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Jul 2018 · 132
The hand that turns the key
t ulysses Jul 2018
Turning the key
A key held for so long
To leave a prison cell
Of one's own making
Finally admitting that a cell
Is what it was
But not yet free...
So many bureaucratic steps
Arguments and paperwork
Accomplishing nothing more than to
Document the turning of the key
But the key has turned
And it was my hand that turned it
Jul 2018 · 118
The Civil Savage
t ulysses Jul 2018
My mind is civil and polite
Keen on the written word
And painted art
Science, history, and philosophy
Economics and ***** politics
At times romantic

In my chest beats a savage heart
Blood thirsty and violent
Fond of physical conflict
Aggressive and brutal
Lustful and ******

You meet that which you becken
Jun 2018 · 97
Stagnant and laying awake
t ulysses Jun 2018
The wanderer lay awake in bed
As the red light of the digital clock
Shown across his face sometime after three A.M.
Contemplating his fate
Already staying longer than he intended
After two weeks on the road
This was his second night in the roadside motel
Having met a waitress, now laying beside him
Soft and warm flesh pressed against him,
Smell of freshly washed hair filled his nose
The transitory affair more real
Than any of his long term relations
The simple connection so fulfilling
But knowing it would soon end
As his wanderings were calling him again
t ulysses Jun 2018
There once was a lass
By the name of Molly Robbins

A dark souled *****
Who'd knick ya as **** ya

'Cept for a strappin lad
Named Johnny

For Johnny she'd burn
the whole world around them
To ash

Johnny, knownin this
And lovin her as much the rest
Flitered the two of em away

And aboard a tiny skiff
Onto the dark grey sea

And none the rest were er' hurt
Jun 2018 · 90
Hearts Beating Past
t ulysses Jun 2018
Missing her
The weight of her head
On my bare chest
The smell of her hair
Filling my nose
Her fingers running through
The course hair of my chest
She pulls herself close to me
I turn my head and our lips meet
In a soft but longing engagement
Hearts begin to beat
Faster... faster... faster

but that is past
And I am lonely now
Jun 2018 · 100
A Glimmer in The Darkness
t ulysses Jun 2018
A flash of light
Glimmer of hope
Gone before realized
Grasping for the silver lining
Not too much invested
Yet alone again
Jun 2018 · 96
The Lonely Man
t ulysses Jun 2018
yea though in sad realisation
I have come to be aware
how I should be called
I may be smarter than 1 in 100
but I am not the smart man
I have known others far smarter
As strong as 1 in 20
but others stronger
I have walked on death ground
but know men braver
What I am
Is the lonely man
A burden I bear because I must
I wish to reach others
But don't know how
Jun 2018 · 93
Mirage
t ulysses Jun 2018
I miss the love of someone
the love of that single touch
I had it once
and miss it so very much
grasping for another
but so out of touch
one love
not to out match the others
but one love
to outlast all others
and I step out into the desert
still looking for that someone
on the horizon
someone or just an illusion
t ulysses Jun 2018
I was born mid-winter on the shores of the land of the midnight sun
Grew to manhood upon the western plains
Schooled a year in the great southern desert
And four more along the western banks of a river cutting through highlands in the North-East
I was taught the tactics of war in a miserably hot and humid swamp of the South
And from there sallied forth to witness my first threat of war,
In the snow covered mountains just east of the Adriatic I saw Slavic Serb and their Muslim neighbors ready to slit each others' throats
Came home, fell in love and out again
Married and divorced inside of a year to a woman I never should have said hello to
Found myself at war at the break of it in the land once called Babylon
And rode an armored mechanical beast from the berm to the capital,
Destroying all that resisted or threatened us
I would return twice more
They remain the best memories, of the worst of times
Along the way I fell in love again
Was married after the last trip over there
Had minor adventures, saw strange lands, climbed live volcanoes, swam amongst sharks, observed odd creatures
She would come to bear me a son who carries my name
Born in the city of Steel
And we made a home for a while beside a great fresh water inland sea
Then grew apart because of my cold, indifferent heart
Seasons change and years pass
She stayed and I left, not of my choosing
To live in another foreign land
In a mountain bound metropolis
Jun 2018 · 93
Would you walk with me?
t ulysses Jun 2018
If you were free
If you wished it
Would you walk with me
Venture into the wilds
Explore new lands
Face untold foes
Risk your life
For nothing more
Than the stories you bring back
Would you walk with me
If I asked?

I cannot live the ordinary life
t ulysses Jun 2018
How few are there
That when you need them
Will sit in silent contemplation
Without demands or expectations
Versus those who demand engagement
Unwilling to merely sit
With your company
Then those,
Those who only talk
When there is talk
Worth talking
I had friends like that once
Friends that we'd fight and die for each other
A few are out there still
I miss them
And the meaning I draw from them
Jun 2018 · 84
And the Dice Roll On
t ulysses Jun 2018
Rolling the Dice
One lands,
Speaking possible fortune
The other
Tumbles and tumbles
Without landing
No loss, No Gain
As of ye
Jun 2018 · 88
German Snow
t ulysses Jun 2018
Riding a shuttle through a German woods
Passing over pastures and farm fields
As snowflakes dance over the windshield
Like wandering stars
I look back at the years and miles past
And wonder at those that lay ahead
Home left somewhere far behind
Making my place here and now
One step at a time upon my journey
Jun 2018 · 89
Ties
t ulysses Jun 2018
So long tied to others
First to my mother
Then my father
Dragging me along
Then others
Then I began moving
Into the lead
And pulling, pulling them along
Ever forward
Ever held back
Soon, though
Soon
To cut ties
And freedom
Ever glimpsed
In the distance
Jun 2018 · 122
Doldrums
t ulysses Jun 2018
The Doldrums
Lost here for so long
Never thought it would take so long
Yet here I drift, ever more
Amongst the Doldrums
At first I thought
Only work against them
Choose a direction and row
Until you escape the Doldrums
No more more
Any
Any way out
To escape the Doldrum
Jun 2018 · 86
Move to New at Twilight
t ulysses Jun 2018
Gray twilight touching me again
Nothing lost yet
Yet little to hang onto
Darkness held at bay
Yet daylight near forgotten
Much to be thankful for
Yet much denied that shouldn't
Need to move
Move somewhere to find
Something....
I don't know what
Or where
But I need to move to something
New
Jun 2018 · 91
Alone in a Crowd
t ulysses Jun 2018
walking through a crowd
listening,half-hearted to conversations
happy, friendly, and well meaning
and none of them
touch you
wondering why you walk through
a cluster of should be friends
yet remain a stranger among them
and keep walking
waiting
for that out reached hand
of the man willing to walk
the next mile of hell beside you
or the kind ear of the woman
willing to listen to the story of your past
Jun 2018 · 108
Presence
t ulysses Jun 2018
I am here
Do with that information as you like
Jun 2018 · 147
A Warrior in Suburbia
t ulysses Jun 2018
As so often,
When disillusionment and boredom
Build
And frustrations of day to day life
Seem too much
A sensation and desire at the back of the brain
Sight picture and recoil
Baking beneath Kevlar and body armor
Stale sweat and burnt cordite
Fill the nostrils
Still better than this pointless suburban life
Jun 2018 · 113
Searching for Touch
t ulysses Jun 2018
I miss the love of someone
the love of that single touch
I had it once
and miss it so very much
grasping for another
but so out of touch
one love
not to out match the others
but one love
to outlast all others
and I step out into the desert
still looking for that someone
on the horizon
someone or just an illusion
Jun 2018 · 106
Wonderbread and Tabasco
t ulysses Jun 2018
This domestic life bores me
Like mayonnaise and bologna on Wonderbread
I was not built for this
Someone pass the Tabasco please
t ulysses Jun 2018
walking through a crowd
listening,half-hearted to conversations
happy, friendly, and well meaning
and none of them
touch you
wondering why you walk through
a cluster of should be friends
yet remain a stranger among them
and keep walking
waiting
for that out reached hand
of the man willing to walk
the next mile of hell beside you
or the kind ear of the woman
willing to listen to the story of your past
Jun 2018 · 80
Traveling Gene
t ulysses Jun 2018
One more minute, one more mile to go
Every moment of every day
From this moment to the last
Grasp it all, drink it in
Cherish all this life has to offer
Go ahead and look back and remember
But don't dwell there
There is so much left ahead to discover

My traveling gene got a little scratch but itches more
Jun 2018 · 94
Of Rock and Water
t ulysses Jun 2018
It took me a long time to understand
But I am Earth and Rock
Unyielding and indifferent most often
Untouched by fire
Yet worn down by wind and water
She was water
Taking the shape of the Earth
She flowed over
But carried every which way
By the winds that touched her
And I am worn down
Jun 2018 · 127
Vacant Land
t ulysses Jun 2018
A wise man once said
A wilderness without people
Is a wasteland
A wasted land as none
Were there to love it
Appreciate it
Now I think it is all
All lands populated or vacated
Wasted, if not shared
Travels I loved, but lacking
Without someone to share them
Who will walk with me?
Jun 2018 · 90
Empty Embrace
t ulysses Jun 2018
Drifting asleep
Between scratchy motel sheets
Smell of mildew faintly in the nose
Another night in a thousand
But no one to hold
The soft press of flesh
Against your own
The smell so sweet of one
Who wants to hold your own
And the morning comes
Holding such firm, soft, woman
And it begins to slip away
And as I begin to wake
The fuzzy memory
Of her body I try to grasp
I do very much want to feel
Woman's embrace
t ulysses Jun 2018
years of pain
and hurt
one against another
yet unwilling to admit it's over
holding on
supporting each other
but the hurt...
one last night
to love, and embrace
when it was over, in the morning
he said, "Thank you",
and LEFT
Jun 2018 · 159
And the Road Calls
t ulysses Jun 2018
It's been awhile
Yet here I find myself again
on this dusty trail alone
I've tried so many paths
Academic ivory towers
Battlefields with comrades
Who will never leave my heart
Suburbs and picket fences
Pretending the BBQs and picnics I felt normal
yet cast about upon the world
Another airport
Another highway
To see around the next curve and I'm at home
Would you travel with me
Just for awhile?
Jun 2018 · 73
Walk With Me, for a time
t ulysses Jun 2018
Not just yet
But when it's over
Finally over
I plan to walk a long, long ways
I don't expect anyone
To walk the distance
Nor would want them to
It is mine not theirs
But for a while
For a while I'd like a friend
To take a few steps with me

— The End —