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LD Goodwin Jan 2013
You arrangers of thoughts and visions.
Sharing that most personal light that filters into your lens.
Opinions on sunsets, and of Autumns,
and attempting resurrections of days gone by.
A childhood Holiday, a skipped Summer stone.
A first heartache,
or a loved one’s soul ascending.
Perfectly honest glimpses into your most precious moments.

How do you do it?
How do you make me feel like a peeping Tom as if I had stumbled upon your most private files,
your family photo albums, your **** stash?
Like intercepting a note passed under a schoolhouse desk to Dorothy, ....what's her name.
Or that little red book in you Sister's night stand.
Her diary under lock and key?
No.
No, not diaries.
The visions you throw up are more than diaries.
They are ancient words that have longed to be spoken.
The thoughts of a thousand souls, you so bravely have loosed.
But you have to do this don't you?
You are so beautifully addicted.
From time to time you have to purge.
You have to stick your fingers into the throat of your mundane day jobs,
or lifeless relationships,
or awkward adolescence,
and for a moment,
for me,
throw up.

How is it that it stirs me to do the same?
I must crave that same drug as you.
To tap that vein and bleed...
But until then I will read you.
I will wander down your lonely paths,
I will let you in so that I may, for awhile,  
find the tear you wanted me to shed,
find that smile you knew was there, hidden among my layers.
And then, to take a breath and cherish the tattoos you have left behind.
To read you.
To see just what you see.
Is that what it is, this poetry?
Middlesboro, KY    2013
I have been a song writer for years, but have always had a great respect for poets. Maybe I will find my voice.
LD Goodwin Jan 2013
Beulah went to Memphis, just to see where the king was laid.
Bought herself a ticket, first time she’d ever been on a plane.
She sashayed down to Graceland, closest she’d ever been to the king.
Every gaudy jumpsuit, jet planes, and all those diamond rings.
What you gonna do, now that you’re king is dead?
You better get on back to Kentucky, lick your wounds and feed your head.

Beulah went to Memphis, feelin’ just like ol’ Tom and Huck.
All 5 foot and sassy, struttin’ like a Peabody duck.
She’ll be in "Blue Hawaii", long before the crack of noon.

Right where he shot his TV, in that jungle room.
What you gonna do, now that you’re king is dead?
You better get on back to Kentucky, feed your mind and lose your head.

Beulah went to Memphis, didn’t see where the King was slain.
All caught up in Vegas, she didn’t hear His sad refrain.
She was takin’ care of business, while the Angels sang, “We Shall Overcome.”
Didn’t hear the message, dazzled by the pandemonium.
What you gonna do, now that their King is dead?
You better get on back to Kentucky, rest your mind and feed your head.

Beulah went to Memphis, just to see where the king was laid.
Poor ol’ girl, he rocked her world, and then he went away.
Destin, FL 1992
LD Goodwin Jan 2013
She calls to say she's working late.
Won't make it home til after eight.
He takes the supper off the stove.
Dinner plans will have to wait.

He sits remembering back when
he'd call to say "I'll be late again".
She use to sit alone and cry.
Now he knows the reasons why.
It's a topsy turvy world.

Hugs her when she walks through the door.
Because that's what "good wives" are for.
Over done dinner by candle light,
like a "good husband" she asks for more.

She falls asleep in the easy chair,
like "good husbands" everywhere.
He does the dishes, sweeps the floor,
says "we don't talk much anymore
in our topsy turvy world".

Being good husbands and wives,
careing for each others lives.
Doing what needs to be done,
getting their loving on the run.
It's a topsy turvy world.
Harrogate, TN  2006
LD Goodwin Jan 2013
He is just a wild mustang,
not roamin' where the other mustang roam.
With one eye on the horizon,
the other on a place he calls home.

And it's a rough road that he travels,
but he know he'll reap all the seeds he's sown.
He is just a wild mustang
not roamin' where the other mustang roam.

He may fall and he may stumble,
but he never seems to let it keep him down.
Just gets back up, shakes off the dust,
and knows next time to run on truer ground.

He keeps his nose to the wind,
as if she was a tellin' which way to go.
He is just a wild mustang
not roamin' where the other mustang roam.

And he's never been the kind
who was content to stay.
To follow with the heard,
or be afraid to stray.

And there's never been a filly
who could ever tie him down,
for he knows just where he's goin',
but he don't know where he's bound.

He's searchin' for the answers
he has yet to comprehend.
He know's he'll need a love,
but for now he'd settle for a friend.

He's always been a loner,
though never really like to be alone.
he is just a wild mustang,
not roamin' where the other mustang roam.
Nashville, TN 1985
LD Goodwin Jan 2013
When I was young I use to sit in my windowsill,
and smell the foundry late at night.
I could hear the rumble of the coal cars,
I could feel my parents fight.

Then I'd watch the trees dancing in the breeze,
while the moon played Peekaboo.
Life was just a game
on Maple Avenue.

And there were bright Winter mornings and long Summer nights,
but I never knew what they meant.
There were sermons on making time and money,
but it never made a dent.

Amid the factories there were dreams to please,
though you wondered if they'd ever come true.
It was hard to escape
from Maple Avenue.

Yet, somewhere inside of me,
where no one had ever been.
Below the goodness,
and above the sin.

Was a spark of silence,
that no one ever heard.
And I'd close my eyes and follow it
and savor every word.

And even without asking
it told me what to do.
It told me son, you've gotta run,
from Maple Avenue.

Now some of us were sinners,
none of us were saints.
Some of us were ***** and dreamless,
but we had no complaints.

We'd trade it all for just a glimpse
of what we might turn into.
But money only traded money
on Maple Avenue.

I've tried to get it all back again,
but it's not like it was before.
You can't come back into the pack,
when the ***** don't know her pups no more.

It's not a small thing for a man to die happy,
it's not a hard thing to do.
That's just one little thing I've learned
from Maple Avenue.
Kansas, Iowa  1984
LD Goodwin Jan 2013
Magdalene's got scars from the back streets and bars.
Where the lust learns to lie, and the promises die.
She says, "There are no mistakes, my heart never breaks,
and when you're born you don't come with instructions."

Magdalene, she don't care with her two dollar stare.
She can get what she wants,  from her dives and her haunts.
She's one up in their game by making a name,
while the jukebox plays "Eve Of Destruction".

Magdalene never cries, so she says, but she lies.
A heart full of pain, another link in the chain.
Blames the world for her life, her addictions, her strife.
Says "I'd like to forgive, but why bother?"

When Magdalene was a child, raised battered and wild,
She tried to run from the ****, but there was just no escape.
Confusion set in when the book called it sin,
but it said to honor thy father.
Ft. Walton Beach, FL  1991
LD Goodwin Jan 2013
I heard a tree fall in the forest.
I watched it drop down to It's humble grave.
I saw a star streak across the heavens,
and prayed to God for my soul to save.

Where are we going, what are we doing?
What is the purpose of this crazy game?
Who are the winners, or are there any losers,
or when we get there will we be the same?

I've made mistakes, tried to correct them,
then later on I'd laugh and wonder why.
When I was younger I longed for living,
but now I wonder when I'm going to die.

And in the mourning when it's all over,
when I find out if this was just a dream.
Will I discover I spent a lifetime,
wasted learning someone else's scheme?

Do you think I'm a Madman, do you say I'm a fool,
asking questions, dreaming dreams?
Everybody is wondering,  everybody is scared
of what tomorrow will bring.
Nashville, TN  1986
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