"I gave you my name," he said
"And you took it to the grave."
Many years rolled by in between
As they lived, loved, slept side by side.
After her death, he didn't wait long
To lie by her side, again.
He died from his broken heart.

I have clawed and crawled out of my past
On bloodied hands and knees,
Seeking to find a higher ground
Level beneath my feet.

Having found a piece somewhat less rocky
I was finally able to stand.
So, please, for the love of God,
Stop trying to drag me back again.

I did not ignore it, but dealt with my hurt.
Over the decades, I've done the work
In order to have some peace.
And now at long last, I've found relief.

Stop dragging up what's past.

I stand and watch
The storms over Galveston Bay
Light up the sky like night into day.

Thunderheads billowing overhead,
Roiling in the darkness, punctuated
Only by distant lightning strikes.

For mere seconds with blinding light,
They flash across the sky in the night.
Thunder boomed like a distant war.

Light begins to leak into the atmosphere.
Holes in the clouds appear here and there.
With the rising sun, all turns to quiet.

She was a beautiful and dutiful lass.
She lived in a far different world,
Somewhere in the distant past.
And her lad was brave and chivalrous.

Those days are gone, alas,

As is the lad and lass.
While our time hurtles and twirls
We see life get scarier and more scary
And we become the past,

To someone else's "alas".

Soon,

Winged creatures will fly,
Delicate flowers will begin to die.

But as for you, and the poetic I,
In fallow fields nearby

We will lie

And while-away-the-hours.
On a blanket, lying back

Watching summer's last sighs.
For she must soon say goodbye,

Goodbye and welcome fall.

Handsome Sol, clothed in splendor, appears and thus
Spreads a pink blush across the ****** face of morning.

The day is a fair child chasing across the horizon
Seeking, never catching, as night overtakes it.

All life is born of this.

Do you remember
Our passion, that
Of young love?
Fresh and new
As passion built.
We could not get enough
Of love or of each other.
Fingertips touching,
Mouth on mouth,
Melting our flesh  
Into one body!

I was so inexperienced
You had to be, at times
Both teacher and lover.
And I, on the porch,
You, at ground level,
My tall young man,
So that I could
Get "hello" & "Goodbye"
Kisses on the porch.
Happy to die at last
Love-smothered.

I grew up along the Brazos River
Not far from an old cotton plantation.

By the time I was a child, it was in complete decay
And it left the same in the lives of those
Who had been slaves for generations afterwards.

I remember the first time those descendants
Rode our bus to their raggedy old school,
My generous, childish heart ached for them.
Much later, they'd go to the nice modern one.

I made many new friends on those rides.
I let Cookie brush my hair, as the other girls stared.
She was "high-yellow" or bright, as they would say.
My heart thrills to see them now grown, come into
The beauty of life as it was meant to be lived by all.

Yet, now evil forces seek to undo that.

The words hit like a ton of bricks,
Wedging fragments into the crevices
Of my heart as it hit within the space.

That is what happens when

You
  Pick
   At
    A
    Thread

And you get truths hidden within the lies.

I asked a simple question
One without commentary
I was curious, that is all
Because I am a curious person
And I like to learn

In today's world, it is relevant
"Is this poem AI?"
It is an honest question
Without any judgment
YES NO, circle one.

Yes, go ahead
Remove the label, "pervert"
From many other things
But when it comes
To the abuse of children
Let it reign supreme
NEVER to be removed

Ask yourself:
What will I do when I am seeking political refuge?
When political unrest comes to me and mine?
When you reach safer shores, what faces do you hope to see?
Hard and hate-filled faces, or the softened kind faces of strangers?
Ask yourself honestly, then change your stance, now,
Because it is coming quicker than you think.

A garden is like a book of poetry
Peopled with lovely flower-folk.
O, if they only could walk,
You'd imagine they were dancing
As does a poem in rhythm's meters
Dances along, one-two, one-two
In a sort of singsong.

Evil is born with little effort.
Goodness?
Through the struggle from within.

Evil eats from the inside out.
It tears at its own flesh, consumes 'self'.
Goodness?

It must be nurtured on the decomposed
Death of the evil growth within
Like some parasitic twin.

Goodness can win, must win.

The moon rises, banks left, rises on,
Setting alight with a gentle simmer
Of shimmering silver, the windows
In houses nearby along the watercourse.

Its glowing glint dances on the water
Like the flicker from a silent movie
And it seems to tippy-toe downward
Towards the dark hunter-green sea.

As I sit upon a high, darkened ridge
I am wrapped in and rapt with wonder,
As night folds in around me like a shawl
Casually thrown about my person.

With the dawn, my garment will be bright
As the light of a yellow-orange sun grows.
So glows the watercourse as it moves
To the azure sea.

Fall

I love to wander in the fall, come,
Leaves crunching beneath feet.
An early morn chill hangs in the air.
Earthy smells rise up, mixed with pine,
Filling nostrils and hearts with peace
As we walk towards winter.

- Winter

I love to wander in winter, join me.
Frost crunches under boots
A light freeze gifted a sparkle everywhere
The clean smell is held in the frozen air,
Filling our hearts with a joyful vigor
As we move towards spring.

- Spring

We wander among the greening fields
Trying not to crush sweet wildflowers
Beneath our bare feet on the cool ground.
Soft aromatic blossoms release their scents
Filling our atmosphere with essence
As we move towards the heat of summer.

- Summer

We wander in the early morning
Before the heat begins to suffocate.
As the ground heats up beneath our feet
And we must retreat beneath the trees,
To sip our chilled water and recover
So we can move towards the comfort of fall.

I, rag-doll-like, am
Limber like rubber
Bendy parts

Elastic sinew
Stretches far
Ruptures  

Easy like glass
Breaks
I fall apart

Pain drains
Out of my brain
At times cry

I used to ask
Why, why
Now I know

It’s not so easy in the dark
To find your way
Trembling fingers
Grasping as you go along

In the thickness of black
Sliding your feet slowly helps
The mind fills with shades
Of black and grey

Shocked eyeballs try
To punctuate with sharp light
Yet, still there is nothing
Nothing but the dark void

And you snail-pacing in it

Creatures of darkness,
That psychotic man
And his friend
And the woman
- They shared?
Or women, perhaps,
- I should say.

The four, two couples,
Secrets, dark secrets
Beginning to shine
Through the shroud.
Peel back the mask
Reveal the skeleton,
At last.

Evil showmanship!
Cut the funds, but
Blow up the boat.

And it never quits.
It’s another layer
Of their ****** fit.

But we are mum
Because we’re numb!
Are we so dumb?

Lawlessness is not law.

There once was a king
Who built a big bonfire
Right in the center
Of his kingdom.

"Higher and higher still!"
The silly king shouted.
And it was done!
He made them all jump to.

Proud, he was, to rule
Over everything
As far as his eye could see.
With his bonfire done

He was ready for the fun.
He called for more fuel.
"More, and more!" he shouted.
And it was done!

Now with all eyes on him
He took a match, gave it a strike,
Then threw it on the wood.
O, what a sight to see it so bright!

And the fire raged on
It began licking at homes,
Buildings, and even people!
It became a conflagration.

"It started before we knew it.
What was happening to us?"
Everyone began saying, shocked.
And yet the signs were all there.

Too much wood on the pile,
Too much fuel for the fire,
And an out-of-control ego
Who lost all control!

In the end, it all burned down.
And the moral of the story is:
When rulers burn the kingdom down
The king will rule over nothing but

Ashes.

When you were still
Wiping your nose on your sleeve
And were convinced that birds
Were feathery things with wings
And love was a distant animal
That stalked much older lads,
About which you were glad,
You played in fields, buck wild
And grew in strength and might
Until she came into your sight.
The prettiest bird among all
And you couldn’t help but fall.
The distant animal had come
Stalking you at last.
And you were quite glad,
My lad.

That calcified heart

Within your chest
Will never have rest,
It will remain alone.

It will remain stone
As long as you deny,
As long as you lie.

Until you stand up for your part.

She kept her freak hidden
Well out of sight
In the back of her closet
And only let it out at night
To crawl up on her bed
And climb into her head
Then it would
See through her eyes

When down, and
Disappointed
With the world,

Remember

The scarecrow
Had a heart
All along.

There was indeed
A heart within
The straw.

(I know it was the Tin Man.)

I am obsessed with the strange, chaotic, and beautiful world
With its life, which we cobble together out of the madness

Another week has come and gone
And as life moves on and on

We become the fabric with which to wrap around
The loved, those we have loved, and those who loved us

And those we will eventually love
Another one has come and gone

And life moves on and on

Through waves that crash upon our shores
And tides that churn and turn, tossed about
With each swell to rise anew, as each returns.
In the depths we sink, or we begin to swim,

Then, suddenly find that on the shore we stand.

Though battered, torn, and scarred are we,
Injuries serve to remind us of the churning tide of life.
Each is a reminder of where we are and have been
And that in the midst of such turmoil, we swam.

I have left,
I am gone.

I will not be
coming home.

Please,
remember me fondly.
Love always

Everything begins to mellow
Into softer shades and hues.
Yet, with a brightening of yellows
As autumn has her dues.

Winter birds fly in on tired wings.
And these new birds begin to sing.
They'll scratch and have no rest
As all life seems to hold its breath

And wait for spring.

John Keats wrote:
"Where are the songs of Spring?"
Who "singest of summer in full-throated ease?"

"Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,—
While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day,
    And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue."

Who sings the autumntide?
To autumn, to autumn goes the praise!
The "season of mists and mellow fruitfulness."

The hordes of all manner of bugs caught
"Among the river sallows, borne aloft
        Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies."

Autumn has her way with them all.
And she is coming, so hail the queen
   in leafy crown of yellow, orange, and brown.

For we will find "The loveliest and the last,
The bloom, whose petals nipped before they blew
Died on the promise of the fruit" in winter.

Ima write poetry like 6 7.
Yo, my lyrics trip to heaven.
I'm only 5' 5" but rap like 6 11!
It ain't 'bout color doh.
Shut up 'n shoot, Doot!

Gravitas
Veritas
Give a toss

In the scene just before daybreak,
I see you there, smiling your thin smile.
Two stars nearby give you the look of a Picasso
Painted on the canvas of the night sky.
                                            *
                                     (
                                        

Imagine you and me,
Clover chains in our hair
Prancing around,
While putting on airs,
As we dance across
The cool blades of grass.

Our childish laughter
Erupts in bursts and blasts.
We squeal each time
We step on fallen pecans
From the hundreds of trees,
Which surrounds our house

Like a comforting womb.

Greenery, like arms reaching out
Beckons creatures on wings
Amidst pink puffs of profuse petals
Cotton ball-like, full-blown blooms
Rows of roses in technicolor shades
Diaphaneity shimmers flash about
As powdery soft multicolored
Shapes like floating cut fabric flit
With momentary kisses given
As brief as a whisper or a shy peck
Fluttering beauty among beauty
Each to each, in a flurry of action
Breathlessly, we say, "Welcome, visitors!"

Out in the deep, they say
The octopuses play.
I stand desiring to see, but
Of course, it's hidden from me
So I dream, and I'm not even asleep.

I dream of an octopus garden
Coming clearly into view.
An octopus waves all 8 arms
Welcoming me and you.
Then we sit down to tea, wee!

"Feel free, feel free!" they chime.
"There's plenty here, you see.
We love the cracked lobster.
The sea cucumber sandwiches
Are divine!"

Come, join us in the garden, supine.

The sun is hiding from me.
From behind that building
It plays peek-a-boo with me..  
Before too long, it will move on,
And I will see it rise once more.

Seagull days
Ocean sprays
Blue-green sea
Glowing me
Crystal skies
Bright in eyes
Cheeks red
Hat on head
Toes in sand
Sunny tan
Cool breeze
Exhale, breathe
“Ah” I sigh

Watching an already tiny mind
Grow tinnier day by day
Treating other average humans
As simple throw aways

We lean in, look closer and find
Those with tiny minds too
Will one day thrown away
And all the quicker

Letting a snowflake melt on my tongue
Sitting for hours in the sun
Breathing in fireworks after they're done
In 2025, simply living in America

Lies are like the man
Who planted a briar patch
And sat down to watch it grow.
Night and day, he watched it grow.
It came up with tendrils tangling
And suddenly he knew
He should have moved his chair.

Daylight is rising,
Crawling the horizon
Like ivy on a wall.

Pushing and dragging
The glowing ball
Until it achieves

What Sisyphus never could.

He opens his teeth-filled mouth
And screams, “Bow or I’ll bite!”

One brave serf remains straight,
He does not bend at the waist.

So the mouth of the king swings,
Opens for a big bite, what a sight!

It’s only filled with paper teeth.

Yes, you’ve actually been lied to.
But ask yourself, “Can accept truth?”

Are you a truth warrior or
Only a warrior?

Doctor your wounds
And bind them in truth
Like a bandage that heals.

A secret spoken is no secret:
I've only one forever love,
one true love,
Foolish woman that I am.

I know his name inside and out.
As well as he knew mine,
And in the many other forms
It took as we lay in love-talk.

As each one forms on my lips
Even now, I say, "Yes, I knew it."
I used it like a conation chanted,  
"one true love."

Though all knew the secret
No one spoke it out loud,
But perhaps whispered.

And it remained
A silent secret kept inside
like a whisper
Desiring to break out at times,
yet kept.

One forever true love,
He was mine, and I was his,
silent in our hearts.

Divorce can be harsh.
Yet our children always knew,
This secret, which somehow comforted.

He spoke my name one last time,
Our children proclaimed.
Then took our love with him to his grave.

I lived on, grew comfortable with our truth,
In my old age, "We'd only one forever love."

On the wings of forever love
Your name passes across my lips,
And onwards to the stars it passes.
The brightest star absorbs it into itself
And it is all the brighter for it.

The muted softness of the pastels,
Soft enough to be an infant's nursery,
Gently filled the post-dawn sky.
I wondered what the sunrise would bring.
The warm glow began to simmer
Along the horizon on the eastern view
Like the start of the Smithy's forge
Blown from its soft glow into a blaze.
The sun came with its fire rising,
Arcing red-hot around the sun.
Within these moments, a new day, born.

Sitting in the clover among the grass
A peaceful bunny held its gaze.
I held my breath, and time was still.
It was the communion of creatures,
Each serenely in the rolling hills of clover.

You have heard someone say,
"That's going to leave a mark."

At the moment of impact
We know how they feel.

As I gaze out at the beauty
Of each day, in that moment

Its impact indeed leaves its mark.

May your grateful heart
Be filled with laughter, joy,
And the magic of each new day.
May the spirit of wisdom
Color your life through many years
Just as the mountains and the oceans
Cover our wonder-filled earth.
May your grateful heart be full.