Can't say I've ever seen a smile
Like this young girls smile
With the mystery that she holds
Behind those bright blue eyes

Living every moment
Opening every door
There is something special
About this Elinor

A mind filled with curiosity
That won't leave her alone
Taking in all that she sees
Making it her own

Not ever willing to pay the cost
As life is free for her
Never is she at a loss
This sweet child Elinor

To her the world's a wonder
And she controls the switch
Though on is the only position
That this young wonder has

In search of all the answers
Always ready to pull the cord
As in her mind life dances
The beauty of Elinor

As your mood begins to fade
In and out with the passing days

I wrote this down to pass along
A simple hope this helps out poem

With the mood that you are in
I hope this brings you out of it

Cause life can certainly take a hit
If you don't take care of it

My hope is as this poem you read
It helps to put your mind at ease

It's not here to figure out
The reasoning that this life's about

It's more of a well needed break
One to take your mind away

That is all that this page holds
A simple hope this helps out poem

I'm going to make it my goal
to write a poem
Of all my leftovers
I have laying around
Take out my pen
like a butter knife
Spread it as thick
or as thin as I like

I'll take a tad bit from here
a tid bit from there
Something new I might add
to give it some flair
I have more than enough
to fill up a page
What I don't rhyme out in time
I'll end up giving away

Cause leftovers don't last
to long by themselves
If they don't soon go to poem
then they sit and get stale
So I'll do what I can
to give them a home
And place them all in
a leftover poem

Cling to this truth
Whatever you do
Do it all for the glory of God

With nothing to fear
As his path is clear
When giving him your all

In his righteousness
Is how you should live
Heeding the Father's call

In all you go through
In all that you do
Do it all for the glory of God

this is the line
in the joke you can't remember

the tick tock of time
counting off the days that your here

the mercury dime
tossed in the wishing well

the measured worth of life
these days it's hard to tell

this is the height
that is taken from the depth

least we forget the bite
that holds the hand of death

the slice of the kitchen knife
that's used to cut the cord

what it is you thought you might
but you know you can't afford

this is the sign
that won't be around much longer

where you come back around to the line
in the joke you can't remember

There is no candy more lonely
Than a stick of licorice
It's a love hate affair where you do or don't care
That doesn't dare come with a makeup kiss

You can chew on that fact some think nasty at best
While some smile with blackened teeth
You either do or you don't, will or you won't
Think licorice is a scrumpdillyicious treat

i believe
in me & you
where one & one
adds to the truth
subtract the world
from our view
& all that leaves
is me & you

hand in hand
we won't let loose
from everything
that we go through
a promise made
in the i do
between me
between you

to always stand
on loves firm truth
& on that thought
to not let loose
hasn't always been
an easy cruise
but i'm glad i did
it all with you

When asked what color I am
I say I bleed red
Or if asked what race
I kindly say human

The outside color doesn't matter
It's the inside that counts
I find nothing sadder
Than someone who hasn't figured that out

Will you stand with me
In the fact that all men are free
No matter the color that's put on each other
Religion or creed

Because last time I checked
We all bleed red
And the race that we're running
here's a little something
We're all human

With the dawning of every new day
Comes the chance for my mood to change
It's really no secret how this I do
As I don the apparel of my Ice Cream Suit

On the few days that I'm feeling bland
I take the Vanilla Bean right off of the stand
And the Mint Chocolate Chip I yank off the hanger
To cool down a bit as I battle with anger

If you're looking for a hint of the truth
I know about me but not sure about you
There's no telling what I might do
Without the favorable array of My Ice Cream Suit

There's the chocolate for my darkened moods
With the fudge lapels that helps me brood
And the Neapolitan of brown, pink, and white
In my daily struggles to make up my mind

There's even a suit in Pistachio
When I'm in the mood to let it all go
If you're ever wondering at the mood I am in
Just check out the suit that day I'm wearing...

leaning on the fender
of someone else's dream
am i really in here
or just pretending to be
not ready yet to wake up
please don't pinch me

the owner of the dream i think
looks at me and smiles
rust on my britches
this dreams been here awhile
i glance at the odometer
it's got a lot of miles

no wait, he's a dream salesman
asks if i'm here to buy
says this is one of the best of them
go ahead and kick the tires
i go ahead and kick the tires
this guy is not a liar

now i'm in my very own dream
spinning down the road
never really had a dream
i could call my very own
90 miles an hour
safely tucked in my bed at home

This life we live is a waiting room
Some wait to long, some leave to soon
What magazines do you have strewn
All about your waiting room

The daily grind of The New York Times?
Or do you prefer The Outdoor Life
The magazines that you display
Tell more of you than you could say

Does Better Homes And Gardens fill your life
While Rolling Stones consumes your night
You have a choice in what you read
And a lot of that is what you'll be

So is Popular Science what you cling to?
Or is Christian Alliance your holding glue
And would it change your point of view
If you knew what comes after...
The Waiting Room

finding no rhyme nor reason
trying not to give into fear
is this just a passing of season
the reason you're no longer here

only faint memory graces these pages
long gone song filled our hearts and our minds
time slipping away with the ages
lost alice...i'm still hoping to find

              ...lost alice
        once stood on this corner

                                   ...lost alice
                                laid open her scars

   ...lost alice
threw caution to the wind

                          ...lost alice
                  do you know where you are

you stood in your whirlwind of poetry
often letting the demons give you a ride
did they come back to pick you up
are they now in the front by your side

"this is what happens when i step off the path"
the last words you tore from life's page
if i knew what door i'd let you out
or are you lost alice...the rest of your days

The Devil waits for nothing
He wants it all, he wants it now
The high before the low, the stop before the go
He wants the milk before the cow

He promises now but never later
Cause later is only full of regret
Over what you've done which is no longer fun
You buy the sheets, he'll make the bed

The devil's been waiting for this moment
Hook, line, sinker in hopes you'll bite
For years he's known he's on a sinking boat
All he can do is send out more invites

Have you received your invitation
Inviting lost souls along
On his party boat where the band plays the final note
In this his very last song

We're all looking for something
To spend our something on
Like a leaf looks for a breeze
A singer looks for a song

Some look for what matters
Some don't care at all
Some are looking for a lift out of this
While others look for a fall

Some flowers like people are looking for Spring
So they can begin again
Some look for the Winter to spill its chill
Putting this all to an end

Some are looking for this and that
Some only looking for this
Sweet 16 by any means
Are out there looking for their first kiss

Some are looking for answers
As problems in life abound
Some are looking for their inner voice
But have yet to hear the sound

Some are looking at a broken heart
In hopes that it will heal
Some have lost the fact of who they are
And only show up for meals

Some are looking to join the crowd
Some to be left alone
Some know where it's at but have yet to grasp the fact
Like when a poet looks for a poem

One day...
A light from heaven
Will shine brighter than the sun
And the suffering saints called by His name
Will rejoice at going home

One day...
A world that's deaf and blind
Will stand in awe and stare
As they are left hopeless behind
With not a one that cares

One day...
Those very saints
With the faith of a child
Will stand at heavens gates
Face to face with their God

One day...
Those lost within themselves
Too late to realize
That all they have has all been built
On the fact of Satan's lies

One day...
All life will be
At peace and harmony
With no more tears and no more pain
As all of heaven praises their Righteous King

One day...
All this will come of age
Everything here will be seen
I just hope and pray that on that day
That we are all ready

There's a few too many years
Clinging on these old bones
You can tell by the way
They creak and grind as they groan

And with the condition of the skin
That loosely covers them
More than not a few wonder years
They have had to live

With what little wispy bit
Of thinning hair that's left
There's more gray thatch than that of black
These days at its best

Then there's the ever dimming down
Of the once bright stage lights
That I hate to place the blame
On my old age eyesight

And with the continued way
The mind skips, dips, and wanes
I find it's all a part of life's
Greatest give away

Which makes it harder than ever
To know if I was told
That this is how it really feels
When my friend you have grown old

You do a lot of things I don't
I do a lot of things you won't
But hey, here's a novel thought
Why can't we all just get along

I do things you do not like
You do things I would never try
In the Great by-and-by
Why don't we all try to be kind

You don't like the things I say
I don't like the way you behave
But what better day than today
To stop and say that it's okay

I'm just trying to make a point
We all call heads on this two-sided coin
In this I'm sure I'm not alone
Why can't we all just get along

I'm the envy of all my of neighbors
Way to easy it should be a crime
Everyone on the street treats me like royalty
Since I went and purchased a Double Wide

They all came a running when they heard the horns a honking
As the semi pulled into the street
It was a magical day just like a parade
Dogs barking, children screaming
as the mayor came out and shook hands with me

The local news came in with their cameras
The valumptuous blond liked the siding of torquoise blue
She got next to me real kozy
And asked if she could give me a late night interview

Since I now seem to be a celebrity
All the men oohed and aahed
as I gave them the tour
They all want to be best friends with me
As the women cood and cawed
begging for more

Never before in their lives had they ever seen
a toilet and sink in the brightest of pink
As they blushed and stuttered trying to speak
one way or another making google eyes at me

This possibly could be the very best thing
Turning out to be a wonderful buy
I would never have known or could ever think
When I purchased my Double Wide

If you're asking me just what I think
And whether it's right or wrong
I know that I'm older than yesterday
And tomorrow's not too far off

What has that to do with what I'm going through
As it plays itself out in my mind
The older you get the more that you fret
With this...the passing of time

Spinning along like a 3 minute song
Getting its share of air play
It starts to wear thin hearing it again and again
Waiting for death to have its say

If there was a cure for this year after year
Hoping for some sweet relief
As I'm bowing to old, the mighty king with no soul
The pauper that's inside of me

So if you'd like to see what ticks inside of me
Right or wrong going out with a song
I know that I'm older than yesterday
And tomorrow is quickly coming along

We come here every evening
Circle up our chairs
Like cowboys with their wagons
To explain the world we see out there

Our very words keep us on the outer edge
Always running through our minds
What cure it is we're looking for
Hoping that cure we never find

Yes, this is Poets Anonymous
We exclaim it one by one
Hi, my name is "      " and I'm a poet
On a journey that's never done

Searching for that masterpiece
That eludes us all the same way
It's that one thing that keeps us digging deep
Every single minute of every single day

It's hidden in this pen somewhere
We're all sure of that fact
A lucky few have found it once
And go to no lengths to get it back

So here we huddle in our circle
All with the same curse that is at play
Poets Anonymous is for all of us
Where a poets suffering is our fate

Life...

I meant to pick you up
Instead I put you down
Now I'm here without much luck
Inside the Lost & Found

I dropped you on the road
Lost you along the way
I really miss you life
Is what I want to say

Life...

I treated you like a game
That I played recklessly
If I could give it a name
It would be "Only Think Of Me"

I threw you in the mix
Into the thick of things
To late now I've found out
How much life is meant for living

Life...

I think of what we could have had
A seamless harmony
Instead it all went bad
All because of me

I shoulder all the blame
The pain I put you through
If I had known it'd go down this way
I would have taken better care of you

Ready set
get on your mark
I'm now in charge
of your beating heart

Every thought
you'll ever make
Every move
you'll ever take

I'm now all
you'll ever need
When the lights come on
it's only me you'll see

All you've borrowed
All you've bought
All you've imagined
All you've thought

You'll stand and smile
with what I do
As I let my charms
Loose on you

Whether here or
whether there
I will fill
your every care

So ready set
get on your mark
I'm now in charge
of your beating heart

Could somebody answer the phone
Could someone unlock the door
At this very moment I'm splayed out
All over the living room floor

Which I now find rather ironic
Since I no longer am one of the living
If this is all some silly joke
There must be something I'm missing

I think that I left a note
Pretty sure I wrote it in red
Still there's a few things I wish I'd thought of
Before putting the gun to my head

Like how will this affect my loved ones
Will they place the blame on themselves
Will their remaining years here on earth
Be that of a living hell

And who out of all of my family
Is going to clean up this mess
Will it be my little sister
Or will it be my mom and my dad

As  I lay here in this ****** madness
Where the body and the gun both fell
No one the wiser is laughing
At this joke that I pulled on myself

I have heard
Of another world
With another boy
And another girl

Much like you
Much like me
But in this world
They have yet to meet

When they do
They will fall in love
In this other world
Like the both of us

Much like you
Much like me
In this other world
They will be happy

In their world
They will make life plans
Walking along
While holding hands

Until the day
They both marry
Much like you
Much like me

Then they'll grow old
In this other world
Where their kids will have
Kids of their own

Watching them play
From their front porch swing
Much like you
Much like me

I call them blessed
This boy and girl
On the day they meet
In another world

You say to yourself you lack courage
But what is courage all about
Getting up every day and making your way
Through life's troubling sights and sounds

Or standing up for the less fortunate
Turning and calling them friend
It takes a lot of the courage you've got
Every time you make amends

It takes courage to live your convictions
To everyday do what is right
Whether or not you're put on the spot
Be it in or out of sight

Courage when you stand up for the truth
In times filled with lies
Courage to do what you need to do
Courage to be a light

Never say that you lack courage
Even the brave are sometimes afraid
Take what you have and move past that
Facing yet another day
With courage along the way

If you ask how long I will stay

I will ask how long till the end of days
Till love gives out on all it's made
I'll keep holding on into the late

If you ask how long till there's nothing left

I will ask how long till my dying breath
Till every dot, dash, and words been said
I'll keep giving you all I have

If you ask how long I'll keep holding on

I will ask how long has this love grown
Till time stands still on the grey and old
I'll keep away the chill from the marrow bone

I will stay until there's nothing left
Holding on until my last dying breath

I was born to die in Rivertown
As I'm still here to this day
Where the dreams you make are seldom saved
And soon enough washed away

Over time we all must find
That truth along the way
As you plot your course on the sandy shores
Of Rivertown's tidal waves

I dip my toes in murky water
Always surprised at what I find
You'd think by now I would have figured out
I was born to die in Rivertown

While one day out wandering
I found this poem on the side of the road
Either someone had tossed it out
Or from a car window it was blown

It was covered up with dirt and grime
Guess it had been there quite some time
Plus water spot stains of rain
Or tears someone had cried

It started out simple enough
As it rhymed out this poets love
Then changed course about mid-verse
Over secrets that he learned

Not sure if this was the end
Of the love he held that day
But from where it is that I sit
It sure looks that way

I guess his wasn't the only heart
With which his lover played
Which might explain the reason and the way
I found this poem that day

I read down a few more stanzas
Were the poem ended suddenly
So I stuck the poem into my pocket
As I stuck my thumb in the air to leave

It didn't take that long for a car to stop by
An old man in a sedan with loneliness in his eyes
In conversation he told me he'd been a poet on this road
Something that he does miss but gave up sometime ago

He didn't delve deeply into the reason why
At that point we sat in silence as the landscape passed by
I'm not sure in those moments what was on his mind
But I think there was a tear in the corner of his eye

I figured to leave well enough alone would be best
And still to this day I wonder if ever that
He found that poem I stuffed under the seat
And if it brought sorrow or it brought relief
as I stepped out of the car and back onto the street

The world is a cannibal  

Ready to bite
Say the wrong thing
It’ll eat you alive
Chew you and spit you
As part of its diet
So keep your trap shut
And get into line

The world is a cannibal

Ready to pounce
Holds it against you
At the slightest sound
Any unreasonable reason
That can be found
Picking you up
Slamming you down

The world is a cannibal

Strips you to the bone
Goes for the jugular
If you go it alone
Vicious, malicious
Sits on its throne
Knows all the do’s
But prefers the don’ts

The world is a cannibal

To those in the know…

My daddy turned life into living
By raising ten ornery kids
A righteous man, daddy was given
I only hope to live life like he did

He was brought up on old mountain wisdom
That's the best kind of wisdom he said
Don't just hear with your ears but also your eyes
But don't let it all go to your head

Don't trust no one named Uncle Sam
Cussing don't make you a man
If you see your brother in the gutter before you check with another
Be there to lend him a hand

Don't pick a fight if you ain't planing on winning
Don't ever miss church on Sundays
If your caught in a storm and can't make it home
Get down on your knees boy and pray

Make sure you take the advice of your mother
And that you show your sweet sister respect
If you've had your fill of a good home cooked meal
Give a hungry man what is left

My daddy brought us up on mountain wisdom
You can always fall back on when there ain't nothing left
A word to the wise, not just your ears but your eyes
That's what my daddy always said

This one poem came looking
For that special someone
Who has taken what life has to offer
And still remained totally numb

Where the only feeling they have left
Is life's slap in the face
That's been there from the beginning
That was so well strategically placed

This one poem will always be known
As that shot in the dark
Finding that slight glimmer of light
And bringing it to where you are

To be bold enough to honestly say
What most can't say themselves
It'll pick out of the blue what it was meant to
Leaving behind everything else

It's here to clear the wandering path
To the wanting heart
Using all of it's poetic means
To find you at the moment you are

It may not be the fastest in the lot
But it still will win the race
In giving just the right measure
Of a much needed grace

Making it's way through the pages
For the lost and often alone
Those with no promise in hand*
Those with nothing to show

This one poem that openly stands here
Came looking for those who've lost sight in life
To give ears to the deaf at heart
To give vision to the blind eye

To remind a change is possible
If we would open further our minds
This one poem came looking
*At the perfect moment in time

with a little luck
and a few good props
i can usually squeeze
out one more drop

pull out a line
from my set of rhymes
give it the old collage try
one last time

one more trick
from my bag of shtick
from the poet stick
i take another lick

that's how it is
without even knowing
how i mostly write
mostly every poem

The blacktop to these city streets
Has so much to say
Daily trampled under feet
As the conversation goes both ways

Standing at the crosswalk
Always in a hurry
As I watch the corner coffee shop patrons
Seem to leisure with no worries

While walking along the sidewalk
I hear a voice wish me good morning
Along with a word of warning
About the afternoon storm that's coming

From the giving to the taking
All that's left to say
Is these city streets take more from me
Than I could ever give away

Same routine day after day
Where left always seems right
As I make my way onto Main
The Broadway comes to mind

In the responsibility granted man
as fickle as he is foul
wheeling and dealing with mother earth
he'll take all that he's allowed

****** the land of every grain of sand
and nutrition to serve his purpose
she stands in hope that one day he may know
that none of it was worth it

But when you are the disease
who can you turn to for the cure
remember please wise words such as these
nature never did betray the heart that loved her

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

This years resolution
With much considered thought
After all this time find that I
Will give it all to God

Because this world to me means nothing
And holds onto even less
Than what I see I could ever need
Or even care to have

With the aging of this eyesight
The more I tend to see
What is important to my walk
And this tender heart in me

This year I'll get more excersise
But this time of the spiritual kind
Learn to love the Lord much more
With all my heart, my soul, and mind

To wake up each morning early
Feeding on the Bread of Life
Share the cleansing blood of the chosen one
To other souls in kind

I will learn to love my fellow man
Unconditionally
That what will shine will be Jesus' light
When they see or think of me

I will pray to God without ceasing
In every circumstance
And take each day along the way
For the blessing that it is

This years resolution
With much considered thought
After all this time find that I
Will this time give it all to God

Here's now to where we all are at
Graduating from the past
Stepping into a whole new world
No longer boys and girls

Remembering the faces along the way
Yet forgetting all the names
Nothing further from this point
Will ever remain the same

We will toss these years behind
Like daylight does the night
Later brought back up again
In the days of remember when

We we're young and had it all
All the dreams that we could hold
Until reality came along
And poured those dreams down a darkened hole

But none of those thoughts come into play
On the plans today that we will make
We are young and will have our say
On this our Graduation day

Haven't I seen this all somewhere before
It looks like a familiar line
Seems these days I see it more and more
As I write more and more over time

The more that I write
The less that is said
Like taking in air
In the middle of breath

When it comes to the words that I use
There is nothing new under the sun
The words on display to help me convey
Seem over time to blend into one

If a line or two looks familiar to you
Even at quite a distance
Look back on a few of my poems from the past
They may have  already made an appearance