The lost congregate
a lodestone of despair
draws them together
all that could be said
to make things better
sleek shallow lies
dry crumbling mortar
howling chaos beckons
beyond walls of order
at the unhinged door
a legion of wolves
refusing to be tamed
snarling and ripping
at what little remains

My daddy forgot my name
Long before he died
Although he always kept
That twinkle in his eye

They call it dementia
But I myself call it hell
For all that we went through
And just how bad it felt

I watched him walk around
As he picked on walls
Trying his very best
At wiping something off

I still wonder to this day
What it is he thought
In his imaginary space
Or if he thought at all

Life brought to him the battle
And to life he brought the fight
But as any good soldier knows
There will come a time

Where in the heat of war
There is no winning side
It takes away the best in life
Whether you live or you die

I wish he was here to tell
How much I'm missing him
But I missed my daddy
Long before he left

When I was a younger man
Time moved so much quicker
There was always something happening
Always something changing
Somewhere to go
Something to catch up with
Or even to escape from
People came and went
Then came and went again
"Where's he living these days?"
"Who knows what's happening?"

Now things are quieter and calmer
In this age of ghosts
In the land of the lost and lonely
Where once there was speed
There's nowhere to go
And nothing much changes
Even my dreams remain the same
As, with an unaccustomed patience
I write poems
And wait

                              By Phil Roberts

Love,  be gentle and kind,
take that rusty gun from under
my pillow and shoot me twice
in the heart so I can feel the hurt
from the first time and the pain
from the second again;
but don't bury me in the dirt
beneath your bare feet,
just burn me like the memory
of your brown soles I saw
running away, oh, so long
a time ago, I can't even remember.

come crashing down
through darkness
into sight
a permanent marker
sharpie stuck in your eye
black all you see
negatives hung on the walls
charcoal reliefs
of those you knew
paragraphs of sadness
posted to your wall in pencil
on sheets of paper

ashtrays filled with ashes
trash cans with beer cans
and the day begins
thinking of when it will end
making breath and striving
just to make it
until
you see the moon beckons again

I woke up this morning
To smiley faces rolling
Up and down the street
Chasing after me

My bad disposition
Has them at my heals licking
Trying to give me
Much more than happy feet

I bring an umbrella
As they're also in the weather
Smiling down on me
Coming down in sheets

They say if you can't beat em
It's best if you join in
So I stopped after awhile
Stood real still with great big smile

That's when my attitude
Right then and there improved
For granted I'd been taking
All these smiley faces

Now I wake each morning
Join the smiley faces rolling
Up and down the street
Hoping you will smile with me