we come and go
stay and leave
while some get stuck
in-between
the modern age
social scene
all misfits
if you ask me

you do it too
i do believe
make a pact
with secrecy
test the water
see how deep
all misfits
if you ask me

take the blame
to some degree
some if none
with hurt feelings
how many here
have earned their keep
all misfits
if you ask me

The way that I write poetry
I don't give it too much time
To sit and stew over what it should do
I just toss it out onto the line

As there's another one soon to come
And it'll just be in the way
Where my mind seems to rhyme all of the time
With all that it has to say

I write it down, brush it off
Polish is a thing of the past
If I let it sit around, here and there there about
It loses the thoughts it needed to grasp

I try not to go intellectual
As intellectually doesn't work for me
If your looking for prime examples
Just read my poetry

I write it out fast and furious
Whatever's on my mind at the time
And if you're the least bit courious
You can read what I think in rhyme

As I toss it out onto the line...

If you build your house on
A beach of soft sand
When the storm comes along
You'll lose all you have
Trying your best
To do all you can
Soon enough to find out
That you can't

A good fight you have fought
Believe it or not
The ground would be sound
If you built on the rock
Using the truth
In all that you've got
Leave the construction
To God

i bought this poem
from a man
who was selling it
at a roadside stand

he promised me
it would change my life
in a matter of days
if not overnight

i took it home
amid my doubts
to shake it off
to air it out

as i carefully
opened it up
there was only one word
that word was...*LOVE

This poem that you now
Hold in your hands
Has only a middle
No beginning no end

The second you blink
Your half way through
Smack dab in the middle
Without a clue

Moving along
Nary a care
Before you know it
Your hitting thin air

With nothing that you
Can grasp onto
No beginning no end
In front of you

Take this from the middle
For all that it's worth
Subtract a few lines
Take out a few words

That would start it out right
Then perfectly end
This poem of the middle
You now Hold in your hands

I sometimes hide behind my poems
Like a shadow does the night
But some of you have found me out
In all my wrongs, in all my writes

You seem to know what I'm all about
Behind this mask of rhyme I use
When at times it tends to suffocate
With the subjects that I choose

Still you might wonder at my reason
I try and hide behind the write
With the face of truth in hot pursuit
Pulling false layers off my real side

Soon to be the poet naked
A poets heart exposed to all
No longer concerned with the way life burns
In the stand or in the fall

all bug-eyed and blank stared
i see you too have been there
around people that don't care
it's something we all share

ain't it a wonder...
ain't it a pity...
ain't it a shame...

we've all seen the good old days
torn from our past page
where no one thought to save
haphazardly tossed away

ain't it a wonder...
ain't it a pity...
ain't it a shame...

where love was once alive
stood strong by our side
turns out it's not so kind
didn't it once shine

ain't it a wonder...
ain't it a pity...
ain't it a shame...

took a book from off the shelf
always in search of help
the deeper we delve
it's all about self

ain't it a wonder...
ain't it a pity...
ain't it a shame...

ain't it a wonder the piles we heap
ain't it a pity most do not see
ain't it a shame we have such needs
making us our own worst enemy

ain't it a wonder...
ain't it a pity...
ain't it a shame

We are the people
They warned us about
Taking to extreme excess
All that we’re allowed

So easily bored with
What they toss our way
Looking for the next big thing
In our means of escape

We are the people
They warned us about
Living  topsy-turvy
In a world that’s upside down

Clearly out of control
On this spinning wheel
Out here selling off our souls
Feeling that it’s no big deal

We are the people
They warned us about
Take a look around
If you have any doubt

Better yet grab a mirror
If you’re afraid to go outside
We are the people
There’s no way to deny

Oh Snap
The jig is up
Caught red handed
With an overdue book

There's nothing to sneeze
As the Library Police
Roughed little me up
And slap the cuffs on me

Said book was due
Back in '92
They don't play that game
Or whistle that tune

Paraded out front
In the Police lineup
As the Librarian screams
That's the crook, lock him up

Now crying I find
Myself doing hard time
As that overdue book
Lingers on in my mind

Slapped with 3 years
Ironing book marked dog ears
Time off with good behavior
If I obey while I’m here

But the hardest part
Like it or not
They stripped me of my dignity
And took my library card

not so
long ago
the fall of man
what has changed since then

we sinned
back then
eden now the internet
apple phone in hand

desiring
wisdom
making ourselves little gods
google giving us the nod

nothing
has changed
different times same old dance
dealing with the fall of man

This is a poem
Where there is no end
When the thought came along
So did the wind
Blew it out of my mind
So I tried thinking again
What could I add
As the perfect end

My thoughts crossed over to
What would make you think
Leave you in awe
Have you wondering
Insert it just right
Where it'd fit perfectly
Right at the end
Where all good endings should be

Plainly you see
The delirium in front of me
This poem with no end
To end gracefully
So here's where I take
My thoughts up and leave
With the perfect end
Being the one sight unseen

Do you think if we met today
We could fall in love again
Or do you think too much time
Has passed underneath that bridge

Two lives at one time on the same path
Sharing such a tinder age
Coming to that inevitable fork in the road
Both going different ways

You with your family headed North
I by myself the West
Life with or without runs its course
Most times for the best

With both our runs successful
Playing out how it was meant to be
You with a husband me with a wife
Picture perfect families

I would not trade a minute
For all that I've been through
And I'm pretty sure if I asked
You'd say the same things too

Just a thought that popped in my head
While playing its age old tricks
If you and I were to meet today
Could we fall in love again

i keep trying to catch the meaning
but this film is silent
with the entire front row
signing all the highlights

three rows back the crowd is loud
laughing at life's tragedy
what i was blind to, my eyes open now
they are laughing at you and me

they give to those who have a choice
tokens slightly measured
they can spend at the refreshment stand
on whatever is their pleasure

while actors on the big screen
pause for the applause
pretending to be who they'll never be
in a last ditch effort to get their point across

as i ask the darkened corner
if they could keep it quiet
i'm in the middle of trying to understand
this film that is silent

fragile and frail
souls on the mend
sewed at a tender young age
with gossamer thread

winds can blow hard
the way winds will do
causing the thread
to sometimes come loose

fragile and frail
all that they have
a life pattern sewn
with gossamer thread

I met an old man
On my way out of town
The old man is me
If you don't understand

And the way out of town
Is the death of myself
Talking in metaphors
Makes it easier to deal

I turn and I find
Myself on the ridge
Looking back on the streets
Of when I was a kid

I turn round in time
As time turns around
With the old man in me
On his way out of town

is there a method to your madness
some point to your plan
a logical set of reasons
why you always have drink in hand

is it used to sooth you
take off the hardened edge
or to escape the voices
that rattle in your head

do you find you need it more these days
than it ever needed you
how long now have you lost count
at just one drink or two

do you wake up and beg forgiveness
from the wretched night before
do you know how long this has gone on
or have you stopped keeping score

in this method to your madness
the point in your plan
your illogical set of reasons
why you hold spilled drink in hand

We think this is life
But it's not
As we cling tight
To what little we've got
It comes and goes
Like the wind
Sifting sand
Through our hands

True life is on
The other side
But to make it there
To yourself you die
There is no way
To deny
If you want to live
Give your life to Christ

I sometimes feel like...
a wobbly tornado
making my way
what ever direction the wind blows
with back and forth motion
and no way of knowing
how destructive the path
that I am flowing

I sometimes feel like...
a wave on the ocean
tossed back and forth
in erratic motion
the salt from my tears
help with my knowing
how shallow or deep
these days I am coping

I sometimes feel like...
a cloud in the sky
while on top of things
some still pass me by
dealing with fluff
in the midst of this life
amongst other stuff
as I look to the sky

I sometimes feel like...
the wildest of flowers
in a field filled with weeds
passing the hours
wanting someone to come along
and pull me out
or take a sling blade
and cut us all down

I sometimes feel like...
a musician on tour
I know that I'm here
but at times why, I'm not sure
could be any number of things
between the why's and what for's
but one things for sure
I feel like all this and more

I once knew this poet
Whose world was filled with rhyme
Said he couldn't help it
Was all that filled his mind

He always caught a catch phrase
Where there never was a doubt
That he'd whirl his words around it
And a poem would come spilling out

It must have been what he was born to do
Guess you could say he found his call
Once he grabbed that truth and set it loose
It all came natural

What he wrote was plain and simple
At times could ring profound
In the peeling of layers of the soul
Where all poetry is found

There are no two ways about it
To all this he fit the crime
This poet that I once knew
Whose world was filled with rhyme

Do you find yourself playing church
More often these days than not
Going through the motions
Only shaking hands with God

Working on your salvation
With religious bolts and stripped out screws
Saying I love you neighbor
But leaving out the Golden Rule

Climbing Jacob's ladder
In your multi-colored worldly coat
Holding tight to your possesions
As you hate to let them go

First in line on Sunday
Dutifully religiously
While every other day of the week
You fail to bend the knee

Your Bible always with you
On the dash or in the back
You hear Jesus loves you somewhere in there
But you're not sure of where that's at

You sing out loud in the crowd
Sometimes even raise your hands
But when they ask for volunteers
You struggle with the yes I can

You have a ton of secrets
At home hidden in a box
Letting them out when you're alone
Because you don't dare keep it locked
Afraid to give that one sin up

Do you find yourself playing church
More often these days than not
Going through the motions
Only shaking hands with God

Your comfort is under the stars at night
Wherever your head may lay
Now it lays low inside of the fight
As your life depends on staying awake

From the lowlands of the country
To the high tension of lawless disorder
Uncle Sam holds your dreams along with the key
As you find yourself sleeping with soldiers

It once was just you and your girl May Lou
Now it's more like Frank, Bob, and Bill
Sharing nightmares at night while in daytime you fight
Reality of **** or be killed

You don't dare let the men see you cry
You save that for under the covers
When you were a kid as sure as you now live
You never dreamed you'd be sleeping with soldiers

Missing mommas cooking back home makes you feel alone
Although you never really are
Scared for your life keeps you company all of the time
And you know that's bound to leave a scare

Making your way through one more frightful day
Hoping tomorrow you wake up one day older
But until that time you'll lay under the sky
As you continue sleeping with soldiers

Hare Krishna's
In their Pickups
Depressed Comics
Down on their Luck
Teenage Girls
Screaming Meme's
****** *****'s
Leftward Leaning
Vincent Price
Flo and Eddie
Rodger Rabbit
Priscilla Presley
Nuns in Habits
Dwarf's in Ponchos
Deadbeat Dads
Munching Nachos
Right-Wing Nut Jobs
Trading Slogans
A few Hero's
Including Hogan

Are just a few of the sights you see
At the front gates of Graceland
Memphis, Tennessee

Buddhist Monks
With Electric Banjos
Holding Signs Up
Of Marlon Brando
Taxi Cabs
Blaring Show Tunes
Pregnant Women
Down-loading Soon
Derby Jockeys
Flying Monkeys
Kool-Aidholics
Skittle Junkies
Bozo The Clown
Bumper Stickers
Psychedelic
Crazed Toad Lickers
Rhinestone Cowboys
In their Skivvies
Gothic Girls
Heebie Jeebies

Are just a few of the sights you see
At the front gates of Graceland
Memphis, Tennessee

Blue Haired Granny's
In pink Moo Moos
Ballerina's In
Tattered Tutus
Mathematician's
Number Crunchers
Even have Some
Out to Lunchers
Model 50's
Do *** Daddies
One More Round Of
Flo and Eddie
People Sneaking
Across the Border
Lonely Fry Cooks
Taking Orders
A Few Wannabes
Not Saying Much
Will The Real Elvis
Please Stand Up

Are just a few of the sights that you see
At the front gates of Graceland
Memphis, Tennessee

Thank you...Thank you very Much

Ladies and Gentlemen
Elvis...Has Left The Building

Some things in life remain the same
Some times there can be a sudden change
Some mysteries you can't explain away
And that can all be in one day

Some things you grasp tight hold to
Others you feel the need to let loose
In hopes they stay or come back to you
And that you've made the right choice when you do

Some things work out the way they are
Though most do take a little effort
Not everything comes with a gold star
But it's worth it when you get there

Looking out from behind these prison bars
Of the possessions that I own
Wondering how I let it get this far
No more than a glimmer of hope

Do I even own a one of them
Or do they all own me
Are they mostly all my wants
Mixed with a few of needs

As I look between these prison bars
I see that you're here too
With the tightest grip we're our own guards
Not daring to let loose

Will we ever see what holds you and me
Never will set our hearts free
If we let all our possessions
Hold both the lock and key

She reminds me
more than not
of sea glass

Where by the shore
next to the waves
she loves to dance

Colorful
salty sweet
with hidden secrets kept

Clear at times
hard to find
smooth along the edge

Last trip he jumped ship
Off life's ocean liner
Asking you what's that got to do
With the price of tea in China

Uninspired he grew tired
Of the massive here and there
Another sign of the times
With the man who doesn't care

Taking all he's given
In opinions over time
Says a fool will only do
Enough to get by

According to the warning
In the buyer beware
Much the same in what you give away
The man who doesn't care

No need to borrow sorrow
In these days of make believe
Easily seen within reach
As they hand it out for free

Time is wasted in the making
If all you do is stop and stare
That's why each day he goes the way
Of the man who doesn't care

You'd have to travel far
To get to where we were
Travel back in time to find
The one and only cure
After all these years
I still have no idea
Why it was I said
Or what it was I did

I think about it all the time
The days that were my crime
I need to tell her how I feel
Bring it all to light
For what is ailing me
The pain I must endure
I need to try and find the cure
For the years of missing her

No longer being young
No need to hold my tongue
I need to spill my guts
Stop this playing dumb
Give this heart it's much need rest
Get it off my chest
How can such an emptiness
Be so heavy set

My minds memory
Is in a constant fight
With tooth for a tooth
And eye for an eye
In what is ailing me
All that I must endure
Knowing she's the only cure
For the years of missing her

I have this string
That's tied around my finger
In case it is that I forget
It helps me to remember

It's been on there for years
And I still haven't yet
Remembered any of the things
I tried not to forget

It used to be bright red
But now it's turned light pink
It just might be ivory white
By the time it comes to me...

...but as things so often go
When I slowed down long enough to think
What it is I needed to remember
Was to buy more string

i've checked the spelling
i've done the math
by my calculations
not much time is left

can i please spin the wheel
can i buy another vowel
can we go to commercial
in time to save ourselves

do you find this redundant
is there a color code
does it not come with instructions
or is it something we should know

i have bammed the boozle
i have crammed the thought
i have burned down to the ground
the farm already bought

in this game of misfortune
are we missing a piece
how can we play without knowing
what we're to believe

i'm going back to the drawing
setting up the board
just hoping the price isn't
more than i can afford

a cold wind keeps blowing
in from whence it came
with all barometers showing
life is just a game

I'm sure everyone alive
Has heard of Father Time
Well, he and I were once the best of friends

Until I reached the ripe old age
He up and gave his soul away
When he saw our friendship near its end

Always had him by my side
Where we both had the best of times
Sometimes I wish we could do it all again

But something that I failed to see
Was Father Time grew old with me
As surly as this old man lives

I'll just have another slice of cake
As I give another year away
Holding tight to the memories of what we did

Thinking back to the time
When he was a good friend of mine
But now a days who am I trying to kid

we find ourselves in
                   silent chains
     once held by words
               less afraid
       as we search
           from day to day
          for the key to these
       silent chains

If you had the chance to do it all again
Which part of it would you pick
Would you take the easy way
with what you know today
If to do it again you had the chance

If you could pick which part to live
Which part to toss which part you kept
If you had the choice
by the raising of voice
Which part of it would you pick to live

Would you take out the hardest route
Which more than helps with character built
Knowing when you go against the grain
you're never the same
Would you take the hardest route if this you found out

How would you act if you had the chance
Would you pass it all off with a laugh
Or would you buckle down
this time around
If you had the chance how would you act

2 Poets of the same ilk
Coming together, head-to-head
Knowing it's surely God's will
Setting to rhyme, what needs to be said

2 Poets in control of the pen
Easily slipping into the flow
Both with an idea here to lend
No telling in which direction they'll go

2 Poets with a strong bond
A chance meeting, out of the blue
Where magic happens, like waving a wand
You feeding off me, me feeding off you

2 Poets coming together
With a strong desire for the truth
A fact of the matter, friends forever
After all, it's what families do

-Maddison Colman
-Mike Hauser

wake up every morning
stifling a yawn
first breath should be a warning
not giving it much thought
it's in the beast of nature
not wanting to be caught
forgetting whose the maker
as we start playing god

as the day progresses
accepting this our lot
making more than messes
out of everything we've got
never learning lessons
from the battles we have fought
someone should have kept us
all from playing god

now i lay me down to sleep
all prayerfully in song
pray the Lord my soul to keep
first time today we've given thought
at times it's hard to see
or even think about
when daily we are busy
out there playing god

I keep my heart
in a box
Lined in lead
triple locked

Can't be too careful
you know these days
With Kryptonite
and what girls say

My heart's been hurt
so many times
I had the lead
velvet lined

To give it somewhere
soft to lay
Until it feels
it feels okay

My heart you see
can indeed
Be the most
peculiar thing

Softened in
its tender parts
Hardened from
all the hurt

Hence the box
triple locked
Lined in lead
for this poor heart

I sold my soul
Then bought it back
When I told my job
Today I quit

Took all the money
That I had saved
Bought a boat
And sailed away

I sailed the world
Across the sea
A sailors life
This life for me

No looking back
With no regrets
On this life
That I now have

What do they say
Wind to your face
Sun at my back
I left that place

The way of life
That held me down
Now surf and sand
My only sound

I could not recomend
This more
I should have done
It long before

Long before
They got to me
What society says
Makes you happy

So if you've sold your soul
Take my advice
Buy it back
Without thinking twice

Take all the money
You have saved
Buy a boat
And sail away

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

i have this enemy
i'll kindly call me
we battle it out
continuously

not sure why i do
half the things that i do
i give up control
every time i let loose

i started out right
never crossing the line
till i selfishly caved
to i, me, and mine

now we fight back and forth
daily of course
while asking myself
could it get any worse

that's when i reply
with do it or die
with the things that i do
i keep questioning why

Who am I
when not in the eye
of all those who can see

Do I behave
stand firm in my faith
in all that I believe

Does my Godly character
often endure
with the battle that is me

Or do I fall
in spite of it all
where my words don't match my deeds

Who I am all alone
when I'm on my own
says much more about me

Than who I allow myself
to be in the crowd
for all the world to see

You find yourselves playing house
When what you really need is a home
On this path, you'll soon enough find out
That you're both alone

You've yet to find a compromise
Of how this all should go
You'd be wise to take the time
To build yourselves a home

Starting with a load of bricks
Each one made of love
Held tightly with concrete
That is heavily mixed up with trust

Have windows that open up to hope
Doors swinging wide in welcoming
Love should be the chime you choose
To complement the doorbells ring

When you take this house you've created
And make it your home sweet home
Proud that you both have made it
Never once will you be alone

Always quick with the question
As you search for answers to life
With every step being a lesson
Around every corner something to find

It's not always as easy as it seems
And it doesn't work out every time
But you'll never know if you don't go
And at least give it a try

Life is always open for business
Everywhere you look there's a sign
Right here with God as my witness
You can go all the way up to closing time

It's really up to you in how you do
Shorts, Sweats, or Suit and a Tie
Whatever comfort works for you
At least give it a try

You've got to reel this life in from beginning to end
Opportunity is always tugging the line
So grab hold of the net as you're not done yet
All it takes is the will and the might

You never will be fulfilled
When the time comes to say bye, bye
If you don't jump at the chance at every chance that you can
And at least give it a try

Before this day is over
Before light fades to gray
Before all this comes to an end
God will have his say

Before the eye has blinked its last
We all must heed the call
Before the ship let's down its mast
Before the night falls...

As the heart beat slowly fades
Before the caskets laid
Before the show is over
God will have his say

Before the cold winds blow
And mighty kingdoms crumble
Before the end of all we know
Before the night falls...

Before the last breath escapes
Before the final resting place
Before sorrow fills the heart
God will have his say

We all must be about the work
On which we have been called
Not a soul should be left behind
Before the night falls...

When it's all said and done
As it rolls around again
Think I'll make a run
For president

From the fiasco I've seen
Of all those in the ring
They all make it look easy
Cheesy breezy

I'll promise them this
While giving them that
And never admit
When I leave out the facts

I'll wear an American flag pin
So I'm not penned communist
While promising that
And giving them this

I'll scream at some
At the top of my lungs
And when asked of my past
I'll play it dumb

I will promise to free
Those in poverty
If they would just kindly
Give a donation to me

I will shake all the babies
And kiss a few hands
Wait...can I have a do over
On what I just said?

I will kiss all the babies
And shake a few hands
There...that's more like it
**** you auto correct!

I'll promise it all
Without skipping a beat
The straights will say Yay
While the gays dance in the street

I'll perfect the one liners
Like, it's the economy stupid
Then ship jobs to China
When no one is looking

When asked what I've done
I'll avoid the question
Until eyes start to glaze
And boredom sets in

I'll go to war
If one need be fought
Or take out a loan
If peace can be bought

Then in another four years
When all this goes bad
I'll run with the slogan
Let's forget about the past

Cause if it can be done
By all these morons
Then it can be done
By most anyone

I still remember
The first time I saw her
One way or another
I'd always love her

And I'm thinking that day
She felt the same way
Cause when the time came
She took my name

Some days are warmer
Others are colder
Younger and older
To have her to hold her

With one life to live
Making the best of it
The promise we've kept
To never quit

Moving through life
Burdens heavy or light
Always side by side
Holding tight with our mights

This I have known
With her as my home
To never let go
To have and to hold

The right place and right time
The best of all finds
Stepped into the light
No changing of minds

From all that I've seen
To all that I need
Inside of my dreams
She's the one I keep

There's no need to wonder
About distant thunder
As she draws me closer
To have her to hold her