Cautious Paul
Behind his wall
Afraid to fall and shatter
A single tear
Of solid fear
Is slyly bulging fatter
In rigid ways
He passes days
Occasionally blinking
Without a sound
He treads the ground
In circles, ever shrinking

Don't write
poetry on spare leaflet
papers. or napkins,
or your palm, a desk, any wall,
not in the solid-blue
notebook
that you bought last week.

Don't write
poetry at night, in the morning,
or at any time
in the afternoon.

Don't write poetry about
life, your grandparents, your dead dog,
or the revelations that creep out
from the pores of your skin
late at night.

If you want to be famous,
don't write poetry,
swallow it.

put your efforts into
the shadows beneath your eyes
the tone of your muscle
the sound of your voice
and how you look
on-screen

Your skin is so soft
Your breath makes my skin tingle.
Why are your hands cold?

There's strange noises round these parts
Tales of zombies too
Haunted cabins, ghostly sights
All sorts of witches brew

We all laugh when we hear stories
Stories that we know aren't true
There's a drink that folks all know
And it ain't called witches brew

There ain't no redneck zombies
That I guarantee
To make a redneck zombie
you need the recipe
A shot or two of good old jack
and a shot of grandpa's lightning
that's a redneck zombie son
Drink two and it gets frightening

moving lights out in the wood
strange visions on the beach
swamp gas, that's what I would say
redneck zombies....that's a reach

tourist folk see things a plenty
they believe all of our tales
like the one about that boy Ahab
going chasing that white whale

There ain't no redneck zombies
That I guarantee
To make a redneck zombie
you need the recipe
A shot or two of good old jack
and a shot of grandpa's lightning
that's a redneck zombie son
Drink two and it gets frightening


if there was such a thing as zombies
wandering round out here
i'd figure it was just my kin folk
after a case or two of beer

zombies like to eat folks brains
and tear them all apart
now to a redneck, that there's work
and rednecks aren't that smart

There ain't no redneck zombies
That I guarantee
To make a redneck zombie
you need the recipe
A shot or two of good old jack
and a shot of grandpa's lightning
that's a redneck zombie son
Drink two and it gets frightening