i'm going to change the name
of this poem throughout the day

how much so it all depends
on how fickle a mood i am in

it's inner workings will stay the same
only the title i'll rearrange

of course this will not make much sense
but what have i writ that ever did

the intriguing titles may draw a crowd
but once inside and they find out

exactly what it is i've done
and of this poems value as being none

they may light their torches and then drum me
out of town if not hellopoetry

so here goes, hang on tight
this may end up a bumpy ride

when all the words have been taken
and all the thoughts given away
that is when you'll hear me saying
i will kindly be on my way

when there is no more ink worth dipping
with paper parched in yellow dust
when all ideas end up missing
when the feeling i once had is lost

that's when i'll pack what little i have left
and say goodbye to all i know
what good is poetry to me if i can't seem
to compose another poem

a therapy circle
of disturbed mimes
sit around and talk about
their silent lives

does this really come
as a surprise
a few hold up signs
that say i am crying

they all meet together
every other thursday night
stepping out of their boxes
hanging it all out to dry

they always feel better
about their lives
as they go back home
to their husbands and wives

after every session
they pull out umbrellas and fly
waving goodbye
this therapy circle
of disturbed mimes

With years of mind numbing digging
Persistence pays off with time
I would almost call it a living
This life long search for the treasure of rhyme

Harder to track than the abominable snowman
Slippery than that monster in Loch Ness
More cunning than Jack the Ripper trailing a stripper
Is the hidden rhymes elusiveness

I've been from one end of the lobe to the other
In the deep dark recesses of the mind
Hoping to finally discover
Where it has hidden the pockets of rhyme

When I discover it I'll come back victorious
I will then share with poetry my find
The words that I use will be various
As I open to all the treasure of rhyme

Everything I own in my home
Came from mail order catalogs
From the authentic Star Trek front door knocker
To the Lavender bear rug in the hall

Some may say I'm a nerd
Truth be known I just don't like shopping at the mall
The selection in this weeks issue is outrageously sweet
Place your order fast, do not stall

Just name your collection they come complete
Darth Vader bean bags, plus Yoda sheets
Only Mail order can you find a Chartreuse scarf
In the store they tried to sell me yellow, it just made me ****

And with Finger Hut having daily specials
From hot air balloons for hamsters to Jacuzzi fish bowls
There's no need to question my answer
Just mark it all down as sold

With UPS and FedEx these days knocking down my door
I barely have time to open up my mail order score
As piles and piles of boxes are taking over my rooms
I pull out the latest magazine and place my order for June

Love is Brave
Love is Strong
Awaits the day
Till you come along
Ready to get
The best of us
Love is great
At the ambush

Love is Strong
Love is Brave
Love gives the best
Of itself away
Any given night
Any given day
That's the way love is
Without say

Love is Brave
Love is Strong
But will not stay
Where it don't belong
Gravitates
To what it knows
Love will go
Where love will grow

Love is Strong
Love is Brave
Love will always have
The last say
Over what to give
Over what to take
Love is Strong
Love is Brave

I grabbed a hold a moonbeam
One with the perfect thickness
To write your name across the sky
With God as my only witness

Wrote your name in cursive
Out across the galaxy
Declaring my love for you to the universe
Hoping to have you declare your love for me

Purchased just enough stardust
Adding to it's highlights
A sparkling array of glitter
Shinning through the night sky

Now all the stars and planets
Circle around your wonderful name
Making you the center of my universe
From the moment I grabbed that moonbeam

Just an elevator man
If he had a name he never said
Among few words were what floor
Pushing buttons, sliding doors

It wasn't like he wasn't the pleasent type
Everyone enjoyed the ride
Had a way with a smile
Could make a junkyard dog give up his growl

The years all pass in a dying breath
Steals your soul, don't give it back
With the old joke that we all know
Life has its ups and downs he often told

As he started to wear they bought him a chair
Just within reach of the buttons there
Some days though he'd be asleep
Happens more and more quite frequently

That's why no one knew that he'd been dead
A month of Sundays the coriner said
He'd passed away they believe
Somewhere between floor 1 and floor 19

The tenets now help themselves out
Thinking of the one that never said much out loud
Just an elevator man
If he had a name, he never said

More often than not
I've had enough of love
Underpaid and over spent
Giving out on giving in

Like a clock with no hands
A nail twice over bent
Tattered and torn
Useless and worn

Like a car with no brakes
Too late for mistakes
No room to breathe  
Through the wants and needs

Like building on a fault line
An eradicate moth in flight
Shaky at best
No place to rest

With lost hope in hand
All that is left
Underpaid  and over spent
Giving out on giving in

I believe in the ever after
I believe in the here and now
I believe that you and I
Will make it through somehow

I believe what I do
And what I do not see
But mostly what I believe
Is what I believe

I believe there is good
In the heart of man
But I believe in an instant
We can let the evil in

I believe if we aren't careful
All this will come undone
And if we don't let love dry long enough
It will begin to run

I believe there's an answer
If you look hard enough
Which one you come up with
Is a matter of the heart

I believe if yours is beating
To the rhythm that love makes
There's not a thing that you won't do
To give that love away

I believe in the power
That a hug can hold
And I believe you can achieve anything
If negativity is let go

I believe there's a ring
That holds a special key
And once you open that door up
Then you too will believe

Everybody loves me
At least that's what they say
Only if they knew me
Their minds they may change

I am not who they think
I am most the time
If they really knew me
They may change their minds

Untold I hold the secret
Of what I'm really like
I won't let go, I'll keep it
Or they may change their minds

Everybody loves me
Cause I don't give away
Too much of me
As I'm afraid their minds may change

First thing I do is check the date
Good thru two thousand eighty five
Haven't had a can this fresh
Since Calvin Coolidge was alive

You can call it quirkiness
Each time I give the top a thump
Best way to tell if it's perfectly jelled
To the consistency that I love

If you know what I'm taking about
Well right you are and yes I am
That delectable treat of mystery meat
Known around the world as A Can Of Spam

Spam only comes in one savory flavor
King of canned meat there is only one
You remember long after your dining pleasure
By the amount of film left on your tongue

Do as I do and save the lid
A smart move you would be making
Comes in handy after dining
To help along with the tongue scraping

You look like one big freckle
The way that you are covered
From your head down to your toes
One end to the other

In the tint, shade, and color
Blending perfectly
Pink in pigmentation
All points in between

You look like you're from Florida
Sporting the finest tan
With not an inch of acreage left
In epidermis land

If freckles told a story
In all their sun drenched glory
You would be the greatest read
Of that you have no worries

So there I was taking a stroll through the woods
Where I go to watch the woodland creatures at play
When the sun gleams off of something shinny ahead
That happens to catch my eye on that day

I tried picking it up but it wouldn't budge
So I went to fetch the shovel from my trunk
I found an old crusty ham sandwich where the spare used to be
So before I dug in the dirt I quickly dug into lunch

When I did start digging it took most of the night
Finally accomplished the task set before me
What it was astonished both, yes both of my eyes
The Legendary Bubba Time Jumping Machine

Bubba was an old moonshiner who had quite a knack
For inventing the oddest of things
Legend has it he took an old still and just for the thrill
Invented the object that now sits before me

I'd heard about this as a youngster in school
But thought it was all just a lie
Now I have a dilemma set before me
Do I go forward, sideways, or backward in time

Well I figured it didn't really matter that much
So I set my **** on the bucket inside
Bungee corded the door shut Duct taped the remaining cracks up
Then spun the rusty bicycle wheel he used as a time dial

The Time Jumping machine started shaking
I hung on for one crazy ride
I blew goodbye kisses to my friends, the squirrels and the robins
Leaving my normal life in a wake far behind

this one girl...
is living out the dream
this one girl...
has no clue of what that means

this one girl...
says i am woman, hear me roar
this one girl...
has never been that sure

this one girl...
grabs the reins and holds on tight
this one girl...
pulls the shades down on her life

this one girl...
brings it all to where she's at
this one girl...
has spent all she's ever had

this one girl...
dances underneath the moon
this one girl...
doesn't care to play the tune*

this one girl...
knows where her fortunes at
this one girl...
*can't remember when it left

All...
     that you are

All...
     that you know

All...
     that you see

All...
     is on loan

All...
     that is new
                    
Has now grown old

To make way for all
New seed to be sown

All...
     that you love

All...
     that you hate

All...
     of the present

All...
     past mistakes

All...
     need forgiving

Before it's to late

To make room for all
On lifes crowded highway

All...
     that it was

All...
     it now is

All...
     of it measured

All...
     sealed with a kiss

All...
     you ever needed

One ounce of bliss

What all you got
Is all it now is

I just pulled a little something
Straight out of nothing
With pen in hand I wrote it all down

If you don't grab it when
You see the air bend
You have to wait till it comes back around

I added a twist
So the words would all fit
Cause I love the way rhyming words sound

It came with a melody
Blown in by the breeze
They went together like a night on the town

I blew off the dust
Removed some of the crust
Added a verb along with a noun

Bundled them up
In yarns of thought
Then wrapped them both in this poem neatly bound

Don't mean to startle
Or sound the alarm
But the way the world is these days
I think there's something wrong

We're fighting over here
They're fighting over there
In fact the more I look at it
There's fighting everywhere

While people beg for love
While people pray for peace
Until we learn to get along
We'll have none of these

When we continually set the blame
On the other side
With ignorance we dig our graves
In this losing game of do or die

It's coming to a head
This clashing of the wills
I'm afraid that our mistakes
Will be the cup of justice spilled

I don't mean to startle all of you
Or sound the alarm on what we do
But if you take a minute or two
I think you'll see it too

There is definitely something wrong...

is poetry your god
is that who you bow down to
believe me, I find it easy
to bow down to it too

but what happens when the words start fading
which all words do in time
whether it be from the written page
or the center of the mind

you say poetry brings you pleasure
hence forth the daily worship
but when the last line drops in rhyme
and your faced with all life's hardships

where is it you will go
where is it you will turn
you've worked hard for this god of yours
is this all that you have earned

in the church of poetic promise
where you worship every day
as you daily tithe do you wonder why  
there's still an empty offering plate

so while poetry brings great pleasure
it's not worth bowing down to
though I must say from past escapades
that's an easy thing to do

He's like a whisper so no one sees him
Among the crosses and the graves
Dusting off the clinging moss
That covers up the names

Of the ones left long forgotten
Passed on by Father Time
Where we all end up eventually
Those on this side are just waiting in line

He feels his job is just
For it is something that he must
All he has left are the dead
ashes to  ashes, dust to dust

In a shady corner when the heat gets to much
He rests beside the grave of his young son and wife
No longer there to bring him comfort
Though in death they're still his breath of life

He'll continue on in his daily task
Showing the respect that's due the dead
Because that is all life now is to him
And all that he has left

A pretty bird born free
That feels beauty is for others

What her mirror sees
Are the blemishes undiscovered

Has a set of wings
Yet keeps them folded under

Born to loudly sing
But took on self doubt as her lover

Lives her life as is
She has never known another

Sitting on her perch
In the cage she's built around her

What went through your mind, oh Wondrous Creator
When as baby Jesus you let out your first cry
Did you know at that moment you were the Savior
Of this fallen world and all of mankind

Did you recognize your mother Mary
And see her as Your special child
Only you God at such tender a moment
Could give us your all at such tender a time

Did your first sight at creation astound you
As you looked through the blur of finite
From the beginning you'd always seen clearly
In the presence of your Fathers light

Did the warmth of God's Spirit surround you
As the December chill settled over the land
Were you holding the hand of the Father
In the transition from Son of God to son of man

When you heard the first bleat of the lambs
Were your thoughts on being the shepherd of man
That would lead all those gone astray
Did you already know of that day

These are questions that I tend to ponder
On the greatest gift the world's ever known
I will praise you for all of the wonder
The first Christmas that your love, my Savior was born

I woke up this morning in a Bob Dylan song
Wasn't quite sure of where I was
All along the watch tower or somewhere there about
I'm kind of wondering at the cause

I watched as William Zanzinger beat down Hattie Carroll
Knew something about this must be done
It's hard for your feet to catch traction when they're not on the ground
Floating inside of a Dylan song

I must have looked both dazed and confused
With a case of the Subterranean Homesick Blues
But I figure I'm going to change my way of thinking
As I hold out for Winterlude

That night I hooked up with the Jack of Hearts
With Lilly and Rosemary both by his side
Must have had something up his sleeve for certain
Cause all he did was stand in the corner and smile

The big girl now standing next to me said
Your going to make me lonesome when you leave this song
At that she cried buckets of rain
In the shelter of the storm

And all of this happened this morning
When I woke up in a Bob Dylan song

Better don your leather chaps it's going to be a rough one
Pack extra roll caps into your Six Gun

Ask for double shots to compliment your Starbucks
All that's left now is to wish you good luck

Bring an extra pack of Bottle Rockets if you have them
Monkey wrench and needle nose pliers if you can find some

This could read as the last page to the final chapter
In what we anticipate as the Happily Ever After

Do all you can do to bring the water balloons
A cassette if you could of your favorite Show Tunes

Add extra sugar in your Slurpee from the 7-11
This ain't going to be easy is what I am guessing

Get a tight grip on your Thingamajig
Loosen the top on the Pickle jar lid

We're about to go through another life lesson
Which ain't nothing new if I was a man betting

Pack your bags for another day in the life
Extra padding would help for the bumpy ride

Think we've thunk of it all there's no more to say
We're now more than ready for another day

A pretty bird born free
That feels beauty is for others

What her mirror sees
Are the blemishes undiscovered

Has a set of wings
Yet keeps them folded under

Born to loudly sing
But took on self doubt as her lover

Lives her life as is
She has never known another

Sitting on her perch
In the cage she's built around her

I have a serious crush on Dorthy
While she has a Kansas crush on them
The Lion and the Scarecrow
Not to mention the Tin Man

The only time you see her
These days is when
She's skipping about town with those three clowns
Her not so ordinary new friends

She says that they all met
Somewhere over the rainbow
While she met me over coffee
Wouldn't you know that's the way it goes

It's hard for me to compete
With anything like that
Though one is brainless, one is heartless
The other a scaredy cat

She says they show her adventure
Where the only thing that I
Can really show her is Kansas
And its vast empty sky line

The few times that Dorthy
And I have ever had a chance to go out
The magical land of Oz
Is all she wants to talk about

To me it seems like a dream
And we all know how those are
Not really very interesting
If you don't play a part

So I stand off at a distance
Gaze on from a far
While she along with those three
Skip off with my heart

Cause I have a serious crush on Dorthy
While she has a big Kansas crush on them
The Lion and the Scarecrow
Not to mention the Tin Man

Oh, and by the way Dorthy
Those ruby reds that you have on
Don't really go with
Your Kansas city overalls

The old become the new
The secret to the truth
With nothing left to lose

I want to see...

The questions that I have
After all is said
All be answered back

I want to see...

The hands being raised
Not just on special days
When promises are made

I want to see...

A moral compass in accord
Pointing straight due North
For all that it is worth

I want to see...

The flipping of the coin
In the early dawn
When heads the coin lands on

I want to see...

The plans being made
As tracks are being laid
To the worlds peace train

I want to see...

The love that's held within
Every woman, child, and man
Across this great land

I want to see...

Desires of my youth
In everything I do
Ripen in its fruit

I want to see...

Positive the change
Forever and a day
Until the shadows fade

I want to see...

All that I can see
In all that's meant to be
In every single need

I want to see...

From beginning to the end
And when we reach that bend
I want to see it all again

i wish
my eyes
could clearly
see
what
my tender
heart
believes
we'd
survive
if we
relied
on
the love
that beats
inside

I made up a list
Of what I like to do
Then went out for a job
That matched my point of view

Since I like to lay around
In the position of lazy
I figured  a furniture store
Wouldn't be too far off crazy

So I reclined the recliners
And slept in the beds
Got comfy on the couches
Because it's what I do best

I figured they'd call me
When they saw how qualified
I was at doing nothing
In this know nothing life

The next thing on my list
Was my fondness for food
So I hit up a buffet
With an executive work attitude

I piled my plate high
To show off my mad skills
Quite the balancing act
As not a drop did I spill

When I asked for a job
They told me to get out
I guess it's rude to interview
With food in your mouth

Last on the list
Was my love for T.V.
So I head to Best Buy
To see if they would hire me

They had so many stations
I sat there all day
Flipping through channels
Forgetting the reason I came

This day of job hunting
Has worn me quite thin don't you know
So back home I sit around
And call it all self employed

Mother Nature ran a want ad
In this year's Farmers Almanac

Seems these days she's wearing thin
With the progress made by modern man

She needs a little extra help
With the here and there and there about

The whole earth needs a good sweeping
From the ocean floors to the river streams

From high above to down below
All of the trash that has been thrown

With all the extra mess around
She can't keep up with the dusting down

That is why she placed the ad
In hopes of getting help with that

Resumes started pouring fast
From North to South, East to West

So many from around the globe
Who would have guessed, who could have known

There were so many that were keen
In wanting to keep the Planet clean

Right then and there on the spot
She hired them all, the entire lot

She gave them brooms, their own dust pans
Sent them all throughout the land

To every crevice, every crook
To give the world a spit shine look

So many helpers worked that day
Into the yawning wee hours late

Until the earth was **** and span
Every water splash, every grain of sand

From underneath to over top
Everyone had cleaned it up

Bi-weekly now she runs the ad
Inside the Farmers Almanac

i took an empty envelope
and mailed it off to you
it told you of my feelings
more than a letter could ever do

please don't get me wrong
i'm really not that cold
i did try to write that letter
but the envelope itself said so much more

I have this special mirror
That hangs upon my wall
No outwardly reflection can be seen
For it searches deep the soul

There are  days when I am passing by
That I divert my eyes
Afraid with one haunting glance I'll see
Deep into this so called life

It can be overwhelming
This feeling of fear and doubt
When I look too deep I'm afraid I'll see
The reflection is of myself

I just want to be...

The promise that you keep
The moment that you need
Your thought that's gone to seed

I just want to be...

What it is that you most crave
The one decision that you make
The perfect ending to your day

I just want to be...

Where your vast ocean meets the land
The treasure held in your hand
The moment you come to understand

I just want to be...

The one name that you drop
There when you pull out all the stops
All it is that you have got

I just want to be...

The answer when you ask
The love that you unmask
But most of all,
I just want to be your yes*...

If I ever found a bottle
With a Genie stuffed inside
Along the beaches Sandy shore
I'd rub it with all my might

And when the Genie showed  himself
I'd try not to act surprised  
I would pretend that things like this
Happen all the time

When he offered me three wishes
I'd only take up one
That would be for me to sing
Just like Chris Stapleton