you type me in stereo
of how i should be
how i should sound
to whom i should speak
where i should live
in or outskirts of town
what circles to mix
who to hang around

are we not unique
in our own special way
why then look at me
when i say what i say

yet you think i should walk
the same steps as you
learn how to talk
just like you do
eat at the same table
be a part of the crowd
wear the same labels
as you're wearing now

i'm my own person
not out on a loan
can't think of much worse than
typing me in stereo

I'm seriously thinking of making
A mixtape page of all my poems
Taking out my favorite lines
From all of the ones that I've wrote

Putting them all together
Down onto one page
Then label it quite proudly
My poetry mixtape

Sort of like a greatest hits
All of the stuff that I'm proud
Ask a few friends what they'd like in the mix
May take time but I'll figure it out

I'll fill it up with happy stuff
Add a few lines that are sad
Even throw in a bit of humor
So halfway through I'll get a laugh

Then I'll take it with me out to the streets
Along with a portable mic
Read it out loud to the maddening crowds
Perhaps breaking up a few fights

They'll be hugging and kissing in no time
Dancing in line to the rhymes
Passing out copies of my mixtape poetry page
So they too can recite all the lines

Yes, a mixtape page of my poetry
Might be just the thing to do the trick
The more I'm thinking of this idea
The more I'm liking it

Mr. and Mrs. Politician man
Keep on promising me
Everything I could ever want
From basic cheap to free

There must be something there
That I'm missing here
Between the insurance debacle
And my cost of living fears

When elections come around
I've really got to hand it
To the promises they make
That get more and more outlandish

They promise you cheese from the moon
And silver dust from the stars
When all I mostly need right now
Is cheap gas for my car

With vanilla being the flavor
Politicians savour as of late
They give just enough of the free stuff
But not too much away

Keeping the drones wanting for more
Where they don't feel the need to leave
Eating out of their grimy hands
Feeding off the greed

You can find them wheeling and dealing
In secret behind closed doors
In their arrogance they've forgotten
That we the people are keeping score

We'll either oust them when the time is right
Or raise the gallows and hang them high
A good lesson in the making
Perhaps they'll think twice next time before misbehaving

You started out this walk
In the early days of youth
Letting others actions and talk
Get the best till nothing's left of you

Is it in a badge you earn
Or does it come au naturale
Into your psyche it seems to be burned
A fever hotter than hell

Although it's where you live
You've no idea of what it does
Hate is a deep dark dusty valley
Some never climb out of...

You've paid time and time again
And still can't get out of its debt
One of the original sins
You haven't figured out quite yet

If only the world around
Would learn to do right in your eyes
Then you wouldn't always be found
Trying to pick a fight

Never invited to the dance
Love holds no chance to overcome
When hate is a deep dark dusty valley
Some never climb out of...

Continually gasping for air
In this your dry and dusty land
Walking in circles of despair
With no one to hold your hand

People keeping their distance
No one dares conversate with you
As you fume like nobody's business
In a constant hateful loop

You'd think by now in your burning tower
That you would have had enough
But hate is a deep dark dusty valley
Some never climb out of...

Emily Dickinson slept in my bed
Leaving behind a musty smell
As the sheets dripped poeticness
Her slant rhymes did as well

She scratched into my headboard
Words only Emily knows
Crying out from behind stain glass
The windows to her soul

Emily Dickinson left my bed sheets entangled
Breathing out her sighs in rhyme
The saddest sound that could be heard round
Was when Emily whispered goodbye

After all these many carnivore years
You can call it guilt or you can call it fear
I've made up my mind to decide
I'm going vegan this November time

So I broke down hard and read some books
Heard some tapes on what it took
From veggies steamed to veggies raw
From beans of green to yellow squash

As my nightly dreams were all filled with meat
I pushed back hard with collard greens
But still had no clue of what to do
With a turkey substitute

And that is when a friend came in
Who Tofu's the line at turkey time
So I read more books and heard more tapes
On Tofu fried, boiled, broiled, and baked

Opening up my kitchen to fine cuisine
Minus the best part...that being meat
As I promised myself I can make this work
My Tofurkey  would be the finest in edible art

I had bought  my Tofu by the pound
Lucky for me it is pliable
As I stretched and pulled and pulled and stretched
Until I had something that looked like a head

With my artistic abilities seriously in doubt
I'm pretty sure what I conjured was the head of a cow
So I pulled and stretched and stretched and pulled
No ones going to call me an abstract fool

As I bring to boil the "Rodin" juices in me
And baste at my skills repeatedly
Where I come up with a turkey, giblets and all
And just for good measure I gobble a turkey call

Of course cooking the thing is another road and
I sadly lost Tofurkey 1, 2, and 3 in the explosion
When 4 hit the score I invited my friends
Whose friendship with them will take time to mend

Just because a turkey looks like a turkey, don't mean that it is
I'm now learning all this while I clean up the mess
As forks went to the mouths at the very same time
So did the retching along with the crying

But in a month they'll forget this entire sordid ordeal
When they get the invites for my Christmas holiday meal
With my time in the books and tapes I will spend
Looking forward to  Christmas and a delicious soy bean ham

Everyone in town knows
Philmon is a mad scientist
It's not his little hunchback buddy
Or the crazy smocks in which he's always dressed

It's not the lighting clouds over his house
Or the strange sounds from which his basement grew
No, it's not any of those things
That gives the town it's clue

It's not all of the darkened birds
That hang out on his fence
Or his subscription to weird science weekly
And on what it is his time is spent

Not even when things always turn up missing
Down at the local graveyard
No, it's the "HONK" if you love Mad Scientists sticker
On the bumper of his car

You are the sparkle in the delight
The one that hides out in the stars at night
The last wave of the goodbye
The only one who can make me cry

You are the freshness to this scene
The one who holds all of the means
The only one worthy to be deemed
Worthy of all that can be seen

You bring about a change in mind
Where I never have to think it twice
Taking to the very heights
In all I've come to realize

You are the best in all of this
The only one to make the list
Beyond the happy ever after kiss
The only piece of candy in the dish

These thoughts I take out from time to time
To tell you all I have in mind
You are the best in all I find
From here to there to the end of the line

I've had a good life
It's time to move on
The curtains coming down

Remarked the old man
Who sat next to me
In the park, in the center of town

So much life have I seen
In my share of up's
Along with my share of downs

I hear death's whistle blowing
His trains a coming
And there ain't no slowing it down

We talked of the past
The traps of our youth
All that we had done

The last words before he left
That he passed on to me
Slow down, Relax, Move on

So I took his advice
And slowed down in life
Relaxed when things went wrong

Now I look at this life
Through different eyes
As life keeps moving on

He enters in via the shadows of night
While the world is sound in its sleep
Snatches that which goes bump in the night
The Profiteer of everyone's dreams

Tosses them into his silken bag
Heads down to the market place
Sells the dreams to the highest of bids
Nightmares bring double the price

If you awaken with no recollection
And wonder what it could possibly mean
Your dreams were taken and sold in the night
Now others are dreaming your dreams

So guard yourself while you are sleeping
The subconscious can be easily deceived
Into giving away all that it's saved
To the Profiteer of everyone's dreams

We all travel down different roads
This side of the ground
Some are long while some are short
In the way we get around

But each my friends has a dead end
That we'll all reach one day
Either short or either long
It's bound to come our way

So be wise the car you drive
And who grips your steering wheel
All the difference it'll make on dead end day
At the gates of Heaven or the pits of Hell

i will never be
what everyone wants me to be
what everyone expects of me
all i'll ever be is me

a drop in the sea
in the vast ocean of humanity
not a theory or conspiracy
all i'll ever be is me

can you imagine how free
that feeling can be
to fake it through there's no need
when all i'll ever be is me

the problem with my phone
is your the only number it wants to call
it has you on speed dial
which gets frustrating after awhile
when with you i get a busy line
not just once but every time

now i find i'm trying
to dial you off my mind

and if i try to text
that just ends up more of a mess
your the constant ring
in the back of my mind that keeps bothering me
i'd hang up the phone
even though your the dial tone

how often now have i tried
to dial you off my mind

your my phones only contact list
its every hit its every miss
the picture on its screen saver
you come with your own bag of bad behavior
i think it's time to face
your also my phones carrying case

*is it any wonder i find i'm trying
to dial you off my mind

Hide the matches
Hide the gasoline
Hide all of the caches
Of guns and magazines

Bring about the fiction
Hide away the facts
Of where it is we're going
Of where it is we're at

Hiding in the neighborhoods
Hiding in the hills
Keeping up with the Jone's
Counterfeiting bills

Terror in the cities
Terror in the towns
Down to the nitty gritty
Living underground

Sealing off the borders
Feeling safe at home
Not sure if your aware of this
But home is where we're grown

Who knows why
Before the dawn of time
We were called for such a time as this

In the Masters plan
Every grain of sand
Is poured out where he chooses best

Every century
Has had its saints
With a cause because of you

Here we are today
Standing with those saints
Proclaiming that same truth

Let's not go to waste
Such a time as this
In spreading the good news

For we are called
Heart, mind, body, soul
For such a time as this

You can give me all your secrets
I'll keep them well hid for you
I'm not here to pass any judgement
On what you did or didn't do

I've not been appointed as your judge
For all you've done in life
I have a hard enough time understanding
What all I've done in mine

I can never let it get out
I'm not who they think I am
That the life I've portrayed for so many years
Has been no more than a sham

So don't worry about your secrets
They're all safe with me
Because if all the secrets I hold spilled out
It's the real me that they might see

when we are young
we dream of this life
fame and fortune
everything right
from top to bottom
side to everlasting side
youthful endeavors
we have in this life
as we grow old
with the passing of time
reality steps
in in its prime
gives us notice
with the dimming of light
makes the truth
easier to find
the push and the shove
with all of its might
the dirt on the glove
that used to be white
the joy you once held
the dreams you once dined
life came along
and opened our eyes
now we just try
our best to survive
in what we have
left in this life

If you pull back the curtain
You'll see who it is that I really am
If you pull back the curtain
You'll get a full view of only half a man
I must warn you though if you do
You can never close the curtain again

I'll then be on center stage
In this production that we call life
Out of every part that I've played
This is the one I can't seem to get right
Before it is I take a bow
The audience files out into the night

Once again I'm left alone
In the very center of the stage
A lone spotlight to guide me along
In the choices that I have made
With the final curtain call
I again step into the part I play

I dreamed I saw a field of Golden Starships
A crowd with suitcases standing by
For those first come to those first served
Heading for a new home in the sky

Like animals escaping from a flood
They were lined up two by two
Some for adventure some have just had enough
With no earthly idea of what they should do

There were those in their families there to wave their goodbyes
With only precious moments left
I know it's just a dream but I'm still curious
As to the last thing that they said

With the ships loaded down and the countdown begun
I knew it was time to leave
As I opened my eyes to the new mornings sun
Waking up from my dream

I woke up this morning
With the feeling there was something missing
So with all that I have being the clothes on my back
I started out for who knows where

I felt the desire to search for trust
But it turns out it's just my luck
I had come upon the wrong address
Under the suns glare my sat nav blared 'make a U-turn' ahead

Trust up and moved on down the road
Who in this day and age would have ever known
Seems that trust felt the need to leave
And without trust who now can we believe

Perhaps it made friends with love
Or maybe made friends with deception
Something I would never know
And so I was back on my own

I am now on the road these days seldom taken
To find trust and help it prosper
I ask everyone I see if they could help tell me
But it seems trust is only a whisper

I will continue on in my travels
With that strong desire to fill trusts needs
As I am open to any direction
And all possibilities

There's a knock on the door
From cool October
Could someone please her in

Holding a bucket of leaves
Picked from colorful tress
All set for Falls decorating

For October she knows
November is close
With a sac on his back full of Winter

As she scurries about
Knowing times running out
It won't be long before he gets here

So she spreads all her leaves
With the greatest of ease
Giving the ground much need cover

For when November let's go with a laugh
Of his cold Winter sac
Saying goodbye to October

Sometimes all the time we get
Is a quick minute or two
In the lives of others
With that time what do you do
Do you take that spot to lift them up
In what they're going through
When all the time you have in their lives
Is a quick minute or two

Do you show them loving kindness
To help them through their day
Never knowing who in front of you
Touched their lives along the way
You might be the difference
When a difference needs to be made
Which could be all the difference in the world
With what you do and say

Kevin says...
The morning air feels like rain
In hopes it washes away the dirt and shame
From this life and the night before

Kevin says...
Let the skies pour down Lord

Kevin says...
I've been so long on this road
Don't know how much further I have to go
Hangs dollar bills from the tops of trees

Kevin says...
So he can watch them blow in the breeze

Kevin says...
He doesn't know what more he likes
The middle of the day or the late of night
Guess if you must know the truth

Kevin says...*
He loves when the sun kisses the morning dawns early youth

I am the keeper of the key
To your deepest wants and needs
All you need is ask of me
I will gladly set them free

I will open up the jar
The one kept tight inside your heart
If you've lost sight of what it's for
I'll bring it out to where we are

That's what I was meant to do
In this life for only you
And I will stand upon that truth
In speaking me, in love with you

The change wasn't all that sudden
It didn't happen overnight
In fact I didn't feel a thing
Whether or not it was wrong or right

With a wrinkle here and a wrinkle there
A little off the top
What didn't fall out turned to gray
As my memory of it all was lost

All the mirrors I used didn't have a clue
Or in cahoots they didn't let on
If they had, not sure what I would do
Except *** along little dogie, *** along

I can no longer blame cloud cover
For the dimming that old age has made
Somebody's got my number
And is counting down the days

I'm sure in this I'm not alone
If I'm sure of anything
This is not a new phenomenon
In what the changes bring

I just hope my hearings well enough
When life hollars out last call
The change wasn't all that sudden
In fact I didn't feel a thing at all

Could you...

Find humor
when told of the tumor

Smile
when the answer is cancer

Laugh
at the heart attack

Kick back
in the face of death

Yawn
when your not given that long

Whistle a tune
when they tell you it's June

Have no remorse
as the disease runs its course

Bow your head
when there's nothing left

Could you?

The one that He loves
The one that He cares
The hopelessly lost
Not finding hope anywhere

The one who's unsatisfied
With life's turn of events
Who's been trying to hide
From that life ever since

The Cross Of Christ Is For...

The fatherless child
On the empty door step
The last lonely mile
Of the dead mans last breath

The kings and the queens
In their palace of pearl
The truth is so clear
It's for all of the world

The Cross Of Christ Is For...

Those dying of thirst
In the desert of life
Those on the high raging sea
With no land in sight

In the joy of the day
In the sadness of night
The Cross of Christ is for
All that is needed in life

The God it is I serve
Does not come in a box
That I pull out from time to time
When there's something that I want
I do not make three wishes
As he waves his magic wand
Believe me when I say to you
That is Not the God I serve

The God it is I serve
Lets me go through the hard times
When all of it is said and done
It brings me closer to his side
Where I rely more on his strength
And much less do on mine
My hope in all this is that you see
The God it is I serve

The God it is I serve
Does more than I could ask
The Creator of the universe
Only wants for me the best
With love he looks on this, his child
And sees beyond the mess
Is there joy in the God I serve
The answer would be yes
It is well worth it all
For the it is God I serve

I spend most of my adult life*
by the shore
Gazing at the pounding waves
Like life, I see how
they push as they pull
the foundation
that has been laid

The grains of sand
are like splinters of my soul
that have been worn down
with time

Eroding edges
by a mothers' control
a nature dissimilar
to mine

I watch as a child,
too close to the shore
builds a castle in the sand
What the waves wash away
she tries to rebuild
In this I see my childhood
once again

With the setting of the sun,
thoughts come to mind
of my life's beginning
as well as its end
Where the things of the past
I find so hard to forget
and even harder to forgive

I know what I must do
it's there in front of me
Forgiveness can be
my only release
I leave it all behind
as I stand to my feet
*And walk further down the beach...

You might think that I'm happy
All of the time
But inside my smile
Is upside down
Otherwise, you wouldn't
Want me around
If all you ever saw
Was a continuous frown
I guess that's why
I'm always clowning around
Not wanting others to see
Me feeling down
It's the only way I can think
To keep you around
On the outside a smile
On the inside a frown

I know some of you won't understand
But I really loved the man
Closer than a brother and
More than a true friend

With a sparkle in his eyes
Spoke the truth amongst the lies
Spread the word throughout his life
Knew the goal, saw the prize

Steps of courage in his walk
Words of wisdom in his talk
Godly counsel always sought
Knew the reason to the cost

Always stood for what was right
Always strived for the best in life
Most of the time you would find
Him with the weary spending time

Now do you understand
Why it was I loved the man
Closer than a brother and
More than a true friend

Don't smile
Don't frown
Don't turn around
Don't make eye contact  

Don't wink
Don't blink
Don't even think
About where you are at

Don't say hey
Don't wave
Don't small talk make
Stare straight at the wall

Don't clear your throat
Call someone bro
Or make a joke
Of okay now please cough

You're a man
Wash your hands
Though that's not in the plan
Dry them on your pants

Walk to the door
As you ignore
All else but the floor
Don't even think of looking back

These days my innie is more of an innie
The more outie my belly becomes
I no longer think of it as a button these days
But more of a deep dark hidden cavern

One that holds many mysterious treasures
From oodles of lint to colorful twine
If you'd rather not know then it's best you don't go
On too deep a search and rescue recon

Cause in my innie you may never come outie
Just remember my friend you've been warned
There are places you know you never should go
That will leave you battle scarred and torn

I'm now thinking that I'm more than a little off track
On this poem of my belly button
It started off fine before it took a nose dive
And lost out on that special something

That I always strive in my deep thoughtful writes
Of which you all know I have many
Now where was I at...I remember now, Oh Yea!
Did I mention that I have an innie

It's not me...
It's my phone that keeps calling your name

If you happen to be...
Looking for someone to blame

If you think that you hear heavy breathing
On the other end of the line
Want you to know that me and my phone
Were no where near each other at the time

You have my word...
It's my phone that keeps calling you up

It must have heard...
That at one time we were two birds in love

It must not realize
That you and I are no longer an item
If it did, otherwise
It wouldn't be spending all of it's dimes

What can I say...
It's my phone that loves the sound of your name

Since you left that day...
Things around here have not been the same

As my phone sits in its cradle alone
It doesn't seem to have much of a choice
To tell the truth I really think that
My phone misses the sound of your voice