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Dec 2018 · 1.3k
Sleep Meditation
Sjr1000 Dec 2018
The rain finally comes
The spring rises up to greet the sun
On the long river highway,
The road is long
Past the brook
Past the stream
Along the river
Beyond the lake
Past the lagoon
The wetlands too
The highway a ribbon unfolds
Out to the ocean the road goes
With the promise of deepest
Sleep.
Dec 2018 · 402
Memories
Sjr1000 Dec 2018
Car wheels on a dirt road
She turns off the bedroom light
Turns to face herself on a frozen night
It hasn't gone well
Two marriages two fiancees
One Too Many ****** addicts
Along the way

Please forgive me she tells her kids
Her mother goes to sleep never wakes up
Now their moving her to Tennessee
To be close to a father she never did see
A hard luck story from beginning to end
Molested by a neighbor way back when
Eleven years old, they said he was a friend
My father was a **** beat me with a stick
Children are to be seen not heard
So he said
Respect him
I wanted to wait until he was sleeping,
The cast iron and his head
Bye bye

But I didn't

Prison bound eventually
Trusted a woman undercover
Not too bad
Safer than I've ever been
Worked my job
Did my shift
Otherwise never had to get out of bed

A twist of fate
A neighbor decided I was the one
Took me to a Colorado ranch
Five hours from Santa Fe

Staring into the wood stove
I've never really told him about my past
He never seemed all that interested
One more beer and he'll be fine

Car wheels on a dirt road
The night is slow in winter
She turns off the bedroom light.
Sjr1000 Nov 2018
I don't want another Vietnam,
Iraq or Afghanistan

I don't want another wild fire
Flash flood
Or hurricane

I don't want another mass shooting
Famine
Drought
Or
Circumstances which are dire

I don't want to hear
All these cries
I don't want to hear
All these lies
I don't want to know
All these scams
No, I don't want to come over
And hold your hand
I don't want no stinking badge

I don't want a see a magic
Number
I don't want to wake,
come
Out of this slumber

I don't want to know
What I'm supposed to do
Supposed to see
Supposed to be

No, I don't want to
be your friend
I don't want to have to extend
No, I don't want to have this conversation

I just want silence
And the end.

Really
What then?

Blessings they come everyday
In everyway
There is beauty in the lullaby in the winds
The starlings, a river flowing
From this tree to another
The woods green in the fall sun

Which way is it going to be today?



It's going to be
What it's going to be

I don't know

I don't want to know
But it's all a blessing
So they say
Which is it going to be
Today?

Surely one more breath and to our present,
We'll keep on fighting
while we
Surrender.
Nov 2018 · 262
Life as we know it
Sjr1000 Nov 2018
Life as we know it
Life as we grow it
Life as we flow it

It'll punch you in the face
Hold you in a warm embrace

It'll tell you what to do
It'll leave you hangin'n
A hound dog singing the blues
Howlin' at the moon

Life as we do it
Days as we do'em
Never really thinking about what we're doing

Just doing what we're knowing
until it goes.
Nov 2018 · 383
In Between the Poetry
Sjr1000 Nov 2018
You're not alone when you are the poem
It's the silence after that's deafening

You're not alone when you are in the zone,
You're finally home
It's the silence after that's deafening

When the rhythms and rhymes flow
And time puts its head down and goes
It's the silence after that's deafening

When dancing in the night
Doing the tango with words
Dancing down old hallways
Listening for old echoes
Sometimes delight
Sometimes the ruins
You're never alone

It's in between the poetry,
that's when we can hear it
the solitary silence that's deafening.
Inspired by Traveler Tim,  he's the arsonist, igniting poetry all around him.
Nov 2018 · 2.3k
The Psychotherapist Blues
Sjr1000 Nov 2018
I've always been somewhat Autistic,
ADHD
too
More than a little manic
and
OCD
I've had the fever
Occupying me

I've heard the murderous rage
And it was me

I have had my periods of Schizophrenia
Paranoia
Psychic warfare
in the ether

He's looking at me
I keep looking at him
Wondering why he's looking at me

I've got that DID
Going into trances
The poet he writes these tomes,
Waking up in strange places

That PTSD
Get startled very easily

Anxiety and depression
Are you kidding?
What's a day without 'em?

The vice is nice
Abundance to depletion,
The parking lot walk  
Polysubstance abuse
has had it's use

Fetishes phillias
Electric brain all light up
Run amok

Decades of misery
Decades of mastery
Had them all

A walking DSM
That would be me
Everything which is human inside you is inside me

Hanging out with
the human condition
my old friend and me

Trying one more time
to figure it all out,
one more time.
DSM: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of mental disorders
Oct 2018 · 502
Tenderness
Sjr1000 Oct 2018
Sleep baby sleep
It's been a rough go
without release,
your road has been a thorny one
Feels like you've been cut and sliced
Diced and dangled over high cliffs
And that fear of heights, doesn't help.

The sheets here are a thousand thread
The comforter, grandma's quilt,
Sleep baby sleep
Rest your head.

Life has its ups and has its downs
Streaks and slumps
All in one day.

Put your head down on my chest,
I'll do the rest.

Sometimes the tears are going to slide
Right on down your cheek,
The intensity of our grief is equal to our capacity to love, my own cliche I know
But it's okay
Your day is done

Sleep baby sleep
Rest deep.
The line "the road you walk is a thorny one", the  Gypsy said it to The Wolf Man, circa 1941
Oct 2018 · 1.8k
Moon Before Sleep
Sjr1000 Oct 2018
The goddess dressed in white
carrying the moon
walks up the stairs to my bedroom window
Plants it there

The room is alive with shadows
Echoes of the past

There's a pain
Where pleasure used to be
An exquisite ache no one can see
A lonely breeze that can't be touched
An endless night that can't be unlocked
The mind plays tricks with the shadows on the walls

Anxiety it comes and goes
that we all know,
But it continues to echo and grow

There's a frigid cold
Where warmth used to be.

The moon goddess winks at me,
"Go to sleep,
Goodnight,
Be free."
Oct 2018 · 3.1k
My Walking Rose
Sjr1000 Oct 2018
She's my walking rose
Walking down the road
Discussing right and wrong
Trying to figure out how to stay strong

She wants to grow,
She wants to know
How it's supposed to go,
She turns her color on
Turns a shade of pink yellow white black or red
Only the rose knows,
walking as she goes,
her time is brief
she thinks maybe that's a relief

Her road is long
When she's in the middle of it,
She knows though
It's all a dream as it passes on by.

My rose
She wilts in the dawn
Rises in the night,
I tell her I have one more road to go
My walking rose
She whispers, "I know."
Sjr1000 Sep 2018
Cannabis Cannabis
Are you my friend?
We've  been asking this question
Since who knows when

From the bedroom
To the bathroom
To the den,
Sitting out on the porch
Or out on the back deck
Out by the cactus
Out in the pasture with the brook running through it
Or in
The redwoods ecstatic in the moving fog
With the walls closing in
To the poetry within,
Contentment, lethargic exhaustion, anxiety, with the music moving,
self consciousness exquisite,
ego disintegrating
Remembering, forgetting,
Remembering
Back again
Oh, cannabis cannabis
Are you my friend

We've had the dance
I can't deny
From stems and seeds
To Humboldt flower dispensary
Many stops in between

You've played with my mind
Sometimes I wonder who I would have been

Cannabis, oh cannabis
Are you my friend? (Old friend).
As Traveler Tim told me many moons ago, "It's poetry, not autobiography"
Sep 2018 · 2.1k
Baseball
Sjr1000 Sep 2018
Two outs
Two strikes
It's all over now

There's a line drive
Down the right field line
One run scores
Two runs score
******* in the bottom of the ninth
On a hot summer night
And childhood
Inside
Never  dies.
Sjr1000 Sep 2018
You talked about the hours
I know what you mean
Two cocoons spinning around each other
Waiting to be born

Nothing personal was the agreement
After awhile

It gets lonely
With nothing else to do but be inside

Not wanting to hide
Or collide
Do we really have that much time?

Two cocoons spinning
You became a butterfly
I became a moth
You flew west
I flew north.
The title is one of my favorite Bob Dylan lines from Your Going to Make Me Lonesome When You Go...
Sjr1000 Aug 2018
Friendships that go the distance
Make all the difference
Through lines of continuity
Lasting a lifetime.

Acquaintances come and go
They don't really know
Same team
Same office
Same school
All friendly and warm
But when you part ways
You'll never see them again.

Or there is the reminder
everyone is a hero in their own melodrama,
hurt feelings
falling outs
blocked
miscommunication
blame

Let's let'em pass

Friendships that go the distance
Seen you throughout, inside out
ugly and beautiful
Know all the idiosyncrasies
Know what to give for your birthday
Know what your all about
Willing to work it out

Friendships which go the distance
Are friends with benefits
Unconditional accepance.

Acceptance connecting
Both ways.

We can surely say,
It makes it all worthwhile
When you have friendships going the distance.
For my dearest David on his birthday, the friendship which is going the distance.
Sjr1000 Aug 2018
My love,
is a blackberry bramble
A control freak
Taking over everywhere
Knocking down fences
to follow the sun
to get to their destination.

Thorns with hooks and barbs
Which will slice you cut you
pierce you and not let go
if you get too close

But, along the way
Will deliver to you
the sweetest berries you'll ever know.
Aug 2018 · 2.7k
The Curse of Consciousness
Sjr1000 Aug 2018
When I think about the executioner
I think about at the moment after impact
How every one goes limp into total relaxation
When I think about the executioner
I think about our children in mortal terror
And I weep.

When I think about the executioner
I wonder what he does after
Is there exhilaration?
Andrenial and endorphins,
Whiskey speed and morphine
Prayers all night,
Telling their god about all they gave,
Maybe feeling nothing like killing a fly
Or are there endless movies of regret?

When I think about the executioner
I think about the man in the fiery cage
Head bowed
The man looking to his left
Before the shot goes off

When I think about the executioner
I think of the last breath
Before death

When I think about the executioner
I wonder about being there
And how I will react.
I want to apologize for this one, but the poet, he demands it.
Aug 2018 · 1.1k
Simple Bliss
Sjr1000 Aug 2018
The curve of your smile
The curve of our land
The fruit on the trees

The bull frog sounds
The crickets too
The heat of the sun
The heat of you
Lovers in love with
Nothing else to do
But be in the moment
This moment of me and you.
Jul 2018 · 3.2k
The Stranger
Sjr1000 Jul 2018
He arises in the morning
with nothing to say
He arises in the evening
after being quiet all day

His thoughts they are a dancing  -
The future is dark
The past is bleak
with nothing to dream

The dawn it arises,
At night, the sun
it heads down
Time it stands still
when you have nothing to say  -
You've tried your best in
your own way
Nothing seems to come
but
despair and dismay.

A lover she comes
A lover she goes
Your creations,
they all grow trite
and old

Playing cat's cradle
with a line of string
at the tear line
not knowing
whether to cry
or go numb

Like our lives,
a spider web
on a tree
blowing and shimmering
in the sun light winds.

He arises and dresses
Heads out for his day
With nothing to say.
Jul 2018 · 401
(she had a dream
Sjr1000 Jul 2018
she was)

The vessel embarking at the sudden light

Empty as an infant

The eyes, the windows
The sonar, the ears
The propeller, the legs
The hull, the skin
Equpped with hands to grip and collect
Drifting into the great unknown

(She stirred)

The vessel predisposed to doldrums
basking in the sun's golden light
Mother moon at night
taking the vessel in

In warm embrace

The vessel learning from experience
storing its hurts, resentments,
sorrows, regrets
fears and guilts
in the hold

Susceptible to changing weather
And lightning strikes announcing who
she is

This vessel voyages the seas of time

Forming beliefs about self
telling stories and reminiscing

(She headed to the bathroom
Couldn't help it
Was so into the dream
Tried to keep it with her,
eyelids half shut
The vessel on the high seas)

(She dreamt)

The vessel was stuck at the Cape
Rockin and rollin
in waves of self pity
hanging on to the mast for dear life

Dear life.

Remembering
Deep love
Slices of delight
Happiness coming
The weather calm.

(She awoke with a start
Her breath taken away
"What a strange night"
She had to say,
The moon was setting
Dawn's twilight had not yet begun
She searched the high seas)

The vessel reached its port of call,
It had weathered many storms

The hold was bursting with forlorn
she carries with her,
in every breath she takes,

And, she proceeds -
proceeds to disembark

Fully alive, arriving at her destination

(Awakening, she is in a mood,
her dream, the waterway to the moon,
The vessel remained
The dream had ended too soon
As all wonderful dreams tend to do

The alarm clock went off,
She thought about calling in sick
She got on the computer
Started looking for ports of call.
Heading to the Sierra's for awhile, be well, one and all.
Jun 2018 · 924
Homer Lane
Sjr1000 Jun 2018
No Tell Motel
Low rent rendezvous
Johnny and Darcy
Modern romance
She lived at the doctors house
With the loaded gun
Bang.
Both were going out with
Dancin' Doug
Though nobody knew
They always did their dance at noon
Poor Johnny, he always came to soon,
He was from Virginia City, Nv
A small town boy with a cosmic mind
Darcy was a runaway from Wyckoff, New Jersey, escaping her family having an adventure she had no where else to go
They all lived in the dust on
Homer Lane
A dusty dirt road

Dancin' Doug threw a benefit
No one knew what for
He scheduled bands to play
BYOB
Smoke anything tree
The moon was full
The colored lights were twinkling
Dancin' Doug saw Johnny and Darcy
smooching to
A cover of Dancing in the Dark
Maybe it was the Ecstasy
or maybe it was the whiskey
He didn't know what to feel
jealousy, great love, or greed
He took all their money
And danced on
in
the dust
at Homer Lane

Johnny and Sue
Headed on over to room 102
at The No Tell Motel

Another low rent rendezvous.
Jun 2018 · 1.3k
The Martyr's Blues
Sjr1000 Jun 2018
I've given up being a martyr
I did it tomorrow or maybe yesterday
I finally found the door
Spending less time outside
More time inside
Figuring out what's next.

The chapters in our lives end
The end of that story
Or
What then?
Athletes never beat time
Hang on in forever?

The day turns into the night
You're waking up again.

The answers come and go

There is identity in being a martyr
Knowing/not knowing
What to do
Who to be
What to give
Giving it all away
Perpetual obligation
Perpetual melancholy
A purpose, a project
Completed?

What then?

We all have empty nests
Broken hearts

Projects inevitably end

Standing, looking into the distance,  hand blocking the sun
Lingering
Wondering
Is there one more thing

Yes there is

Moving on
Saying bye bye
it's time.

Alone again.
Psychologically speaking.
Jun 2018 · 2.5k
I can't talk
Sjr1000 Jun 2018
I can't hear
There's a darkness
everywhere

Spinning in circles
Drawing squares in the
air

Confusion reigns
while calmness soothes

Longing for the dawn
at night
Longing for the night
at dawn

Wanting to be alone
when together
Missing you every
second we're apart

At work watching
the clock
At home restless
not knowing what to do

There is a road
that goes
There is a home
that stays
I'm sure there's a way
Never heard them say -
it was easy being
human.
Jun 2018 · 2.1k
Emotional Weather
Sjr1000 Jun 2018
Obstacles/Problems/Pain
Contraction or Expansion
Exhaustion or Inspiration

86400 seconds a day
Hmmm, how's it going to be spent?

Difficulties are about what we care about

Our thoughts are a tool
Mind hates to be present
Evolved to keep us safe

My thoughts, my fears, my past experience
pasted to my face
Covering my eyes so they are all I can see,
While my dogs and cats
The fish the birds
they are all laughing at me.

Self is contact
Self is content

Swimming in a sea of thoughts
Emotional weather always changing

Tug of war, to and fro, trying to make the anxiety go

If I spend my 86400 seconds a day
trying to make the pain go away
No time
              to live my life

"Pain is inevitable
Suffering is optional "

Showing up for my awareness

If I'm not living my life
I'm living my fear

Old life
Old values
Living the life I care about now

Compassion for others
Self compassion

Feelings and thoughts are like the weather and
The wind it just blows everywhere.
"Pain is inevitable..." has been attributed to Buddha, however the minimal research I did says he never said that and it appears to be from A.A.
This poem is based on the concepts of Acceptance Commitment Therapy. Many thanks for the language and inspiration to John and Jamie Forsyth.
Sjr1000 May 2018
There was grandma
waiting
Sending me
All the way back.
A near death experience.
May 2018 · 1.1k
Many Where's
Sjr1000 May 2018
Invalid curtains
Broken down houses
Mold is growing
Everywhere

Not many live here anymore
Used to be a boom town
babies born
Everyone was employed
Took coupons at
the company store
Milled that wood
Ground that red ore
they don't build
washing machines
around here anymore

Invalid curtains
blowing in a toxic wind
nuclear plant failed
but that wasn't
the end.

The wind is still blowing
down main street
twitching the
"For Lease" signs
If the mud doesn't getcha
The *** holes will,
Schools?
Salting the roads?
There isn't any more revenue

At least Rays is open
the general store
Thomas's, the hardware store
next door
Tony's One Stop Coffee Shop
Barney's Pharmacy
Sellin' out those Oxys
The gas station pulled out their tanks
The doctor's gone
The dentist closed
Got to go forty miles to go to Costco

Still catching trout
at Jackson Meadow
down the highway
Pulled out an 8 pound bass
Never knew it was there
Put it back
Old guy one more life to live.

Staying here is all we know
No one knows we're here
Just like that 8 pound bass
One more life to go?
even though
We keep hearing singing
in the sundown snow,
the dying song
of a dying town.
In the tradition of James McCurtry, Greg Brown, Emmylou
May 2018 · 8.0k
Can you tell me please
Sjr1000 May 2018
Can you tell me
please
which way now is home
I used to know, my dear
The way was clear
There was no fear

Tying my walking shoes
I knew I needed to get clear of here
thought I'd find
all that was dear

The road though, it is narrow
The cliff it is shear
My balance is
woozy

Can you tell me my dear

which way is home
which way do I go from here,
I think I oughta know
But the hills they are wavering
The ocean is in turmoil
The mountains are slick
far too dangerous

The desert has no mercy

I know something and with this knowledge
I think I must be cursed
I think I have it
Peace & Home
goes and comes
and comes and goes.
Apr 2018 · 13.9k
Orchid Dreams
Sjr1000 Apr 2018
The orchid is flowering
Opening,
a living mandala
Next to my bed
I hear it in my dreams
It's telling me very strange things
About the chemistry between us
And what being a flower really is
And what it really means.

There's a lot to learn.

The orchid whispers in chemical symbols

I danced through the night one night
I drank water in the desert
The sweetest taste, I've ever known
I heard a sound I've never heard before
The buzzing of Chi
Blowing in
while the curtains fluttered
In the night time wind.

Our time I know is limited
Forever wilts away

But while the orchid is flowering
That's for another day

I find myself longing for the scent of the night and at least
One more dream to go.
This came as a total surprise, 100%! Never expected. We all channel our internal poet, a conduit from within, dictated somehow. My experience at Hellopoetry has been life changing  and the community we are all apart of is truly a sacred circle, for that and this moment in time, I am grateful.
The poet, well, he's sleeping now, but I will pass it on when he awakens. Many thanks, to one and all, you continue to teach me what it means to be human and an artist in this world.
Apr 2018 · 665
Scattered Showers
Sjr1000 Apr 2018
Scattered showers
Shattered moments
Running through the rain drops
Running through the tear drops

Trying to find
a shelter

The past is unchangeable
The future is unpredictable

The present is drenched
Wearing the wrong rain gear
Again

Shivering
Cold
Alone

For now

But, if you never leave home
You never get to come home
You wind up
Looking for it everywhere.
Edited version
Apr 2018 · 1.5k
It all came to pass
Sjr1000 Apr 2018
when the moon was
red
The ocean luminescent
she was a starry
eyed girl
with a northern star
and a direction to go

Epiphanies unfold
like ribbons in
the winds

Decisions
they come
in wishful
longing
or
careful planning

Throwing caution to the wind
she took the first boat to
the island.

There he waited, an
apprentice to an ancient art
Preoccupied and isolated

She of the northern
star
had a sense of
direction

Settling into a
parallel universe

They were like
two kiwi bushes
across a fence
3 years later in
vined embrace
Produced the fruit
that never ripened
and over night
was gone.

She took the
last boat back
the northern star was
encased in fog
But
the southern cross
She couldn't miss it.
Mar 2018 · 957
2:30 p.m.
Sjr1000 Mar 2018
I'm working
I'm trying
I'm giving it all I can give
I'm working  I'm trying
This life will take
What ever you can give
I'm working
I'm trying
I'm doing the best
That I can
They hired me
To do a job
The job I don't know
How to do
This life
It'll take you
Down roads you
never knew
But we're proceeding
Despite all odds
Who knew
It would be so
Hard
To just make
it through
It's always 2:30
I'm working
I'm trying
I'm giving it all
I gotta give
I'm tired
I'm sure
I'm fired

My life is all
I know how to do.
Feb 2018 · 4.4k
Timers ticking down
Sjr1000 Feb 2018
Aging is confusing
How old would you be
if you didn't know how old you are

Microwave ovens
Kitchen range timers
Updates too
Timers all around ticking down
ticking down our time
You might think of this
as you make your rounds

Sunrises
Sunsets
Good morning
Goodnight

5 minutes to go
Forty seconds
I know

Ding goes the timer
Another day is done

I guess in the end
it's
five four three two one.
How old would you be...is a Satchel Paige quote, he was an ageless pitcher, actually no one knew how old he really was, legend has it he pitched well into his sixties
Sjr1000 Feb 2018
It's very uninformed
It thought

It always has a destination
Always needs directions

Meets the defination
of a paraplegic

"Lights on, Molly"
"Lights off Molly"
"TV on"

"Toast crisp, dear Mollie
"Slow cooker four hours"

It's always very disconnected

Cassie calling

Blood pressure warning
180/105
Heart rate 135
Oxygen 8%

Cassie disconnected

Molle is never alone
always connected to the
neural net
Every device on planet Earth,
Traveling with New Horizon
until the end of time

Ron calling
Volume down
Bluetooth off
Ron disconnected

"Search divorce attorney "
"Search mortuary"
"Search cyanide purchases"

"Bluetooth on"
"Home"
"Tears of rage
Tears of grief
playlist
turn on, M
thanks."



"Search best way to cook
brussel sprouts"
"Search beano"

Battery 15%

Charging

Molee powering  off.
Jan 2018 · 672
Puzzels
Sjr1000 Jan 2018
Nature's code
No rosetta stone.

The blind men
The elephant.

In the mirror
I see your face,
you standing there,
depending on the lighting,
the mood of the day,
Aspects
I'm sure,
But knowing you?

While macro systems
control the tides
We're like sea grass growing
from the rocks
bombarded by the
waves
automatically
springing back up

There's probably
a pathway back
to when the meek
inherited the earth
and
bequeathed it

If we can ever figure it out again.

From darkness to darkness
it's a purple puzzle
mystery

All we're left with is,
Goodnight
Sweet dreams
Sleep tight.
Jan 2018 · 1.6k
Moon After Twilght
Sjr1000 Jan 2018
When peace finally comes
A softness in the winds
The fires are gone
The quiet has come
Except for the nightbirds
which sing their songs

The shadows get long
Children's egos disintegrate
Meltdowns fry the atmosphere

The skunks come out

Moonlight after twilight
Sometimes to linger
Call out to the coyotes

Get old but stay young.
Jan 2018 · 1.6k
The Poetry of Duality
Sjr1000 Jan 2018
I taste death
in every food I eat
I see beauty
in every face I meet

It all once lived
before it died
One day maybe
nothing will need to die
for mankind to survive

I see beauty
in the face of every  person I meet

The public world
of shopping malls
Supermarkets
Working's pall

Inside while primitive
fantasies
still reside
Rageful tides
Spiderwebs blowing down hillsides

Carrying  on a private conversation
in a public gathering
"a little privy please"
There are no walls
in the outhouse
The outhouse is lined
with mirrors and windows

The rules are the rules
even for desire
tho sometimes we all do
a mashpit at the opera

Everything has a taste
Internal
External
make a mistake
it's back to the wild
Food for fodder
fodder for thought

Still seeing beauty
in every face I meet
Tasting death
in every food I eat

Makes water in
the desert
so so sweet.
Jan 2018 · 580
Paul Manafort
Sjr1000 Jan 2018
Paul Manafort
Paul Manafort
You cheated
You contrived
You lied
You spied

All the money you hoard
You hide

The law did it's job
Indictments came down
Smug and sneering
Your lawyers all talked

Now's not the time
for inequality to cry

But while you await your court date
a trial a settlement
will come.

Where would we wait
Would you say?
I think county jail has our name

While Paul Manafort sits
in his mansion house
Waited on by his indentured slaves
Serving him Whole Foods organic eggs
Ambian sleep in satin sheets

The hearings
The trials
Years later.

Inequality in the face of "nobility"
Sings the blues.

Paul Manafort,
he sings in the shower.
A nod to Bob Dylan, The Lonesome Death of  Hattie Carrol. "William Zanzinger killed poor Hattie Carrol, with the cane he twirled on his diamond ring finger..."
Sometimes you gotta write a protest song
Dec 2017 · 1.9k
Gratitude
Sjr1000 Dec 2017
You're a sweet sweet friend
said the rain to the wind
pushing me to find a place to land

You're a harsh master
said the trail to the mountain
leading me higher then I even knew
I could go

You're teaching me all
said the river to the ground
guiding me down
to mother ocean's mouth

You're the father
said the earth to the sun
bestowing life
in the great dark vacuum sea

You're my consciousness
said the darkness to the mind
which allows me to behold
the light
the wonders of beauty
all around me.
Nov 2017 · 983
Little Liza Jane
Sjr1000 Nov 2017
They're dancing in the alley
Wearing clown
masks
Calling for peace
What are we going to be?
Little Liza
Little Liza Jane

The west is burning
The east is drowning
What are we going to be?
Little Liza
Little Liza Jane

The night is broken
The day is howling
The moon is rising
Nightblooming Jasmine
the air is alive

We're all sweating in endless summer
The heat is on
Though we're freezing cold
What's it going to be?
Little Liza
Little Liza Jane

Grinding poverty
Those that have the money live
Those that don't die
That's the way it is
What's it going to be?
Little Liza
Little Liza Jane

Trying to remember
Love is all we know
All we know.
What's it going to be?
Little Liza
Little Liza Jane
Little Liza Jane, an American folksong, done many times, in many ways. My version. Originally published in 1916, but goes back before that.
Oct 2017 · 425
Trauma
Sjr1000 Oct 2017
Traumatized
Post Traumatic Stress
Most of us
got it

Cortisol fear screaming through
our blood stream
Seeing or being something
people never should be

Adrenal Dumps
Road rage

Meltdowns in the
five to eight shot
morning or evening
it doesn't matter

Memories traveling
on the light of the day
scents floating in the air
the music
A ****** expression
in a crowd

Holding on tight
Jumping out of our
skin

Embarrassment
Feelings of rejection
Than rage

How to handle it today?

The walking wounded
walking on parade
no point in going to the circus
when we are the circus

Maybe it's always been,
What do they say,
The human condition
is the condition
we're in

If we do it right
maybe
(there's)
(next time)
another way
to get it right.
Oct 2017 · 668
Kilisut Harbor
Sjr1000 Oct 2017
The poetry of motion
Rotating light
Changing tides
Birds in flight, floating, diving, calling
Endless stars when the sky is right
Redsky clouds at dawn
and in the night
Cedar ridgeline
Across the bay.

The poetry of motion
Changing emotions
The waters are never silent
the poetry of motion
Allows the restless soul to rest.
Sjr1000 Sep 2017
The course of our lives
Predestined
Free will,
I don't know
We'll never know

The reason for love hanging on
delighting in the white light in the eyes where love shines
I don't know
Maybe we'll never know

The seasons nourish life
Everything spins round and round
Though we feel the whole time
like we're standing still
I don't know
We'll never know

The  woman bending over
lighting a candle
red curtains rippled by the wind
She's the great great
great grandmother
to a generation
she'll never meet
I don't know
We'll never know

Waiting for the executioner
Hoping for immortality
That's all that's left
But I don't know
Maybe we'll never know.
Aug 2017 · 2.1k
Taxi!
Sjr1000 Aug 2017
Called a cab
It had to be Yellow
Checkered at least
A rumble seat

Old school,
an Uber
it
just wouldn't do.

The cabbie asked me
What's your destination?

Take me to the end of time,
I don't think it's on your GPS
Do you know the ride?

He hit the meter
never replied

Looking out the window
Saw it all fly by

When we arrived
I was surprised

No charge, he said
for this ride.
Jul 2017 · 536
Simple Complexity
Sjr1000 Jul 2017
Loving kindness
Feelings of affection
Sweet hugs
Warm words
Feeling good about yourself
Feeling joy for the other finding that which makes them happy
So easy hanging out
Acceptance and understanding
The wonder of it all

One person's breakdown
Another person's break through

Sometimes bliss finds consciousness
Sometimes consciousness finds bliss

And that's the way it is
Always ambivalent occasionally right

Riding many ribbons
Twirling in the winds
Many sunrises
Many sunsets
Moment by moment
as one creates their life.
Jul 2017 · 1.5k
The Poet's Request
Sjr1000 Jul 2017
My brother and sister
We were there,
childhood
it all comes and goes
Could you please
give us
a little more time?

Hitting home runs
Peaking way to soon
How dare you?
Could you please
give me a little
more time?

Strung out on
Chemistry and hormones
Rock and roll
never sounded so
good

One more level
One more time
Could you please?
if I ask you nicely
I'll be your best friend
Just give us a little
more time

Dragging a mattress
out into the pine forest
We were so perfect
Bliss and oblivion
At least until
the campers came along
Could you please?
I guess
I'm begging you
if you could
give us a little
more time

While my baby is an infant,
a woman now
I'm asking you
to
give us a little more time

There is magic
in the music
in the air,
You're something
We're dancing
Never coming this way again
That's why I'm asking
could you please
give us a little more time?

The work is good
The days are long
Summer
No pain anywhere
Keep it coming
I'm always begging
Could you please give me a little more time?

I know we'll be repeating
when sleeping in the linens,
Every one is there
Love everywhere,
I'll be pleading
Can you give us
please?
a little more time
and maybe
one more rhyme.
Jul 2017 · 1.0k
Realizing one's life
Sjr1000 Jul 2017
can end at
any time

The lightening flash
The thunder crash
The clouds forming a question mark
in the skies

There is a silence in
the winds

Better to have had a
good time
than a bad time,
what ever for you
that is

Hold on tight
my dear

We'll make it through
I promise you
I'll be seeing you
at the end of time.
Jun 2017 · 669
Heat Wave
Sjr1000 Jun 2017
Cumulus clouds
erupting
in the searing heat
over the green pined hills

Sitting
contemplating
reviewing one's life
change is coming
burning up

Corn cob
clouds emerging
while lightening flashes

Tomorrow the
fog
leading to rain
all is silent
no movement occurs
the heat wave ends.
Jun 2017 · 590
The Poet's Despair
Sjr1000 Jun 2017
The creative spirit
sleeping in the back
of the room
tossing and turning
dreaming
eyes spinning in sleep
level four
R E M
but not saying a word
leaves you wondering
what's the point in
everything

Creative spirit
taking a hiatus

No where to be found
maybe in Hawaii
looked under the couch
even checked the kitty litter

Creative spirit, taken a powder

Now I'm feeling
so lost
so all alone
what am I supposed to do

Creative spirit
give me a sign
smoke signals
telegraph
telephone
email
text
Not even messaging

When does the somnambulisim
ever wear off
I told him he
had taken one too
many

The creative spirit, though,
still smoldering
where there's
smoke there's fire
where there is fire
there is passion's
heat

I'm remembering what
Chuck Berry taught me
"If the joint is rocking
Don't bother knocking
Come right on in"

Creative spirit you
can't cancel
no excuses will
be taken
We have a date
mañana
at a quarter to ten.
Jun 2017 · 659
Sometimes
Sjr1000 Jun 2017
Sometimes
I find myself
finding myself,
and sometimes I find myself

We talk it all
over for a while

Sometimes resolution
Sometimes revolution

Alone again
Wondering which steps
to follow

It's tough being human
All frailties and all

The fact our days are numbered
kind of  says it all

I told myself
in a short story
at a young age

Not to forget the dream,
The main character
He forgot the dream
And, oh
so
did
I.

Sometimes though
when the music
is right
feeling it inside
in a trance
higher and higher
some may even call it
flying

The moment though
it always passes

Sometimes when the mood
is right
it comes on back
again.

Sometimes gotta go
Sometimes gotta stay
Sometimes wounded
Sometimes healing is
on its way
Sometimes in wise mind
trying to figure on out
how to stay.

Sometimes we're
going to find ourselves
finding ourselves
and find ourselves
along the way.
May 2017 · 970
Time is god and god is time
Sjr1000 May 2017
It seems so plain to see
Sweeps us along
Leaves us behind
Every one of us,
even
You and me.

Our daily lives
The alarm clock at five a.m.
screaming our name again and again  
"Get up"

The infant
every dream we take,
"I need you mommydaddy too"

Monuments to what we choose
We know they come, and go.

Insurmountable problems
in the end
are
all
Time limited

We've been there
We know

Teenage angst, forever,
Childhood  puberty
Adulthood  old age

Time is god
it calls the shots
tells us
What is and What is not

Galaxies collide
all over the place
Big bangs bust
and must expand
Dark matter everywhere
But
Time it tells them
all their tales

Time is god
god is time
It seems so plain to see.
May 2017 · 754
The Night Clerk
Sjr1000 May 2017
I am the night clerk
I work the graveyard shift
I've checked in many people
Never saw anyone check out

When they walk in
the night bell rings
I think
What's all of that crazy thunder about

I've checked in
the wild and weary
the tormented and scary

The pious
the martyrs
the dancers
the fishermen

Even
Bob & Ted
Carol & Alice

Clark Gable
he stayed here too

Everyone looks me in the eye
pleading for a room,
I have many
the night is late
only the dead are awake

Some nights, though, it can be quiet
I put my feet up on the desk
watch another season of the soap opera
The Young and The Restless

There are no regulars
No one returns
Not even
the dopers
the smokers
the flatulent
the token takers

When everyone is checked in
That crazy thunder it stops
But the night is long
There's sure to be another storm.
May 2017 · 784
Her Baby's Momma
Sjr1000 May 2017
Everybody called her
her baby's momma

She could never see so straight
always crooked
winding up in the slammer
apologizing all over the place

She's got a handle on it this time
moved into a clean and sober house
going to those meetings five days a week

But her eyes they burned,
You know
Her eyes they burned

Made a mistake
Went to see her ex old man
Got strung out again on that ******

Thrown out of the house
for nodding out,
coffee cup in hand,
never spilled a drop

She's back out on the street
Looking for the woman's emergency  night shelter
Texting with her daughter
trying to repair their relationship
saying
"It'll be okay this time"
She's got her brand new teeth,
a two day voucher to The Days Inn
It'll be okay.

Always the nut house
if the night gets too cold
At least until the Psychiatrist figures it out
And throws her back out into the night

It's tough being human
You know
You know

Her baby's momma
She's in despair
Looking for help everywhere
Detox filled
Got a ******* for anybody
somebody named Joe
Sometimes that's all she knows

Gather's herself against the cold
Swears that tomorrow
she'll get it together
she promises you

You know

Doing everything except what you're supposed to
Deal with it tomorrow

Everybody called her
Her baby's momma

When she sees you
She's in sorrow.
Dedicated to a segment of the population, whose time is hard. Recovery is always possible.
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