walking
Easily he was distracted
By the birds the flowers or the kites
To these he was extremely attracted
What goes through his mind
This huge hulking man of carved stone
On the third day the sat on a bench for 5 hours

Staring out at the ocean
seeing something....
....something only he was shown

Those  4 days ...that early June
I followed him around...
... everyday

9 a.m. to Twilight's dimming Veil
So Friday morning was - as usual
8:30 a.m. coffee at the Sidewalk Cafe
Then I saw him...
.... standing at the rail!

Once I noticed him
He stepped around and approached
"Excuse me" he said " do I know you?"

"I've noticed you've been following me
But I haven't known what to do
I think ....I think... I have it figured out though"
Then he smiled a smile and cocked his head.

"I'd be very pleased if today you would walk with me
Unless you'd like to continue following along instead

"Although" he softly said " I'd be grateful
To share with you
Each wonderful new surprise
And see the joy on your face
Knowing ...
That I'm seeing it all...
... for the very first time.
Through your father's eyes!"


There are some things in life that are not to be denied
for right then and there I laid my head down on my crossed arms and I cried and I cried until  I regained my ability to talk
While this man stood stood quietly ...solid as stone. Then i said YES it is a lovely day and i would love to accompany you on YOUR walk ..thank you.
Continue reading...
485 · Dec 2015
Banality
Keith W Fletcher Dec 2015
Banality
We know what reality
Becomes .....when the banality
Of everything
Has gone stale from overuse
Try to find  a spark of life
In what is rapidly
Becoming rife
Nothing is worth fighting for
EXCEPT.....FOR A TRUCE
But if you will
Just take a pill
And let it conquere every ill
Feelings ...that you
Just can't comprehend
And in this state of blissfullness
You miss your stop and then you end...up
Coming to the conclusion that you are lost

None of this will harsh your bliss
Unless you find ...that what you miss
Is destined to
Never ever .. Come Back Around

So if the army that you've enlisted in
Doesn't care if they lose
Or if they win
Is that the reality you think
That you have found

Because if it is then what it says
Is nothing but....
A pack of lies
Staring down the open pits
You realize that it's
What used to be your eyes

Then everything comes crowding in
Pushing you to defend
The status
That you never --felt
That you had earned
And then you find
You can't unwind
The tangled mess that you possess
Thats commonly  refered to as
Your daily grind

INDUCE ME TO GO CHEMICAL
REDUCE ME TO IMPERICAL
AS I THROW REASON
STRAIGHT..
... OUT THE DOOR
ANY SUBSTANCE I CAN FIND
TO HELP ME TO ERASE MY MIND
WILL SURELY HELP ME
FIND MYSELF A CURE

For all the pains that I have chained
To myself and noone else
Ever really knew ..that I
Even carried it around

The weight of the world
Wrapped around me like a steel cocoon
The only hope I can see
Is that someday --a better me
Will rise up to take what life will bring

Chrysilis is at the heart of
All my hopes and all my dreams
But chemicals keep putting holes
Chemicals keep putting holes
In all my future wings
Continue reading...
480 · Mar 2016
Abstraction
Keith W Fletcher Mar 2016
Abstraction
know

I know that there are things that I've been missing
And I
found ywhen my manic times do occur

Its so weird to know that you don't want to try to change me
Into some cookie-cutter version of a person that I should be
I don't feel that you now wonder if I'm worth all the confusion that I spread
As I paint with no regard for the numbers or the colors
In pursuit of the vision that I see going around and around ibeing normal
And I resigned myself to the facts
**** I've let myself wander
Led me to places from where I never came back
The


But I dont undestand is how you ended up in colorado after al




And to feel normal .....
..........For the first time....
                           ......At last!
Continue reading...
479 · Nov 2020
This is todays true reality lesson .
Keith W Fletcher Nov 2020
This is todays true reality lesson .
If it is - as they say
then GOD slammed
a couple of doors - in my face
yesterday
It wasn't like I had not seen
that long haulway
set out before me
door after door...
...wide open - just as far
As I could see

So...maybe...just maybe
I was or chose to be
unaware...as they
began to slowly close

As I sailed along oblivious
to what was - not...
..to what I miss
and then...BLAM
so quick the second
that I never heard it slam
what with my momentum
roaring at full hum

I knew right then
that my...
just now ex-friend
had created a wound
believed to be one
that would never mend
which was...
at that juncture
very much right

Right....no!NO! wrong!
Right then
was that time to stop and think
About the depths
I was or was not
willing
to allow myself to sink!


" You Know," I said " Its Been In
Your Head...from the moment!"

That moment - months ago
when that bridge was crossed
Set ablaze - burned to a crisp
no way back
across the divide
me
on one side
looking back
Across that void
regretfully seeing
the uttered...not muttered
words that I had heard
and wishing right then
that that moment
had never occurred!

As two white men we be
talking about BLM
as suddenly one would decide,
to deride , not implied
but simply replied
"But it's not the right time!!!"

I sat there agape
repulsed...
as if hearing
fingernails scrape
across a chunk of slate
married to an indigenous
blessed with beautiful indigenous offspring
who carried that native appeal
grandchildren as well- wait....WAIT!!

I wanted to scream "Are you MAD- RRRrrr Uuuuuu InSANE?

With motors overheating
I loosed that string
let that hot-air balloon
rise up and steadily drift away
carrying off a friendship ( of sorts )
a favor in the act
where wise men stop
to think..instead of react!

into the wind I watched it sail
as I stepped gracefully
back from the rail
Stopping dead in my tracks

So...was I surprised
as I watched...
... those doors
SlaMMing shut
so abruptly
amid today's nevermores?
YES! ...sort of
I guess you might say
but I pulled up my anchor
set sail on calm waters
Jettisoning my rancor
starting with reasoning
seasoning
tamping down any hot embers
"Small fish of'n ave big tales!"
I read on a strangers porch
just today along my travails
My mind...
..suddenly remembers!

At first just a smallest of smiles
existed on my unwilling face
Before the laughter erupted
washing away all of it away...
...without leaving a trace!

   $mall price to be paying
that bridge so selfishly ignored
which turns out - as you knew
t'was not a payment...you willingly could afford!!

Then that breeze
blew over me..
...refreshingly cool/
replenishing me
more than I believed
was my right to be hopin'

A bestgone friend
a few hundred lost
so much was gained
than was to be lost
when all those windows did suddenly open!

That is today's truth...
...my reality lesson.

peace!!
#karma #self #pride #blm #conscience
Continue reading...
478 · Apr 2017
My Alpha and My Omega
Keith W Fletcher Apr 2017
My Alpha and My Omega
The measure of time

An insatiable thirst
Quenched
By the flickering flames of change
As constant darkness
Opens up
To expose
The smiling faces........ arranged
In a ragged circle
As transmutation will
Click a quick tick
Time sets forth a measurement
And right then
Measurement becomes relevant
And the wall
Still and silent now
As it settles into the new place
Having moved backward......
Giving human spirit
A little more space
Nobody knew it right then
But space
Just got bent ..for the very first time
---------And GOD smiled---------
Coal carried the flame forward
Far beyond
Its original role
Iron became harder to tame
As they blend and bend
Creating and celebrating
The birth
Of the very first tool
And the wall slid back
Exposing a gap
In the continuum
As well as a broken chain
So GOD stepped in
Taking a chain in each hand
As to cover the span
Linking the past to the present
Creating a future
Where history will be amassed
To be categorized
Analized
Sorted and filed
And GOD held it all together
-------And again GOD smiled-------
That smile
Must have been
MAJESTIC
As he watched the intrepid airmen
Sail off the dune and fly toward the ocean
Taking a leap and an unfathomable chance
HE may have laughed
As the slapstick unfolded
The two brothers laughing and whooping
As each does their version
Of a happy dance
To a whole new future -- to be
That they alone
Had the ability to see
It did change quite magically
Unfolding like a roadmap
Inspiring technology
With each turn of the page
No smile could have been present
As fat man lumbered in
And little boy followed
Not too long after
And that guaranteed
The absence of smiles
-------The suppression of laughter------
Tragic
Still
The wall slid backwards
By more than the QUOTA
The pattern expected
Considering the folly of man
Whose intelligence suddenly
Accelerating so rapidly
That bit by bit
Humanity split
Religiously
Using a crutch
Saying its all just
Too much
"If GOD wanted man to fly
He would have given us wings"
As others decry
"You spit in the eye
of He who gave us the gift
of creativity
Intelligence and tenacity---
--maybe a bit of bombastity
All fathers want their children
To excel
So shouldn't that be true
For GODS children as well?
That wall is not to be breached
Circumnavigated
Undermined or climbed
We will never realize
The height necessary
To rise above the lofty wall
To see the sacred sights
Where GOD delights
In teasing us
Bit by bit
Inch by inch
Allowing us
To push the wall forward
Encouraging us to learn as we grow
As you know
We would have never  moved forward
Beyond the doubts of those
Who say that we're playing GOD
Then burying their heads in the sand
Dooming us to crawl
Instead of proudly walking tall
If GOD didn't encourage his children
By stepping back
And smiling upon us
As we seek to find wisdom
Just as we need it
We take pride in pushing ahead
As if we somehow
Actually did
It on our own
Managing to move that wall
----And that has to give
GOD
The biggest laugh of all.
Continue reading...
475 · Mar 2017
BACKSLIDING
Keith W Fletcher Mar 2017
BACKSLIDING
my perceptual imbalance regardless of talents spread out over a
   chronological lifetime
gives an obfuscated vision of a murky aberration  unfocused on
  all but the aperture
overwhelming  blind ambition especially when wrapped up in
   raiment of religion
becomes translucent in the implications and applications as they
  writhe into obligation
laid out in prostration in their zeal appealing to an ever evolving
  version of Valhalla  

even now we see demonstrations of new world rationalizations
  mired in implications
Machiavellian machinations as we seem to suddenly find need
  of insentient insensate
willing partisan participants who believe participating in sacred
   rights annihilations
in total disregard of patently salacious overbearing lying denying
   terrorizing  abomination...
............A SAD SAD TRADE FOR  WHAT WAS....
                .. OUR GREAT....OBAMA nation.
Continue reading...
475 · Dec 2015
Only you know
Keith W Fletcher Dec 2015
Only you know
Its a hard life
Living on the outside
Giving to the inside
Looking for some kind of relief
Standing on the corner
With the ragtime mourner
Playing taps on the grave of a thief
The usher says to hush
Or I'll ask you to leave
Ragtime man says
That's hard to believe
I've come to play my music
And that's  what I'll do
We all got our own way to grieve

Its the right time
To open up the doors
And even up old scores
And make sure you leave it all straight
Standing at the river
With the halftime giver
Wondering if I waited too late
The oarman says the poor man
Gets to take the first ride
Halftime man gets right on inside
I came here with nothing
And that's what I've got
I AINT GOT NOTHIN TO HIDE

Its a long wait
Waitin on the beach
Somethin just out of reach
Somethin that I've had on my mind
Riding on over
With the same oar rower
Wondering what it is that I'll find
Rower says to show him
Where he should go
You're my guide
Because only you know
What it is that's made ...
   Made just for you
JUST FOR YOU !
Continue reading...
474 · Nov 2016
Teeters Waters
Keith W Fletcher Nov 2016
Teeters Waters
Felt like I've been wondering around
Don't think I'm lost but that sure ain't found
Nobody seems to notice me
Set myself on pause as I look around
Saw  in  the far-off distance City of Gold and I said to myself that must be where I'm bound

Bought me a big brown bag of broken down chips
From a one-armed Soldier with a toy 45 hanging from his hips
Give me a 16 ounce bottle to catch the water that drips
From the stalactite that grew From his left fingertips
And I heard him yell hoarsly as I went on my way.... best be sure that you take small sips

Along.the steep winding trail where I made my way
To a purple-flowered valley where I found a 57 Chevy made all out of clay
And a broken pair of mannequins making love in the backseat who said be on your way
And I would have moved even faster if not for the locked gate and the half bald parrot that  blocked and   squawked
I need $0.86 exact change ...zact change. . zact change.
If you don't have the jack a loan we can arrange
I gave you three quarters  a penny and a dime
Then he looked at me like I committed a crime

ZACT CHANGE ...ZACT CHANGE he squawked to the pushy mannequin in the car
Shrugged his shoulder and said well there yarrr
You made the deal he had the freight
So now you little **** squawker you need to open the gate

Let the man through to be on his way
Then he yelled at my back don't be a stranger stop in next time you be this way
Just make sure it's not the third Monday in the month of May
That's when we go down to Marshmallow Creek for some fresh clay

And I heard em all start giggling as I made my way around the corner
Where I ran into a picnic table and there sat a silver lighter and I multi colored ****
Just beyond was a fat oily little    dump of a man
Perched on one end the silver teeter totter
And a purple eyed blonde Angel sitting on the other end he said how you do I'm bud this is my daughter
And you can share that bowl with us you got the price or some water
Now I know why the soldiers said I'd be best to take small sips
I handed the bottle to the shimmering blonde Angel
Who said   so sweetly in a voice that suddenly   dropped 6 octaves

"Hey buddy what gives!!"
Slowly I begin to realize where I really was
The guy on the other side of the counter sayin
"Are you alright cous?"
"I told you to take it easy - greasy
We call this blonde white angel "
He pointed to  purple and green bud on the end of the scale
"This is the best you will find for sale
Anywhere in the city of Golden
Maybe in all of Colorado"

So I got me a five gram bag
Went outside for fresh air and to sit at the picnic table
Where I mellowed out while I drank the rest of my bottle of Teeters Water......Wooow!!
Continue reading...
472 · Jul 2016
Workidoubt
Keith W Fletcher Jul 2016
Workidoubt
He was off.10  n 4
MM driving
She ad a need
LN herpurs
He was goN.out
As she was A rivN
He smiled with iiiiiiii
She decided 2stopD9
They both felt plugged in

2 d8 they r str8
4 4 complete zodiacs
1 N  the strol R
With  1 ND ovN

Ain lieFun.  E?
Continue reading...
470 · Dec 2015
dispossessed
Keith W Fletcher Dec 2015
dispossessed
Amazing how opinions
Suddenly become facts
When the court becomes a minefield
And no one ever backtracks
They just keep on marching forward
Stomping all over the sanity
Of those who have no hope of any reward
For keeping a check on their  own vanity
They don't scream it from the rooftops
They pace themselves like a funeral dirge
Slow and steady till everyone's ready
For the real persona to emerge

Hyperdrive.... man alive
Where the hell did that come from
It was hiding in the darkend corner
Waiting for the time to be right
To emerge upon the senses of those around
Who absolutely positively haven't got a clue
That imagination is not ...just
An abstract situation
Where part timers can go to feel
Some sense of satisfaction

It's a full time job
Where the verbal grenades that you lob
May make a point or get a laugh
Or blow up in your face
But if there is dedication
To the value that you accepted
As a reward
For your part and expanding the mundane
From small talk and small thinking to....
Revelations and education and new paths
To be explored
Where the minefields have become diffused
And reality has become... so confused
By an opinion that has suddenly become
Chiseled into stone
Where you and you alone
Know the combination to
The lock........ You possess
To a strong box
Full of small talk and small thinking
That you are always finding is impossible
Impossible....impossible.....
IMPOSSIBLE.....
   ............TO  DISPOSSESS
Continue reading...
469 · Sep 2017
I love rain
Keith W Fletcher Sep 2017
I love rain
I love rain tapping on a roof
Like music to the soul
Filling in the silent sanctions
Where those lost dreams swim
Like iridescent dreams as pure ....
....As jellyfish
unencumbered by progressive
Necessity....of us lesser beings
At peace in the purple ocean
Of their own divinity...I love rain
Beating like the rhythm I hear
And swim through ...even if it's just me ....
Keeping beat of my heart as I drum
Amazing rhythm of life on my own thighs
And never even realize!  I love rain.I love rain
Continue reading...
467 · Jun 2016
Summer games
Keith W Fletcher Jun 2016
Summer games
Sitting there
Nostalgic inflow
Creating cyclonic updrafts
While memories pass
Through the open windows
Down  once crowded corridors
Carrying away the last remnants
On out the other side
Where the broken doors of my mind reside
Behind the steering wheel I sit
Upon this crumbling and cracked concrete slab
Now so rough
But once smooth enough
The breakout games of basketball
In this neighborhood once proud
The waning sun of summer days
Pulling in the shade bound refugees
Around the court the gathering crowd
Pulling in those kids from  two
Even as far as three blocks away
Inevitable that kids will do what kids will do
A foul or  some minor slight
Would divide the crowd
War of words would insight a fight
And as always it got so loud
That it would wake my dad from his evening nap
He'd  struggle up  out of the easy chair
Still wrapped in the deep slumber
Of the Schlitz 6-pack  he had laid down under
He'd hit the door and kids would scatter
Booming out so angry and loud
I was surprised the single pane glass didn't shatter
That was my pop but he was alright
Actually he was much more than that
As the  rerun would play the very next night
He's  been gone now for near 20 years
Mom couldn't take it tagged along just three years later
Poor old house is empty.... falling apart
Should have torn it down 10 years ago Tell the truth I never had the heart
Hell I been here long enough need to go
I push the down button let the window roll
Look at the house and I yell out
Dad
lf you're here no reason to stick around Freeway is coming it's all coming down So if you want to climb on in
This new car that the old place bought
And well go for a spin
I got a new place up in the hills
Yeah...
But what else do you do sitting upon Sacred ground where you used to play
I know it seems dumb maybe a bit sad
What else do you say before its gone
When saying goodbye to the house
  Hand-built by your dad
Continue reading...
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