It all started off innocent enough
To take a slight edge off the pain
Some days seem worse than others
So you take a few more I'm afraid

Before too long the battle is gone
You don't dare go back to the doctor
So you take to the streets to meet demanding needs
With no option of over the counter

As all addictions do they stop working for you
And eventually bite like an ungrateful dog
The only reason you know is your friends tell you so
In your shipwreck of a drug laden fog

You try and think back on the life you once had
Before you first swallowed this hell
But with a mind that's not clear to point you anywhere
Your past is too far back to tell

You pray for normalcy but never down on your knees
Afraid that you might get what you wish
Not sure you could let go the only comfort you know
In this cruel world of hit and miss

Still if you could go back you'd jump at the chance
To not have given your soul away
In the form of a pill that doesn't care what it steals
Leaving behind death in its wake

I met a man in a playful tune
Who had a thought I thought I knew
He said to me goo goo g'joob
Does anything sound more real to you

We were out standing in a field
With fresh strawberries dancing at our heels
In a moment a bit to surreal
Continue on Bungalow Bill

We moved past a four man line
As we slipped into dream #9
Being there for the benefit of Mr. Kite
When Lucy and her diamonds fell from the sky

A day in the life left tragically
Our mystery tour on a yellow submarine
The revolution of love has now left the building
In a puddle of memories out on the street

She held your hand to comfort you
The color of love now the color of blue
Till the bitter end you sang passion true
Goodbye to you Goo goo g'joob...


R.I.P.
John Lennon 10/9/40-12/8/80

Right out the gates they slap you
And here it is, you brand new
Don't worry there's much more to come

As you take in your new view
A cold gray world to greet you
Welcome to the club

Just a kid in all you do
Do everything that they tell you
Act up and you'll be drugged

Learning early to stay in line
Mind your manners and you'll do fine
Welcome to the club

Quickly are your teenage years
Not finding friends, your biggest fear
In wanting to be loved

You clutch and grab at any straw
Try your best to bend its will
Welcome to the club

As you reach for adolescence
There's no more need to be guessing
You'll figure out soon enough

You'll learn in time to accept them
All of these hard knock life lessons
Welcome to the club

Then you reach adult years
All your hopes, dreams, and fears
Get rolled up into one

Your youthful vigor will soon become
Worn out jeans inside the wash
Welcome to the club

You watch in wonder as years fly by
Hear distant thunder from your coming life
Close but not yet done

There's a few more angry bites
To be taken out your hide
Welcome to the club

Now old and gray is all you see
Pack your bags get set to leave
As aches and pains daily beat you up

Inches away from the grave
No more need to count the days
Welcome to the club

I'll say a prayer for you
Even though you don't want me to
You say you have no need for God
How's that working out for you so far

I know that you are struggling
Having a taste of your own medicine
You've tried it all above all else
But can 'Physician heal thyself'

Is this the peak that you have reached
On top of it all your foundations weak
Realizing there that your view
Is a blur of all that's true

That's why I say a prayer for you
Even though you have asked me not to
You say you have no need for God
How's that working out for you so far

I try not to give it much thought
But chances are soon enough one of us will be gone
And probably not the same time
Funny how people are selfish when it comes to dying

Where mostly we go it alone
Most often without even knowing
Spending each day on the edge of the cliff
Waiting till we step off of it

Is it that we're afraid of goodbyes
Not wanting to spend too much time
Leaving the awkwardness of it
On the backs of the living who are better equipped

And when we arrive on that fateful day
I hope I'm the first to go out with a bang
I couldn't imagine being left behind
It wouldn't be life without you by my side

So do me this one small favor
Please stick around till I'm no longer here
I try not to give it much thought
But chances are soon enough one of us will be gone

There is a point in believing
That we all one day must cross
In the mind, in the soul
But mainly in the heart

On the straight and narrow path
Is where my friend you'll find
All the answers that you lack
In the form of Jesus Christ

Whether your walk is gentle
Or you ride the razors edge
We all one day will make it to
The place we're being led

Either by our own dark desires
Which will bring us down in time
Or by the softening of the heart
To the truth of Jesus Christ

So many signs along the way
Can't say you've not been warned
With so much of life at play
Being tattered as well as torn

You'd think that you'd be used to it
At this point in time
Before it is you give up on it
Give in to Jesus Christ

When you find you're sleeping on
A bed of hardened nails
And that life here on earth
Is a living hell

In word and deed the rest you need
I'll tell you where to find
It's the point where your belief
Should be in Jesus Christ

Because life can be a cancer
With Jesus as the cure
If you're looking for answers
My friend look no further

All life has to offer
Is the minimum of hype
When the truth is called for
Call on Jesus Christ

In the grand scheme of things
It's sometimes hard to believe
With all that's going on
That there are two of me

So I set down and wrote this poem
To the other me that I know
That when all is said and done
We both can get along

Hello other me...

I wish that you could see
Everything it is you want
Isn't everything you need
And that society
Doesn't owe you anything
Nor is there a guarantee

Hello other me...

I wish that you believed
Everything that I believed
How easy would that be
And when it comes to doubt
I wish it wasn't me
Maybe then we'd find out
Eye to eye we both can see

Hello other me...

With all that being said
It's time to move along
My hope for the day is that
There will be more rights than wrongs

And that the other me
Will let it be known
That he and I are a team
In the way we get along

Out of all the colors of the spectrum
Used to brighten up your day
Wishing you would have kept them
As the blues come out to play

With life, they dive in deep
Taking yellows, mixing greens
Spin the wheel whichever way
The blues will never fade

Out of all the colors of the spectrum
Every high and every low
The brightest ones, you wish you'd kept them
As they're the ones you miss the most

How many times have you lost count
With the ups and downs, the ins and outs
Which makes you even more afraid
The blues will never fade

Out of all the colors of the spectrum
One or two will simplify your life
Make it easier if you let them
But you must spin the wheel to find

Afraid to swirl the colors
Adding one into another
If you don't who is to blame
The blues will never fade

It's up to you...
in how you do it
It's up to you...
in how you live
It's up to you...
if you never knew it
It's up to you...
in what you give
It's up to you...
to smile through it
It's up to you...
hit or miss
It's up to you...
save or lose it
It's up to you...
how deep you dig
It's up to you...
in how you play it
It's up to you...
in how it's kept
It's up to you...
in how you say it
It's up to you...
in where you step
It's up to you...
in how you spin it
It's up to you...
how you place your bets
It's up to you...
from the beginning
It's up to you...
until your death
It's up to you...

just beneath her tinder skin
is a faded blue tattoo
the colors once were vibrant
till the day he said we're through

her skin no longer tingles
where the blue tattoo is kept
it's been replace with a constant ache
from the moment that he left

she has other tats from front to back
a walking testament of self expression art
but the one that hangs alone in her gallery
is the faded blue tattoo broken heart

How long will it take these tears to dry
Before it's safe to go back outside
And of these puddles at our feet
Salty tears make salty seas

How long can we play this charade
Before we give ourselves away
And if we had a chance to guess
Would we care more or less

How long before we need a bigger boat
To try and keep this all afloat
If we had two of everything
Would it make a difference in the end

How long will it take these tears to understand
And are tears ever really planned  
Can we find strength in defeat
Splashing puddles in the street

How long will it take these tears to dry
Before it's safe once again to cry
And of these puddles at our feet
Salty tears make salty seas

she turns the station
to nowhere radio
without hesitation
that's where her dials tend to flow

rolls down the windows
as she turns the tunes up loud
she's going nowhere
although that's where she is right now

absentmindedly humming
to nowhere radio
with fingers drumming
as nowhere is where she goes

This is a poem
That I just wrote
I'm sending it out
So it won't be alone

I'm taking this poem
And setting it free
You may tag along
If you feel the need

It will take you to places
That you've never been
Meet some new faces
Make some new friends

Which then makes you wonder
Where you would be
If this poem I just wrote
I didn't set free

Poetry pulls me over
With screaming siren and blue lights
Knocks me to my knees slaps the cuffs on me
Forcing me into rhyme

Why can't it mind its own business
And stop giving me such a hard time
Leave me alone to do other things that I want
I ask you, is that really a crime

Behind bars, hard labor forced
Pen and paper in hand
Writing off my time in this do it or die
All at the judges demand

Guess they have me a poetry thief with a need
Serving time between the lines
Of this poetry that has control over me
With its insatiable need to rhyme

Here in this life doing hard time...

As this train quickly approaches
To the day of kingdom come
Barreling down the rusty tracks
Of the things we should have done

Have your ticket at the ready
Because there's no free lunch
With the adding of death taxes
To the total of the sum

As memories darkly bellow
From the engines smoking stack
Over bridges of expanses
That are as deep as our shaded past

It's hard to set your mind free
With the constant clickety-clack
Just make sure you hold on tight
As we ramble down these tracks

Hello, this is Lonely calling...
Remember when we sat in your room and did nothing
We sat there for days with nothing to say
Then you found a friend and gave me away

I'm just calling to say that I want you back
I miss all the nothing in the nothing we had
I find by myself there's more nothing to do
Which makes me more lonely than I was lonely with you

Hello, this is Lonely calling...
I'm pretty sure this is your number I'm dialing
Are you so busy you can't give me the time
The least you could do is pick up the line

After all that you and I have been through
You'd think you could give me a minute or two
I guess if I had I could do with another
Could you dump your new friend and send them right over

Hello, this is Lonely calling...
How could you leave me this way without even knowing
All of the heartache that I would go through
Missing all of the nothing that we used to do

Hello, Lonely still here...
Just thought you should know if you even care
I certainly wouldn't have called so much if I had known
That what you most wanted from me was to be left alone

With their special smiles
Setting both our young hearts free
Reminding me of you
Reminding you of me

Coming from the both of us
On that special night of need
Planting of the love
Setting life to seed

Since that moment came along
Life has never been the same
Sharing all that we are
Included in our names

As now our needs are truly met
With both of them our fortune and fame
Having that joy by our side
We'd gladly give all else away

Though we both knew of love
We never knew of this
Sent from the heavens up above
Pure of beauty and of bliss

The moment that we first laid eyes
A life beyond that of rich
Nothing could match as much joy
As a love like this

i'm as lucid as a lunatic

playfully insane

over the moon like a loony tune

tiddly winking the day away

over the edge as if unhinged

flapping in the wind

being led by voices in my head

as they speak up once again

my elevator quickly passes

every other floor

but in my mind i still can find

the light of one more poem

Everything in my life that has passed this overbite
I just happened to write it down
With volumes of books filled to the crook
Of my every word, sight, and sound

From my Goo Goo, Ga Ga's as a baby
To my very last word of today
Every word ever uttered from me that you've heard
That I've had to pleasure to say

Of course there wouldn't be as much here to read
Stacked high upon the shelf
If overtime I didn't find
I so often repeat myself

So if you ever want to know what I said
Something mumbled or blown off on the wind
Perhaps misunderstood is in my thousands of books
Feel free to read it all for yourself

The best advice that I have
Is that it's best you don't look back
Keep sharp both your heart and mind
On the path that's straight ahead

Do not waste your precious time
Wobbling from side to side
If you always do what's right
Things will go good in your life

These lips are here for you to read
Won't you please pay me heed
A promise here for you to keep
You from wandering in too deep

Keeping both your heart and mind
On the sign of the times
Telling you what lays ahead
If you do your best and don't look back

I ain't much on schooling
To get my lessons learned
When it comes to education
I get mine from working dirt

It's taught me everything I know
Every straight line every curve I ***
From heaven's gates to down below
Mixed with highs, stired with lows

From all that life has thrown at me
Here catch, it's your turn
No matter dry or muddy
I can tell you now that dirt don't hurt

It's taught me everything I know
Every straight line every curve I ***
From heaven's gates to down below
Mixed with highs, stired with lows

An outdoor education
Teaches true and strong life's course
Only way you can explain it
Is by out there working dirt

Times like these are hard to choose
Who's to win and who's to lose
All depends on what you do
And where you line up with the truth

Doesn't much matter where you are
When it comes to fighting wars
Who can say whose keeping score
As we fall on our on swords

Where's the good in all the harm
Brothers against brothers in arms
Can we not see what's going on
As this world buys the farm

With scissor hands we cut the cord
Without a plan can we afford
To show ourselves for all we're worth
As we fall on our own swords

We unequally divide a fabric torn
With needle eyes, can't see to sew
Would all this change had we known
In all this that there's little hope

As hate and deception bore in our hearts
We continue the fighting of this war
With only one outcome that is sure
As we all fall on our own swords

If I were your Cadillac
I'd offer you a ride
Tool around town, you safe and sound
Elvis by your side

I'd let you pick the color
Whatever you prefer
If you think I look good in pink
I'll do that for you girl

I'd make sure I was four door
To give you the leg room
For your entertainment pleasure
I'd have Elvis sing for you

And if you're in a hurry
I'll run all the red lights
But for safety sake I'll look both ways
First the left then right

Want you to see you can count on me
If I were your Cadillac
I'd hit the road wherever you need to go
With you and Elvis in the back

take time out
to move around
try and find
what life's about
to move in faith
that of a child
the best of days
that you're allowed

take time out
to wow the crowd
there is still joy
to be found
all you need do
is to look around
change your mood
when in doubt

take time out
to hear the sounds
and the sights
that really count
with open eyes
and heart laid out
all this and more
when you take time out

place your hands over my eyes
so that I may lose my sight
at times I'd much rather be blind
than to see the world in this light

place your hands over my ears
so that I may no longer hear
the sound of crying in the burning of tears
in a world that lives in fear

place your hands over my mouth
so you may muffle out the shouts
the screams that are far too loud
place your hands over my mouth

This I have heard when asked of her
Where in life do you feel safe
It's no surprise with a gleam in her eyes
She explains the ocean waves

Where the strength of Mother Ocean
Holds steady both her and the shore
Lapping at all of her worries
Until they are no more

Can't you understand, barefoot in the sand
Is where sanity is kept
With no hour glass watching time pass
As this moment keeps it held back

All of her inhibitions
Come here to let themselves loose
This is the place where she feels safe
Beside her ocean blue

Sin festers just beneath the skin
To control the man within
Lord help me to rely on you
In the shelter of your truth
As sin festers just beneath the skin

Sin tries to take control of me
But I thank my God I've been set free
Free from all inside that hates
Tossed into the fiery lake
As sin tries to take control of me

I rely on the promise heard
The promise of your Holy word
That sets all the captives free
From sins pain and misery
I rely on the promised word

I could never be who it is I am
Without the precious blood of the sacrificial  lamb
Who loves and died for me
As my sin's now history
I could never be who it is I am

I must now be the sacrifice
Not one in death but one in life
To the one who set me free
Jesus Christ the reigning King
I must now be the sacrifice

Fingers...
I count our love on my fingers
On my pointer is where I linger
As I point it straight at you

My toes...
Often I run out don't you know
As my hands can't go higher than 10 so
I count our love out on my toes

And then...
I use my elbows and knees when
I run out of finger and toe skin
Before I head to my nose and begin again

With my hair...
So glad that it is still up there
To count might take me forever
But that's fine with you as my lover

Hello, have you met me
Mr. Addictive Personality
Give me something to cling to
And I'll use and abuse it all the way through

Be it good or be it bad
No matter the habit on which I latch
I'll take it out to the extreme
Until it about ruins me

Focusing all the hours I have
Until I have no time left
At first glance it is all a thrill
Like that of a new car smell

I'll run out round up and down
6 feet deep into the ground
Until the habit over time
Starts to rot my heart and mind

Give me something to cling to
And I'll use and abuse it all the way through
Say goodbye to my release
Mr. Addictive Personality

This is the part
At the start
Where you set rhythm to the rhyme

Just enough
Of the stuff
As cadence moves in time

Taking a subject
In hopes that they love it
And find it rather deep

As you keep them guessing
Show your not messing
With originality

Your now in the middle
Where you start to fiddle
With all the words at play

Hide a few meanings
As you'll soon be leaving
Before it is too late

Then comes the ending
The tail end of the beginning
Drawing it to a close

Wonder where it came from
You hate to play dumb
But only the good lord knows

Don't know what to say about it
With the warm breeze blowing by
But don't ever tend to doubt it
Feels like Christmas in July

I thought I'd lost you forever
And you were never coming back
But here I am on this beach of sand
With sugar plums dancing in my head

With the palm trees swaying peacefully
Down here in Cider Grove
It suddenly occurs to me
You're the only present that I want

As I watch you walk the shoreline
You and your picture perfect smile
Here as a reminder
Feels like Christmas in July

As you turn your gaze upon me
The ocean sparkles like lights on trees
That sets off the warmest glow
Of the holiday's in heat

At last count all I can think about
Is hanging my lucky stars
On the cider tree next to me
When it's clear that's where you are

At present like you never left
Once again here by my side
Opening up the love we have
Feels like Christmas in July

Can't you tell I'm just a shell
Of the man I used to be
Once a lover not a fighter
Till the world kept punching me

Upper cut or in the gut
It's pretty much the same
With swinging fists at every step
It's hard to get out of the way

I still think that peacefully
Is the way things ought to be
But at best guess there's few of us left
That hold tight to this belief

Backed into a corner
No telling what a man will do
I just know that it's in his nature
To never want to lose

I'm here to tell that this shell
Has gained back the confidence it lacks
Once a lover now a fighter
As I'll soon start punching back

I went to see a Magician
He asked me why I came
I told him that I need a disappearing act
And could he help out a hapless man

With a snap of the fingers
Or a wave of the wand
Roll up his sleeves to revel nothing
Then all of the sudden, ****!... I'm gone

Running from a woman
That and the IRS
Not really sure, which scares me more
Not placing my bets on that craziness

I see no other options
Either that or sawed in half
When there's two of me, they can each
Have what little there is left

Or maybe lock me up in a three-lock box
Toss me in the ocean deep
Either way would be okay
If that's the last they see of me

So please Mr. Magician
Can I make myself any clearer
I'll take what I can of your Abracadab
If you'll just help me disappear from here

Long before we came to the I do
Long before the moment we met
There were plans in the making for us two
Long before Adam and Eve drew breath

God laid out his plans for us to both be here
From meeting upon meeting through time
Paving the way so we'd meet up that day
Where I could love you for the rest of my life

Our ancestors all were kindly involved
Yours meeting yours and mine meeting mine
Where one day I'd be saved to pay the cost
Of loving you for the rest of my life

I'm sure none of them had or have a clue
Of my gratitude or how deeply I am in debt
Because without them neither I nor you
Would be here to ever have met

Am I the only one
In this life that sees
The dragging off of  innocence
In today's society

I feel the game is crooked
Marked cards are being dealt
You're more than welcome to your opinion
Please just keep it to yourself

If you're into higher learning
Shouldn't you dig deep for the truth
Instead of what you're told in this zoo
Of monkey see monkey do

Used to be one side was right
And the other side was wrong
Talked about in debate
Now we spout what we don't know

From what the T.V. told us
Or teachers taught in school
When all we really need to know
Is in the golden rule

Now we shout out first
Ask questions later on the side
With no time to rehearse
In this land of do or die

Am I the only one that sees
Am I the only one that knows
We're inches from the ending
Minutes from the curtain close

you'll always find me in the curve
hanging on for dear life
as straight makes way to a smoother place
the curve stays in my space and time

you would have thought by now
i would have circled back around
while in one curve alone you have to hold on
two together make a roundabout

that's when roundabout now
i am wondering how
i curve to the left then back to the right
zigzagging my way through life

I am the surface of the sea
The constant churn that's underneath
The hidden strength inside the weak
I am all you need me to be

I am the here in where you are
Standing guard outside your heart
The flowing brush creating art
I am the near before the far

I am the shawl on your shoulder
The inner calm inside the storm
Standing here cause I am yours
I am all of that and more

I am the humble on its knees
The very joy you dare to speak
The salty tear before you leave
I am all you need from me

I am the rhyme inside the poem
The space next to you when you’re alone
The feather pillow beneath your head
I am all when all is said

I am the smile when you reminisce
The thought that lingers in the kiss
At the top when you make your list
I am love at the crest

I am the answer when you question why
The exhale to the longing sigh
Everything when you look to see
*I am all you need me to be

Do you feel the pangs of hunger
Do you feel the driving need
From one place to another
And all points in between

The music that we play today
Is slightly out of tune
But it's okay, we'll find our way
As we're all just passing through

You could complain about your circumstance
And the life that you've been thrown
Gaze around when you get the chance
In this you're not alone

Most times you can make a choice
In what you choose to do
So hold on tight and run the course
As we're all just passing through

You can press ******* the throttle
And watch it quickly pass you by
Fill your rear view mirror with sorrow
Speeding through this life

Or you could sit back and relax
Enjoy it all on cruise
Did you hear when I said that
We're all just passing through

Can't you see that I am you
Can't you see that you are me
The life blood that flows through your veins
A mother gives unselfishly

Can't you see the hurt you keep
Can't you see the desperate need
Is found inside the letting go
The only way that you'll be free

Can't you see the times we had
Can't you see how it all went bad
With rumors and innuendos
Dancing inside your head

Can't you see things aren't the same
Can't you see you're part to blame
Life's problems are not always one sided
In the chaos they create

Can't you feel the longing ache
Can't you see how tears are made
Can't you forgive mine and your mistakes
When you gaze into your sweet child's face

Because I am you and you are me
A mother's love goes that deep
Can't you see what I mean
I mean can't you see

This World...
is a traveling salesman
that doesn't know when to say when
hiding tricks up its sleeve

This World...
is an infomercial
filled with needy commercials
promising free delivery

This World...
is a picnic
that brings its own ants in
to eat a slice of the pie

This World...
is a mortician
with teeth that sharply glisten
waiting for us to die

This World...
is a New York City taxi
weaving in and out of traffic
overrating the fare

This World...
is a child that is missing
on a milk jug that is empty
with no one to care

This World...
is a train wreck
from which you can't turn your head
no matter how hard you try

This World...
is in need of a medic
with an extensive headache
right between the eyes