Thomas W Case

May 2023

You've Been Timetabled

~
March 2023
HP Poet: Thomas W. Case
Age: 53
Country: USA

Question 1: We are very happy to have you participate, Thomas. So how long have you been writing poetry, and how long have you been a member of Hello Poetry?

Thomas W. Case: “I've been writing poetry since I was 16, and I've been a member of hello poetry for 3 years.”

Question 2: What inspires you? (In other words, how does poetry happen for you).

Thomas W. Case: “The things that inspire me to write are life: the good, the bad, the ugly. Emotion inspires me to write. Poems come to me in many different ways. Sometimes in pictures, sometimes a word will pop into my head and I will write around it. And sometimes a situation in my life will transpire and I will write to process it.”

Question 3: What does poetry mean to you?

Thomas W. Case: “Poetry is cathartic for me. It's a lifesaver, it gives me a unique perspective on the world, it helps me to make sense of life. Poetry is my highway through the madness.”

Question 4: Who are your favorite poets?

Thomas W. Case: “Charles Bukowski, Pablo Neruda, Dylan Thomas, and W.B. Yeats.”

Question 5: What other interests do you have?

Thomas W. Case: “Writing short stories, reading, and spending time with my kids.”

Mr. Timetable: “Thank you so much, Thomas! We really appreciate your willingness to be the first one to be spotlighted.”

Thomas W. Case: “Thank you, man. I look forward to seeing the post and how it turns out.”

And thank you everyone here at HP for taking the time to read this. We hope you enjoyed getting to know Thomas a little bit better.
– Carlo C. Gomez (aka Mr. Timetable)

We will post Spotlight #2 in April!
~

Below are Thomas’ favorite poems of his and links to each one:

Lonesome Neon Nights: https://hellopoetry.com/poem/3699838/lonesome-neon-nights/

Stabbed by the Autumn Leaves: https://hellopoetry.com/poem/3727658/stabbed-by-the-autumn-leaves/

In Lieu of Flowers (a personal favorite of the Timetables, too): https://hellopoetry.com/poem/3910240/in-lieu-of-flowers/

And then the Night Comes: https://hellopoetry.com/poem/4404576/and-then-the-night-comes/

And I Will Rise: https://hellopoetry.com/poem/4680341/and-i-will-rise/

He also has a YouTube channel where he does poetry readings: https://www.youtube.com/@ThomasWCase

#hellopoetry #spotlight #interview #series #poet #timetabled #case #2023

Thomas W Case Apr 2023

Sweet, Green, Youth

The under shell of
the tortoise looked
like a sunset.
Blasts of color:
orange, maroon, burnt sienna.
I caught them in
the garden at
sunrise, eating a
tomato or chewing into
a head of lettuce.
They always looked so
serious.

I was just a
sunburnt boy, with
cutoff jeans and a
straw hat.
I caught toads too.
But when they peed on me,
I let them go.
I loved that land.
Ponds and streams,
fishing and climbing trees.
oh,
sweet, green
youth.

#farm #youth #green #young #country

Thomas W Case Apr 2023

The Tall Grass

Words will be my
food today.
I don't want
to get dressed,
eat breakfast
or go to church.
I'll stay in bed and write,
until the demons stop whispering,
and humanity quits
******* on me.

Last night,
on my way to the
bookstore to get some
Bukowski, I found a
mourning dove,
not a baby
but, too young to fly.
It was huddled against
a concrete wall.
I picked it up and put it through a fence hole in some tall grass,
so that the dock cat, Prozac,
wouldn't **** it.
She caught a lot of birds,
and ate them.
When I went outside
the other morning at five,
She was stalking sparrows and starlings with a murderous
look in her eyes,
and I thought to myself,
Someone should have put me
In the tall grass, a long time ago.

#death #nature #symbolism #metaphor

Thomas W Case Apr 2023

Be Drunk

If you can no longer bear life's clenched fist, it's random smashing of all your hope, dreams, desires, and passion,
be drunk.

Be drunk on wine, music, poetry by the pages, or, on the agelessness of the silky moss covered pond or the fog thick meadows.

If you would not feel time's ticking brutality, be drunk.
If all memory does is remind you of the losses, the deaths, the divorces, the regrets, the remorse over your high ideals and standards, and your much lower behavior, choices, and antics; when life seems anti-climactic, be drunk.

As loneliness becomes like a rotten tooth, hot flashing pain, and the stain on your heart and hands won't come out, be drunk.

Whether it be *****, poetry, nature or music, be full, filled, consumed.

Until the glare of this cruel world becomes a soft gentle blur, be drunk and entombed.

#art #full #passion #poetry #pain

Thomas W Case Apr 2023

Looking for that Highway

Life wears me out with its
twists and turns, and
hairpin curves.
I keep waiting for a
long, peaceful stretch
of highway, bathed in
the rising sun.
A golden wheatfield to
to the left, a moss covered
pond with dragonflies to
the right.
The road turns to gravel,
and climbs rapidly uphill.
There are signs along the
way that promise the world.
The road gradually turns
to dirt, and ultimately
disappears.

#life #depression

Thomas W Case Apr 2023

The Wrong Stop

Sometimes, I think I feel too much, like I crossed into a world of shadows; like there's been some kind of mistake.
Life seems to sharp, to vivid,
too right there in my face.
I feel like a stranger. It's as if I were on a bus, and out of the tinted windows, things looked vaguely familiar. I pull the string and get off.
It's the wrong stop, it's the wrong world. The bus has disappeared;
there's no way home. I used to stand on a bridge that a river flowed under. And off in the distance, high atop the ash trees, the eagles were nesting. They were so beautiful and serene.
I can't watch them anymore. It breaks my **** heart to see all the concrete and construction inch closer and closer to the little slice of heaven they found in a piece of nature
that seemed vaguely
familiar.

#lost #afraid #sad #progress

Thomas W Case Apr 2023

One More Time

I want to make love to you one
more time, lying lavishly on those old blue satin sheets.
Silky smooth, like cheeks of angels; dangling our toes off
the end of the bed in sweat
drenched ecstasy.
Just once more, I want to
amble down the grocery store aisles, trying to decide what to make for dinner.
You, looking at the hamburger helper boxes, me, trying to decide between Thai and Italian, the kids, screaming, "Hot dogs, hot dogs."
I can't change time, but baby,
If I could, when the other woman came to me with her
snake dance, I would laugh and turn my back and run home to you.

#regret #love #memories