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LD Goodwin May 2013
I turned around
and the clown was gone.
The sad little man with so many funny faces.
They say he seldom knew
when he was the clown,
or himself.
The two personae melted together,
and created a gift.
And now,
that gift of laughter is gone.
But I know the clown,
he wouldn't want us to be sad.
He would pull a face out of his bag
and make us laugh,
and we would laugh
until we cried.

*for
Jonathan Harshman Winters III
Born-  November 11, 1925
Dayton, Ohio
Died- April 11, 2013 (aged 87)
Montecito, California
Comedian, actor, artist, author

Quote:  "I couldn't wait for success, so I went ahead without it."
Jonathan Winters
Harrogate, TN May 2013
LD Goodwin May 2013
And now my friends a time has come, a time has come to die.
Like Summer leaves who's day must end, and fill the winter sky.
My Aunt is on her deathbed and her time is almost near,
oh Norma, my sweet Norma, let me whisper in your ear.
I remember Summer Sundays so many years ago,
my cousins Dave and Sammy with their fishin' poles in tow
we'd catch the evening dinner and a bottle fly or two.
Do you remember sweet Aunt Norma? Oh I hope you do.
And you'd toiled in the kitchen till you rang the dinner bell.
And barefoot Ginger would tell us to come in from the dell.
Hot biscuits, beans and apple sauce and catfish from the lake,
I would help crank the ice cream to go on the chocolate cake.
Only the fondest memories of you will I hold dear.
Oh Norma, my sweet Aunt Norma, your time is very near.

*For my Aunt Norma
Harrogate, TN  May 2013
LD Goodwin May 2013
You want me to tell you what happened,
don't you?
You want me to bare it all,
every sordid detail.*
..... And so she sat there at the dining room table,
even now 20 plus years later, I still feel sorry for her.
How hard it must have been for her to say,
"I think we have become too familiar with one another,
and I need to find myself".
What the **** did that mean?
She has never said anything like that in the 10 years we'd been married.
What the ****?
I didn't know then, but those were euphemisms a friend had told her to say.
She wasn’t really all that good at communicating you see.
She took a bight of souffle and kept blankly staring at the refurbished china hutch,
the one she picked out at the flea market and said we would refinish it together.
We... never did.
I said, with a new found fear in my voice, "So this is it?".
I hadn’t yet felt the sting of actually getting a divorce.
And with a heart stopping seriousness in here eyes she said,
"I think it is."
Blood rushed to my head, like a car running a stop sign in front of me,
I crashed.
On my one shoulder was a devil that wanted to yell and scream and call her names.
On the other was the Angel of Karma, telling me that this is one of those moments in life
that you are either going to be proud of,
or regret.
So quietly I said,
"how can I help you find yourself ?".  
All the while frantically thinking.....
Think, think, think of something to say that will keep her from leaving.
Harrogate, TN  May 2013
LD Goodwin Apr 2013
Poison Ivy,
red rash on my limbs.

To the Doc I go,
a shot will do.

It grows on trees,
but they're immune,
their limbs aren't itching.


*Thanks ~timothy~ for a new style.

This is a syllabic poem in seven lines  4/5 5/4 4/4/5
Unrhymed
Lines 1 and 2   INTRODUCE the SUBJECT
Lines 3 and 4   AMPLIFY what is affected by the image/subject.
Line 5 thru 7    Focus on NEW SUBJECT that complements and provides a meditative conclusion.
Shanzi may be Titled
Harrogate, TN  April 2013
LD Goodwin Apr 2013
I'll be drinkin' white lightning tonight,
alone with my guitar.
tryin' to remember all the words.


*For George Jones Born: September 12, 1931, Saratoga
Died: April 26, 2013

The Window Up Above  
Songwriter: George Jones

I've been living a new way
Of life that I love so
But I can see the clouds are gath'ring
And the storm will wreck our home
For last night he held you tightly
And you didn't even shove
This is true for I've been watching
From the window up above

You must have thought that I was sleeping
And I wish that I had been
But I guess it's best to know you
And the way your heart can sin

I thought we belonged together
And our hearts fit like a glove
I was wrong for I've been watching
From the window up above

From my eyes the teardrops started
As I listened on and on
I heard you whisper to him softly
That our marriage was all wrong

But I hope he makes you happy
And you will never lose his love
I was wrong, I was watching
From the window up above

How I wish I could be dreaming
And wake up to an honest love
I was wrong for I was watching
From the window up above...
Harrogate, TN April 26, 2013
LD Goodwin Apr 2013
Wisdom came in fairy tales
a moonlit wonderland.
So young was I and unaware
of what was in my hand.

What gifts were these I did not know,
till many years had past.
Those childhood rhymes that led me here,
to find my song at last.

Years and tears and caustic words
as parents learned to fight.
I penned my fears and questions down
alone by candlelight.

And heard answers blowin' in the wind
incense, such sweet repast.
Awakened the soul asleep inside,
to find my song at last.

Thinking I was on my way
as young men often do,
I left behind a trail of dreams
forgetting what I knew.

But when she left without a sound,
a hard role had been cast.
Forced to play, I found a way,
to find my song at last.

And now I'm gray and fears are new
and age is in my eyes.
On death and time and dying,
my mind spins it's dark lies.

Remembering the moon light,
a solace from my past.
I can rest, no longer chained,
I've found my song at last.
Harrogate, TN  April  2013
LD Goodwin Apr 2013
I am not Jesus.
I am not Krishna
I am not Allah
I am not Abraham
I am not Buddha
I am me.

I can try to fit it all into their neat little box,
but try is all I can do.
The words I was told to worship,
twisted to fit the day,
misconstrued to fit all time,
have lost their meaning,
turned to myth.
Archaic ideals hold only some truth in this moment.
For do we not judge our present with the eyes of the past?
And so who am I now if not made up from the tattered cloth of time?
I am not dogma.
I am not that.
I am me.
I am now.
I am this very sacred moment.
Filled up, spilling over and pouring down into my shoes.
Harrogate, TN    April  2013
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